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| {{History of science sidebar}}
| | If you are in the market to purchase replacement or overall performance automobile parts, you have numerous alternatives ahead of you in order to get what you want. Thanks to the world wide web, you can research your alternatives and narrow down what you require right on the web. In truth, in a lot of circumstances, you can order what you need to have correct from the ease of your desktop. Still, some sources are much better than other individuals and you really want to know what you are acquiring ahead of buying parts from any person.<br><br> |
| The '''history of science''' is the study of the historical development of [[science]] and scientific knowledge, including both the [[natural science]]s and [[social science]]s. (The history of the arts and humanities is termed as the [[history of scholarship]].) From the 18th century through late 20th century, the history of science, especially of the physical and biological sciences, was often presented in a progressive narrative in which true theories replaced false beliefs.<ref>{{cite book |last=Golinski |first=Jan |year=2001 |title=Making Natural Knowledge: Constructivism and the History of Science |edition= reprint |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226302324 |page=2 | quote = When [history of science] began, during the eighteenth century, it was practiced by scientists (or "natural philosophers") with an interest in validating and defending their enterprise. They wrote histories in which ... the science of the day was exhibited as the outcome of the progressive accumulation of human knowledge, which was an integral part of moral and cultural development.}}</ref> More recent historical interpretations, such as those of [[Thomas Kuhn]], tend to portray the history of science in more nuanced terms, such as that of competing paradigms or conceptual systems in a wider matrix that includes intellectual, cultural, economic and political themes outside of science.<ref>Kuhn, T., 1962, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions", University of Chicago Press, p. 137: "Partly by selection and partly by distortion, the scientists of earlier ages are implicitly presented as having worked upon the same set of fixed problems and in accordance with the same set of fixed canons that the most recent revolution in scientific theory and method made seem scientific."</ref>
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| '''[[Science]]''' is a body of [[empirical knowledge|empirical]], [[theory|theoretical]], and [[Procedural knowledge|practical]] knowledge about the [[Nature|natural world]], produced by scientists who emphasize the observation, [[scientific explanation|explanation]], and prediction of real world [[phenomenon|phenomena]]. [[Historiography]] of science, in contrast, often draws on the [[historical method]]s of both [[intellectual history]] and [[social history]]. However, the English word ''scientist'' is relatively recent—first coined by [[William Whewell]] in the 19th century. Previously, people investigating nature called themselves [[natural philosophers]].
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| While [[empirical]] [[Discovery (observation)|investigations]] of the natural world have been described since [[classical antiquity]] (for example, by [[Thales]], [[Aristotle]], and others), and [[scientific method]]s have been employed since the [[Middle Ages]] (for example, by [[Ibn al-Haytham]], and [[Roger Bacon]]), the dawn of [[#Modern science|modern science]] is often traced back to the [[early modern period]] and in particular to the [[Scientific revolution|scientific revolution]] that took place in 16th- and 17th-century Europe. Scientific methods are considered to be so fundamental to modern science that some consider earlier inquiries into nature to be ''pre-scientific''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hendrix|first=Scott E.|title=Natural Philosophy or Science in Premodern Epistemic Regimes? The Case of the Astrology of Albert the Great and Galileo Galilei|journal=Teorie vědy / Theory of Science|year=2011|volume=33|issue=1|pages=111–132|url=http://teorievedy.flu.cas.cz/index.php/tv/issue/view/10|accessdate=20 February 2012}}</ref> Traditionally, historians of science have defined science sufficiently broadly to include those inquiries.<ref>"For our purpose, science may be defined as ordered knowledge of natural phenomena and of the relations between them." [[William Cecil Dampier|William C. Dampier-Whetham]], "Science", in ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', 11th ed. (New York: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc, 1911); "Science comprises, first, the orderly and systematic comprehension, description and/or explanation of natural phenomena and, secondly, the [mathematical and logical] tools necessary for the undertaking." [[Marshall Clagett]], ''Greek Science in Antiquity'' (New York: Collier Books, 1955); "Science is a systematic explanation of perceived or imaginary phenomena, or else is based on such an explanation. Mathematics finds a place in science only as one of the symbolical languages in which scientific explanations may be expressed." [[David Pingree]], "Hellenophilia versus the History of Science," ''Isis'' '''83''', 559 (1982); [[Pat Munday]], entry "History of Science," ''New Dictionary of the History of Ideas'' (Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005).</ref>
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| ==Early cultures==
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| {{Main|History of science in early cultures}}
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| {{See also|Protoscience|Alchemy}}
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| In prehistoric times, advice and knowledge was passed from generation to generation in an [[oral tradition]]. For example, the domestication of maize for agriculture has been dated to about 9,000 years ago in southern Mexico, before the development of [[writing system]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal | last = Matsuoka | first = Yoshihiro | last2 = Vigouroux | first2 = Yves | last3 = Goodman | first3 = Major M. | last4 = Sanchez G. | first4 = Jesus | last5 = Buckler | first5 = Edward | last6 = Doebley | first6 = John | title = A single domestication for maize shown by multilocus microsatellite genotyping | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 99 | issue = 9 | pages = 6080–6084 | date = April 30, 2002 | url = http://www.pnas.org/content/99/9/6080.long | pmid = 11983901 | pmc = 122905 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.052125199 | ref = harv | postscript = <!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. --> |bibcode = 2002PNAS...99.6080M }}</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/science/25creature.html?_r=1 Sean B. Carroll (May 24, 2010),"Tracking the Ancestry of Corn Back 9,000 Years" ''New York Times''].</ref><ref>Francesca Bray (1984), ''[[Science and Civilisation in China]]'' '''VI.2''' '''''Agriculture''''' pp 299, 453 writes that [[teosinte]], 'the father of corn' helps the success and vitality of corn when planted between the rows of its 'children', [[maize]].</ref> Similarly, archaeological evidence indicates the development of astronomical knowledge in preliterate societies.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Hoskin | first = Michael | title = Tombs, Temples and their Orientations: a New Perspective on Mediterranean Prehistory | place = Bognor Regis, UK | publisher = Ocarina Books | year = 2001 | isbn = 0-9540867-1-6 | ref = harv | postscript = <!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last = Ruggles | first = Clive | author-link = Clive Ruggles | title = Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland | place = New Haven | publisher = Yale University Press | year = 1999 | isbn = 0-300-07814-5 | ref = harv | postscript = <!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->}}</ref>
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| The development of writing enabled knowledge to be stored and communicated across generations with much greater fidelity. Combined with the [[Origins of agriculture|development of agriculture]], which allowed for a surplus of food, it became possible for early civilizations to develop, because more time could be devoted to tasks other than survival{{elucidate|date=May 2013}}.
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| Many ancient civilizations collected astronomical information in a systematic manner through simple observation. Though they had no knowledge of the real physical structure of the planets and stars, many theoretical explanations were proposed. Basic facts about human physiology were known in some places, and [[alchemy]] was practiced in several civilizations.<ref>See Homer's ''Odyssey'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D4%3Acard%3D219 4.227–232] '[The Egyptians] are of the race of [[Paean (god)|Paeeon]] [(physician to the gods)]'</ref><ref>See, for example [[Joseph Needham]] (1974, 1976, 1980, 1983) and his co-authors, ''[[Science and Civilisation in China]]'', '''V''', Cambridge University Press, specifically:
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| *Joseph Needham and Lu Gwei-djen (1974), '''V.2 Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Magisteries of Gold and Immortality'''
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| *Joseph Needham, Ho Ping-Yu [Ho Peng-Yoke], and Lu Gwei-djen (1976), '''V.3 Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Historical Survey, from Cinnabar Elixirs to Synthetic Insulin'''
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| *Joseph Needham, Lu Gwei-djen, and Nathan Sivin (1980), '''V.4 Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Apparatus and Theory'''
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| *Joseph Needham and Lu Gwei-djen (1983), '''V.5 Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Physiological Alchemy'''</ref> Considerable observation of macrobiotic flora and fauna was also performed.
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| ===Science in the Ancient Near East===
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| {{Further|Babylonian astronomy|Babylonian mathematics|Babylonian medicine|Egyptian astronomy|Egyptian mathematics|Egyptian medicine}}
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| [[File:SumerianClayTablet,palm-sized422BCE.jpg|thumb|[[Mesopotamian]] clay tablet, 492 BC. Writing allowed the recording of [[Astronomy|astronomical]] information.]]
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| From their beginnings in [[Sumer]] (now [[Iraq]]) around 3500 BC, the [[Mesopotamia]]n peoples began to attempt to record some [[observation]]s of the world with [[numerical data]]. But their observations and measurements were seemingly taken for purposes other than for [[scientific law]]s. A concrete instance of [[Pythagorean theorem|Pythagoras' law]] was recorded, as early as the 18th century BC: the Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet [[Plimpton 322]] records a number of [[Pythagorean triple]]ts (3,4,5) (5,12,13). ..., dated 1900 BC, possibly millennia before Pythagoras, [http://www.angelfire.com/nt/Gilgamesh/achieve.html] but an abstract formulation of the Pythagorean theorem was not.<ref>[[Paul Hoffman (science writer)|Paul Hoffman]], ''The man who loved only numbers: the story of Paul Erdös and the search for mathematical truth'', (New York: Hyperion), 1998, p.187. ISBN 0-7868-6362-5</ref>
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| In [[Babylonian astronomy]], records of the motions of the [[star]]s, [[planet]]s, and the [[moon]] are left on thousands of [[clay tablet]]s created by [[scribe]]s. Even today, astronomical periods identified by Mesopotamian scientists are still widely used in Western calendars such as the [[solar year]] and the [[lunar month]]. Using these data they developed arithmetical methods to compute the changing length of daylight in the course of the year and to predict the appearances and disappearances of the Moon and planets and eclipses of the Sun and Moon. Only a few astronomers' names are known, such as that of [[Kidinnu]], a [[Chaldean Dynasty|Chaldean]] astronomer and mathematician. Kiddinu's value for the solar year is in use for today's calendars. Babylonian astronomy was "the first and highly successful attempt at giving a refined mathematical description of astronomical phenomena." According to the historian A. Aaboe, "all subsequent varieties of scientific astronomy, in the Hellenistic world, in India, in Islam, and in the West—if not indeed all subsequent endeavour in the exact sciences—depend upon Babylonian astronomy in decisive and fundamental ways."<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Scientific Astronomy in Antiquity|author=A. Aaboe|journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]]|volume=276|issue=1257|date=May 2, 1974|pages=21–42|ref=harv|postscript=<!--None-->|doi=10.1098/rsta.1974.0007|bibcode=1974RSPTA.276...21A|jstor=74272}}</ref>
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| [[Ancient Egypt]] made significant advances in astronomy, mathematics and medicine.<ref name='odyssey'>{{cite book |last=Homer|authorlink=Homer |title=The Odyssey |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |others=Translated by [[Walter Shewring]] |date=May 1998 |isbn= 0-19-283375-8 |quote=In Egypt, more than in other lands, the bounteous earth yields a wealth of drugs, healthful and baneful side by side; and every man there is a physician; the rest of the world has no such skill, for these are all of the family of Paeon. |page=40 |url=http://books.google.com/?id=rcjeZ-yxr5MC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref> Their development of [[geometry]] was a necessary outgrowth of [[surveying]] to preserve the layout and ownership of farmland, which was flooded annually by the [[Nile river]]. The 3-4-5 [[right triangle]] and other rules of thumb were used to build rectilinear structures, and the post and lintel architecture of Egypt. Egypt was also a center of [[Alchemy#History|alchemy]] research for much of the [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean]].
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| The [[Edwin Smith papyrus]] is one of the first medical documents still extant, and perhaps the earliest document that attempts to describe and analyse the brain: it might be seen as the very beginnings of modern [[neuroscience]]. However, while [[Egyptian medicine]] had some effective practices, it was not without its ineffective and sometimes harmful practices. Medical historians believe that ancient Egyptian pharmacology, for example, was largely ineffective.<ref name=autogenerated1>[http://www.hom.ucalgary.ca/Dayspapers2001.pdf Microsoft Word - Proceedings-2001.doc<!-- Bot generated title -->]{{Dead link|date=July 2011}}</ref> Nevertheless, it applies the following components to the treatment of disease: examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis,<sup>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9032043&query=Edwin%20Smith%20papyrus&ct=]</sup> which display strong parallels to the basic [[empirical method]] of science and according to G. E. R. Lloyd<ref>Lloyd, G. E. R. "The development of empirical research", in his ''Magic, Reason and Experience: Studies in the Origin and Development of Greek Science''.</ref> played a significant role in the development of this methodology. The [[Ebers papyrus]] (c. [[16th century BC|1550 BC]]) also contains evidence of traditional [[empiricism]].
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| ===Science in the Greek world===
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| {{Main|History of science in classical antiquity}}
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| [[File:Sanzio 01.jpg|thumb|300px|''[[The School of Athens]]'' by [[Raphael]].]]
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| In [[Classical antiquity|Classical Antiquity]], the inquiry into the workings of the universe took place both in investigations aimed at such practical goals as establishing a reliable calendar or determining how to cure a variety of illnesses and in those abstract investigations known as [[natural philosophy]]. The ancient people who are considered the first ''[[scientists]]'' may have thought of themselves as ''natural philosophers'', as practitioners of a skilled profession (for example, physicians), or as followers of a religious tradition (for example, temple healers).
