Natural science can be divided into two main branches:life science andphysical science. Life science is alternatively known asbiology. Physical science is subdivided into branches:physics,astronomy,Earth science andchemistry. These branches of natural science may be further divided into more specialized branches (also known as fields). As empirical sciences, natural sciences use tools from theformal sciences, such asmathematics andlogic, converting information about nature into measurements that can be explained as clear statements of the "laws of nature".[2]
Modern natural science succeeded more classical approaches tonatural philosophy.Galileo,Kepler,Descartes,Bacon, andNewton debated the benefits of using approaches which were moremathematical and more experimental in a methodical way. Still, philosophical perspectives,conjectures, andpresuppositions, often overlooked, remain necessary in natural science.[3] Systematic data collection, includingdiscovery science, succeedednatural history, which emerged in the 16th century by describing and classifying plants, animals, minerals, and so on.[4] Today, "natural history" suggests observational descriptions aimed at popular audiences.[5]
Philosophers of science have suggested several criteria, includingKarl Popper's controversialfalsifiability criterion, to help them differentiate scientific endeavors from non-scientific ones.Validity,accuracy, andquality control, such aspeer review andreproducibility of findings, are amongst the most respected criteria in today's global scientific community.
In natural science,impossibility assertions come to be widely accepted as overwhelmingly probable rather than considered proven to the point of being unchallengeable. The basis for this strong acceptance is a combination of extensive evidence of something not occurring, combined with an underlying theory, very successful in making predictions, whose assumptions lead logically to the conclusion that something is impossible. While an impossibility assertion in natural science can never be proved, it could be refuted by the observation of a single counterexample. Such a counterexample would require that the assumptions underlying the theory that implied the impossibility be re-examined.
Onion (Allium) cells in different phases of the cell cycle. Growth in an 'organism' is carefully controlled by regulating the cell cycle.
This field encompasses a diverse set of disciplines that examine phenomena related to living organisms. The scale of study can range from sub-componentbiophysics up to complexecologies. Biology is concerned with the characteristics,classification andbehaviors oforganisms, as well as howspecies were formed and their interactions with each other and theenvironment.
The biological fields ofbotany,zoology, andmedicine date back to early periods of civilization, whilemicrobiology was introduced in the 17th century with the invention of the microscope. However, it was not until the 19th century that biology became a unified science. Once scientists discovered commonalities between all living things, it was decided they were best studied as a whole.
Modern biology is divided into subdisciplines by the type of organism and by the scale being studied.Molecular biology is the study of the fundamental chemistry of life, whilecellular biology is the examination of the cell; the basic building block of all life. At a higher level,anatomy andphysiology look at the internal structures, and their functions, of an organism, whileecology looks at how various organisms interrelate.
Althoughmining andprecious stones have been human interests throughout the history of civilization, the development of the related sciences ofeconomic geology andmineralogy did not occur until the 18th century. The study of the earth, particularlypaleontology, blossomed in the 19th century. The growth of other disciplines, such asgeophysics, in the 20th century led to the development of the theory ofplate tectonics in the 1960s, which has had a similar effect on the Earth sciences as the theory of evolution had on biology. Earth sciences today are closely linked topetroleum andmineral resources,climate research, and toenvironmental assessment andremediation.
Although sometimes considered in conjunction with the earth sciences, due to the independent development of its concepts, techniques, and practices and also the fact of it having a wide range of sub-disciplines under its wing,atmospheric science is also considered a separate branch of natural science. This field studies the characteristics of different layers of the atmosphere from ground level to the edge of the space. The timescale of the study also varies from day to century. Sometimes, the field also includes the study of climatic patterns on planets other than Earth.[6]
The serious study of oceans began in the early- to mid-20th century. As a field of natural science, it is relatively young, but stand-alone programs offer specializations in the subject. Though some controversies remain as to the categorization of the field under earth sciences, interdisciplinary sciences, or as a separate field in its own right, most modern workers in the field agree that it has matured to a state that it has its own paradigms and practices.
