History of science

Science is a body of empirical, theoretical, and practical knowledge about the natural
world, produced by a global community of researchers making use of scientific
methods, which emphasize the observation, experimentation and explanation of real
world phenomena. Given the dual status of science as objective knowledge and as a
human construct, good historiography of science draws on the historical methods of
both intellectual history and social history.

Tracing the exact origins of modern science is possible through the many important
texts which have survived from the classical world. However, the word scientist is
relatively recent—first coined by William Whewell in the 19th century. Previously,
people investigating nature called themselves natural philosophers.
While empirical investigations of the natural world have been described since antiquity
(for example, by Aristotle, Theophrastus and Pliny the Elder), and scientific methods
have been employed since the Middle Ages (for example, by Ibn al-Haytham, Abū
Rayhān al-Bīrūnī and Roger Bacon), the dawn of modern science is generally traced
back to the early modern period, during what is known as the Scientific Revolution of
the 16th and 17th centuries.

Scientific methods are considered to be so fundamental to modern science that some —

especially philosophers of science and practicing scientists — consider earlier inquiries
into nature to be pre-scientific. Traditionally, historians of science have defined science
sufficiently broadly to include those inquiries.
Early cultures
In prehistoric times, advice and knowledge was passed from generation to generation in
an oral tradition. The development of writing enabled knowledge to be stored and
communicated across generations with much greater fidelity. Combined with the
development of agriculture, which allowed for a surplus of food, it became possible for
early civilizations to develop, because more time could be devoted to tasks other than
survival.

Many ancient civilizations collected astronomical information in a systematic manner

through simple observation. Though they had no knowledge of the real physical
structure of the planets and stars, many theoretical explanations were proposed. Basic
facts about human physiology were known in some places, and alchemy was practiced
in several civilizations. Considerable observation of macrobiotic flora and fauna was
also performed.

Science in the Fertile Crescent

From their beginnings in Sumer (now Iraq) around 3500 BC the Mesopotamian peoples
began to attempt to record some observations of the world with extremely thorough
quantitative and numerical data. But their observations and measurements were
seemingly taken for purposes other than for scientific laws. A concrete instance of
Pythagoras' law was recorded, as early as the 18th century BC: the Mesopotamian
cuneiform tablet Plimpton 322 records a number of Pythagorean triplets (3,4,5)
(5,12,13). ..., dated 1900 BC, possibly millennia before Pythagoras, [2] but an abstract
formulation of the Pythagorean theorem was not.[2]
Significant advances in Ancient Egypt include astronomy, mathematics and medicine.[3]
Their geometry was a necessary outgrowth of surveying to preserve the layout and
ownership of farmland, which was flooded annually by the Nile river. The 3,4,5 right
triangle and other rules of thumb served to represent rectilinear structures, and the post
and lintel architecture of Egypt. Egypt was also a center of alchemy research for much
of the Mediterranean.

Science in the Greco-Roman world

Plato and Aristotle. The School of Athens (1509).

In Classical Antiquity, the inquiry into the workings of the universe took place both in
investigations aimed at such practical goals as establishing a reliable calendar or
determining how to cure a variety of illnesses and in those abstract investigations
known as natural philosophy. The ancient people who are considered the first scientists
may have thought of themselves as natural philosophers, as practitioners of a skilled
profession (for example, physicians), or as followers of a religious tradition (for
example, temple healers).

The earliest Greek philosophers, known as the pre-Socratics, provided competing

answers to the question found in the myths of their neighbors: "How did the ordered
cosmos in which we live come to be?"[4] The pre-Socratic philosopher Thales, dubbed
the "father of science", was the first to postulate non-supernatural explanations for
natural phenomena such as lightning and earthquakes. Pythagoras of Samos founded the
Pythagorean school, which investigated mathematics for its own sake, and was the first
to postulate that the Earth is spherical in shape. Subsequently, Plato and Aristotle
produced the first systematic discussions of natural philosophy, which did much to
shape later investigations of nature. Their development of deductive reasoning was of
particular importance and usefulness to later scientific inquiry.

The important legacy of this period included substantial advances in factual knowledge,
especially in anatomy, zoology, botany, mineralogy, geography, mathematics and
astronomy; an awareness of the importance of certain scientific problems, especially
those related to the problem of change and its causes; and a recognition of the
methodological importance of applying mathematics to natural phenomena and of
undertaking empirical research.[5] In the Hellenistic age scholars frequently employed
the principles developed in earlier Greek thought: the application of mathematics and
deliberate empirical research, in their scientific investigations.[6] Thus, clear unbroken
lines of influence lead from ancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophers, to medieval
Muslim philosophers and scientists, to the European Renaissance and Enlightenment, to
the secular sciences of the modern day. Neither reason nor inquiry began with the
Ancient Greeks, but the Socratic method did, along with the idea of Forms, great
advances in geometry, logic, and the natural sciences. Benjamin Farrington, former
Professor of Classics at Swansea University wrote:
"Men were weighing for thousands of years before Archimedes worked out the laws of
equilibrium; they must have had practical and intuitional knowledge of the principles
involved. What Archimedes did was to sort out the theoretical implications of this
practical knowledge and present the resulting body of knowledge as a logically coherent
system."
and again:
"With astonishment we find ourselves on the threshold of modern science. Nor should it
be supposed that by some trick of translation the extracts have been given an air of
modernity. Far from it. The vocabulary of these writings and their style are the source
from which our own vocabulary and style have been derived."[7]

Schematic of the antikythera mechanism

The level of achievement in Hellenistic astronomy and engineering is impressively

shown by the Antikythera mechanism (150-100 BC). The astronomer Aristarchus of
Samos was the first known person to propose a heliocentric model of the solar system,
while the geographer Eratosthenes accurately calculated the circumference of the Earth.
Hipparchus (ca. 190 – ca. 120 BC) produced the first systematic star catalog. In
medicine, Herophilos (335 - 280 BC) was the first to base his conclusions on dissection
of the human body and to describe the nervous system. Hippocrates (ca. 460 BC – ca.
370 BC) and his followers were first to describe many diseases and medical conditions.
Galen (129 – ca. 200 AD) performed many audacious operations—including brain and
eye surgeries— that were not tried again for almost two millennia. The mathematician
Euclid laid down the foundations of mathematical rigor and introduced the concepts of
definition, axiom, theorem and proof still in use today in his Elements, considered the
most influential textbook ever written.[8] Archimedes, considered one of the greatest
mathematicians of all time,[9] is credited with using the method of exhaustion to
calculate the area under the arc of a parabola with the summation of an infinite series,
and gave a remarkably accurate approximation of Pi.[10] He is also known in physics for
laying the foundations of hydrostatics and the explanation of the principle of the lever.
Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19th Century portrait

Theophrastus wrote some of the earliest descriptions of plants and animals, establishing
the first taxonomy and looking at minerals in terms of their properties such as hardness.
Pliny the Elder produced what is one of the largest encyclopedias of the natural world in
77 AD, and must be regarded as the rightful successor to Theophrastus.

octahedral shape of diamond.

