• • • Ayn Rand’s objectivism is still debated 
Frank Daniels III, The Tennessean (Nashville) Alan Greenspan  |Anthem  |Atlas Shrugged  |Night of January 16th  |The Fountainhead  |Nathaniel Branden  |Personal life  |Image  | On Feb. 2, 1905, Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. Her father was a successful pharmacist. His business and property were confiscated during the 1917 October Revolution, and the family fled St. Petersburg. They returned to the city, which had been renamed Petrograd, in 1921. Alisa attended Petrograd State University as one of the first women allowed to enroll. She studied social pedagogy, history and philosophy, graduating in 1924. She studied screenwriting in Leningrad and adopted the pen name Ayn Rand for what she hoped would be her career.   Published: 2013-02-02