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This article is about the general term. For other uses, see Science (disambiguation). Part of a series on Science Formal [show] Physical [show] Life [show] Social [show] Applied [show] Interdisciplinary [show] Philosophy History [show] Outline Portal Category v t e 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]

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.[5][b] However, during the Islamic Golden Age foundations for the scientific method were laid by Ibn al-Haytham in his Book of Optics.[6][7][8][9][10] While the classification of the material world by the ancient Indians and Greeks into air, earth, fire and water was more philosophical, medieval Middle Easterns used practical and experimental observation to classify materials.[11]

In the 17th and 18th centuries, scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge in terms of physical laws. 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. That same time period also included the origin of the terms "scientist" and "scientific community", the founding of scientific institutions, and the increasing significance of their interactions with society and other aspects of culture.[12][13]

The scale of the universe mapped to the branches of science, with formal sciences as the foundation.[14]: Vol.1, Chaps.1,2,&3. Contents [hide] 1	History 1.1	Antiquity 1.2	Medieval science 1.3	Renaissance and early modern science 1.4	Age of Enlightenment 1.5	19th century 1.6	20th century and beyond 1.7	Scientific method 1.8	Mathematics and formal sciences 2	Scientific community 2.1	Branches and fields 2.2	Institutions 2.3	Literature 3	Science and society 3.1	Women in science 3.2	Science policy 3.3	Media perspectives 3.4	Political usage 3.5	Science and the public 4	Philosophy of science 4.1	Certainty and science 4.2	Fringe science, pseudoscience, and junk science 5	Scientific practice 5.1	Basic and applied research 5.2	Research in practice 5.3	Practical impacts of scientific research 6	See also 7	Notes 8	References 9	Sources 10	Further reading 11	External links History Main article: History of science Science in a broad sense existed before the modern era and in many historical civilizations.[c] 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.[15]

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, and buildings such as the Pyramids. However, no consistent conscientious 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.

Antiquity See also: Nature (philosophy)

Maize, known in some English-speaking countries as corn, is a large grain plant domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times 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,[16] 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."[17]: p.209 Science was therefore 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 lower class artisans.[18] A clear-cut distinction between formal (eon) and empirical science (doxa) was made by the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides (fl. late sixth or early fifth century BCE). Although his work Peri Physeos (On Nature) is a poem, it may be viewed as an epistemological essay on method in natural science. Parmenides' ἐὸν may refer to a formal system or calculus which can describe nature more precisely than natural languages. "Physis" may be identical to ἐὸν.[19]