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Education
Kuhn studied physics at Harvard University; earning his bachelors in 1943, his masters in 1946 and his PhD in 1949.
Bird, Alexander, "Thomas Kuhn", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2018/entries/thomas-kuhn/. -
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Life as a Professor
Kuhn was elected to the Society of Fellows at Harvard and taught the history of science from 1951–56. He went on to teach at University of California at Berkeley from 1956–64, Princeton University 1964–79, and the MIT from 1979–91. His major contributions to science were during these times as a professor. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Thomas S. Kuhn.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 14 July 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-S-Kuhn. -
First Book, The Copernican Revolution
While at the University of California in 1957, Kuhn turned his attention to astronomy and published his first book titled, The Copernican Revolution, concerning the Renaissance and development of the heliocentric theory of the solar system. Kuhn, Thomas S. The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957. -
The best of the 20th Century
While at the University of California, Kuhn wrote his 2nd book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. This was his greatest contribution to the philosophy of science & sociology arguing that the foundation of science and thought are defined by paradigms suspected to revolution due to the falsifiable nature of the "mature" scientific culture.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tasVTgZc9Gw Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962. -
Deeper into paradigms with The Function of Dogma in Scientific Research
Kuhn publishes a philosophical essay titled The Function of Dogma in Scientific Research in 1963 regarding the roles of paradigms and values of scientific nature.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH_kXuhRIoQ Kuhn, T. S. "The Function of Dogma in Scientific Research". pp. 347–69 in A. C. Crombie (ed.). Scientific Change (Symposium on the History of Science, University of Oxford, July 9–15, 1961). New York and London: Basic Books and Heineman, 1963. -
Essay Collection, The Essential Tension
A collection of Kuhn's essays regarding the philosophy and history of science. Kuhn, T. S. The Essential Tension: Selected Studies in Scientific Tradition and Change. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1977. -
Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity
In 1987 he published a historical monograph titled Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity, regarding the early history of quantum mechanics. Kuhn, T. S. Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity, 1894-1912. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.