Editing Science (section)

{{Short description|Systematic endeavour to gain knowledge}}
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{{For-multi|the journal|Science (journal){{!}}''Science'' (journal)|a topical guide|Outline of science|other uses}}
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'''Science''' is a [[Scientific method|systematic]] discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable [[hypotheses]] and [[prediction]]s about the universe.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=E. O. |url=https://archive.org/details/consilienceunity00wils_135 |title=Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge |publisher=Vintage |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-679-76867-8 |edition=Reprint |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/consilienceunity00wils_135/page/n55 49]–71 |chapter=The natural sciences |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref name="Heilbron2003">{{cite book |last=Heilbron |first=J. L. |author-link=J. L. Heilbron |title=The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-19-511229-0 |location=New York |pages=vii–x |chapter=Preface |quote=...modern science is a discovery as well as an invention. It was a discovery that nature generally acts regularly enough to be described by laws and even by mathematics; and required invention to devise the techniques, abstractions, apparatus, and organization for exhibiting the regularities and securing their law-like descriptions. |display-authors=etal}}</ref> Modern science is typically divided into two or three major branches:<ref name="Cohen2021">{{cite book |last=Cohen |first=Eliel |url=https://www.routledge.com/The-University-and-its-Boundaries-Thriving-or-Surviving-in-the-21st-Century/Cohen/p/book/9780367562984 |title=The University and its Boundaries: Thriving or Surviving in the 21st Century |publisher=Routledge |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-367-56298-4 |location=New York |pages=14–41 |chapter=The boundary lens: theorising academic activity |access-date=4 May 2021 |archive-date=5 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505045450/https://www.routledge.com/The-University-and-its-Boundaries-Thriving-or-Surviving-in-the-21st-Century/Cohen/p/book/9780367562984 |url-status=live }}</ref> the [[natural science]]s (e.g., [[physics]], [[chemistry]], and [[biology]]), which study the [[physical world]]; and the [[social sciences]] (e.g., [[economics]], [[psychology]], and [[sociology]]), which study individuals and societies.<ref name="Colander2019">{{cite book |last1=Colander |first1=David C. |title=Social Science: An Introduction to the Study of Society |last2=Hunt |first2=Elgin F. |year=2019 |publisher=Routledge |edition=17th |location=New York |pages=1–22 |chapter=Social science and its methods}}</ref><ref name="Nisbet2020">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Social Science |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-science |access-date=9 May 2021 |date=16 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220202193947/https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-science |archive-date=2 February 2022 |last2=Greenfeld |first2=Liah |last1=Nisbet |first1=Robert A. |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Applied science]]s are disciplines that use scientific knowledge for practical purposes, such as engineering and medicine.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fischer |first1=M. R. |last2=Fabry |first2=G |year=2014 |title=Thinking and acting scientifically: Indispensable basis of medical education |journal=GMS Zeitschrift für Medizinische Ausbildung |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=Doc24 |doi=10.3205/zma000916 |pmc=4027809 |pmid=24872859}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sinclair |first=Marius |year=1993 |title=On the Differences between the Engineering and Scientific Methods |url=https://www.ijee.ie/contents/c090593.html |url-status=live |journal=The International Journal of Engineering Education |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115220102/https://www.ijee.ie/contents/c090593.html |archive-date=15 November 2017 |access-date=7 September 2018}}</ref><ref name="Bunge1966">{{Cite book |last=Bunge |first=M. |title=Contributions to a Philosophy of Technology |publisher=Springer |year=1966 |isbn=978-94-010-2184-5 |editor-last=Rapp |editor-first=F. |location=Dordrecht |pages=19–39 |chapter=Technology as Applied Science |doi=10.1007/978-94-010-2182-1_2 |s2cid=110332727}}</ref> While sometimes referred to as the [[formal science]]s, the study of [[logic]], [[mathematics]], and [[theoretical computer science]] (which study [[formal system]]s governed by [[axiom]]s and rules)<ref name="Löwe2002">{{cite journal |last=Löwe |first=Benedikt |author-link=Benedikt Löwe |year=2002 |title=The formal sciences: their scope, their foundations, and their unity |journal=Synthese |volume=133 |issue=1/2 |pages=5–11 |doi=10.1023/A:1020887832028 |issn=0039-7857 |s2cid=9272212}}</ref><ref name="Rucker2019">{{cite book |last=Rucker |first=Rudy |author-link=Rudy Rucker |url=http://www.rudyrucker.com/infinityandthemind/#calibre_link-328 |title=Infinity and the Mind: The Science and Philosophy of the Infinite |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-691-19138-6 |edition=Reprint |pages=157–188 |chapter=Robots and souls |access-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226212447/http://www.rudyrucker.com/infinityandthemind/#calibre_link-328 |archive-date=26 February 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> are typically regarded as separate because they rely on [[deductive reasoning]] instead of the [[scientific method]] or [[empirical evidence]] as their main methodology.