iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Science

Enlarge picture
A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect.
Enlarge picture
Representation of DNA, which determines the genetic makeup of all life. Discovered in the 1950s, each strand of DNA is a chain of nucleotides, matching each other in the center to form what look like rungs on a twisted ladder. Today, the human genome project has succeed in mapping virtually all of the important genes, which are specific parts of DNA


For the periodical, see .


Science (from the Latin scientia, 'knowledge'), in the broadest sense, refers to any systematic knowledge or practice.[1] Examples of the broader use included political science and computer science, which are not incorrectly named, but rather named according to the older and more general use of the word. In a more restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on the scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research.[2][3] This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word.

Fields of science are commonly classified along two major lines: These groupings are empirical sciences, which means the knowledge must be based on observable phenomena and capable of being experimented for its validity by other researchers working under the same conditions.[4]

Mathematics, which is sometimes classified within a third group of science called formal science, has both similarities and differences with the natural and social sciences.<ref name="Popper 3" /> It is similar to empirical sciences in that it involves an objective, careful and systematic study of an area of knowledge; it is different because of its method of verifying its knowledge, using a priori rather than empirical methods.[5] Formal science, which also includes statistics and logic, is vital to the empirical sciences. Major advances in formal science have often led to major advances in the physical and biological sciences. The formal sciences are essential in the formation of hypotheses, theories, and laws,[6] both in discovering and describing how things work (natural sciences) and how people think and act (social sciences).

Science as discussed in this article is sometimes termed experimental science to differentiate it from applied science, which is the application of scientific research to specific human needs, though the two are often interconnected.

Etymology

The word science comes through the Old French, and is derived from the Latin word scientia for knowledge, which in turn comes from scio. 'I know'. The Indo-European root means to discern or to separate, akin to Sanskrit chyati, he cuts off, Greek schizein, to split, Latin scindere, to split.[7] From the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, science or scientia meant any systematic recorded knowledge.[8] Science therefore had the same sort of very broad meaning that philosophy had at that time. In other languages, including French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, the word corresponding to science also carries this meaning.

From classical times until the advent of the modern era, "philosophy" was roughly divided into natural philosophy and moral philosophy. In the 1800s, the term natural philosophy gradually gave way to the term natural science. Natural science was gradually specialized to its current domain, which typically includes the physical sciences and biological sciences. The social sciences, inheriting portions of the realm of moral philosophy, are currently also included under the auspices of science to the extent that these disciplines use empirical methods. As currently understood, moral philosophy still retains the study of ethics, regarded as a branch of philosophy.

Today, the primary meaning of "science" is generally limited to empirical study involving use of the scientific method.[9]

Scientific method

Main article: Scientific method




The scientific method seeks to explain the events of nature in a reproducible way, and to use these reproductions to make useful predictions. It is done through observation of natural phenomena, and/or through experimentation that tries to simulate natural events under controlled conditions. It provides an objective process to find solutions to problems in a number of scientific and technological fields. Often scientists have a preference for one outcome over another, and scientists are conscientious that it is important that this preference does not bias their interpretation. A strict following of the scientific method attempts to minimize the influence of a scientist's bias on the outcome of an experiment. This can be achieved by correct experimental design, and a thorough peer review of the experimental results as well as conclusions of a study.

Scientists use models to refer to a description or depiction of something, specifically one which can be used to make predictions that can be tested by experiment or observation. A hypothesis is a contention that has been neither well supported nor yet ruled out by experiment. A theory, in the context of science, is a logically self-consistent model or framework for describing the behavior of certain natural phenomena. A theory typically describes the behavior of much broader sets of phenomena than a hypothesis—commonly, a large number of hypotheses may be logically bound together by a single theory. A physical law or law of nature is a scientific generalization based on a sufficiently large number of empirical observations that it is taken as fully verified.

Scientists never claim absolute knowledge of nature or the behavior of the subject of the field of study. Unlike a mathematical proof, a scientific theory is empirical, and is always open to falsification, if new evidence is presented. Even the most basic and fundamental theories may turn out to be imperfect if new observations are inconsistent with them. Critical to this process is making every relevant aspect of research publicly available, which permits peer review of published results, and also allows ongoing review and repeating of experiments and observations by multiple researchers operating independently of one another. Only by fulfilling these expectations can it be determined how reliable the experimental results are for potential use by others.

Isaac Newton's Newtonian law of gravitation is a famous example of an established law that was later found not to be universal—it does not hold in experiments involving motion at speeds close to the speed of light or in close proximity of strong gravitational fields. Outside these conditions, Newton's Laws remain an excellent model of motion and gravity. Since general relativity accounts for all the same phenomena that Newton's Laws do and more, general relativity is now regarded as a more comprehensive theory.