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| The earliest Greek philosophers, known as the [[pre-Socratics]],<ref>{{harvnb|Sambursky|1974|pp=3,37}} called the pre-Socratics the transition from ''[[Mythology|mythos]]'' to ''[[logos]]''</ref> provided competing answers to the question found in the myths of their neighbors: "How did the ordered [[cosmos]] in which we live come to be?"<ref>[[F. M. Cornford]], ''Principium Sapientiae: The Origins of Greek Philosophical Thought'', (Gloucester, Mass., Peter Smith, 1971), p. 159.</ref> The pre-Socratic philosopher [[Thales]] (640-546 BC), dubbed the "father of science", was the first to postulate non-supernatural explanations for natural phenomena, for example, that land floats on water and that earthquakes are caused by the agitation of the water upon which the land floats, rather than the god Poseidon.<ref>Arieti, James A. ''Philosophy in the ancient world: an introduction'', p. 45 [http://books.google.com/books?id=L0w6kvdKJ8QC&pg=PA44&dq=thales+earthquakes&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8nb_TqSrFuGmiQKq0siMCA&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=thales%20earthquakes&f=false]. Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. 386 pages. ISBN 978-0-7425-3329-5.</ref> Thales' student [[Pythagoras]] of [[Samos]] founded the [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagorean school]], which investigated mathematics for its own sake, and was the first to postulate that the [[Earth]] is spherical in shape.<ref name="dicks">{{cite book |last=Dicks |first=D.R. |title=Early Greek Astronomy to Aristotle |pages=72–198 |year=1970 |isbn=978-0-8014-0561-7 |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, N.Y.}}</ref> [[Leucippus]] (5th century BC) introduced [[atomism]], the theory that all matter is made of indivisible, imperishable units called [[atoms]]. This was greatly expanded by his pupil [[Democritus]].
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| Subsequently, [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]] produced the first systematic discussions of natural philosophy, which did much to shape later investigations of nature. Their development of [[deductive reasoning]] was of particular importance and usefulness to later scientific inquiry. Plato founded the [[Platonic Academy]] in 387 BC, whose motto was "Let none unversed in geometry enter here", and turned out many notable philosophers. Plato's student Aristotle introduced [[empiricism]] and the notion that universal truths can be arrived at via observation and induction, thereby laying the foundations of the scientific method.<ref>{{cite book |first=De Lacy |last=O'Leary|authorlink=De Lacy O'Leary |year=1949 |title=How Greek Science Passed to the Arabs |location=London |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. |isbn=0-7100-1903-3}}</ref> Aristotle also produced many biological writings that were empirical in nature, focusing on biological causation and the diversity of life. He made countless observations of nature, especially the habits and attributes of plants and animals in the world around him, classified more than 540 animal species, and dissected at least 50. Aristotle's writings profoundly influenced subsequent [[Science in medieval Islam|Islamic]] and [[Science in Medieval Western Europe|European]] scholarship, though they were eventually superseded in the [[Scientific Revolution]].
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| [[File:Archimedes pi.svg|thumb|right|Archimedes used the [[method of exhaustion]] to approximate the value of [[pi|π]].]]
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| The important legacy of this period included substantial advances in factual knowledge, especially in [[anatomy]], [[zoology]], [[botany]], [[mineralogy]], [[geography]], [[mathematics]] and [[astronomy]]; an awareness of the importance of certain scientific problems, especially those related to the problem of change and its causes; and a recognition of the methodological importance of applying mathematics to natural phenomena and of undertaking empirical research.<ref>[[G. E. R. Lloyd]], ''Early Greek Science: Thales to Aristotle'', (New York: W. W. Norton, 1970), pp. 144-6.</ref> In the [[Hellenistic age]] scholars frequently employed the principles developed in earlier Greek thought: the application of [[mathematics]] and deliberate empirical research, in their scientific investigations.<ref>Lloyd (1973), p. 177.</ref> Thus, clear unbroken lines of influence lead from ancient [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Hellenistic philosophy|Hellenistic philosophers]], to medieval [[Early Islamic philosophy|Muslim philosophers]] and [[Islamic science|scientists]], to the [[Europe]]an [[Renaissance]] and [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], to the secular [[science]]s of the modern day.
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| Neither reason nor inquiry began with the Ancient Greeks, but the [[Socratic method]] did, along with the idea of [[Forms]], great advances in [[geometry]], [[logic]], and the natural sciences. According to [[Benjamin Farrington]], former Professor of [[Classics]] at [[Swansea University]]:
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| :"Men were weighing for thousands of years before [[Archimedes]] worked out the laws of equilibrium; they must have had practical and intuitional knowledge of the principles involved. What Archimedes did was to sort out the theoretical implications of this practical knowledge and present the resulting body of knowledge as a logically coherent system."
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| and again:
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| :"With astonishment we find ourselves on the threshold of modern science. Nor should it be supposed that by some trick of translation the extracts have been given an air of modernity. Far from it. The vocabulary of these writings and their style are the source from which our own vocabulary and style have been derived."<ref>''Greek Science'', many editions, such as the paperback by Penguin Books. Copyrights in 1944, 1949, 1953, 1961, 1963. The first quote above comes from Part 1, Chapter 1; the second, from Part 2, Chapter 4.</ref>
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| [[File:Antikythera mechanism.svg|thumb|Schematic of the [[Antikythera mechanism]] (150-100 BC).]]
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| [[File:Rough diamond.jpg|thumb|[[Octahedral]] shape of a [[diamond]].]]
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| The astronomer [[Aristarchus of Samos]] was the first known person to propose a heliocentric model of the solar system, while the geographer [[Eratosthenes]] accurately calculated the circumference of the Earth. [[Hipparchus]] (c. 190 – c. 120 BC) produced the first systematic [[Timeline of astronomical maps, catalogs, and surveys|star catalog]]. The level of achievement in Hellenistic [[astronomy]] and [[engineering]] is impressively shown by the [[Antikythera mechanism]] (150-100 BC), an [[analog computer]] for calculating the position of planets. Technological artifacts of similar complexity did not reappear until the 14th century, when mechanical [[astronomical clock]]s appeared in [[Europe]].<ref name=insearchoflosttime>In search of lost time, Jo Marchant, ''Nature'' '''444''', #7119 (November 30, 2006), pp. 534–538, {{doi|10.1038/444534a}} PMID 17136067.</ref>
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| In [[medicine]], [[Hippocrates]] (c. 460 BC – c. 370 BC) and his followers were the first to describe many diseases and medical conditions and developed the [[Hippocratic Oath]] for physicians, still relevant and in use today. [[Herophilos]] (335–280 BC) was the first to base his conclusions on dissection of the human body and to describe the [[nervous system]]. [[Galen]] (129 – c. 200 AD) performed many audacious operations—including brain and eye [[surgery|surgeries]]— that were not tried again for almost two millennia.
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| [[File:Oxyrhynchus papyrus with Euclid's Elements.jpg|left|thumb|One of the oldest surviving fragments of Euclid's ''Elements'', found at [[Oxyrhynchus]] and dated to c. 100 AD.<ref>{{cite web
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| The mathematician [[Euclid]] laid down the foundations of [[mathematical rigor]] and introduced the concepts of definition, axiom, theorem and proof still in use today in his [[Euclid's elements|''Elements'']], considered the most influential textbook ever written.<ref name="Boyer Influence of the Elements">{{cite book|last=Boyer|authorlink=Carl Benjamin Boyer|title= |year=1991|chapter=Euclid of Alexandria|pages=119|quote=The ''Elements'' of Euclid not only was the earliest major Greek mathematical work to come down to us, but also the most influential textbook of all times. [...]The first printed versions of the ''Elements'' appeared at Venice in 1482, one of the very earliest of mathematical books to be set in type; it has been estimated that since then at least a thousand editions have been published. Perhaps no book other than the Bible can boast so many editions, and certainly no mathematical work has had an influence comparable with that of Euclid's ''Elements''.}}</ref> [[Archimedes]], considered one of the greatest mathematicians of all time,<ref>{{cite book |last=Calinger |first=Ronald |title=A Contextual History of Mathematics |year=1999 |publisher=Prentice-Hall |isbn=0-02-318285-7 |pages=150 |quote=Shortly after Euclid, compiler of the definitive textbook, came Archimedes of Syracuse (c. 287–212 BC.), the most original and profound mathematician of antiquity. }}</ref> is credited with using the [[method of exhaustion]] to calculate the [[area]] under the arc of a [[parabola]] with the [[Series (mathematics)|summation of an infinite series]], and gave a remarkably accurate approximation of [[Pi]].<ref>{{cite web |title=A history of calculus |author=O'Connor, J.J. and Robertson, E.F. |publisher=[[University of St Andrews]]|url=http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/The_rise_of_calculus.html |date=February 1996|accessdate=2007-08-07}}</ref> He is also known in [[physics]] for laying the foundations of [[Fluid statics|hydrostatics]], [[statics]], and the explanation of the principle of the [[lever]].
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| [[Theophrastus]] wrote some of the earliest descriptions of plants and animals, establishing the first [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomy]] and looking at minerals in terms of their properties such as [[hardness]]. [[Pliny the Elder]] produced what is one of the largest [[encyclopedia]]s of the natural world in 77 AD, and must be regarded as the rightful successor to Theophrastus. For example, he accurately describes the [[octahedral]] shape of the [[diamond]], and proceeds to mention that diamond dust is used by [[engraver]]s to cut and polish other gems owing to its great hardness. His recognition of the importance of [[crystal]] shape is a precursor to modern [[crystallography]], while mention of numerous other minerals presages [[mineralogy]]. He also recognises that other minerals have characteristic crystal shapes, but in one example, confuses the [[crystal habit]] with the work of [[lapidaries]]. He was also the first to recognise that [[amber]] was a fossilized resin from pine trees because he had seen samples with trapped insects within them.
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| ===Science in India===
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| {{Main|Science and technology in ancient India}}
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| [[File:QtubIronPillar.JPG|thumb|left|Ancient India was an early leader in [[metallurgy]], as evidenced by the [[wrought iron|wrought-iron]] [[Iron pillar of Delhi|Pillar of Delhi]].]]
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| '''Mathematics:''' The earliest traces of mathematical knowledge in the Indian subcontinent appear with the [[Indus Valley Civilization]] (c. 4th millennium BC ~ c. 3rd millennium BC). The people of this civilization made bricks whose dimensions were in the proportion 4:2:1, considered favorable for the stability of a brick structure.<ref>http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Projects/Pearce/Chapters/Ch3.html</ref> They also tried to standardize measurement of length to a high degree of accuracy. They designed a ruler—the ''Mohenjo-daro ruler''—whose unit of length (approximately 1.32 inches or 3.4 centimetres) was divided into ten equal parts. Bricks manufactured in ancient Mohenjo-daro often had dimensions that were integral multiples of this unit of length.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bisht|first=R. S.|year=1982|chapter=Excavations at Banawali: 1974-77|editor=Possehl, Gregory L. (ed.)|title=Harappan Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective|pages=113–124|location=New Delhi|publisher=Oxford and IBH Publishing Co.}}</ref>
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| Indian astronomer and mathematician [[Aryabhata]] (476-550), in his ''[[Aryabhatiya]]'' (499) introduced a number of [[trigonometric functions]] (including [[sine]], [[versine]], [[cosine]] and inverse sine), [[trigonometry|trigonometric]] [[Aryabhata's sine table|tables]], and techniques and [[algorithm]]s of [[algebra]]. In 628 AD, [[Brahmagupta]] suggested that [[gravity]] was a force of attraction.<ref>{{Cite book |last= Pickover |first= Clifford |authorlink =Clifford A. Pickover | title = Archimedes to Hawking: laws of science and the great minds behind them| publisher = [[Oxford University Press US]]| year = 2008| page = 105| url = http://books.google.com/?id=SQXcpvjcJBUC&pg=PA105| isbn = 978-0-19-533611-5}}</ref><ref>Mainak Kumar Bose, ''Late Classical India'', A. Mukherjee & Co., 1988, p. 277.</ref> He also lucidly explained the use of [[0 (number)|zero]] as both a placeholder and a [[decimal digit]], along with the [[Hindu-Arabic numeral system]] now used universally throughout the world. [[Arabic]] translations of the two astronomers' texts were soon available in the [[Caliph|Islamic world]], introducing what would become [[Arabic numerals]] to the Islamic World by the 9th century.<ref name=ifrah>Ifrah, Georges. 1999. ''The Universal History of Numbers : From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer'', Wiley. ISBN 0-471-37568-3.</ref><ref name=oconnor>O'Connor, J.J. and E.F. Robertson. 2000. [http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Indian_numerals.html 'Indian Numerals'], ''MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive'', School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland.</ref> During the 14th–16th centuries, the [[Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics]] made significant advances in astronomy and especially mathematics, including fields such as [[trigonometry]] and [[mathematical analysis|analysis]]. In particular, [[Madhava of Sangamagrama]] is considered the "founder of [[mathematical analysis]]".<ref>George G. Joseph (1991). ''The crest of the peacock''. [[London]].</ref>
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| '''Astronomy:''' The first textual mention of astronomical concepts comes from the [[Veda]]s, religious literature of India.<ref name=Sarma-Ast-Ind>Sarma (2008), ''Astronomy in India''</ref> According to Sarma (2008): "One finds in the [[Rigveda]] intelligent speculations about the genesis of the universe from nonexistence, the configuration of the universe, the [[Spherical Earth|spherical self-supporting earth]], and the year of 360 days divided into 12 equal parts of 30 days each with a periodical intercalary month.".<ref name=Sarma-Ast-Ind/> The first 12 chapters of the ''Siddhanta Shiromani'', written by [[Bhāskara II|Bhāskara]] in the 12th century, cover topics such as: mean longitudes of the planets; true longitudes of the planets; the three problems of diurnal rotation; syzygies; lunar eclipses; solar eclipses; latitudes of the planets; risings and settings; the moon's crescent; conjunctions of the planets with each other; conjunctions of the planets with the fixed stars; and the patas of the sun and moon. The 13 chapters of the second part cover the nature of the sphere, as well as significant astronomical and trigonometric calculations based on it.
