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Birth
Thomas Kuhn was born on July 18th, 1922 in Cincinnati Ohio. -
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Time at Harvard
In 1940, Kuhn attended Harvard studied Physics. At first, he struggled with Physics getting a C on his first test. Taking some advice from his professor, Kuhn did more problems to make sure he can do them which scored him an A at the end of his freshman year. Because of World War II, Kuhn decided to speed up his studies and received a BS in Physics summa cum laude in 1943. After the war, Kuhn returned to Harvard and received a Masters in 1946 and a Doctorate in 1949 both in Physics. -
World War II
During World War II, Thomas Kuhn took a break from his studies at Harvard to help research RADAR. Starting at Harvard, he joined the Radio Research Laboratory theoretical group where they were tasked to research countermeasures against enemy radars. Kuhn was later invited to France to study captured German radar facilities. -
The Copernican Revolution
Thomas Kuhn Published his first book The Copernican Revolution in 1957. This book was based on a course that he taught at Harvard. In his book, Kuhn scrutinized Nicholaus Copernicus and his book about Heliocentrism, De revolutionibus. He claimed that De revolutionibus was not a revolutionary text. His basis for this claim was that it was not any more accurate than the works from Claudius Ptolemy over 1400 years earlier. -
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Thomas Kuhn published his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions in 1962. Kuhn's most famous work outlined his thoughts on the changing framework of science also known as the paradigm shift. He portrayed this phenomenon through examples of early scientists such as Aristotle, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton. Terms such as Normal Science and Incommensurability were highlighted by Kuhn describing the period between paradigm shifts and the idea of two different views on the same subject. -
Death
Thomas Kuhn died 17 June 1996 at the age of 73 in Cambridge Massachusetts.
