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Thomas Kuhn Born
Kuhn was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was born into a rich family, his father was a industrial engineer and an investment consultant. His mother, Minette Kuhn came from a rich family in New York and was a freelance editor and a patron of the arts. A few months after Kuhn was born his family up and moved to New York. -
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Elementary to High School
Kuhn went to Lincoln School, a private school, from kindergarten to fifth grade. Early on in his life Kuhn was taught to be an independent thinker rather than just learning facts and subjects. His father, a Harvard Graduate, became frustrated with this because by the age of 7 Kuhn could still not read or write. His father stepped in he was able to teach Kuhn how to read. By the ninth grade Kuhn began to find a passion in mathematics. Upon graduation of high school Kuhn was admitted to Harvard. -
Harvard University
Upon arrival at Harvard Kuhn actually struggled with Physics and actually scored a C on his first exam. He then began spoke to his teacher to see if he could do anything to improve his grades and his professor recommended that he just continue to do practice problems, taking his professors advice he then got an A on his next exam. -
Graduation
By the time Kuhn was a sophomore America took their place in World War 2, so he decided that he wanted to accelerate his degree by taking summer. By the summer of 1943 he graduated with a Bachelors in Physics with summa cum laude (highest honor). After Kuhn graduated he joined the Radio Research Laboratory theoretical group based out of Harvard. -
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After the War
After the war Kuhn went back to Harvard to get his PhD and published his thesis The Cohesive Energy of Monovalent Metals as a Function of the Atomic Quantum Defects. Although Physics is what Kuhn study majority of his life this is when he began to lose interest in it. -
Harvard Fellowship
At the end of Kuhn's PhD is when he began to take interest in philosophy and he began a fellowship at Harvard. -
The Paradigm Shift
This is the concept that made the name Thomas Kuhn famous. In the year of 1962 Kuhn published the book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions which restructured the framework of science. This is when Kuhn presented the new idea of the four phases of a paradigm shift. -
Paradigm Shift (1)
In Khun’s concept, phase one is described as a “Normal Science,” this is just a baseline of where scientists like to carry out their business as usual. In this phase there are no outstanding challenges scientists are facing, they are just comfortable. The next phase is known as the “Model Crisis,” this is when challenging questions begin to arise. -
Paradigm Shift (2)
In this phase it seems that what scientists used to consider a normal science now begins to not make sense because there are new facts and data that show that everyone used to believe may not be right. So this is when scientists “go to work” and begin to engage in meaningful debates to resolve the issue. Phase three occurs when new solutions are produced and is referred to as “The Model Revolution.” -
Paradigm Shift (3)
Khun referred to this phase as a revolution because this was the point when a drastic change is necessary in order to break away from old ideas. Once the revolution has occurred, it is time for the last phase, which refers to the “Paradigm shift.” This is when the new and improved science is developed and then replaces the old ways. This new science is now referred to as “Normal Science” and thus the cycle continues. -
Resources
"Thomas Kuhn." Famous Scientists. famousscientists.org. 12 Jun. 2017. Web. 3/8/2020
<www.famousscientists.org/thomas-kuhn/>. "Lesson 3: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962).” APUS Content, 3 Feb. 2020, <apus.brightspace.com/shared/elf/phil202/lesson3/index.html.> -