History& Nature of Science

Dr Samina Naz Mukry

 Science
• ‘Science’ originates from the Latin word ‘scientia”, which means “to have
knowledge”.
• It can be generally considered as a process dedicated to the accumulation
and classification of observable facts in order to formulate general laws
about the natural world.
• Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in
the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
• It can be defined as the methodological approach to study natural world.
• It has different components and it is subdivided into natural science which
studies material world, social science, and formal science like mathematics.
The applied science includes engineering and medical sciences among
many other such branches.
 Objective of Science
• To understand the functional role of nature and explain it in a
complete form.
• To provide knowledge of the laws of nature after verifying them by
experiments.
• To control nature by the applications of results of experiments
performed through keen observation.
• To improve and make human life easier by the use of available natural
resources and solving the problems.
• To eradicate superstitions (false notions) prevailing in the society.
 History of Science
Early History
• Science has no single origin. Rather, systematic methods emerged gradually over
the course of tens of thousands of years, taking different forms around the world,
and few details are known about the very earliest developments.
• Women likely played a central role in prehistoric science, as did religious rituals.
• Some scholars use the term "protoscience" to label activities in the past that
resemble modern science in some but not all features; however, this label has
also been criticized as denigrating or too suggestive of presentism, thinking about
those activities only in relation to modern categories.
• Egyptians used moldy bread to heal wounds and poppy seeds to relieve pain.
 Classical Antiquity
• In classical antiquity, there is no real ancient analog of a modern
scientist. Instead, well-educated, usually upper-class, and almost
universally male individuals performed various investigations into
nature whenever they could afford the time.
• Before the invention or discovery of the concept of phusis or nature
by the pre-Socratic philosophers, the same words tend to be used to
describe the natural "way" in which a plant grows, and the "way" in
which, for example, one tribe worships a particular god.
• For this reason, it is claimed that these men were the first
philosophers in the strict sense and the first to clearly distinguish
"nature" and "convention".
 Middle Ages
• Due to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the 5th century
saw an intellectual decline and knowledge of Greek conceptions of the
world deteriorated in Western Europe.
• During the period, Latin encyclopedists such as Isidore of Seville
preserved the majority of general ancient knowledge.
• In contrast, because the Byzantine Empire resisted attacks from
invaders, they were able to preserve and improve prior learning.
Isidore’s criticism served as an inspiration to medieval scholars and
Galileo Galilei, who extensively cited his works ten centuries later.
Age of Enlightenment
• At the start of the Age of Enlightenment, Isaac Newton formed the
foundation of classical mechanics by his ‘Philosophiæ Naturalis
Principia Mathematica’, greatly influencing future physicists.
• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz incorporated terms from Aristotelian
physics, now used in a new non-teleological way.
Nineteenth Century
• During the nineteenth century, many distinguishing characteristics of
contemporary modern science began to take shape. These included
the transformation of the life and physical sciences, frequent use of
precision instruments, emergence of terms such as "biologist",
"physicist",
20th Century
• In the first half of the century, the development of antibiotics and artificial fertilizers improved
human living standards globally.
• Harmful environmental issues such as ozone depletion, ocean acidification, eutrophication and
climate change came to the public's attention and caused the onset of environmental studies.
21st Century
• The Human Genome Project was completed in 2003 by identifying and mapping all of the genes
of the human genome.
• With the affirmation of the Higgs boson discovery in 2013, the last particle predicted by the
Standard Model of particle physics was found.
• In 2015, gravitational waves, predicted by general relativity a century before, were first observed.
• In 2019, the international collaboration Event Horizon Telescope presented the first direct image
of a black hole's accretion disk.
 Science as a subject
• During the 15th and 16th centuries, scientific researchers in the realm of
science started the vogue of teaching science, in the 17th-century science
was taught to children in place of mere theoretical and academic learning
to achieve effective, complete and well adjustive living in the ever-changing
circumstances and situations of society.
• One to industrial Revolution of 18th century and under the impact of
newer scientific inventions and researchers in technology, human life-
changing to new patterns of beliefs and behaviors as individual and social
beings. The modern age is the age of science. Today Scientific inventions
and researchers are being made with such a fast speed that their
knowledge needs complete knowledge of science. Thus science has
become an integral part of human life. All our means of communications,
radio, television, food craters, cloths and medicines depends on the
development of science.
 Nature of Science
1. Science as body of knowledge
Science has been characterized as a body of knowledge obtained by
scientists. This body of knowledge includes facts, concepts, theories that are
subject to error and change.
• Various types of scientific knowledge exist in the form of:- a) Facts
b)Concepts, principles and laws c)Hypothesis and theories
2. Science is a dynamic body, not static
Science is a dynamic body as it is always in search of truth and scientific truth
can never be taken as absolutely and permanently true. Scientific
information is constantly being re-arranged and re- oriented in the light of
the latest developments.
3. Science is a process as well as product
Science as a process covers all the methods, all the ways facts are established.
The process involves the following activities
a.Steps to accomplish a task
b.Ways of doing work
c.Planning various stages of an activity
d.Establishing systematic steps for gathering and retaining information
4. Scientific knowledge is durable
Although scientist rejects the idea of attaining absolute truth and accept
some uncertainty as part of nature, most scientific knowledge is durable.
Continuity and stability are as characteristics of science as change is and
confidence is as prevalent as tentativeness.
5. Science is based on scientific methodology
The very nature of science involves a particularly methodical approach
towards it. These methods are observation and enquiry.
6. Scientific knowledge is based on inquiry
The exchange of techniques, information and concepts goes on all the time
among scientists and there is a common understanding among them about
what constitutes an investigation that is scientifically valid.
7. Scientific knowledge based on evidence
The validity of scientific claims is settled by referring to the observation of
phenomena. Hence, Scientists concentrate on getting “ Accurate data”, such
evidence is obtained by observation and measurements taken in situations that
range from natural settings to completely artificial ones.
8. Science is a blend of logic and imagination
Although all sorts of imagination and thought may be used in coming up with
hypotheses and theories, sooner or later scientific arguments must conform to
the principle of logical reasoning
9. Science explains and also predicts It is not enough for a scientific theory to
fit only the observations that are already known but theories also should fit
additional observation that was not used in formulating the theories in the first
place. i.e theories should have predictive power
Conclusion

“Science is ever- changing, ever growing

body of knowledge and the process of
acquiring and refining knowledge”
“It is an organized commonsense”