Chemistry is often calledthe central science because of its role in connecting thephysical sciences,[1] which include chemistry, with thelife sciences, pharmaceutical sciences andapplied sciences such asmedicine andengineering. The nature of this relationship is one of the main topics in thephilosophy of chemistry and inscientometrics. The phrase was popularized by its use in a textbook byTheodore L. Brown and H. Eugene LeMay, titledChemistry: The Central Science, which was first published in 1977, with a fifteenth edition published in 2021.[2]
The central role of chemistry can be seen in the systematic andhierarchical classification of the sciences byAuguste Comte. Each discipline provides a more general framework for the area it precedes (mathematics →astronomy →physics → chemistry →biology →social sciences).[3] Balaban and Klein have more recently proposed a diagram showing the partial ordering of sciences in which chemistry may be argued is "the central science" since it provides a significant degree of branching.[4] In forming these connections the lower fieldcannot be fully reduced to the higher ones. It is recognized that the lower fields possessemergent ideas and concepts that do not exist in the higher fields of science.
Thus chemistry is built on an understanding of laws of physics that govern particles such asatoms,protons,neutrons,electrons,thermodynamics, etc. although it has been shown that it has not been "fully 'reduced' toquantum mechanics".[5][6] Concepts such as theperiodicity of the elements andchemical bonds in chemistry are emergent in that they are more than the underlying forces defined byphysics.
In the same way, biology cannot be fully reduced to chemistry, although the machinery that is responsible for life is composed ofmolecules.[7] For instance, the machinery ofevolution may be described in terms of chemistry by the understanding that it is amutation in the order ofgeneticbase pairs in theDNA of an organism. However, chemistry cannot fully describe the process since it does not contain concepts such asnatural selection that are responsible for driving evolution. Chemistry is fundamental to biology since it provides a methodology for studying and understanding the molecules that compose cells.
Connections made by chemistry are formed through various sub-disciplines that utilize concepts from multiple scientific disciplines. Chemistry and physics are both needed in the areas ofphysical chemistry,nuclear chemistry, andtheoretical chemistry. Chemistry and biology intersect in the areas ofbiochemistry,medicinal chemistry,molecular biology,chemical biology,molecular genetics, andimmunochemistry. Chemistry and the earth sciences intersect in areas likegeochemistry andhydrology.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Branches ofchemistry | |
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| Analytical | |
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| Physical | |
| Inorganic | |
| Organic | |
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| Interdisciplinarity | |
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