David Bloor

  • Birthdate

    Born in Derby, United Kingdom
  • Awarded PHD

    Awarded his PHD from the University of Edinburgh with a thesis paper of "Speech and the regulation of behaviour" which talks about the importance of language.
  • Knowledge and Social Imagery

    Contained the "Strong Programme" which stated that true and false theories should be treated the same way. The programme has four pillars (causality, impartiality, symmetry and reflexivity)
    Causality -
    Impartiality - Remain impartial with respect to true or false, rational or irrational.
    Symmetry - A cause can explain both true and false
    Reflectivity - Explanation would be applicable to sociology itself.
  • Scientific knowledge: a sociological analysis

    Scientific knowledge: a sociological analysis
    Applied the idea of social science into the scientific community. The general topic is that science is no longer a individual person creating or proposing theories but not a community that works together to propose, test and support theories.
  • Awarded the John Desmond Bernal Prize

    Awarded the John Desmond Bernal Prize
    A prize given to scholars that have made significant contributions. This was awarded in 1996 and the significant work from Bloor was "Knowledge and Social Imagery"
  • Published "The enigma of the aerofoil: rival theories in aerodynamics"

    Discusses the difference in aerodynamics between the Germans and the British between 1909 and 1930.
  • Current day

    Emeritus professor in the Sociology of Science and former director of the Science Studies Units at the University of Edinburgh. Currently researching for another book on the history of experimental psychology.