For example, he accurately describes the octahedral shape of the diamond, and proceeds
to mention that diamond dust is used by engravers to cut and polish other gems owing
to its great hardness. His recognition of the importance of crystal shape is a precursor to
modern crystallography, while mention of numerous other minerals presages
mineralogy. He also recognises that other minerals have characteristic crystal shapes,
but in one example, confuses the crystal habit with the work of lapidaries. He was also
the first to recognise that amber was a fossilized resin from pine trees because he had
seen samples with trapped insects within them.

Science in India
Indian philosophers in ancient India developed atomic theories, which included
formulating ideas about the atom in a systematic manner and propounding ideas about
the atomic constitution of the material world. The principle of relativity was also
available in an early embryonic form in the Indian philosophical concept of
"sapekshavad". The literal translation of this Sanskrit word is "theory of relativity" (not
to be confused with Einstein's theory of relativity). The wootz, crucible and stainless
steels were invented in India, and were widely exported, resulting in "Damascus steel"
by the year 1000.[11]

The Hindus excel in the manufacture of iron, and in the preparations of those
ingredients along with which it is fused to obtain that kind of soft iron which is usually
styled Indian steel (Hindiah). They also have workshops wherein are forged the most
famous sabres in the world.[12]
Ancient India was an early leader in metallurgy, as evidenced by the wrought iron
Pillar of Delhi.

Indian astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata (476-550), in his Aryabhatiya (499)

and Aryabhata Siddhanta, worked out an accurate heliocentric model of gravitation,
including elliptical orbits, the circumference of the earth, and the longitudes of planets
around the Sun. He also introduced a number of trigonometric functions (including sine,
versine, cosine and inverse sine), trigonometric tables, and techniques and algorithms of
algebra. In the 7th century, Brahmagupta recognized gravity as a force of attraction.[13]
He also lucidly explained the use of zero as both a placeholder and a decimal digit,
along with the Hindu-Arabic numeral system now used universally throughout the
world. Arabic translations of the two astronomers' texts were soon available in the
Islamic world, introducing what would become Arabic numerals to the Islamic World
by the 9th century.[14][15]

The first 12 chapters of the Siddhanta Shiromani, written by Bhāskara in the 12th
century, cover topics such as: mean longitudes of the planets; true longitudes of the
planets; the three problems of diurnal rotation; syzygies; lunar eclipses; solar eclipses;
latitudes of the planets; risings and settings; the moon's crescent; conjunctions of the
planets with each other; conjunctions of the planets with the fixed stars; and the patas of
the sun and moon. The 13 chapters of the second part cover the nature of the sphere, as
well as significant astronomical and trigometric calculations based on it.

During the 14th-16th centuries, the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics made
significant advances in astronomy and especially mathematics, including fields such as
trigonometry and calculus. In particular, Madhava of Sangamagrama is considered the
"founder of mathematical analysis".[16]
Science in China

Chinese gunpowder used during the Mongol Invasions of Japan, 1281.

China has a long and rich history of technological contribution. The Four Great
Inventions of ancient China' (Chinese: 四 大 發 明 ; Pinyin: Sì dà fā míng) are the
compass, gunpowder, papermaking, and printing. These four discoveries had an
enormous impact on the development of Chinese civilization and a far-ranging global
impact. According to English philosopher Francis Bacon, writing in Novum Organum,
Printing, gunpowder and the compass: These three have changed the whole face and
state of things throughout the world; the first in literature, the second in warfare, the
third in navigation; whence have followed innumerable changes, in so much that no
empire, no sect, no star seems to have exerted greater power and influence in human
affairs than these mechanical discoveries." [17]

There are many notable contributors to the field of Chinese science throughout the ages.
One of the best examples would be Shen Kuo (1031–1095), a polymath scientist and
statesman who was the first to describe the magnetic-needle compass used for
navigation, discovered the concept of true north, improved the design of the
astronomical gnomon, armillary sphere, sight tube, and clepsydra, and described the use
of drydocks to repair boats. After observing the natural process of the inundation of silt
and the find of marine fossils in the Taihang Mountains (hundreds of miles from the
Pacific Ocean), Shen Kuo devised a theory of land formation, or geomorphology. He
also adopted a theory of gradual climate change in regions over time, after observing
petrified bamboo found underground at Yan'an, Shaanxi province. If not for Shen Kuo's
writing, the architectural works of Yu Hao would be little known, along with the
inventor of movable type printing, Bi Sheng (990-1051). Shen's contemporary Su Song
(1020–1101) was also a brilliant polymath, an astronomer who created a celestial atlas
of star maps, wrote a pharmaceutical treatise with related subjects of botany, zoology,
mineralogy, and metallurgy, and had erected a large astronomical clocktower in Kaifeng
city in 1088. To operate the crowning armillary sphere, his clocktower featured an
escapement mechanism and the world's oldest known use of an endless power-
transmitting chain drive.
One of the star maps from Su Song's Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao published in 1092, featuring a
cylindrical projection similar to Mercator projection and the corrected position of the
pole star thanks to Shen Kuo's astronomical observations.[18] Su Song's celestial atlas of
5 star maps is actually the oldest in printed form.[19]

The Jesuit China missions of the 16th and 17th centuries "learned to appreciate the
scientific achievements of this ancient culture and made them known in Europe.
Through their correspondence European scientists first learned about the Chinese
science and culture."[20] Western academic thought on the history of Chinese technology
and science was galvanized by the work of Joseph Needham and the Needham Research
Institute. Among the technological accomplishments of China were, according to the
British scholar Needham, early seismological detectors (Zhang Heng in the 2nd
century), the water-powered celestial globe (Zhang Heng), matches, the independent
invention of the decimal system, dry docks, sliding calipers, the double-action piston
pump, cast iron, the blast furnace, the iron plough, the multi-tube seed drill, the
wheelbarrow, the suspension bridge, the winnowing machine, the rotary fan, the
parachute, natural gas as fuel, the raised-relief map, the propeller, the crossbow, and a
solid fuel rocket, the multistage rocket, the horse collar, along with contributions in
logic, astronomy, medicine, and other fields.

