Thomas Kuhn

Brith

Jul 18, 1922

Thomas S. Kuhn was born on July 18, 1922 in Cincinnati, Ohio to Minette Kuhn and Samuel L. Kuhn.

Harvard

1939

Attended Harvard between 1939 and 1949 earning his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Physics in 1943 and 1946 respectively, and completing his doctorate in History of Science in 1949. He continued to teach Philosophy of Science and History of Science at Harvard until 1956 when he move to Berkeley and continued on to Princeton and MIT between 1979-1991.

The Copernican Revolution

1957

Published in 1957 Kuhn's first book “The Copernican Revolution” critiques Copernicus and his heliocentric theory. Offering an in-depth look at De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium or On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. Kuhn looks at not just Copernicus but relates his theories through out history from Aristotle to Newton and examines how integral the physics and researchers were to heliocentric theory.

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

1962

In 1962 The University of the Chicago Press published Thomas Kuhn’s Book “ The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.” This was the landmark book where Kuhn expressed his ideas on the revolutionary nature of a scientific revolution. Science goes through phases where “normal science” is researched and problem solving occurs. When enough inaccuracies occur a “crises” transpires forcing a revolution and the adaptation of a new paradigm. For additional information visit https://youtu.be/Yn8cCDtVd5w.

Death

Jun 17, 1996

At the age of 73 Thomas Kuhn died on June 17, 1996 at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Reasources

1997

1) Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Thomas S. Kuhn". Encyclopedia Britannica, 13 Jun. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-S-Kuhn. Accessed 10 July 2022.
2)Kuhn, Thomas S. The Copernican Revolution : Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought. Harvard
University Press, 1957.
3)1. Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. University of the Chicago Press, 1962.