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Early life of Thomas Kuhn
Kuhn was born in Cincinatti Ohio in 1922 to a Jewish family, his father was an industrial engineer. Kuhn went to Lincoln school for his whole pre-middle school education. Lincoln school was a private school in Manhattan, which taught students to be independent thinkers. Later Kuhn's family moved north to a small town in New York where Kuhn attended another private school called Hessian Hills and started studying mathematics. -
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1937-1956
In 1937 Kuhn dropped out of Hessian Hills school, and then later left the school and graduated from The Taft school in Connecticut in 1940. In 1943 he obtained a bachelor's degree in physics and in 1946 and 1949 obtained his masters and PHD at Harvard university. Kuhn started teaching at Harvard from 1948-1956 after getting his PHD in science. -
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1956-1962
In 1956 Kuhn left Harvard to teach in another school called Berkeley University. Kuhn was a professor in the history and philosophy department. In 1962 he published his famous book "The structure of scientific revolutions" which he introduced the concept of "paradigm" shifts, "paradigm" being a word he invented which has never been seen or heard of. A paradigm is a set of concepts or thought patterns that arise when scientists discuss problems and come up with resolutions to those problems. -
The Impact of Kuhn's book
When Kuhn published his book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions." in 1956, it provided a new image of the way scientists work on theories and come up with solutions to problems. This was the beginning of a new way to look at the philosophy of science and also stirred heated debate between groups as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L70T4pQv7P8