List of humanists

List of humanists - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

'via Blog this'This is a partial list of famous modern humanists, including bothsecular and religious humanists.

Asimov

Atiyah

Chomsky

Einstein

Gell-Mann

Grayling

Pauling

Randolph

Rotblat

Russell

Sagan

Salk

Schulz

Zappa

Zinn

• Clark Adams (1969–2007) was former president of the Humanist Association of Las Vegas and Southern Nevada, and a life member of the American Humanist Association.^[1]
• Steve Allen was a Humanist Laureate in The International Academy of Humanism,^[2] and Chairman of the Council for Secular Humanism.^[3]
• Nayef Al-Rodhan is aphilosopher, neuroscientistand geostrategist. Author ofSustainable History and the Dignity of Man; Emotional Amoral Egoism and Symbiotic Realism.
• Isaac Asimov was a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Michael Atiyah, British mathematician.^[4]
• Margaret Atwood is a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• A. J. Ayer was a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Ronnie Barker, (1929–2005) British comedian.^[5]
• Marshall Berman, American political scientist and Marxist humanist.
• Hermann Bondi was a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Jacob Bronowski, Polish-British polymath and author of The Ascent of Man.^[6]
• Lester R. Brown, American environmental analyst, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, and founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C.. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1991 by the American Humanist Association.^[7]
• Mary Calderone, American physician and a public health advocate for sexual education. She served as president and co-founder of the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) from 1954 to 1982. Selected as one of the "Humanists of the Year" in 1974 by the American Humanist Association.^[8]
• Helen Caldicott, Australian physician, author, and anti-nuclear advocate who has founded several associations dedicated to opposing the use of nuclear power, depleted uranium munitions, nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons proliferation, war and military action in general. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1982 by the American Humanist Association.^[9]
• Anton J. Carlson was a signer of the originalHumanist Manifesto.^[10]
• Noam Chomsky, American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, and activist.^[11]
• Arthur C. Clarke was a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Angel Judas (1972 -), military and Spanish poet, author of the first book of poetry in Castilian atheist "Forbidden Verses (the believer)."
• Aaron Copland^[12]
• Brian Cox^[13]
• Francis Crick was a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Richard Dawkins is a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Daniel Dennett is a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• John Dewey was a signer of the originalHumanist Manifesto.^[10]
• John H. Dietrich was a signer of the originalHumanist Manifesto.^[10]
• Ann Dunham, (1942–1995) mother of the President of the United States, Barack Obama^[14]
• Umberto Eco is a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Albert Einstein served on the advisory board of the First Humanist Society of New York^[15][16]
• Barbara Ehrenreich, American feminist, democratic socialist, and political activist. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1998 by the American Humanist Association.^[17]
• Albert Ellis, American psychologist who in 1955 developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy(REBT). Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1971 by the American Humanist Association.^[18]
• Greg M. Epstein is the secular humanist chaplain at Harvard University, and is a published author on the subject of secular humanism.^[19]
• Betty Friedan, American writer, activist, and feminist. A leading figure in the Women's Movement in the United States, her 1963 bookThe Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the "second wave" of Americanfeminism in the 20th century. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1975 by theAmerican Humanist Association.^[20]
• Joseph Fletcher, American professor who founded the theory of situational ethics in the 1960s, and was a pioneer in the field ofbioethics. Fletcher was a leading academic involved in the topics of abortion, infanticide,euthanasia, eugenics, and cloning. Selected as one of the "Humanists of the Year" in 1974 by the American Humanist Association.^[21]
• Tom Flynn, Senior Editor of Free Inquirymagazine.^[22]
• Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis.^[23]
• R. Buckminster Fuller, American systems theorist, architect, engineer, author, designer, inventor, and futurist. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1969 by theAmerican Humanist Association.^[24]
• John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist. He was a Keynesian and an institutionalist, a leading proponent of 20th-century American liberalism. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1985 by theAmerican Humanist Association.^[25]
• Murray Gell-Mann is a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism,^[2]
• Rebecca Goldstein, American novelist and professor of philosophy. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 2011 by the American Humanist Association.^[26]
