Thomas kuhn

Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996)

By ejdowden

  • Birth & Early Childhood

    Thomas Kuhn was born on July 18th, 1922 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Shortly thereafter, he and his family moved to New York where he continued to bounce from school to school and eventually finished primary school in Connecticut. Thomas Kuhn - Biography, Facts and Pictures. (2017). Famousscientists.org. https://www.famousscientists.org/thomas-kuhn/

  • The Copernican Revolution

    In 1957, Thomas Kuhn writes "The Copernican Revolution" which analyzes Copernicus' heliocentric theory and its effects on how we think about the evolution of scientific beliefs and the development of astronomy. This is his first major work and it has large implications on his future writings.
    The Copernican Revolution — Thomas S. Kuhn. (n.d.). Www.hup.harvard.edu. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674171039

  • The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

    In 1962, Kuhn writes "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions". In this book, Kuhn describes revolutions occurring when scientists within a discipline of science gather enough data that cannot be explained with the current framework or paradigm being used. This leads to scientists having to go back to the basics and think outside of the current paradigm to address these issues which then leads to a scientific revolution. Here is a short video that describes Kuhn's theory:

  • Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity

    In 1978, Kuhn Publishes the book "Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity" where he argues that Max Planck "did not have in mind a genuine physical discontinuity of energies until 1908, which is after Albert Einstein and Paul Ehrenfest had themselves emphasized it in 1905–6"(Bird, 2018). Kuhn also shows that without directly stating his concept of incommensurability, it is shown with his analysis of Plancks' errors.

  • Death

    Thomas Kuhn died on June 17th, 1996 at age 73, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His theory on scientific revolutions have had such a large impact on how we think about revolutions in general. How many times have you heard someone use the term "paradigm shift" not specifically referencing Thomas Kuhns' meaning of the word. His work has spread to aspects of life that he may have not even imagined.