Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions — [abstract– 170 words]

Kuhn introduces the term ‘normal science.’ He defines it as the ongoing investigative work based upon past scientific achievements and generally accepted theory. Students who want to become members of the scientific community study those past scientific achievements and theory. As workers in the discipline, they accept the current scientific paradigm and become part of a particular research tradition. Their careers are spent searching for facts that will confirm and enlarge the paradigm. Kuhn calls this the business of normal science.

But new and unsuspected phenomena are repeatedly uncovered by scientific research. “As more and more anomalies to the existing paradigm are found, a crises situation develops. Attempts are made to ‘fix’ the old paradigm. If the fix is unsatisfactory and an alternative paradigm is proposed that includes both the old and new facts, a scientific revolution occurs.”
The resulting paradigm shift causes scientists to see the world they study in a new way. Old instruments are used in new ways, new experiments are conceived and unexpected avenues of investigation open.