B. F. Skinner in The Behavior of Organisms, published in 1938, presented a formulation of operant behavior and a method for its investigation that are basic to the experimental analysis of behavior now practiced in hundreds of laboratories throughout the world. For this work, Dr. Skinner was given the National Medal of Science by President Lyndon Johnson and the Gold Medal of the American Psychological Foundation. Many practical applications of the method have been made in other sciences, such a physiology and psychopharmacology. The principles of operant conditioning led to programmed instruction and the modern conception of teaching machines, for which Dr. Skinner received many awards from educational organizations. He was also responsible for the first research in what has come to be called behavior therapy; and for his contribution to still another field he received the International Award of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., Foundation for Mental Retardation. Dr. Skinner is the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. He is the author of the utopian novel Walden Two and of Beyond Freedom and Dignity, as well as eight other books.