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| [[Nilakantha Somayaji]]'s astronomical treatise the [[Tantrasangraha]] similar in nature to the [[Tychonic system]] proposed by [[Tycho Brahe]] had been the most accurate astronomical model until the time of [[Johannes Kepler]] in the 17th century.<ref name=Joseph>George G. Joseph (2000). ''The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots of Mathematics'', p. 408. [[Princeton University Press]].</ref>
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| '''Linguistics:''' Some of the earliest linguistic activities can be found in [[Iron Age India]] (1st millennium BC) with the analysis of [[Sanskrit]] for the purpose of the correct recitation and interpretation of [[Vedas|Vedic]] texts. The most notable grammarian of [[Sanskrit]] was {{IAST|[[Pāṇini]]}} (c. 520–460 BC), whose grammar formulates close to 4,000 rules which together form a compact [[generative grammar]] of Sanskrit. Inherent in his analytic approach are the concepts of the [[phoneme]], the [[morpheme]] and the [[root]].
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| '''Medicine:''' Findings from [[Neolithic]] graveyards in what is now [[Pakistan]] show evidence of proto-dentistry among an early farming culture.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Coppa|first=A.|coauthors=et al.|url=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7085/pdf/440755a.pdf|title=Early Neolithic tradition of dentistry: Flint tips were surprisingly effective for drilling tooth enamel in a prehistoric population |journal=Nature |volume=440 |date=2006-04-06 |doi=10.1038/440755a |pages=755–6 |pmid=16598247 |issue=7085 |ref=harv |bibcode = 2006Natur.440..755C }}</ref> [[Ayurveda]] is a system of traditional medicine that originated in ancient India before 2500 BC,<ref>{{Cite book | last = Pullaiah| title = Biodiversity in India, Volume 4| publisher = Daya Books| year = 2006| page = 83| url = http://books.google.com/?id=M0ucOe89GZMC&pg=PA83| isbn = 978-81-89233-20-4}}</ref> and is now practiced as a form of [[alternative medicine]] in other parts of the world. Its most famous text is the [[Sushruta Samhita|Suśrutasamhitā]] of [[Sushruta|Suśruta]], which is notable for describing procedures on various forms of [[surgery]], including [[rhinoplasty]], the repair of torn ear lobes, perineal [[lithotomy]], cataract surgery, and several other excisions and other surgical procedures.
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| '''Metallurgy:''' The [[wootz steel|wootz]], [[crucible steel|crucible]] and [[stainless steel|stainless]] [[steels]] were discovered in India, and were widely exported in Classic Mediterranean world. It was known from [[Pliny the Elder]] as ''ferrum indicum''. Indian Wootz steel was held in high regard in Roman Empire, was often considered to be the best. After in Middle Age it was imported in Syria to produce with special techniques the "[[Damascus steel]]" by the year 1000.<ref>C. S. Smith, A History of Metallography, University Press, Chicago (1960); Juleff 1996; Srinivasan, Sharda and Srinivasa Rangnathan 2004</ref>
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| <blockquote>
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| The Hindus excel in the manufacture of iron, and in the preparations of those ingredients along with which it is fused to obtain that kind of soft iron which is usually styled Indian steel (Hindiah). They also have workshops wherein are forged the most famous sabres in the world.
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| :—[[Henry Yule]] quoted the 12th-century Arab Edrizi.<ref>Srinivasan, Sharda and Srinivasa Rangnathan. 2004. ''India's Legendary Wootz Steel''. Bangalore: Tata Steel.</ref></blockquote>
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| ===Science in China===
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| {{Main|History of science and technology in China|List of Chinese discoveries}} {{Further|Chinese mathematics|List of Chinese inventions}}
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| [[File:Sea island survey.jpg|thumb|Lui Hui's Survey of sea island]]
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| '''Mathematics''': From the earliest the Chinese used a positional decimal system on counting boards in order to calculate. To express 10, a single rod is placed in the second box from the right. The spoken language uses a similar system to English: e.g. four thousand two hundred seven. No symbol was used for zero. By the 1st century BC, negative numbers and decimal fractions were in use and ''[[The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art]]'' included methods for extracting higher order roots by [[Horner's method]] and solving linear equations and by [[Pythagorean theorem|Pythagoras' theorem]]. Cubic equations were solved in the [[Tang dynasty]] and solutions of equations of order higher than 3 appeared in print in 1245 AD by [[Ch'in Chiu-shao]]. [[Pascal's triangle]] for binomial coefficients was described around 1100 by [[Jia Xian]].
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| Although the first attempts at an axiomatisation of geometry appear in the [[Mohist]] canon in 330 BC, [[Liu Hui]] developed algebraic methods in geometry in the 3rd century AD and also calculated [[pi]] to 5 significant figures. In 480, [[Zu Chongzhi]] improved this by discovering the ratio <math>\tfrac{355}{113}</math> which remained the most accurate value for 1200 years.
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| [[File:Su Song Star Map 1.JPG|thumb|right|One of the [[star map]]s from [[Su Song]]'s ''Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao'' published in 1092, featuring a
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| cylindrical projection similar to [[Mercator projection]] and the corrected position of the [[pole star]] thanks to [[Shen Kuo]]'s astronomical observations.<ref>Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth''. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd. Page 208.</ref>]]
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| '''Astronomy''': Astronomical observations from China constitute the longest continuous sequence from any civilisation and include records of sunspots (112 records from 364 BC), supernovas (1054), lunar and solar eclipses. By the 12th century, they could reasonably accurately make predictions of eclipses, but the knowledge of this was lost during the Ming dynasty, so that the Jesuit [[Matteo Ricci]] gained much favour in 1601 by his predictions.<ref>Needham p422</ref>
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| By 635 Chinese astronomers had observed that the tails of comets always point away from the sun.
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| From antiquity, the Chinese used an equatorial system for describing the skies and a star map from 940 was drawn using a cylindrical ([[Mercator projection|Mercator]]) projection. The use of an [[armillary sphere]] is recorded from the 4th century BC and a sphere permanently mounted in equatorial axis from 52 BC. In 125 AD [[Zhang Heng]] used water power to rotate the sphere in real time. This included rings for the meridian and ecliptic. By 1270 they had incorporated the principles of the Arab [[torquetum]].
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| [[File:EastHanSeismograph.JPG|thumb|left|A modern replica of [[Zhang Heng]]'s [[seismometer]] of 132 CE]]
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| '''Seismology''': To better prepare for calamities, Zhang Heng invented a [[seismometer]] in 132 CE which provided instant alert to authorities in the capital Luoyang that an earthquake had occurred in a location indicated by a specific [[Cardinal direction|cardinal or ordinal direction]].<ref>de Crespigny (2007), 1050; Morton & Lewis (2005), 70.</ref> Although no tremors could be felt in the capital when Zhang told the court that an earthquake had just occurred in the northwest, a message came soon afterwards that an earthquake had indeed struck 400 km (248 mi) to 500 km (310 mi) northwest of Luoyang (in what is now modern [[Gansu]]).<ref>Minford & Lau (2002), 307; Balchin (2003), 26–27; Needham (1986a), 627; Needham (1986c), 484; Krebs (2003), 31.</ref> Zhang called his device the 'instrument for measuring the seasonal winds and the movements of the Earth' (Houfeng didong yi 候风地动仪), so-named because he and others thought that earthquakes were most likely caused by the enormous compression of trapped air.<ref name="needham volume 3 626">Needham (1986a), 626.</ref> See [[Zhang Heng#Zhang's seismometer|Zhang's seismometer]] for further details.
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| There are many notable contributors to the field of Chinese science throughout the ages. One of the best examples would be [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095), a [[polymath]] scientist and statesman who was the first to describe the [[magnetic]]-needle [[compass]] used for [[navigation]], discovered the concept of [[true north]], improved the design of the astronomical [[gnomon]], [[armillary sphere]], [[sight tube]], and [[water clock|clepsydra]], and described the use of [[drydock]]s to repair boats. After observing the natural process of the inundation of [[silt]] and the find of [[Marine (ocean)|marine]] [[fossil]]s in the [[Taihang Mountains]] (hundreds of miles from the [[Pacific Ocean]]), Shen Kuo devised a theory of land formation, or [[geomorphology]]. He also adopted a theory of gradual [[climate change]] in regions over time, after observing [[petrified]] [[bamboo]] found underground at [[Yan'an]], [[Shaanxi]] province. If not for Shen Kuo's writing,<ref>[[Shen Kuo]] 沈括 (1086, last supplement dated 1091), ''Meng Ch'i Pi Than (夢溪筆談, [[Dream Pool Essays]])'' as cited in {{harvnb|Needham|Robinson|Huang|2004}} p.244</ref> the architectural works of [[Yu Hao]] would be little known, along with the inventor of [[movable type]] [[printing]], [[Bi Sheng]] (990-1051). Shen's contemporary [[Su Song]] (1020–1101) was also a brilliant polymath, an astronomer who created a celestial atlas of star maps, wrote a pharmaceutical treatise with related subjects of [[botany]], [[zoology]], [[mineralogy]], and [[metallurgy]], and had erected a large [[astronomical]] [[clocktower]] in [[Kaifeng]] city in 1088. To operate the crowning [[armillary sphere]], his clocktower featured an [[escapement]] mechanism and the world's oldest known use of an endless power-transmitting [[chain drive]].
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| The [[Jesuit China missions]] of the 16th and 17th centuries "learned to appreciate the scientific achievements of this ancient culture and made them known in Europe. Through their correspondence European scientists first learned about the Chinese science and culture."<ref>Agustín Udías, ''Searching the Heavens and the Earth: The History of Jesuit Observatories''. (Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003). p.53</ref> Western academic thought on the history of Chinese technology and science was galvanized by the work of [[Joseph Needham]] and the Needham Research Institute. Among the technological accomplishments of China were, according to the British scholar Needham, early [[seismometer|seismological]] detectors ([[Zhang Heng]] in the 2nd century), the [[hydraulics|water-powered]] [[celestial globe]] (Zhang Heng), [[match]]es, the independent invention of the [[decimal|decimal system]], [[dry dock#Graving|dry docks]], sliding [[calipers]], the double-action [[piston pump]], [[cast iron]], the [[blast furnace]], the [[iron]] [[plough]], the multi-tube [[seed drill]], the [[wheelbarrow]], the [[suspension bridge]], the [[winnowing machine]], the [[Mechanical fan|rotary fan]], the [[parachute]], [[natural gas]] as fuel, the [[raised-relief map]], the [[propeller]], the [[crossbow]], and a solid fuel [[rocket]], the [[multistage rocket]], the [[horse collar]], along with contributions in [[logic]], [[astronomy]], [[medicine]], and other fields.
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| However, cultural factors prevented these Chinese achievements from developing into what we might call "modern science". According to Needham, it may have been the religious and philosophical framework of Chinese intellectuals which made them unable to accept the ideas of laws of nature:
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| {{quote|It was not that there was no order in nature for the Chinese, but rather that it was not an order ordained by a rational personal being, and hence there was no conviction that rational personal beings would be able to spell out in their lesser earthly languages the divine code of laws which he had decreed aforetime. The [[Taoists]], indeed, would have scorned such an idea as being too naïve for the subtlety and complexity of the universe as they intuited it.<ref>{{harvnb|Needham|Wang|1954}} 581.</ref>}}
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| ==Science in the Middle Ages==
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| {{Main|Science in the Middle Ages}}
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| With the division of the Roman Empire, the [[Western Roman Empire]] lost contact with much of its past. The [[Library of Alexandria]], which had suffered since it fell under Roman rule,<ref name="Plutarch">[[Plutarch]], ''Life of Caesar'' 49.3.</ref> had been destroyed by 642, shortly after the [[Muslim conquest of Egypt|Arab conquest of Egypt]].<ref>[[Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi (medieval writer)|Abd-el-latif]] (1203): "the library which [[Amr ibn al-A'as|'Amr ibn al-'As]] burnt with the permission of [[Umar|'Umar]]."</ref><ref>''Europe: A History'', p 139. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1996. ISBN 0-19-820171-0</ref> While the [[Byzantine Empire]] still held learning centers such as [[Constantinople]], Western Europe's knowledge was concentrated in [[Monastery|monasteries]] until the development of [[Medieval university|medieval universities]] in the 12th and 13th centuries. The curriculum of monastic schools included the study of the few available ancient texts and of new works on practical subjects like medicine<ref>Linda E. Voigts, "Anglo-Saxon Plant Remedies and the Anglo-Saxons", ''Isis,'' 70 (1979): 250-268; reprinted in Michael H. Shank, ''The Scientific Enterprise in Antiquity and the Middle Ages,'' Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 2000, pp. 163-181. ISBN 0-226-74951-7.</ref> and timekeeping.<ref>Faith Wallis, ''Bede: The Reckoning of Time,'' Liverpool: Liverpool Univ. Pr., 2004, pp. xviii-xxxiv. ISBN 0-85323-693-3.</ref>
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| Meanwhile, in the Middle East, [[Greek philosophy]] was able to find some support under the newly created [[Caliphate|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. This scholarship was aided by several factors. The use of a single language, [[Arabic language|Arabic]], allowed communication without need of a translator. Access to [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Latin]] texts from the [[Byzantine Empire]] along with [[History of India|Indian]] sources of learning provided Muslim scholars a knowledge base to build upon. <!--In addition, there was the [[Hajj]], which facilitated scholarly collaboration by bringing together people and new ideas from all over the [[Muslim world]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}-->
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| ===Science in the Islamic world===
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| {{Main|Islamic science|Timeline of Muslim scientists and engineers}}
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| {{See also|Alchemy and chemistry in Islam|Islamic astronomy|Islamic mathematics|Islamic medicine|Islamic physics|Islamic psychological thought|Early Muslim sociology}}
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| [[File:Islamic MedText c1500.jpg|thumb|15th-century manuscript of [[Avicenna]]'s ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]''.]]
