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Born in Cincinnati, Ohio
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The Copernican Revolution 1957
When an accepted paragdim is challenged, Kuhn agrues that there is a period of crisis that can lead to a turn of events. New paragdims are introduced and have to compete to bring the scientific community to a new normal. This text discusses the Copernican Revolution and its influence to astronomy and scientific thought. Kuhn, Thomas S. The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957. Print. -
The Structure of Scientific Revolution
Published in 1962, this book composed Kuhn's theories of normal science which consists of paradigms, an accepted concept, that can be challenged by inconsistencies which may lead to a scientific revolution that leads to new paradigms. Kuhn's definition of normal science served to highlight the central function of day-to-day science in solving problems or as he says "puzzles."
Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962. Print. -
How well can one apply their knowledge and assumptions to a particular problem?
As a historian, Kuhn did not view science as the objective search for the truth. Science is conducted by bias humans who act on assumptions. Science should be for the pursuit of knowledge and the betterment of man, but it is not always used for good. The popular scientific experiments or "exemplars" can make science seem more progressive than it really is.
Brief video about Kuhn's ideas:Link text -
The Essential Tension 1977
In this text, Kuhn presents his veiws on learning, teaching, and the rise and fall or scientifcic contributions. To Kuhn, the progression of science was not cumulative and liner. Instead, scientists improved their problem solving skills by conducting everyday science or "normal science". Normal science is the intensive study into a narrow topic.
Kuhn, Thomas S. The Essential Tension : Selected Studies in Scientific Tradition and Change. Chicago :University of Chicago Press, 1977. -
Death of a historian, teacher, and philosopher
"Warts and all" generates a perspective of science that incorporates the bad with the good and the mundane with the revolutionary. Kuhn did not see science as the beaming light of truth that superimposed all other fields, he saw science as a analytical way of thinking that can be built upon to create knowledge. His diverse and impressive career will continue to challenge how we understand the "puzzles" about the natural world.