Philosophy of science

Main article: Philosophy of science


The philosophy of science seeks to understand the nature and justification of scientific knowledge and its ethical implications. It has proven difficult to provide a definitive account of the scientific method that can decisively serve to distinguish science from non-science. Thus there are legitimate arguments about exactly where the borders are. There is nonetheless a set of core precepts that have broad consensus among published philosophers of science and within the scientific community at large. (see: Problem of demarcation)

Science is reasoned-based analysis of sensation upon our awareness. As such, the scientific method cannot deduce anything about the realm of reality that is beyond what is observable by existing or theoretical means. When a manifestation of our reality previously considered supernatural is understood in the terms of causes and consequences, it acquires a scientific explanation.

Resting on reason and logic, along with other guidelines such as parsimony, scientific theories are formulated and repeatedly tested by analyzing how the collected evidence compares to the theory. Some of the findings of science can be very counter-intuitive. Atomic theory, for example, implies that a granite boulder which appears a heavy, hard, solid, grey object is actually a combination of subatomic particles with none of these properties, moving very rapidly in space where the mass is concentrated in a very small fraction of the total volume. Many of humanity's preconceived notions about the workings of the universe have been challenged by new scientific discoveries. Quantum mechanics, particularly, examines phenomena that seem to defy our most basic postulates about causality and fundamental understanding of the world around us. Science is the branch of knowledge dealing with people and the understanding we have of our environment and how it works.

There are different schools of thought in the philosophy of scientific method. Methodological naturalism maintains that scientific investigation must adhere to empirical study and independent verification as a process for properly developing and evaluating natural explanations for observable phenomena. Methodological naturalism, therefore, rejects supernatural explanations, arguments from authority and biased observational studies. Critical rationalism instead holds that unbiased observation is not possible and a demarcation between natural and supernatural explanations is arbitrary; it instead proposes falsifiability as the landmark of empirical theories and falsification as the universal empirical method. Critical rationalism argues for the ability of science to increase the scope of testable knowledge, but at the same time against its authority, by emphasizing its inherent fallibility. It proposes that science should be content with the rational elimination of errors in its theories, not in seeking for their verification (such as claiming certain or probable proof or disproof; both the proposal and falsification of a theory are only of methodological, conjectural, and tentative character in critical rationalism). Instrumentalism rejects the concept of truth and emphasizes merely the utility of theories as instruments for explaining and predicting phenomena.

Mathematics and the scientific method

Enlarge picture
Velocity-distribution data of a gas of rubidium atoms, confirming the discovery of a new phase of matter, the Bose–Einstein condensate.
Mathematics is essential to many sciences. One important function of mathematics in science is the role it plays in the expression of scientific models. Observing and collecting measurements, as well as hypothesizing and predicting, often require mathematical models and extensive use of mathematics. Mathematical branches most often used in science include calculus and statistics, although virtually every branch of mathematics has applications, even "pure" areas such as number theory and topology. Mathematics is fundamental to the understanding of the natural sciences and the social sciences, all of which rely heavily on statistics. Statistical methods, comprised of accepted mathematical formulas for summarizing data, allow scientists to assess the level of reliability and the range of variation in experimental results.

Whether mathematics itself is properly classified as science has been a matter of some debate. Some thinkers see mathematicians as scientists, regarding physical experiments as inessential or mathematical proofs as equivalent to experiments. Others do not see mathematics as a science, since it does not require experimental test of its theories and hypotheses. In practice, mathematical theorems and formulas are obtained by logical derivations which presume axiomatic systems, rather than a combination of empirical observation and method of reasoning that has come to be known as scientific method. In general, mathematics is classified as formal science, while natural and social sciences are classified as empirical sciences.

Scientific literature

Main article: Scientific literature


An enormous range of scientific literature is published. Scientific journals communicate and document the results of research carried out in universities and various other research institutions.

Most scientific journals cover a single scientific field and publish the research within that field; the research is normally expressed in the form of a scientific paper. Science has become so pervasive in modern societies that it is generally considered necessary to communicate the achievements, news, and ambitions of scientists to a wider populace.

Science magazines such as New Scientist and Scientific American cater to the needs of a much wider readership and provide a non-technical summary of popular areas of research, including notable discoveries and advances in certain fields of research. Science books engage the interest of many more people.

Tangentially, science fiction, primarily fantastic in nature, engages the public imagination and transmits the ideas, if not the methods, of science.

Fields of science

Main article: Fields of science
Science is broadly subdivided into the categories of natural sciences and the social sciences. There are also related disciplines that are grouped into interdisciplinary and applied sciences, such as engineering and health science. Within these categories are specialized scientific fields that can include elements of other scientific disciplines but often possess their own terminology and body of expertise.[10]

The status of social sciences as an empirical science has been a matter of debate in the 20th century, see Positivism dispute.[11] Discussion and debate abound in this topic with some fields like the social and behavioural sciences accused by critics of being unscientific. In fact, many groups of people from academicians like Nobel Prize physicist Percy W. Bridgman,[12] or Dick Richardson, Ph.D.—Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin,[13] to politicians like U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and other co-sponsors,[14] oppose giving their support or agreeing with the use of the label "science" in some fields of study and knowledge they consider non-scientific or scientifically irrelevant compared with other fields.

Scientific institutions



Learned societies for the communication and promotion of scientific thought and experimentation have existed since the Renaissance period.[15] The oldest surviving institution is the Accademia dei Lincei in Italy.[16] National Academy of Sciences are distinguished institutions that exist in a number of countries, beginning with the British Royal Society in 1660[17] and the French Académie des Sciences in 1666.[18]

International scientific organizations, such as the International Council for Science, have since been formed to promote cooperation between the scientific communities of different nations. More recently, influential government agencies have been created to support scientific research, including the National Science Foundation in the U.S.

Other prominent organizations include:

See also

Main lists: List of basic science topics and List of science topics
Controversy
History
Philosophy
  • History of science (how the various fields of science came to be)
  • Scientist (lists of people active in each of these fields)
  • Engineering (science applied)
  • Fields of science
  • Knowledge (goal of science)
  • List of inventors
  • List of publications in science
  • Mathematics (complements science, and is its main tool)
  • Military funding of science
  • Perfection
  • Philosophy (foundation of inquiry)
  • Philosophy of science (foundation of science)
  • Karl Popper
  • Scientific computing
  • Scientific data archiving
  • Scientific enterprise
  • Scientific materialism
  • Technology (result of science)
  • Science and technology

    Notes

    1. ^ [1] Merriam Webster definition of science, Retrieved September 12, 2007 "2 a : a department of systematized knowledge as an object of study <the science of theology> b : something (as a sport or technique) that may be studied or learned like systematized knowledge <have it down to a science>"
    2. ^ "science" defined by various dictionaries at "reference.com"
    3. ^ (Popper 1959, p. 3)
    4. ^ (Popper 1959, p. 3)
    5. ^ (Popper 1959, p. 20)
    6. ^ (Popper 1959, pp. 10–11)
    7. ^ Etymology of "science" at Etymology Online
    8. ^ MacMorris, Neville (1989). The Natures of Science. New York: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, pp. 31–33. ISBN 0838633218. 
    9. ^ See, e.g. [2]. The first usage, which is fairly representative of standard dictionaries today, describes science as: "a. The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena. b. Such activities restricted to a class of natural phenomena. c. Such activities applied to an object of inquiry or study." From the American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003
    10. ^ See: Editorial Staff (March 7, 2007). Scientific Method: Relationships among Scientific Paradigms. Seed magazine. Retrieved on 2007-09-12.
    11. ^ Critical examination of various positions on this issue can be found in Karl R. Popper's The Poverty of Historicism.
    12. ^ Siepmann, J. P. (1999). "What is Science? (Editorial)". Journal of Theoretics 3. Retrieved on 2007-07-23. 
    13. ^ Richardson, R. H. (Dick) (January 28, 2001). Economics is NOT Natural Science! (It is technology of Social Science.). The University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved on 2007-07-23.
    14. ^ Staff (May 19, 2006). Behavioral and Social Science Are Under Attack in the Senate. American Sociological Association. Retrieved on 2007-07-23.
    15. ^ Parrott, Jim (August 9, 2007). Chronicle for Societies Founded from 1323 to 1599. Scholarly Societies Project. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
    16. ^ Benvenuto nel sito dell'Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Italian). Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (2006). Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
    17. ^ Brief history of the Society. The Royal Society. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
    18. ^ Meynell, G.G.. The French Academy of Sciences, 1666-91: A reassessment of the French Académie royale des sciences under Colbert (1666-83) and Louvois (1683-91). Topics in Scientific & Medical History. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.

