Undergraduate Honors Thesis

 

Scientific Revolution in the Development of the Rutherford-Bohr Model of the Atom Public Deposited

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https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/cr56n143h
Abstract
  • 1897-1914 was a period of rapid scientific progress with respect to atomic modeling. In just seventeen years Thomson, Rutherford, and Bohr would transform the world’s conception of the atom from a simple, indivisible building block of matter to a semi-classical, complex system of interacting positive and negatively charged particles that could explain experimentally observed phenomena ranging from the periodicity of the elements to the large angle scattering of α-particles and the atomic spectrum of hydrogen. After offering a detailed historical investigation of this period, this thesis considers whether any of the events of period constituted a Kuhnian scientific revolution. In particular, I argue that certain difficulties in analyzing this period using Kuhn’s theory suggest that, instead of analyzing this period in Kuhnian terms, we should revise Kuhn’s theory of scientific revolution in light of the events of this period. In doing so, I argue that scientific revolutions actually occur in two main varieties, which can be articulated in terms of two of the main analogies Kuhn offered to explain his theory of scientific revolution. Further, I show that this revision allows us to take a thoroughly realist (though fallibilist) approach to scientific progress, scientific revolution, and science as a whole.
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  • 2018-01-01
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  • 2019-12-02
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