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Science

Specialty Definition: Science

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Specialty Definition: History of science and technology

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The history of science and technology (HST) is a field of history which examines how humanity's understanding of science and technology has changed over the millennia, and how this understanding has allowed us to generate new technologies. This field of history also studies the cultural, economic, and political impacts of scientific innovation.

The advent of modern mathematical science is generally believed to have begun with the Hellenic Pythagoreans; although, it would probably be a mistake to believe that modern science was a "Greek invention". Rather, the Greek influence on mathematics and scientific investigation has been better documented than the contributions of other ancient civilizations.

Challenge to Orthodoxy

A persistent theme in the history of science and technology has been the poor reception so often given to those who espouse ideas contrary to the prevailing orthodoxy. The story of Galileo is a case in point. Other natural philosophers and astronomers, especially those in areas closely influenced by religious orthodoxy, were reluctant to "check" their theories by looking through the newly-invented telescope as Galileo did. Even in modern times, with the near-univeral acceptance of scientific method and with huge research budgets from government, academia and industry, unpopular or offensive ideas are often given short shrift.

There is controversy over what the lesson of the Galileo story is. While some see Galileo's saga as an example of the arrogance of authority, others argue that rejection of new ideas today cannot be directly compared with examples such as Galileo. Theories developed and tested by following the currently accepted principles of scientific investigation closely, as Galileo did, are generally accepted however surprising they may be, whereas ideas that make yet unproven and seemingly unjustified assumptions are termed pseudoscience.

Contribution to knowledge

Even so, after enough time, even the most unpopular idea can become a new scientific orthodoxy, if it can survive experimental test satisfactorily. For example, the germ theory of disease has become so prevalent that pasteurization and Listerine are household words, even if Louis Pasteur, Ignaz Semmelweis, and Joseph Lister are not so well remembered.

Major areas/Sub-fields

Science

• Life Sciences
  • Biology
    • History of anatomy
    • Theory of evolution
      • Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species
    • Genetics
      • DNA
  • Paleontology
• Physical Science
  • Chemistry
    • Analytical chemistry
    • Biochemistry
    • Inorganic chemistry
    • Organic chemistry
    • Physical chemistry
  • History of physics
  • History of astronomy
  • Geology and Earth science
• Mathematics and Statistics
• Philosophy and Logic

Social science

• Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Economics, business and industry
• Industrial organization and labor
• Geography
• Language and Linguistics
• Political science
• Psychology
• Sociology

Technology

• Civil engineering
  • Architecture and building construction
  • Bridges, harbors, tunnels, dams
  • Surveying, instruments and maps, cartography, urban engineering, water supply and sewerage
• Transportation
• Energy conversion
• Materials and processing
• Library and information science
• History of computers
• Health science
• History of medicine
• Biotechnology
• Agriculture
• Family and consumer science
• Military technology
• Telegraphy- from smoke signals to the Internet

General Science and Technology

• Biography of inventors, explorers, and scientists
• List of scientists, List of engineers and List of inventors
• Timelines of Science and Technology
• List of years in science
• Technical societies, technical education
• Economic, political, and social history
• General relationships between technology and culture; philosophy of technology

• Historiography of Science and Technology
  • Kranzberg's Laws of Technology

• Historians of Science and Technology:
  • Thomas P. Hughes
  • Arne Kaijser
  • Thomas Kuhn
  • Paul Feyerabend

• Future of science and technology (speculative)
  • Technological singularity
  • Technocapitalism

• Philosophy of Science
  • Thomas Kuhn
  • Karl Popper
  • Naive Empiricism

Ancient technological objects

• the Antikythera mechanism
• the sling and catapult
• the sundial and diptych

See also: science studies

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "History of science and technology."

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Library of Congress Classification:Class Q -- Science

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Class Q: Science is a classification used by the Library of Congress classification system. This article outlines the sub-classes of Class Q.

Q -- Science (General)

QA-- Mathematics - Computer Science

QB-- Astronomy

QC-- Physics

QD-- Chemistry

QE-- Geology

QH-- Natural history - Biology

QK-- Botany

QL-- Zoology

QM-- Human anatomy

QP-- Physiology

QR-- Microbiology

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Library of Congress Classification:Class Q -- Science."

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Literature

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Literature is literally "an acquaintance with letters" (as in the first sense given in the Oxford English Dictionary), but has generally come to identify a collection of texts. Nations can have literatures, as can corporations, philosophical schools or historical periods. It is commonly held that a literature of a nation, for example, is the collection of texts which make it a whole nation. The Hebrew Bible, Beowulf, the Iliad and the Odyssey and the American constitution, all fall within this definition of a kind of literature. More generally, a literature is equated with a collection of stories, poems and plays that revolve around a particular topic. In this case, the stories, poems and plays may or may not have nationalistic implications. The Western Canon is one such literature.

