Paradigm Shifts

In this excellent article for Physics Today, author Steven Sherwood looks at the reaction of experts and the public to paradigm shifts in science. He looks at what he calls three "inconvenient ideas": the Copernican Heliocentric Model, Einstein's Theory of Relativity, and anthropocentric climate change. He contends that in general, the reaction of opponents to each was similar, encompassing denial, derision, rejection and some element of professional jealousy. He also discusses the readiness with which a sceptical public is primed to mistrust scientists by the sensationalism of the modern media.

I wasn't aware before reading this article that some scientists were predicting that man-made pollution would result in global warming over a hundred years ago.

Physics Today - Paradigm Shifts