The reinventor and foremost champion of behaviorist psychology, Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904–1990) was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania on March 20, and died at age 86 in Cambridge, Massachusetts on August 18. Building on the work of Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936), Edward Thorndike (1874–1949), and J. B. Watson (1878–1958), B. F. Skinner made unique contributions to the science of human behavior and intended for his work to serve as the basis for technologies by which human beings could control themselves and others for the benefit of all.

Life and Achievements

Graduating from Hamilton College, New York, with a bachelor's degree in English, Skinner initially wanted to become a writer. This vocation eluded him, and after a period of time in Greenwich Village he enrolled for graduate studies at Harvard University, where he earned his doctorate in psychology in 1931. In 1936 he went to teach at the University of Minnesota, where he met and married...