Natural Science is a branch of science that deals with descriptions, predictions, and understanding of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repetition of findings are used to try to ensure the validity of scientific progress.
Natural science can be divided into two main branches: life sciences (or biological sciences) and physical sciences. Physics is divided into branches, including physics, space science, chemistry, and earth sciences. These branches of natural science can be subdivided into more specialized branches (also known as fields).
In the analytical tradition of Western societies, the empirical sciences and especially the natural sciences use the tools of the formal sciences, such as mathematics and logic, transforming information about nature into a measure that can be described as a clear statement of "natural laws ". Social sciences also use such methods, but rely more on qualitative research, so sometimes they are called "soft science", while the natural sciences, insofar as they emphasize quantitative data are generated, tested, and confirmed through scientific methods, sometimes called "hard science".
Modern natural science succeeds in more classical approaches to natural philosophy, usually traced to ancient Greece. Galileo, Descartes, Bacon, and Newton debated the merits of using a more mathematical and experimental approach in a methodical way. Still, philosophical perspectives, conjectures, and presuppositions, often ignored, remain necessary in the natural sciences. Systematic data collection, including science of discovery, replaces natural history, which emerged in the 16th century by explaining and classifying plants, animals, minerals, and so on. Today, "natural history" shows an observational description devoted to popular audiences.
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Criteria
The philosophers of science have suggested a number of criteria, including Karl Popper's controversial falsity criterion, to help them distinguish scientific efforts from non-scientific ones. Validity, accuracy, and quality control, such as peer assessment and repetition of findings, are one of the most respected criteria in the global scientific community today.
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Natural science branch
Biology
This field includes a set of disciplines that examines phenomena related to living organisms. The study scale can range from sub-components of biophysics to complex ecology. Biology deals with the characteristics, classification and behavior of organisms, as well as how species are formed and their interactions with each other and the environment.
The field of botany, zoology, and medicine biology dates from the earliest period of civilization, while microbiology was introduced in the 17th century with the invention of a microscope. However, it was only in the 19th century that biology became an integrated science. After scientists discovered the similarities among all living things, it was decided that they were best learned as a whole.
Some key developments in biology are genetic discoveries; evolution through natural selection; the germ theory of disease and the application of chemical and physical techniques at the level of organic cells or molecules.
Modern biology is divided into subdisciplines by the type of organism and by the scale being studied. Molecular biology is the study of the basic chemistry of life, while cellular biology is the examination of cells; the basic building blocks of all life. At a higher level, anatomy and physiology see the internal structure, and function, of an organism, while ecology looks at how various organisms are interconnected.
Chemistry
It is a scientific research of matter on the atomic and molecular scale, the chemical mainly concerned with the collection of atoms, such as gases, molecules, crystals, and metals. The composition, property statistics, transformations and reactions of these materials are studied. Chemistry also involves understanding the properties and interactions of individual atoms and molecules for use in larger-scale applications.
Most chemical processes can be studied directly in the laboratory, using a set of techniques (often tested) to manipulate the material, as well as an understanding of the underlying process. Chemistry is often called "central science" because of its role in connecting other natural sciences.
Early experiments in chemistry were rooted in the Alchemy system, a set of beliefs that combine mysticism with physical experimentation. Chemistry began to develop with the work of Robert Boyle, the inventor of gas, and Antoine Lavoisier, who developed the theory of mass conservation.
The discovery of the chemical elements and the atomic theory began to systematize this science, and the researchers developed a fundamental understanding of the state of matter, ions, chemical bonds and chemical reactions. The success of this science has led to the complementary chemical industry now playing an important role in the world economy.
Physics
Physics embodies the study of the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces and interactions they use with each other, and the results generated by these interactions. In general, physics is considered a basic science, because all other natural sciences use and adhere to principles and laws set by the field. Physics relies heavily on mathematics as a logical framework for the formulation and quantification of principles.
