Timeline: Hilary Putnam Frances Rosariofrias

Jul 31, 1926

Hilary Putnam Birthdate

Putnam was born on July 31, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois. His father was Samuel Putnam who was a scholar of romance language, columnist and a translator who wrote for the daily worker.

1951

Professor at Northwestern

1951

Thesis and Work

Putnam works contributed to the philopshy of: mind, language and science. His work also contributed to math and computer science. Putnam thesis was: The meaning of the concept of probability in application to finite sequences

1951

Schools

Putnam attended University of Pennsylvania where he obtained his Bachelors degree in philosophy. Then went on to graduate school in Harvard and got his PhD at University of California Los Angeles.

1953

Professor at Princeton

1960

Major Works

Putnam published 16 books and 198 Articles.

1961

Professor at MIT

1962

Marriage

Putnam married Ruth Anna Putnam who he met at Harvard University. She was also a Philosopher.

1965

Professor at Harvard

1967

The innateness hypothesis and explanatory models in linguist

Putnam discusses and responds to Noam Chomsky’s Innateness Hypothesis (henceforth I.H.). Putnam begins by saying, “the I.H. is the hypothesis that the human brain is 'programmed' at birth in some quite specific and structured aspects of human natural language”

1971