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Thomas S. Kuhn, in full Thomas Samuel Kuhn was born on July 18, 1922 in Cincinnati, Ohio. -
he graduated from Harvard summa cum laude. Thereafter he spent the remainder of the war years in research related to radar at Harvard and then in Europe. -
He gained his master’s degree in physics
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he earned his doctorate degree also in Physics (concerning an application of quantum mechanics to solid state physics) -
another of whose members was W. V. Quine. also at this time, Kuhn taught a class in science for undergraduates in the humanities, as part of the General Education in Science curriculum. This course was centered around historical case studies, and this was Kuhn’s first opportunity to study historical scientific texts in detail. His initial bewilderment on reading the scientific work of Aristotle.
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The book begins with a description of the first scientific cosmology developed by the Greeks. Mr. Kuhn thus prepares the way for a continuing analysis of the relation between theory and observation and belief. He describes the many functions of the Greek concept of the universe, concentrating especially on the religious implications. He then treats the intellectual, social, and economic developments which nurtured Copernicus’ break with traditional astronomy. -
Kuhn became a full professor at the University of California at Berkeley, having moved there in 1956 to take up a post in history of science, but in the philosophy department. This enabled him to develop his interest in the philosophy of science. At Berkeley Kuhn’s colleagues included Stanley Cavell, who introduced Kuhn to the works of Wittgenstein, and Paul Feyerabend. -
the central idea of his book is that the development of science is driven, in normal periods of science, by adherence to what Kuhn called a ‘paradigm’. The functions of a paradigm are to supply puzzles for scientists to solve and to provide the tools for their solution. A crisis in science arises when confidence is lost in the ability of the paradigm to solve particularly worrying puzzles called ‘anomalies. -
Kuhn left Berkeley to take up the position of M. Taylor Pyne Professor of Philosophy and History of Science at Princeton University. -
the second edition of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was published, including an important postscript in which Kuhn clarified his notion of paradigm. This was in part in response to Masterman’s (1970) criticism that Kuhn had used ‘paradigm’ in a wide variety of ways; in addition, Kuhn felt that critics had failed to appreciate the emphasis he placed upon the idea of a paradigm as an exemplar or model of puzzle-solving. -
A collection of Kuhn’s essays in the philosophy and history of science -
this book is about the early history of quantum mechanics. -
he continued to work on a variety of topics in both history and philosophy of science, including the development of the concept of incommensurability
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he was named Laurence S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy at MIT -
at the time of his death, he was working on a second philosophical monograph dealing with, among other matters, an evolutionary conception of scientific change and concept acquisition in developmental psychology.