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Science is a rigorous, systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the world. Modern science is typically divided into three major branches: natural sciences (e.g., physics, chemistry, and biology), which study the physical world; the social sciences (e.g., economics, psychology, and sociology), which study individuals and societies; and the formal sciences (e.g., logic, mathematics, and theoretical computer science), which study formal systems, governed by axioms and rules. There is disagreement whether the formal sciences are science disciplines, because they do not rely on empirical evidence. Applied sciences are disciplines that use scientific knowledge for practical purposes, such as in engineering and medicine.

The history of scientific discipline spans the majority of the historical record, with the earliest written records of identifiable predecessors to modern science dating to Bronze Age Egypt and Mesopotamia from around 3000 to 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. Scientific research deteriorated in these regions after the fall of the Western Roman Empire during the early middle ages (400 to 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 and later by the efforts of Byzantine Greek scholars who brought Greek manuscripts from the dying Byzantine Empire to Western Europe in the Renaissance.

The recovery and assimilation of Greek works and Islamic inquiries into Western Europe from the 10th to 13th century revived "natural philosophy", which was later transformed by the Scientific Revolution that began in the 16th century as new ideas and discoveries departed from previous Greek conceptions and traditions. The scientific method soon played a greater role in knowledge creation and it was not until the 19th century that many of the institutional and professional features of science began to take shape, along with the changing of "natural philosophy" to "natural science".

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

Here is the brief Outline of Science:

Science
Formal science Empirical science
Natural science Social science
Foundation Logic, pure mathematics Physics, chemistry, biology, Earth science, astronomy Economics, political science, sociology, psychology
Application Computer science, statistics, applied mathematics Engineering, medicine, agricultural science, pharmacy Business administration, law, anthropology, archaeology
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Selected image

A Persian astrolabe, used for determining the time at both day and night.
A Persian astrolabe, used for determining the time at both day and night.
An 18th Century Persian astrolabe used for determining the time at both day and night. The points of the curved spikes on the front rete plate mark the positions of the brightest stars, the name of each star being labeled at the base of each spike. The back plate, or mater, is engraved with projected coordinate lines. From the Whipple Museum of the History of Science collection.

Selected biography

Brian Greene
Brian Greene (born February 9, 1963, New York), is a physicist at Columbia University. His book The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction, and winner of The Aventis Prizes for Science Books in 2000. The Elegant Universe was later made into a PBS television special with Dr. Greene as the narrator. His second book, The Fabric of the Cosmos (2004), is about space, time, and the nature of the universe. Aspects covered in this book include non-local particle entanglement as he relates to special relativity and basic explanations of string theory. It is an examination of the very nature of matter and reality, covering such topics as spacetime and cosmology, origins and unification, and including an exploration into reality and the imagination.

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Science News

2 November 2023 –
Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad announces plans to sterilize 20 of 166 hippopotamuses, descendants of those imported by drug lord Pablo Escobar, and cull some others, citing environmental concerns. (AFP via ABS-CBN News)
30 October 2023 –
In a study published in Nature Geoscience, researchers suggest that solid particulates (predominantly silicate) from the Chicxulub asteroid impact played a dominant role in the radiative forcing leading to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (impact winter), contrary to the widely accepted theory that sulfur aerosols led to the mass extinction. (AFP via RFI) (Nature)
23 October 2023 – 2023 in arthropod paleontology
A new species of prehistoric millipede named Lauravolsella willemeni is discovered in the Netherlands. (NOS)
4 October 2023 –
Moungi Bawendi, Louis E. Brus, and Alexey Ekimov are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on quantum dots. (BBC News)
3 October 2023 –
Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L'Huillier are awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter. (The Guardian)
6 September 2023 – 2023 in archosaur paleontology
A dinosaur fossil, given the name Fujianvenator, is discovered in Fujian, China. The dinosaur has two legs and two other limbs, possibly wings, thereby giving insight into the evolution of birds. (NOS)

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This page was last updated at 2023-11-19 03:07 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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