Science

The Universe represented as multiple disk-shaped

slices across time, which passes from left to right.

Science (from the Latin word scientia,

meaning "knowledge")[1] is a systematic
enterprise that builds and organizes
knowledge in the form of testable
explanations and predictions about the
universe.[2][3][4]

The earliest roots of science can be

traced to Ancient Egypt and
Mesopotamia in around 3500 to 3000
BCE.[5][6] Their contributions to
mathematics, astronomy, and medicine
entered and shaped Greek natural
philosophy of classical antiquity,
whereby formal attempts were made to
provide explanations of events in the
physical world based on natural
causes.[5][6] After the fall of the Western
Roman Empire, knowledge of Greek
conceptions of the world deteriorated in
Western Europe during the early
centuries (400 to 1000 CE) of the Middle
Ages[7] but was preserved in the Muslim
world during the Islamic Golden Age.[8]
The recovery and assimilation of Greek
works and Islamic inquiries into Western
Europe from the 10th to 13th century
revived "natural philosophy",[7][9] which
was later transformed by the Scientific
Revolution that began in the 16th
century[10] as new ideas and discoveries
departed from previous Greek
conceptions and traditions.[11][12][13][14]
The scientific method soon played a
greater role in knowledge creation and it
was not until the 19th century that many
of the institutional and professional
features of science began to take
shape;[15][16][17] along with the changing
of "natural philosophy" to "natural
science."[18]

Modern science is typically divided into

three major branches that consist of the
natural sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry,
and physics), which study nature in the
broadest sense; the social sciences (e.g.,
economics, psychology, and sociology),
which study individuals and societies;
and the formal sciences (e.g., logic,
mathematics, and theoretical computer
science), which study abstract concepts.
There is disagreement,[19][20] however, on
whether the formal sciences actually
constitute a science as they do not rely
on empirical evidence.[21] Disciplines that
use existing scientific knowledge for
practical purposes, such as engineering
and medicine, are described as applied
sciences.[22][23][24][25]

Science is based on research, which is

commonly conducted in academic and
research institutions as well as in
government agencies and companies.
The practical impact of scientific
research has led to the emergence of
science policies that seek to influence
the scientific enterprise by prioritizing the
development of commercial products,
armaments, health care, and
environmental protection.
History
Science in a broad sense existed before
the modern era and in many historical
civilizations.[26] Modern science is
distinct in its approach and successful in
its results, so it now defines what
science is in the strictest sense of the
term.[3][5][27] Science in its original sense
was a word for a type of knowledge,
rather than a specialized word for the
pursuit of such knowledge. In particular,
it was the type of knowledge which
people can communicate to each other
and share. For example, knowledge
about the working of natural things was
gathered long before recorded history
and led to the development of complex
abstract thought. This is shown by the
construction of complex calendars,
techniques for making poisonous plants
edible, public works at national scale,
such as those which harnessed the
floodplain of the Yangtse with
reservoirs,[28] dams, and dikes, and
buildings such as the Pyramids. However,
no consistent conscious distinction was
made between knowledge of such things,
which are true in every community, and
other types of communal knowledge,
such as mythologies and legal systems.
Metallurgy was known in prehistory, and
the Vinča culture was the earliest known
producer of bronze-like alloys. It is
thought that early experimentation with
heating and mixing of substances over
time developed into alchemy.

