You may have noticed... (Part 1)

Many famous scientists, authors, philosophers, teachers, and activists view humanism as a philosophy that gives a framework for people to be ethical and moral regardless of their faith or beliefs. As you may have noticed by now, we’ve featured some of these distinguished Humanists in our banner and would like you to know more about them! The following is a list of their achievements and contributions to humanity. Sadly, we could not fit all of the great modern humanists into the header, but we will link you to them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_humanists

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^(In order from left to right)

Carl Sagan - Astronomer, scientist, educator and author. He created and hosted the award winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which reached 500 million viewers around the world. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and authored or coauthored more than 20 books including The Dragons of Eden, Broca's Brain, Pale Blue Dot, and Contact. Sagan assembled the Voyager Golden Records which were included aboard both Voyager spacecrafts and founded the Planetary Society in 1980. He was named Humanist of the Year by The American Humanist Association in 1981, and was a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.

Kurt Vonnegut - An American novelist who wrote many famous works including Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat’s Cradle and Breakfast of Champions. At 20 years old, Vonnegut joined the army during the hight of WWII and was captured during the Battle of the Bulge and narrowly survived after being sent to Dresden as a POW. Later in life, he became a strong advocate for nuclear arms control and for the protection of the earth’s biosphere. He became a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism and named Humanist of the Year in 1992. He served as honorary president of the American Humanist Association until his death in 2007.

Albert Einstein - One of the world’s most famous theoretical physics, he developed the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics, and is well known for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2. Einstein published more than 300 scientific papers in his lifetime along with over 150 non-scientific works including Essays in Humanism which addressed philosophical challenges from nuclear proliferation to economics. He served on the advisory board of the First Humanist Society of New York.

Arthur C. Clarke - Known as one of the "Big Three" of science fiction, which included Robert Heinlein and fellow humanist Isaac Asimov, for his many notable works include Rendezvous with Rama, Childhood’s End, The Fountains of Paradise, and co-writing the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey with legendary film director Stanley Kubrick, which he later published as a book series. Clarke is also credited with the idea of satellite communication system while serving in the Royal Air Force during WWII. He was honored as a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.

A. Philip Randolph - was one of the most influential African American leaders of the twentieth century. From 1917 until his death on May 16, 1979, Randolph worked as a labor organizer, a journalist, and a civil rights leader. With Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Randolph was one of the principal organizers of the historic 1963 March on Washington, which brought over 200,000 people to Washington to protest segregation and disenfranchisement. He was awarded the presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964 for his lifelong work for universal civil rights and named Humanist of the Year in 1970 by the American Humanist Association. Randolph strongly supported humanism throughout his life and was on of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto II in 1973.

Isaac Asimov - American author and professor of biochemistry at the Boston University who was best known for his science fiction novels. He wrote and edited more than 500 books and short stories including The Foundation Series, Nightfall, Bicentennial Man, and I, Robot. He coined the term robotics in 1941 and created the famous Three Laws of Robotics. He was named Humanist of the Year by the the American Humanist Association in 1984 and served as the honorary president of AHA until his death in 1992.

Stephen Fry - Writer, actor, comedian, director, librettist, quiz show host and humanist. He is best known for his acting and TV comedies including Blackadder, Absolute Power and QI. He was made a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association in 2010, stating: "it is essential to nail one’s colours to the mast as a humanist.” Fry was awarded the Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University, the Harvard Secular Society and the American Humanist Association.

Brian Cox - Physicist, former pop star, television presenter, author and distinguished supporter of Humanism. He is best known for his BBC television series including Wonders of the Universe, Wonders of the Solar System, and Wonders of Life. After being the keyboard player for the rock bands Dare and later D:Ream, Brian Cox went on to study physics and philosophy. He became a member of the High Energy Physics group at the University of Manchester, and currently works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland, where he contributed to the discovery of the Higgs Boson, also known as the “God Particle”. His BBC documentary series have gained millions of viewers from around the world and have won several awards including a Peabody Award. Brian Cox is a humanist and is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association.

E. O. Wilson - American biologist, researcher, theorist, naturalist and author. Wilson is known as "the father of sociobiology” and has made major contributions to sociobiology, biodiversity, consilience and popularized his hypothesis on instinctive bonds known as biophilia. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and New York Times bestseller for his books The Social Conquest of Earth and Letters to a Young Scientist. He is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, founded by fellow humanist Paul Kurtz. Wilson is a strong supporter of humanism and even coined the term scientific humanism. In 2003 he was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto. He is a Humanist Laureate of the International Academy of Humanism.

Bill Nye - scientist, engineer, educator, television host, comedian, writer, inventor and a man with a mission: "to help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work.” He is best known for his children's science television series Bill Nye the Science Guy. He began his career at Boeing where he developed a hydraulic pressure resonance suppressor still used in the 747. In 1992, Nye proposed to PBS an educational television series that focused on the natural sciences. The series won 18 Emmy during its 100 episode run. After his show, Nye joining the board of directors for the The Planetary Society, which fellow humanist Carl Sagan was a founding member of. Nye went on to become the societies’ first CEO. Nye is also a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, founded by fellow humanist Paul Kurtz. In 2010, Nye received the Humanist of the Year Award from the American Humanist Association.

Polly Toynbee - Well known British columnist and broadcaster for The Guardian and former social affairs editor for the BBC. Toynbee has written a number of social commentary books and was awarded the Orwell Prize for journalism in 1998 and named 'Columnist of the Year' at the British Press Awards in 2007. She is a Distinguished Supporter of British Humanist Association and served as President of the British Humanist Association from 2007 to 2012 and currently serves as a Vice-President.

Continue to Part 2