However, cultural factors prevented these Chinese achievements from developing into
what could be called "science".[21] According to Needham, it was the religious and
philosophical framework of the Chinese intellectuals which made them unable to
believe in the ideas of laws of nature:
It was not that there was no order in nature for the Chinese, but rather that it was not an
order ordained by a rational personal being, and hence there was no conviction that
rational personal beings would be able to spell out in their lesser earthly languages the
divine code of laws which he had decreed aforetime. The Taoists, indeed, would have
scorned such an idea as being too naïve for the subtlety and complexity of the universe
as they intuited it.

Science in the Middle Ages

With the division of the Empire, the Western Roman Empire lost contact with much of
its past. The Library of Alexandria, which had suffered since it fell under Roman rule,[23]
had been destroyed by 642, shortly after the Arab conquest of Egypt.[24][25] While the
Byzantine Empire still held learning centers such as Constantinople, Western Europe's
knowledge was concentrated in monasteries until the development of medieval
universities in the 12th and 13th centuries. The curriculum of monastic schools included
the study of the few available ancient texts and of new works on practical subjects like
medicine[26] and timekeeping.[27]
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, Greek philosophy was able to find some support under
the newly created Arab Empire. With the spread of Islam in the 7th and 8th centuries, a
period of Muslim scholarship, known as the Islamic Golden Age, lasted until the 14th
century. This scholarship was aided by several factors. The use of a single language,
Arabic, allowed communication without need of a translator. Access to Greek and Latin
texts from the Byzantine Empire along with Indian sources of learning provided Muslim
scholars a knowledge base to build upon. In addition, there was the Hajj, which
facilitated scholarly collaboration by bringing together people and new ideas from all
over the Muslim world.

Science in the Islamic world

15th century manuscript of Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine.

Muslim scientists placed far greater emphasis on experiment than had the Greeks.[28]
This led to an early scientific method being developed in the Muslim world, where
significant progress in methodology was made, beginning with the experiments of Ibn
al-Haytham (Alhazen) on optics from circa 1000, in his Book of Optics.[29] The most
important development of the scientific method was the use of experiments to
distinguish between competing scientific theories set within a generally empirical
orientation, which began among Muslim scientists. Ibn al-Haytham is also regarded as
the father of optics, especially for his empirical proof of the intromission theory of light.
Some have also described Ibn al-Haytham as the "first scientist" for his development of
the modern scientific method.[30]

Rosanna Gorini writes:

"According to the majority of the historians al-Haytham was the pioneer of the modern
scientific method. With his book he changed the meaning of the term optics and
established experiments as the norm of proof in the field. His investigations are based
not on abstract theories, but on experimental evidences and his experiments were
systematic and repeatable.”

Due to the development of the modern scientific method, Robert Briffault wrote in The
Making of Humanity:
"What we call science arose as a result of new methods of experiment, observation, and
measurement, which were introduced into Europe by the Arabs. [...] Science is the most
momentous contribution of Arab civilization to the modern world, but its fruits were
slow in ripening. [...] The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in
startling discoveries or revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab
culture, it owes its existence....The ancient world was, as we saw, pre-scientific. [...]
The Greeks systematized, generalized and theorized, but the patient ways of
investigations, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods of science,
detailed and prolonged observation and experimental inquiry were altogether alien to
the Greek temperament.”

In mathematics, the Persian mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi gave

his name to the concept of the algorithm, while the term algebra is derived from al-jabr,
the beginning of the title of one of his publications. What is now known as Arabic
numerals originally came from India, but Muslim mathematicians did make several
refinements to the number system, such as the introduction of decimal point notation.
Sabian mathematician Al-Battani (850-929) contributed to astronomy and mathematics,
while Persian scholar Al-Razi contributed to chemistry and medicine.

In astronomy, Al-Battani improved the measurements of Hipparchus, preserved in the

translation of Ptolemy's Hè Megalè Syntaxis (The great treatise) translated as Almagest.
Al-Battani also improved the precision of the measurement of the precession of the
earth's axis. The corrections made to the geocentric model by al-Battani, Ibn al-
Haytham,[32] Averroes and the Maragha astronomers such as Nasir al-Din al-Tusi,
Mo'ayyeduddin Urdi and Ibn al-Shatir were later incorporated into the Copernican
heliocentric model.[33][34] Heliocentric theories may have also been discussed by several
other Muslim astronomers such as Ja'far ibn Muhammad Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi,[35]
Abu-Rayhan Biruni, Abu Said al-Sijzi,[36] Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi, and 'Umar al-Katibi
al-Qazwini.[37]

Muslim chemists and alchemists played an important role in the foundation of modern
chemistry. Scholars such as Will Durant[38] and Fielding H. Garrison[39] considered
Muslim chemists to be the founders of chemistry. In particular, Geber is "considered by
many to be the father of chemistry".[40][41] The works of Arabic scientists influenced
Roger Bacon (who introduced the empirical method to Europe, strongly influenced by
his reading of Arabic writers),[42] and later Isaac Newton.[43]

Some of the other famous scientists from the Islamic world include al-Farabi
(polymath), Abu al-Qasim (pioneer of surgery),[44] Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī (pioneer of
Indology,[45] geodesy and anthropology),[46] Avicenna (pioneer of momentum[47] and
medicine),[48] Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī (polymath), and Ibn Khaldun (forerunner of social
sciences[49] such as demography,[50] cultural history,[51] historiography,[52] philosophy of
history and sociology),[53] among many others.

Science in Medieval Europe

Map of Medieval Universities

An intellectual revitalization of Europe started with the birth of medieval universities in
the 12th century. The contact with the Islamic world in Spain and Sicily, and during the
Reconquista and the Crusades, allowed Europeans access to scientific Greek and Arabic
texts, including the works of Aristotle, Ptolemy, Geber, al-Khwarizmi, Alhazen,
Avicenna, and Averroes. European scholars like Michael Scotus would learn Arabic in
order to study these texts. The European universities aided materially in the translation
and propagation of these texts and started a new infrastructure which was needed for
scientific communities. As well as this, Europeans began to venture further and further
east (most notably, perhaps, Marco Polo) as a result of the Pax Mongolica. This led to
the increased influence of Indian and even Chinese science on the European tradition.
Technological advances were also made, such as the early flight of Eilmer of
Malmesbury (who had studied Mathematics in 11th century England),[54] and the
metallurgical achievements of the Cistercian blast furnace at Laskill.[55][21][56]