Classifying a specific item as being part of a literature (be it American literature, advertising literature, gay and lesbian literature or Roman literature) is very difficult. To some people, "literature" can be broadly applied to any symbolic record which can include images, sculptures, as well as letters. To others, a literature must only include examples of text composed of letters, or other narrowly defined examples of symbolic written language (hieroglyphs, for example). Even more conservative interpreters of the concept would demand that the text have a physical form, usually on paper or some other portable form, to the exclusion of inscriptions or digital media.

Furthermore, there is a perceived difference between "literature" and some popular forms of written work. The terms "literary fiction" and "literary merit" are often used to distinguish between individual works. For example, the works of Charles Dickens are perceived by almost everyone as being "literature", whereas the works of Jeffrey Archer tend to be looked down on as unworthy of inclusion under the general heading of English literature. Works may be excluded if, for example, the standard of grammar and syntax is poor, the story unbelievable or disjointed, the characters inconsistent or unconvincing. Genre fiction (e.g. romance, crime, science fiction) is sometimes excluded from consideration as "literature".

Frequently, these boundaries are crossed by the texts that make up literature. Illustrated stories, hypertexts, cave paintings and inscribed monuments have all at one time or another pressed the boundaries of what is and is not literature.

Forms of literature

Poetry

A poem is a composition usually written in verse. Poems rely heavily on imagery, precise word choice, and metaphor, may be written in measures consisting of patterns of stresses (metric feet), and may be rhymed or unrhymed. It is difficult to characterize poetry precisely. Typically, though, poetry is literature that makes some significant use of the formal properties of the words it uses--those properties attached to the written or spoken form of a word, rather than to its meaning. Metre depends on syllables and speaking rhythms; rhyme and alliteration depend on words having similar pronunciations. Some contemporary poets, such as E. E. Cummings, make extensive use of the visual form of a word.

Poetry is perhaps the oldest form of literature: The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh dates from around 3000 B.C.; the Bible and the works of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Much poetry is written in specific forms: the haiku, the limerick, the sonnet, for example. A haiku must have seventeen syllables, distributed over three lines in groups of five, seven, and five, and should have an image of a season and something to do with nature. A limerick has five lines, with a rhyme scheme of AABBA, and line lengths of 3,3,2,2,3 stressed syllables.

Some poetic norms are language-specific: Greek poetry rarely rhymes, Italian or French poetry often does, English and German can go either way (although non-rhyming poetry is often, perhaps unfairly, treated as more "serious"). Perhaps the most paradigmatic style of English poetry (exemplified in Shakespeare and Milton) is blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter. Some languages prefer longer lines; some shorter. Some of these conventions result from the ease of fitting a language's vocabulary and grammar into certain structures rather than others (for example, some languages contain more rhyming words than others, or typically have longer words). Other structural conventions are historical accidents, resulting from many speakers of a language associating good poetry with a verse form preferred by a particular good poet.

Works for theatre (see below) were traditionally written in verse. This is now rare, although many would argue that the language of drama remains intrinsically poetic.

Drama

A play is another classical literary form that has continued to evolve over the years, comprised chiefly of dialog between characters, usually intended for dramatic / theatrical (see theatre) performance rather than reading. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries opera developed as a combination of poetry, drama, and music. Nearly all drama was in verse form until comparatively recently.

Greek drama is the earliest we have substantial knowledge of. The Tragedy developed as a performance associated with religious and civic festivals, typically enacting or developing upon well-known themes in history or mythology. Tragedies were generally very serious in theme and treated important conflicts in human nature, but were not necessarily "tragic" as the word is now used--meaning sad and without a happy ending. Comedy was a later development; Greek festivals eventually came to include three tragedies balanced by a comedy or Satyr Play.

Modern theatre does not in general adhere to any of these restrictions of form or theme. A play is anything written for performance by actors (screenplays, for example); and even some things that are not; many contemporary writers have taken advantage of the dialogue-centred character of plays as a way of presenting literary work that is intended simply to be read, not performed.

Essays

An essay is a discussion of a topic from an author's personal point of view, exemplified by works by Francis Bacon or Charles Lamb. A memoir is the story of an author's life from his personal point of view. An epistle is usually a formal, didactic, or elegant letter.