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| Muslim scientists placed far greater emphasis on [[experiment]] than had the [[Greeks]].<ref name=Briffault>[[Robert Briffault]] (1928). ''The Making of Humanity'', p. 190-202. G. Allen & Unwin Ltd.</ref> This led to an early [[scientific method]] being developed in the Muslim world, where significant progress in methodology was made, beginning with the experiments of [[Ibn al-Haytham]] (Alhazen) on [[optics]] from c. 1000, in his ''[[Book of Optics]]''. The law of [[Refraction|refraction of light]]
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| was known to the Persians.<ref>[http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hZvL5eYAAAAJ&hl Sameen Ahmed Khan], Arab Origins of the Discovery of the Refraction of Light;
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| Roshdi Hifni Rashed (Picture) Awarded the 2007 King Faisal International Prize, Optics & Photonics News (OPN, Logo), Vol. 18, No. 10, pp. 22-23 (October 2007).</ref> The most important development of the scientific method was the use of experiments to distinguish between competing scientific theories set within a generally [[empiricism|empirical]] orientation, which began among Muslim scientists. Ibn al-Haytham is also regarded as the father of optics, especially for his empirical proof of the intromission theory of light. Some have also described Ibn al-Haytham as the "first scientist" for his development of the modern scientific method.<ref>Bradley Steffens (2006), ''Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist'', Morgan Reynolds Publishing, ISBN 1-59935-024-6.</ref>
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| In [[Islamic mathematics|mathematics]], the [[Persian people|Persian]] mathematician [[Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi]] gave his name to the concept of the [[algorithm]], while the term [[algebra]] is derived from ''al-jabr'', the beginning of the title of one of his publications. What is now known as [[Arabic numerals]] originally came from India, but Muslim mathematicians did make several refinements to the number system, such as the introduction of [[Decimal separator|decimal point]] notation. [[Sabians|Sabian]] mathematician [[Al-Battani]] (850-929) contributed to astronomy and mathematics, while [[Persian people|Persian]] scholar [[Al-Razi]] contributed to chemistry and medicine.
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| In [[Islamic astronomy|astronomy]], [[Al-Battani]] improved the measurements of [[Hipparchus]], preserved in the translation of [[Ptolemy]]'s ''Hè Megalè Syntaxis'' (''The great treatise'') translated as ''[[Almagest]]''. Al-Battani also improved the precision of the measurement of the precession of the Earth's axis. The corrections made to the [[geocentric model]] by al-Battani, [[Ibn al-Haytham]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rosen |first=Edward |year=1985 |title=The Dissolution of the Solid Celestial Spheres|journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=19–20 & 21 |ref=harv |postscript=<!--None--> |doi=10.2307/2709773}}</ref> [[Averroes]] and the [[Maragheh observatory|Maragha astronomers]] such as [[Nasir al-Din al-Tusi]], [[Mo'ayyeduddin Urdi]] and [[Ibn al-Shatir]] are similar to [[Copernican heliocentrism|Copernican heliocentric]] model.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Rabin|first=Sheila|url=http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/copernicus/index.html
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| |title=Nicolaus Copernicus|work=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]|year=2004|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, CSLI, Stanford University|accessdate=2012-06-24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Saliba |first=George |authorlink=George Saliba |year=1994 |title=A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam |publisher=[[New York University Press]] |isbn=0-8147-8023-7 |pages=254 & 256–257 |ref=harv |postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref> [[Heliocentrism|Heliocentric]] theories may have also been discussed by several other Muslim astronomers such as [[Ja'far ibn Muhammad Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi]],<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1987.tb37224.x | last1 = Bartel | first1 = B. L.| authorlink = Bartel Leendert van der Waerden | author-separator =, | author-name-separator= | year = 1987 | title = The Heliocentric System in Greek, Persian and Hindu Astronomy | url = | journal = Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences | volume = 500 | issue = 1| pages = 525–545 [534–537] | bibcode=1987NYASA.500..525V | ref = harv}}</ref> [[Abu-Rayhan Biruni]], Abu Said [[al-Sijzi]],<ref name=Nasr>{{Cite journal |last=Nasr |first=Seyyed H. |authorlink=Hossein Nasr |date=1st edition in 1964, 2nd edition in 1993 |title=An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines |edition=2nd |publisher=1st edition by [[Harvard University Press]], 2nd edition by [[State University of New York Press]] |isbn=0-7914-1515-5 |pages=135–136 |ref=harv |postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref> [[Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi]], and [[Najm al-Dīn al-Qazwīnī al-Kātibī]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=A. |last2=Chapter |first2=L. |year=2002 |chapter=Part 4: The Sciences |ref=harv |postscript=<!--None-->}}, in {{Cite book |last=Sharif |first=M. M. |title=Philosophia Islamica |chapter=A History of Muslim Philosophy}}</ref>
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| [[Alchemy (Islam)|Muslim chemists and alchemists]] played an important role in the foundation of modern [[chemistry]]. Scholars such as [[Will Durant]]<ref name=Durant>[[Will Durant]] (1980). ''The Age of Faith ([[The Story of Civilization]], Volume 4)'', p. 162-186. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-01200-2.</ref> and [[Fielding H. Garrison]]<ref>[[Fielding H. Garrison]], ''An Introduction to the History of Medicine with Medical Chronology,
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| Suggestions for Study and Biblographic Data'', p. 86</ref> considered Muslim chemists to be the founders of chemistry. In particular, [[Jābir ibn Hayyān]] is "considered by many to be the father of chemistry".<ref>{{Cite journal|first=Zygmunt S.|last=Derewenda|year=2007|title=On wine, chirality and crystallography|journal=Acta Crystallographica Section A: Foundations of Crystallography|volume=64|pages=246–258 [247]|doi=10.1107/S0108767307054293|pmid=18156689|last1=Derewenda|first1=ZS|issue=Pt 1|ref=harv|bibcode = 2008AcCrA..64..246D }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1080/01436590500128048 | last1 = Warren | first1 = John | author-separator =, | author-name-separator= | year = 2005 | title = War and the Cultural Heritage of Iraq: a sadly mismanaged affair | url = | journal = Third World Quarterly | volume = 26 | issue = 4–5| pages = 815–830 | ref = harv }}</ref> The works of Arabic scientists influenced [[Roger Bacon]] (who introduced the empirical method to Europe, strongly influenced by his reading of Persians writers),<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lindberg |first=David C. |year=1967 |title=Alhazen's Theory of Vision and Its Reception in the West |journal=[[Isis (journal)|Isis]] |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=321–341 |doi=10.1086/350266 |ref=harv |pmid=4867472}}</ref> and later [[Isaac Newton]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Faruqi |first=Yasmeen M. |year=2006 |title=Contributions of Islamic scholars to the scientific enterprise |journal=International Education Journal |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=391–396 |ref=harv}}</ref>
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| Ibn Sina ([[Avicenna]]) is regarded as the most influential scientist and philosopher in Islam.<ref>Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (2007). "Avicenna". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9011433/Avicenna. Retrieved 2010-03-06.</ref> He pioneered the science of experimental medicine<ref name="Jacquart, Danielle 2008">Jacquart, Danielle (2008). "Islamic Pharmacology in the Middle Ages: Theories and Substances". European Review (Cambridge University Press) 16: 219–27.</ref> and was the first physician to conduct clinical trials.<ref>David W. Tschanz, MSPH, PhD (August 2003). "Arab Roots of European Medicine", Heart Views 4 (2).</ref> His two most notable works in medicine are the ''Kitāb al-shifāʾ'' ("Book of Healing") and [[The Canon of Medicine]], both of which were used as standard medicinal texts in both the Muslim world and in Europe well into the 17th century. Amongst his many contributions are the discovery of the contagious nature of infectious diseases,<ref name="Jacquart, Danielle 2008"/> and the introduction of clinical pharmacology.<ref>D. Craig Brater and Walter J. Daly (2000), "Clinical pharmacology in the Middle Ages: Principles that presage the 21st century", Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics 67 (5), p. 447-450 [448].</ref>
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| Some of the other famous scientists from the Islamic world include [[al-Farabi]] ([[polymath]]), [[Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi]] (pioneer of [[surgery]]),<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Martin-Araguz | first1 = A. | last2 = Bustamante-Martínez | first2 = C. | last3 = Fernández-Armayor Ajo | first3 = Ajo V. | last4 = Moreno-Martínez | first4 = J. M. | author-separator =, | author-name-separator= | year = 2002 | title = Neuroscience in al-Andalus and its influence on medieval scholastic medicine | pmid=12134355 | journal = Revista de neurología | volume = 34 | issue = 9| pages = 877–892 | ref = harv }}</ref> [[Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī]] (pioneer of [[Indology]],<ref>Zafarul-Islam Khan, [http://milligazette.com/Archives/15-1-2000/Art5.htm At The Threshhold Of A New Millennium – II], ''The Milli Gazette''.</ref> [[geodesy]] and [[anthropology]]),<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Ahmed | first1 = Akbar S. | author-separator =, | author-name-separator= | year = 1984 | title = Al-Beruni: The First Anthropologist | url = | journal = RAIN | volume = 60 | issue = 60| pages = 9–10 | ref = harv | doi = 10.2307/3033407 }}</ref> [[Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī]] (polymath), and [[Ibn Khaldun]] (forerunner of [[social sciences]]<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Ahmed | first1 = Akbar | author-separator =, | author-name-separator= | year = 2002 | title = Ibn Khaldun's Understanding of Civilizations and the Dilemmas of Islam and the West Today | url = | journal = Middle East Journal | volume = 56 | issue = 1| page = 25 | ref = harv }}</ref> such as [[demography]],<ref name=Mowlana>H. Mowlana (2001). "Information in the Arab World", ''Cooperation South Journal'' '''1'''.</ref> [[cultural history]],<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Abdalla | first1 = Mohamad | author-separator =, | author-name-separator= | year = 2007 | title = Ibn Khaldun on the Fate of Islamic Science after the 11th Century | url = | journal = Islam & Science | volume = 5 | issue = 1| pages = 61–70 | ref = harv }}</ref> [[historiography]],<ref>Salahuddin Ahmed (1999). ''A Dictionary of Muslim Names''. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 1-85065-356-9.</ref> [[philosophy of history]] and [[sociology]]),<ref name=Akhtar>{{cite journal | last1 = Dr | first1 = | last2 = Akhtar | first2 = S. W. | year = 1997 | title = The Islamic Concept of Knowledge | url = | journal = Al-Tawhid: A Quarterly Journal of Islamic Thought & Culture | volume = 12 | issue = | page = 3 | ref = harv }}</ref> among many others.
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| Islamic science began its decline in the 12th or 13th century, before the [[Renaissance]] in Europe, and due in part to the 11th–13th century [[Mongol conquests]], during which libraries, observatories, hospitals and universities were destroyed.<ref name="Erica Fraser 1600">Erica Fraser. The Islamic World to 1600, University of Calgary.</ref> The end of the [[Islamic Golden Age]] is marked by the destruction of the intellectual center of [[Baghdad]], the capital of the [[Abbasid caliphate]] in 1258.<ref name="Erica Fraser 1600"/>
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| ===Science in Medieval Europe===
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| {{Main|Science in Medieval Western Europe|Byzantine science}}
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| {{Further|Renaissance of the 12th century|Scholasticism|Medieval technology|Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe}}
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| [[File:Map of Medieval Universities.jpg|left|thumb|Map of [[Medieval university|medieval universities]]]]
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| An intellectual revitalization of Europe started with the birth of [[Medieval university|medieval universities]] in the 12th century. The contact with the Islamic world in [[Al-Andalus|Spain]] and [[History of Islam in southern Italy|Sicily]], and during the [[Reconquista]] and the [[Crusades]], allowed Europeans access to scientific [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Arabic language|Arabic]] texts, including the works of [[Aristotle]], [[Ptolemy]], [[Jābir ibn Hayyān]], [[Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī|al-Khwarizmi]], [[Ibn al-Haytham|Alhazen]], [[Avicenna]], and [[Averroes]]. European scholars had access to the translation programs of [[Raymond of Toledo]], who sponsored the 12th century [[Toledo School of Translators]] from Arabic to Latin. Later translators like [[Michael Scotus]] would learn Arabic in order to study these texts directly. The European universities aided materially in the [[Latin translations of the 12th century|translation and propagation of these texts]] and started a new infrastructure which was needed for scientific communities. In fact, European university put many works about the natural world and the study of nature at the center of its curriculum,<ref>Toby Huff, ''Rise of early modern science'' 2nd ed. p. 180-181</ref> with the result that the "medieval university laid far greater emphasis on science than does its modern counterpart and descendent."<ref>Edward Grant, "Science in the Medieval University", in James M. Kittleson and Pamela J. Transue, ed., ''Rebirth, Reform and Resilience: Universities in Transition, 1300-1700'', Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1984, p. 68</ref>
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| As well as this, Europeans began to venture further and further east (most notably, perhaps, [[Marco Polo]]) as a result of the [[Pax Mongolica]]. This led to the increased influence of Indian and even Chinese science on the European tradition. Technological advances were also made, such as the early flight of [[Eilmer of Malmesbury]] (who had studied Mathematics in 11th century [[England]]),<ref name="Eilmer">[[William of Malmesbury]], ''[[Gesta Regum Anglorum]] / The history of the English kings'', ed. and trans. R. A. B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson, and M. Winterbottom, 2 vols., [[Oxford]] Medieval Texts (1998–9)</ref> and the [[metallurgy|metallurgical]] achievements of the [[Cistercians|Cistercian]] [[blast furnace]] at [[Laskill]].<ref name="Laskill">R. W. Vernon, G. McDonnell and A. Schmidt, 'An integrated geophysical and analytical appraisal of early iron-working: three case studies' ''Historical Metallurgy'' 31(2) (1998), 72-5 79.</ref><ref name="Derbeyshire">David Derbyshire, ''Henry "Stamped Out Industrial Revolution"'', [[The Daily Telegraph]] (21 June 2002)</ref>
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| [[File:Roger-bacon-statue.jpg|thumb|Statue of [[Roger Bacon]], [[Oxford University Museum of Natural History|Oxford University Museum]]]]
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| At the beginning of the 13th century, there were reasonably accurate Latin translations of the main works of almost all the intellectually crucial ancient authors, allowing a sound transfer of scientific ideas via both the universities and the monasteries. By then, the natural philosophy contained in these texts began to be extended by notable [[Scholasticism|scholastics]] such as [[Robert Grosseteste]], [[Roger Bacon]], [[Albertus Magnus]] and [[Duns Scotus]]. Precursors of the modern scientific method, influenced by earlier contributions of the Islamic world, can be seen already in Grosseteste's emphasis on mathematics as a way to understand nature, and in the empirical approach admired by Bacon, particularly in his ''[[Opus Majus]]''. [[Pierre Duhem]]'s provocative thesis of the Catholic Church's [[Condemnation of 1277]] led to the study of medieval science as a serious discipline, "but no one in the field any longer endorses his view that modern science started in 1277".<ref name="Stanford">{{cite web |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/condemnation/ |title=Condemnation of 1277 |author=Hans Thijssen |work=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |date=2003-01-30 |accessdate=2009-09-14 |publisher=[[University of Stanford]]}}</ref>
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| The first half of the 14th century saw much important scientific work being done, largely within the framework of [[Scholasticism|scholastic]] commentaries on Aristotle's scientific writings.<ref>Edward Grant, ''The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts,'' (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1996), pp. 127-31.</ref> [[William of Ockham]] introduced the principle of [[Occam's razor|parsimony]]: natural philosophers should not postulate unnecessary entities, so that motion is not a distinct thing but is only the moving object<ref>Edward Grant, ''A Source Book in Medieval Science,'' (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1974), p. 232</ref> and an intermediary "sensible species" is not needed to transmit an image of an object to the eye.<ref>David C. Lindberg, ''Theories of Vision from al-Kindi to Kepler,'' (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 1976), pp. 140-2.</ref> Scholars such as [[Jean Buridan]] and [[Nicole Oresme]] started to reinterpret elements of Aristotle's mechanics. In particular, Buridan developed the theory that impetus was the cause of the motion of projectiles, which was a first step towards the modern concept of [[inertia]].<ref>Edward Grant, ''The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts,'' (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1996), pp. 95-7.</ref> The [[Oxford Calculators]] began to mathematically analyze the [[kinematics]] of motion, making this analysis without considering the causes of motion.<ref>Edward Grant, ''The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts,'' (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1996), pp. 100-3.</ref>
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| In 1348, the [[Black Death]] and other disasters sealed a sudden end to the previous period of massive philosophic and scientific development. Yet, the rediscovery of ancient texts was improved after the [[Fall of Constantinople]] in 1453, when many [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] scholars had to seek refuge in the West. Meanwhile, the introduction of printing was to have great effect on European society. The facilitated dissemination of the printed word democratized learning and allowed a faster propagation of new ideas. New ideas also helped to influence the development of European science at this point: not least the introduction of [[Algebra]]. These developments paved the way for the [[Scientific Revolution]], which may also be understood as a resumption of the process of scientific inquiry, halted at the start of the Black Death.