Statue of Roger Bacon in the Oxford University Museum

At the beginning of the 13th century there were reasonably accurate Latin translations
of the main works of almost all the intellectually crucial ancient authors, allowing a
sound transfer of scientific ideas via both the universities and the monasteries. By then,
the natural philosophy contained in these texts began to be extended by notable
scholastics such as Robert Grosseteste, Roger Bacon, Albertus Magnus and Duns
Scotus. Precursors of the modern scientific method, influenced by earlier contributions
of the Islamic world, can be seen already in Grosseteste's emphasis on mathematics as a
way to understand nature, and in the empirical approach admired by Bacon, particularly
in his Opus Majus. According to Pierre Duhem, the Condemnation of 1277 led to the
birth of modern science, because it forced thinkers to break from relying so much on
Aristotle, and to think about the world in new ways.[21]

The first half of the 14th century saw much important scientific work being done,
largely within the framework of scholastic commentaries on Aristotle's scientific
writings.[57] William of Ockham introduced the principle of parsimony: natural
philosophers should not postulate unnecessary entities, so that motion is not a distinct
thing but is only the moving object[58] and an intermediary "sensible species" is not
needed to transmit an image of an object to the eye.[59] Scholars such as Jean Buridan
and Nicole Oresme started to reinterpret elements of Aristotle's mechanics. In particular,
Buridan developed the theory that impetus was the cause of the motion of projectiles,
which was a first step towards the modern concept of inertia.[60] The Oxford Calculators
began to mathematically analyze the kinematics of motion, making this analysis without
considering the causes of motion.[61]
In 1348, the Black Death and other disasters sealed a sudden end to the previous period
of massive philosophic and scientific development. Yet, the rediscovery of ancient texts
was improved after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, when many Byzantine scholars
had to seek refuge in the West. Meanwhile, the introduction of printing was to have
great effect on European society. The facilitated dissemination of the printed word
democratized learning and allowed a faster propagation of new ideas. New ideas also
helped to influence the development of European science at this point: not least the
introduction of Algebra. These developments paved the way for the Scientific
Revolution, which may also be understood as a resumption of the process of scientific
change, halted at the start of the Black Death.

Early modern science

Sir Isaac Newton, initiated the field of classical mechanics in physics

The renewal of learning in Europe, that began with 12th century Scholasticism, came to
an end about the time of the Black Death, and the initial period of the subsequent Italian
Renaissance is sometimes seen as a lull in scientific activity. The Northern Renaissance,
on the other hand, showed a decisive shift in focus from Aristoteleian natural
philosophy to chemistry and the biological sciences (botany, anatomy, and medicine). [62]
Thus modern science in Europe was resumed in a period of great upheaval: the
Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation; the discovery of the
Americas by Christopher Columbus; the Fall of Constantinople; but also the re-
discovery of Aristotle during the Scholastic period presaged large social and political
changes. Thus, a suitable environment was created in which it became possible to
question scientific doctrine, in much the same way that Martin Luther and John Calvin
questioned religious doctrine. The works of Ptolemy (astronomy) and Galen (medicine)
were found not always to match everyday observations. Work by Vesalius on human
cadavers found problems with the Galenic view of anatomy.[63]

The willingness to question previously held truths and search for new answers resulted
in a period of major scientific advancements, now known as the Scientific Revolution.
The Scientific Revolution is traditionally held by most historians to have begun in 1543,
when De Revolutionibus, by the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, was first printed. The
thesis of this book was that the Earth moved around the Sun. The period culminated
with the publication of the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687 by
Isaac Newton.

Other significant scientific advances were made during this time by Galileo Galilei,
Edmond Halley, Robert Hooke, Christiaan Huygens, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler,
Gottfried Leibniz, and Blaise Pascal. In philosophy, major contributions were made by
Francis Bacon, Sir Thomas Browne, René Descartes, and Thomas Hobbes. The
scientific method was also better developed as the modern way of thinking emphasized
experimentation and reason over traditional considerations.

Age of Enlightenment

The 17th century "Age of Reason" opened the avenues to the decisive steps towards
modern science, which took place during the 18th century "Age of Enlightenment".
Directly based on the works of Newton, Descartes, Pascal and Leibniz, the way was
now clear to the development of modern mathematics, physics and technology by the
generation of Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), Leonhard Euler (1707–1783), Georges-
Louis Leclerc (1707–1788) and Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1717–1783), epitomized in
the appearance of Denis Diderot's Encyclopédie between 1751 and 1772. The impact of
this process was not limited to science and technology, but affected philosophy
(Immanuel Kant, David Hume), religion (notably with the appearance of positive
atheism, and the increasingly significant impact of science upon religion), and society
and politics in general (Adam Smith, Voltaire), the French Revolution of 1789 setting a
bloody cesura indicating the beginning of political modernity.

Modern science

Albert Einstein

The Scientific Revolution established science as the preeminent source for the growth
of knowledge. The early modern period is seen as a flowering of the Renaissance, in
what is often known as the Scientific Revolution, viewed as a foundation of modern
science. During the 19th century, the practice of science became professionalized and
institutionalized in ways which continued through the 20th century. As the role of
scientific knowledge grew in society, it became incorporated with many aspects of the
functioning of nation-states.

The history of science is marked by a chain of advances in technology and knowledge

that have always complemented each other. Technological innovations bring about new
discoveries and are bred by other discoveries which inspire new possibilities and
approaches to longstanding science issues. Investing in science and technology is
critical to ensuring prosperity and a high quality of life. Scientists are at the forefront of
the development of scientific and technological innovations. The primary objectives of
these professionals are to create and develop novel research that can be used to solve
problems for both the states' populations and individual entities like companies or other
private organizations.
Natural sciences

James Clerk Maxwell

Physics
The Scientific Revolution is a convenient boundary between ancient thought and
classical physics. Nicolaus Copernicus revived the heliocentric model of the solar
system described by Aristarchus of Samos. This was followed by the first known model
of planetary motion given by Kepler in the early 17th century, which proposed that the
planets follow elliptical orbits, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse. Galileo ("Father
of Modern Physics") also made use of experiments to validate physical theories, a key
element of the scientific method.

In 1687, Isaac Newton published the Principia Mathematica, detailing two

comprehensive and successful physical theories: Newton's laws of motion, which led to
classical mechanics; and Newton's Law of Gravitation, which describes the fundamental
force of gravity. The behavior of electricity and magnetism was studied by Faraday,
Ohm, and others during the early 19th century. These studies led to the unification of
the two phenomena into a single theory of electromagnetism, by Maxwell (known as
Maxwell's equations).

