University Times

Busso von Alvensleben, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany, presents the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany to Adolf Grünbaum, Andrew Mellon Professor of Philosophy of Science, Sept. 18 in the University Club.

Adolf Grünbaum, Andrew Mellon Professor of Philosophy of Science, has been awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of his achievements in philosophy and commitment to German-American cooperation in this field.

Grünbaum has been characterized by American philosopher and New York Times author Jim Holt as “the foremost thinker about the subtleties of space and time” and as “arguably the greatest living philosopher of science.”

Grünbaum’s writings deal with the philosophy of physics, the theory of scientific rationality, the philosophy of psychiatry and the critique of theism. He is a well-known critic of Karl Popper’s philosophy of science.

Born in 1923 in Cologne, Germany, Grünbaum immigrated to the United States at age 15. After completing his undergraduate studies in philosophy and mathematics at Wesleyan University in 1943, Grünbaum served in the U.S. Army 1944-46. He then earned his master’s degree in physics and PhD in philosophy from Yale in 1948 and 1951, respectively.

In 1950, Grünbaum joined the Department of Philosophy at Lehigh University. Ten years later, he joined the Pitt faculty as the first permanent Andrew Mellon Professor of Philosophy and as the founding director of the Center for Philosophy of Science, a directorship he held until 1978.

Grünbaum soon began recruiting internationally respected faculty to the University, including Nicholas Rescher, Wilfrid Sellars, Richard Gale, Nuel Belnap, Alan Ross Anderson and Gerald Massey, among others.

In addition to serving as the Andrew Mellon Professor of Philosophy of Science, Grünbaum  is a primary research professor, Department of History and Philosophy of Science; research professor of psychiatry, and co-chair of Pitt’s Center for Philosophy of Science.

He is author of 12 books, including “Philosophical Problems of Space and Time,” “Modern Science and Zeno’s Paradoxes” and “The Foundations of Psychoanalysis: A Philosophical Critique.”

Grünbaum is a former president of the American Philosophical Association (Eastern Division); he also is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a laureate of the International Academy of Humanism. He served two terms as president of the Philosophy of Science Association. He was president of the Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and president of the International Union for the History and Philosophy of Science.

His honors include the Senior U.S. Scientist Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; the Fregene Prize for Philosophy of Science from the Italian Parliament; Yale University’s Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal; the Silver Medal from the University of Parma in Italy, and Pitt’s Master Scholar and Professor Award.