Prose Fiction

"Prose" denotes writing that does not adhere to any particular formal structures (other than simple grammar); "non-poetic writing," writing, perhaps. The term is sometimes used pejoratively, but prosaic writing is simply writing that says something without necessarily trying to say it in a beautiful way, or using beautiful words. Prose writing can of course be beautiful; the suggestion then is that it is not beautiful in virtue of the formal features of words (rhymes, alliteration, meter), but the distinction does not need to be marked precisely, and perhaps cannot be. There is, of course, the "prose poem," which attempts to convey the aesthetic richness typical of poetry using only prose; and there is the "free verse", which is poetry not adhering to any of the strictures of one or another formal poetic style.

Prose is the normal form of writing for fiction: novels, short stories, and so forth. (The term "fiction" does not normally apply to poetry, even poetry used to tell stories.) All of these exist in occasional scattered form throughout history, but have not developed into systematic and discrete literary forms until relatively recently. Prose works of fiction are sometimes categorized by length. The lines are somewhat arbitrary, since one can write a work with any number of words; yet publishing convention dictates the following: A short story is prose writing of less than 10,000 to 20,000 words (and usually more than 500 words) which may or may not have a narrative arc. A story more than about 20,000 words is called a novella. Beyond that, especially when beyond 50,000 words, a work of fiction is called a novel. For an interesting discussion about short stories from their originating time, see Edgar Allan Poe's ....

A novel is simply a long story written in prose; yet it is a comparatively recent development. In Europe the first significant novel is perhaps Don Quixote, published in 1600. Yet earlier works, such as the Decameron, the Canterbury Tales have comparable forms, and would probably be called novels if they were written today. Earlier works in Asia, such as China's Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Japan's Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki, even more strongly resemble the novel as we now think of it.

Early novels in Europe were not, at the time, viewed as significant literature. Perhaps this was because "mere" prose writing was seen as easy and so unimportant. It has become clear, however, that prose writing can be aesthetically pleasing without adhering to poetic forms; and the freedom the author gains in not having to concern himself with verse structure often translates into a more complex plot or one richer in precise detail than is typical of the plots even of narrative poetry. This also frees the author to experiment with many different literary styles--including poetry--in the scope of a single novel.

. See Ian Watt's The Rise of the Novel. [This definition needs to be expanded]

Other Prose Literature

Philosophy, history, journalism, and legal and scientific writings have traditionally been called literature. They are among the oldest prose writings in existence; novels and prose stories earned the names "fiction" to distinguish them from factual writing or nonfiction, which is what prose has historically been used for.

This has become less so in the case of science over the last two centuries, as advances and specialization have made new scientific research inaccessible to most audiences; science is now published mostly in journals. Scientific works of Euclid, Aristotle, Copernicus, and Newton still possess great value; but since the science in them is largely outdated, they can no longer be used for scientific instruction, yet they are too technical to sit well in most literature programmes. They are now read less and less outside of history of science programmes. There are a number of books "popularizing" science which might still deserve the title "literature"; history will tell.

Philosophy too has become an increasingly academic discipline. This is lamented by more of its practicitioners than was the case with the sciences; nonetheless most new philosophical work is done in academic journals. Major philosophers through history: Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Descartes, Nietzsche--have become as canonical as any writers can be. Some contemporary philosophy undoubtedly merits being called "literature"--the work of Wittgenstein, for example; but much of it does not, and some areas, such as logic, have become extremely technical to the same degree as the sciences.

A great deal of historical writing can still be called literature, particularly the genre known as creative nonfiction as can a great deal of journalism, literary journalism. However these areas have become extremely large, and often their purpose is just utilitarian: to record data or convey immediate information. As a result the writing in these fields is not as a rule literary, although it often and in its better moments is. Major historians include Herodotus, Thucydides, Procopius, all of whom are considered canonical literary figures. Law is a less clear case. Some writings of Plato and Aristotle, or even the early parts of the Bible, might count as legal. The law tables of Hammurabi of Babylon might count. Roman civil law was codified during the reign of Justinian I of Byzantium, and this is considered significant literature. The founding documents of many countries, including the Constitution of the United States, are treated as literature, howver legal writing is rarely noted now for its literary merits.

Most of these fields, then, through specialization or proliferation, no longer generally constitute "literature" in the sense under discussion. They may sometimes be "literary literature"; more often they are what might be called "technical literature" or "professional literature."

Somewhat Related Narrative Forms

Comics are stories told in a combination of sequential artwork,dialogue and text.

