Home > Thomas Samuel Kuhn
Thomas Samuel Kuhn ( July 18 1922- June 17 1996) wrote extensively on the history of science and developed several important notions in the philosophy of science.Kuhn was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to Samuel L. Kuhn, an industrial engineer, and Annette Stroock. He obtained his bachelor's degree in physics from Harvard University in 1943, his master's in 1946 and Ph.D. in 1949, and taught a course in the history of science there from 1948 until 1956. After leaving Harvard, Kuhn taught at the University of California, Berkeley, being named Professor of the History of Science in 19611961 (As MAD Magazine pointed out on its first cover for the year) was the first "upside-down" year i. one that looked the same upside down since 1881, and the last until 6009. Events January January 1 The farthing coin, used since the 13th century, cease. In 1964Events January January 1 Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. January 3 Senator Barry Goldwater announces that he will seek the Republican nomination for President. January 5 In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Ort he joined Princeton UniversityPrinceton University located in Princeton, New Jersey, is one of the eight Ivy League universities. Widely considered one of the world's most prestigious universities, it was founded as the "College of New Jersey" in 1746, and was originally located in El as the M. Taylor Pyne Professor of Philosophy and History of Science. In 1979Events January-February January 1 Sino-American relations: United States and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations January 4 State of Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to families of dead and injured in Kent State University shootings. he joined the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMotto Mens et Manus ("mind and hand") Established 1861 School type Private President Charles Vest (successor Susan Hockfield to take office in December 2004) Location Cambridge, Mass. USA Enrollment 4,112 undergraduate, 6,228 graduate Faculty 974 Campus U (MIT) as the Laurence S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy, remaining there until 19911991 like 2002, is a palindromic year. It also has the same calendar as 2002, including Easter on March 31. It is a common year starting on Tuesday. Events January January 2 Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC becoming the first blac.
He is most famous for his book The Structure of Scientific RevolutionsThe Structure of Scientific Revolutions ( Thomas Kuhn, 1962) is an analysis of the history of science. Its publication was a landmark event in the sociology of knowledge, and popularized the terms paradigm and paradigm shift''. The book was initially publ (SSR), in which he presented the idea that science does not evolve gradually toward truth, but instead undergoes periodic revolutions which he calls " paradigm shifts." The enormous impact of Kuhn's work can be measured in the revolution it brought about even in the vocabulary of the history of science: besides "paradigm shifts," Kuhn raised the word " paradigm" itself from a linguists' term to its current broader meaning, coined the term normal science to refer to the relatively routine, day-to-day work of scientists working within a paradigm, and was largely responsible for the use of the term " scientific revolutions" in the plural, taking place at widely different periods of time in the different disciplines as against a single "Scientific Revolution" in the late Renaissance. In a 'pre-paradigmatic phase', the development of the scientific disciplines was ruled by schools without a common terminology or ways of judging between different explanations of observed facts.
Kuhn was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 1954, and in 1982 was awarded the George Sarton Medal in the History of Science. He was also awarded numerous honorary doctorates.
He suffered cancer of the bronchial tubes for the last two years of his life and died Monday 17 June 1996. He was survived by his wife Jehane and his three children, Sarah, Elizabeth and Nathaniel.