The study of the principles of the universe has a long history and mostly comes from direct observation and experimentation. The formulation of the theory of law governing the universe has been the center of the study of physics from the beginning, with philosophy gradually resulting in experimental testing, quantitative experimental and observation as the source of verification. The major historical developments in physics include Isaac Newton's theory of universal gravitation and classical mechanics, the understanding of electricity and its relation to magnetism, Einstein's theory of special and general relativity, the development of thermodynamics, and the model of atomic and subatomic quantum mechanics.
The field of physics is very broad, and can include numerous studies such as quantum mechanics and theoretical physics, applied physics and optics. Modern physics is becoming increasingly specialized, in which researchers tend to focus on a particular area rather than being "universalist" like Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Lev Landau, working in various fields. Astronomy
This discipline is the science of celestial bodies and phenomena derived from outside the Earth's atmosphere. It deals with evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and the movement of heavenly bodies, as well as the formation and development of the universe.
Astronomy includes examination, study and modeling of stars, planets, comets, galaxies and the cosmos. Most of the information used by astronomers is collected by remote observations, although some laboratory reproduction of celestial phenomena has been done (such as the molecular chemistry of interstellar medium).
While the origin of the study of celestial features and phenomena can be traced back to antiquity, the scientific methodology of this field began to develop in the mid-17th century. A key factor is the introduction of the Galileo telescope to examine the night sky in more detail.
The mathematical treatment of astronomy began with the development of Newton's celestial mechanics and the law of gravity, although it was triggered by the early work of astronomers such as Kepler. In the 19th century, astronomy has developed into a formal science, with the introduction of instruments such as spectroscopes and photography, along with a much better telescope and the creation of professional observatories.
Earth Sciences
Earth science (also known as geosciences), is an all-embracing term for science related to the planet Earth, including geology, geophysics, hydrology, meteorology, physical geography, oceanography, and soil science.
Although mining and precious stones have become a human interest throughout the history of civilization, the development of science related to economic geology and mineralogy did not occur until the 18th century. The study of the earth, especially paleontology, developed in the 19th century. The growth of other disciplines, such as geophysics, in the 20th century led to the development of tectonic plate theory in the 1960s, which had a similar effect on earth science such as the theory of evolution to biology. Earth Sciences is currently closely tied to oil and mineral resources, climate research and environmental assessment and improvement.
Atmospheric Sciences
Although sometimes thought to be related to earth science, because of the independent development of concepts, techniques and practices and also the fact it has various sub-disciplines under its wings, atmospheric science is also considered a separate branch of nature. science. This field studies the characteristics of different atmospheric layers from the soil surface to the edge of time. The time scale of the study also varies from day to century. Sometimes the field also includes the study of climatic patterns on planets other than earth.
Oceanography
Serious ocean studies began in the early to mid-20th century. As a field of natural sciences, it is relatively young but a stand-alone program offers a specialization in the subject. Although some controversy remains about the categorization of fields under geography, interdisciplinary science or as a separate field in its own right, most modern workers in the field agree that it has matured into a state that has its own paradigms and practices. Such a large family of related studies covering every aspect of the ocean is now classified under this field.
Interdisciplinary Study
The differences between the disciplines of nature are not always sharp, and they share a number of interdisciplinary fields. Physics plays an important role in other natural sciences, as represented by astrophysics, geophysics, chemical physics and biophysics. Likewise chemistry is represented by fields such as biochemistry, chemical biology, geochemistry and astrochemistry.
A specific example of a discipline that refers to various natural sciences is environmental science. This field studies the interactions of physical, chemical, geological, and environmental biological components, in particular with regard to the effects of human activities and their impact on biodiversity and sustainability. It also draws on expertise from other fields such as economics, law and social sciences.
Comparable discipline is oceanography, because it refers to the vastness of the same discipline. Oceanography is categorized into more specific cross-disciplines, such as physical oceanography and marine biology. Because the marine ecosystem is so large and diverse, marine biology is subdivided into many subfields, including specialization in certain species.
