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Hilary Whitehall Putnam (July 31, 1926 - March 13, 2016)

By YukiNishimura

  • Birth of Hilary Putnam

    Hilary Whitehall Putnam was born on July 31, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the only child of Samuel and Riva Putnam. Father was an American translator and his most famous work is translating Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote. Not much information on Riva Putnam. Ben-Menahem, Yemima. “Hilary Putnam.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 27 July 2019, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hilary-Putnam.

  • PhD from UCLA

    Putnam began his PhD at Harvard, under Willard Van Orman Quine. He decided to finish it at UCLA under the titans Hans Reichenbach and Rudolf Carnap, although Putnam did not agree with their philosophy. O'Grady, Jane. “Hilary Putnam Obituary.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 Mar. 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/14/hilary-putnam-obituary.
  • Period: to

    Professorships

    Northwestern University (1951-52)
    Princeton University (1953-61)
    M.I.T. (1961-65)
    Harvard (1965-2016) “Hilary Putnam.” Department of Philosophy, Harvard University Department of Philosophy, https://philosophy.fas.harvard.edu/people/hilary-putnam.

  • Davis Hilary Algorithm

    The algorithm is used to check the validity of a first-order logic formula using a resolution-based decision procedure for propositional logic. “Davis Putnam Procedure.” Davis Putnam Procedure - an Overview | ScienceDirect Topics, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/davis-putnam-procedure.

  • Diophantine Unsolvable

    1961 M. Davis, Hilary Putnam, and J. Robinson had established that there are exponential Diophantine equations that are universal. It showed that Hilbert’s problem about ordinary polynomial Diophantine equations is unsolvable required proving that exponentiation can be represented by a Diophantine equation, and this was done by Y. Matiyasevich in 1969 “SOME HISTORICAL NOTES.” Historical Notes from Stephen Wolfram's A New Kind of Science, https://www.wolframscience.com/reference/notes/1161a.

  • Married Ruth Anna

    Married Ruth Anna
    Hilary and Ruth Anna married on August 11, 1962. Ruth Anna was born in Berlin, Germany. Father was the German classical scholar Christian Friedrich Wilhelm Jacobs. Marquard, Bryan. “Ruth Anna Putnam, Wellesley College Philosophy Professor, Dies at 91 - The Boston Globe.” BostonGlobe.com, The Boston Globe, 21 May 2019, https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2019/05/20/ruth-anna-putnam-wellesley-college-philosophy-professor-dies/diL1ksbY9iYovu2EHQYomM/story.html.

  • Mathematics Without Foundation Article

    Putnam has famously argued against foundation by existing in two equivalent descriptions, set-theoretic and modal-logical. He critiques the difficulties surrounding both the modal-logical description and especially the notion of equivalence of descriptions. Putnam, Hilary. “Mathematics without Foundations.” History Studies International Journal of History, vol. 10, no. 7, 2018, pp. 241–264., doi:10.9737/hist.2018.658.

  • Twin Earth Thought Experiment

    Twin Earth Thought Experiment
    He created a thought experiment that's been debated heavily. Example being there are two Earths 100% identical. But one Earth has Water as H2O and the has some chemical that's XYZ. When we say water in both Earths, we mean the same but different chemical compound so there exists meaning for words independently, outside of our heads. Allthingslinguistic. “Twin Earth and Putnam.” All Things Linguistic, 5 Apr. 2016, https://allthingslinguistic.com/post/142260727668/twin-earth-and-putnam.

  • Hilary Putnam Speaks against Dichotomy at UCD (YouTube)

    Putnam criticizes the fact/value dichotomy. Putnam attacks this dichotomy, arguing that we have no clear, unproblematic notion of "fact", and that facts and values are essentially entangled with one another, even within science. “Putnam's Critique of the Fact-Value Dichotomy.” YouTube, Philosophy Overdose, 31 July 2016, https://youtu.be/mN9ZTgLUOKs.

  • Death of Hilary Putnam

    Death of Hilary Putnam
    Hilary Putnam died on March 13, 2016 at his home in Arlington, MA, he was 89 years old. His last position was a Philosopher at Harvard. The cause of death is metastasized mesothelioma per his daughter-in-law. Weber, Bruce. “Hilary Putnam, Giant of Modern Philosophy, Dies at 89.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Mar. 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/arts/hilary-putnam-giant-of-modern-philosophy-dies-at-89.html.