July 18

Born in 1796, Immanuel Hermann Fichte was the son of philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte. He studied theology and philosophy at the University of Jena and Berlin, earning his doctorate in 1823. Fichte held professorships in Munich, Bonn, and Erlangen, teaching metaphysics and moral philosophy. He edited and published his father's works, while also producing his own significant writings on consciousness and ethics. His essays influenced 19th-century German idealism and academic debates on faith and reason. He died in 1879, leaving a legacy as a thoughtful and articulate philosopher.

Born in Cincinnati in 1922, Thomas Kuhn earned his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University. He challenged traditional views of scientific progress with his landmark book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). Kuhn introduced the concept of 'paradigm shifts' to describe how scientific fields undergo fundamental changes in perspective. His work bridged the gap between science, history, and philosophy, influencing fields from sociology to epistemology. He held professorships at prestigious institutions including Princeton and MIT, mentoring future scholars. Kuhn's ideas continue to shape contemporary debates about the nature and development of scientific knowledge until his death in 1996.