A '''paradigm''' is a framework of rules and theories that follow a distinct pattern (the word paradigm actually comes from the Greek word for pattern). Throughout history, paradigms have changed in events referred to as '''paradigm shifts.''' An example of a paradigm shift would be the promotion by [[Galileo]] of a [[heliocentric]] solar system, versus the common paradigm of a [[geocentric]] solar system. Paradigm shifts are often met with resistance, as many become stuck in '''paradigm paralysis.''' In this case, the Roman Catholic church condemned Galileo's findings and forced him to recant his position that the [[sun]] is the fixed center of the universe<ref>[http://www.catholic.com/tracts/the-galileo-controversy Catholic Answers Tracts: The Galileo Controvery]. Galileo believed ''and insisted'' that the sun was not just the fixed center of the solar system but the fixed center of the universe. Science has proved him wrong. The sun is not only not the center of the universe, but it moves. See also<br>[http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/Philosophy/axioms/axioms/node63.html Galileo and St. Bellarmine (phy.duke.edu)]<br>[httphttps://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/horizon/sept98/galileo.htm Two Views of the Universe: Galileo vs. the Pope. By Hal Hellman, special to the Washington Post, Wednesday, September 9, 1998] In 1616 Galileo had been warned that his support of a sun-centered universe could bring trouble.</ref>. Galileo's Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment is another example of a scientists encountering resistance due to preconceived societal notions (the experiment disproved [[Aristotle]]'s theory of gravity which declared that objects fall at a speed relative to their mass).
==Paradigm shift==