The Pantheon of Skeptics—a roster honoring late distinguished fellows of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (formerly CSICOP)—has been established, and twenty-seven outstanding scientists, scholars, writers, and investigators have been named to it.
The CSI(COP) executive council has long discussed how to keep before the public the names of the great, now-deceased skeptics who made extraordinary contributions to the causes of science and skepticism in the modern era. Some were already well established when CSICOP (the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal) was created in 1976 and became founding fellows; others were elected as fellows later.
The desire is to continue honoring these skeptics’ contributions and to provide a sense of history about the modern skeptical movement.
The Pantheon of Skeptics was created and initial names chosen for it selected at a meeting of the CSI executive council in Denver, April 1–2, 2011. They will be listed permanently at CSI’s headquarters in Amherst, New York, and on its website. The list will be updated from time to time.
Pantheon of Skeptics:
George O. Abell
astronomer
Steve Allen
entertainer, author, critic
Jerry Andrus
magician and inventor
Isaac Asimov
biochemist and science writer
Robert Baker
psychologist
T.X. Barber
psychologist
Willem Betz
professor of medicine
Barry Beyerstein
biopsychologist
Bart J. Bok
astronomer
Mario Bunge
philosopher
Robert Carroll
philosopher
Milbourne Christopher
magician and writer
L. Sprague Decamp
author and engineer
Martin Gardner
author and critic
Stephen Jay Gould
biologist and writer
D.O. Hebb
psychologist
Sidney Hook
philosopher
Cornelis de Jager
astrophysicist
Leon Jaroff
senior science editor, Time magazine / founder, Discover magazine
Philip J. Klass
aerospace writer and engineer
Paul Kurtz
founder
Committee for Skeptical Inquiry & Skeptical Inquirer magazine
Prometheus Books
the Council for Secular Humanism
and the Center for Inquiry
Scott Lilienfeld
psychologist
Lin Zixin
former editor, Science and Technology Daily (China)
Paul MacCready
scientist, engineer, inventor
John Maddox
science editor
William V. Mayer
biologist
Walter Mccrone
microscopist
Ernest Nagel
philosopher
H. Narasimhaiah
physicist
Irmgard Oepen
professor of medicine
Robert L. Park
physicist, author
Jean-Claude Pecker
astrophysicist and astronomer
W.V. Quine
philosopher
James Randi
magician
Carl Sagan
astronomer and writer
Wallace Sampson
professor of clinical medicine at Stanford University
B.F. Skinner
psychologist
Victor Stenger
physicist and philosopher
Stephen Toulmin
philosopher
E.O. Wilson
professor emeritus, organismic and evolutionary biology, Harvard Univ.
Nobel Laureates within the Pantheon of Skeptics:
Francis H. Crick
Nobel laureate biophysicist
Murray Gell-Mann
Nobel laureate physics
Harry Kroto
Nobel laureate chemistry
Leon Lederman
Nobel laureate physics
Glenn T. Seaborg
Nobel laureate chemist
Steven Weinberg
Nobel laureate physics