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Born
Born in Paris, France in a neighborhood on the Rue des Jeûneurs, near the Grands Boulevards, just South of Montmartre. -
College Stanislas
Duhem started college at a Catholic school at age 11 and even continued after his younger sister Antoinette and new born brother Jean died during a diphtheria epidemic. -
Ecole Normale Supérieure
Duhem was first out of 30 students in his class in Science at this prestigious institution and remained so for the three years he attended. He was offered an additional two years to continue his studies and acquired a license in mathematics and physics. -
College of Bordeaux
Duhem became a theoretical physics professor at the College of Bordeaux. -
The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory
One of three major works of Duhem while at Bordeaux, Duhem disagrees that universal mutual gravitation comes from phenomena suggested in Newton's theory and that is refuted by Kepler's laws of planetary motion. Duhem poses three major theses: Instrumentalism, the underdetermination of theories by evidence, and confirmation holism.
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Pierre_Duhem -
Traité de l’Énergétique
Duhem believed that all physical phenomena, including mechanics, electromagnetism, and chemistry, could be derived from the principles of thermodynamics, but was ultimately unable to reduce electromagnetic phenomena to thermodynamic first principle in his experiment.
https://sciencetheory.net/pierre-maurice-duhem-2/ -
The System of World: A History of Cosmological Doctrines from Plato to Copernicus
Duhem's ten volume work on the history of science. Duhem wanted to show that the Roman Catholic Church had helped foster Western science in contrast to popular belief. His research in the origins of statistics led him to regard some of medieval mathematicians and philosophers as founders of modern science with the belief that they had anticipated the discoveries made in later centuries. https://sciencetheory.net/pierre-maurice-duhem-2/ -
Duhem-Quine Thesis
Named after Duhem and Willard Quine, states that it is impossible to test a hypothesis by itself without having background assumptions. No hypothesis has the capability of making predictions by itself and must rely on several other hypotheses. However, Duhem believed it applied only in the field of physics whereas Quine believed it to apply to all human knowledge. -
Falsification and the Quine-Duhem Thesis
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Death
Died at age 55 in Cabrespine, France. The cause of death could not be determined between a heart attack or chest infection.