MORE THAN ONCE has a revolutionary view of science completely overturned previously held assumptions about the world and how it works. Historically, harbingers of a new science have been denounced as heretics and their theories suppressed. Yet in time, they're proven correct, and mankind begins to accept the new model.
A prime example occurred in the 16th century, when Copernicus, who reasoned that the sun is central to the solar system, overturned the long-held Ptolemaic perspective, which held that the sun and planets revolved around the earth. Today, we may comment on the rising and setting sun, but most of us know—thanks to the now-accepted Copernican model—that the sun remains stationary while the earth turns on its axis. Modern astronomers rely on this verity as they explore the heavens with manned and unmanned spacecraft.
In his most influential work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, philosopher Thomas Kuhn coined the term paradigm shift to describe the significant redirection of science that occurs as the result of discoveries like that of Copernicus. This change ultimately alters the way we collectively view things and therefore conduct ourselves. Oftentimes, intelligence gained through reason and revelation, rather than empirical observation, is the catalyst for a shift in perception. Later, the new course science takes proves the fresh model's own veracity.
