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Thomas Samuel Kuhn
Thomas Kuhn was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on July 18, 1922. He was born to Samuel L. and Minette Kuhn. He was the oldest for three siblings. His father was a hydraulic engineer who studied at Harvard.
Kuhns' parents political views were liberal which reflected into Kuhns education. In 1927 Kuhn attended Lincoln School in Manhattan. -
Undergraduate Education
Kuhn followed his father foot steps and enrolled into Harvard University in the fall of 1940. During Kuhns freshman year of college he took a year long philosophy class in which he learned about Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Spinoza, Hume and Kant.
In 1941, during his sophomore year of university the attacks on Pearl Harbor occurred. This same year he decided to major in Physics.
In 1943 Kuhn graduated Harvard University with a bachelors degree in Physics. -
Graduate Education
In 1946, Kuhn attained his master's degree in physics. In 1949, Kuhn earned his Ph.D also in physics concentrating in the application of quantum mechanics to solid state physics. In 1956, Kuhn began teaching undergraduate students humanities as part of the General Education in Science. Teaching gave Kuhn the opportunity to read on historical science texts. His teachings focused on eighteen century matter theory and history of thermodynamics. -
The Copernican Revolution- The book
In 1957, Kuhn published his first book "The Copernican Revolution" In this book he claimed he had identified an important feature missed by scholars: its plurality. Scientist must have philosophical and religious commitments that are important for justification of scientific knowledge. -
University of California- Berkeley
In 1961 Kuhn became a professor at the University of California- Berkeley teaching history of science in the philosophy department. Kuhn had moved to California in 1956. While teaching Kuhn had developed an interest for philosophy of science. Kuhns colleagues introduced him to the works of Wittgenstein and Paul Feyerabend. -
The Structure of Scientific Revolution
In 1962, Kuhn published, "The Structure of Scientific Revolution" in the international Encyclopedia of United States. The idea was the development of science driven in normal periods. Kuhn mentions that a function of a paradigm is to supply a puzzle for scientist to solve and provide tools for a solution. There is a YouTube video that explains this topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L70T4pQv7P8 -
Last Decade
From 1980s to the 1990s Kuhn continued to work on multiple topics. In 1994 Kuhn was diagnosed with lung cancer. In Kuhns final days he was working on his second philosophy monograph. Kuhn passed away on June 17, 1996 from lung cancer. -
Citations/ Sources
-Bird, Alexander. “Thomas Kuhn.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 31 Oct. 2018, plato.stanford.edu/entries/thomas-kuhn/.
-Marcum, James A. “Thomas S. Kuhn (1922—1996).” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, iep.utm.edu/kuhn-ts/#H1.
-“Thomas Kuhn.” Prabook.com, 1 Jan. 1962, prabook.com/web/thomas.kuhn/311102#gallery.
-“Thomas Kuhn.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Mar. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kuhn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L70T4pQv7P8