12 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
Bill Bryson's 2003 journey through the history of science — covering the big bang, evolution, plate tectonics, quantum mechanics, and human origins — told through the stories of the eccentric scientists who made the discoveries, winning the Royal Society Prize for Science Books.
French-Canadian historian of science and innovation at INRS Montreal who wrote Innovation Contested — tracing the history of the concept of innovation from its pejorative beginnings (innovation as dangerous novelty) to its current positive status — demonstrating that innovation's valorization is recent and contingent.
Canadian philosopher who has contributed to scientific realism, the philosophy of probability, the analysis of social construction, and the philosophy of mathematics.
The thesis, associated with Kuhn and Feyerabend, that scientific theories in different paradigms are not fully comparable — key terms change meaning across paradigms, making direct translation or rational choice between them impossible.
James Gleick is an American science writer best known for 'Chaos' (1987) and for making complex scientific ideas accessible to general readers.
American science journalist, founder of Skeptic magazine and The Skeptics Society, whose work applies scientific skepticism to paranormal claims, pseudoscience, and social beliefs.
Kuhn's concept of a revolutionary change in the framework assumptions of a scientific discipline — replacing one 'paradigm' (shared set of exemplars, methods, and worldview) with an incompatible one.
American paleontologist and evolutionary biologist who challenged gradualism with punctuated equilibrium and wrote the best natural history essays of the 20th century.
B. J. Dobbs's 1975 scholarly study of Isaac Newton's alchemical manuscripts, demonstrating that Newton devoted as much intellectual effort to alchemy as to physics — complicating the conventional image of Newton as the paradigm of rationalist science.
Thomas Kuhn's 1962 landmark work proposing that science alternates between periods of 'normal science' (puzzle-solving within a paradigm) and 'scientific revolutions' (paradigm shifts) — the most influential philosophy of science text of the 20th century.
American philosopher and historian of science who revolutionized the philosophy of science with The Structure of Scientific Revolutions — introducing the concepts of paradigm, normal science, and scientific revolution.
A 2016 book by James Gleick tracing the cultural history of time travel from H. G. Wells to the digital present.