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| ==Impact of science in Europe==<!--[[New science]] redirects here-->
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| {{Main|Scientific revolution|Age of Enlightenment}}
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| {{See also|Continuity thesis|Decline of Western alchemy|Natural magic}}
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| [[File:GodfreyKneller-IsaacNewton-1689.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Isaac Newton]] initiated [[classical mechanics]] in [[physics]].]]
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| [[File:Justus Sustermans - Portrait of Galileo Galilei, 1636.jpg|thumb|[[Galileo]] made experiments and observations that were essential to modern science.<ref name="Einstein">{{cite book|last=Weidhorn|first=Manfred|title=The Person of the Millennium: The Unique Impact of Galileo on World History|year=2005|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=0-595-36877-8|page=155}}</ref><ref name="Einstein" /><ref name=finocchiaro2007>[[#Reference-Finocchiaro-2007|Finocchiaro (2007)]]</ref><ref>"Galileo and the Birth of Modern Science, by Stephen Hawking, American Heritage's Invention & Technology, Spring 2009, Vol. 24, No. 1, p. 36</ref>]]
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| The renewal of learning in Europe, that began with 12th century [[Scholasticism]], came to an end about the time of the Black Death, and the initial period of the subsequent [[Italian Renaissance]] is sometimes seen as a lull in scientific activity. The [[Northern Renaissance]], on the other hand, showed a decisive shift in focus from Aristoteleian natural philosophy to chemistry and the biological sciences (botany, anatomy, and medicine).<ref>[[Allen Debus]], ''Man and Nature in the Renaissance'', (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1978).</ref> Thus modern science in Europe was resumed in a period of great upheaval: the [[Protestant Reformation]] and [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Counter-Reformation]]; the discovery of the Americas by [[Christopher Columbus]]; the [[Fall of Constantinople]]; but also the re-discovery of Aristotle during the Scholastic period presaged large social and political changes. Thus, a suitable environment was created in which it became possible to question scientific doctrine, in much the same way that [[Martin Luther]] and [[John Calvin]] questioned religious doctrine. The works of [[Ptolemy]] (astronomy) and [[Galen]] (medicine) were found not always to match everyday observations. Work by [[Vesalius]] on human cadavers found problems with the Galenic view of anatomy.<ref>Precise titles of these landmark books can be found in the collections of the [[Library of Congress]]. A list of these titles can be found in {{harvnb|Bruno|1989}}</ref>
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| The willingness to question previously held truths and search for new answers resulted in a period of major scientific advancements, now known as the [[Scientific Revolution]]. The Scientific Revolution is traditionally held by most historians to have begun in 1543, when the books ''[[De humani corporis fabrica]]'' (''On the Workings of the Human Body'') by [[Andreas Vesalius]], and also ''[[De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium|De Revolutionibus]]'', by the astronomer [[Nicolaus Copernicus]], were first printed. The thesis of Copernicus' book was that the Earth moved around the Sun. The period culminated with the publication of the ''[[Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica]]'' in 1687 by [[Isaac Newton]], representative of the unprecedented growth of [[antiquarian science book|scientific publications]] throughout Europe.
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| Other significant scientific advances were made during this time by [[Galileo Galilei]], [[Edmond Halley]], [[Robert Hooke]], [[Christiaan Huygens]], [[Tycho Brahe]], [[Johannes Kepler]], [[Gottfried Leibniz]], and [[Blaise Pascal]]. In philosophy, major contributions were made by [[Francis Bacon (philosopher)|Francis Bacon]], Sir [[Thomas Browne]], [[René Descartes]], and [[Thomas Hobbes]]. The scientific method was also better developed as the modern way of thinking emphasized experimentation and reason over traditional considerations.
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| ===Age of Enlightenment===
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| {{Main|Science in the Age of Enlightenment}}
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| {{Further|Age of Enlightenment}}
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| The Age of Enlightenment was a European affair. The 17th century "Age of Reason" opened the avenues to the decisive steps towards modern science, which took place during the 18th century "Age of Enlightenment". Directly based on the works<ref>{{harvnb|Heilbron|2003}}, 741</ref> of [[Isaac Newton|Newton]], [[Descartes]], [[Blaise Pascal|Pascal]] and [[Gottfried Leibniz|Leibniz]], the way was now clear to the development of modern [[mathematics]], [[physics]] and [[technology]]
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| by the generation of [[Benjamin Franklin]] (1706–1790), [[Leonhard Euler]] (1707–1783), [[Mikhail Lomonosov]] (1711–1765) and [[Jean le Rond d'Alembert]] (1717–1783), epitomized in the appearance of [[Denis Diderot]]'s ''[[Encyclopédie]]'' between 1751 and 1772. The impact of this process was not limited to science and technology, but affected [[history of philosophy|philosophy]] ([[Immanuel Kant]], [[David Hume]]), [[history of religion|religion]] (notably with the appearance of positive [[atheism]], and the increasingly significant impact of [[Relationship between religion and science|science upon religion]]), and society and politics in general ([[Adam Smith]], [[Voltaire]]), the [[French Revolution]] of 1789 setting a bloody cesura indicating the beginning of [[political modernity]]{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}. The [[early modern period]] is seen as a flowering of the European Renaissance, in what is often known as the [[Scientific Revolution]], viewed as a foundation of [[#Modern science|modern science]].<ref>See, for example, pp 741-744 of {{harvnb|Heilbron|2003}}</ref>
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| ===Romanticism in science===
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| {{Main|Romanticism in science}}
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| The Romantic Movement of the early 19th century reshaped science by opening up new pursuits unexpected in the classical approaches of the Enlightenment. Major breakthroughs came in biology, especially in [[Darwinism|Darwin's theory of evolution]], as well as physics (electromagnetism), mathematics (non-Euclidean geometry, group theory) and chemistry (organic chemistry). The decline of Romanticism occurred because a new movement, [[Positivism]], began to take hold of the ideals of the intellectuals after 1840 and lasted until about 1880.
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| ==Modern science==
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| [[File:Albert Einstein Head.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Albert Einstein]] ]]
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| The Scientific Revolution established science as a source for the growth of knowledge.<ref>{{harvnb|Heilbron|2003}}, 741-743</ref> During the 19th century, the practice of science became professionalized and institutionalized in ways that continued through the 20th century. As the role of scientific knowledge grew in society, it became incorporated with many aspects of the functioning of nation-states.
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| The history of science is marked by a chain of advances in [[technology]] and knowledge that have always complemented each other. Technological innovations bring about new [[Discovery (observation)|discoveries]] and are bred by other discoveries, which inspire new possibilities and approaches to longstanding science issues.
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| ===Natural sciences===
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| ====Physics====
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| {{Main|History of physics}}
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| [[File:James Clerk Maxwell profile.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[James Clerk Maxwell]]]]
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| The Scientific Revolution is a convenient boundary between ancient thought and classical physics. [[Nicolaus Copernicus]] revived the [[heliocentrism|heliocentric]] model of the solar system described by [[Aristarchus of Samos]]. This was followed by the first known model of planetary motion given by [[Johannes Kepler|Kepler]] in the early 17th century, which proposed that the planets follow [[ellipse|elliptical]] orbits, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse. [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]] ("''Father of Modern Physics''") also made use of experiments to validate physical theories, a key element of the scientific method.
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| In 1687, [[Isaac Newton]] published the ''[[Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica|Principia Mathematica]],'' detailing two comprehensive and successful physical theories: [[Newton's laws of motion]], which led to classical mechanics; and [[gravity|Newton's Law of Gravitation]], which describes the fundamental force of gravity. The behavior of electricity and magnetism was studied by [[Michael Faraday|Faraday]], [[Georg Ohm|Ohm]], and others during the early 19th century. These studies led to the unification of the two phenomena into a single theory of [[electromagnetism]], by [[James Clerk Maxwell]] (known as [[Maxwell's equations]]).
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| [[File:Universe expansion2.png|thumb|left|Diagram of the [[expanding universe]]]]
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| The beginning of the 20th century brought the start of a revolution in physics. The long-held theories of Newton were shown not to be correct in all circumstances. Beginning in 1900, [[Max Planck]], [[Albert Einstein]], [[Niels Bohr]] and others developed quantum theories to explain various anomalous experimental results, by introducing discrete energy levels. Not only did quantum mechanics show that the laws of motion did not hold on small scales, but even more disturbingly, the theory of [[general relativity]], proposed by Einstein in 1915, showed that the fixed background of [[spacetime]], on which both [[Newtonian mechanics]] and [[special relativity]] depended, could not exist. In 1925, [[Werner Heisenberg]] and [[Erwin Schrödinger]] formulated [[quantum mechanics]], which explained the preceding quantum theories. The observation by [[Edwin Hubble]] in 1929 that the speed at which galaxies recede positively correlates with their distance, led to the understanding that the universe is expanding, and the formulation of the [[Big Bang]] theory by [[Georges Lemaître]].
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| [[File:Trinity Test Fireball 25ms.jpg|thumb|The [[atomic bomb]] ushered in "[[Big Science]]" in [[physics]].]]
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| Further developments took place during World War II, which led to the practical application of [[radar]] and the development and use of the [[atomic bomb]]. Though the process had begun with the invention of the [[cyclotron]] by [[Ernest O. Lawrence]] in the 1930s, physics in the postwar period entered into a phase of what historians have called "[[Big Science]]", requiring massive machines, budgets, and laboratories in order to test their theories and move into new frontiers. The primary patron of physics became state governments, who recognized that the support of "basic" research could often lead to technologies useful to both military and industrial applications. Currently, general relativity and quantum mechanics are inconsistent with each other, and efforts are underway to unify the two.
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| ====Chemistry====
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| {{Main|History of chemistry}}
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| [[File:DIMendeleevCab.jpg|thumb|upright||[[Dmitri Mendeleev]]]]
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| The history of modern chemistry can be taken to begin with the distinction of chemistry from [[alchemy]] by [[Robert Boyle]] in his work ''The Sceptical Chymist'', in 1661 (although the alchemical tradition continued for some time after this) and the gravimetric experimental practices of medical chemists like [[William Cullen]], [[Joseph Black]], [[Torbern Bergman]] and [[Pierre Macquer]]. Another important step was made by [[Antoine Lavoisier]] ([[Father or mother of something|''Father of Modern Chemistry'']]) through his recognition of [[oxygen]] and the law of [[conservation of mass]], which refuted [[phlogiston theory]]. The theory that all matter is made of atoms, which are the smallest constituents of matter that cannot be broken down without losing the basic chemical and physical properties of that matter, was provided by [[John Dalton]] in 1803, although the question took a hundred years to settle as proven. Dalton also formulated the law of mass relationships. In 1869, [[Dmitri Mendeleev]] composed his [[periodic table]] of elements on the basis of Dalton's discoveries.
