Brett's Timeline on Thomas Kuhn

The Birth of Thomas S. Kuhn

Jul 18, 1922

Thomas Samuel Kuhn was born to a Jewish couple of Samual L. Kuhn and Minette Stroock Kuhn on July 18th, 1922 in Cincinnati Ohio, USA. Thomas Kuhns father was an industrial engineer. The Kuhn family would move around throughout his childhood until Thomas would find himself attending Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Received a Bachelors in Physics

1943

Thomas Kuhn received a Bachelors in physics from the Harvard College.

Received his Masters degree from Harvard College

1946

Thomas Kuhn received his Masters degree in physics from Harvard College in 1946.

Thomas Kuhn teaches the history of science at Harvard

1948

Thomas Kuhn would take a position teaching a course on the History of Science from 1948 to 1956

Thomas Kuhn gets married

1948

Thomas Kuhn marries Kathryn Muhs from 1948-1978 who he has three children with. They had two girls and a boy, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Nathaniel. Kathryn like Kuhns mother was a graduate from Vassar College. Unfortunately the couple would divorce in 1978.

Received his PH.D in physics from Harvard College

1949

Thomas Kuhn received his PH.D degree in physics from Harvard College in 1949. He was mentored by John Hasbrouck who receive the Nobel Prize for his work in physics in 1977.

Thomas Kuhn accepted position at the University of California

1956

Harvard College that Thomas Kuhn had attended for so many years never did offer him a position during his tenure. Kuhn would accept a position at Berkeley and become the assistant professor for both philosophy and history. in 1958 he would be promoted to associate professor and in 1961 he would advance to full professor of history. Thomas Kuhn was upset about the history position as he wanted the philosophy spot but would take the opening regardless.

Thomas Kuhn published The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

1962

Thomas Kuhn published a book called The Structure of Scientific Revolutions in 1962 where it was followed by a second edition in 1970, a third edition in 1996 and finally a forth edition in 2012. Thomas Kuhn would challenge the progress in science (scientific progress). This is where Kuhn would get controversial in referring to scientist as puzzle solvers of the previous paradigm. He believed that science developed and was influenced and/or changed over time in what Kuhn would call the paradigm.

Thomas Kuhn accepts a position at Princeton University

1964

Thomas Kuhn moves back to Massachuetts to accept positions at Princeton University as the M Taylor Pyne Professor of Philosophy and History of Science.

Thomas Kuhn accepts a position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

1979

Thomas Kuhn accepts the position to become the Laurence S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy at MIT. Thomas Kuhn would stay at MIT until his retirement in 1991 at the age of 69.

Thomas Kuhn marries Jehane Barton Burns

1981

Thomas Kuhn gets married to a Jehane Barton Burns at the age of 59.

Thomas Kuhn's Death

Jul 17, 1996

Thomas Samuel Kuhn, Dies of throat and lung cancer at the age of 73 on June 17th 1996 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Thomas Kuhn is remembered for his work in the scientific community publishing work on relating to the Scientific paradigm shift, with his book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" being the most widely sited book in social science. Thomas Kuhn will be remembered as one of the most influential American historians of science and philosophers in the 20th century.