Thomas Kuhn (1922–1996)

By cchunhao

  • Birth of Thomas Kuhn

    Thomas Samuel Kuhn was born into a Jewish family in Cincinnati, Ohio on July 18, 1922. His parents are Minette Stroock Kuhn and Samuel L. Kuhn, an industrial engineer.
  • Period: to

    Harvard summa cum laude

    Thomas Kuhn started his college career at Harvard. He first studied Physics, then the history of science. As his career developed, he moved over to philosophy of science. In 1940, he started a Bachelor of Science program in physics at Harvard and graduated1943, gained his master's degree in 1946, and finally, his doctorate in 1949.

  • First Publish/The Copernican Revolution

    In 1957 he published his first book, The Copernican Revolution.
    1957, The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought, Cambridge Mass: Harvard University Press.
    In this book, we take deep dive into De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium or On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres.

  • The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

    1962/1970a, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1970, 2nd edition, with postscript) This is his most well-known work. "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" was published in 1962, in this book he introduced the idea of the Paradigm Shift. This idea will change science and philosophy for generations to come.
    A second edition came out in 1970.

  • The Essential Tension

    1977a, The Essential Tension. Selected Studies in Scientific Tradition and Change, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
    In this book, Thomas included a collection of essays that he wrote thru out his career.

  • Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity

    1978, Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity, Oxford: Clarendon Press (2nd edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
    In this book, Thomas surveys the development of quantum mechanics.

  • Death of Thomas Kuhn

    Kuhn passed away on June 17th, 1996. He was diagnosed with throat and lung cancer, and he died in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the age of 73. This video explains the idea of Kuhn's Paradigms and Criticism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn8cCDtVd5w