Thomas Kuhn

The Essential Tension

Essays exploring tension between innovation and tradition in scientific practice

About the author

Thomas Kuhn

American historian and philosopher of science whose The Structure of Scientific Revolutions introduced the concept of the paradigm shift into general discourse. He argued that science does not progress by simple accumulation but through revolutionary breaks in which one paradigm replaces another. It is the most cited academic book of the 20th century.

More by Thomas Kuhn