Genres of literature

Alternate history

Autobiography

Bildungsroman

Biography

Children's literature

Constrained writing

Diaries and Journals

Fiction

Crime fiction, Detective fiction

Family Saga

Fantasy

Gothic

Historical fiction

Historiographical metafiction

Horror

Legal thriller

Mystery

Romance

Satire

Science fiction

The Slave narrative

Spy fiction/Political thriller

Thriller

Western

Oral Narrative (Oral History)

Poetry

Literary techniques

Epistolary novel

First-person narrative

Omniscient narrator

Transcription

Translation

Vision / Prophecy

Story within a story

Flashback

Metafiction

Fictional guidebook

False document

Lipogram

Plagiarism

Literary figures

Authors

Critics

Dramatists

Essayists

Journalist

Novelists

Poets

Short story authors

Writers

Literature by country or language

Anglo-Welsh literature

Babylonian literature and science

Canadian literature

Chinese literature

Literature of the Czech Republic

Danish Literature

English literature

French literature

German literature

Greek literature

Irish literature

Italian literature

Japanese literature

Korean literature

Latin literature

Malayalam literature

New Zealand literature

Norwegian literature

Pakistani literature

Polish literature

Romanian literature

Russian literature

Scottish literature

Slovak literature

Slovene literature

Tamil Literature

Indian writing in English

Literary Analysis

Analyzing Literature

Analyzing Fiction

Analyzing Plays

Analyzing Poetry

Character Analysis

Story Elements

Elements of Plot

Figurative Language

Setting Tone

Themes in literature

Chess in early literature

Adultery in literature

Family life in literature

Generation in literature

Heroines in literature

Anti-heroes

Losers in literature

Norse mythological influences on later literature

Post-colonialism in literature

Robots in literature

School and university in literature

Smuggling in literature

Technology and Culture in literature

Tourism in literature

Literary Periods

Pre-Modern (Medieval)

Old English

Middle English

Early Modern (Renaissance)

Elizabethan

Jacobean

Caroline

Commonwealth

Neoclassical

Restoration

Augustan

Age of Sensibility

Romantic

Victorian

Edwardian

Georgian

Modern

Post-Modern

Other

Blindness literature

Literature cycle

Rabbinic literature

See also

• List of books
• List of authors
• Cultural movement for literary movements.
• List of prizes, medals, and awards for literary prizes.

External links

• Google: Literature, Electronic Text Archives, Magazines and E-zines, Online Writing, Writers Resources, Libraries, Digital, Cataloguing, Metadata, Distance Learning
• T. Miles: Resources for Research and Writing
• nzdl.org: The New Zealand Digital Library
• The Universal Library, Books, Collections
• Free computer books online
• e-zine-list: John Labovitz's e-zine-list
• AnyLit.com - an online publisher of literature
• Project Gutenberg Online Library
• Abacci - Project Gutenberg texts matched with Amazon reviews
• George MacDonald Complete E-Texts
• Internet Book Database of Fiction A community based discussion group & database of fiction
• Faerie Tales and Romantic Literature
• Free Books & Book Reviews Online
• Internet Book List - A database of many books with user reviews and ratings
• Blackmask Online A very large selection of electronic online texts by a wide variety of authors from a wide range of literature.
• The Online Books Page A very good search engine for the free online ebooks
• [1] An excellent resource on paraliterature, and Literature.

See also: Literature basic topics

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Literature."

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Natural science

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The natural sciences study the physical, nonhuman aspects of the world. As a group, the natural sciences are distinguished from the social sciences, on the one hand, as well as from the arts and humanities on the other. Natural sciences generally attempts to explain the workings of the world via natural processes rather than divine processes.

The term natural science is also used to differentiate between "science" as a discipline following the scientific method, and "science" as a field of knowledge generally, e.g. computer science or even "the science of theology".

In some contexts, the natural sciences are definied differently (sometimes called the biological sciences, involved in biological processes), and are distinguished from the physical sciences (involved in the physical and chemical laws underlying the universe).

Natural sciences

• Astronomy
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Earth science
• Physics
• Electrical engineering

External links

• The History of Recent Science and Technology
  

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Natural science."

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Science

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

simple:Science

Science (from scientia, Latin for "knowledge") has come to mean a body of knowledge, or a method of study devoted to developing this body of knowledge, concerning the universe gained through methodological observation and experimentation. The scientific method consists of different principles and procedures that are useful in acquiring scientific knowledge. Exactly what constitutes science and scientific methods are subjects studied by the philosophy of science.

Overview

Implicit in science's devotion to acquiring knowledge about the universe is an assumption that there is a reality that exists independent of a mind (or minds) perceiving it. This view, realism, holds that the universe (atoms, animals, gravity, stars, wind, microbes, etc.) exists independent of our observation. Under this view, the (approximate) truth of scientific knowledge is taken at face value.

Some of the findings of science under this view can be quite extraordinary to a non-scientific mind in light of every day common observation. Atomic theory, for example, implies that a granite boulder which appears as heavy, hard, solid, grey, etc. is actually a combination of subatomic particles with none of these properties, moving very rapidly in an area consisting mostly of empty space.

