Science is the study of both the natural and human worlds. Firstly, it comes from the Latin word Scientia that means knowledge. Science is the body in which theoretical, empirical, and knowledge about the natural world are produced.
The science can be traced way back to Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia around 3500 to 3000 BCE. Here in this blog, we are going to take a look at the history of science.
Their contributions in various aspect of Mathematics, Astronomy and Medicine influenced and shaped Greek natural philosophy of classical antiquity.
Let me give you a brief how we will proceed :
1.Early Cultures And Science
Back in early days Science was not like it is today, history of science was related to knowledge about agriculture like how to grow maze, wheat and other stuff. Knowledge and technique were passed from generation to generation in an oral fashion.
Think about that time all you gotta have to memorize all stuff in your brain and also pass it to younger ones.
Ancient humans have no distinction between science and magic. Science was already born in many places even when people didn’t understand it properly. In ancient Mesopotamia people knew about healing technique, there was medical
technique. People have extensive knowledge about the chemical properties of clay, sand, stone, and other natural stones. And they also use their knowledge to make artistic pottery, faience, glass, soap, and waterproofing techniques.
In Egypt people have done some amazing work in the field of astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. Their knowledge in geometry laid down the layout for the farmland ownership, which was flooded annually by the Nile River.
Greeks and Romans did pretty advanced work in the field of geometry, calendar, and philosophy.
Philosophy of science
Euclid who is also known as the “founder of geometry” has Greek roots. The middle east Islamic states developed mathematics we know today as algebra.
The idea of Greeks, Rome, and Islamic states reached western Europe from the 10th to 13th centuries that revived “natural philosophy”, which was later transformed by the Scientific Revolution that started in the 16th century.
These geeky Greek guys worked in founding Pi, finding geometrical theorem like Pythagoras Theorem. In Physics for laying the foundations of hydrostatics, explanation of the principle of the lever.
India, now a day is more popular for its colorful and diverse culture, did significant work in the development of science. In ancient Indians did work in fields like mathematics, Astronomy, Linguistics, Medicine, and Metallurgy.
Above all the people who lived in Indus valley made bricks with dimensions in the proportion 4:2:1, favorable for the stability of a brick structure.
Indian astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata, in his book Aryabhatiya introduced trigonometric functions, tables, and algorithms of algebra. Indians did exceptional work in the field of medicine which is nowadays known as Ayurveda.
Ayurveda is a system of traditional medicine that originated in ancient India before 2500 BC, and is now practiced as a form of alternative medicine in different parts of the world.
2.Post-Classical Science
In the Middle ages science got a new look and continued in three major civilizations: Greek, Arabic and Latin. Due to wars and tension Western Roman Empire stars to decline in the 400s.
In contrast, the Eastern Roman resisted attacks and preserved the learning. In the Middle East, Greek philosophy was able to find some support in the new Arab Empire. With the spread of islam in the 7th and 8th centuries, a period of Muslim scholarship, known as the Islamic Golden Age, lasted until the 13th Century.
Until then ideas of Science reached Europe and after 13th-century science was shaped by Europeans. Peoples like Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Robert Hooke, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and Blaise Pascal done significant scientific advances.
The Age of Enlightenment was a period when development started taking pace. The 17th century brought decisive steps towards modern science, which accelerated during the 18th century.
New scientific discovery and invention started to lift off directly based on the works of Newton, Descartes, Pascal, and Leibniz. This cleared the way for the development of modern mathematics, physics, and technology.
In the early 19th century major breakthroughs came in biology, Darwin’s theory of evolution, Physics Electromagnetism, Mathematics Non-Euclidean geometry, group theory and Chemistry Organic Chemistry.
European Impact
Eurocentrism in logical history are verifiable records expounded on the improvement of present day science that trait all insightful, mechanical, and philosophical increases to Europe and minimize outside commitments.
The Scientific Revolution in Europe during the sixteenth eighteenth hundreds of years was the time of human progression, into current science by invalidating the Aristotelian perspective on common sciences and reasoning through confirmations of figuring.
Until Joseph Needham’s book arrangement Science and Civilization in China started in 1954.
Numerous students of history would expound on present-day science exclusively as a European accomplishment with no huge commitments structure civic establishments other than the Greeks.
Recent verifiable works have contended that there was critical impact and commitment from Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Arabic, Indian, and Chinese cosmology and arithmetic.
3.Modern Science
We are now living in very comfort environment due to advancement in Science and Technology. It is very different from what it looked in history of science. Let us now talk about different aspects of Modern Science, during the 19th century.
The practice of science became professionalized and institutionalized. There are basically two diversification of Modern science is Natural sciences and Social sciences.
Natural Science
It is the branch of Science in which, the study of the natural world is done using scientific psychology. Natural Science can trace in the history of science.
So, natural Science is categorized on the basis of which aspect of the natural world we are studying like the study of life is comes under biology.
Let us see these parts in brief,
Physics
Physics is the study of nature and how it works. In Physics we study mostly non-living stuff. Like light, electricity, motion, heat, and many more things. Galileo who is also known as the Father of Modern Physics first uses experiments to validate physical theories, which is now a key element in the scientific world.
