Theoreticians and the Production of Experimental Anomaly: The Case of Solar Neutrinos

Abstract

In-depth studies of the development of particular pieces of scientific knowledge form the hallmark of recent work in the sociology of science (1). Broadly informed by a relativist approach, the authors of such case studies have attempted to explain scientific development in a fully sociological manner. That is, the main explanatory weight is given to the social world rather than to the natural world.