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From Physics to Philosophy
Thomas Kuhn received his Bachelors of Physics in 1943, Masters of Physics in 1946, and Doctorates of Physics in 1949 from Harvard University. After finishing his PhD, Kuhn taught an undergraduate history of science class which started his interest in the historical analysis of science and philosophy. This would lead him to eventually publish his first book. -
Published "The Copernican Revolution"
This was the first book Kuhn published. In this work Kuhn explored the development of the heliocentric theory during the Renaissance era. He showed that the previous Ptolemaic theory was accepted during the "normal" period of science, and when discrepancies came along they shifted into the "revolutionary" period of science and that is when the theory of heliocentrism appeared and it returned to being a "normal" period of science. -
Published "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions"
The second book he published. Kuhn revolutionized the way scientist and philosophers analyzed the history of science and the scientific theory itself. He introduced the concept of paradigm shifts as well as the idea of the cycle of "normal" periods and "revolutionary" periods of scientific development. Kuhn admitted that that he was interesting in publishing a book of this nature while he was still working on his PhD at Harvard, more than 15 years before the date he actually published it. -
Resources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L70T4pQv7P8 Bird, Alexander. “Thomas Kuhn.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 31 Oct. 2018, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/thomas-kuhn/. Kaiser, David. “In Retrospect: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, Apr. 2012, https://www.nature.com/articles/484164a. “Thomas S. Kuhn.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-S-Kuhn#ref1044190.