The journals published by the Royal Society, where modern enlightenment science was born, was informally peer reviewed by the mid 1700's, and peer review was systematized in the 1800's. The explosive growth of the industrial revolution, the reordering of society in the enlightenment, and everything we call modern and progressive is associated with a sequence of events that is also tightly correlated with the birth of peer review. Most philosophers of science don't consider this a coincidence. Science gave birth to exponential progress, and science itself is dependent on peer review.
Maybe the integration of peer review into practical industries, medical studies, and government regulation came later. But those were cases of taking something that worked astonishingly well and apply it to other domains. It's hardly fair to say that peer review "started" in the 1960's or 70's.
Maybe the integration of peer review into practical industries, medical studies, and government regulation came later. But those were cases of taking something that worked astonishingly well and apply it to other domains. It's hardly fair to say that peer review "started" in the 1960's or 70's.