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Birth through PH.D
Putnam was an only child born on Jul 21, 1926 in Chicago, IL. His family moved to France, making Putnam’s first language French. At the age of eight, the family returned to Philadelphia, where Putnam finished primary and secondary education, as well as graduating from the University of Pennsylvania. At age 25 (1951) Putnam received his Ph.D. from UCLA, where he wrote his dissertation on the concept of probability under Hans Reichenbach (philosophy.fas.harvard.edu) -
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Putnam’s family life to death
Putnam married Erna Diesendruck in 1948, and had a daughter, Erika before divorcing in 1962. He married Ruth Anna later that year and had a daughter, Polly, and two sons, Sam and Josh. After retirement, Putnam continued to teach and write, while working his garden, creating ratatouille and soups from its products. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society and held several honorary degrees and published until 2014. He died March 13, 2016 -
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Putnam's Bibliography and Publications
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Hilary Putnam Careers
Putnam’s career started at Northwestern University in 1951. He then moved to the department of philosophy and department of mathematics at Princeton University in 1953, where he received tenure in both departments in 1960. Additionally, he was acquainted with Rudolf Carnap and Georg Kreisel immersing himself in mathematical logic. In 1961 Putnam’s career took him to M.I.T. before joining the Harvard philosophy department in 1965 where he retired as Cogan University Professor Emeritus in 2000. -
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Putnam's Project
In addition to other projects, he worked on, Putnam, with Martin Davis, and Julia Robinson to provide a basis for a proof that Diophantine equations were unsolvable in 1961. Putnam’s self-reflective and self-critical personality resulted in his earlier positions being frequently revisited and revised. In 1976 the most-pronounced change occurred, when he recommended “internal realism” be adopted in the stead of “metaphysical realism,” which in turn Internal realism was also modified. -
Rolf Schock Prize
Putnam was awarded the Rolf Schock prize in logic and philosophy by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2011. (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/14/hilary-putnam-obituary#:~:text=The%20American%20philosopher%20Hilary%20Putnam,to%20the%20mind%2Dbody%20problem.) -
American Philosophers #31 Interview
YouTube video: Hilary Putnam on Quine & Ontology (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhHIVEN839s)