Planetary science comprises interconnected observational and theoretical branches. Observational research entails a combination ofspace exploration, primarily through robotic spacecraft missions utilizingremote sensing, and comparative experimental work conducted in Earth-based laboratories. The theoretical aspect involves extensivemathematical modelling andcomputer simulation.
Typically, planetary scientists are situated within astronomy and physics or Earth sciences departments in universities or research centers. However, there are also dedicated planetary science institutes worldwide. Generally, individuals pursuing a career in planetary science undergo graduate-level studies in one of the Earth sciences, astronomy, astrophysics, geophysics, or physics. They then focus their research within the discipline of planetary science. Major conferences are held annually, and numerouspeer reviewed journals cater to the diverse research interests in planetary science. Some planetary scientists are employed by private research centers and frequently engage in collaborative research initiatives.
Thisstructural formula for moleculecaffeine shows a graphical representation of how the atoms are arranged.
Constituting the scientific study of matter at theatomic andmolecular scale, chemistry deals primarily with collections of atoms, such asgases, molecules,crystals, andmetals. The composition, statistical properties, transformations, and reactions of these materials are studied. Chemistry also involves understanding the properties and interactions of individual atoms and molecules for use in larger-scale applications.
Most chemical processes can be studied directly in a laboratory, using a series of (often well-tested) techniques for manipulating materials, as well as an understanding of the underlying processes. Chemistry is often called "the central science" because of its role in connecting the other natural sciences.
Early experiments in chemistry had their roots in the system ofalchemy, a set of beliefs combining mysticism with physical experiments. The science of chemistry began to develop with the work ofRobert Boyle, the discoverer ofgases, andAntoine Lavoisier, who developed the theory of theconservation of mass.
Physics embodies the study of the fundamental constituents of theuniverse, theforces and interactions they exert on one another, and the results produced by these interactions. Physics is generally regarded as foundational because all other natural sciences use and obey the field's principles and laws. Physics relies heavily onmathematics as the logical framework for formulating and quantifying principles.
The study of the principles of the universe has a long history and largely derives from direct observation and experimentation. The formulation of theories about the governing laws of the universe has been central to the study of physics from very early on, withphilosophy gradually yielding to systematic, quantitative experimental testing and observation as the source of verification. Key historical developments in physics includeIsaac Newton'stheory of universal gravitation andclassical mechanics, an understanding ofelectricity and its relation tomagnetism,Einstein's theories ofspecial andgeneral relativity, the development ofthermodynamics, and thequantum mechanical model of atomic and subatomic physics.
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and comets. Astronomy is the study of everything in the universe beyond Earth's atmosphere, including objects we can see with our naked eyes. It is one of the oldest sciences.
Astronomers of early civilizations performed methodical observations of the night sky, and astronomical artifacts have been found from much earlier periods. There are two types of astronomy: observational astronomy and theoretical astronomy. Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring and analyzing data, mainly using basic principles of physics. In contrast, Theoretical astronomy is oriented towards developing computer or analytical models to describe astronomical objects and phenomena.
Astronomy includes examining, studying, and modeling stars, planets, and comets. Most of the information used by astronomers is gathered by remote observation. However, some laboratory reproduction of celestial phenomena has been performed (such as the molecular chemistry of theinterstellar medium). There is considerable overlap withphysics and in some areas ofearth science. There are also interdisciplinary fields such asastrophysics,planetary sciences, andcosmology, along with allied disciplines such asspace physics andastrochemistry.
While the study of celestial features and phenomena can be traced back to antiquity, the scientific methodology of this field began to develop in the middle of the 17th century. A key factor wasGalileo's introduction of the telescope to examine the night sky in more detail.
