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Harvard student to Harvard professor
As a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows, Kuhn focused on developing his ideas as a science historian and philosopher. Instead of following conventional historic timelines, he focused on the mechanisms of scientific progress. Upon completing his fellowship, Kuhn was appointed a position as an instructor. A year later, he was promoted to assistant professor where he taught advanced undergraduate History of Science, focusing on the development of mechanics from Aristotle to Newton. -
Obtaining a PhD from Harvard.
The war in Europe had ended and Kuhn was returning to America. Kuhn had become increasingly fascinated by philosophy, while his love for physics diminished. Kuhn believed that in his search for ‘Truth’, philosophy offered better prospects than physics. Already having a master’s degree in physics from Harvard and the dream of receiving a doctorate, Kuhn went forward with physics and wrote his PhD. Thesis, “The Cohesive Energy of Monovalent Metals as a Function of the Atomic Quantum Defects.” -
The Copernican Revolution
Aiming to expound the heliocentric system, Kuhn scrutinized Nicolaus Copernicus’s De Revolutionibus. Accompanying Aristotle and Ptolemy, Copernicus believed that planets orbited the sun in perfect circles. Kuhn stated that this was no more accurate than a previous system created 1,400 years earlier. Kuhn believed Copernicus’s model was only preferred because it was aesthetically pleasing. The Copernican Revolution gave birth to modern science.
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Paradigm Shifts
Within Kuhn's work "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions", published in 1962, the term “paradigm shift” was first introduced into the English language and culture. Kuhn defined paradigms as "universally recognized scientific achievements that, for a time, provide model problems and solutions for a community of researchers". Simply put, it is a complete way of going through the scientific process in a particular field. "Scientific Revolutions” occur when one paradigm replaces another. -
Phases of Science
First introduced in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, the Kuhn Cycle shows how scientific theories undergo the same basic cycle of being revolutionized. Kuhn breaks down a scientific revolution in 6 steps- pre-science, normal science, model drift, model crisis, model revolution, and lastly, paradigm change or shift. The Kuhn Cycle acts as a guiding model to understanding the events that take place leading to a paradigm shift or change. -
Death
Kuhn battled throat and lung cancer for two years. On 17 June 1996, in Cambridge Massachusetts, he died at the age of 73, leaving his mark on science that is still prevalent today. Kuhn's theory "phases of science" during a scientific revolution changed the way the scientific community approached problems. His belief of falsifying theories dared scientists to investigate prior to accepting a scientific conclusion. -
Works Cited
“The Kuhn Cycle.” The Kuhn Cycle - Thomas Kuhn's Brilliant Model of How Scientific Fields Progress, www.thwink.org/sustain/glossary/KuhnCycle.htm. Hoyningen-Huene, Paul. “Thomas S. Kuhn.” Journal for General Philosophy of Science 28.2 (1997): 235–256. Web. Kuhn, Thomas S. The Copernican Revolution : Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957. Print. Marcum, James A. “Thomas. S. Kuhn.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2003.
