152 The Poetry of Physics and The Physics of Poetry
which all of nature is forced to fit. The paradigm reduces the number of
things the scientists must consider. They can take the foundation and
assumption of their work for granted and can, therefore, exert their full
effort in extending, articulating and generalizing the current paradigm of
normal science.
Within the context of normal science, novelty is suppressed. No
changes in scientific thinking takes place until new facts arise, which
cannot be accommodated by the old paradigm. Out of the frustration of
the failure to fit the new information into the old conceptual framework,
a new picture emerges. The new paradigm is usually proposed by
someone new to the field who has not become set in his or her ways
through frequent use of the old paradigm. With the proposal of a new
paradigm a revolution in thinking takes place in which the old view and
new view are in conflict and competition. Eventually, one of the theories
triumphs and a return to normal science ensues in which the whole
revolutionary process may repeat itself. Kuhn does not regard only the
major upheavals in thought such as those brought about by Copernicus,
Newton or Einstein as the only scientific revolutions. He also regards the
discovery of x-rays or Maxwell’s formulation of electromagnetic theory
as a scientific revolution as well. Each of them brought about a new way
of thinking, a new framework for organizing information.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Kuhn’s view of science
history is his rather startling claim that the resolution of the conflict
between the two competing theories during the revolutionary period is
not really rational. The two sides of the controversy make different
assumptions, speak a different language and hence, really don’t
communicate with each other. Max Planck, the man who kicked off the
quantum revolution expressed this idea best:
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its
opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its
opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that
is familiar with it.An illustration of what Kuhn and Planck are saying is found in the
response of William Magie to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Magie felt
that, although the formulae of Einstein described phenomena accurately
from a mathematical point of view, they did not really explain the
phenomena. Only an explanation, which he could comprehend with his
common sense, i.e. fit into his notion of normal science, was valid as far