Philosophers sometimes distinguish between the actual reality of things within the universe, which may or may not be fully perceivable by humans, and our perception of things within the universe. Immanuel Kant coined the phrases phenomena (the universe as humans experience it) and noumena (things-in-themselves).

Realism, however, is not necessary to science. Instrumentalism, for example, posits that while entities, such as atoms, help explain and predict data from experiments, these entities do not necessarily exist. This approach is favored by some when it comes to committing to the ontological status of a scientific entity which may seem unobservables in principle.

In contrast to Kant's views (and despite wide acceptance that human perception of phenomena is not necessarily an accurate reflection of the universe as it really is), most scientists assert that it is possible to understand and accurately explain (at least somewhat if not fully) the universe using the scientific method to hone accurate scientific theories and laws.

Scientists point out that while some people criticise the basic ideas of science, it is science alone that has provided information on the mysteries of the atom, the cell, the solar system, and the observable universe. It is science alone that has provided knowledge to develop tens of thousands of technological advances in medicine, engineering, communications and beyond. No other system which claims to compete with science has ever actually succeeded in actually producing useful information about the physical world in which we live.

Previous definitions of the term

Until the Enlightenment, the word "science" (or its Latin cognate) meant any systematic or exact, recorded knowledge (and the word continues to be used in this sense sometimes). "Science" therefore had the same sort of very broad meaning that "philosophy" had at that time.

There was a distinction between, for example, "natural science" and "moral science," which latter included what we now call philosophy, and this mirrored a distinction between "natural philosophy" and "moral philosophy." More recently, "science" has come to be restricted to what used to be called "natural science" or "natural philosophy." Natural science can be further broken down into physical science and biological science. Social science is often included in the field of science as well.

Fields of study are often distinguished in terms of "hard sciences" and "soft sciences," and these terms (at times considered derrogatory) are often synonymous with the terms natural and social science (respectively). Physics, chemistry, biology and geology are all forms of "hard sciences". Studies of anthropology, history, psychology, and sociology are sometimes called "soft sciences." Proponents of this division use the arguments that the "soft sciences" do not use the scientific method, admit anecdotal evidence, or are not mathematical, all adding up to a "lack of rigor" in their methods. Opponents of the division in the sciences counter that the "social sciences" often make systematic statistical studies in strictly controlled environments, or that these conditions are not adhered to by the natural sciences either (for example, behavioral biology relies upon fieldwork in uncontrolled environments, astronomy cannot design experiments, only observe limited conditions).

Mathematics is widely believed to be a science, but it is not. It is more closely related to logic; it is not a science because it makes no attempt to gain empirical knowledge. However, mathematics is the universal language of all sciences.

The term "science" is sometimes pressed into service for new and interdisciplinary fields that make use of scientific methods at least in part, and which in any case aspire to be systematic and careful explorations of their subjects, including computer science, library and information science, and environmental science. Mathematics and computer science reside under "Q" in the Library of Congress classification, along with all else we now call science.

Scientific models, theories and laws

Main article: scientific method

The terms "hypothesis", "model", "theory" and, "law" are often used incorrectly in colloquial speech. Scientists use the term model to mean a proposed account of something, specifically one which can be used to make predictions which can be tested by experiment or observation. Some models become a hypothesis, which refer to a contention that has not (yet) been well supported nor ruled out by experiment. They use theory to mean both the same thing as hypothesis and more established explanations, and law to mean a theory which has been so well confirmed that the probability of being refuted by experiment is very small. Some models are used to help our thinking.

Most non-scientists are unaware that what scientists call "theories" are what most people call "facts". The general public loosely uses the word theory to refer to ideas that have no firm proof or support; in contrast, scientists usually use this word to refer only to ideas that have repeatedly withstood test. Thus, when scientists refer to the theories of biological evolution, electromagnetism, and relativity, they are referring to ideas that have survived considerable experimental testing. But there are exceptions, such as string theory, which seems to be a promising model but as yet has no empirical evidence to give it precedence over competing models.

Especially fruitful theories that have withstood the test of time, and which predict and describe a very wide range of phenomenon, acquire the 'status' of a "law of nature". Most scientists believe that our descriptions of laws of nature are provisional. Theories are always open to revision if new evidence is provided.

Newton's law of gravitation is a famous example of a theory falsified by experiments regarding motions at high speeds and in close proximity to strong gravitational fields. Outside of those conditions, Newton's Laws remain excellent accounts of motion and gravity. Because general relativity accounts for all of the phenomena that Newton's Laws do, and more, General Relativity is regarded as our best account of gravitation, so far.

