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Graduated with Physics BS from Harvard
Started Harvard University at age 18yrs, and during his sophomore year America entered World War II, and Kuhn decided to speed up his degree to graduate in 1943 (FamousScientists.org).
References:
"Thomas Kuhn." Famous Scientists, famousscientists.org. 12 Jun. 2017, www.famousscientists.org/thomas-kuhn/ -
Joined the Radio Research Laboratory’s Theoretical Group
Thomas Kuhn joined the Radio Research Laboratory group that devised countermeasures against enemy radar. During his time with the group Kuhn worked in the United Kingdom, and Germany to study captured German radar installations. There he as saw General De Gaulle’s convoy enter the Chams-Élysées August 25, 1994 (FamousScientists.org). References:
"Thomas Kuhn." Famous Scientists, famousscientists.org. 12 Jun. 2017, www.famousscientists.org/thomas-kuhn/ -
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Doctorate in Physics Awarded by Harvard University
After receiving master’s degree in physics, Kuhn because working on his doctorate in 1946 under direction from van Vleck. In 1949 Kuhn was awarded his doctorate in physics from Harvard University (Marcum). References:
Marcum, James. “Thomas S. Kuhn (1922-1996)”. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ISSN 2161-0002, https://iep.utm.edu/kuhn-ts/. -
PhD Thesis Published
Kuhn’s PhD thesis was "The Cohesive Energy of Monovalent Metals as a Function of the Atomic Quantum Defect" published by Harvard University in 1949 under direction of Van Vleck (Kuhn). References:
Kuhn, Thomas. “The Cohesive Energy of Monovalent Metals as a Function of Their Atomic Quantum Defects.” Harvard University, 1949, https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1949PhDT........11K/abstract -
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Elected to Society of Fellows at Harvard & First Studied Historical Science
After publishing Kuhn was elected to the prestigious Society of Fellows at Harvard and until 1956 Taught a science class for undergraduates in humanities that focused on historical case studies. This cause was the first time Thomas Kuhn had the opportunity to study historical scientific writings in detail (Bird).
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Denied Tenure at Harvard & Moved to Berkeley
Kuhn was denied tenure at Harvard University because the committee felt his thoughts on the Copernican revolution was too popular in its approach and analysis (Marcum). He took an academic position at Berkeley after, teaching the history of science in the philosophy department, further developing his interest in the philosophy of science (Bird).
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Published His First Book: “The Copernican Revolution”
Thomas Kuhn published his first book “The Copernican Revolution”, based from a course he taught, this book scrutinized Nicolaus Copernicus’s famous book “De Revolutionibus” with its bold claim that the earth orbits the sun (Bird).
Reference:
Bird, Alexander. "Thomas Kuhn", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2022 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), substantive revision 31 Oct. 2018, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/thomas-kuhn/ -
Became a Full Professor & Started a Draft on Book
Thomas Kuhn became a full professor at the University of California at Berkeley, and with his colleagues Paul Feyerabend discussed a draft of “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” (Bird).
Reference:
Bird, Alexander. "Thomas Kuhn", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2022 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), substantive revision 31 Oct. 2018, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/thomas-kuhn/ -
Published the Famous Book: “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”
The central notion of the book is that scientific development is determined by adherence to a ‘paradigm’(Bird). Then & Now published a detailed video titled "Thomas Kuhn: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" about its influence and controversy (2020).
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Became Professor at Princeton University
In 1964, Kuhn left Berkeley and took the position of M. Taylor Pyne Professor of Philosophy and History of Science at Princeton University (Bird).
Reference:
Bird, Alexander. "Thomas Kuhn", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2022 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), substantive revision 31 Oct. 2018, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/thomas-kuhn/ -
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Program Director at Princeton University
Kuhn became the program’s director at Princeton in 1967 and the following year Princeton appointed him the Moses Taylor Pyne Professor of History (Marcum).
Reference:
Marcum, James. “Thomas S. Kuhn (1922-1996)”. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ISSN 2161-0002, https://iep.utm.edu/kuhn-ts/. -
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Debates and Republishing into the 70’s
An International Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science was held at Bedford College, London, where it philosophers compared the viewpoints of Kuhn and Popper and helped illuminate the significance of Kuhn’s approach. Papers from these discussants were published several years later, in “Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge”, edited by Lakatos and Alan Musgrave. In response... Description too long, submission in assignment text box -
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Published Collection of Works
A collection of Kuhn’s essays in the philosophy and history of science was published in 1977, with the title "The Essential Tension" taken from one of Kuhn’s earliest essays in which he emphasizes the importance of tradition in science; and in 1978 his second historical monograph “Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity” was published (Bird).
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Became Professor at MIT
Kuhn left Princeton University in 1979 and became the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, (Sigurdsson).
Reference:
Sigurdsson, Skuli. “The Nature of Scientific Knowledge: An Interview with Thomas S. Kuhn”, Harvard Science Review, Nov. 1989. https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_2304738/component/file_2304737/content -
Named the Laurence S. Rockefeller Professor
Kuhn was named the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT (Marcum).
Reference:
Marcum, James. “Thomas S. Kuhn (1922-1996)”. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ISSN 2161-0002, https://iep.utm.edu/kuhn-ts/. -
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Continued Work While at MIT
Kuhn continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s to work on a variety of topics in both history and philosophy of science, including the development of the concept of incommensurability and retired from MIT in 1991 (Bird; FamousScientists.org)
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Completed Interview in Athens
In the fall of 1995 Kuhn completed an interview, conducted by Aristides Baltas, Kostas Gavroglu, and Vassiliki Kindi in Athens and discussed his book “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” (Kuhn et al.) Thomas Kuhn speaking in this interview can be heard on the video “Thomas Kuhn Speaking (1995)” posted by Philosophy Overdose https://youtu.be/fV-vh9y_TQs (Philosophy Overdose).
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Died from Cancer age 73
Thomas Kuhn died, age 73, of lung cancer on June 17, 1996, after fight the cancer for 2yrs (FamousScientists.org). At his time of his death Kuhn was working on a second philosophical monograph dealing with an evolutionary conception of scientific change and acquisition in developmental psychology (Bird).
References: Description too long, submission in assignment text box