Popper4

Karl Popper Timeline

  • Period: to

    Karl Popper

    Karl Popper, born in 1902 Austria, was known as one of the most influential philosophers in the early 21st century. Over the span of his life he travelled to New Zealand and England studying and teach the philosophy of science, quantum mechanics, evolution, and many more. He wrote many influential books that rivalled the previous empiricist views from the Vienna Circle and created ground breaking theories, such as "The Theory of Falsification".
  • University of Vienna

    University of Vienna
    In 1918, Karl Popper got accepted and attended the university of Vienna. It is there where he studied mathematics and theoretical physics, and eventually got a PHD in philosophy in 1922. After he obtained his PHD he continued to pursue his passion towards philosophy by writing books and later taking a teaching position at Canterbury University in 1937.
  • The Theory of Falsification

    The Theory of Falsification
    In 1935 Karl popper published his first book titled, "Logic of Research". He later translated the book into English in his later years since it was originally in German. In his book, he discussed the importance of truly being able to falsify a scientific theory. In his eyes this differentiated science itself from pseudo-science.
  • University of Canterbury

    University of Canterbury
    After his years in Vienna, In 1937, Popper moved to New Zealand to teach at the University of Canterbury. During this time the second world war began to unleash across Austria. So in Popper's perspective he decided to combine his philosophical views with his political views and write what was known as one of his major works, "The Poverty of Historicism". In this book he discussed the importance of having an open society(democracy) rather than a closed one(totalitarianism).
  • London School of Economics

    London School of Economics
    In 1946, Karl Popper decided to move to London and take another teaching position at the London School of Economics. Besides now teaching economics, Popper also brought his focus back to philosophy and quantum mechanics, rather than political and social sciences. He remained at the university and taught until 1969. Popper still continued writing even after his role as a professor.
  • Retirement

    Retirement
    In 1969, Karl Popper retired from the teaching scene and went back to Austria for a few years to spend time with his family. Then later went back to London in 1986, and spent his final years in Kenley, Surrey. In 1994 Karl Popper died of cancer and multiple other health issues, leaving a legacy of a dozen major works and thousands of inspired young philosophers/scientist.