Early cultures

Clay models of animal livers dating between the

nineteenth and eighteenth centuries BCE, found in
the royal palace in Mari, Syria
Neither the words nor the concepts
"science" and "nature" were part of the
conceptual landscape in the ancient near
east.[29] The ancient Mesopotamians
used knowledge about the properties of
various natural chemicals for
manufacturing pottery, faience, glass,
soap, metals, lime plaster, and
waterproofing;[30] they also studied
animal physiology, anatomy, and
behavior for divinatory purposes[30] and
made extensive records of the
movements of astronomical objects for
their study of astrology.[31] The
Mesopotamians had intense interest in
medicine[30] and the earliest medical
prescriptions appear in Sumerian during
the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2112 BCE – c.
2004 BCE).[32] Nonetheless, the
Mesopotamians seem to have had little
interest in gathering information about
the natural world for the mere sake of
gathering information[30] and mainly only
studied scientific subjects which had
obvious practical applications or
immediate relevance to their religious
system.[30]

Classical antiquity

In classical antiquity, there is no real

ancient analog of a modern scientist.
Instead, well-educated, usually upper-
class, and almost universally male
individuals performed various
investigations into nature whenever they
could afford the time.[33] Before the
invention or discovery of the concept of
"nature" (ancient Greek phusis) by the
Pre-Socratic philosophers, the same
words tend to be used to describe the
natural "way" in which a plant grows,[34]
and the "way" in which, for example, one
tribe worships a particular god. For this
reason, it is claimed these men were the
first philosophers in the strict sense, and
also the first people to clearly distinguish
"nature" and "convention."[35]:209 Natural
philosophy, the precursor of natural
science, was thereby distinguished as
the knowledge of nature and things
which are true for every community, and
the name of the specialized pursuit of
such knowledge was philosophy – the
realm of the first philosopher-physicists.
They were mainly speculators or
theorists, particularly interested in
astronomy. In contrast, trying to use
knowledge of nature to imitate nature
(artifice or technology, Greek technē) was
seen by classical scientists as a more
appropriate interest for artisans of lower
social class.[36]

The early Greek philosophers of the

Milesian school, which was founded by
Thales of Miletus and later continued by
his successors Anaximander and
Anaximenes, were the first to attempt to
explain natural phenomena without
relying on the supernatural.[37] The
Pythagoreans developed a complex
number philosophy[38]:467–68 and
contributed significantly to the
development of mathematical
science.[38]:465 The theory of atoms was
developed by the Greek philosopher
Leucippus and his student
Democritus.[39][40] The Greek doctor
Hippocrates established the tradition of
systematic medical science[41][42] and is
known as "The Father of Medicine".[43]
Aristotle, 384–322 BCE, one of the early figures in
the development of the scientific method.[44]

A turning point in the history of early

philosophical science was Socrates'
example of applying philosophy to the
study of human matters, including
human nature, the nature of political
communities, and human knowledge
itself. The Socratic method as
documented by Plato's dialogues is a
dialectic method of hypothesis
elimination: better hypotheses are found
by steadily identifying and eliminating
those that lead to contradictions. This
was a reaction to the Sophist emphasis
on rhetoric. The Socratic method
searches for general, commonly held
truths that shape beliefs and scrutinizes
them to determine their consistency with
other beliefs.[45] Socrates criticized the
older type of study of physics as too
purely speculative and lacking in self-
criticism. Socrates was later, in the words
of his Apology, accused of corrupting the
youth of Athens because he did "not
believe in the gods the state believes in,
but in other new spiritual beings".
Socrates refuted these claims,[46] but
was sentenced to death.[47]: 30e
Aristotle later created a systematic
programme of teleological philosophy:
Motion and change is described as the
actualization of potentials already in
things, according to what types of things
they are. In his physics, the Sun goes
around the Earth, and many things have it
as part of their nature that they are for
humans. Each thing has a formal cause,
a final cause, and a role in a cosmic order
with an unmoved mover. The Socratics
also insisted that philosophy should be
used to consider the practical question
of the best way to live for a human being
(a study Aristotle divided into ethics and
political philosophy). Aristotle
maintained that man knows a thing
scientifically "when he possesses a
conviction arrived at in a certain way, and
when the first principles on which that
conviction rests are known to him with
certainty".[48]

