Articles

A passionate proponent of living simply and in harmony with nature, Thoreau is remembered today as a pillar of the modern conservation movement.

The 16^th president of the United States was one of the nation’s most illustrious, respected and steadfast leaders. Yet in key areas, his views evolved greatly over the course of his life.

Martin Luther King Jr. was not the leader of the civil rights movement, but his voice resonated with a wide variety of listeners, introducing them to the reality of a national injustice. Who was this man, and how did he become such an icon?

Ronald Reagan had a vision of a world safe from the threat of nuclear Armageddon.

Henry Ford will always be remembered for revolutionizing factory work and, of course, for giving the world the Model T.

Today’s debate between methods of attaining knowledge—one divinely revealed, the other gained by rational inquiry—is a significant aspect of Aristotle’s legacy.

Jacques Cousteau was willing to go to whatever lengths were necessary to protect the seas.

Carl Gustav Jung founded an approach he named Analytical Psychology, many tenets of which have led some to refer to him as a “founding father of the New Age.”

Little Manya Sklodowski (Marie Curie) became the first woman to earn the Nobel Prize in Physics, and the first person ever to earn a second Prize.

Though considered one of the three “great fathers” of modern psychotherapy, Alfred Adler is less familiar to most people today than Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

A masterpiece is something that’s done with extraordinary skill, and a review of John Robert Wooden’s life journey suggests that this maxim was indeed a daily focus.

Mark Twain’s novels are some of the best examples of American literature. Though known for his humor, Twain shows a bitter edge in his later works.

Mid-20^th-century technological advances caused many to ignore the potentially negative effects. One early voice of caution was that of Rachel Carson.

DDT had no practical use until Paul Hermann Müller, a chemist working in Basel, Switzerland, discovered that it was an effective contact insecticide.

Kofi Annan, the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations and the first black African to hold the position, served from 1997 to 2006. 

The last century was a time of cosmic exploration; George Hale’s contribution was in building tools that have given us greater access to the universe.

For almost anyone alive on July 20, 1969, the first words from the Moon and man’s first steps are flashbulb events immortalized in the mind.

Alan B. Shepard, Jr. lived twice as long as many people expected. The first American in space, he lit America’s enthusiasm to rally behind the space program.

It’s unusual to find someone who not only retains his or her early views but builds a whole superstructure of philosophical meaning atop them. Ayn Rand was such a person.

Various life experiences undoubtedly played their part in producing what is possibly George Orwell’s best known work, Nineteen Eighty-Four.