by MICHAEL HOSKIN
Lecturer in the History of Science in the University of Cambridge
Thomas Wright of Durham is commonly credited with having first propounded, in 1750. the explanation of the Milky Way as the optical effect of living in a pancake-shaped galaxy. Recent research by Dr. Hoskin reveals that he hit on this idea in a much odder and more interesting way than popular conceptions of scientific progress might lead one to expect. Second broadcast