Thomas Kuhn

By denisefrench

  • Date of Birth

    Date of Birth
    Thomas Kuhn was born in Cinncinatti, Ohio. He was survived by his mother and father, Samuel and Minette Kuhn. His father served in active duty military and served during World War 2 and was also a Harvard Graduate.

  • Harvard University

    Harvard University
    In 1946 Kuhn completed his Master's degree in physics.
    Then, in 1949, he completes his Ph.D. in History of Science.
    Kuhn was then selected, in his senior year, to be a part of the Society of Fellows at Harvard after submitting a thesis on Cohesive Energy and the Function of Atomic Quantum Defects as Monocalent Metals.

  • The Copernican Revolution

    The Copernican Revolution
    Kuhn taught undergrad classes at Harvard about the history and philosophy of science, in 1951. Which then led him to focus on historical cases that Aristotle worked on, furthering his knowledge of his work. Further down his career of teaching he then focused on the History of Science. Kuhn then wrote his first book in 1957 named, The Copernican Revolution which was based on the solar system during the Renaissance(Harvard University Press).

  • The Scientific Revolution

    The Scientific Revolution
    Kuhn began teaching at the University of California at Berkley as an assistant. Later to be promoted to a Professor of History of Science, in 1961. Later on, in 1961, he publishes an article called, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions", which states how science is influenced by politics, gender, racial equality, and social class. Then later scientists will discover a paradigm change to realize the changes in their favor.

  • Princeton University and MIT

    Princeton University and MIT
    Kuhn then moves on to teach at Princeton University from 1964-1979. His work consisted of essays, some of which were, "the Essential tension" (1977) and the "Black Body Theory and the Quantium DIscontinuity" (1978).
    Then again moves to continue to teach at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1979 through 1991. Kuhn's work consisted of history, philosophy of science, and the concept of incommensurability.

  • Death of Kuhn

    Death of Kuhn
    Kuhn's battled with brachial tube and throat cancer for two years. He then passed away at age 73 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Before his passing according to my source, the Standford Encyclopedia, Kuhn was working on a monograph on the evolutionary conception of scientific change and developmental psychology right before he passed.