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Birth
Thomas Kuhn was born on July 18th, 1922 in Cincinnati, Ohio, but was relocated at a young age to New York. Growing up, Kuhn moved to different schools, but found his love for mathematics. He was given the opportunity to go to Harvard and had to choose between pursuing mathematics or physics. -
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Education
Kuhn started college in 1940 at Harvard to pursue his major in physics. At first he struggled, but worked hard. Kuhn obtained his Bachelor's in Physics in 1943 with highest honors. In 1946, he graduated with his Master's in Physics. Finally in 1949, he completed his doctorate in physics. -
World War II
During Kuhn's college education, the world had entered World War II. In 1943, he had joined the Radio Research Laboratory’s theoretical group. He ended up completing work in a United Kingdom laboratory. In 1944, he returned to the US to continue working on and finishing his degrees. -
History of Science
While Kuhn completed his degrees and was finishing his doctorate, he was loosing interest physics. In 1947, he was given the opportunity to give a History of Science course for undergraduates at Harvard. This is where he realized he wanted to pursue philosophy rather than physics. In 1948, Kuhn's ideas were focused on the history of science and how it progressed overtime, where he began trying to understand the philosophy of it by studying Aristotles Physics. -
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Harvard Teachings
In 1951 after Kuhn's "Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows" program, Kuhn decided to teach the history of science at Harvard. He had been teaching about There Copernican Revolution, where his first book is derived from. -
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Berkeley
After teaching at Harvard, in 1956 Kuhn accepted an offer to teach as an assistant professor in both the Philosophy and History Departments at the University of California at Berkeley. He moved up in postitions during his time at Berkeley and eventually became the professor of History of Science, but he really wanted to teach Philosophy of Science. -
The Copernican Revolution
Kuhn's book The Copernican Revolution published 1957, represented how science is influenced by outside factors and changes overtime. "What Kuhn meant by plurality was that scientists have philosophical and even religious commitments, which are important for the justification of scientific knowledge. By showing how Aristotelian-Ptolemaic geocentric astronomy was authentic science could Kuhn argue for the radical transformation (revolution) that Copernican heliocentric astronomy invoked" (Marcum). -
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions published in 1962, changed the traditional structure of science. It is stated, "The difference hinged on a shift from a logical analysis and an explanation of scientific knowledge as finished product to a historical narration and description of scientific practices by which a community of practitioners produces scientific knowledge."(Marcum). In the Structure, Kuhn outlines his theory of The Paradigm shift, giving a structure for scientific development. -
Puzzle Solver
An excerpt states, "Kuhn used the term “puzzle” rather than “problem” for a reason. A puzzle is something we have not yet solved but which we think does have a solution. A problem might, for all we know, have no solution" (Godfrey-Smith 81). I think this is important to understand in Kuhn's theory of The Paradigm Shift as scientist are trying to discover the answer to questions. One of Kuhns other main ideas was that science is organized, thus that is why he breaks it up into four phases. -
The Paradigm Shift
What is Kuhn's theory of The Paradigm Shift? Paradigm is described as, "It was an established term, which meant (roughly) an illustrative example of something, on which other cases can be modeled" (Godfrey-Smith 76). and there are four phases.
1 "Normal Science"-everyday science
2 "Model Crisis"-questions & debate
3 "The Model Revolution"-new solutions
4 "Paradigm Change"-old way is replaced by new ideas
This video link- www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC6ovrpv7o8, describes Kuhn's phases very well. -
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Princeton
Kuhn was the M. Taylor Pyne Professor of Philosophy and History of Science at Princeton University.
In 1970, Kuhn published his second edition of the Structure. -
Collection of Essays
In 1977, a collection of essays written by Kuhn, regarding the philosophy and history of science were published.The Essential Tension, was about the tradition of science and its importance. Then In 1998, Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity was published, describing the history of quantum mechanics, this was one of his last major works. -
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MIT
Kuhn was the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1982, Kuhn won the George Sarton Medal in the History of Science. Kuhn held many honorable degrees at many universities. Kuhn retired from MIT in 1991. -
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Contributions
Thomas Kuhn had impacted science significantly. Kuhn's teachings of the history of science influenced many students as well as history as he came up with an explanation for the changes in theories overtime as well as revolutions. Thus this helped himself as he found his passion for the philosophy of science. Kuhn brought together the social factors of science and science itself together. We are now taught his theory today as we can see the paradigms in history and the contributions of them. -
Death
Kuhn died on June 17, 1996 at age 73, due to cancer in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Thomas Kuhn left an important mark on history of science and the philosophy of science. "Kuhn brings the social construction of science (both the social structures within scientific communities and those between scientific communities and society as a whole) into the discussion"("Thomas Kuhn", 2020). I think he is a great philosopher to learn about and understand his thinking and how it represents science history.