<ref name="Kluwer">{{cite book |last1=Bishop |first1=Alan |title=Mathematical Enculturation: A Cultural Perspective on Mathematics Education |publisher=Kluwer |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-7923-1270-3 |location=Norwell, MA |pages=20–59 |chapter=Environmental activities and mathematical culture |access-date=24 March 2018 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9AgrBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA54}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bunge |first1=Mario |title=Philosophy of Science: Volume 1, From Problem to Theory |publisher=Routledge |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-7658-0413-6 |edition=revised |volume=1 |location=New York |pages=3–50 |chapter=The Scientific Approach}}</ref><ref name="Fetzer2013">{{cite book |last1=Fetzer |first1=James H. |title=Computers and Cognition: Why Minds are not Machines |publisher=Kluwer |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4438-1946-6 |location=Newcastle, United Kingdom |pages=271–308 |chapter=Computer reliability and public policy: Limits of knowledge of computer-based systems}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Nickles |first1=Thomas |title=Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |year=2013 |page=104 |chapter=The Problem of Demarcation}}</ref>

The [[history of science]] spans the majority of the historical record, with the earliest identifiable predecessors to modern science dating to the [[Bronze Age]] in [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] and [[Mesopotamia]] ({{circa|3000–1200&nbsp;BCE}}). Their contributions to mathematics, [[astronomy]], and medicine entered and shaped the Greek [[natural philosophy]] of [[classical antiquity]], whereby formal attempts were made to provide explanations of events in the [[physical world]] based on natural causes, while further advancements, including the introduction of the [[Hindu–Arabic numeral system]], were made during the [[Golden Age of India#Gupta Empire|Golden Age of India]].<ref name="Lindberg2007">{{Cite book |last=Lindberg |first=David C. |title=The beginnings of Western science: the European Scientific tradition in philosophical, religious, and institutional context |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0226482057 |edition=2nd}}</ref>{{rp|p=12}}<ref name="Grant2007">{{cite book |last=Grant |first=Edward |title=A History of Natural Philosophy: From the Ancient World to the Nineteenth Century |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-68957-1 |location=New York |pages=1–26 |chapter=Ancient Egypt to Plato |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/historynaturalph00gran/page/n16 |chapter-url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rMAaBgAAQBAJ Building Bridges Among the BRICs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418081025/https://books.google.com/books?id=rMAaBgAAQBAJ |date=18 April 2023 }}, p. 125, Robert Crane, Springer, 2014</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Keay |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/indiahistory00keay/page/132 |title=India: A history |publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-87113-800-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/indiahistory00keay/page/132 132] |quote=The great era of all that is deemed classical in Indian literature, art and science was now dawning. It was this crescendo of creativity and scholarship, as much as ... political achievements of the Guptas, which would make their age so golden. |author-link=John Keay}}</ref> Scientific research deteriorated in these regions after the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]] during the [[Early Middle Ages]] (400–1000&nbsp;CE), but in the [[Medieval renaissances]] ([[Carolingian Renaissance]], [[Ottonian Renaissance]] and the [[Renaissance of the 12th century]]) scholarship flourished again. Some Greek manuscripts lost in Western Europe were preserved and expanded upon in the Middle East during the [[Islamic Golden Age]],<ref name="Lindberg 2007 163–192">{{cite book |last=Lindberg |first=David C. |title=The beginnings of Western science: the European Scientific tradition in philosophical, religious, and institutional context |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-226-48205-7 |edition=2nd |pages=163–192 |chapter=Islamic science}}</ref> Later, [[Greek scholars in the Renaissance|Byzantine Greek scholars]] contributed to their transmission by bringing Greek manuscripts from the declining [[Byzantine Empire]] to [[Western Europe]] at the beginning of the [[Renaissance]].

