History of Science

Science is the human effort to understand the natural world’s history and the natural world’s working with observable physical evidence. In this article, we will be discussing more science, its subcategories, and most importantly, the origin and history of science.

What is Science?

Science is the intellectual and practical activity comprising the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of every natural and physical object and phenomena through observation and experiment. In simple terms, Science is knowledge of nature. Science can be defined as:

The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of natural phenomena.

Basic Science can be subdivided into three types:

• Natural Sciences – The study of the material world
• Social Sciences – The study of people and societies
• Formal Sciences – Like Mathematics

Origin of Science

The history of science is the study of the development of science and scientific knowledge in both natural sciences and social science. A scientist is a person who systematically studies science to acquire knowledge to further describe the natural world in a scientific method. The term ‘Scientist’ was first coined by William Whewell in the 19th century.

• Earlier, advice and knowledge used to flow vocally from generation to generation. For example, there are pieces of evidence that even before the development of the writing system, the cultivation of maize was domesticated.
• The scientific revolution brought a change in ancient thought and classical physics. Nicolaus Copernicus re-modeled the heliocentric model of the solar system described by Aristarchus of Samos. Johannes Kepler developed the very first model of planetary motion in the early 17th century, which suggested that the planets follow elliptical orbits, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse.

Galileo, also known as the Father of Modern Physics, also contributed to this revolution by validating physical theories through his experiments. These theories became the prime factor of the scientific method—William Gilbert, with various experiments with magnetism and electricity, established that the Earth itself is magnetic. The scientific revolution enhanced the growth of knowledge, and by the end of the 20th century, the practice of this subject became professionalised and institutionalised. Gradually subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Astronomy, Biology, medicine and genetics, Ecology & Social sciences, etc., evolved.

10 Interesting Science Facts

Here are some of the astonishing facts:

• The average human body carries ten times more bacterial cells than human cells.
• 20% of Earth’s oxygen is produced by the Amazon rainforest.
• Chalk is made from trillions of microscopic plankton fossils.
• If you took out all the empty space in our atoms, the human race could fit in the volume of a sugar cube.
• There are actually over two dozen states of matter.
• Venus is the only planet to spin clockwise.
• It takes 8 minutes, 19 seconds for light to travel from the Sun to the Earth.
• 41 new species are discovered by scientists every single day.
• The human stomach can dissolve razor blades.
• A cloud can weigh over a million pounds.

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