Diagram of the expanding universe

The beginning of the 20th century brought the start of a revolution in physics. The long-
held theories of Newton were shown not to be correct in all circumstances. Beginning in
1900, Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr and others developed quantum theories
to explain various anomalous experimental results, by introducing discrete energy
levels. Not only did quantum mechanics show that the laws of motion did not hold on
small scales, but even more disturbingly, the theory of general relativity, proposed by
Einstein in 1915, showed that the fixed background of spacetime, on which both
Newtonian mechanics and special relativity depended, could not exist. In 1925, Werner
Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger formulated quantum mechanics, which explained
the preceding quantum theories. The observation by Edwin Hubble in 1929 that the
speed at which galaxies recede positively correlates with their distance, led to the
understanding that the universe is expanding, and the formulation of the Big Bang
theory by Georges Lemaître.

The development of the atomic bomb ushered in the era of "Big Science" in physics.

Further developments took place during World War II, which led to the practical
application of radar and the development and use of the atomic bomb. Though the
process had begun with the invention of the cyclotron by Ernest O. Lawrence in the
1930s, physics in the postwar period entered into a phase of what historians have called
"Big Science", requiring massive machines, budgets, and laboratories in order to test
their theories and move into new frontiers. The primary patron of physics became state
governments, who recognized that the support of "basic" research could often lead to
technologies useful to both military and industrial applications. Currently, general
relativity and quantum mechanics are inconsistent with each other, and efforts are
underway to unify the two.

Chemistry
The history of modern chemistry can be taken to begin with the distinction of chemistry
from alchemy by Robert Boyle in his work The Sceptical Chymist, in 1661 (although
the alchemical tradition continued for some time after this) and the gravimetric
experimental practices of medical chemists like William Cullen, Joseph Black, Torbern
Bergman and Pierre Macquer. Another important step was made by Antoine Lavoisier
(Father of Modern Chemistry) through his recognition of oxygen and the law of
conservation of mass, which refuted phlogiston theory. The theory that all matter is
made of atoms, which are the smallest constituents of matter that cannot be broken
down without losing the basic chemical and physical properties of that matter, was
provided by John Dalton in 1803, although the question took a hundred years to settle as
proven. Dalton also formulated the law of mass relationships. In 1869, Dmitri
Mendeleev composed his periodic table of elements on the basis of Dalton's discoveries.
The synthesis of urea by Friedrich Wöhler opened a new research field, organic
chemistry, and by the end of the 19th century, scientists were able to synthesize
hundreds of organic compounds. The later part of the nineteenth century saw the
exploitation of the Earth's petrochemicals, after the exhaustion of the oil supply from
whaling. By the twentieth century, systematic production of refined materials provided
a ready supply of products which provided not only energy, but also synthetic materials
for clothing, medicine, and everyday disposable resources. Application of the
techniques of organic chemistry to living organisms resulted in physiological chemistry,
the precursor to biochemistry. The twentieth century also saw the integration of physics
and chemistry, with chemical properties explained as the result of the electronic
structure of the atom. Linus Pauling's book on The Nature of the Chemical Bond used
the principles of quantum mechanics to deduce bond angles in ever-more complicated
molecules. Pauling's work culminated in the physical modelling of DNA, the secret of
life (in the words of Francis Crick, 1953). In the same year, the Miller-Urey experiment
demonstrated in a simulation of primordial processes, that basic constituents of proteins,
simple amino acids, could themselves be built up from simpler molecules.

Geology
Geology existed as a cloud of isolated, disconnected ideas about rocks, minerals, and
landforms long before it became a coherent science. Theophrastus' work on rocks Peri
lithōn remained authoritative for millennia: its interpretation of fossils was not
overturned until after the Scientific Revolution. Chinese polymath Shen Kua (1031 -
1095) was the first to formulate hypotheses for the process of land formation. Based on
his observation of fossils in a geological stratum in a mountain hundreds of miles from
the ocean, he deduced that the land was formed by erosion of the mountains and by
deposition of silt.

Plate tectonics - seafloor spreading and continental drift illustrated on relief globe

Geology was not systematically restructured during the Scientific Revolution, but
individual theorists made important contributions. Robert Hooke, for example,
formulated theory of earthquakes, and Nicholas Steno developed the theory of
superposition and argued that fossils were the remains of once-living creatures.
Beginning with Thomas Burnet's Sacred Theory of the Earth in 1685, natural
philosophers began to explore the idea that the Earth had changed over time. Burnet and
his contemporaries interpreted Earth's past in terms of events described in the Bible, but
their work laid the intellectual foundations for secular interpretations of Earth history.
Modern geology, like modern chemistry, gradually evolved during the 1700s and early
1800s. Benoît de Maillet and the Comte de Buffon argued that Earth was much older
than the 6,000 years envisioned by biblical scholars. Jean-Étienne Guettard and Nicolas
Desmarest hiked central France and recorded their observations on some of the first
geological maps. Abraham Werner created a systematic classification scheme for rocks
and minerals--an achievement as significant for geology as that of Linnaeus was for
biology. Werner also proposed a generalized interpretation of Earth history, as did
contemporary Scottish polymath James Hutton. Georges Cuvier and Alexandre
Brongniart, expanding on the work of Steno, argued that layers of rock could be dated
by the fossils they contained: a principle first applied to the geology of the Paris Basin.
The use of index fossils became a powerful tool for making geological maps, because it
allowed geologists to correlate the rocks in one locality with those of similar age in
other, distant localities. Over the first half of the nineteenth century, geologists such as
Charles Lyell, Adam Sedgwick, and Roderick Murchison applied the new technique to
rocks throughout Europe and eastern North America, setting the stage for more detailed,
government-funded mapping projects in later decades.

Midway through the 19th century, the focus of geology shifted from description and
classification to attempts to understand how the surface of the Earth changed. The first
comprehensive theories of mountain building were proposed during this period, as were
the first modern theories of earthquakes and volcanoes. Louis Agassiz and others
established the reality of continent-covering ice ages, and "fluvialists" like Andrew
Crombie Ramsay argued that river valleys were formed, over millions of years by the
rivers that flow through them. After the discovery of radioactivity, radiometric dating
methods were developed, starting in the 1900s. Alfred Wegener's theory of "continental
drift" was widely dismissed when it was proposed in the 1910s, but new data gathered
in the 1950s and 1960s led to the theory of plate tectonics, which provided a plausible
mechanism for it. Plate tectonics also provided a unified explanation for a wide range of
seemingly unrelated geological phenomena. Since 1970 it has been the unifying
principle in geology.

