Paul Oppenheim

By sdtturne

  • Birth

    Oppenheim was born into a wealthy and respected Jewish family in Frankfurt am Main, Germany (Rescher, 1997).

  • University of Giessen

    Oppenheim studied chemistry and philosophy at the University of Giessen and earned his doctorate on chemistry (Rescher, 1997).

  • Marriage

    Married Gabrielle Errera. Gabrielle's father was a Rector of the University of Brussels (Rescher, 1997).

  • WW1

    Worked at the war ministry in Berlin (Rescher, 1997).

  • Progression of chemistry

    Became president of a international trading subsidaries of I.G. Farbenindustrie, a leading German chemical conglomerate (Rescher, 1997).

  • First philosophical work

    Found an interest in philosophy of science as he published philosophical monographs. Created first monograph on the fundamental principles of a comparative science of the sciences (Rescher, 1997).

  • Second philosophical work

    Second philosophical monograph was on the scientific concept-formation with the help of Hans Reichenbach (Rescher, 1997).

  • C.G. Hempel

    They met in Brussels, and wrote a book together and several papers. Book was the logic of classifications (Rescher, 1997).

  • Kurt Grelling

    Second investigator who helped Oppenheim with the investigation of the gestalt concept (Rescher, 1997).

  • Escape of Germany

    Seeing the rise of the Nazi Party and the threat they posed, he fled to Princeton (Rescher, 1997).

  • H20 paperss

    Olaf Helmer joined Oppenheim and Hempel on their work of the H20 papers (Rescher, 1997).

  • Studies in the Logic of Explanation

    Hempel-Oppenheim published this paper that put Oppenheim on the philosophical map (Rescher, 1997).

  • Nicholas Rescher

    Meet through Hempel. Helped in the gestalt concept that was published in the Logical Analysis of Gestalt Concepts with Oppenheim advising the paper (Rescher, 1997).

  • Death

    Died at the age of 92 after a life of major philosophical work in the science field (Rescher, 1997).

  • References

    Rescher, N. (1997). H2O: Hempel-Helmer-Oppenheim, an Episode in the History of Scientific Philosophy in the 20th Century. Philosophy of Science, 64(2), 334–360. http://www.jstor.org/stable/188313