Citation patterns in scientific revolutions

The method of classifying citations according to the context in the citing paper, previously developed by the authors, is applied to the study of scientific revolutions. In particular, the BCS theory of superconductivity ind the non-conservation of parity are investigated. The results can be easily interpreted in terms of the characteristic features of these discoveries. It is suggested that these two examples represent two different types of “paradigm” changes, thus prompting a considerable refinement of the usual dichotomous picture of “normal”vs. “breakthrough” science.