The mathematical treatment of astronomy began withNewton's development ofcelestial mechanics and the laws ofgravitation. However, it was triggered by earlier work of astronomers such asKepler. By the 19th century, astronomy had developed into formal science, with the introduction of instruments such as thespectroscope andphotography, along with much-improved telescopes and the creation of professional observatories.
A particular example of a scientific discipline that draws upon multiple natural sciences isenvironmental science. This field studies the interactions of physical, chemical, geological, andbiological components of theenvironment, with particular regard to the effect of human activities and the impact onbiodiversity andsustainability. This science also draws upon expertise from other fields, such as economics, law, and social sciences.
A comparable discipline isoceanography, as it draws upon a similar breadth of scientific disciplines. Oceanography is sub-categorized into more specialized cross-disciplines, such asphysical oceanography andmarine biology. As themarine ecosystem is vast and diverse, marine biology is further divided into many subfields, including specializations in particularspecies.
There is also a subset of cross-disciplinary fields with strong currents that run counter to specialization by the nature of the problems they address. Put another way: In some fields of integrative application, specialists in more than one field are a key part of most scientific discourse. Such integrative fields, for example, includenanoscience,astrobiology, andcomplex systeminformatics.
The materials paradigm represented as a tetrahedron
Materials science is a relatively new, interdisciplinary field that deals with the study ofmatter and its properties and the discovery and design of new materials. Originally developed through the field ofmetallurgy, the study of the properties of materials and solids has now expanded into all materials. The field covers the chemistry, physics, and engineering applications of materials, including metals, ceramics, artificial polymers, and many others. The field's core deals with relating the structure of materials with their properties.
Materials science is at the forefront of research in science and engineering. It is an essential part offorensic engineering (the investigation of materials, products, structures, or components that fail or do not operate or function as intended, causing personal injury or damage to property) andfailure analysis, the latter being the key to understanding, for example, the cause of various aviation accidents. Many of the most pressing scientific problems that are faced today are due to the limitations of the materials that are available, and, as a result, breakthroughs in this field are likely to have a significant impact on the future of technology.
The basis of materials science involves studying the structure of materials and relating them to theirproperties. Understanding this structure-property correlation, material scientists can then go on to study the relative performance of a material in a particular application. The major determinants of the structure of a material and, thus, of its properties are its constituent chemical elements and how it has been processed into its final form. These characteristics, taken together and related through the laws ofthermodynamics andkinetics, govern a material'smicrostructure and thus its properties.
Some scholars trace the origins of natural science as far back as pre-literate human societies, where understanding the natural world was necessary for survival.[7] People observed and built up knowledge about the behavior of animals and the usefulness of plants as food and medicine, which was passed down from generation to generation.[7] These primitive understandings gave way to more formalized inquiry around 3500 to 3000 BC in theMesopotamian andAncient Egyptian cultures, which produced the first known written evidence ofnatural philosophy, the precursor of natural science.[8] While the writings show an interest in astronomy, mathematics, and other aspects of the physical world, the ultimate aim of inquiry about nature's workings was, in all cases, religious or mythological, not scientific.[9]