The Greek astronomer Aristarchus of

Samos (310–230 BCE) was the first to
propose a heliocentric model of the
universe, with the Sun at the center and
all the planets orbiting it.[49] Aristarchus's
model was widely rejected because it
was believed to violate the laws of
physics.[49] The inventor and
mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse
made major contributions to the
beginnings of calculus[50] and has
sometimes been credited as its
inventor,[50] although his proto-calculus
lacked several defining features.[50] Pliny
the Elder was a Roman writer and
polymath, who wrote the seminal
encyclopedia Natural History,[51][52][53]
dealing with history, geography, medicine,
astronomy, earth science, botany, and
zoology.[51] Other scientists or proto-
scientists in Antiquity were
Theophrastus, Euclid, Herophilos,
Hipparchus, Ptolemy, and Galen.

Medieval science
De potentiis anime sensitive, Gregor Reisch (1504)
Margarita philosophica. Medieval science
postulated a ventricle of the brain as the location for
our common sense,[54]:189 where the forms from our
sensory systems commingled.

Because of the collapse of the Western

Roman Empire due to the Migration
Period an intellectual decline took place
in the western part of Europe in the 400s.
In contrast, the Byzantine Empire resisted
the attacks from invaders, and preserved
and improved upon the learning. John
Philoponus, a Byzantine scholar in the
500s, questioned Aristotle's teaching of
physics and to note its
flaws.[55]:pp.307, 311, 363, 402 John
Philoponus' criticism of Aristotelian
principles of physics served as an
inspiration to medieval scholars as well
as to Galileo Galilei who ten centuries
later, during the Scientific Revolution,
extensively cited Philoponus in his works
while making the case for why
Aristotelian physics was flawed.[55][56]

During late antiquity and the early Middle

Ages, the Aristotelian approach to
inquiries on natural phenomena was
used. Aristotle's four causes prescribed
that four "why" questions should be
answered in order to explain things
scientifically.[57] Some ancient knowledge
was lost, or in some cases kept in
obscurity, during the fall of the Western
Roman Empire and periodic political
struggles. However, the general fields of
science (or "natural philosophy" as it was
called) and much of the general
knowledge from the ancient world
remained preserved through the works of
the early Latin encyclopedists like Isidore
of Seville.[58] However, Aristotle's original
texts were eventually lost in Western
Europe, and only one text by Plato was
widely known, the Timaeus, which was
the only Platonic dialogue, and one of the
few original works of classical natural
philosophy, available to Latin readers in
the early Middle Ages. Another original
work that gained influence in this period
was Ptolemy's Almagest, which contains
a geocentric description of the solar
system.

During late antiquity, in the Byzantine

empire many Greek classical texts were
preserved. Many Syriac translations were
done by groups such as the Nestorians
and Monophysites.[59] They played a role
when they translated Greek classical
texts into Arabic under the Caliphate,
during which many types of classical
learning were preserved and in some
cases improved upon.[59][a] In addition,
the neighboring Sassanid Empire
established the medical Academy of
Gondeshapur where Greek, Syriac and
Persian physicians established the most
important medical center of the ancient
world during the 6th and 7th centuries.[60]

The House of Wisdom was established in

Abbasid-era Baghdad, Iraq,[61] where the
Islamic study of Aristotelianism
flourished. Al-Kindi (801–873) was the
first of the Muslim Peripatetic
philosophers, and is known for his efforts
to introduce Greek and Hellenistic
philosophy to the Arab world.[62] The
Islamic Golden Age flourished from this
time until the Mongol invasions of the
13th century. Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen),
as well as his predecessor Ibn Sahl, was
familiar with Ptolemy's Optics, and used
experiments as a means to gain
knowledge.[b][63][64]:463–65 Alhazen
disproved Ptolemy's theory of vision,[65]
but did not make any corresponding
changes to Aristotle's metaphysics.
Furthermore, doctors and alchemists
such as the Persians Avicenna and Al-
Razi also greatly developed the science
of Medicine with the former writing the
Canon of Medicine, a medical
encyclopedia used until the 18th century
and the latter discovering multiple
compounds like alcohol. Avicenna's
canon is considered to be one of the
most important publications in medicine
and they both contributed significantly to
the practice of experimental medicine,
using clinical trials and experiments to
back their claims.[66]