Mathematics and the scientific method

Science makes extensive use of mathematics. Observing and collecting measurements often requires the use of mathematics; hypothesizing and predicting may require extensive use of mathematics. Mathematical branches often used in science include calculus and statistics. A form of systematic reasoning has been applied to mathematics itself at least since the time of Euclid.

Many people see mathematicians as working scientifically; they regard physical experiments as inessential and argue that proofs figure equivalently in mathematics. Most do not, since mathematics does not require experimental test of its theories and hypotheses. Others observe that mathematics has no experimental tests (that do not involve mathematicians) for any of its results; mathematicians are both the investigators and the theoreticians. See: Eugene Wigner The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics.

R.P. Feynman said "Mathematics is not real, but it feels real. Where is this place?".

Philosophical foundations of the scientific method

One school of thought asserts that the scientific method (and science in general) relies upon basic axioms or "self-evident truths" such as internal consistency and realism. While it is true that many scientists believe these things and do assume them in their everyday work, the method itself does not rely on them: all such assumptions are just part of the hypotheses being tested, and many of them are subject to test as well. For example, one of the "common sense" ideas that scientists believed for a long time is that any measurable property of an object is something that exists in the object before it is measured, and our measurements are merely observations of that pre-existing condition; Quantum mechanics rejects this, because experiments have contradicted it.

Some believe that scientific principles have been "solidly" established, beyond question, and are true. Some scientists themselves may indeed feel that way, having come to rely upon many of the results of science without having done all the experiments themselves; after all, one cannot expect every individual scientist to repeat hundreds of years' worth of experiments. Many scientists even encourage an attitude of skepticism toward claims that contradict the current state of scientific knowledge or some easy extrapolation from it; but that only means such claims must meet a higher burden before being accepted, not that they can never be accepted. In the extreme, some, including some scientists, may believe in this or that scientific principle, or even "science" itself, as a matter of faith in a manner similar to that of religious believers. However, neither science nor scientific method itself rely on faith; all scientific facts (i.e., measurements) and explanations (i.e., hypotheses or theories) are subject to test, and will eventually be rejected as the best available hypothesis when new evidence falsifying them is found. (See more under falsificationism.)

This is the reason that political, religious, or social enforcement of scientific convictions is inherently pernicious. Examples include the Roman Catholic Church's action against Galileo's non-Aristotelian discoveries about the behavior of the planets (they violated some prestigious, and ancient, philosophical speculation the Church had promoted to dogma), and Stalin's support for Lysenko's biological and genetic beliefs (what was wrong with standard genetics in Stalin's view is not clear; Lysenko was either a deliberate con man or incapable of understanding standard genetics in his day).

Goals of science

Despite popular impressions of science, it is not the goal of science to answer all questions, only those that pertain to physical reality. Scientists teach that science does not produce absolute and unquestionable truth. Rather, science consistently tests the currently best hypothesis about some aspect of the physical world, and when necessary revises or replaces it.

Science is not a source of value judgements, though it can certainly speak to matters of ethics and public policy by pointing to the likely consequences of actions. However, science can't tell us which of those consequences to desire or which is 'best'. What one projects from the currently most reasonable scientific hypothesis onto other realms of interest is not a scientific issue, and the scientific method offers no assistance for those who wish to do so. Scientific justification (or refutation) for many things is, nevertheless, often claimed.

Fields of science

The physical and life sciences

• Archaeology

• Biology
  • Agricultural science
  • Anatomy
  • Anthropology
  • Astrobiology
  • Biochemistry
  • Bioinformatics
  • Biophysics
  • Botany
  • Cell biology
  • Cladistics
  • Cytology
  • Developmental biology
  • Ecology
  • Entomology
  • Epidemiology
  • Evolution (Evolutionary biology)
  • Evolutionary developmental biology ("Evo-devo" or Evolution of Development)
  • Freshwater Biology
  • Genetics (Population genetics, Genomics, Proteomics)
  • Health Science
    • Dentistry
    • Medicine
    • Pharmacology
    • Toxicology
    • Veterinary science
  • Histology
  • Immunology
  • Marine biology
  • Microbiology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Morphology
  • Neuroscience
  • Oncology (the study of cancer)
  • Ontogeny
  • Paleontology
  • Pathology
  • Phycology (Algology)
  • Phylogeny
  • Physiology
  • Structural biology
  • Taxonomy
  • Toxicology
  • Virology
  • Zoology

• Earth Sciences
  • Geology
  • Meteorology
  • Oceanography
  • Seismology

• Physics
  • Acoustics
  • Astronomy
  • Astrophysics
  • Atomic, Molecular, and Optical physics
  • Biophysics
  • Computational physics
  • Condensed matter physics
  • Cryogenics
  • Electronics
  • Engineering
  • Fluid dynamics
  • Polymer physics
  • Optics
  • Materials physics
  • Mathematical physics
  • Nuclear physics
  • Plasma physics
  • Particle physics (or High Energy Physics)
  • Vehicle dynamics