A tradition of scientific inquiry also emerged inAncient China, whereTaoistalchemists and philosophers experimented with elixirs toextend life and cure ailments.[10] They focused on theyin and yang, or contrasting elements in nature; the yin was associated with femininity and coldness, while yang was associated with masculinity and warmth.[11] The five phases – fire, earth, metal, wood, and water – described a cycle of transformations in nature. The water turned into wood, which turned into the fire when it burned. The ashes left by fire were earth.[12] Using these principles, Chinese philosophers and doctors explored human anatomy, characterizing organs as predominantly yin or yang, and understood the relationship between the pulse, the heart, and the flow of blood in the body centuries before it became accepted in the West.[13]
Little evidence survives of howAncient Indian cultures around theIndus River understood nature, but some of their perspectives may be reflected in theVedas, a set of sacredHindu texts.[13] They reveal a conception of the universe as ever-expanding and constantly being recycled and reformed.[13] Surgeons in theAyurvedic tradition saw health and illness as a combination of three humors:wind,bile andphlegm.[13] A healthy life resulted from a balance among these humors.[13] In Ayurvedic thought, the body consisted of five elements: earth, water, fire, wind, and space.[13] Ayurvedic surgeons performed complex surgeries and developed a detailed understanding of human anatomy.[13]
Pre-Socratic philosophers inAncient Greek culture brought natural philosophy a step closer to direct inquiry about cause and effect in nature between 600 and 400 BC. However, an element of magic and mythology remained.[14] Natural phenomena such as earthquakes and eclipses were explained increasingly in the context of nature itself instead of being attributed to angry gods.[14]Thales of Miletus, an early philosopher who lived from 625 to 546 BC, explained earthquakes by theorizing that the world floated on water and that water was the fundamental element in nature.[15] In the 5th century BC,Leucippus was an early exponent ofatomism, the idea that the world is made up of fundamental indivisible particles.[16]Pythagoras applied Greek innovations in mathematics to astronomy and suggested that the earth wasspherical.[16]
Aristotle's view of inheritance, as a model of the transmission of patterns of movement of the body fluids from parents to child, and ofAristotelian form from the father
LaterSocratic andPlatonic thought focused on ethics, morals, and art and did not attempt an investigation of the physical world; Plato criticized pre-Socratic thinkers as materialists and anti-religionists.[17]Aristotle, however, a student of Plato who lived from 384 to 322 BC, paid closer attention to the natural world in his philosophy.[18] In hisHistory of Animals, he described the inner workings of 110 species, including thestingray,catfish andbee.[19] He investigated chick embryos by breaking open eggs and observing them at various stages of development.[20] Aristotle's works were influential through the 16th century, and he is considered to be thefather of biology for his pioneering work in that science.[21] He also presented philosophies about physics, nature, and astronomy usinginductive reasoning in his worksPhysics andMeteorology.[22]
Plato (left) and Aristotle ina 1509 painting byRaphael. Plato rejected inquiry into natural philosophy as against religion, while his student, Aristotle, created a body of work on the natural world that influenced generations of scholars.
While Aristotle considered natural philosophy more seriously than his predecessors, he approached it as a theoretical branch of science.[23] Still, inspired by his work,Ancient Roman philosophers of the early 1st century AD, includingLucretius,Seneca andPliny the Elder, wrote treatises that dealt with the rules of the natural world in varying degrees of depth.[24] ManyAncient RomanNeoplatonists of the 3rd to the 6th centuries also adapted Aristotle's teachings on the physical world to a philosophy that emphasized spiritualism.[25] Earlymedieval philosophers includingMacrobius,Calcidius andMartianus Capella also examined the physical world, largely from a cosmological andcosmographical perspective, putting forth theories on the arrangement of celestial bodies and the heavens, which were posited as being composed ofaether.[26]
In the Byzantine Empire,John Philoponus, an Alexandrian Aristotelian commentator and Christian theologian, was the first to question Aristotle's physics teaching. Unlike Aristotle, who based his physics on verbal argument, Philoponus instead relied on observation and argued for observation rather than resorting to a verbal argument.[28] He introduced thetheory of impetus. John Philoponus' criticism of Aristotelian principles of physics served as inspiration for Galileo Galilei during theScientific Revolution.[29][30]
