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Thomas Kuhn
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Birth
Thomas Samuel Kuhn born in Cincinnati, Ohio. -
Harvard Pt1
Graduated summa cum laude from Harvard, majoring in physics. He stayed at the university initially to research radar before moving said research to Europe. -
Harvard Pt2
Thomas Kuhn returned to Harvard to obtain his master's in physics. Three years later, he would obtain his doctorate in physics. He would stay at the university to not only be elected into the Society of Fellows at Harvard, but also begin his teaching career. -
The Copernican Revolution
Kuhn discovered his love for the history of science through the readings of Aristotle. He felt as though he could understand the readings without the confinements of modern-day scientific bias. This propelled him into a passion of history, leading him to author his first book, The Copernican Revolution, -
Professor Kuhn
Thomas Kuhn becomes a full-time professor at the University of Berkley. Instead of physics, he teaches history of science in the philosophy department. -
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Kuhn develops his thesis of how science evolves vs paradigm changes. The controversial idea that science and scientists only add to previous ideas before them until there is a paradigm change to bring about a new idea. This change becomes the new normal science to be built upon until there is another paradigm change. His book was published in the 1962 edition of the International Encyclopedia of Unified Science. -
Berkley to Princeton
Thomas Kuhn left his position at berkley to take the postion of M. Taylor Pyne Professor of Philosophy and History of Science at Princeton University (Bird). Shortly after his new role he was invited to debate his philosophy of science at Bedford College in London. It was here he was able to articulate and defend his position on paradigms in science as well as his thesis on scientific theories. -
Collections
In 1977, after refining and compiling Kuhns papers on scientific revolutions, the book The Essential Tension was released. The next year he published a book about the early history of quantum mechanics titled Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity. -
MIT
Named Laurence S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy at MIT. -
Later years
Thomas Kuhn continued to expand upon his concepts into the 1990's, developing his incommensurability concept, and even exploring the world of psychology. -
Death
Thomas Samuel Kuhn died in Cambridge Massachusetts. -
References
“Thomas S. Kuhn.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-S-Kuhn. Thomas Kuhn, edited by Thomas Nickles, Cambridge University Press, 2002. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/apus/detail.action?docID=217812. Bird, Alexander, "Thomas Kuhn", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2022 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2022/entries/thomas-kuhn/.