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| The synthesis of [[urea]] by [[Friedrich Wöhler]] opened a new research field, [[organic chemistry]], and by the end of the 19th century, scientists were able to synthesize hundreds of organic compounds. The later part of the 19th century saw the exploitation of the Earth's petrochemicals, after the exhaustion of the oil supply from [[whaling]]. By the 20th century, systematic production of refined materials provided a ready supply of products which provided not only energy, but also synthetic materials for clothing, medicine, and everyday disposable resources. Application of the techniques of organic chemistry to living organisms resulted in [[physiological chemistry]], the precursor to [[biochemistry]]. The 20th century also saw the integration of physics and chemistry, with chemical properties explained as the result of the electronic structure of the atom. [[Linus Pauling]]'s book on ''The Nature of the Chemical Bond'' used the principles of quantum mechanics to deduce [[bond angle]]s in ever-more complicated molecules. Pauling's work culminated in the physical modelling of [[DNA]], ''the secret of life'' (in the words of [[Francis Crick]], 1953). In the same year, the [[Miller-Urey experiment]] demonstrated in a simulation of primordial processes, that basic constituents of proteins, simple [[amino acid]]s, could themselves be built up from simpler molecules.
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| ====Geology====
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| {{Main|History of geology}}
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| Geology existed as a cloud of isolated, disconnected ideas about rocks, minerals, and landforms long before it became a coherent science. [[Theophrastus]]' work on rocks, ''Peri lithōn'', remained authoritative for millennia: its interpretation of fossils was not overturned until after the Scientific Revolution. Chinese polymath [[Shen Kua]] (1031–1095) first formulated hypotheses for the process of land formation. Based on his observation of fossils in a geological [[stratum]] in a mountain hundreds of miles from the ocean, he deduced that the land was formed by erosion of the mountains and by [[Deposition (sediment)|deposition]] of silt.
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| [[File:Wegener.jpg|thumb|left|[[Plate tectonics]]—[[seafloor spreading]] and [[continental drift]] illustrated on a relief globe]]
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| Geology did not undergo systematic restructuring during the [[Scientific Revolution]], but individual theorists made important contributions. [[Robert Hooke]], for example, formulated a theory of earthquakes, and [[Nicholas Steno]] developed the theory of [[Law of superposition|superposition]] and argued that [[fossils]] were the remains of once-living creatures. Beginning with [[Thomas Burnet]]'s ''Sacred Theory of the Earth'' in 1681, natural philosophers began to explore the idea that the Earth had changed over time. Burnet and his contemporaries interpreted Earth's past in terms of events described in the Bible, but their work laid the intellectual foundations for secular interpretations of Earth history.
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| [[File:Hutton James portrait Raeburn.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[James Hutton]], the father of modern geology]]
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| Modern geology, like modern chemistry, gradually evolved during the 18th and early 19th centuries. [[Benoît de Maillet]] and the [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon|Comte de Buffon]] saw the Earth as much older than the 6,000 years envisioned by biblical scholars. [[Jean-Étienne Guettard]] and [[Nicolas Desmarest]] hiked central France and recorded their observations on some of the first geological maps. [[Abraham Werner]] created a systematic classification scheme for rocks and minerals—an achievement as significant for geology as that of [[Linnaeus]] for biology. Werner also proposed a generalized interpretation of Earth history, as did contemporary Scottish polymath [[James Hutton]]. [[Georges Cuvier]] and [[Alexandre Brongniart]], expanding on the work of [[Nicolas Steno|Steno]], argued that layers of rock could be dated by the fossils they contained: a principle first applied to the geology of the Paris Basin. The use of [[index fossil]]s became a powerful tool for making geological maps, because it allowed geologists to correlate the rocks in one locality with those of similar age in other, distant localities. Over the first half of the 19th century, geologists such as [[Charles Lyell]], [[Adam Sedgwick]], and [[Roderick Murchison]] applied the new technique to rocks throughout Europe and eastern North America, setting the stage for more detailed, government-funded mapping projects in later decades.
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| Midway through the 19th century, the focus of geology shifted from description and classification to attempts to understand ''how'' the surface of the Earth had changed. The first comprehensive theories of mountain building were proposed during this period, as were the first modern theories of earthquakes and volcanoes. [[Louis Agassiz]] and others established the reality of continent-covering [[ice age]]s, and "fluvialists" like [[Andrew Crombie Ramsay]] argued that river valleys were formed, over millions of years by the rivers that flow through them. After the discovery of [[radioactivity]], [[radiometric dating]] methods were developed, starting in the 20th century. [[Alfred Wegener]]'s theory of "continental drift" was widely dismissed when he proposed it in the 1910s, but new data gathered in the 1950s and 1960s led to the theory of [[plate tectonics]], which provided a plausible mechanism for it. Plate tectonics also provided a unified explanation for a wide range of seemingly unrelated geological phenomena. Since 1970 it has served as the unifying principle in geology.
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| Geologists' embrace of [[plate tectonics]] became part of a broadening of the field from a study of rocks into a study of the Earth as a planet. Other elements of this transformation include: geophysical studies of the interior of the Earth, the grouping of geology with [[meteorology]] and [[oceanography]] as one of the "earth sciences", and comparisons of Earth and the solar system's other rocky planets.
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| ====Astronomy====
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| {{Main|History of astronomy}}
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| [[Aristarchus of Samos]] published [[Aristarchus On the Sizes and Distances|work]] on how to determine the sizes and distances of the Sun and the Moon, and [[Eratosthenes]] used this work to figure the size of the Earth. [[Hipparchus]] later discovered the [[precession (astronomy)|precession]] of the Earth.
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| Advances in astronomy and in optical systems in the 19th century resulted in the first observation of an [[asteroid]] ([[Ceres (dwarf planet)|1 Ceres]]) in 1801, and the discovery of [[Neptune]] in 1846.
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| [[George Gamow]], [[Ralph Alpher]], and [[Robert Herman]] had calculated that there should be evidence for a Big Bang in the background temperature of the universe.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Alpher | first1 = Ralph A. | last2 = Herman | first2 = Robert| year =1948 | title = Evolution of the Universe| url = | journal = [[Nature (journal)|Nature]] | volume = 162 | issue = 4124| pages = 774–775 | doi = 10.1038/162774b0 | bibcode=1948Natur.162..774A | ref = harv}}<br/>{{cite journal | last1 = Gamow | first1 = G. | doi = 10.1038/162680a0 | title = The Evolution of the Universe | pmid = 18893719 | journal = Nature | year = 1948 | volume = 162 | issue = 4122 | pages=680–682 | bibcode=1948Natur.162..680G | ref = harv}}</ref> In 1964, [[Arno Penzias]] and [[Robert Woodrow Wilson|Robert Wilson]]<ref>[http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1978/wilson-lecture.pdf Wilson's 1978 Nobel lecture]</ref> discovered a 3° Kelvin background hiss in their [[Bell Labs]] [[radiotelescope]], which was evidence for this hypothesis, and formed the basis for a number of results that helped determine the [[age of the universe]].
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| Supernova [[SN1987A]] was observed by astronomers on Earth both visually, and in a triumph for [[neutrino astronomy]], by the solar neutrino detectors at [[Kamiokande]]. But the solar neutrino flux was [[solar neutrino problem|a fraction of its theoretically expected value]]. This discrepancy forced a change in some values in the [[standard model]] for [[particle physics]].
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| ====Biology, medicine, and genetics====
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| {{Main|History of biology|History of molecular biology|History of medicine|History of evolutionary thought}}
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| [[File:DNA replication split.svg|thumb|upright|Semi-conservative [[DNA replication]]]]
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| In 1847, Hungarian physician [[Ignaz Semmelweis|Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis]] dramatically reduced the occurrency of [[puerperal fever]] by simply requiring physicians to wash their hands before attending to women in childbirth. This discovery predated the [[germ theory of disease]]. However, Semmelweis' findings were not appreciated by his contemporaries and came into use only with discoveries by British surgeon [[Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister|Joseph Lister]], who in 1865 proved the principles of [[antisepsis]]. Lister's work was based on the important findings by French biologist [[Louis Pasteur]]. Pasteur was able to link microorganisms with disease, revolutionizing medicine. He also devised one of the most important methods in [[preventive medicine]], when in 1880 he produced a [[vaccine]] against [[rabies]]. Pasteur invented the process of [[pasteurization]], to help prevent the spread of disease through milk and other foods.<ref>{{cite book | last = Campbell | first = Neil A. | authorlink = | coauthors = Brad Williamson; Robin J. Heyden | title = Biology: Exploring Life | publisher = Pearson Prentice Hall | year = 2006 | location = Boston, Massachusetts | pages = | url = http://www.phschool.com/el_marketing.html | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-13-250882-6 | oclc = 75299209 }}</ref>
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| Perhaps the most prominent, controversial and far-reaching theory in all of science has been the theory of [[evolution]] by [[natural selection]] put forward by the British naturalist [[Charles Darwin]] in his book [[On the Origin of Species]] in 1859. Darwin proposed that the features of all living things, including humans, were shaped by natural processes over long periods of time. The theory of evolution in its current form affects almost all areas of biology.<ref>Theodosius Dobzhansky, "[http://people.ibest.uidaho.edu/~bree/courses/1_Dobzhansky_1964.pdf Biology, Molecular and Organismic]", ''American Zoologist'', volume 4 (1964), pp 443-452.</ref> Implications of evolution on fields outside of pure science have led to both [[Social effect of evolutionary theory|opposition and support]] from different parts of society, and profoundly influenced the popular understanding of "man's place in the universe". In the early 20th century, the study of heredity became a major investigation after the rediscovery in 1900 of the laws of inheritance developed by the [[Moravia]]n<ref>{{cite book
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| |last=Henig
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| |first=Robin Marantz
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| |title=The Monk in the Garden : The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel, the Father of Genetics
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| |publisher=Houghton Mifflin
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| |year=2000
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| |isbn=0-395-97765-7
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| |quote=The article, written by an obscure Moravian monk named Gregor Mendel...
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| |oclc=43648512
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| }}</ref> monk [[Gregor Mendel]] in 1866. Mendel's laws provided the beginnings of the study of [[genetics]], which became a major field of research for both scientific and industrial research. By 1953, [[James D. Watson]], [[Francis Crick]] and [[Maurice Wilkins]] clarified the basic structure of DNA, the [[genetic material]] for expressing life in all its forms.<ref>James D. Watson and Francis H. Crick. "Letters to ''Nature'': Molecular structure of Nucleic Acid." ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' '''171''', 737–738 (1953).</ref> In the late 20th century, the possibilities of [[genetic engineering]] became practical for the first time, and a massive international effort began in 1990 to map out an entire human [[genome]] (the [[Human Genome Project]]).
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| ====Ecology====
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| {{Main|History of ecology}}
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| [[File:NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg|thumb|right|Earthrise over the [[Moon]], [[Apollo 8]], [[NASA]]. This image helped create awareness of the finiteness of Earth, and the limits of its [[natural resource]]s.]]
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| The discipline of [[ecology]] typically traces its origin to the synthesis of [[evolution|Darwinian evolution]] and [[Humboldtian science|Humboldtian]] [[biogeography]], in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Equally important in the rise of ecology, however, were [[microbiology]] and [[soil science]]—particularly the [[biogeochemical cycle|cycle of life]] concept, prominent in the work [[Louis Pasteur]] and [[Ferdinand Cohn]]. The word ''ecology'' was coined by [[Ernst Haeckel]], whose particularly holistic view of nature in general (and Darwin's theory in particular) was important in the spread of ecological thinking. 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 [[natural history|field biology]]. The history of ecology in the 20th century is closely tied to that of [[environmentalism]]; the [[Gaia hypothesis]], first formulated in the 1960s, and spreading in the 1970s, and more recently the scientific-religious movement of [[Deep Ecology]] have brought the two closer together.
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| ===Social sciences===
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| {{Main|History of the social sciences}}
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| Successful use of the scientific method in the physical sciences led to the same methodology being adapted to better understand the many fields of human endeavor. From this effort the social sciences have been developed.
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| ====Political science in Ancient India====
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| {{Main|History of Ancient Indian political science}}
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| The most studied literature on political science from Ancient India is an ancient Indian [[treatise]] on [[Public administration|statecraft]], [[economics|economic]] policy and [[military strategy]] which identifies its author by the names Kautilya<ref>{{cite journal | first = I. W. | last = Mabbett | date=1 April 1964| title = The Date of the Arthaśāstra | journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume = 84 | issue = 2 | pages = 162–169 | doi = 10.2307/597102 | ref = harv | jstor = 597102 }}<br />{{cite book | last = Trautmann | first = Thomas R. | authorlink = Thomas Trautmann | title = {{IAST|Kauṭilya}} and the Arthaśāstra: A Statistical Investigation of the Authorship and Evolution of the Text | year = 1971 | publisher = E.J. Brill | location = Leiden | pages = 10 | quote =while in his character as author of an ''arthaśāstra'' he is generally referred to by his ''[[gotra]]'' name, {{IAST|Kauṭilya}}.}}</ref> and {{IAST|Viṣhṇugupta}},<ref>Mabbett 1964<br />Trautmann 1971:5 "the very last verse of the work...is the unique instance of the personal name {{IAST|Viṣṇugupta}} rather than the ''[[gotra]]'' name {{IAST|Kauṭilya}} in the ''Arthaśāstra''.</ref> who are traditionally identified with [[Chanakya|{{IAST|Chāṇakya}}]] (c. 350–-283 BCE). In this treatise, the behaviors and relationships of the people, the King, the State, the Government Superintendents, Courtiers, Enemies, Invaders, and Corporations are analysed and documented. Roger Boesche describes the ''Arthaśāstra'' as "a book of political realism, a book analysing how the political world does work and not very often stating how it ought to work, a book that frequently discloses to a king what calculating and sometimes brutal measures he must carry out to preserve the state and the common good."<ref>{{cite book | last = Boesche | first = Roger | title = The First Great Political Realist: Kautilya and His Arthashastra | year = 2002 | publisher = Lexington Books | location = Lanham | isbn = 0-7391-0401-2 | pages = 17}}</ref>
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| ====Political science in the Western and Islamic Cultures====
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| {{Main|History of western political science}}
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| While, in the [[Western Culture]], the study of politics is first found in [[Ancient Greece]], political science is a late arrival in terms of [[social sciences]]{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}. However, the discipline has a clear set of antecedents such as [[moral philosophy]], [[political philosophy]], [[political economy]], history, and other fields concerned with [[Norm (philosophy)|normative]] determinations of what ought to be and with [[Deductive reasoning|deducing]] the characteristics and functions of the ideal form of [[government]]. In each historic period and in almost every geographic area, we can find someone studying politics and increasing political understanding.
