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Born
Most writings on the scientist state he was born in Paris, France on the tenth while Wikipedia states the 9th. For this purpose I believe the date to be the tenth. -
College
Entered college at age 11. -
College of Bordeaux
He was a professor of theoretical physics. -
The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory
In the work he is disagreeing that Newton's theory that universal mutual gravitation comes from phenomena. He said that this theory clearly goes against Kepler's laws of planetary motion. He introduced Instrumentalism (used to predict phenomena), the underdetermination of theories by evidence (Duhem-Quine thesis), and confirmation holism (similar to DQ thesis).
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Pierre_Duhem -
Theoretical Physics
Duhem felt that from thermodynamics came physical phenomena, mechanics, electromagnetism, and chemistry. However, while writing Traité de l'Énergétique he was unable to associate electromagnetism with thermodynamics as he originally thought. It failed the first law. He had a disbelief is how useful atoms were and the thermodynamics atoms are essential.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Duhem -
Histoire des Doctrines Cosmologiques de Platon à Copernic
The System of World: A History of Cosmological Doctrines from Plato to Copernicus. This a ten volume collection of work that delves into the scientific theories of the past. It was contracted to have one volume published yearly. He began with his newfound interest in medieval science he previously thought baseless and expanded on how even Galileo had medieval aspects. His favorite focus was on DiVinci's notebooks.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/duhem/ -
Duhem–Quine Thesis YouTube Video
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Duhem–Quine Thesis
Named after Duhem and Willard Quine, this thesis, also known as Underdetermination, states that any result that is observed will have more than one explanation. It also states that no hypothesis can have a prediction without previous hypothesis's reasonable conclusions. Although co-named, Duhem actually believed the ability to not be able to isolate a hypothesis only applied to physics, whereas Quine believed it applied to all subjects.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duhem%E2%80%93Quine_thesis -
Death
It is undetermined if his death was attributed to a heart attack or a chest infection.
