Burrhus Frederic Skinner

Biography

Burrhus Frederic Skinner (B.F.Skinner) was born March 20, 1904, in Susquehanna. His father was a lawyer, while his wife was just a typical “housewife”

Skinner was an active, out-going boy who loved the outdoors and building things, and actually enjoyed school. It was known that his life was not without its tragedies considering his brother died at the age of 16 of a cerebral aneurysm.

Burrhus received his BA in English from Hamilton College in upstate New York. He wrote for the school paper. Skinner was an atheist in a school that required daily chapel attendance.

After graduating, he wanted to be a writer. He sent off poetry and short stories. In order to help make him successful, he built a study in his parents’ attic in order to concentrate, however it still didn’t help him.

Eventually, he moved to Greenwich Village in New York City where he resigned himself to writing newspaper articles on labor problems, and lived as a “bohemian.” After this stage in his life, he decided to go back to school at Harvard. He got his masters in psychology in 1930 and his doctorate in 1931, and stayed there to do research until 1936.

Also in that year, he moved to Minneapolis to teach at the University of Minnesota. There he met Yvonne Blue and before they both knew it, they were married. They had two daughters. His second daughter became famous as the first infant to be raised in one of Skinner’s inventions: the air crib. The air crib was a combination crib and playpen with glass sides and air conditioning; it looked too much like keeping a baby in an aquarium to catch on.

In 1945, he became the chairman of the psychology department at Indiana University. In 1948, he was invited to come to Harvard, where he remained for the rest of his life. While not successful as a writer of fiction and poetry, he became one of the best psychology writers.

August 18, 1990, B. F. Skinner died of leukemia after becoming the most celebrated psychologist since Sigmund Freud.