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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of
testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe.[1][2] Modern science is typically
divided into two or three major branches:[3] the natural sciences (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.[4][5] Applied sciences are disciplines that use scientific knowledge for practical
purposes, such as engineering and medicine.[6][7][8] While sometimes referred to as
the formal sciences, the study of logic, mathematics, and theoretical computer
science (which study formal systems governed by axioms and rules)[9][10] are typically
regarded as separate because they rely on deductive reasoning instead of the scientific
method or empirical evidence as their main methodology.[11][12][13][14]

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 Egypt and Mesopotamia (c. 3000–1200 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.[15]: 12 [16][17][18] Scientific research deteriorated in these
regions after the fall of the Western Roman Empire during the Early Middle Ages (400–
1000 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,[19] Later, 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 Greek works and Islamic inquiries into Western
Europe from the 10th to 13th centuries revived natural philosophy,[20][21][22] which was later
transformed by the Scientific Revolution that began in the 16th century[23] as new ideas
and discoveries departed from previous Greek conceptions and traditions.[24]
[25]
The scientific method soon played a greater role in knowledge creation and in
the 19th century many of the institutional and professional features of science began to
take shape,[26][27] along with the changing of "natural philosophy" to "natural science".[28]

New knowledge in science is advanced by research from scientists who are motivated
by curiosity about the world and a desire to solve problems.[29][30] Contemporary scientific
research is highly collaborative and is usually done by teams in academic and research
institutions,[31] government agencies,[32] and companies.[33] The practical impact of their
work has led to the emergence of science policies that seek to influence the scientific
enterprise by prioritising the ethical and moral development of commercial products,
armaments, health care, public infrastructure, and environmental protection.

Etymology
The word science has been used in Middle English since the 14th century in the sense
of "the state of knowing". The word was borrowed from the Anglo-Norman language as
the suffix -cience, which was borrowed from the Latin word scientia, meaning
"knowledge, awareness, understanding", a noun derivative of sciens meaning
"knowing", itself the present active participle of sciō, "to know".[34]

There are many hypotheses for science's ultimate word origin. According to Michiel de
Vaan, Dutch linguist and Indo-Europeanist, sciō may have its origin in the Proto-Italic
language as *skije- or *skijo- meaning "to know", which may originate from Proto-Indo-
European language as *skh1-ie, *skh1-io, meaning "to incise". The Lexikon der
indogermanischen Verben proposed sciō is a back-formation of nescīre, meaning "to
not know, be unfamiliar with", which may derive from Proto-Indo-European *sekH- in
Latin secāre, or *skh2-, from *sḱʰeh2(i)- meaning "to cut".[35]