There are 4 entries for this date: Butterfly McQueen, Stephen Hawking, Thomas Aikenhead and Carl Rogers.

On this day in 1911, Butterfly McQueen was born in Tampa, Fla. Best known for her role as "Prissy" in the 1939 MGM movie "Gone with the Wind," Butterfly was a nearly lifelong atheist. The role of Prissy, she would later say, "was not a pleasant part to play--I didn't want to be that little slave. But I did my best, my very best." She quit movie acting in 1947 to avoid further typecasting, going to work as a real-life maid, Macy's saleslady, and seamstress. She earned her bachelor's degree in political science in 1974 at age 64 from the New York City College. Butterfly McQueen became the Freedom From Religion Foundation's premiere Freethought Heroine in 1989. The Life Member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation died in a tragic accident on Dec. 22, 1995.

On this date in 1942, cosmologist Stephen Hawking was born in Oxford, England, "300 years after the death of Galileo," as he points out at his website. He attended Oxford, studying physics, then earned his Ph.D. in cosmology at Cambridge. By his 21st birthday, he had been diagnosed as having ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), or motor neurone disease. Despite his disability, confining him to a wheelchair and forcing him to rely on mechanized speech, Hawking became a research fellow, worked at the Institute of Astronomy, and in 1973 joined the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He became Lucasian professor of math in 1979. Hawking is celebrated for his work on unifying General Relativity with Quantum Theory. His 3 popular science books are: A Brief History of Time, Black Holes & Baby Universes & other Essays, and The Universe in a Nutshell. Although some rationalists have been disappointed in his tendency to use the term "god" too loosely as a metaphor, Hawking has made it clear he does not believe in a personal god.

On this day in 1697, Scottish medical student Thomas Aikenhead, 18 or 19 years old, was hanged to death for blasphemy, in Britain's last execution for blasphemy. The young Edinburgh student was found guilty of denying the trinity, and was convicted on the testimony of five "friends" to whom he had confided his strong religious doubts. Evidence against him were "atheistic" books in his possession. The Church of Scotland urged his "vigorous execution."

Carl Rogers

On this date in 1902, humanistic psychologist Carl Ransom Rogers was born in Oak Park, Ill., one of five children of Walter and Julia Rogers. His conservative Protestant parents created a home filled with prayer and protection for their children from society's influences. With few outside friends, Rogers led a quiet, sheltered life, reading and studying. When Rogers was a teenager, his family moved to a country house, where he developed a love of nature. Enrolling at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Rogers decided to study agriculture. He then changed his major to history and then to religion. While on a trip to Peking, China, for an international Christian conference, Rogers started to doubt his religious convictions, although it took two years in seminary before he left his religious track and decided to study teaching. Rogers obtained his M.A. from Columbia University in 1928 and his Ph.D. in 1931. While working on his doctorate, he was involved in child studies at the Society for the Prevention and Cruelty to Children, in Rochester, N.Y., becoming the center's director. He began to engage in a new relational approach to psychotherapy and, in 1939, wrote his first book, "The Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child. He became a full professor at Ohio State University and, in 1942, wrote a second book, Counseling and Psychotherapy: Newer Concepts in Practice, wherein patients could gain the necessary insight to restructure their own lives in conjunction with an empathetic therapist. The premise of self-help and self-understanding was contrary to prior clinical methodologies, in which the psychologist told the patient what to do.

In 1945, Rogers was asked to begin a new counseling center at the University of Chicago and, in 1951, he published his breakthrough work, Client-Centered Therapy, which outlined his basic theory. Rogers became president of the American Academy of Psychotherapists in 1956 and a year later returned to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to work in the Department of Psychology. After becoming disillusioned with academia, Rogers moved to LaJolla, Calif., in 1964, where he worked on the staff at the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute. In 1964, he was named "Humanist of the Year" by the American Humanist Association. He remained in LaJolla for the rest of his life, doing therapy, giving speeches and writing. Rogers wrote numerous journal articles, and 16 books, the best known being On Becoming a Person (1962). He traveled worldwide to promote his theories in the areas of education, the social sciences and in national social conflict, specifically focusing his efforts on leading encounter groups between people of conflicting political factions. In 1987, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with international intergroup conflict in South Africa and Northern Ireland. He is considered to be one of the most eminent psychologists of the 20th century, second only to Sigmund Freud.

Compiled by Jane Esbensen