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Birth and Early Years
Thomas Kuhn was born on July 18th in 1922 to a successful family in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition to himself he had one brother. Kuhns father was an engineer who also served time in World War 1 where as his mother was a freelance editor who had roots in leftist politics. (Nickles) -
Growing up and Early schooling
Kuhn began his schooling in his younger years in a free thinking school with very little structure leading to an early deficiency in reading and writing. With assistance from his father however this issue was taken care of. Shortly after 6th grade was over Kuhn began to find his passion for physics and the study of mathematics ultimately leading to him being accepted at Harvard. (Nickles) -
Harvard years
Upon arrival at Harvard Kuhn experienced a major incline in his social life. Initially, however, schooling was not looking to promising as he made a C on his first exam. With the help of a professor Kuhn quickly found his footing and began making great scores eventually graduating summa cum laude with honors. During his undergraduate time Kuhn continued to grow as a physicist eventually being recruited during WW2 to help with counter RADAR operations. (Nickles) -
Wartime and mindset shift
After his undergraduate years at Harvard Kuhn began work during WW2 with anti-Radar applications. This time included labratory work as well as going into the field at captured German Radar facilities to study the enemy. After the war in Erurope conclude Kuhn returned to Harvard where he would receive his masters in physics. It was during this time that Kuhn began to lose his passion for physics and longed for something more. -
Berkley, Copernicus, and a new Direction
At the end of his time at Harvard Kuhn began to dive into the idea of Philosophy of science while he was giving history of science lectures. After a while Kuhn recognized that he would not be receiving tenure at Harvard so he moved to Berkley. During his time teaching about Nicolaus Copernicus revolution he began to theorize about why scientific theories appeared to be so different throughout time without there being extremely different facts presented. (Pires) -
The Paradigm Shift
The reason most know his name was the creation of the Paradigm shift. In his second book titled "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" Kuhn spoke to a topic that had intrigued him for a while: why would somebody as smart as Aristotle make sure wild claims about motion? Kuhn discovered a phenomenon where major shifts in thinking during each major time period had more of an impact on scientific theory then the science itself. He would become legendary for this discovery. (Pirozelli) -
Death and final years
After retiring from MIT in 1961 at age 69 Thomas Kuhn died at age 73 of cancer on June 17, 1996. Kuhn had been battling his throat and lung cancer for nearly 2 years. Here is an excellent video to wrap up his views on scientific understanding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tasVTgZc9Gw