• Chemistry
  • Analytical chemistry
  • Biochemistry
  • Computational chemistry
  • Electrochemistry
  • Inorganic chemistry
  • Materials Science
  • Organic chemistry
  • Physical chemistry
  • Quantum chemistry
  • Spectroscopy
  • Stereochemistry
  • Thermochemistry

Computer and information sciences

• Computer science
• Cognitive science
• Cognitive systems
• Cybernetics
• Systems theory

Social sciences

• Economics
• Linguistics
• Etymology
• Psychology
• Sociology

Related topics

• Organization and practice of science: International Council of Science (ICSU)
• For an understanding of how these fields came to be: History of Science and Technology .
• See also scientists for catalogs of people active in each of these fields.

See also

Junk science - National Science Foundation (USA) - Pathological science - Protoscience - Pseudoscience - The relationship between religion and science - Science education - Scientific misconduct

External links

• UniSci: Why Science?
• Boris Krupa: Why science?
• Why Study Science?
• Why Science & You
• Why science cannot be democratic
• Why science thrives on criticism
• Is Science Killing the soul? A discussion between Steven Pinker and Richard Dawkins
• Richard Dawkins essay: Is Science a Religion?
• Wikibooks - GSCE science textbook
• Alphabetized and ordered list of sciences adapted from the Internet-Encyclopedia article, "Science" Internet-Encyclopedia March 14, 2003

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Science."

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Science (journal)

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Science is the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The journal Science was founded by Thomas Edison in 1880. Science became the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1900. A major concern of the journal is recent research findings. Science is also known for science-related news, publication of opinions on science policy and other matters of interest to scientists and others who are concerned with in the wide implications of science and technology. Science covers a broad range of scientific disciplines, but there is special emphasis on the life sciences.

External links

• Science website

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Science (journal)."

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Science education

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Science education is the field interested in sharing science content and process with individuals not traditionally considered part of the science community. The target individuals may be children, college students, or general public adults. The field of science education contains some science content, some sociology, and some teaching pedagogy.

Science education standards

In many US states, K-12 educators must adhere to rigid standards or frameworks of what content is to be taught to which age groups. Unfortunately, this often means teachers rush to "cover" the material, without truly "teaching" it. In addition, the process of science is often overlooked, such as the scientific method, and critical thinking, producing students whom can pass multiple choice tests (such as the New York and California Regents exams and the Massachusetts MCAS), but cannot solve complex problems. Although at the college level American science education tends to be less regulated, it is by chance more rigorous, with teachers and professors putting even more content into the same time period.

Scientists vs. educators

On the one hand, the elitism of professional scientists and academia has prompted numbers of education specialists to take interest in science education and making it more accessible to individuals. These science educators take the point of view that many groups (such as women, non-Asian and non-Jewish ethnic minorities, and the disabled) have been traditionally marginalized and excluded from science, to the detriment of the field. Opposing the science educators, traditional scientists feel it is important to not dilute respectable science. Only by running the gauntlet of higher education, graduate school, and so on, does one prove their reliability. Allowing those less qualified to perform science will only result in the propagation of errors and less accurate science. Both groups wish to train future scientists, they differ on how to do so, and whom is qualified.

See also

• primary science 5-11 years
• secondary science 11-18 years
• school science technicians
• Graduate school
• Science
• Education
• Educational research
• epistemology (the study of knowledge and how we know things)

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Science education."

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Science magazine

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

A science magazine is a periodical publication with news, opinions and reports about science for a non-expert audience. A periodical publication for scientific experts is called a "scientific journal".

Science magazines are read by non-scientists and scientists who want accessible information on fields outside their specialization.

They are an important means of communication between the scientific community and the wider community.

Articles in science magazines are sometimes republished or summarized by the general press.

Examples

• United States
  • Discover
  • Popular Science
  • Scientific American
• United Kingdom
  • New Scientist

See also: Popular science, Science journalism, Science communication

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Science magazine."

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Scientific citation

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Scientific citation is the process by which conclusions of previous scientists are used to justify experimental procedures, apparatus, goals or theses. Typically such citations establish the general framework of influences and the mindset of research, and especially as "part of what science" it is, and to help determine who conducts the peer review.