Geologists' embrace of plate tectonics was part of a broadening of the field from a study
of rocks into a study of the Earth as a planet. Other elements of this transformation
include: geophysical studies of the interior of the Earth, the grouping of geology with
meteorology and oceanography as one of the "earth sciences", and comparisons of Earth
and the solar system's other rocky planets.

Astronomy
Aristarchus of Samos published work on how to determine the sizes and distances of the
Sun and the Moon, and Eratosthenes used this work to figure the size of the Earth.
Hipparchus later discovered the precession of the Earth.

Advances in astronomy and in optical systems in the 19th century resulted in the first
observation of an asteroid (1 Ceres) in 1801, and the discovery of Neptune in 1846.

George Gamow, Ralph Alpher, and Robert Hermann had calculated that there should be
evidence for a Big Bang in the background temperature of the universe.[64] In 1964,
Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson[65] discovered a 3 kelvin background hiss in their Bell
Labs radiotelescope, which was evidence for this hypothesis, and formed the basis for a
number of results that helped determine the age of the universe.

Supernova SN1987A was observed by astronomers on Earth both visually, and in a

triumph for neutrino astronomy, by the solar neutrino detectors at Kamiokande. But the
solar neutrino flux was a fraction of its theoretically-expected value. This discrepancy
forced a change in some values in the standard model for particle physics.
Biology, medicine, and genetics

Semi-conservative DNA replication

In 1847, Hungarian physician Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis dramatically reduced the

occurrency of puerperal fever by the simple experiment of requiring physicians to wash
their hands before attending to women in childbirth. This discovery predated the germ
theory of disease. However, Semmelweis' findings were not appreciated by his
contemporaries and came into use only with discoveries by British surgeon Joseph
Lister, who in 1865 proved the principles of antisepsis. Lister's work was based on the
important findings by French biologist Louis Pasteur. Pasteur was able to link
microorganisms with disease, revolutionizing medicine. He also devised one of the most
important methods in preventive medicine, when in 1880 he produced a vaccine against
rabies. Pasteur invented the process of pasteurization, to help prevent the spread of
disease through milk and other foods.

Perhaps the most prominent and far-reaching theory in all of science has been the theory
of evolution by natural selection put forward by the British naturalist Charles Darwin in
his book On the Origin of Species in 1859. Darwin proposed that the features of all
living things, including humans, were shaped by natural processes over long periods of
time. Implications of evolution on fields outside of pure science have led to both
opposition and support from different parts of society, and profoundly influenced the
popular understanding of "man's place in the universe". In the early 20th century, the
study of heredity became a major investigation after the rediscovery in 1900 of the laws
of inheritance developed by the Moravian[66] monk Gregor Mendel in 1866. Mendel's
laws provided the beginnings of the study of genetics, which became a major field of
research for both scientific and industrial research. By 1953, James D. Watson, Francis
Crick and Rosalind Franklin clarified the basic structure of DNA, the genetic material
for expressing life in all its forms.[67] In the late 20th century, the possibilities of genetic
engineering became practical for the first time, and a massive international effort began
in 1990 to map out an entire human genome (the Human Genome Project) has been
touted as potentially having large medical benefits.
Ecology

Earthrise over the Moon, Apollo 8, NASA. This image helped create awareness of the
finiteness of Earth, and the limits of its natural resources.

The discipline of ecology typically traces its origin to the synthesis of Darwinian
evolution and Humboldtian biogeography, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Equally important in the rise of ecology, however, were microbiology and soil science
—particularly the cycle of life concept, prominent in the work Louis Pasteur and
Ferdinand Cohn. The word ecology was coined by Ernst Haeckel, whose particularly
holistic view of nature in general (and Darwin's theory in particular) was important in
the spread of ecological thinking. In the 1930s, Arthur Tansley and others began
developing the field of ecosystem ecology, which combined experimental soil science
with physiological concepts of energy and the techniques of field biology. The history
of ecology in the 20th century is closely tied to that of environmentalism; the Gaia
hypothesis in the 1960s and more recently the scientific-religious movement of Deep
Ecology have brought the two closer together.

Social sciences
Successful use of the scientific method in the physical sciences led to the same
methodology being adapted to better understand the many fields of human endeavor.
From this effort the social sciences have been developed.

Political science
While the study of politics is first found in Western culture in Ancient Greece, political
science is a late arrival in terms of social sciences. However, the discipline has a clear
set of antecedents such as moral philosophy, political philosophy, political economy,
history, and other fields concerned with normative determinations of what ought to be
and with deducing the characteristics and functions of the ideal state. In each historic
period and in almost every geographic area, we can find someone studying politics and
increasing political understanding.

The antecedents of politics trace their roots back even earlier than Plato and Aristotle,
particularly in the works of Homer, Hesiod, Thucydides, Xenophon, and Euripides.
Later, Plato analyzed political systems, abstracted their analysis from more literary- and
history- oriented studies and applied an approach we would understand as closer to
philosophy. Similarly, Aristotle built upon Plato's analysis to include historical
empirical evidence in his analysis.

During the rule of Rome, famous historians such as Polybius, Livy and Plutarch
documented the rise of the Roman Republic, and the organization and histories of other
nations, while statesmen like Julius Caesar, Cicero and others provided us with
examples of the politics of the republic and Rome's empire and wars. The study of
politics during this age was oriented toward understanding history, understanding
methods of governing, and describing the operation of governments.

With the fall of the Roman Empire, there arose a more diffuse arena for political
studies. The rise of monotheism and, particularly for the Western tradition, Christianity,
brought to light a new space for politics and political action. During the Middle Ages,
the study of politics was widespread in the churches and courts. Works such as
Augustine of Hippo's The City of God synthesized current philosophies and political
traditions with those of Christianity, redefining the borders between what was religious
and what was political. Most of the political questions surrounding the relationship
between church and state were clarified and contested in this period.

In the Middle East and later other Islamic areas, works such as the Rubaiyat of Omar
Khayyam and Epic of Kings by Ferdowsi provided evidence of political analysis, while
the Islamic aristotelians such as Avicenna and later Maimonides and Averroes,
continued Aristotle's tradition of analysis and empiricism, writing commentaries on
Aristotle's works.

During the Italian Renaissance, Niccolò Machiavelli established the emphasis of

modern political science on direct empirical observation of political institutions and
actors. Later, the expansion of the scientific paradigm during the Enlightenment further
pushed the study of politics beyond normative determinations. In particular, the study of
statistics, to study the subjects of the state, has been applied to polling and voting.
In the 20th century, the study of ideology, behaviouralism and international relations led
to a multitude of 'pol-sci' subdisciplines including voting theory, game theory (also used
in economics), psephology, political geography/geopolitics, political
psychology/political sociology, political economy, policy analysis, public
administration, comparative political analysis and peace studies/conflict analysis.