There is also a part of the interdisciplinary field which, by the nature of the problems they handle, has a strong current that goes against specialization. In other words: In some areas of integrative applications, specialists in more than one field are a major part of most dialogues. Such integrative fields, for example, include complex nanoscience, astrobiology, and informatics systems.
Materials science
Material science is a relatively new field of interdisciplinary, which deals with the study of material and its properties; as well as the invention and design of new materials. Originally developed through the field of metallurgy, the study of the properties of materials and solids has now expanded into all materials. This field covers chemical, physical and material engineering applications including metals, ceramics, artificial polymers, and many others. The core of this field corresponds to the material structure associated with its properties.
It is a leader in science and engineering research. This is an important part of forensic engineering (inquiry of materials, products, structures or components that fail or do not operate or function as intended, cause personal injury or property damage) and failure analysis, the latter being the key to understanding, for example, the cause of various aviation accidents. Many of the most pressing scientific problems faced today are the limitations of available materials and, as a result, breakthroughs in this field tend to have a significant impact on the future of technology.
The foundation of materials science involves studying the structure of matter, and relating it to its properties. Once a material scientist knows about the correlation of this property-structure, they can then proceed to study the relative performance of a material in a particular application. The main determinant of the material structure and thus its properties are its constituent chemical elements and the way in which it has been processed into its final form. This characteristic, taken together and linked through the laws of thermodynamics and kinetics, governs the microstructure of the material, and thus its properties.
History
Some scholars trace the origin of natural science as far as pre-literate human society, where the understanding of the natural world is necessary to survive. People observe and build knowledge about the behavior of animals and the use of plants as food and medicine, passed down from generation to generation. This primitive understanding gave way to a more formalized investigation of about 3500 to 3000 BC in the Mesopotamian and Ancient Egyptian cultures, which produced the first known written evidence of natural philosophy, the precursor of the natural sciences. While the writings show interest in astronomy, mathematics and other aspects of the physical world, the ultimate goal of investigation of the work of nature is in all cases of religion or mythology, not scientific.
A tradition of scientific inquiry also appeared in Ancient China, where alchemist alchemists and philosophers experimented with concoctions to prolong life and cure illness. They focus on yin and yang, or different elements in nature; Yin is associated with femininity and coldness, while Yang is associated with masculinity and warmth. Five phases - fire, earth, metal, wood and water - illustrate the cycle of transformation in nature. Water turns into wood, which turns into fire when it is burned. The ashes left by the fire are the ground. Using these principles, Chinese philosophers and physicians explore human anatomy, characterizing organs as dominant yin or yang and understanding the relationship between heart rate, heart, and blood flow in the body centuries before being accepted in the West.
Little persisting evidence of how Ancient Indian culture around the Indus River understood nature, but some of their perspectives may be reflected in the Vedas, a set of sacred Hindu texts. They reveal a conception of a universe that is constantly evolving and constantly being recycled and reformed. Surgeons in the Ayurvedic tradition see health and disease as a combination of three humors: wind, bile and phlegm. Healthy living is the result of a balance between these humors. In Ayurvedic thought, the body consists of five elements: earth, water, fire, wind and empty space. The Ayurvedic surgeons perform complex surgeries and develop a detailed understanding of human anatomy.
The pre-Socratic philosophers in Ancient Greek culture brought the philosophy of nature a step closer to a direct investigation of cause and effect in nature between 600 and 400 BC, though the element of magic and mythology remained. Natural phenomena such as earthquakes and eclipses are explained increasingly in the context of nature itself rather than being associated with angry gods. Thales of Miletus, an early philosopher living from 625 to 546 BC, explains earthquakes by theorizing that the world is floating in water and that water is a fundamental element in nature. In the 5th century BC, Leucippus was an early exponent of atomism, the idea that the world is made up of fundamental, inseparable particles. Pythagoras applied the Greek innovations in mathematics to astronomy, and suggested that the earth was round. Aristotelian_natural_philosophy_.28400_BC.E2.80.931100_AD.29 "> Aristotle's natural philosophy (400 BC-1100 AD)
Then Socrates and Platonic thought focuses on ethics, morals and the arts and does not try to investigate the physical world; Plato criticized pre-Socratic thinkers as materialist and anti-religious. However, Aristotle, a student of Plato who lived from 384 to 322 BC, paid more attention to the natural world in his philosophy. In his book History of Animals , he describes the workings of 110 species, including stingrays, catfish and bees. He investigated chicken embryos by breaking open eggs and observing them at various stages of development. Aristotle's works were influential throughout the sixteenth century, and he was considered the father of biology for his pioneering work in the science. He also presented philosophy on physics, nature and astronomy using inductive reasoning in his works Physics and Meteorology .
While Aristotle considers natural philosophy more serious than his predecessor, he approaches it as a branch of theoretical science. Inspired by his work, however, the early Roman philosophers of the early 1st century, including Lucretius, Seneca and Pliny the Elder, wrote treatises relating to the rules of the natural world at various levels of depth. Many Ancient Roman Neoplatonik from the 3rd to 6th centuries also adapted Aristotle's teachings to the physical world with a philosophy that emphasized spiritualism. Early medieval philosophers including Macrobius, Calcidius, and Martianus Capella also examined the physical world, largely from cosmological and cosmographical perspectives, proposed theories on the arrangement of heavenly and celestial bodies, considered as composed of ether.
Aristotle's works on natural philosophy continue to be translated and studied amid the rise of the Byzantine Empire and the Abbasid Caliphate.
In the Byzantine Empire John Philoponus, an Alexandrian Aristotelian commentator and Christian theologian, was the first to question the teaching of Aristotle physics. Unlike Aristotle, who based his physics on verbal arguments, Philoponus relied on observation, and argued for observation rather than turning to verbal arguments. He introduced the theory of encouragement. John Philoponus's critique of the principles of Aristotle physics served as an inspiration for Galileo Galilei during the Scientific Revolution.
Resurrection in mathematics and science occurred during the period of the Abbasid Caliphate from the 9th century onwards, as Muslim scholars expanded the Greek and Indian philosophy of nature. The words alcohol , algebra and zenith all have an Arabic root.
Medieval natural philosophy (1100-1600)
The works of Aristotle and other Greek philosophical philosophy did not reach the West until about the middle of the 12th century, when the work was translated from Greek and Arabic into Latin. The development of European civilization in the later Middle Ages brought further advances in natural philosophy. European inventions such as horseshoe, horse collar and crop rotation allow rapid population growth, eventually giving way to urbanization and the foundations of schools linked to monasteries and cathedrals in modern France and England. Assisted by schools, a growing Christian theology approach that seeks to answer questions about nature and other subjects uses logic. However, this approach is seen by some critics as heretics. In the twelfth century, Western European philosophers and philosophers came into contact with a body of knowledge they had not previously known: the great corpus of works in Greek and Arabic preserved by Islamic scholars. Through translation into Latin, Western Europe was introduced to Aristotle and his natural philosophy. These works were taught at new universities in Paris and Oxford in the early 13th century, although the practice was condemned by the Catholic church. A decree of 1210 of the Paris Synod commands that "no lecture will be held in Paris either publicly or privately using Aristotle's books on natural philosophy or commentary, and we forbid all of this under the pain of excommunication."
At the end of the Middle Ages, the Spanish philosopher Dominicus Gundissalinus translated treatises by the earlier Persian scholar Al-Farabi called In Science into Latin, calling the study of natural scientia's mechanics, or natural science. Gundissalinus also proposed his own classification of the natural sciences in his 1150th work In the Division of Philosophy . This is the first detailed classification of science based on Greek and Arabic philosophy to reach Western Europe. Gundissalinus defines natural science as "a science that considers only undeniable things and with motion", as opposed to mathematics and mathematics-dependent sciences. Following Al-Farabi, he then separated the sciences into eight parts, including physics, cosmology, meteorology, mineral sciences and plant and animal sciences.
Then the philosophers made their own classification of the natural sciences. Robert Kilwardby wrote 13th-century On the Order of the Sciences that classifies medicine as a mechanical science, along with agriculture, hunting and theater while defining the natural sciences as the science that deals with the moving body. Roger Bacon, an English monk and philosopher, wrote that natural science deals with "a principle of motion and rest, as in parts of the elements of fire, air, earth and water, and in all the dead things made of them." These sciences also include plants, animals, and celestial bodies. Then in the 13th century, Catholic priest and theologian Thomas Aquinas defined nature as dealing with "moving beings" and "things that depend on matter not only for their existence, but also for their definition." There is widespread agreement among medieval scholars that natural science is about moving bodies, although there is a division of entry of fields including medicine, music and perspective. Philosophers ponder questions including the existence of a vacuum, whether the movement can produce heat, rainbow color, motion of the earth, whether there is a chemical element and where in the rainy atmosphere formed.
In the centuries to the end of the Middle Ages, natural science often mixed with the philosophy of magic and occultism. The philosophy of nature comes in various forms, from treatise to encyclopaedia to comments on Aristotle. The interaction between natural and Christian philosophy is complex during this period; some early theologians, including Tatian and Eusebius, regarded the philosophy of nature as outcropping Greek pagan science and suspicious of it. Although some later Christian philosophers, including Aquinas, came to view natural science as a means of interpreting scripture, this suspicion persisted until the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The condemnation of 1277, which forbids the setting of philosophy at a level equivalent to the theology and religious construct debate in a scientific context, shows the perseverance with which Catholic leaders reject the development of natural philosophy even from a theological perspective. Aquinas and Albertus Magnus, another Catholic theologian of the time, tried to keep the theology from science in their works. "I do not see Aristotle's interpretation of the teaching of faith," he wrote in 1271.
Newton and the scientific revolution (1600-1800)
In the 16th and 17th centuries, natural philosophy underwent evolution beyond comments to Aristotle as early Greek philosophy was discovered and translated. The invention of the printing press in the fifteenth century, the invention of microscopes and telescopes, and the Protestant Reformation fundamentally changed the social context in which scientific inquiry developed in the West. Christopher Columbus's discovery of the new world changed the perception of the physical order of the world, while observations by Copernicus, Tyco Brahe and Galileo brought a more accurate picture of the solar system as heliocentric and proved many of Aristotle's theories of false celestial bodies. A number of 17th century philosophers, including Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Francis Bacon, paused from the past by rejecting Aristotle and his medieval followers directly, calling their approach to natural philosophy as superficial.
The title of the work of Galileo Two New Sciences and Johannes Kepler New Astronomy underscores the atmosphere of change that occurred in the 17th century when Aristotle was dismissed for the new method of inquiry into the natural world. Bacon was instrumental in popularizing these changes; he argues that people should use art and science to gain dominance over nature. To achieve this, he writes that "human life [must] be blessed with new discoveries and powers." He defines the philosophy of nature as "the knowledge of the causes and the secret movements of things, and enlarges the boundaries of the Human Kingdom, to influence all things possible." Bacon proposed a state-sponsored scientific investigation and was fed by the collaborative research of scientists, an unprecedented vision of his scope, ambitions, and form at the time. Natural philosophers began to view nature increasingly as a mechanism that can be separated and understood, like a complex clock. Natural philosophers including Isaac Newton, Evangelista Torricelli and Francesco Redi conducted experiments that focused on the flow of water, measuring atmospheric pressure using barometers and refuting spontaneous generation. The scientific community and scientific journals emerged and spread widely through the printing press, touching the scientific revolution. Newton in 1687 published his book The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, or Principia Mathematica, which laid the foundations for physical law that remained until the nineteenth century.
