Acquiring minds want to know: a glimpse of paradigms

Acquiring Minds Want to Know column: "The concept of the paradigm, as generally cited in the literature, derives from the work of Thomas Kuhn in the 1960's. Kuhn, an historian of science, set out to explore how science, and scientists, actually worked. Kuhn found that scientific activity tends to be governed by a set of principles, a world view and a common methodological approach to problem solving. Kuhn names this commonality a paradigm. Paradigms define the practice of normal science and the problems which are to be solved.