Famous Humanists

Modern Humanism begins with Renaissance Scholars such as Desiderus Erasmus (1426), influential in Christian Humanism.,









and Francis Bacon (1561) "the Father of Empiricism"

Contemporary Humanists have both national and international profiles.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, scientists, activists and artists were active in developing and supporting the Humanist philosophy:
    * Shulamit Aloni (Minister of Education—Israel)
    * Isaac Asimov (Writer - Russia/USA)
    * Margaret Atwood (author—Canada)
    * Elena Bonner (human rights advocate, widow of  A. Sakharov —Russia)
    * Mario Bunge (Philosopher, McGill Univ.—Canada)
   *  June Callwood (Activist, Writer -- Canada)
    * Richard Dawkins (Oxford Univ.—UK)
    * Simone de Beauvoir  (Philosopher, France)
    * Marlene Dietrich  (actor, German-USA)
    * Greg Epstein (Chaplain, Harvard --USA)
    * Umberto Eco (Univ. of Bologna—Italy)
    * Luc Ferry (Philosopher, Sorbonne—France)
    * Stephen Fry (Actor, Writer--UK)
    * Bob Geldorf  (Musician, humanitarian, Eire)
    * Baroness Susan Greenfield (Neuroscientist, -- UK)
    * Stephen Jay Gould Biologist (Harvard-USA)
    * Murray Gell-Mann (Nobel Laureate, Physicist, Sante Fe Inst.—USA)
    * Herbert Hauptman (Nobel Laureate, State Univ. of New York—USA)
    * Margherita Hack (astronomer, astrophysicist—Italy)
    * Sam Harris (writer- USA)
    * Christopher Hitchens (author, lecturer—USA)
    * Donald Johanson (Inst. of Human Origins—USA)
    * Richard Leakey (paleoanthropologist, conservationist—Kenya)
    * John Malcovich (actor  USA)
    * Butterfly McQueen (actor  USA)
    * Jonathan Miller (OBE, MD, author—UK)
    * Taslima Nasrin (MD, author—Bengali /Bangladesh)
    * Elaine Pagels (professor, Princeton Univ.—USA)
    * Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964 India)
    * Steven Pinker (Harvard Univ.—Canadian/USA)
    * Karl Popper (Philosopher, Economist --Austrian-NZ)
    * Sir Terry Pratchett (Writer -- UK)
    * Vilayanur S. Ramachan (Neuroscientist, Univ Ca.-- Indian-USA)
    * Marcel Roche (Inst. de Investigaciones CientĂ­ficas—Venezuela)
    * Salman Rushdie (author, MIT—USA)
    * Oliver Sacks  (Physician, Author —UK)
    * Wole Soyinka (Nobel Laureate, author—Nigeria)
    * Thomas S. Szasz (State Univ. of New York—USA)
    * Rob Tielman (Univ. of Utrecht—Netherlands)
    * Linus Torvalds (Linux - Finnish)
    * Neil deGrasse Tyson (scientist, Hayden Planetarium—USA)
    * Mario Vargas Llosa (author—PerĂș)
    * Simone Veil (former president, European Parliament—France)
    * Gore Vidal (author—USA)
    * Kurt Vonnegut (author--US)
    * Peter Ustinov (author, actor, UNICEF ambassador - UK)
    * Mourad Wahba (Univ. of Ain Shams—Egypt)
    * James D. Watson (author, biologist—USA)
    * Wendell Watters, (Psychiatrist, sex therapist, Canadian)
    * Edward O. Wilson (Biologist, Harvard Univ.—USA)
    * Sherwin Wine (Humanist Rabbi -- USA)

Another list here:
http://www.michaelnugent.com/best/famous-atheists/