-----
Original Message ----
From: Sengen Sun sengensun*o*yahoo.com
<owner-chemistry _ ccl.net>
To: "Gomez, Diego Armando " <darkego21 _
yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, October 6, 2008 10:27:20 PM
Subject: CCL:
Thomas Kuhn Paradigm Shift Award
Sent to CCL by: Sengen Sun
[sengensun(~)
yahoo.com]
I am still concerned with the AWARD that may
cause philosophical
confusion in this human society.
According to
Kuhn, a truly theoretical paradigm shift is often
a long-term struggle,
induces confrontation, and eventually
changes our very fundamental view how
human understands the nature.
I'd like to give an example what a Kuhn
paradigm shift is really
about to me. During my graduate study for my PhD
degree at
McMaster University from 1989-1994, I found that Professor
Richard
Bader had been struggling for many years for his
revolutionary philosophy
about the role of electron density
in atoms and molecules. I did not work
directly with Bader
but was a close spectator. Nowadays, Bader's theory is
quite
popular. But I don't think the resistance is over until his
work
is awarded what it really deserves.
This case of Kuhn's paradigm shift
leads me to think that
even in our highly civilized society today, it is
very
difficult to adjust our minds to accept a fundamental revolution
of
scientific theory. At least, there are two reasons for this
difficulty. One
is our limited ability to judge no matter what
kind of experts we are; The
other is the political correctness as
recognized by Kuhn. As soon as human is
not free from these two
factors, awarding Kuhn paradigm shift is likely just
a joke.
Also imagine we are in an era when Kuhn paradigm shift happens
every year!
And recognized every year! After 50 years, we will
have a big list. Is that
really what Kuhn meant about theoretical
paradigm shift?
The awarded
works under this AWARD in the past are excellent works,
but no more than
some technical changes, improvements or modifications in
a field. They do
change things in a particular field, even very
significantly. To me, it is
exaggerated and philosophically
misleading to use the words "Kuhn paradigm
shift". They should
be awarded in many other ways.
How could you tell
the difference between normal scientific progress and truly a
revolution?
Thanks for attention and welcome any
comments.
Sengen
>
>
>
>
> From:
"carlos simmerling" <carlos.simmerling ~
gmail.com>
Subject: CCL:
Thomas Kuhn Paradigm Shift Award symposium at Spring ACS meeting
Date: Wed,
1 Oct 2008
15:44:40 -0400
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent
to CCL by: "carlos simmerling" [carlos.simmerling:-:gmail.com]
Please
forward this announcement of an award symposium to be held in the
COMP
division at the Spring ACS national meeting in Salt lake City.
The
Thomas Kuhn Paradigm Shift Award is given each year to the talk that
most
captures the spirit of Kuhn's writings, exemplified in his landmark
book,
"The Structure of Scientific Revolutions". The symposium at
each
Spring ACS is open to all and attempts to attract those whose work has
the
potential to change the way we think about an aspect of science. Kuhn's
words
for this, a "Paradigm Shift", have been much over used and as such
can
be an intimidating standard to approach, but the intent is for talks
that
represent a fresh way of looking at an aspect of our field. As an
example, the
2006 winner,
Christopher Bayly of Merck-Frosst, proposed that focused screening
was a
more efficient path to drug discovery than high throughput screening and
in
2008 Derek Debe of Abbott Laboratories presented the case for
knowing
confidence intervals in molecular modeling. Talks are usually within
the
computational sphere. They are judged on novelty, potential impact and
quality
of presentation by a panel of independent scientists with
extensive
computational experience. It is hoped the Award, which carries a
stipend of one
thousand dollars, can provide a platform to researchers
extending a mirror to
our field and questioning the scientific status
quo.
Abstracts can be submitted on the OASYS web site (
oasys.acs.org) and four
will
be selected for 40 minute presentations to take place during a
half-day
symposium at the national meeting. Abstracts not selected for
the
symposium
competition can be moved into consideration for the general
symposia (which are
always well attended!) if desired.
More information on
awards offered by the ACS COMP division can be found on the
web site at
http://www.acscomp.org/Awards/index.html-=
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