Linguistics
Historical linguistics emerged as an independent field of study at the end of the 18th
century. Sir William Jones proposed that Sanskrit, Persian, Greek, Latin, Gothic, and
Celtic languages all shared a common base. After Jones, an effort to catalog all
languages of the world was made throughout the 19th century and into the 20th century.
Publication of Ferdinand de Saussure's Cours de linguistique générale spawned the
development of descriptive linguistics. Descriptive linguistics, and the related
structuralism movement caused linguistics to focus on how language changes over time,
instead of just describing the differences between languages. Noam Chomsky further
diversified linguistics with the development of generative linguistics in the 1950s. His
effort is based upon a mathematical model of language that allows for the description
and prediction of valid syntax. Additional specialties such as sociolinguistics, cognitive
linguistics, and computational linguistics have emerged from collaboration between
linguistics and other disciplines.
Economics

The supply and demand model

The basis for classical economics forms Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and
Causes of the Wealth of Nations, published in 1776. Smith criticized mercantilism,
advocating a system of free trade with division of labour. He postulated an "Invisible
Hand" that large economic systems could be self-regulating through a process of
enlightened self-interest. Karl Marx developed an alternative economical system, called
Marxian economics. Marxian economics is based on the labor theory of value and
assumes the value of good to be based on the amount of labor required to produce it.
Under this assumption, capitalism was based on employeers not paying the full value of
workers labor to create profit. The Austrian school responded to Marxian economics by
viewing entrepreneurship as driving force of economic development. This replaced the
labor theory of value by a system of supply and demand.

In the 1920s, John Maynard Keynes prompted a division between microeconomics and
macroeconomics. Under Keynesian economics macroeconomic trends can overwhelm
economic choices made by individuals. Governments should promote aggregate
demand for goods as a means to encourage economic expansion. Following World War
II, Milton Friedman created the concept of monetarism. Monetarism focuses on using
the supply and demand of money as a method for controlling economic activity. In the
1970s, monetarism has adapted into supply-side economics which advocates reducing
taxes as a means to increase the amount of money available for economic expansion.

Other modern schools of economic thought are New Classical economics and New
Keynesian economics. New Classical economics was developed in the 1970s,
emphasizing solid microeconomics as the basis for macroeconomic growth. New
Keynesian economics was created partially in response to New Classical economics,
and deals with how inefficiencies in the market create a need for control by a central
bank or government.

Psychology
The end of the 19th century marks the start of psychology as a scientific enterprise. The
year 1879 is commonly seen as the start of psychology as an independent field of study.
In that year Wilhelm Wundt founded the first laboratory dedicated exclusively to
psychological research (in Leipzig). Other important early contributors to the field
include Hermann Ebbinghaus (a pioneer in memory studies), Ivan Pavlov (who
discovered classical conditioning), and Sigmund Freud. Freud's influence has been
enormous, though more as cultural icon than a force in scientific psychology.

The 20th century saw a rejection of Freud's theories as being too unscientific, and a
reaction against Edward Titchener's atomistic approach of the mind. This led to the
formulation of behaviorism by John B. Watson, which was popularized by B.F. Skinner.
Behaviorism proposed epistemologically limiting psychological study to overt behavior,
since that could be reliably measured. Scientific knowledge of the "mind" was
considered too metaphysical, hence impossible to achieve.

The final decades of the 20th century have seen the rise of a new interdisciplinary
approach to studying human psychology, known collectively as cognitive science.
Cognitive science again considers the mind as a subject for investigation, using the tools
of evolutionary psychology, linguistics, computer science, philosophy, and
neurobiology. New methods of visualizing the activity of the brain, such as PET scans
and CAT scans, began to exert its influence as well. These new forms of investigation
assume that a wide understanding of the human mind is possible, and that such an
understanding may be applied to other research domains, such as artificial intelligence.

Sociology
Ibn Khaldun can be regarded as the earliest scientific systematic sociologist.[68] The
modern sociology, emerged in the early 19th century as the academic response to the
modernization of the world. Among many early sociologists (e.g., Émile Durkheim), the
aim of sociology was in structuralism, understanding the cohesion of social groups, and
developing an "antidote" to social disintegration. Max Weber was concerned with the
modernization of society through the concept of rationalization, which he believed
would trap individuals in an "iron cage" of rational thought. Some sociologists,
including George Simmel and W. E. B. Du Bois, utilized more microsociological,
qualitative analyses. This microlevel approach played an important role in American
sociology, with the theories of George Herbert Mead and his student Herbert Blumer
resulting in the creation of the symbolic interactionism approach to sociology.

American sociology in the 1940s and 1950s was dominated largely by Talcott Parsons,
who argued that aspects of society that promoted structural integration were therefore
"functional". This structural functionalism approach was questioned in the 1960s, when
sociologists came to see this approach as merely a justification for inequalities present
in the status quo. In reaction, conflict theory was developed, which was based in part on
the philosophies of Karl Marx. Conflict theorists saw society as an arena in which
different groups compete for control over resources. Symbolic interactionism also came
to be regarded as central to sociological thinking. Erving Goffman saw social
interactions as a stage performance, with individuals preparing "backstage" and
attempting to control their audience through impression management. While these
theories are currently prominent in sociological thought, other approaches exist,
including feminist theory, post-structuralism, rational choice theory, and
postmodernism.

Anthropology
Anthropology can best be understood as an outgrowth of the Age of Enlightenment. It
was during this period that Europeans attempted systematically to study human
behaviour. Traditions of jurisprudence, history, philology and sociology developed
during this time and informed the development of the social sciences of which
anthropology was a part.

At the same time, the romantic reaction to the Enlightenment produced thinkers such as
Johann Gottfried Herder and later Wilhelm Dilthey whose work formed the basis for the
culture concept which is central to the discipline. Traditionally, much of the history of
the subject was based on colonial encounters between Europe and the rest of the world,
and much of 18th- and 19th-century anthropology is now classed as forms of scientific
racism.

During the late 19th-century, battles over the "study of man" took place between those
of an "anthropological" persuasion (relying on anthropometrical techniques) and those
of an "ethnological" persuasion (looking at cultures and traditions), and these
distinctions became part of the later divide between physical anthropology and cultural
anthropology, the latter ushered in by the students of Franz Boas.