In Classical antiquity, Greek and Roman

taboos had meant that dissection was
usually banned in ancient times, but in
Middle Ages it changed: medical
teachers and students at Bologna began
to open human bodies, and Mondino de
Luzzi (c. 1275–1326) produced the first
known anatomy textbook based on
human dissection.[67][68]
By the eleventh century most of Europe
had become Christian; stronger
monarchies emerged; borders were
restored; technological developments
and agricultural innovations were made
which increased the food supply and
population. In addition, classical Greek
texts started to be translated from Arabic
and Greek into Latin, giving a higher level
of scientific discussion in Western
Europe.[7]

By 1088, the first university in Europe (the

University of Bologna) had emerged from
its clerical beginnings. Demand for Latin
translations grew (for example, from the
Toledo School of Translators); western
Europeans began collecting texts written
not only in Latin, but also Latin
translations from Greek, Arabic, and
Hebrew. Manuscript copies of Alhazen's
Book of Optics also propagated across
Europe before 1240,[69]:Intro. p. xx as
evidenced by its incorporation into
Vitello's Perspectiva. Avicenna's Canon
was translated into Latin.[70] In particular,
the texts of Aristotle, Ptolemy,[c] and
Euclid, preserved in the Houses of
Wisdom and also in the Byzantine
Empire,[71] were sought amongst Catholic
scholars. The influx of ancient texts
caused the Renaissance of the 12th
century and the flourishing of a synthesis
of Catholicism and Aristotelianism
known as Scholasticism in western
Europe, which became a new geographic
center of science. An experiment in this
period would be understood as a careful
process of observing, describing, and
classifying.[72] One prominent scientist in
this era was Roger Bacon. Scholasticism
had a strong focus on revelation and
dialectic reasoning, and gradually fell out
of favour over the next centuries, as
alchemy's focus on experiments that
include direct observation and
meticulous documentation slowly
increased in importance.

Renaissance and early modern

science
Astronomy became more accurate after Tycho
Brahe devised his scientific instruments for
measuring angles between two celestial bodies,
before the invention of the telescope. Brahe's
observations were the basis for Kepler's laws.

New developments in optics played a

role in the inception of the Renaissance,
both by challenging long-held
metaphysical ideas on perception, as
well as by contributing to the
improvement and development of
technology such as the camera obscura
and the telescope. Before what we now
know as the Renaissance started, Roger
Bacon, Vitello, and John Peckham each
built up a scholastic ontology upon a
causal chain beginning with sensation,
perception, and finally apperception of
the individual and universal forms of
Aristotle.[73] A model of vision later
known as perspectivism was exploited
and studied by the artists of the
Renaissance. This theory uses only three
of Aristotle's four causes: formal,
material, and final.[74]
In the sixteenth century, Copernicus
formulated a heliocentric model of the
solar system unlike the geocentric model
of Ptolemy's Almagest. This was based
on a theorem that the orbital periods of
the planets are longer as their orbs are
farther from the centre of motion, which
he found not to agree with Ptolemy's
model.[75]

Kepler and others challenged the notion

that the only function of the eye is
perception, and shifted the main focus in
optics from the eye to the propagation of
light.[74][76]:102 Kepler modelled the eye as
a water-filled glass sphere with an
aperture in front of it to model the
entrance pupil. He found that all the light
from a single point of the scene was
imaged at a single point at the back of
the glass sphere. The optical chain ends
on the retina at the back of the eye.[d]
Kepler is best known, however, for
improving Copernicus' heliocentric model
through the discovery of Kepler's laws of
planetary motion. Kepler did not reject
Aristotelian metaphysics, and described
his work as a search for the Harmony of
the Spheres.
Galileo Galilei, regarded as the father of modern
science.[77]: Vol. 24, No. 1, p. 36

