more accurate
than the last.
A major challenge to this model came from
the work of the historian and philosopher
Thomas Kuhn (1922–1996) in his work The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions published
in 1962.
Kuhn, a former physicist, argued against the
view that scientific progress was linear,
and that modern scientific theories were necessarily
just more accurate versions of theories of
the past.
Rather, Kuhn's version of scientific development
consisted of dominant structures of thought
and practices, which he called "paradigms",
in which research went through phases of "normal"
science ("puzzle solving") and "revolutionary"
science (testing out new theories based on
new assumptions, brought on by uncertainty
and crisis in existing theories).
In Kuhn's model, different paradigms represented
entirely different and incommensurate assumptions
about the universe.
The mode was thus uncertain about whether
paradigms shifted in a way which necessarily
relied upon greater attainment of truth.
In Kuhn's view, Aristotle's physics, Newton's
classical mechanics, andbetween
these three models for change in scientific
theory, the connection between theory and
truth, and the nature of scientific progress.
== The nature of scientific discovery ==
Individual ideas and accomplishments are among
the most famous aspects of science, both internally
and in larger society.
Breakthrough figures like Sir Isaac Newton
or Albert Einstein are often celebrated as
geniuses and heroes of science.
Popularizers of science, including the news
media and scientific biographers, contribute
to this phenomenon.
But many scientific historians emphasize the
collective aspects of scientific discovery,
and de-emphasize the importance of the "Eureka!"
moment.
A detailed look at the history of science
often reveals that the minds of great thinkers
were primed with the results of previous efforts,
and often arrive on the scene to find a crisis
of one kind or another.
For example, Einstein did not consider the
physics of motion and gravitation in isolation.
His major accomplishments