Saturday, January 19, 2008


In science, the term natural science refers to a rational approach to the study of the universe, which is understood as obeying rules or laws of natural origin. The term natural science is also used to distinguish those fields that use the scientific method to study nature from the social sciences, which use the scientific method to study human behavior and society, and from the formal sciences, such as mathematics and logic, which use a different methodology.

Overview
According to a famous 1923 textbook Thermodynamics – and the Free Energy of Chemical Substances by the American chemist Gilbert N. Lewis and the American physical chemist Merle Randall, the natural sciences contain three great branches:
Aside from the logical and mathematical sciences, there are three great branches of natural science which stand apart by reason of the variety of far reaching deductions drawn from a small number of primary postulates – they are the mechanics, electrodynamics, and thermodynamics.

A narrower view
Prior to the 17th century, the objective study of nature was known as natural philosophy. Over the next two centuries, however, a philosophical interpretation of nature was gradually replaced by a scientific approach using inductive methodology. The works of Sir Francis Bacon popularized this approach, thereby helping to forge the scientific revolution.
By the 19th century the study of science had come into the purview of professionals and institutions, and in so doing it gradually acquired the more modern name of natural science. The term scientist was coined by William Whewell in an 1834 review of Mary Somerville's On the Connexion of the Sciences. However the word did not enter general use until nearly the end of the same century.

Natural science History

Natural science Disciplines of natural sciences

Main article: Astronomy Astronomy

Main article: Biology Biology

Main article: Chemistry Chemistry

Main article: Earth science Cross-disciplines

List of academic disciplines
Nature

  • Natural history
    Natural philosophy, the precursor of the physical sciences, but especially physics.
    Science

    • Fields of science

      • Natural sciences

        • Natural Sciences (Durham) - Natural Sciences programme at the University of Durham, UK
          Natural Sciences Tripos University of Cambridge, UK
          Behavioral sciences
          Social sciences
          History of science
          History of technology

No comments: