The Unfinished Revolution: Einstein's revenge

ORAL

Abstract

Thomas Kuhn defined the characteristics of scientific revolutions based upon his knowledge of the first and second Scientific Revolutions. He concluded that such revolutions are the result of crises in science. However, he missed some important clues of how revolutions develop. Instead of looking at crises, we should look at the major trends in scientific and human thought prior to the revolutions and then we could gain a better understanding of how scientific revolutions emerge from the normal course of scientific evolution. Instead of defining revolutions by the crises that precede them, revolutions actually emerge from the successes of previous science while each revolution contains the seeds for the next revolution that follows. These seeds eventually grow into the crises that trigger revolutions. Under these circumstances, it can be shown that the space-time revolution of relativity theory was never completed, thus laying the foundations for the next revolution in science. Knowing this, we can determine if we have we already entered the pre-revolutionary period of the Third Scientific Revolution.

Authors

  • James Beichler

    West Virginia University at Parkersburg