About Science

Science (from Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge")[1][2]:58 is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.[a]

Contemporary science is typically subdivided into the natural sciences, which study the material universe; the social sciences, which study people and societies; and the formal sciences, which study logic and mathematics. The formal sciences are often excluded as they do not depend on empirical observations.[3] Disciplines which use science, like engineering and medicine, may also be considered to be applied sciences.[4] Definitions of science and its more fundamental problems are discussed in the philosophy of science. Branches of science that place little emphasis on discussion and dialectic reasoning are related to the philosophical position of positivism.

Empirical investigations of the natural world, especially in astronomy and medicine, are found in many ancient civilizations. Non-supernatural explanations for natural phenomena appear in the 6th century BC in the works of Thales and the pre-Socratics. The scientific method developed gradually over several centuries, a precursor in ancient Greece was the categories of Aristotle, continuing with Ibn al-Haytham in his Book of Optics,[5][6][7] and developing further during the Renaissance (Descartes, Galileo). Modern Science has its roots in the Scientific Revolution of the 16th century, with the pace of scientific advances increasing at an accelerating pace ever since. In the 17th and 18th centuries, natural scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge of cause and effect in terms of physical laws, aided by advances in mathematics. Later, improved knowledge of statistical methods gave rise to statistical hypothesis testing as a means to gather detailed knowledge in a number of fields.

From classical antiquity through the 19th century, science as a type of knowledge was more closely linked to philosophy than it is now, and in the Western world the term "natural philosophy" once encompassed fields of study that are today associated with science, such as astronomy, medicine, and physics.[8][b] Over the course of the 19th century, the word "science" became increasingly associated with the scientific method itself as a disciplined way to study the natural world. It was during this time that scientific disciplines such as biology, chemistry, and physics reached their modern shapes. During the same period, the terms "scientist" and "scientific community" originated, scientific institutions were founded, and the interactions of science with society and other aspects of culture became increasingly significant.[9][10]