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Escaping the War
Born on November 9, 1922 in Hungary, Imre Lakatos was a philosopher of mathematics and science who got the attention of the scientific community in the early 1960's. As a member of the Nazi resistance during World War II, he was no stranger to the horrors of war. Thus, when Hungary became occupied by Soviet tanks, he would flee his homeland for Britain after being jailed for three years by the Stalinist Regime. He would find his footing with Cambridge studying for his PhD. -
Association with Popper
Lakatos would end up working at the London School of Economics and eventually becoming a long-time associate and eventual critic of Karl Popper. He is quoted as saying his work is indicative of Popper's but his later work on philosophies of mathematics is considered to be independent of him. During his time at the school, he wrote an essay based on his PhD titled "Proofs and Refutations," alluding to Popper's work by a similar name. This was no mistake, as it intended to refute Popper's work. -
Influencing Science
Much of Lakatos' work was seen as controversial, if not outright bizarre. Disagreeing with the work of Kuhn, Lakatos sought to rescue the logic of science by writing "rational reconstructions" of scientific history, but enclosing what actually happened in footnotes. On the other hand, his "methodology of scientific research programs" was much like Kuhn's paradigms. This video captures some of the influence of his work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NQ9KLWL4DU -
Posthumous Recognition
After his abrupt death on February 2, 1974 from a heart attack, Lakatos' previously unpublished essays were combined into a work mentioned earlier in this timeline, "Proofs and Refutations." This work would be considered his masterpiece among other things he had written, as it goes about "correcting" the ways that mathematics and science truly developed by altering their histories. His focus on logic over falsification is truly what sets him apart from other philosophers.