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Birth
Born July 18, 1922 in Cincinnati, Ohio to Samuel L. Kuhn, a hydraulic engineer (graduate from Harvard University and MIT) and to Minette Kuhn, a graduate of Vassar College. -
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Education
Kuhn started his academic life in physics, switched to history of science, and then developed to the philosophy of science. He earned his Bachelor's (1943) and Master's (1946) degrees in physics at Harvard University and obtained his Ph.D. (1949) in the history of science. -
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Harvard
Kuhn was elected to the esteemed Society of Fellows at Harvard and from then, he taught undergraduates a curriculum in history of science (developed by James B. Conant, President of Harvard) from 1951 to 1956. -
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UC Berkeley
Kuhn taught at University of California at Berkeley from 1956 to 1964; In 1956, he took post in history of science under the philosophy department. This is where he took interest in philosophy of science and became full professor in 1961. -
The Copernican Revolution
During Kuhn's time in Harvard, he started to concentrate on the history of science and soon became appointed to assistant professorship. He turned to history of astronomy and published his first book, "The Copernican Revolution," in 1957, which analyzes the development of the heliocentric theory (the Sun at the center of the solar system) from the Ptolemaic model (Earth at the center of the universe). -
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Kuhn published "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions." The central idea is that the development of science is driven by paradigms during normal periods of science. Paradigms function as puzzles to solve and tools needed for solutions. Crisis happens when confidence in a paradigm is lost due to anomalies. Thereafter, a revolution ensues when a paradigm is succeeded by a rival leading to a paradigm shift. Incommensurability claims there is no common measure for assessing different theories. -
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Princeton
Kuhn taught at Princeton University from 1964 to 1979. He took up the position of M. Taylor Pyne Professor of Philosophy and History of Science. -
Collection of Essays
In 1977, Kuhn published "The Essential Tension," which emphasizes importance of tradition in science. In 1978, he published a second monograph, "Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity," which highlights early history of quantum mechanics. -
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MIT
Kuhn taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1979 to 1991. He was named Laurence S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy in 1983. -
Death
Kuhn died on June 17, 1996 in Cambridge, Massachusetts -
Thomas Kuhn: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Video