• Stephen Jay Gould was a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• A.C. Grayling Prominent British philosopher, author of The Good Book: A Humanist Bible^[27]
• Daniel Handler (1970–): American author better known under the pen name of Lemony Snicket. Handler calls himself an atheist^[28] and a secular humanist.^[29]
• Matt Harding ^[30]
• Bill Hayden (1933–): Governor-General of Australia (1989–1996).^[31][32]
• Sam Heads, British entomologist, palaeontologist and secular humanist.
• Margaret E. Kuhn, American activist known for founding theGray Panthers movement in August 1970. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1978 by the American Humanist Association.^[33]
• Julian Huxley was a self-described "scientific humanist," and presided over the founding congress of the International Humanist and Ethical Union.^[34]
• Paul Kurtz co-authored Humanist Manifesto II.^[35]
• Corliss Lamont
• Stewart Lee (1968–) British stand-up comedian, writer and director. Supporter of the British Humanist Association.^[36]
• Ashley Montagu, British-American anthropologist and humanist, of Jewish ancestry, who popularized topics such as race and gender and their relation to politics and development. Selected as "Humanist of the Year" in 1995 by the American Humanist Association.^[37]
• Abraham Maslow, American professor of psychology at Brandeis University, Brooklyn College, New School for Social Researchand Columbia University who created Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1967 by theAmerican Humanist Association.^[38]
• Jonathan Meades, writer, broadcaster and prominent British Humanist Association member.^[39]
• R. Lester Mondale was a signer of the original Humanist Manifesto.^[10]
• Henry Morgentaler, Canadian physician and prominent pro-choiceadvocate who has fought numerous legal battles for that cause. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1975 by the American Humanist Association.^[40]
• Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist, educator, andNobel laureate best known for his work on the physiological and genetic effects of radiation (X-ray mutagenesis) as well as his outspoken political beliefs. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1963 by the American Humanist Association.^[41]
• PZ Myers, American scientist and biology professor at theUniversity of Minnesota Morris (UMM) and the author of thePharyngula science blog. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 2009 by the American Humanist Association.^[42]
• Kathleen Nott
• Bill Nye, American science educator, comedian, television host, actor, mechanical engineer, and scientist. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 2010 by the American Humanist Association.^[43]
• Joyce Carol Oates, American author. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 2007 by the American Humanist Association.^[44]
• Steven Pinker is a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Linus Pauling, American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1961 by the American Humanist Association.^[45]
• Charles Francis Potter was a signer of the original Humanist Manifesto.^[10]
• Karl Popper was a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Sir Terry Pratchett, British novelist and satirist.^[46]
• A. Philip Randolph, a leader in the African American civil-rights movement and the American labor movement. He organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first predominantly Negro labor union. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1970 by the American Humanist Association.^[47]
• Curtis W. Reese was a signer of the original Humanist Manifesto.^[10]
• Oscar Riddle, American biologist. He is known for his research into the pituitary gland and for isolating the hormone prolactin. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1958 by the American Humanist Association.^[48]
• Gene Roddenberry (1921—1991): American scriptwriter and producer, creator of Star Trek. Roddenberry was a member of the American Humanist Association, and has been called "one of the most influential yet unheralded humanists of the twentieth century."^[49]
• Carl Rogers, American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology. Towards the end of his life, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with national intergroup conflict in South Africa and Northern Ireland. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1964 by theAmerican Humanist Association.^[50]
• Richard Rorty was a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Joseph Rotblat, Polish-born, British-naturalized physicist. A signatory of the Russell–Einstein Manifesto, he was secretary general of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs from its founding until 1973. In conjunction with the Pugwash Conferences, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 for their efforts towards nuclear disarmament.^[51]
• Arnold Ruge^{[citation needed]}
• Salman Rushdie is a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Bertrand Russell, British philosopher, mathematician and academic. ^[52]
• Carl Sagan was a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Edward Said, Palestinian-American literary theorist and advocate for Palestinian rights. He was an influential cultural critic and author, known best for his book, Orientalism. One of his last books was called, Humanism and Democratic Criticism.^[53]