Some modern scholars, including Andrew Cunningham, Perry Williams and Floris Cohen, argue that natural philosophy is not properly called science, and that genuine scientific investigation begins only with the scientific revolution. According to Cohen, "the emancipation of science from a comprehensive entity called 'natural philosophy' is one of the hallmarks of the Scientific Revolution." Other science historians, including Edward Grant, have argued that the scientific revolutions that developed in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries occurred when the principles learned in optical science, mechanics, and astronomy were appropriately applied to the questions raised by natural philosophy. Grant argues that Newton sought to expose the mathematical basis of nature - the eternal rule that was obeyed - and thus join the philosophy of nature and mathematics for the first time, producing the early work of modern physics.
The scientific revolution, which began in the 17th century, represents the sharp pause of Aristotle's inquiry mode. One of the major advances is the use of scientific methods to investigate nature. Data collected and repeated measurements were made in the experiment. The scientists then formed a hypothesis to explain the results of this experiment. This hypothesis is then tested using the principle of falsifiability to prove or disprove its accuracy. The natural sciences continue to be called natural philosophy, but the adoption of scientific methods takes science beyond the realm of philosophical conjecture and introduces a more structured way of examining nature.
Newton, a British mathematician and physicist, was a seminal figure in the scientific revolution. Drawing on the advances made in astronomy by Copernicus, Brahe and Kepler, Newton derives the law of universal gravitation and the law of motion. These laws are applied both on earth and in outer space, uniting two areas of the physical world previously thought to function independently of one another, in accordance with separate physical rules. Newton, for example, showed that the waves were caused by the gravitational pull of the moon. Newton's other advancement was to make the mathematical explanatory tool strong for natural phenomena. While natural philosophers have long used mathematics as a means of measurement and analysis, the principles are not used as a means of understanding cause and effect in nature until Newton.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, scientists including Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, Alessandro Volta, and Michael Faraday built on Newtonian mechanics by exploring electromagnetism, or the interaction of forces with positive and negative charges on electrically charged particles. Faraday proposed that troops in nature operate in "fields" that fill space. The idea of ​​the field contrasts with Newton's gravitational construction as simply "action at a distance", or the attraction of objects without anything in the space between them to intervene. James Clerk Maxwell in the 19th century brought together these findings in a coherent electrodynamic theory. Using mathematical equations and experiments, Maxwell discovered that space is filled with charged particles that can act on themselves and each other, and that they are the medium for the transmission of charged waves.
Significant advances in chemistry also occurred during the scientific revolution. Antoine Lavoisier, a French chemist, refutes the phlogiston theory, which suggests that objects burn by releasing "phlogiston" into the air. Joseph Priestley had discovered oxygen in the 18th century, but Lavoisier discovered that combustion was the result of oxidation. He also created a table of 33 elements and discovered a modern chemical nomenclature. Formal biology remains in its infancy in the eighteenth century, when its focus lies in the classification and categorization of natural life. Growth in natural history is led by Carl Linnaeus, whose 1735 natural taxonomy is still in use. Linnaeus in the 1750s introduced a scientific name for all its species.
19th century developments (1800-1900)
In the 19th century, science studies have entered into professional and institutional scopes. Thus, gradually a more modern name of natural science is obtained. The term scientists was created by William Whewell in a review of 1834 on Mary Somerville At Connexion of Science . But the word did not enter general use until almost the end of the same century.
Modern natural science (1900-present)
According to a famous book of 1923 Thermodynamics and Free Energy Chemicals by American chemist Gilbert N. Lewis and the American physical chemist Merle Randall, the natural sciences contained three major branches:
Apart from the logical and mathematical sciences, there are three great branches of natural science that stand apart by the reasons for the various remarkable deductions taken from a small number of primary postulates - they are mechanics, electrodynamics, and thermodynamics.
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