Galileo made innovative use of

experiment and mathematics. However,
he became persecuted after Pope Urban
VIII blessed Galileo to write about the
Copernican system. Galileo had used
arguments from the Pope and put them
in the voice of the simpleton in the work
"Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief
World Systems", which greatly offended
Urban VIII.[78]

In Northern Europe, the new technology

of the printing press was widely used to
publish many arguments, including some
that disagreed widely with contemporary
ideas of nature. René Descartes and
Francis Bacon published philosophical
arguments in favor of a new type of non-
Aristotelian science. Descartes
emphasized individual thought and
argued that mathematics rather than
geometry should be used in order to
study nature. Bacon emphasized the
importance of experiment over
contemplation. Bacon further questioned
the Aristotelian concepts of formal cause
and final cause, and promoted the idea
that science should study the laws of
"simple" natures, such as heat, rather
than assuming that there is any specific
nature, or "formal cause", of each
complex type of thing. This new science
began to see itself as describing "laws of
nature". This updated approach to
studies in nature was seen as
mechanistic. Bacon also argued that
science should aim for the first time at
practical inventions for the improvement
of all human life.

Age of Enlightenment
Isaac Newton, shown here in a 1689 portrait, made
seminal contributions to classical mechanics,
gravity, and optics. Newton shares credit with
Gottfried Leibniz for the development of calculus.

As a precursor to the Age of

Enlightenment, Isaac Newton and
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz succeeded in
developing a new physics, now referred
to as classical mechanics, which could
be confirmed by experiment and
explained using mathematics (Newton
(1687), Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia
Mathematica). Leibniz also incorporated
terms from Aristotelian physics, but now
being used in a new non-teleological way,
for example, "energy" and "potential"
(modern versions of Aristotelian
"energeia and potentia"). This implied a
shift in the view of objects: Where
Aristotle had noted that objects have
certain innate goals that can be
actualized, objects were now regarded as
devoid of innate goals. In the style of
Francis Bacon, Leibniz assumed that
different types of things all work
according to the same general laws of
nature, with no special formal or final
causes for each type of thing.[79] It is
during this period that the word "science"
gradually became more commonly used
to refer to a type of pursuit of a type of
knowledge, especially knowledge of
nature – coming close in meaning to the
old term "natural philosophy."

During this time, the declared purpose

and value of science became producing
wealth and inventions that would
improve human lives, in the materialistic
sense of having more food, clothing, and
other things. In Bacon's words, "the real
and legitimate goal of sciences is the
endowment of human life with new
inventions and riches", and he
discouraged scientists from pursuing
intangible philosophical or spiritual ideas,
which he believed contributed little to
human happiness beyond "the fume of
subtle, sublime, or pleasing
speculation".[80]

Science during the Enlightenment was

dominated by scientific societies[81] and
academies, which had largely replaced
universities as centres of scientific
research and development. Societies and
academies were also the backbone of
the maturation of the scientific
profession. Another important
development was the popularization of
science among an increasingly literate
population. Philosophes introduced the
public to many scientific theories, most
notably through the Encyclopédie and the
popularization of Newtonianism by
Voltaire as well as by Émilie du Châtelet,
the French translator of Newton's
Principia.

Some historians have marked the 18th

century as a drab period in the history of
science;[82] however, the century saw
significant advancements in the practice
of medicine, mathematics, and physics;
the development of biological taxonomy;
a new understanding of magnetism and
electricity; and the maturation of
chemistry as a discipline, which
established the foundations of modern
chemistry.