A revival in mathematics and science took place during the time of theAbbasid Caliphate from the 9th century onward, when Muslim scholars expanded upon Greek andIndian natural philosophy.[31] The wordsalcohol,algebra andzenith all haveArabic roots.[32]
Aristotle's works and other Greek natural philosophy did not reach the West until about the middle of the 12th century, when works were translated fromGreek and Arabic intoLatin.[33] The development of European civilization later in the Middle Ages brought with it further advances in natural philosophy.[34] European inventions such as thehorseshoe,horse collar andcrop rotation allowed for rapid population growth, eventually giving way to urbanization and the foundation of schools connected to monasteries and cathedrals in modern-dayFrance andEngland.[35] Aided by the schools, an approach to Christiantheology developed that sought to answer questions about nature and other subjects using logic.[36] This approach, however, was seen by some detractors asheresy.[36]
By the 12th century, Western European scholars and philosophers came into contact with a body of knowledge of which they had previously been ignorant: a large corpus of works in Greek and Arabic that were preserved by Islamic scholars.[37] Through translation into Latin, Western Europe was introduced to Aristotle and his natural philosophy.[37] These works were taught at new universities inParis andOxford by the early 13th century, although the practice was frowned upon by the Catholic church.[38] A 1210 decree from theSynod of Paris ordered that "no lectures are to be held in Paris either publicly or privately using Aristotle's books on natural philosophy or the commentaries, and we forbid all this under pain of ex-communication."[38]
In the late Middle Ages,Spanish philosopherDominicus Gundissalinus translated a treatise by the earlier Persian scholarAl-Farabi calledOn the Sciences into Latin, calling the study of the mechanics of natureScientia naturalis, or natural science.[39] Gundissalinus also proposed his classification of the natural sciences in his 1150 workOn the Division of Philosophy.[39] This was the first detailed classification of the sciences based on Greek and Arab philosophy to reach Western Europe.[39] Gundissalinus defined natural science as "the science considering only things unabstracted and with motion," as opposed to mathematics and sciences that rely on mathematics.[40] Following Al-Farabi, he separated the sciences into eight parts, including: physics, cosmology, meteorology, minerals science, and plant and animal science.[40]
Later, philosophers made their own classifications of the natural sciences.Robert Kilwardby wroteOn the Order of the Sciences in the 13th century that classed medicine as a mechanical science, along with agriculture, hunting, and theater, while defining natural science as the science that deals with bodies in motion.[41]Roger Bacon, an English friar and philosopher, wrote that natural science dealt with "a principle of motion and rest, as in the parts of the elements of fire, air, earth, and water, and in all inanimate things made from them."[42] These sciences also covered plants, animals and celestial bodies.[42]
Later in the 13th century, a Catholic priest and theologianThomas Aquinas defined natural science as dealing with "mobile beings" and "things which depend on a matter not only for their existence but also for their definition."[43] There was broad agreement among scholars in medieval times that natural science was about bodies in motion. However, there was division about including fields such as medicine, music, and perspective.[44] Philosophers pondered questions including the existence of a vacuum, whether motion could produce heat, the colors of rainbows, the motion of the earth, whether elemental chemicals exist, and where in the atmosphere rain is formed.[45]
