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Birth of Kuhn
Thomas Samuel Kuhn was born on July 18th, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father, Samuel Louis Kuhn, was an industrial engineer, graduated both Harvard and MIT, as well as fought in World War 1. Thomas's mother was Minette Kuhn, she was a graduate of Vassar College and heir to a wealthy New York family. -
Kuhn in College
Thomas Kuhn had completed his master's degree in Physics at Harvard in 1946. He then continued his education completing his doctorate in 1949. He had written a thesis on The Cohesive Energy of Monovalent Metals as a Function of the Atomic Quantum Defects. With this thesis being written it had resulted in Kuhn being elected to the Society of Fellows at Harvard. -
Kuhn and "The Copernican Revolution"
While teaching at Harvard Kuhn taught undergraduate courses that delved into Aristotle's work. He quickly became perplexed from Aristotle's work. His fascination had caused Kuhn to concentrate on the history of science. This had led up to his first book being published, The Copernican Revolution. Cosmos Magazine described The Copernican Revolution by stating the following, "examines the development of the heliocentric theory of the solar system during the Renaissance." -
Professor Kuhn
Berkeley promoted Kuhn to a full professor of History of Science. Interestingly enough Famous Scientists state that this actually infuriated him because he wanted to be a professor of Philosophy. In the end, however, he agreed to accept the position in History. -
Structure of Scientific Revolutions
In his book, Kuhn writes about the history of science. Kuhn goes on to challenge normal science. The Encyclopedia Britannica states "he argued that scientific research and thought are defined by “paradigms,” or conceptual world-views, that consist of formal theories, classic experiments, and trusted methods." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQPsc55zsXA
Here is a video further describing is ideas. -
Death of Thomas Kuhm
On June 17, 1996, Thomas Kuhn died at the age of 73. He passed in his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For the previous two years, he had been ill and battling lung cancer.
