2. CONTENT
1.INTRODUCTION
2.OBJECTIVE
3.HISTORY OF SCIENCE
• Early History
• Classical Antiquity
• Middle ages
• Age of Enlightenment
• 19th century
• 20th Century
• 21st Century
3.NATURE OF SCIENCE
• Introduction
• Characteristics
4.CONCLUSION
5.REFERENCES
3.
4. SCIENCE
INTRODUCTION
The word ‘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.
5. OBJECTIVE
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.
6. HISTORY OF SCIENCE
1. 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.
The Plimpton 322 tablet by
the Babylonians records Pythag
orean triples, written in about
1800 BCE.
7. HISTORY OF SCIENCE
2. 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".
Plato's Academy mosaic,
made between 100 BCE to
79 AD, shows many Greek
philosophers and scholars
8. HISTORY OF SCIENCE
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. His criticism served as an inspiration to medieval
scholars and Galileo Galilei, who extensively cited his works
ten centuries later.
The first page of Vienna
Dioscurides depicts
a peacock, made in the 6th
century.
3. Middle Ages
9. 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.
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", "scientist“.
HISTORY OF SCIENCE
4. Age of Enlightenment
5. 19th Century
The first diagram of
an evolutionary tree made
by Charles Darwin in 1837
10. HISTORY OF SCIENCE
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.
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.
5. 20th Century
6. 21st Century
Radio light image of M87*
black hole,
11. NATURE OF SCIENCE
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.
INTRODUCTION
12. NATURE OF SCIENCE
CHARACTERISTICS
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.
13. NATURE OF SCIENCE
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.
14. NATURE OF SCIENCE
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
15. CONCLUSION
Discussion on place of science in our ancient literature will help you in developing a sense of
pride among our learners towards rich Indian scientific contribution. Science moves but slowly,
steadily, creeping on from one point to another but actually the progress has been rapid.
Thus science is ever- changing, ever growing body of knowledge and the process of acquiring
and refining knowledge. It is an organized commonsense.