The earliest roots of science can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in around 3000 to 1200 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[19] 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;[20][21] and the formal sciences (e.g., logic, mathematics, and theoretical computer science), which deal with symbols governed by rules.[22][23] There is disagreement,[24][25][26] however, on whether the formal sciences actually constitute a science as they do not rely on empirical evidence.[27][25] Disciplines that use existing scientific Science in a broad sense existed before the modern era and in many historical civilizations.[38] 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][39] 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 that 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 a national scale, such as those which harnessed the floodplain of the Yangtse with reservoirs,[40] 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. for practical purposes, such as engineering and medicine, are described as applied sciences.[28][29][30][31][32]
New knowledge in science is advanced by research from scientists who are motivated by curiosity about the world and a desire to solve problems.[33][34] Contemporary scientific research is highly collaborative and is usually done by teams in academic and research institutions,[35] government agencies, and companies.[36][37] The practical impact of their work 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, public infrastructure, and environmental protection.Further information: History of science in early cultures
Clay models of animal livers dating between the nineteenth and eighteenth centuries BCE, found in the royal palace in Mari, Syria
The earliest roots of science can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in around 3000 to 1200 BCE.[5] Although the words and concepts of "science" and "nature" were not part of the conceptual landscape at the time, the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians made contributions that would later find a place in Greek and medieval science: mathematics, astronomy, and medicine.[41][5] Starting in around 3000 BCE, the ancient Egyptians developed a numbering system that was decimal in character and had orientated their knowledge of geometry to solving practical problems such as those of surveyors and builders.[5] They even developed an official calendar that contained twelve months, thirty days each, and five days at the end of the year.[5] Based on the medical papyri written in the 2500-1200 BCE, the ancient Egyptians believed that disease was mainly caused by the invasion of bodies by evil forces or spirits. Thus, in addition to drug treatments, healing therapies would involve prayer, incantation, and ritual.[5]
The ancient Mesopotamians used knowledge about the properties of various natural chemicals for manufacturing pottery, faience, glass, soap, metals, lime plaster, and waterproofing;[42] they also studied animal physiology, anatomy, and behavior for divinatory purposes[42] and made extensive records of the movements of astronomical objects for their study of astrology.[43] The Mesopotamians had intense interest in medicine[42] and the earliest medical prescriptions appear in Sumerian during the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2112 BCE – c. 2004 BCE).[44] Nonetheless, the Mesopotamians seem to have had little interest in gathering information about the natural world for the mere sake of gathering information[42] and mainly only studied scientific subjects which had obvious practical applications or immediate relevance to their religious system.[42]
Classical antiquity
Further information: History of science in classical antiquity and Nature (philosophy)
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.[45] 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,[46] and the "way" in which, for example, one tribe worships a particular god. For this reason, it is claimed that these men were the first philosophers in the strict sense, and also the first people to clearly distinguish "nature" and "convention."[47]: 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.[48]
The universe as conceived of by Aristotle and Ptolemy from Peter Apian's 1524 work Cosmographia. The Earth is composed of four elements: earth, water, fire and air. The Earth does not move or rotate. It is surrounded by concentric spheres containing the planets, the sun, the stars, and heaven.[49]
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.[50] The Pythagoreans developed a complex number philosophy[51]: 467–68 and contributed significantly to the development of mathematical science.[51]: 465 The theory of atoms was developed by the Greek philosopher Leucippus and his student Democritus.[52][53] The Greek doctor Hippocrates established the tradition of systematic medical science[54][55] and is known as "The Father of Medicine".[56]
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.[57] 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,[58] but was sentenced to death.[59]: 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".[60]
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.[61] Aristarchus's model was widely rejected because it was believed to violate the laws of physics.[61] The inventor and mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse made major contributions to the beginnings of calculus[62] and has sometimes been credited as its inventor,[62] although his proto-calculus lacked several defining features.[62] Pliny the Elder was a Roman writer and polymath, who wrote the seminal encyclopedia Natural History,[63][64][65] dealing with history, geography, medicine, astronomy, earth science, botany, and zoology.[63] Other scientists or proto-scientists in Antiquity were Theophrastus, Euclid, Herophilos, Hipparchus, Ptolemy, and Galen.
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