    References

    • Feyerabend, Paul K. 2005. Science, history of the philosophy of. Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford.
    • Papineau, David. 2005. Science, problems of the philosophy of. Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford.
    • Popper, Karl [1959] (2002). The Logic of Scientific Discovery, 2nd English edition, New York, NY: Routledge Classics, 3. ISBN 0-415-27844-9. OCLC 59377149. 
    • Richard P. Feynman. "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out"

    Further reading

    External links

    Journals Textbooks: News: Resources:
    • The Vega Science Trust Hours of science video including scientific lectures (Feynman, Kroto, Davis, etc.), discussions (nanotechnology, GM, stem cells, etc.), career programmes, interviews with Nobel Laureates, and school resources.
    • United States Science Initiative. Selected science information provided by U.S. Government agencies, including research and development results.
    • Science Resources
    Fun science:
    Knowledge is defined (Oxford English Dictionary) variously as (i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, (ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information or
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Knowledge is defined (Oxford English Dictionary) variously as (i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, (ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information or
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. It is based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning,[1]
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Knowledge is defined (Oxford English Dictionary) variously as (i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, (ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information or
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Research is a human activity based on intellectual investigation and aimed at discovering, interpreting, and revising human knowledge on different aspects of the world. Research can use the scientific method, but need not do so.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    natural science refers to a rational approach to the study of the universe, which is understood as obeying rules or laws of natural origin. The term natural science
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    NATURAL is a Fourth-generation programming language from Software AG.
    • Hello World in NATURAL
    WRITE 'Hello World!' END

    It has the "ESCAPE TOP" flow control instruction, which is similar to "continue" in C, or "Continue For" in "Visual Basic.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Biology (from Greek: βίος, bio, "life"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge"), also referred to as the biological sciences, is the scientific study of life.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    The social sciences are a group of academic disciplines that study human aspects of the world. They diverge from the arts and humanities in that the social sciences tend to emphasize the use of the scientific method in the study of humanity, including quantitative and qualitative
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    For the Björk song, see ''Human Behaviour
    Human behavior is the collection of behaviors exhibited by human beings and influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions, values, ethics, authority, rapport, hypnosis, persuasion, coercion and/or genetics.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    society is a grouping of individuals which is characterized by common interests and may have distinctive culture and institutions. Members of a society may be from different ethnic groups.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    A central concept in science and the scientific method is that all evidence must be empirical, or empirically based, that is, dependent on evidence or consequences that are observable by the senses. Empirical data is data that is produced by experiment or observation.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Observation is an activity of a sapient or sentient living being (e.g. humans), which senses and assimilates the knowledge of a phenomenon in its framework of previous knowledge and ideas.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    For other uses, see Phenomena (disambiguation).
    A phenomenon (Greek: φαινόμενoν, pl. phenomena φαινόμενα) is any occurrence that is observable.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    In the scientific method, an experiment (Latin: ex- periri, "of (or from) trying") is a set of observations performed in the context of solving a particular problem or question, to support or falsify a hypothesis or research concerning phenomena.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    validity as it occurs in logic refers generally to a property of deductive arguments, although many logic texts apply the term to statements as well (a statement is a sentence that “has a truth value,” i.e., that is either true or false).
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Mathematics (colloquially, maths or math) is the body of knowledge centered on such concepts as quantity, structure, space, and change, and also the academic discipline that studies them. Benjamin Peirce called it "the science that draws necessary conclusions".
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    A formal science is an academic study that is predominantly concerned with abstract formal systems, for instance, logic, mathematics, and the theoretical branches of computer science, information theory, and statistics.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    A central concept in science and the scientific method is that all evidence must be empirical, or empirically based, that is, dependent on evidence or consequences that are observable by the senses. Empirical data is data that is produced by experiment or observation.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    a priori" and "a posteriori" are used in philosophy to distinguish between deductive and inductive reasoning, respectively. Attempts to define clearly or explain a priori and a posteriori
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Statistics is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data. It is applicable to a wide variety of academic disciplines, from the physical and social sciences to the humanities.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Logic (from Classical Greek λόγος logos; meaning word, thought, idea, argument, account, reason, or principle) is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    A hypothesis (from Greek ὑπόθεσις) consists either of a suggested explanation for a phenomenon or of a reasoned proposal suggesting a possible correlation between multiple phenomena.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    The word theory has a number of distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion.

    In common usage, people often use the word theory to signify a conjecture, an opinion, or a speculation.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    For a list of set rules, see .


    A physical law, scientific law, or a law of nature is a scientific generalization based on empirical observations of physical behavior.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    In the scientific method, an experiment (Latin: ex- periri, "of (or from) trying") is a set of observations performed in the context of solving a particular problem or question, to support or falsify a hypothesis or research concerning phenomena.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Applied science is the application of knowledge from one or more natural scientific fields to solving practical problems. Fields of engineering are applied sciences. Applied science is important for technology development.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Latin}}} 
    Official status
    Official language of: Vatican City
    Used for official purposes, but not spoken in everyday speech
    Regulated by: Opus Fundatum Latinitas
    Roman Catholic Church
    Language codes
    ISO 639-1: la
    ISO 639-2: lat
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Knowledge is defined (Oxford English Dictionary) variously as (i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, (ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information or
    ..... Click the link for more information.


    • This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
    Herod_Archelaus


    page counter