Chapter 7 - Thomas Kuhn Goes to Harvard

 Chapter 7 - Thomas Kuhn Goes to Harvard

 

 

Undergraduate years

 

The records show that Thomas Kuhn had done well at school – and had been what Americans call a “straight-A student” – but was then faced with the question of what subject to major in at University.

 

Clearly, the Kuhns were people of significant means. For adolescents of natural curiosity and ambition, having strong family support often means they have the courage to pursue their curiosities and ambitions without concerns of immediate financial pressure. Many of our greatest writers, poets, and scientists were lucky enough to have had such a beginning, and had the integrity to be true to self in their efforts.

 

Thomas Kuhn’s more prosaic concern was to choose the major with the best job prospects. His talents, as he saw them, pointed him towards mathematics or physics, but his father Samuel Kuhn explained to young Tom that he’d find it easier to get a job after having studied physics rather than mathematics. So physics it was.

 

And Dad Kuhn did more than that for his son. Dad Kuhn’s influence arranged it that young Thomas was assured of being accepted at Harvard. At the time, young Thomas was very proud to think that he had been accepted to Harvard on merit as a physics major – only much later did he ever find out that it was all set up for him by family money.

 

But it wasn’t a walk in the park for young Tom. 

His first university physics exam resulted in the awarding of a “C” to him.

Tom became worried that he might not have a future in physics (and how prophetic did such thoughts become). So he consulted his Professor, who, naturally, told him to study harder. Next exam yielded an “A” for Tom. Hooray.

 

Young Tom went on to graduate B S in physics from Harvard in 1943 summa cum laude (which generally means being in the top 5% of the class) (although some argue that Harvard hand out too many of these accolades), but on the way he took an undergraduate course in Philosophy that piqued his interest, especially reading Kant. 

Tom also threw some energy at being the editor of the Harvard student publication “Crimson”. 

Editing any periodical publication, even a student newspaper, requires talent with words and especially a talent for telling the people what they want to hear; a talent for choosing stories that capture attention, and framing such stories in a way that has the readers keen to come back for more. 

All skills Kuhn would find useful in later years. 

And that editorship attracted the attention of the Harvard President James Bryant Conant, who was at that time a nationally-known theoretical chemist. 

Conant was to later work on The Manhattan Project designing the atomic bomb, and to be an adviser to US President Harry S Truman. 

A handy contact that was to come in useful for Young Tom.

 

But as a physics graduate, in the middle of World War 2, it was time for young Tom to put all that physics expertise to work in the war effort. 

 

Tom started working at the Radio Research Laboratory’s theoretical group at Harvard, and later continued research into radar in the UK. Given the utterly crucial role Physics was playing in the process of the war, and the utterly world-changing physics “event” that was to come over Hiroshima, it must have been an incredibly exciting and interesting time for anyone involved in Physics research. 

After all, Physics was winning the war and saving the World! 

Arguably, the allure and attraction and status of Physics had never been higher, and would never be higher again, as it was at this moment in history. 

Anyone with a genuine and heart-felt interest in Physics must have thought, at this moment, that they had made the right career choice, and must have been terribly keen to carry on such amazing work.

 

At this very moment in history Thomas Kuhn was losing interest in physics! He continued working in Europe until 1946 then returned to Harvard. But even though his interest was waning, still he persisted in achieving his Master’s degree in Physics in 1946.

 

Why Kuhn persisted with his study of Physics while losing interest in the subject can only be speculated upon, but the most obvious explanation would be that Kuhn was more a pragmatic careerist than a natural scientist.

 

Now, don’t misunderstand. There’s nothing wrong, per se, with being a careerist. For nearly all scientists cast at least *some* thoughts towards career advancement (everyone has to eat!) just as all careerists cast *some* thoughts to the subject matter of their work along with their focus on promotions and salaries. Virtually nobody is entirely one and not the other. Yet moments arise in one’s academic journey when one must make a decision, and in 1946-1947 Thomas Kuhn was making such a decision. To be or not to be! And Thomas Kuhn decided to seek to dress himself in the garments of a physicist … while his heart and mind wandered elsewhere.

 

Just as some doctors study Medicine in order to do doctoring, and some study Medicine in order to play the role of “The Doctor”, it is so that some Physics students study physics in order to do physics.

Thomas Kuhn studied Physics in order to enjoy the social and academic status of being a Physicist, without demonstrating any interest at all, after 1946 (when he was just 24), in *actually doing any Physics*.

 

Thereafter, Thomas Kuhn never missed an opportunity to tell anyone who would listen that he was a Physicist, yet all the while never doing any Physics.

 

We are known by our deeds.