Enlightenment philosophers chose a

short history of scientific predecessors –
Galileo, Boyle, and Newton principally –
as the guides and guarantors of their
applications of the singular concept of
nature and natural law to every physical
and social field of the day. In this respect,
the lessons of history and the social
structures built upon it could be
discarded.[83]

19th century
Charles Darwin in 1854, by then working towards
publication of On the Origin of Species.

The nineteenth century is a particularly

important period in the history of science
since during this era many distinguishing
characteristics of contemporary modern
science began to take shape such as:
transformation of the life and physical
sciences, frequent use of precision
instruments, emergence of terms like
"biologist", "physicist", "scientist"; slowly
moving away from antiquated labels like
"natural philosophy" and "natural history",
increased professionalization of those
studying nature lead to reduction in
amateur naturalists, scientists gained
cultural authority over many dimensions
of society, economic expansion and
industrialization of numerous countries,
thriving of popular science writings and
emergence of science journals.[17]

Early in the 19th century, John Dalton

suggested the modern atomic theory,
based on Democritus's original idea of
individible particles called atoms.
Combustion and chemical reactions were studied by
Michael Faraday and reported in his lectures before
the Royal Institution: The Chemical History of a
Candle, 1861.

Both John Herschel and William Whewell

systematized methodology: the latter
coined the term scientist.[84] When
Charles Darwin published On the Origin of
Species he established evolution as the
prevailing explanation of biological
complexity. His theory of natural
selection provided a natural explanation
of how species originated, but this only
gained wide acceptance a century later.

The laws of conservation of energy,

conservation of momentum and
conservation of mass suggested a highly
stable universe where there could be
little loss of resources. With the advent
of the steam engine and the industrial
revolution, there was, however, an
increased understanding that all forms of
energy as defined in physics were not
equally useful： they did not have the
same energy quality. This realization led
to the development of the laws of
thermodynamics, in which the free
energy of the universe is seen as
constantly declining: the entropy of a
closed universe increases over time.

The electromagnetic theory was also

established in the 19th century, and
raised new questions which could not
easily be answered using Newton's
framework. The phenomena that would
allow the deconstruction of the atom
were discovered in the last decade of the
19th century: the discovery of X-rays
inspired the discovery of radioactivity. In
the next year came the discovery of the
first subatomic particle, the electron.

20th century
The DNA double helix is a molecule that encodes
the genetic instructions used in the development
and functioning of all known living organisms and
many viruses.

Einstein's theory of relativity and the

development of quantum mechanics led
to the replacement of classical
mechanics with a new physics which
contains two parts that describe different
types of events in nature.
In the first half of the century, the
development of antibiotics and artificial
fertilizer made global human population
growth possible. At the same time, the
structure of the atom and its nucleus
was discovered, leading to the release of
"atomic energy" (nuclear power). In
addition, the extensive use of
technological innovation stimulated by
the wars of this century led to revolutions
in transportation (automobiles and
aircraft), the development of ICBMs, a
space race, and a nuclear arms race.

The molecular structure of DNA was

discovered in 1953. The discovery of the
cosmic microwave background radiation
in 1964 led to a rejection of the Steady
State theory of the universe in favour of
the Big Bang theory of Georges Lemaître.

The development of spaceflight in the

second half of the century allowed the
first astronomical measurements done
on or near other objects in space,
including manned landings on the Moon.
Space telescopes lead to numerous
discoveries in astronomy and cosmology.

Widespread use of integrated circuits in

the last quarter of the 20th century
combined with communications
satellites led to a revolution in
information technology and the rise of
the global internet and mobile
computing, including smartphones. The
need for mass systematization of long,
intertwined causal chains and large
amounts of data led to the rise of the
fields of systems theory and computer-
assisted scientific modelling, which are
partly based on the Aristotelian
paradigm.[85]

Harmful environmental issues such as

ozone depletion, acidification,
eutrophication and climate change came
to the public's attention in the same
period, and caused the onset of
environmental science and
environmental technology.
21st century

A simulated event in the CMS detector of the Large

Hadron Collider, featuring a possible appearance of
the Higgs boson.

