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Kuhn's Birth
Thomas Kuhn was born on July 18th, 1922. In his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio he grew up in a comfortable financial situation with a younger brother. His mother was a freelance editor while his father was an industrial engineer who also served during World War 1. While he was still young, his family moved to New York. He grew up very intelligent with very good grades that eventually led him to getting into Harvard University that lead him on his path to be a Philosopher. -
Realizing
It wasn't until 1947 when Kuhn was invited to teach a course in the History of Science at Harvard that he had a big realization. He came to a lot of conclusions about Aristotle's theories of motion that would in turn interest him in furthering his knowledge of physics and becoming much more in tune with philosophy instead of continuing teaching. -
Paradigm Shift
Thomas Kun's likely most known idea is the Paradigm Shift. In his book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" where it was first introduced in 1962, he describes his philosophical idea about how a paradigm shift is a very important tool in scientific knowledge and gaining more of it. He actually coined the term incommensurability in the book too.
Interesting way to visualize a paradigm shift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cp6pEzx3uw -
Kuhn's Death
He passed away on June 17, 1996. Two years before his death at the age of 73 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he was found to have lung and throat cancer. He married Kathryn in 1948, and the two of them had three children: two daughters and a son. Sarah, Elizabeth, and Nathaniel were the names of their offspring. A divorce between Thomas and Kathryn unfortunately occurred in 1978. In the fields of philosophy and science, he had a profound influence.