The recovery and assimilation of [[Ancient Greek literature|Greek works]] and [[Science in the medieval Islamic world|Islamic inquiries]] into Western Europe from the 10th to 13th centuries revived [[natural philosophy]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Lindberg |first=David C. |title=The beginnings of Western science: the European Scientific tradition in philosophical, religious, and institutional context |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-226-48205-7 |edition=2nd |pages=193–224 |chapter=The revival of learning in the West}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lindberg |first=David C. |title=The beginnings of Western science: the European Scientific tradition in philosophical, religious, and institutional context |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-226-48205-7 |edition=2nd |pages=225–253 |chapter=The recovery and assimilation of Greek and Islamic science}}</ref><ref>Sease, Virginia; Schmidt-Brabant, Manfrid. Thinkers, Saints, Heretics: Spiritual Paths of the Middle Ages. 2007. [https://books.google.com/books?id=8Lkzp-StZGUC&dq=%22Everything+we+would+today+call+science+came+through+Islam%22&pg=PA80 Pages 80–81] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240827070053/https://books.google.com/books?id=8Lkzp-StZGUC&dq=%22Everything%20we%20would%20today%20call%20science%20came%20through%20Islam%22&pg=PA80 |date=27 August 2024 }}. Retrieved 6 October 2023</ref> which was later transformed by the [[Scientific Revolution]] that began in the 16th century<ref>{{cite book |last=Principe |first=Lawrence M. |title=Scientific Revolution: A Very Short Introduction |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-956741-6 |location=New York |pages=1–3 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref> as new ideas and discoveries departed from previous Greek conceptions and traditions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lindberg |first=David C. |title=The beginnings of Western science: the European Scientific tradition in philosophical, religious, and institutional context |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-226-48205-7 |edition=2nd |pages=357–368 |chapter=The legacy of ancient and medieval science}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Grant |first=Edward |url=https://archive.org/details/historynaturalph00gran |title=A History of Natural Philosophy: From the Ancient World to the Nineteenth Century |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-68957-1 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historynaturalph00gran/page/n289 274]–322 |chapter=Transformation of medieval natural philosophy from the early period modern period to the end of the nineteenth century |url-access=limited}}</ref> The [[scientific method]] soon played a greater role in knowledge creation and in the [[19th century in science|19th century]] many of the [[Institutionalisation|institutional]] and [[Professionalization|professional]] features of science began to take shape,<ref>{{cite book |title=From Natural Philosophy to the Sciences: Writing the History of Nineteenth-Century Science |year=2003 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-08928-7 |editor1-last=Cahan |editor1-first=David}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lightman |first1=Bernard |title=Wrestling with Nature: From Omens to Science |year=2011 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-31783-0 |editor1-last=Shank |editor1-first=Michael |page=367 |chapter=13. Science and the Public |editor2-last=Numbers |editor2-first=Ronald |editor3-last=Harrison |editor3-first=Peter}}</ref> along with the changing of "natural philosophy" to "natural science".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Harrison |first1=Peter |title=The Territories of Science and Religion |year=2015 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-18451-7 |pages=164–165 |quote=The changing character of those engaged in scientific endeavors was matched by a new nomenclature for their endeavors. The most conspicuous marker of this change was the replacement of "natural philosophy" by "natural science". In 1800 few had spoken of the "natural sciences" but by 1880 this expression had overtaken the traditional label "natural philosophy". The persistence of "natural philosophy" in the twentieth century is owing largely to historical references to a past practice (see figure 11). As should now be apparent, this was not simply the substitution of one term by another, but involved the jettisoning of a range of personal qualities relating to the conduct of philosophy and the living of the philosophical life. |author-link1=Peter Harrison (historian)}}</ref>

New knowledge in science is advanced by research from scientists who are motivated by curiosity about the world and a desire to solve problems.<ref>{{cite book |last=MacRitchie |first=Finlay |url=https://www.routledge.com/Scientific-Research-as-a-Career/MacRitchie/p/book/9781439869659 |title=Scientific Research as a Career |publisher=Routledge |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4398-6965-9 |location=New York |pages=1–6 |chapter=Introduction |access-date=5 May 2021 |archive-date=5 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505074020/https://www.routledge.com/Scientific-Research-as-a-Career/MacRitchie/p/book/9781439869659 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Marder |first=Michael P. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/research-methods-for-science/1C04E5D747781B68C52A79EE86BF584B |title=Research Methods for Science |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-521-14584-8 |location=New York |pages=1–17 |chapter=Curiosity and research |access-date=5 May 2021 |archive-date=5 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505001547/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/research-methods-for-science/1C04E5D747781B68C52A79EE86BF584B |url-status=live }}</ref> Contemporary scientific research is highly collaborative and is usually done by teams in academic and [[research institutions]],<ref>{{cite book |last=de Ridder |first=Jeroen |url=https://www.routledge.com/What-is-Scientific-Knowledge-An-Introduction-to-Contemporary-Epistemology/McCain-Kampourakis/p/book/9781138570153 |title=What is Scientific Knowledge? An Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology of Science |publisher=Routledge |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-138-57016-0 |editor-last1=McCain |editor-first1=Kevin |location=New York |pages=3–17 |chapter=How many scientists does it take to have knowledge? |access-date=5 May 2021 |editor-last2=Kampourakis |editor-first2=Kostas |archive-date=5 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505044353/https://www.routledge.com/What-is-Scientific-Knowledge-An-Introduction-to-Contemporary-Epistemology/McCain-Kampourakis/p/book/9781138570153 |url-status=live }}</ref> government agencies,<ref name="Lindberg 2007 163–192"/> and companies.<ref>{{cite book |last=Szycher |first=Michael |url=https://www.routledge.com/Commercialization-Secrets-for-Scientists-and-Engineers/Szycher/p/book/9781498730600 |title=Commercialization Secrets for Scientists and Engineers |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-138-40741-1 |location=New York |pages=159–176 |chapter=Establishing your dream team |access-date=5 May 2021 |archive-date=18 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818032914/https://www.routledge.com/Commercialization-Secrets-for-Scientists-and-Engineers/Szycher/p/book/9781498730600 |url-status=live }}</ref> The practical impact of their work has led to the emergence of [[Science policy|science policies]] that seek to influence the scientific enterprise by prioritising the [[Responsible Research and Innovation|ethical and moral development]] of commercial products, armaments, health care, public infrastructure, and [[environmental protection]].