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Thomas Kuhn was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on July 18th, 1922 (Marcum). Thomas Kuhn died due to cancer of the throat bronchial tubes on June 6th, 1996 (Marcum).
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It was in 1950, in which Ralph Lowell invited Kuhn to the Lowell Institute to deliver the 1951 Lowell lectures (Marcum). This is where Kuhn lays out the development of science, in which Kuhn states that scientific change is not a linear progression -it is not straightforward (Bird). Kuhn argued that instead of scientific change being straightforward, it instead alternating phases of 'normal' and 'revolutionary' phases (Bird). -
In a traditional sense, science is an accumulation of facts discovered by individuals throughout various time periods (Marcum). However, according to Kuhn science goes through different stages, these stages are pre-paradigm science, normal science, extraordinary science, and new normal science (Marcum). -
When a scientific revolution occurs, science goes into a phase of crisis. Then a new paradigm becomes accepted, and the old paradigm or old science is thrown out. Then a new period of new normal science entails (Marcum). Paradigm shifts can be explained and seen all throughout the history of science. For example, the Copernican Revolution displayed a paradigm shift from the Ptolemaic model of the heavens to the heliocentric model. -
Kuhn used the term incommensurability "to characterize the holistic nature of the changes that take place in a scientific revolution" (Oberheim and Hoyningen-Huene). Basically, incommensurability is the inability to compare past paradigms to new paradigms. This is because science develops, and when science develops its methodology also changes and develops. -
It was in 1991, in which Kuhn retired from teaching (Marcum). "He was the recipient of honorary degrees from around a dozen academic institutions... He was elected a member of the National Academy of Science" (Marcum). Thomas Kuhn was also president of the History of Science Society from 1968-1970, and in 1982 he was awarded the Sarton Medal (Marcum). Kuhn had accomplished so much for the scientific community, and his theories still continue to do so.