Hamilton College

Burrhus Frederic "B. F." Skinner was an American behaviorist, author, inventor, social philosopher and poet. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of... Psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974. Skinner invented the operant conditioning chamber, innovated his own philosophy of science called radical behaviorism, and founded his own school of experimental research psychology—the experimental analysis of behavior. His analysis of human behavior culminated in his work Verbal Behavior, which has recently seen enormous increase in interest experimentally and in applied settings. Skinner discovered and advanced the rate of response as a dependent variable in psychological research. He invented the cumulative recorder to measure rate of responding as part of his highly influential work on schedules of reinforcement. In a June, 2002 survey, Skinner was listed as the most influential psychologist of the 20th century. He was a prolific author who published 21 books and 180 articles. Skinner was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania to Grace and William Skinner. His father was a lawyer.
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Peter Michael Falk was an American actor, best known for his role as Lt. Frank Columbo in the television series Columbo. He appeared in numerous... films such as The Princess Bride, The Great Race and Next, and television guest roles. He was nominated for an Academy Award twice , and won the Emmy Award on five occasions and the Golden Globe award once. Director William Friedkin, when discussing Falk's role in his 1978 film The Brink's Job, said that "Peter has a great range from comedy to drama. He could break your heart or he could make you laugh." In 1968, he starred with Gene Barry in a ninety-minute television pilot about a highly-skilled, laid-back detective. Columbo eventually became part of an anthology series titled The NBC Mystery Movie, along with McCloud and McMillan & Wife. The detective series stayed on NBC from 1971 to 1978, took a respite, and returned occasionally on ABC from 1989 to 2003. Falk was "everyone's favorite rumpled television detective", wrote historian David Fantle.
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