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Evolution of Science Through History

Science is the methodical study of nature through testable explanations and predictions. During the Middle Ages, foundations for the scientific method were laid by Alhazen in his Book of Optics, establishing experimental observation to classify materials. While ancient Indians and Greeks classified the material world philosophically, medieval Middle Eastern scientists used practical experiments. Today, science refers to the pursuit of knowledge relating to natural phenomena and their laws, though it has evolved to include disciplines like psychology that study human thought and society.

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Hameed Khan
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14 views1 page

Evolution of Science Through History

Science is the methodical study of nature through testable explanations and predictions. During the Middle Ages, foundations for the scientific method were laid by Alhazen in his Book of Optics, establishing experimental observation to classify materials. While ancient Indians and Greeks classified the material world philosophically, medieval Middle Eastern scientists used practical experiments. Today, science refers to the pursuit of knowledge relating to natural phenomena and their laws, though it has evolved to include disciplines like psychology that study human thought and society.

Uploaded by

Hameed Khan
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Science is the methodical study of nature including testable explanations and predictions.

During the Middle Ages in the Middle East, foundations for the scientific method were laid
by Alhazen in his Book of Optics. From classical antiquity through the 19th century, science
as a type of knowledge was more closely linked to philosophy than it is now and, in fact, in
the Western world, the term "natural philosophy" encompassed fields of study that are today
associated with science, such as astronomy, medicine, and physics. While the classification of
the material world by the ancient Indians and Greeks into Air, Earth, Fire and Water was
more philosophical, medieval middle eastern scientists used practical, experimental
observation to classify materials.
Today, the ever-evolving term "science" refers to the pursuit of knowledge, not the
knowledge itself. It is often synonymous with "natural and physical science" and often
restricted to those branches of study relating to the phenomena of the material universe and
their laws. Although the term implies exclusion of pure mathematics, many university
faculties include Mathematics Departments within their Faculty of Science. The dominant
sense in ordinary use has a narrower use for the term "science." It developed as a part of
science becoming a distinct enterprise of defining the "laws of nature"; early examples
include Kepler's laws, Galileo's laws, and Newton's laws of motion. In this period it became
more common to refer to natural philosophy as "natural science." Over the course of the 19th
century, the word "science" became increasingly associated with the disciplined study of the
natural world, including physics, chemistry, geology and biology. This sometimes left the
study of human thought and society in a linguistic limbo, which was resolved by classifying
these areas of academic study as social science. For example, psychology evolved from
philosophy, and has grown into an area of study.

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