In the centuries up through the end of the Middle Ages, natural science was often mingled with philosophies about magic and the occult.[46] Natural philosophy appeared in various forms, from treatises to encyclopedias to commentaries on Aristotle.[47] The interaction between natural philosophy andChristianity was complex during this period; some early theologians, includingTatian andEusebius, considered natural philosophy an outcropping of pagan Greek science and were suspicious of it.[48] Although some later Christian philosophers, including Aquinas, came to see natural science as a means of interpreting scripture, this suspicion persisted until the 12th and 13th centuries.[49] TheCondemnation of 1277, which forbade setting philosophy on a level equal with theology and the debate of religious constructs in a scientific context, showed the persistence with which Catholic leaders resisted the development of natural philosophy even from a theological perspective.[50] Aquinas andAlbertus Magnus, another Catholic theologian of the era, sought to distance theology from science in their works.[51] "I don't see what one's interpretation of Aristotle has to do with the teaching of the faith," he wrote in 1271.[52]
By the 16th and 17th centuries, natural philosophy evolved beyond commentary on Aristotle as more early Greek philosophy was uncovered and translated.[53] The invention of the printing press in the 15th century, the invention of the microscope and telescope, and theProtestant Reformation fundamentally altered the social context in which scientific inquiry evolved in the West.[53]Christopher Columbus's discovery of a new world changed perceptions about the physical makeup of the world, while observations byCopernicus,Tyco Brahe andGalileo brought a more accurate picture of the solar system asheliocentric and proved many of Aristotle's theories about the heavenly bodies false.[54] Several 17th-century philosophers, includingRené Descartes,Pierre Gassendi,Marin Mersenne,Nicolas Malebranche,Thomas Hobbes,John Locke andFrancis Bacon, made a break from the past by rejecting Aristotle and his medieval followers outright, calling their approach to natural philosophy superficial.[55]
Johannes Kepler (1571–1630). Kepler'sAstronomia Nova is "the first published account wherein a scientist documents how he has coped with the multitude of imperfect data to forge a theory of surpassing accuracy", therefore laying the groundwork for the scientific method.[56]
The titles of Galileo's workTwo New Sciences andJohannes Kepler'sNew Astronomy underscored the atmosphere of change that took hold in the 17th century as Aristotle was dismissed in favor of novel methods of inquiry into the natural world.[57] Bacon was instrumental in popularizing this change; he argued that people should use thearts and sciences to gain dominion over nature.[58] To achieve this, he wrote that "human life [must] be endowed with discoveries and powers."[59] He defined natural philosophy as "the knowledge of Causes and secret motions of things; and enlarging the bounds of Human Empire, to the effecting of all things possible."[57] Bacon proposed that scientific inquiry be supported by the state and fed by the collaborative research of scientists, a vision that was unprecedented in its scope, ambition, and forms at the time.[59]
Natural philosophers came to view nature increasingly as a mechanism that could be taken apart and understood, much like a complex clock.[60] Natural philosophers includingIsaac Newton,Evangelista Torricelli andFrancesco Redi,Edme Mariotte,Jean-Baptiste Denis andJacques Rohault conducted experiments focusing on the flow of water, measuringatmospheric pressure using abarometer and disprovingspontaneous generation.[61] Scientific societies and scientific journals emerged and were spread widely through the printing press, touching off thescientific revolution.[62] Newton in 1687 published hisThe Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, orPrincipia Mathematica, which set the groundwork for physical laws that remained current until the 19th century.[63]
Some modern scholars, including Andrew Cunningham, Perry Williams, andFloris Cohen, argue that natural philosophy is not properly called science and that genuine scientific inquiry began only with the scientific revolution.[64] According to Cohen, "the emancipation of science from an overarching entity called 'natural philosophy is one defining characteristic of the Scientific Revolution."[64] Other historians of science, includingEdward Grant, contend that the scientific revolution that blossomed in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries occurred when principles learned in the exact sciences of optics, mechanics, and astronomy began to be applied to questions raised by natural philosophy.[64] Grant argues that Newton attempted to expose the mathematical basis of nature – the immutable rules it obeyed – and, in doing so, joined natural philosophy and mathematics for the first time, producing an early work of modern physics.[65]
Isaac Newton is widely regarded as one of the most influential scientists of all time.
