Test Your Knowledge on Natural Science - From Origins to Modern Developments

Overview of Natural Science

• Natural science is a branch of science that deals with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation.

• It is divided into two main branches: life science and physical science, which can be further divided into more specialized branches or fields.

• Natural sciences use tools from the formal sciences, such as mathematics and logic, to convert information about nature into measurements which can be explained as clear statements of the "laws of nature."

• Philosophers of science use several criteria, including falsifiability and quality control, such as peer review and repeatability of findings, to differentiate scientific endeavors from non-scientific ones.

• In natural science, impossibility assertions come to be widely accepted as overwhelmingly probable rather than considered proved to the point of being unchallengeable.

• Biology encompasses a diverse set of disciplines that examines phenomena related to living organisms, including botany, zoology, and medicine.

• Earth science is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth, including geology, geography, geophysics, geochemistry, climatology, glaciology, hydrology, meteorology, and oceanography.

• Atmospheric science is a separate branch of natural science that studies the characteristics of different layers of the atmosphere from ground level to the edge of space.

• Oceanography is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physical and biological aspects, and is a subset of earth science.

• Planetary science studies planets, including the Solar System and exoplanets, and other celestial bodies, such as moons, asteroids, and comets.

• Chemistry deals with the scientific study of matter at the atomic and molecular scale, including the composition, statistical properties, transformations, and reactions of materials.

• Physics embodies the study of the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces and interactions they exert on one another, and the results produced by these interactions.

• Astronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects and phenomena, including planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and comets, and is one of the oldest sciences.

• Materials science is an interdisciplinary field that deals with the study of matter and its properties, including the discovery and design of new materials.The Evolution of Natural Philosophy and Science

• Natural philosophy emerged in ancient civilizations, such as Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient China, and Ancient India, as an inquiry into natural phenomena, but it was often religious or mythological in nature.

• Ancient Chinese and Indian cultures developed sophisticated medical systems based on the yin and yang, the five elements, and the three humors.

• Pre-Socratic philosophers in Ancient Greece brought natural philosophy a step closer to direct inquiry about cause and effect in nature between 600 and 400 BC, although an element of magic and mythology remained.

• Aristotle, a student of Plato, paid closer attention to the natural world in his philosophy and is considered the father of biology for his pioneering work in that science.

• In the Middle Ages, natural philosophy was often mingled with philosophies about magic and the occult, and was seen by some detractors as heresy.

• The development of European civilization later in the Middle Ages brought with it further advances in natural philosophy, aided by the schools connected to monasteries and cathedrals in modern-day France and England.

• Bacon was instrumental in popularizing a break from the past by rejecting Aristotle and his medieval followers outright, calling their approach to natural philosophy superficial.

• The titles of Galileo's work Two New Sciences and Johannes Kepler's New Astronomy underscored the atmosphere of change that took hold in the 17th century as Aristotle was dismissed in favor of novel methods of inquiry into the natural world.

• Natural philosophers came to view nature increasingly as a mechanism that could be taken apart and understood, much like a complex clock.

• The scientific revolution, which began to take hold in the 17th century, represented a sharp break from Aristotelian modes of inquiry.

• Newton, an English mathematician and physicist, was the seminal figure in the scientific revolution, deriving the universal law of gravitation and laws of motion, and making mathematics a powerful explanatory tool for natural phenomena.

• In the 18th and 19th centuries, scientists built upon Newtonian mechanics by exploring electromagnetism and discovering that space was filled with charged particles that could act upon themselves and each other.

• Maxwell's theory of electrodynamics unified these discoveries in a coherent theory.Development of Natural Science: From Ancient Times to the Present

• Natural science refers to the study of the natural world and its phenomena.

• The ancient Greeks, such as Aristotle and Plato, made significant contributions to natural science, including the classification of living things and the idea that the universe was made up of four elements.

• During the Scientific Revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries, scientists like Galileo, Kepler, and Newton made groundbreaking discoveries in physics and astronomy, leading to the development of the scientific method.

• In the 18th century, chemists like Antoine Lavoisier and Joseph Priestley made significant advances in chemistry, including the discovery of oxygen and the refutation of the phlogiston theory.

• Carl Linnaeus developed a taxonomy of the natural world in the 18th century, which is still used today.

• During the 19th century, the study of science became professionalized and came to be known as natural science.

• In the modern era, natural science is divided into life sciences, such as botany and zoology, and physical sciences, such as physics, chemistry, astronomy, and Earth sciences.

• Gilbert N. Lewis and Merle Randall identified the three great branches of natural science as physics, chemistry, and biology.

• The term "scientist" was coined by William Whewell in the 19th century.

• Natural science has made significant contributions to medicine, engineering, and technology.

• The development of natural science has led to a better understanding of the natural world and has improved the quality of life for humans.

• Natural science continues to be an important field of study, with ongoing research and discoveries being made every day.