Who was Thomas Kuhn? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Also Known As: Thomas Samuel Kuhn

Died At Age: 73

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Jehane Kuhn

father: Samuel L. Kuhn

children: Elizabeth Kuhn, Nathaniel Kuhn, Sarah Kuhn

Born Country: United States

Philosophers Non-Fiction Writers

Died on: June 17, 1996

place of death: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

U.S. State: Ohio

Ancestry: Indian American

Notable Alumni: Taft School

Grouping of People: Jewish Writer

Cause of Death: Lung Cancer

City: Cincinnati, Ohio

More Facts

education: Harvard University, Taft School

awards: 1982 - George Sarton Medal

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Childhood & Early Life

Thomas Kuhn was born to Minette Scroock Kuhn and Samuel L. Kuhn in Cincinnati, Ohio. He attended the Hessian Hills School in New York, a liberal school that encouraged students to think independently.

He discovered his passion for physics and mathematics at The Taft School in Watertown, from where he graduated, in 1940.

In 1943, he graduated from Harvard University with a B.S in Physics. He also obtained a M.S. and Ph.D. degree from the Harvard University in 1946 and 1949, respectively.

He was a ‘Harvard Junior Fellow’ for three years and this phase played a crucial role in shaping his future. It was here that he decided to switch from physics to history and philosophy of science.

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Career

Thomas Kuhn began his career with the Radio Research Laboratory at Harvard and the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development in Europe, where he worked with the radar team.

After he graduated, he taught ‘History of Science’ at Harvard University, from 1948 to 1956, at the suggestion of the University President, James Conant.

In 1957, he refuted the claims of other prominent scientists and stated that the earth was at the centre of the Solar System, in his book, ‘The Copernican Revolution’.

In 1961, he was appointed as the Professor of ‘the History of Science’ at the University of California, where he was part of both, the philosophy department and the history department.

In 1962, his influential work, ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions’ was published, which was first published as part of the ‘Foundations of the Unity of Science’ series. In these works, he stated that competing paradigms are frequently incommensurable.

He proposed the notion of ‘paradigm shifts’ and indicated that scientific fields undergo periodic shifts and do not progress in a linear and continuous pattern.

In 1964, he became the ‘M. Taylor Pyne Professor’ of Philosophy and History of Science at Princeton University.

In 1977, ‘The Essential Tension’, a collection of his essays on philosophy and the history of science, was published.

From 1979 to 1991, he was the ‘Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy’, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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His second historical monograph on the early history of quantum mechanics, ‘Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity’ was published, in 1988.

At the time of his death in 1996, he was working on his second philosophical monograph that dealt with, ‘evolutionary conception of scientific change’ and ‘concept acquisition in developmental psychology’.

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Major Works

‘The Copernican Revolution’, published in 1957, analyses the 16th century Scientific Revolution and the Ptolemaic understanding of the solar system. This went on to become a best-seller.

His 1962 book, ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions’, is regarded as one of the most influential and frequently cited academic books, in which he introduced the term, ‘ paradigm shift’. The Times Literary Supplement, London, labelled it as one of ‘The Hundred Most Influential Books Since the Second World War’. The book sold one million copies by the mid-1990s and was translated into sixteen languages.

Awards & Achievements

Thomas Kuhn was elected to the esteemed ‘Society of Fellows’ at Harvard University.

In 1954, he was conferred the prestigious title of ‘Guggenheim Fellow’.

In 1982, the History of Science Society awarded him the ‘George Sarton Medal’.

Personal Life & Legacy

Thomas Kuhn married Kathryn Muhs and the couple had three children. He later got married to Jehane Barton Burns.

He was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1994, which ultimately claimed his life.

In his honor ‘Thomas Kuhn Paradigm Shift Award’ is awarded by the American Chemical Society to people who offer original views contradictory to mainstream science.

Trivia

This physicist was accused of plagiarism, for his book, ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions’.

This famous physicist and scientific philosopher introduced the term, ‘normal science’ and defined it to be cumulative and also stated that its main goal was precision and focus on details.

Thomas Kuhn Biography