The Human Genome Project was

completed in 2003, determining the
sequence of nucleotide base pairs that
make up human DNA, and identifying and
mapping all of the genes of the human
genome.[86] Induced pluripotent stem
cells were developed in 2006, a
technology allowing adult cells to be
transformed into stem cells capable of
giving rise to any cell type found in the
body, potentially of huge importance to
the field of regenerative medicine.[87]

With the discovery of the Higgs boson in

2012, the last particle predicted by the
Standard Model of particle physics was
found. In 2015, gravitational waves,
predicted by general relativity a century
before, were first observed.[88][89]

Branches of science
Modern science is commonly divided
into three major branches that consist of
the natural sciences, social sciences, and
formal sciences. Each of these branches
comprise various specialized yet
overlapping scientific disciplines that
often possess their own nomenclature
and expertise.[90] Both natural and social
sciences are empirical sciences[91] as
their knowledge are based on empirical
observations and are capable of being
tested for its validity by other researchers
working under the same conditions.[92]

There are also closely related disciplines

that use science, such as engineering
and medicine, which are sometimes
described as applied sciences. The
relationships between the branches of
science are summarized by the following
table.
 Science

Empirical sciences
Formal science
Natural science Social science

Physics; Chemistry;
Economics; Political
Logic; Mathematics; Biology;
Foundation science;
Statistics Earth science; Space
Sociology; Psychology
science

Engineering; Agricultural Business

science; administration;
Application Computer science
Medicine; Dentistry; Jurisprudence;
Pharmacy Pedagogy

Natural science

False-color composite of global oceanic and

terrestrial photoautotroph abundance by the
SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight
Center, and ORBIMAGE.
Natural science is concerned with the
description, prediction, and
understanding of natural phenomena
based on empirical evidence from
observation and experimentation. It can
be divided into two main branches: life
science (or biological science) and
physical science. Physical science is
subdivided into branches, including
physics, chemistry, astronomy and earth
science. These two branches may be
further divided into more specialized
disciplines. Modern natural science is the
successor to the natural philosophy that
began in Ancient Greece. Galileo,
Descartes, Bacon, and Newton debated
the benefits of using approaches which
were more mathematical and more
experimental in a methodical way. Still,
philosophical perspectives, conjectures,
and presuppositions, often overlooked,
remain necessary in natural science.[93]
Systematic data collection, including
discovery science, succeeded natural
history, which emerged in the 16th
century by describing and classifying
plants, animals, minerals, and so on.[94]
Today, "natural history" suggests
observational descriptions aimed at
popular audiences.[95]

Social science
In economics, the supply and demand model
describes how prices vary as a result of a balance
between product availability and demand.

Social science is concerned with society

and the relationships among individuals
within a society. It has many branches
that include, but are not limited to,
anthropology, archaeology,
communication studies, economics,
history, human geography, jurisprudence,
linguistics, political science, psychology,
public health, and sociology. Social
scientists may adopt various
philosophical theories to study
individuals and society. For example,
positivist social scientists use methods
resembling those of the natural sciences
as tools for understanding society, and
so define science in its stricter modern
sense. Interpretivist social scientists, by
contrast, may use social critique or
symbolic interpretation rather than
constructing empirically falsifiable
theories, and thus treat science in its
broader sense. In modern academic
practice, researchers are often eclectic,
using multiple methodologies (for
instance, by combining both quantitative
and qualitative research). The term
"social research" has also acquired a
degree of autonomy as practitioners
from various disciplines share in its aims
and methods.

Formal science

Formal science is involved in the study of

formal systems. It includes
mathematics,[96][97] systems theory, and
theoretical computer science. The formal
sciences share similarities with the other
two branches by relying on objective,
careful, and systematic study of an area
of knowledge. They are, however,
different from the empirical sciences as
they rely exclusively on deductive