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Is science becoming less disruptive over time?
Are ‘paradigm shifts’ on the wane? And what does this tell us about the way science is conducted ask ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and JOEL HELLEWELL
PARADIGM SHIFTS: (L to R) The human DNA model takes on a double helix shape, 2016; Portrait Nicolaus Copernicus Torun Town Hall, 1580, unknown artist

IN 1962 the philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn published the book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

In it he claimed that science progressed through a series of revolutions in scientific knowledge for which he coined the term “paradigm shifts.” 

These paradigm shifts were radical new ideas and knowledge that subverted the previous understanding in a field of science and set it on an entirely new path.

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