Essential Shift: Scientific Revolution in the 20th Century
Abstract
With the publishing of Sir Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica in 1687, a scientific paradigm was established that clearly dominated society for two and half centuries. Many historians of science have identified the Copenhagen interpretation of the quantum theory, formulated c.1927, as having completed a scientific revolution that ended the reign of classical Newtonian science. A rival claim to contemporary scientific revolution, however, has been put forward by llya Prigogine and the Brussels school of thermodynamics based on Prigogine's work in non-equilibrium thermodynamics. Using the historical consensus model of scientific revolution first articulated by Thomas S. Kuhn in 1962, this analysis examines the extent to which the Copenhagen interpretation of the quantum theory and the work of llya Prigogine complete the conceptual, scientific paradigm-shift necessary for a scientific revolution. The resulting historical evidence shows that the Copenhagen interpretation did not complete a paradigm-shift; instead, it was a self-revelation by the scientific community which revealed the essence and fundamental limitations of Newtonian science. Evidence further indicates that the valid claim to scientific revolution in the 20th century lies with the contemporary work of Prigogine and the Brussels school. By abandoning the deterministic, mechanical world-view of the Newtonian paradigm and accepting a new reality of process and irreversible time, Prigogine and his associates have established the foundations for a revolutionary new scientific paradigm.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 17, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA270810
Entities
People
- David K. Ismay
Organizations
- United States Naval Academy