The scientific revolution, which began to take hold in the 17th century, represented a sharp break from Aristotelian modes of inquiry.[66] One of its principal advances was the use of thescientific method to investigate nature. Data was collected, andrepeatable measurements were made inexperiments.[67] Scientists then formedhypotheses to explain the results of these experiments.[68] The hypothesis was then tested using the principle offalsifiability to prove or disprove its accuracy.[68] The natural sciences continued to be called natural philosophy, but the adoption of the scientific method took science beyond the realm of philosophical conjecture and introduced a more structured way of examining nature.[66]
Newton, an English mathematician and physicist, was a seminal figure in the scientific revolution.[69] Drawing on advances made in astronomy by Copernicus, Brahe, and Kepler, Newton derived theuniversal law of gravitation andlaws of motion.[70] These laws applied both on earth and in outer space, uniting two spheres of the physical world previously thought to function independently, according to separate physical rules.[71] Newton, for example, showed that thetides were caused by the gravitational pull of themoon.[72] Another of Newton's advances was to make mathematics a powerful explanatory tool for natural phenomena.[73] While natural philosophers had long used mathematics as a means of measurement and analysis, its principles were not used as a means of understanding cause and effect in nature until Newton.[73]
In the 18th century and 19th century, scientists includingCharles-Augustin de Coulomb,Alessandro Volta, andMichael Faraday built upon Newtonian mechanics by exploringelectromagnetism, or the interplay of forces with positive and negative charges onelectrically charged particles.[74] Faraday proposed that forces in nature operated in "fields" that filled space.[75] The idea of fields contrasted with the Newtonian construct of gravitation as simply "action at a distance", or the attraction of objects with nothing in the space between them to intervene.[75]James Clerk Maxwell in the 19th century unified these discoveries in a coherenttheory of electrodynamics.[74] Using mathematical equations and experimentation, Maxwell discovered that space was filled with charged particles that could act upon each other and were a medium for transmitting charged waves.[74]
Significant advances in chemistry also took place during the scientific revolution.Antoine Lavoisier, a French chemist, refuted thephlogiston theory, which posited that things burned by releasing "phlogiston" into the air.[75]Joseph Priestley had discoveredoxygen in the 18th century, but Lavoisier discovered thatcombustion was the result ofoxidation.[75] He also constructed a table of 33 elements and invented modern chemical nomenclature.[75] Formal biological science remained in its infancy in the 18th century, when the focus lay upon theclassification and categorization of natural life. This growth innatural history was led byCarl Linnaeus, whose 1735taxonomy of the natural world is still in use. Linnaeus, in the 1750s, introducedscientific names for all his species.[76]
By the 19th century, the study of science had come into the purview of professionals and institutions. In so doing, it gradually acquired the more modern name ofnatural science. The termscientist was coined byWilliam Whewell in an 1834 review ofMary Somerville'sOn the Connexion of the Sciences.[77] But the word did not enter general use until nearly the end of the same century.[citation needed]
According to a famous 1923 textbook,Thermodynamics and the Free Energy of Chemical Substances, by the American chemistGilbert N. Lewis and the American physical chemistMerle Randall,[78] the natural sciences contain three great branches:
Aside from the logical and mathematical sciences, there are three great branches ofnatural science which stand apart by reason of the variety of far reaching deductions drawn from a small number of primary postulates — they aremechanics,electrodynamics, andthermodynamics.[79]
Today, natural sciences are more commonly divided into life sciences, such as botany and zoology, and physical sciences, which include physics, chemistry, astronomy, and Earth sciences.
^Wildberg, Christian (8 March 2018). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.).The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.Archived from the original on 22 August 2019. Retrieved9 May 2023 – via Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
^Lindberg, David. (1992)The Beginnings of Western Science. University of Chicago Press. Page 162.
^Holmes, R (2008).The age of wonder: How the romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science. London: Harper Press. p. 449.ISBN978-0-00-714953-7.
Ledoux, Stephen F. (2002)."Defining Natural Sciences"(PDF).Behaviorology Today.5 (1). New York:Marcel Dekker, Inc.: 34.ISBN978-0-8247-0824-5. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2012-03-25.Fundamentally, natural sciences are defined as disciplines that deal only with natural events (i.e., independent and dependent variables in nature) using scientific methods.
Natural Sciences Contains updated information on research in the Natural Sciences including biology, geography and the applied life and earth sciences.
Reviews of Books About Natural Science This site contains over 50 previously published reviews of books about natural science, plus selected essays on timely topics in natural science.
Scientific Grant Awards Database Contains details of over 2,000,000 scientific research projects conducted over the past 25 years.
E!Science Up-to-date science news aggregator from major sources including universities.
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