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Swift
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Written by Tim Farley
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Tuesday, 29 November 2011 09:00 |
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Earlier this month skeptics celebrated Carl Sagan Day, held to commemorate the birthday of the late skeptic. Like many in skepticism, Sagan came to it via the sciences. There’s another date this week that is the birthday of not just one, but several legendary skeptics who come to skepticism from the arts.
November 30, 1667 was the birthday of Irish author Jonathan Swift. A relentless social critic, he was also highly skeptical of topics such as astrology. He famously hoaxed a well-known London astrologer by predicting his death. Because of this and his other works, Swift is the namesake of the JREF's SWIFT newsletter.
Also born this day was American author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. He was born November 30, 1835, and like Swift was a relentless social critic. In the skeptic realm, Twain was very critical of religion in general, and wrote one of the earliest critiques of Christian Science. He also criticized homeopathy.
More recently, the stage mentalist Banachek was born Steve Shaw on November 30, 1960. A familiar face to those who attend skeptic meetings in the US, Banachek participated in the “Project Alpha” hoax back in the 1980s. He is now in charge of JREF’s Million Dollar Challenge.
You can get a daily dose of the history of skepticism with JREF’s free Today in Skeptic History app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad or by subscribing on Twitter or on Facebook.
(This essay originally appeared in a slightly different form on Skepticality episode #144)
Tim Farley is a JREF Research Fellow in electronic media.
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Last Updated on Friday, 11 November 2011 12:39 |
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