In the mid-20th century, much of the methodologies of earlier anthropological and

ethnographical study were reevaluated with an eye towards research ethics, while at the
same time the scope of investigation has broadened far beyond the traditional study of
"primitive cultures" (scientific practice itself is often an arena of anthropological study).
The emergence of paleoanthropology, a scientific discipline which draws on the
methodologies of paleontology, physical anthropology and ethology, among other
disciplines, and increasing in scope and momentum from the mid-20th century,
continues to yield further insights into human origins, evolution, genetic and cultural
heritage, and perspectives on the contemporary human predicament as well.

Emerging disciplines

During the 20th century, a number of interdisciplinary scientific fields have emerged.
Three examples will be given here:
Communication studies combines animal communication, information theory,
marketing, public relations, telecommunications and other forms of communication.
Computer science, built upon a foundation of theoretical linguistics, discrete
mathematics, and electrical engineering, studies the nature and limits of computation.
Subfields include computability, computational complexity, database design, computer
networking, artificial intelligence, and the design of computer hardware. One area in
which advances in computing have contributed to more general scientific development
is by facilitating large-scale archiving of scientific data. Contemporary computer
science typically distinguishes itself by emphasising mathematical 'theory' in contrast to
the practical emphasis of software engineering.

Materials science has its roots in metallurgy, minerology, and crystallography. It

combines chemistry, physics, and several engineering disciplines. The field studies
metals, ceramics, plastics, semiconductors, and composite materials.

Academic study
As an academic field, history of science began with the publication of William
Whewell's History of the Inductive Sciences (first published in 1837). A more formal
study of the history of science as an independent discipline was launched by George
Sarton's publications, Introduction to the History of Science (published in 1927) and the
Isis journal (founded in 1912). The history of mathematics, history of technology, and
history of philosophy are distinct areas of research and are covered in other articles.
Mathematics is closely related to but distinct from natural science (at least in the
modern conception). Technology is likewise closely related to but clearly differs from
the search for empirical truth. Philosophy differs from science in its engagement in
analysis and normative discourse, among other differences. In practice science,
mathematics, technology, and philosophy are obviously deeply entwined, and clear lines
demarcating them are not evident until the 19th century (when science first became
professionalized). History of science has therefore been deeply informed by the
histories of mathematics, technology, and philosophy—even as those fields have
become increasingly autonomous.

Theories and sociology of the history of science

Much of the study of the history of science has been devoted to answering questions
about what science is, how it functions, and whether it exhibits large-scale patterns and
trends.[69] The sociology of science in particular has focused on the ways in which
scientists work, looking closely at the ways in which they "produce" and "construct"
scientific knowledge. Since the 1960s, a common trend in science studies (the study of
the sociology and history of science) has been to emphasize the "human component" of
scientific knowledge, and to de-emphasize the view that scientific data are self-evident,
value-free, and context-free.[70]

A major subject of concern and controversy in the philosophy of science has been the
nature of theory change in science. Karl Popper argued that scientific knowledge is
progressive and cumulative; Thomas Kuhn, that scientific knowledge moves through
"paradigm shifts" and is not necessarily progressive; and Paul Feyerabend, that
scientific knowledge is not cumulative or progressive and that there can be no
demarcation in terms of method between science and any other form of investigation.[71]
Since the publication of Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions in 1970,[72]
historians, sociologists, and philosophers of science have debated the meaning and
objectivity of science.
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^ Akbar S. Ahmed (1984). "Al-Beruni: The First Anthropologist", RAIN 60, p. 9-10.

^ Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "Islamic Conception Of Intellectual Life", in Philip P. Wiener

(ed.), Dictionary of the History of Ideas, Vol. 2, p. 65, Charles Scribner's Sons, New
York, 1973-1974.

^ Cas Lek Cesk (1980). "The father of medicine, Avicenna, in our science and culture:
Abu Ali ibn Sina (980-1037)", Becka J. 119 (1), p. 17-23.

^ Akbar Ahmed (2002). "Ibn Khaldun’s Understanding of Civilizations and the

Dilemmas of Islam and the West Today", Middle East Journal 56 (1), p. 25.

^ H. Mowlana (2001). "Information in the Arab World", Cooperation South Journal 1.

^ Mohamad Abdalla (Summer 2007). "Ibn Khaldun on the Fate of Islamic Science after
the 11th Century", Islam & Science 5 (1), p. 61-70.

^ Salahuddin Ahmed (1999). A Dictionary of Muslim Names. C. Hurst & Co.

Publishers. ISBN 1850653569.

^ Dr. S. W. Akhtar (1997). "The Islamic Concept of Knowledge", Al-Tawhid: A

Quarterly Journal of Islamic Thought & Culture 12 (3).

^ William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum Anglorum / The history of the English kings,
ed. and trans. R. A. B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson, and M. Winterbottom, 2 vols., Oxford
Medieval Texts (1998–9)

^ R. W. Vernon, G. McDonnell and A. Schmidt, 'An integrated geophysical and

analytical appraisal of early iron-working: three case studies' Historical Metallurgy
31(2) (1998), 72-5 79.

^ David Derbyshire, Henry "Stamped Out Industrial Revolution", The Daily Telegraph
(21 June 2002)

^ Edward Grant, The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their
Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts, (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr.,
1996), pp. 127-31.

^ Edward Grant, A Source Book in Medieval Science, (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr.,
1974), p. 232

^ David C. Lindberg, Theories of Vision from al-Kindi to Kepler, (Chicago: Univ. of

Chicago Pr., 1976), pp. 140-2.

^ Edward Grant, The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their
Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts, (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr.,
1996), pp. 95-7.
^ Edward Grant, The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their
Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts, (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr.,
1996), pp. 100-3.

^ Alan Debus, Man and Nature in the Renaissance, (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr.,
1978).

^ Precise titles of these landmark books can be found in the collections of the Library of
Congress. A list of these titles can be found in Leonard C. Bruno (1989), The
Landmarks of Science. ISBN 0-8160-2137-6

^ Alpher, Herman, and Gamow. Nature 162,774 (1948).

^ Wilson's 1978 Nobel lecture

^ Henig, Robin Marantz (2000). The Monk in the Garden : The Lost and Found Genius
of Gregor Mendel, the Father of Genetics. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-97765-
7. “The article, written by an obscure Moravian monk named Gregor Mendel...”

^ James D. Watson and Francis H. Crick. "Letters to Nature: Molecular structure of

Nucleic Acid." Nature 171, 737–738 (1953).

^ Muhammed Abdullah Enan, Ibn Khaldun: His Life and Works, The Other Press,
2007, pp. 104–105. ISBN 9839541536.

^ What is this thing called science?

^ The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations By Robert King

Merton

^ Science Teaching: The Role of History and Philosophy of Science By Michael Robert
Matthews

^ Summary on Google books

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science"