• Jonas Salk, American medical researcher and virologist, best known for his discovery and development of the first safe and effective polio vaccine. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1976 by the American Humanist Association.^[54]
• Andrei Sakharov, Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1980 by the American Humanist Association.^[55]
• Margaret Sanger, American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1957 by the American Humanist Association.^[56]
• Jean-Paul Sartre, French existentialist and Marxist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, biographer, activist, and critic; author of Existentialism is a Humanism.
• Ferdinand Canning Scott Schiller was an early coiner of the term "humanism."
• William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, the U.S. division of Amnesty International, from March 1994 to 2006. He is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, and served as president of the Unitarian Universalist Association from 1985 to 1993. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 2000 by the American Humanist Association.^[57]
• Charles M. Schulz, American cartoonist who created the comic strip, Peanuts. From the late 1980s, he described himself in interviews as a "Secular Humanist".^[58]
• Rod Serling, creator and narrator of The Twilight Zone.^[59]
• Peter Singer is a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Marc Sinden, English theatre producer and actor. Supporter of the British Humanist Association and the National Secular Society.^[60]
• B.F. Skinner, American behaviorist, author, inventor, social philosopher and poet. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1972 by the American Humanist Association.^[61]
• Linda Smith (comedian), former president of British Humanist Association
• Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician whose book Baby and Child Care, published in 1946, is one of the biggest best-sellers of all time. In addition to his pediatric work, Spock was an activist in the New Left and anti Vietnam War movements during the 1960s and early 1970s. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1968 by the American Humanist Association.^[62]
• Pete Stark, U.S. Representative for California's 13th congressional district, serving since 1973. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 2008 by the American Humanist Association.^[63]
• Christer Sturmark, chairman of the Swedish Humanist Organisation.
• Thomas Szasz, Hungarian-American psychiatrist and academic. Since 1990, he has been Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse, New York. He is a well-known social critic of the moral and scientific foundations of psychiatry, and of the social control aims of medicine in modern society, as well as ofscientism. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1973 by the American Humanist Association.^[64]
• Leó Szilárd, Austro-Hungarian physicist and inventor. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1960 by the American Humanist Association.^[65]
• Mark Twain, American author and humorist. He is most noted for his novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and its sequel,Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.^[66]
• Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA^[67]
• Peter Ustinov was a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Cenk Uygur, host of the popular YouTube and radio show The Young Turks.^[68]
• Kurt Vonnegut Vonnegut was a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Alice Walker, American author, poet, and activist. She is best known for the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1997 by the American Humanist Association.^[69]
• James Peter Warbasse, American surgeon and advocate forcooperatives. He founded the Cooperative League of the United States of America (which later became the National Cooperative Business Association) and was its president from 1916 to 1941. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1955 by the American Humanist Association.^[70]
• Ibn Warraq, author of Why I am Not a Muslim, and chair of the Council for Secular Humanism's Committee for the Study of Koranic Literature.^[71]
• James D. Watson is a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Faye Wattleton, the first African-American and youngest President ever elected to Planned Parenthood (1978–1992). Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 1986 by the American Humanist Association.^[72]
• Steven Weinberg, American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam andSheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force andelectromagnetic interaction between elementary particles. Given the title, "Humanist of the Year" in 2002 by theAmerican Humanist Association.^[73]
• Joss Whedon, television writer and director.^[74]
• E. O. Wilson is a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.^[2]
• Edwin H. Wilson was a signer of the original Humanist Manifesto.^[10] He also co-authored Humanist Manifesto II.^[35]
• Sherwin T. Wine, Rabbi and founder of Society for Humanistic Judaism
• Frank Zappa, American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works.^[75]
• Howard Zinn, American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist.^[76]
• Simran Kaler, An Humanist, Indian Documentary Film Maker, author, playwright, and social activist.

Others are listed on the following humanist organisation pages:

• British Humanist Association
• American Humanist Association

[edit]See also