In the mathematically-predictive hard sciences, citation is usually viewed as a necessary evil. Developing arguments 'from fundamentals' is more desirable but often impossible as the long chains of logic are harder to follow and remember. Accordingly, some reliance on authoritative prior scientific consensus is the norm, either with citation or not, e.g. a paper citing "F=MA" does not in general include a formal citation to Isaac Newton, although that's implied. It is more recent or controversial work that will in general require citations, and thus reliance on a very few such works is advised by most scientists, to avoid building on a still-shifting foundation.

In the more model-driven 'soft' or 'human' sciences, where prediction and experiment and controls are less common, citation is viewed somewhat differently. Terminology rather than logic is the key to an effective peer review, and so citation establishes the glossary and the definitions which the reviewers should keep in mind while reading. The number of citations should still be few, as there is risk of some 'name space clash', resulting in confusion or inexact application of abstractions to concretes. This constraint tends to make papers in the soft sciences more prone to falling into a 'school of thought' and less able to stand on their own without some body of prior knowledge.

Modern scientists are sometimes judged by the number of times their work is cited by others - this is actually a key indicator of the relative importance of a work in science. Accordingly, while the scientist is motivated to have his work cited early and often and as widely as possible, all other scientists are motivated to have total numbers of citations kept low in order to retain the integrity of this means of judgment. A formal citation index tracks which referred and reviewed papers have referred which other such papers.

Disciplined citation of prior works in mathematics and science is known at least as far back as Euclid. Late in the first millennium, Islamic scholars developed their practice of isnah, or "backing", which established the validity of sayings of Muhammad in the hadith. The Asharite school of early Muslim philosophy extended this into fiqh or jurisprudence, while the Mutazilite school used the traditional methods and applied them to science. Roman Catholic practice included constant quotation of Saints or Apostles and citing incidents of their lives as moral examples.

In some form, then, achieving authority by constant citation is thus a near-universal idea among the peoples of the Mediterranean, whose educated people were exposed to one or other of these practices well before the European Renaissance and the emergence of scientific method.

In patent law the citation of previous works, or prior art, helps establish the uniqueness of the invention being described. However, the focus in this practice is to claim originality for commercial purposes, and so the author is strongly motivated to avoid citing works that cast doubt on its uniqueness. This is thus not "scientific" citation, although Baruch Lev and other advocates of accounting reform consider the number of times a patent is cited to be a significant metric of patent quality and thus of innovation.

See also: citation, citation index, peer review, prior art, scientific method, philosophy of science

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Scientific citation."

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Abbreviations & Acronyms: Science

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Synonyms within Context: Science

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Modern Usage: Science

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Commercial Usage: Science

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Image Slideshow: Science

Photos: Science More pictures...

Illustrations: Science More pictures...

Computer Images: Science More pictures...

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Photo Album: Science

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Members of the first National Advisory Cancer Council at the groundbreaking ceremonies at the NCI's building 6 in June, 1938. (Left to right) Francis Wood, C.C Little, James Ewing, Arthur Compton, James Conant, Thomas Parran, and Ludwig Hektoen. This new building, erected on land donated by Mrs. Luke J. Wilson was the fourth to be constructed in the complex that is now the National Institutes of Health. The structure was unique in that year of 1939, with its physical equipment and facilities designed solely for scientific research in a specialized field of science. Building 6 was to house the National Cancer Institute, the first of the nine specialized institutes that would comprise NIH. See also ar003810. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.		Ames Science and Applications Aircraft. Credit: NASA.
	Science Base on Lunar Farside. Credit: NASA.		Landsat 7 Spacecraft to Join NASA's Earth Science Team. Credit: NASA.
	Inspection Institute Aeronautical Science Group. Credit: NASA.		Materials Science Experiments Conducted at MSFC. Credit: NASA.
	The Maryland Science Center's new Outer Space Place offers visitors a chance to explore the ... Credit: NASA.		The duties of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., will be expanded to ... Credit: NASA.
	Ralph W. Woodworth checking tide gauge in Boston Harbor Tides party of R. W. Woodworth From article in Christian Science Monitor, July 23, 1926. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.		Antarctic headquarters of the National Science Foundation at McMurdo Sound. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Digital Photo Gallery: Science
 

"Museum of Science of Valencia" by Jon Urtxegi Commentary: "The Museum of Science of Valencia is sited next to the Hemispheric building, and next to the Oceanograhpic too."	"Science Centre 1" by Craig Young Commentary: "Set of pics of the Science Centre in Glasgow."
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

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Sounds Captioned with "Science".

Play	Caption	Play	Caption
	Excerpt typical of a children's science television show theme song.		Science fiction space ship flight music.
	Science fiction radio turner sound effect.		Science fiction "computer malfunction" sound effect.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Familiar Quotations: Science

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Historic Usage: Science

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Use in Literature: Science

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Non-Fiction Usage: Science