Thomas Samuel Kuhn received his Ph.D. in physics in 1949, and in 1961 became a full professor in the history of science (Payne, 2004). Later he became a professor of philosophy and history of science, and his most renowned work was The Structure of Scientific Revolution, written while he was a graduate student in theoretical physics at Harvard (Thomas, 2004). In this book he argued that science "is a series of peaceful interludes punctuated by intellectually violent revolutions" (Thomas, 2004).
Kuhn believed that science developed in three stages (Payne, 2004). In the first stage, which he called "pre-paradigm science," people trying to understand a certain phenomenon share no common background theory, and so little progress is made. At some point, someone develops an explanation for the phenomenon which seems to have substance and is powerful enough to attract the attention of others, who then carry out research according to this theory. This is the beginning of what Kuhn calls normal science and is called a paradigm.
A paradigm has four elements: a body of theory and laws e.g. the laws of motion; background metaphysical assumptions, e.g. that we all share common perceptions of the outer world; epistemological values which include norms and rationality; and exemplars - textbook applications of the theory to the phenomenon it is intended to explain. In the second stage of Kuhn's development of science, scientists work within the paradigm and accept the core elements as dogma (Payne, 2004). The scientist at this stage tries to work out the details of the paradigm without questioning its central laws or standards.
However, during this stage of working out the details of the paradigm, scientists come across problems which resist resolution within the paradigm, and these problems, if they remain, become anomalies (Payne, 2004). As these anomalies build, they can no longer be ignored, and scientists begin exploring ...