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| Although the roots of politics may be in [[Prehistory]], the antecedents of European politics trace their roots back even earlier than [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]], particularly in the works of [[Homer]], [[Hesiod]], [[Thucydides]], [[Xenophon]], and [[Euripides]]. Later, Plato analyzed political systems, abstracted their analysis from more [[literary]]- and history- oriented studies and applied an approach we would understand as closer to [[philosophy]]. Similarly, Aristotle built upon Plato's analysis to include historical empirical evidence in his analysis.
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| During the rule of [[Rome]], famous historians such as [[Polybius]], [[Livy]] and [[Plutarch]] documented the rise of the Roman [[Republic]], and the organization and histories of other nations, while [[Politician|statesmen]] like [[Julius Caesar]], [[Cicero]] and others provided us with examples of the politics of the republic and Rome's empire and wars. The study of politics during this age was oriented toward understanding history, understanding methods of governing, and describing the operation of governments.
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| With the [[fall of the Roman Empire]], there arose a more diffuse arena for political studies. The rise of [[monotheism]] and, particularly for the Western tradition, [[Christianity]], brought to light a new space for politics and political action{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}. During the [[Middle Ages]], the study of politics was widespread in the churches and courts. Works such as [[Augustine of Hippo]]'s ''[[City of God (book)|The City of God]]'' synthesized current philosophies and political traditions with those of [[Christianity]], redefining the borders between what was religious and what was political. Most of the political questions surrounding the relationship between [[Religion and politics|Church and State]] were clarified and contested in this period.
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| In the [[Middle East]] and later other [[Islam]]ic areas, works such as the [[Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam]] and Epic of Kings by [[Ferdowsi]] provided evidence of political analysis, while the [[Islamic]] [[aristotelians]] such as [[Avicenna]] and later [[Maimonides]] and [[Averroes]], continued [[Aristotle]]'s tradition of analysis and [[empiricism]], writing commentaries on Aristotle's works.
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| During the [[Italian Renaissance]], [[Niccolò Machiavelli]] established the emphasis of modern political science on direct [[empirical]] [[observation]] of political [[institution]]s and actors. Later, the expansion of the scientific paradigm during the [[the Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] further pushed the study of politics beyond normative determinations{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}. In particular, the study of [[statistics]], to study the subjects of the [[Sovereign state|state]], has been applied to [[Opinion poll|poll]]ing and [[voting]].
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| ====Modern political science====
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| {{Main|Political science}}
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| In the 20th century, the study of ideology, behaviouralism and international relations led to a multitude of 'pol-sci' subdisciplines including [[rational choice theory]], [[voting theory]], [[game theory]] (also used in economics), [[psephology]], [[political geography]]/[[geopolitics]], [[political psychology]]/[[political sociology]], [[political economy]], [[policy analysis]], [[public administration]], comparative political analysis and [[peace studies]]/conflict analysis.
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| At the beginning of the 21st century, political scientists have increasingly deployed deductive modelling and systematic empirical verification techniques ([[quantitative methods]]) bringing their discipline closer to the scientific mainstream {{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}.
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| ====Linguistics====
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| {{Main|History of linguistics}}
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| [[Historical linguistics]] emerged as an independent field of study at the end of the 18th century. [[William Jones (philologist)|Sir William Jones]] proposed that [[Sanskrit]], [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Latin]], [[Gothic language|Gothic]], and [[Celtic languages]] all shared a common base. After Jones, an effort to catalog all languages of the world was made throughout the 19th century and into the 20th century. Publication of [[Ferdinand de Saussure]]'s ''[[Cours de linguistique générale]]'' created the development of [[descriptive linguistics]]. Descriptive linguistics, and the related [[structuralism]] movement caused linguistics to focus on how language changes over time, instead of just describing the differences between languages. [[Noam Chomsky]] further diversified linguistics with the development of [[generative linguistics]] in the 1950s. His effort is based upon a mathematical model of language that allows for the description and prediction of valid [[syntax]]. Additional specialties such as [[sociolinguistics]], [[cognitive linguistics]], and [[computational linguistics]] have emerged from collaboration between linguistics and other disciplines.
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| ====Economics====
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| {{Main|History of economics}}
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| [[File:Supply-demand-P.png|thumb|left|The [[supply and demand]] model]]
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| [[File:AdamSmith.jpg|right|thumb|upright|[[Adam Smith]] wrote ''[[The Wealth of Nations]]'', the first modern work of economics]]
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| The basis for [[classical economics]] forms [[Adam Smith]]'s ''[[The Wealth of Nations|An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations]]'', published in 1776. Smith criticized [[mercantilism]], advocating a system of free trade with [[division of labour]]. He postulated an "[[Invisible Hand]]" that regulated economic systems made up of actors guided only by self-interest. [[Karl Marx]] developed an alternative economic theory, called [[Marxian economics]]. Marxian economics is based on the [[labor theory of value]] and assumes the value of good to be based on the amount of labor required to produce it. Under this assumption, [[capitalism]] was based on employers not paying the full value of workers labor to create profit. The [[Austrian school]] responded to Marxian economics by viewing [[entrepreneurship]] as driving force of economic development. This replaced the labor theory of value by a system of [[supply and demand]].
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| In the 1920s, [[John Maynard Keynes]] prompted a division between [[microeconomics]] and [[macroeconomics]]. Under [[Keynesian economics]] macroeconomic trends can overwhelm economic choices made by individuals. Governments should promote [[aggregate demand]] for goods as a means to encourage economic expansion. Following World War II, [[Milton Friedman]] created the concept of [[monetarism]]. Monetarism focuses on using the supply and demand of money as a method for controlling economic activity. In the 1970s, monetarism has adapted into [[supply-side economics]] which advocates reducing taxes as a means to increase the amount of money available for economic expansion.
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| Other modern schools of economic thought are [[New Classical economics]] and [[New Keynesian economics]]. New Classical economics was developed in the 1970s, emphasizing solid microeconomics as the basis for macroeconomic growth. New Keynesian economics was created partially in response to New Classical economics, and deals with how inefficiencies in the market create a need for control by a central bank or government.
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| The above "history of economics" reflects modern economic textbooks and this means that the last stage of a science is represented as the culmination of its history ([[Thomas Samuel Kuhn|Kuhn]], 1962). The "[[invisible hand]]" mentioned in a lost page in the middle of a chapter in the middle of the to "[[Wealth of Nations]]", 1776, advances as Smith's central message. It is played down that this "invisible hand" acts only "frequently" and that it is "no part of his [the individual's] intentions" because competition leads to lower prices by imitating "his" invention. That this "invisible hand" prefers "the support of domestic to foreign industry" is cleansed—often without indication that part of the citation is truncated.<ref>Compare Smith's original phrase with [[Paul Samuelson|Samuelson's]] quotation of it. In brackets what Samuelson curtailed without indication and without giving a reference:
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| "[As] every individual … [therefore, endeavours as much as he can, both to employ his capital in the support of domestic industry, and so to direct that industry that its produce maybe of the greatest value; every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed,] neither intends to promote the general [Smith said "public"] interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. [By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry,] he intends only his own security, [and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only] his own gain; and he is in this, [as in many other cases,] led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. [Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it.] By pursuing his own interest, he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it" Samuelson, Paul A./Nordhaus, William D., 1989, [[Economics (textbook)|Economics]], 13th edition, N.Y. et al.: McGraw-Hill, page 825; Smith, Adam, 1937, The Wealth of Nations, N. Y.: Random House, page 423</ref> The opening passage of the "Wealth" containing Smith's message is never mentioned as it cannot be integrated into modern theory: "Wealth" depends on the division of labour which changes with market volume and on the proportion of productive to [[Unproductive labour in economic theory|unproductive labour]].
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| ====Psychology====
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| {{Main|History of psychology}}
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| The end of the 19th century marks the start of psychology as a scientific enterprise. The year 1879 is commonly seen as the start of psychology as an independent field of study. In that year [[Wilhelm Wundt]] founded the first laboratory dedicated exclusively to psychological research (in [[Leipzig]]). Other important early contributors to the field include [[Hermann Ebbinghaus]] (a pioneer in memory studies), [[Ivan Pavlov]] (who discovered [[classical conditioning]]), [[William James]], and [[Sigmund Freud]]. Freud's influence has been enormous, though more as cultural icon than a force in scientific psychology.
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| The 20th century saw a rejection of Freud's theories as being too unscientific, and a reaction against [[Edward Titchener]]'s atomistic approach of the mind. This led to the formulation of [[behaviorism]] by [[John B. Watson]], which was popularized by [[B.F. Skinner]]. Behaviorism proposed [[epistemology|epistemologically]] limiting psychological study to overt behavior, since that could be reliably measured. Scientific knowledge of the "mind" was considered too metaphysical, hence impossible to achieve.
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| The final decades of the 20th century have seen the rise of a new interdisciplinary approach to studying human psychology, known collectively as [[cognitive science]]. Cognitive science again considers the mind as a subject for investigation, using the tools of [[psychology]], [[linguistics]], [[computer science]], [[philosophy]], and [[neurobiology]]. New methods of visualizing the activity of the brain, such as [[PET scan]]s and [[CAT scan]]s, began to exert their influence as well, leading some researchers to investigate the mind by investigating the brain, rather than cognition. These new forms of investigation assume that a wide understanding of the human mind is possible, and that such an understanding may be applied to other research domains, such as [[artificial intelligence]].
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| ====Sociology====
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| {{Main|History of sociology}}
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| [[Ibn Khaldun]] can be regarded as the earliest scientific systematic sociologist.<ref>Muhammed Abdullah Enan, ''Ibn Khaldun: His Life and Works'', The Other Press, 2007, pp. 104–105. ISBN 983-9541-53-6.</ref> The modern sociology, emerged in the early 19th century as the academic response to the modernization of the world. Among many early sociologists (e.g., [[Émile Durkheim]]), the aim of sociology was in [[Structural functionalism|structuralism]], understanding the cohesion of social groups, and developing an "antidote" to social disintegration. [[Max Weber]] was concerned with the modernization of society through the concept of [[rationalization (sociology)|rationalization]], which he believed would trap individuals in an "iron cage" of rational thought. Some sociologists, including [[Georg Simmel]] and [[W. E. B. Du Bois]], utilized more [[microsociology|microsociological]], qualitative analyses. This microlevel approach played an important role in American sociology, with the theories of [[George Herbert Mead]] and his student [[Herbert Blumer]] resulting in the creation of the [[symbolic interactionism]] approach to sociology.
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| American sociology in the 1940s and 1950s was dominated largely by [[Talcott Parsons]], who argued that aspects of society that promoted structural integration were therefore "functional". This [[structural functionalism]] approach was questioned in the 1960s, when sociologists came to see this approach as merely a justification for inequalities present in the status quo. In reaction, [[conflict theory]] was developed, which was based in part on the philosophies of [[Karl Marx]]. Conflict theorists saw society as an arena in which different groups compete for control over resources. Symbolic interactionism also came to be regarded as central to sociological thinking. [[Erving Goffman]] saw social interactions as a stage performance, with individuals preparing "backstage" and attempting to control their audience through [[impression management]]. While these theories are currently prominent in sociological thought, other approaches exist, including [[feminist theory]], [[post-structuralism]], [[rational choice theory]], and [[postmodernism]].
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| ====Anthropology====
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| {{Main|History of anthropology}}
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| Anthropology can best be understood as an outgrowth of the [[Age of Enlightenment]]. It was during this period that Europeans attempted systematically to study human behaviour. Traditions of jurisprudence, history, philology and sociology developed during this time and informed the development of the social sciences of which anthropology was a part.
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| At the same time, the romantic reaction to the Enlightenment produced thinkers such as [[Johann Gottfried Herder]] and later [[Wilhelm Dilthey]] whose work formed the basis for the [[culture]] concept which is central to the discipline. Traditionally, much of the history of the subject was based on [[Colonialism|colonial]] encounters between Western Europe and the rest of the world, and much of 18th- and 19th-century anthropology is now classed as forms of [[scientific racism]].
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| During the late 19th-century, battles over the "study of man" took place between those of an "anthropological" persuasion (relying on [[anthropometry|anthropometrical]] techniques) and those of an "[[ethnology|ethnological]]" persuasion (looking at cultures and traditions), and these distinctions became part of the later divide between [[physical anthropology]] and [[cultural anthropology]], the latter ushered in by the students of [[Franz Boas]].
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| In the mid-20th century, much of the methodologies of earlier anthropological and ethnographical study were reevaluated with an eye towards research ethics, while at the same time the scope of investigation has broadened far beyond the traditional study of "primitive cultures" (scientific practice itself is often an arena of anthropological study).
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| The emergence of [[paleoanthropology]], a scientific discipline which draws on the [[methodology|methodologies]] of [[paleontology]], [[physical anthropology]] and [[ethology]], among other disciplines, and increasing in scope and momentum from the mid-20th century, continues to yield further insights into human origins, evolution, genetic and cultural heritage, and perspectives on the contemporary human predicament as well.
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| ===Emerging disciplines===
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| During the 20th century, a number of interdisciplinary scientific fields have emerged. These examples include:
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| [[Communication studies]] combines [[animal communication]], [[information theory]], [[marketing]], [[public relations]], [[telecommunication]]s and other forms of communication.
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| [[Computer science]], built upon a foundation of [[theoretical linguistics]], [[discrete mathematics]], and [[electrical engineering]], studies the nature and limits of computation. Subfields include [[Computability theory (computer science)|computability]], [[Computational complexity theory|computational complexity]], [[database]] design, [[computer networking]], [[artificial intelligence]], and the design of [[computer hardware]]. One area in which advances in computing have contributed to more general scientific development is by facilitating large-scale [[Scientific data archiving|archiving of scientific data]]. Contemporary computer science typically distinguishes
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| itself by emphasising mathematical 'theory' in contrast to the practical emphasis of [[software engineering]].
