-
Popper is born
Future philanthropist, Sir Karl Raimund Popper is born in Vienna, Austria. Growing up, Popper's father read and collected thousands and tens of thousands of books on subjects such as philosophy and the classics influencing his son's interest in political and social matters. Thornton, Stephen, "Karl Popper", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/popper/ -
Guest Star at University
At the age of 16, a rebellious Popper leaves school and begins guest attendance at the University of Vienna. There he studies philosophy, mathematics, physics, etc. It is also there that he develops an interest in politics becoming a "Marxist" who defended the system of "progressivism" whose primary attribute is public ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange. He shortly rejects this concept. -
Tenure at Pedagogic Institute
He enrolls at the Pädagogisches Institut and furthers his knowledge of philosophy and psychology. Popper claims he did not learn anything from his professors, but it was under the mentoring of the German psychologist Karl Buhler that he changed his course of learning from psychology to logic of scientific inquiry. He also meets his future wife during his enrollment at the Pedagogical Institute. -
Qualifications
Although a young Popper had already begun performing unofficial lectures at the Pedagogic Institute, he received his PhD in philosophy in 1928 earning the highest grade in his class. He also obtains his certification to teach. “Karl Raimund Popper.” The British Academy, 1997, www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/94p645.pdf. -
Logic of Research
He publishes his first book called "Logik der Forschung"(means "Logic of research") which covered the concept of "falsifiability" in which he is most famous for. In this work, he stresses the notion of a set of instruction that disproves theories rather than prove their truth(verify). It is also in this book that he claims that the idea of "verificationism" proposed by the logical positivist is impossible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5J3cne5WEU -
Professor Popper
Popper is elected to be a professor of logic and scientific method at the University of London after serving as a reader of the same subject at the London School of Economics. -
Logic of Scientific Discovery
Publishes "Logik der Forschung" in English as "The Logic of Scientific Discovery". This is an addition to the many other translations of this work making it one of the "classics" in the field of philosophy of science. -
Royalty
Popper is honored with a "knightship" by Queen Elizabeth II retiring four years later in 1969. -
Legacy of Karl Popper
After settling in Kenley(south of London) around 1986, Popper dies from complications of cancer. Although he left behind no children or grand kids, he influenced a generation of future scientists and he leaves behind a legacy of philosophy and logic that puts him in the category of one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century.
