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Early Life
-Thomas Samuel Kuhn is born on July 18th, 1922, to parents Minette Stroock Kuhn and Samuel L. Kuhn.
-Kuhn attends primary school first in Croton on Hudson, NY, and graduates from the Taft school in Watertown, CT.
- It is during this time he develops an affinity for mathematics and the physical sciences. -
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Harvard Education
-Kuhn is accepted into Harvard University with intent to major in physics.
-During this interim he is inspired by the works of Immanuel Kant and begins to suspect that philosophy may be his true domain.
-1943 Kuhn is awarded BSc in physics.
-1943-1945 Kuhn contributes to the U.S. war effort as a radar technician.
-1946 MSc is awarded in physics.
-1949 PhD is awarded, again in the subject of physics.
-1948-1956 Kuhn becomes an assistant professor and instructor in the history department. -
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Departure from Harvard, and Development of Influential Writings
-1956 Kuhn leaves Harvard and teaches philosophy and history at UC Berkeley.
-1957 His first book, "The Copernican Revolution", is published.
-1961 Kuhn is named Professor of the history of science at UC Berkeley
- January 1st, 1962, Kuhn publishes his most influential work, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions". -
"The Copernican Revolution" Thomas S. Kuhn, Harvard University Press, 1957
-Kuhn chronicles and analyzes the shift from the Ptolemaic (Earth-centric) model of the solar system to the Heliocentric (Sun-centered) model, largely brought about by Renaissance Polymath Nicolaus Copernicus.
-This work is a historical analysis of the Copernican Revolution, chronicling the paradigm shift and highlighting the importance of analyzing scientific development.
- Scientific development would be further expanded upon in his next work, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions". -
"The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" Thomas S. Kuhn, University of Chicago Press, 1962
- Before Kuhn, a widely accepted framework for the progression of science was not formulated.
- Kuhn presented the theory that scientific development was broken into 3 phases: prescience, normal science, and revolution, also known as a paradigm shift. -Kuhn also presents the idea of incommensurability between 2 scientific paradigms, or the notion that an old paradigm cannot be compared to a new paradigm with the advent of new foundations and terminology.
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The Legacy of Kuhn's Greatest Work
- Kuhn's ideas remain widely accepted by the scientific community from inception to the present day.
- "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" has been used as a basis for fields seeking scientific legitimacy, sociology and psychoanalysis being two examples.
- See linked video below for more information.
- Timetoast
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Late Career and Death
-1964 Kuhn leaves UC Berkeley for Princeton University, obtaining the title of M. Taylor Pyne Professor of Philosophy and History of Science.
-1983 Kuhn leaves Princeton for MIT as the Laurence S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy.
-1996 Kuhn passes on July 17th, 1996, following a battle with lung cancer.