Lorraine Daston and Katharine Park

Modern science emerged only when it became acceptable to ask any question about anything – and that required erosion of traditional hierarchies, says the science writer

The scientific revolution is often seen as having transformed the way we think and ushered in the modern world, but in highlighting the work of a few key individuals, it has distorted the reality of how science advances in society and how it interacts with truth. Here, Vera Keller, Professor of History at the University of Oregon, challenges popularly held assumptions about the scientific revolution and explains how its meaning, significance and importance have been disputed and misunderstood.