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Science 7 February 1992:
Vol. 255. no. 5045, pp. 690 - 695
DOI: 10.1126/science.255.5045.690
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Articles

When Do Anomalies Begin?

ALAN LIGHTMAN 1 and OWEN GINGERICH 2

1 The Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies and in the Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
2 The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

An anomaly in science is an observed fact that is difficult to explain in terms of the existing conceptual framework. Anomalies often point to the inadequacy of the current theory and herald a new one. It is argued here that certain scientific anomalies are recognized as anomalies only after they are given compelling explanations within a new conceptual framework. Before this recognition, the peculiar facts are taken as givens or are ignored in the old framework. Such a "retrorecognition" phenomenon reveals not only a significant feature of the process of scientific discovery but also an important aspect of human psychology.


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)