The main branches of science are commonly divided into two major groups: social sciences,
which study human behavior and societies, and natural sciences, which study natural
phenomena.
These groupings are empirical sciences, which means the knowledge must be based on observable
phenomena and be capable of being tested for its validity by other researchers working
under the same conditions.
In addition to empirical sciences, there are the formal sciences, such as mathematics and
logic, which use an a priori, as opposed to factual methodology to study formal systems.
These three categories make up the fundamental sciences, on top of which are interdisciplinary
and applied science, such as engineering and medicine.
Specialized scientific fields that exist in all categories can include parts of other
scientific disciplines but often possess their own terminology and expertise.
Natural science
Natural science is a branch of science that seeks to elucidate the rules that govern the
natural world by applying an empirical and scientific method to the study of the universe.
The term natural sciences is used to distinguish it from the social sciences, which apply the
scientific method to study human behavior and social patterns; the humanities, which
use a critical, or analytical approach to the study of the human condition; and the
formal sciences.
Physical science
Physical Science is an encompassing term for the branches of natural science and science
that study non-living systems, in contrast to the life sciences.
However, the term "physical" creates an unintended, somewhat arbitrary distinction, since many
branches of physical science also study biological phenomena.
There is a difference between physical science and physics.
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through
spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force.
More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how
the universe behaves.
Physics is one of the oldest academic disciplines, perhaps the oldest through its inclusion of
astronomy.
Over the last two millennia, physics was a part of natural philosophy along with chemistry,
certain branches of mathematics, and biology, but during the Scientific Revolution in the
16th century, the natural sciences emerged as unique research programs in their own right.
Certain research areas are interdisciplinary, such as biophysics and quantum chemistry,
which means that the boundaries of physics are not rigidly defined.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries physicalism emerged as a major unifying feature
of the philosophy of science as physics provides fundamental explanations for every observed
natural phenomenon.
New ideas in physics often explain the fundamental mechanisms of other sciences, while opening
to new research areas in mathematics and philosophy.
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter and the changes it undergoes.
The science of matter is also addressed by physics, but while physics takes a more general
and fundamental approach, chemistry is more specialized, being concerned with the composition,
behavior, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during
chemical reactions.
It is a physical science which studies various substances, atoms, molecules, and matter;
biochemistry, the study of substances found in biological organisms; physical chemistry,
the study of chemical processes using physical concepts such as thermodynamics and quantum
mechanics; and analytical chemistry, the analysis of material samples to gain an understanding
of their chemical composition and structure.
Many more specialized disciplines have emerged in recent years, e.g. neurochemistry the chemical
study of the nervous system.
Earth science
Earth science is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth.
It is arguably a special case in planetary science, the Earth being the only known life-bearing
planet.
There are both reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth sciences.
The formal discipline of Earth sciences may include the study of the atmosphere, hydrosphere,
oceans and biosphere, as well as the solid earth.
Typically Earth scientists will use tools from physics, chemistry, biology, geography,
chronology and mathematics to build a quantitative understanding of how the Earth system works,
and how it evolved to its current state.
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relationships that living organisms have with each other
and with their abiotic environment.
Topics of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount, number,
and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems.
Oceanography
Oceanology, or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean.
It covers a wide range of topics, including marine organisms and ecosystem dynamics; ocean
currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics; plate tectonics and the geology of the sea
floor; and fluxes of various chemical substances and physical properties within the ocean and
across its boundaries.
These diverse topics reflect multiple disciplines that oceanographers blend to further knowledge
of the world ocean and understanding of processes within it: biology, chemistry, geology, meteorology,
and physics as well as geography.
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed,
and the processes by which they change.
Geology can also refer generally to the study of the solid features of any celestial body.
Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence
for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates.
In modern times, geology is commercially important for mineral and hydrocarbon exploration and
exploitation and for evaluating water resources.
It is publicly important for the prediction and understanding of natural hazards, the
remediation of environmental problems, and for providing insights into past climate change.
Geology plays a role in geotechnical engineering and is a major academic discipline.
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere.
Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology
did not occur until the 18th century.
The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several
countries.
