Chomsky Noam Studied University War Believes People Individual

Noam Chomsky is an American "linguist" (a person who studies languages), philosopher, and "activist" (someone who tries to change and improve society) who has written more than 100 books. Born in 1928 in Philadelphia, he studied at the University of Pennsylvania and made many important contributions to the "field" (area of study) of linguistics, most notably his ideas that the grammatical structure of language is biologically "hard-wired" (programmed) into the human brain. He was also a "vocal opponent" (someone who draws a lot of attention in opposition to something) of the Vietnam War, and later the Iraq War, and has been arrested multiple times.

He is one of the "most-cited" (most frequently referenced in research papers) "scholars" (an academic researcher) and his work has influenced many other fields, from political science and mathematics to music theory and psychology. He believes in the importance of educating people so that they can be "well integrated, free and independent in their thinking, and 'eager' (wanting strongly to do something) to participate in making life more meaningful and 'worthwhile' (with value) for all."

Chomsky "regularly" (often) "criticizes" (says that something is wrong or bad) U.S. foreign policy. He also defends "free speech" (the right of people to express themselves freely) and believes that "censorship" (actions to prevent others' thoughts from being shared) is wrong.

Chomsky has received many awards, honors, and "honorary degrees" (degrees given to an individual by a university in recognition of his or her accomplishments, even though the individual has not studied there).