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Birth of Thomas Kuhn (1922)
Born on July 18th, 1922 in Cincinnati, Ohio. A few months after his birth Thomas's father, Samuel Louis Kuhn, an industrial engineer, and his mother, Minette Kuhn, a freelance editor, moved their family to New York. He was the oldest of two children and raised in a wealthy Jewish New York City family.
The Doc. (2021). Home. Retrieved April 03, 2021, from https://www.famousscientists.org -
Early Education I (1927-1937)
From 1927 to 1932, Thomas attended Lincoln School, a private progressive school, in Manhattan, NY. Astonishingly, Thomas did not learn to read until the age of seven.
In 1933, he moved to Croton-on-Hudson, NY, and attended another private progressive school called Hessian Hills School where he found a passion for Mathematics.
In 1937, he left Hessian Hills School over a dispute with teachers.
The Doc. (2021). Home. Retrieved April 03, 2021, from https://www.famousscientists.org -
Early Education II (1938-1940)
Thomas's final years of Early Education were somewhat nomadic.
In 1938, He attend Solebury School, a private boarding school, in Solebury PA.
Lastly, in 1939 and 1940, He attended Taft private boarding school in Waterton CT.
June of 1940, he graduated Taft School as a strait "A" student. Influenced by his father, he chose to attend Harvard University majoring in Physics instead Mathematics.
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Harvard University (1940 - 1943)
In the fall of 1940, 18 year old Thomas Kuhn began his freshman year at Harvard University.
His sophomore year, he decided to speed up his studies in Physics to earn his degree a year early due to the United States entering World War II
He graduated in 1943 as Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Physics. He was also the head of the editorial board for the college's news paper, The Harvard Crimson.
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World War II (1943 - 1945)
In 1943, Thomas was member of the Radio Research Laboratory's theoretical group, based at Harvard University, tasked to devise different ways to countermeasure enemy radar. Later, that year he was sent to the United Kingdom to continue his work on enemy radar countermeasures. in 1944, while traveling with the Royal Air Force, he studied captured German radar installations in France.
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Return to Harvard (1945-1949)
After WW II, Thomas returned to Harvard to pursue his master's degree, which he obtained in 1946. He conveniently continued his studies and was awarded his PhD in 1949 with his thesis "The Cohesive Energy of Monovalent Metals as a Function of the Atomic Quantum Defects". Afterward, he became fascinated with Philosophy and believed his personal search for "Truth" offered more prospects in life than Physics.
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Harvard Instructor (1948-1956)
In 1948, Kuhn joined the Harvard Society of Fellows allowing him time to focus on developing ideas as a historian and philosopher. He then was appointed as an Instructor in 1951 teaching general courses. A year later, he began teaching an advanced History of Science course to undergraduates focusing on the development of mechanics from Aristotle to Newton.
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The Professor (1956 - 1991)
In 1956, he became an assistant professor in Philosophy & History at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1961, he was promoted as Professor. During his time at Berkeley he began to write "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions".
In 1964, He moved to Princeton University as the Professor of Philosophy & History of Science.
From 1979 to 1991, he held the title Professor of Philosophy at MIT.
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Paradigm Shift (1962)
In 1962, Kuhn published "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" describing paradigm shifts, a concept that questions the framework of basic mechanics. "Sometimes you have to go way back in order to find the starting point, to write something that indicates how powerful these prior beliefs were and why they ran into trouble” (Kuhn 1962)
Then & Now. (2020, May 27). Thomas Kuhn: The structure of Scientific Revolutions. Retrieved April 03, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L70T4pQv7P8 -
Death of Thomas Kuhn (1996)
Thomas Kuhn died June 17th,1996 in Cambridge Massachusetts due to cancer. Survived by wife Jehane Burns, ex-wife Kathry Muhs, and children, Sara, Elizabeth, and Nathaniel.
Legacy: Thomas Kuhn Paradigm Shift Award. Awarded to speakers who present original views that are at odds with mainstream scientific understanding.
COMP Division of the ACS. (n.d). Thomas Kuhn paradigm Shift Award. Retrieved April 03, 2021, from https://www.acscomp.org/awards/inactive-awards/thomas-kuhn-paradigm-shift-award