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| [[Environmental science]] is an interdisciplinary field. It draws upon the disciplines of biology, chemistry, [[earth sciences]], ecology, geography, mathematics, and physics.
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| [[Materials science]] has its roots in [[metallurgy]], [[mineralogy]], and [[crystallography]]. It combines chemistry, physics, and several engineering disciplines. The field studies metals, [[ceramic]]s, [[glass]], plastics, [[semiconductor]]s, and [[composite material]]s.
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| ==Academic study==
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| {{Main|History of science and technology}}
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| As an academic field, '''[[History of science and technology|history of science]]''' began with the publication of [[William Whewell]]'s ''History of the Inductive Sciences'' (first published in 1837). A more formal study of the history of science as an independent discipline was launched by [[George Sarton]]'s publications, ''Introduction to the History of Science'' (1927) and the [[Isis (journal)|''Isis'' journal]] (founded in 1912). Sarton exemplified the early 20th-century view of the history of science as the history of great men and great ideas. He shared with many of his contemporaries a [[Whig history#In the history of science|Whiggish]] belief in history as a record of the advances and delays in the march of progress. The history of science was not a recognized subfield of American history in this period, and most of the work was carried out by interested scientists and physicians rather than professional historians.<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1017/S0007087400023268 | last1 = Reingold | first1 = Nathan | author-separator =, | author-name-separator= | year = 1986 | title = History of Science Today, 1. Uniformity as Hidden Diversity: History of Science in the United States, 1920-1940 | url = | journal = British Journal for the History of Science | volume = 19 | issue = 3| pages = 243–262 | ref = harv }}</ref> With the work of [[I. Bernard Cohen]] at Harvard, the history of science became an established subdiscipline of history after 1945.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Dauben | first1 = Joseph W. | author-separator =, | author-name-separator= | last2 = Gleason | first2 = ML| year = 2009 | last3 = Smith | first3 = GE | title = Seven Decades of History of Science | url = | journal = ISIS: Journal of the History of Science in Society | volume = 100 | issue = 1| pages = 4–35 | pmid = 19554868 | doi = 10.1086/597575 | ref = harv }}</ref>
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| The [[history of mathematics]], [[history of technology]], and [[history of philosophy]] are distinct areas of research and are covered in other articles. Mathematics is closely related to but distinct from natural science (at least in the modern conception). Technology is likewise closely related to but clearly differs from the search for empirical truth.
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| History of science is an academic discipline, with an international community of specialists. Main professional organizations for this field include the [[History of Science Society]], the [[British Society for the History of Science]], and the [[European Society for the History of Science]].
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| ===Theories and sociology of the history of science===
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| {{Main|Theories and sociology of the history of science}}
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| Much of the study of the history of science has been devoted to answering questions about what science ''is'', how it ''functions'', and whether it exhibits large-scale patterns and trends.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://books.google.com/?id=Dp1f03arcbYC&pg=PR11&dq=What+is+science | title=What is this thing called science? | isbn=978-0-87220-452-2 | year=1999 | publisher=Hackett Pub.}}</ref> The [[sociology of science]] in particular has focused on the ways in which scientists work, looking closely at the ways in which they "produce" and "construct" scientific knowledge. Since the 1960s, a common trend in [[science studies]] (the study of the sociology and history of science) has been to emphasize the "human component" of scientific knowledge, and to de-emphasize the view that scientific data are self-evident, value-free, and context-free.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://books.google.com/?id=I_3i18x5BqcC&pg=PR9&dq=sociology+of+science |title=The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations |first1=Robert |last1=King Merton |isbn=978-0-226-52092-6 |year=1979 |publisher=University of Chicago Press}}</ref> The field of [[Science and Technology Studies]], an area that overlaps and often informs historical studies of science, focuses on the social context of science in both contemporary and historical periods.
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| A major subject of concern and controversy in the [[philosophy of science]] has been the nature of ''theory change'' in science. [[Karl Popper]] argued that scientific knowledge is progressive and cumulative; [[Thomas Kuhn]], that scientific knowledge moves through "[[paradigm shift]]s" and is not necessarily progressive; and [[Paul Feyerabend]], that scientific knowledge is not cumulative or progressive and that there can be no [[demarcation problem|demarcation]] in terms of method between science and any other form of investigation.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://books.google.com/?id=qnwzRqh5jFMC&pg=RA1-PR11&dq=philosophy+of+science |title=Science Teaching: The Role of History and Philosophy of Science | first1= Michael Robert |last1=Matthews |isbn=978-0-415-90899-3 |year=1994 |publisher=Routledge}}</ref>
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| Since the publication of Kuhn's ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' in 1962,<ref>{{cite book | url=http://books.google.com/?id=iT1v31LUz54C&dq=The+Structure+of+Scientific+Revolutions&cd=1 | title=Foundations of the unity of science: toward an international encyclopedia of unified science | isbn=978-0-226-57588-9 | year=1971 | publisher=University of Chicago Press}}</ref> historians, sociologists, and philosophers of science have debated the meaning and objectivity of science.
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| ==See also==
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| {{Col-begin}}
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| {{Col-2}}
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| * [[History]]
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| ** [[2000s in science and technology]]
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| ** [[History of mathematics]]
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| ** [[History of physics]]
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| ** [[History of philosophy]]
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| ** [[History of science and technology]]
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| ** [[History of science and technology in China]]
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| ** [[History of technology]]
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| ** [[Science and technology in Canada]]
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| ** [[Science and technology in India]]
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| ** [[Women in science]]
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| ** [[Timeline of science and technology in the Islamic world]]
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| ** [[History of science policy]]
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| *[[History and Philosophy of Science]]
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| * [[List of discoveries]]
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| * [[List of famous experiments]]
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| * [[List of Nobel laureates]]
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| * [[:Category:Scientific societies|List of scientists]]
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| * [[List of years in science]]
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| * [[Multiple discovery]]
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| * [[Philosophy of history]]
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| {{Col-2}}
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| * [[Science]]
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| ** [[Fields of science]]
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| *** [[Behavioural sciences]]
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| *** [[Natural science]]s
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| **** [[Natural Sciences Tripos]] University of Cambridge, UK
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| *** [[Social science]]s
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| ** [[History of technology]]
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| *[[History of scholarship]]
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| ** [[Philosophy of science]]
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| *** [[Imre Lakatos]]
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| *** [[Naïve empiricism]]
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| ** [[Science studies]]
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| * [[Theories and sociology of the history of science]]
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| * [[List of timelines#Science|Timelines of science]]
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| ** [[Timeline of scientific discoveries]]
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| ** [[Timeline of scientific experiments]]
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| ** [[Timeline of scientific thought]]
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| ** [[Timeline of the history of scientific method]]
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| ** [[List of multiple discoveries]]
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| {{Col-end}}
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| :{{Portal|History of science|Science}}
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| ==Notes==
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| {{Reflist|2}}
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| | |
| ==Further reading==
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| * Agar, Jon (2012) ''Science in the Twentieth Century and Beyond'' (Polity Press, Cambridge, 2012. ISBN 978-0-7456-3469-2.)
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| * [[Joseph Agassi|Agassi, Joseph]] (2007) ''Science and Its History: A Reassessment of the Historiography of Science'' (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 253) Springer. ISBN 1-4020-5631-1, 2008.
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| * {{cite book|author=Boorstin, Daniel|title=The Discoverers : A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself |year=1983|publisher=Random House|location=New York|isbn=0-394-40229-4|authorlink=Daniel J. Boorstin|oclc=9645583}}
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| * Bowler, Peter J. ''The Norton History of the Environmental Sciences'' (1993)
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| * Brock, W. H. '' The Norton History of Chemistry'' (1993)
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| * [[Bronowski|Bronowski, J.]] ''The Common Sense of Science'' (Heinemann Educational Books Ltd., London, 1951. ISBN 84-297-1380-8.) (Includes a description of the history of science in England.)
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| * {{Cite book|first=Leonard C. |last=Bruno|authorlink=Leonard C. Bruno |year=1989| title=The Landmarks of Science| isbn=0-8160-2137-6|ref=harv|postscript=<!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->{{inconsistent citations}}}}
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| * Byers, Nina and Gary Williams, ed. (2006) ''Out of the Shadows: Contributions of Twentieth-Century Women to Physics'', [http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521821971 Cambridge University Press] ISBN 978-0-521-82197-1
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| *{{Cite book| year=2003|last=Heilbron| first= John L., ed.|location=New York| publisher=Oxford University Press|title=The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science| isbn= 0-19-511229-6| ref=harv| postscript=<!--None-->}}
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| * Herzenberg, Caroline L. 1986. ''Women Scientists from Antiquity to the Present'' Locust Hill Press ISBN 0-933951-01-9
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| * {{cite book|first=Thomas S. |last=Kuhn| authorlink=Thomas S. Kuhn |year=1996|title=The Structure of Scientific Revolutions| publisher=University of Chicago Press| isbn=0-226-45807-5}} (3rd ed.)
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| * [[Deepak Kumar (historian)|Kumar, Deepak]] (2006). ''Science and the Raj: A Study of British India'', 2nd edition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-568003-0
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| * [[Imre Lakatos|Lakatos, Imre]] ''History of Science and its Rational Reconstructions'' published in ''The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes: Philosophical Papers Volume 1''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1978
| |
| * Levere, Trevor Harvey. ''Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to the Buckyball'' (2001)
| |
| * {{cite book | editor1-last = Lindberg | editor1-first = David C. | editor1-link = David C. Lindberg | editor2-last = Shank | editor2-first = Michael H. | editor2-link = | title = The Cambridge History of Science | publisher = Cambridge University Press | volume = 2, Medieval Science | date = 2013 | isbn = 978-0-521-59448-6 | url = http://universitypublishingonline.org/cambridge/histories/ebook.jsf?bid=CHO9780511974007}}
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| * Margolis, Howard (2002). ''It Started with Copernicus''. New York: [[McGraw-Hill]]. ISBN 0-07-138507-X
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| * Mayr, Ernst. ''The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance'' (1985)
| |
| * [[Joseph Needham|Needham, Joseph]]. ''Science and Civilisation in China''. Multiple volumes (1954–2004).
| |
| **{{Cite journal| year=1954 | last1=Needham |first1=Joseph| last2=Wang |first2=Ling (王玲)|author1-link=Joseph Needham|author2-link=Wang Ling (historian)|title=[[Science and Civilisation in China]]|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=1 ''Introductory Orientations''|ref=harv| postscript=<!--None-->}}
| |
| **{{Cite journal| year=2004 | last1=Needham |first1=Joseph| last2=Robinson|first2=Kenneth G.| last3=Huang|first3=Jen-Yü|author1-link=Joseph Needham|title=[[Science and Civilisation in China]]|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=7, part II ''General Conclusions and Reflections''|ref=harv| postscript=<!--None-->}}
| |
| * North, John. ''The Norton History of Astronomy and Cosmology'' (1995)
| |
| * Nye, Mary Jo, ed. ''The Cambridge History of Science, Volume 5: The Modern Physical and Mathematical Sciences'' (2002)
| |
| * Park, Katharine, and Lorraine Daston, eds. ''The Cambridge History of Science, Volume 3: Early Modern Science'' (2006)
| |
| * Porter, Roy, ed. '' The Cambridge History of Science, Volume 4: The Eighteenth Century'' (2003)
| |
| * [[George Rousseau|Rousseau, George]] and [[Roy Porter]], eds., ''The Ferment of Knowledge: Studies in the Historiography of Science'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980). ISBN 0-521-22599-X
| |
| * {{Cite book|last=Sambursky|first=Shmuel|year=1974|title=Physical Thought from the Presocratics to the Quantum Physicists: an anthology selected, introduced and edited by Shmuel Sambursky|location=New York |publisher=Pica Press| pages=584 |isbn=0-87663-712-8|ref=harv|postscript=<!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->{{inconsistent citations}}}}
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| Indian Ancient Sciences : Archaeology Based, ISBN -978-3-8383-9027-7, Lap Lambert-Germany.
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| | |
| ===Documentaries===
| |
| | |
| * [[BBC]]. ''[[Atom]]''.
| |
| * [[BBC]]. ''[[The Brain: A Secret History]]''.
| |
| * [[BBC]]. ''[[Chemistry: A Volatile History]]''.
| |
| * [[BBC]]. ''[[Genius of Britain]]''.
| |
| * [[BBC]]. ''[[Science and Islam]]''.
| |
| * [[BBC]]. ''[[Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity]]''.
| |
| * [[BBC]]. ''[[The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion]]''.
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| | |
| ==External links==
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| {{Commons|History of science|History of science}}
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| * [http://www.aihs-iahs.org/ The official website of the International Academy of the History of Science]
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| * [http://www.dhstweb.org/ The official website of the Division of History of Science and Technology of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science]
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| * [http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/catalogs/bysubject-sci-history.html A History of Science, Vols 1–4], online text
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| * [http://www.hssonline.org/ History of Science Society ("HSS")]
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| * {{fr icon}} [http://www.crhst.cnrs.fr The CNRS History of Science and Technology Research Center] in Paris (France)
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| * [http://nobelprize.org/ The official site of the Nobel Foundation]. Features biographies and info on Nobel laureates
| |
| * [http://www.imss.fi.it/ The Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence, Italy]
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| * [http://trailblazing.royalsociety.org The Royal Society, trailblazing science from 1650 to date]
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| * [http://www.vega.org.uk/ The Vega Science Trust] Free to view videos of scientists including Feynman, Perutz, Rotblat, Born and many Nobel Laureates.
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| *[https://www.archives.ucar.edu/ National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Archives]
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| {{philosophy of science}}
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| {{Science and technology studies}}
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| {{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Science}}
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| [[Category:Articles with inconsistent citation formats]]
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| [[Category:History of science| ]]
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| [[Category:Science studies]]
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| [[Category:Science]]
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