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The Birth of Thomas S. Kuhn
Thomas Samuel Kuhn was born on July 18, 1922 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His mother and father names were Minette and Samuel Louis Kuhn. Thomas was the first of two sons. His brother Roger was born 3 years later. Shortly After Thomas was born, his parents decided to move to New York and begin a new life with their baby boy. -
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Young Thomas Early School Years
Thomas experienced his first years of school up to the 5th grade at Lincoln School in Manhattan. At the school they only taught independent thinking instead of learning different subjects and facts. Samuel noticed his son was not able to write or read, becoming very upset. Samuel gave Thomas as many lessons as he can get before starting 6th grade at a new school. Thomas moved to Croton-on-Hudson 40 mi. north. Attending Hessian Hills until 9th grade before leaving at the end of the school year. -
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Harvard
After Thomas finished his remaining high school years at another two other schools. Solebury School and graduating at Taft School. Graduating with straight-A's, Thomas was accepted into Harvard, sam school his father attended. Planning to major in Physics due to his father recommendation. His second year of college, America enter World War II. Thomas started to speed up his progress to getting his degree. Thomas was able to finish his B.S. in Physics with highest honor. -
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Wartime Efforts
Shortly after graduating, Thomas decided to help out to turn the tide in the war by joining the Radio Research Laboratory’s theoretical group. The location of the group was at Harvard. Working to develop countermeasures against enemy radar. Eventually Thomas join a RAF Officer the United Kingdom to study recent capture radar sites. Even going to Germany itself. Returning back to Harvard when the war ended. -
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Thomas S Kuhn Ph.D
After returning to Harvard, Thomas continued to further his career and finished his master's degree in 1946. Working towards a PhD in physics he began working on his doctorate. Accomplishing this goal in 1949, the thesis that help him achieve this is called The Cohesive Energy of Monovalent Metals as a Function of the Atomic Quantum Defects. It was also around this time he realize his drive for physics was burning out. -
Copernican Revolution
The first book published by Thomas Kuhn was called The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought. In this book Thomas inspected Nicolaus Copernicus’s well-known book De revolutionibus. Describing Nicolaus texts as not actually being revolutionary only a foundation for scientific revolution change. -
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Thomas Kuhn came out with his book that shook up the science community. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions transformed the concept of how science and the results achieved go through a paradigm was incorrect. When in reality there is no paradigm. Thomas explains it is constantly changing as our views and understanding changes. The paradigm is always shifting and changing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L70T4pQv7P8 -
Scientific Tradition and Change
In 1977, Thomas published another book full of his collected essays hoping to enlighten, explain, improve, and defend the theses presented his book. The book was called The Essential Tension: Selected Studies in Scientific Tradition and Change. As the book is divided into two section, the section goes over "Historiographic studies" and the second "Metahistorical Studies". -
Death of Thomas S. Kuhn
On June 19, 1996, Thomas S. Kuhn died from lung cancer. He was diagnosed with it back in 1944. Thomas was at the age 73 when he passed away. He survived by his wife, Jehane and his three kids Sarah, Elizabeth and Nathaniel Kuhn. Thomas Kuhn paved a way for future generations and strived hard to educate the important aspect of the History of Science. Thomas Kuhn made far reaching changes in the history and philosophy of science.