In 1687, Isaac Newton published the Principia Mathematica, detailing two comprehensive and successful physical theories: Newton’s laws of motion and Calculus.
So, Newton laws of motion, which pretty much explained motion in which happened visible motion around us.
Newton invented Calculus, and Discovered Gravity, Dispersion of light. Therefore, his contribution to science is extraordinary. Above all Guys like Faraday, J.C.Maxwell, Pascal, Joul, and many more boosted fields of physics.
In the 20th century, limelight was on Albert Einstein Theory of Relativity. At the same time, physics took a new look and being called modern physics in which scientists started to study subatomic particles.
They were trying to find answers for questions like what is an atom made up of. That led to our modern society in which we use electronics and advanced material science which emerged as nano-science.
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science in which the interaction of mater is studied. In Chemistry, there are people just mix stuff and see what is the result of it, in Ancient days there was no difference between Alchemy and chemistry.
In 1661, Robert Boyle distinguished “chemistry” from alchemy. Other important steps included the gravimetric experimental practice of medicinal chemists like William Cullen, Joseph Black, Torbern Bergman, and Pierre Macquer.
Above all though the work of Antoine Lavoisier ( “Father of Modern Chemistry”) on oxygen and the law of conservation of mass, which led to the phlogiston theory.
Then in 1803, by John Dalton’s theory of all matter, which was an attempt to explain matter is made up of tiny particles known as atoms. Then in the 19th century, a new infield in chemistry emerged known as Organic Chemistry, where we can synthesis lots of Organic Compounds.
Geology
This branch existed for a very long time but it doesn’t come under science for a long time. Geology is the study of basically earth rocks, minerals, landforms, weather, cloud, and earth structure. Geology did not undergo systematic restructuring during the Scientific Revolution, but individual theorists made important contributions.
Astronomy
Astronomy is the science in which people study the stars, planets position, and about the Universe. So, advances in astronomy and in optical systems in the 19th century resulted in the first observation of an asteroid in 1801, and the discovery of Neptune in 1846.
This recent discovery of Black Hole, Gravitational waves, Nova, Blue Star, Earth-like planets, and much more discovery happened recently. Therefore, we able to solve century-old mysteries about the universe.
Biology and Medicine
Biology is the science of life. So, by the study of Biology people started to live in more sublet and clean environment.
In 1847, Hungarian physician Ignac Fulop Semmelweis dramatically reduced the occurrence of puerperal fever by simply requiring physicians to wash their hands before attending to women in childbirth.
Charles Darwin was an amazing biologist. Due to his theory of evolution by natural selection it was possible to track down evolution. As time is passing biology is advancing at a much greater pace than ever.
Ecology
In Ecology people study the cycle of life. Yeah, it is also related to living beings. Above all, Microbiology and Social Science both played an important part in the rise of ecology.
In the 1930s, Arthur Tansley and others began developing the field of ecosystem ecology. Which combined experimental soil science with physiological concepts of energy and the techniques of field biology.
Social Sciences
Social Science is the scientific study of humans in society and in community. With the employment of scientific methods, social science has developed so much.
Above all, in this subject, we study human behavior, psychology, civics, how humans act in certain situation these kinds of things are studied. So, take a look into parts of social sciences,
- Political Science
- Linguistics
- Economics
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Anthropology
4.Academic Study
People nowadays choose to major in the above-mentioned science field and study them and do research regarding it. So, as a scholastic field, the history of science and innovation started with the production of William Whewell’s History of the Inductive Sciences.
Firstly, Sarton exemplified the mid-twentieth century perspective on the historical backdrop of science as the historical backdrop of extraordinary men and good thoughts.
So, he imparted to huge numbers of his peer’s Whiggish confidence in history as a record of the advances. The historical background of science should not be seen as a subset of American history in this period.
Nowadays academic institutions provide various courses in science like B.Sc ( Bachelor of Science), M.Sc (Master of Science), and many more. Therefore, the government and many public institutions encourage people to pursue science as a career.
5.Conclusion
The development of science is remarkable throughout the years. Science exploration started 1000s of years ago and we still exploring it. Medicine, Electronics, Social Relief, Comfort, and many other things are creation of science.
People are contentiously trying to solve mysteries of world by rigorous dedication and working day and night.
To sum up, we science a vast and interesting history. Due to science, we are living a very comfortable life.
6.FAQ
Ans: The Modern Science comprises of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geology, Astronomy, Ecology, Science Sciences.
Ans: Biology is related to study of life.
Ans: Theories of Black Hole, Gravitational waves, Nova, Blue Star, Earth-like planets, and many more are the recent achievement in the field of physics.
Ans: Science is the field in which people investigate things and try to understand their behavior. Similarly in social science investigates how people interact with each other, behave, develop as a culture, and influence the world.
Ans: The words science and technology will and infrequently are used interchangeably. However, the goal of science is the pursuit of data for its own sake whereas the goal of technology is to form product that solves issues and improve human life.
Check out this trending blog of mine about Quantum Computer.
