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Skinner was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania to William and Grace Skinner. His father was a lawyer. He became an atheist after a Christian teacher tried to assuage his fear of the Hell that his grandmother described.[15] His brother Edward, two and a half years younger, died at age sixteen of a cerebral hemorrhage. He attended Hamilton College in New York with the intention of becoming a writer. He found himself at a disadvantage at Hamilton College with many due to his intellectual attitude. While attending, he joined Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. He wrote for the school paper, but as an atheist, he was critical of the religious school he attended. He also attended Harvard University after receiving his B.A. in English literature in 1926 where he would later research, teach, and eventually become a prestigious board member. While at Harvard, he invented his prototype for the Skinner Box. Also, a fellow student Fred Keller, convinced Skinner he could make an experimental science from the study of behavior. This led Skinner to join Keller and they created different tools for small experiments. After graduation, he unsuccessfully tried to write a great novel while he lived with his parents, which he later called the Dark Years. He tried to become a writer in Greenwich Village. He soon became disillusioned with his literary skills despite encouragement from widely renowned literary genius Robert Frost and concluded that he had little world experience and no strong personal perspective from which to write. His encounter with John B. Watson's Behaviorism led him into graduate study in psychology and to the development of his own operant behaviorism.[16] Skinner received a PhD from Harvard in 1931, and remained there as a researcher until 1936. He then taught at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis and later at Indiana University, where he was chair of the psychology department from 1946–1947, before returning to Harvard as a tenured professor in 1948. He remained at Harvard for the rest of his life. In 1973 Skinner was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto II.[17] In 1936, Skinner married Yvonne Blue. The couple had two daughters, Julie (m. Vargas) and Deborah (m. Buzan). He died of leukemia on August 18, 1990,[18] and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.[19] Skinner continued to write and work until just before his death. A few days before Skinner died, he was given a lifetime achievement award by the American Psychological Association and delivered a 15 minute address concerning his work. A controversial figure, Skinner has been depicted in many different ways. He has been called evil, hateful, but also warm and enthusiastic. Much of Skinner’s professional trouble derived from his penchant for attempting to apply science proven in lab environments at a universal level. His persona was as controversial as his science. In fact, his personality seems to have been quite similar to that of other creative scientists—highly conscientious and open to experience, but also somewhat neurotic.[20]

Skinner is popularly known mainly for his books Walden Two and Beyond Freedom and Dignity in which he made the cover of TIME Magazine.