After the development of the computer in the latter half of the 20th century, breakthroughs
in weather forecasting were achieved.
Life science
Life science comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of living
organisms, like plants, animals, and human beings.
However, the study of behavior of organisms, such as practiced in ethology and psychology,
is only included in as much as it involves a clearly biological aspect.
While biology remains the centerpiece of life science, technological advances in molecular
biology and biotechnology have led to a burgeoning of specializations and new, often interdisciplinary,
fields.
Biology
Biology is the branch of natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms,
including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy.
Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines.
Zoology
Zoology , occasionally spelled zoölogy, is the branch of biology that relates to the
animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution
of all animals, both living and extinct.
The term is derived from Ancient Greek ζῷον + λόγος.
Human biology Human biology is an interdisciplinary academic
field of biology, biological anthropology, nutrition and medicine which focuses on humans;
it is closely related to primate biology, and a number of other fields.
Some branches of biology include: microbiology, anatomy, neurology and neuroscience, immunology,
genetics, psychology, physiology, pathology, biophysics, and ophthalmology.
Botany
Botany, plant science(s), or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific
study of plant life.
Botany covers a wide range of scientific disciplines including structure, growth, reproduction,
metabolism, development, diseases, chemical properties, and evolutionary relationships
among taxonomic groups.
Botany began with early human efforts to identify edible, medicinal and poisonous plants, making
it one of the oldest sciences.
Today botanists study over 550,000 species of living organisms.
The term "botany" comes from Greek βοτάνη, meaning "pasture, grass, fodder", perhaps
via the idea of a livestock keeper needing to know which plants are safe for livestock
to eat.
Social sciences
The social sciences are the fields of scholarship that study society.
"Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside
of the natural sciences.
These include: anthropology, archaeology, business administration, communication, criminology,
economics, education, government, linguistics, international relations, political science,
psychology, sociology and, in some contexts, geography, history and law.
Formal sciences
The formal sciences are the branches of knowledge that are concerned with formal systems, such
as logic, mathematics, theoretical computer science, information theory, systems theory,
decision theory, statistics, and some aspects of linguistics.
Unlike other sciences, the formal sciences are not concerned with the validity of theories
based on observations in the real world, but rather with the properties of formal systems
based on definitions and rules.
Methods of the formal sciences are, however, essential to the construction and testing
of scientific models dealing with observable reality, and major advances in formal sciences
have often enabled major advances in the empirical sciences.
Decision theory
Decision theory in economics, psychology, philosophy, mathematics, and statistics is
concerned with identifying the values, uncertainties and other issues relevant in a given decision,
its rationality, and the resulting optimal decision.
It is very closely related to the field of game law.
Logic
Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct
reasoning.
Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines
of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science.
Logic examines general forms which arguments may take, which forms are valid, and which
are fallacies.
In philosophy, the study of logic figures in most major areas: epistemology, ethics,
metaphysics.
In mathematics, it is the study of valid inferences within some formal language.
Logic is also studied in argumentation theory.
Mathematics
Mathematics, which is classified as a formal science, has both similarities and differences
with the empirical sciences.
It is similar to empirical sciences in that it involves an objective, careful and systematic
study of an area of knowledge; it is different because of its method of verifying its knowledge,
using a priori rather than empirical methods.
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, and interpretation of data.
It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of
the design of surveys and experiments.
A statistician is someone who is particularly well versed in the ways of thinking necessary
for the successful application of statistical analysis.
Such people have often gained this experience through working in any of a wide number of
fields.
There is also a discipline called mathematical statistics, which is concerned with the theoretical
basis of the subject.
The word statistics, when referring to the scientific discipline, is singular, as in
"Statistics is an art."
This should not be confused with the word statistic, referring to a quantity calculated
from a set of data, whose plural is statistics.
Systems theory
Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating
principles that can be applied to all types of systems in all fields of research.
The term does not yet have a well-established, precise meaning, but systems theory can reasonably
be considered a specialization of systems thinking and a generalization of systems science.
The term originates from Bertalanffy's General System Theory and is used in later efforts
in other fields, such as the action theory of Talcott Parsons and the system-theory of
Niklas Luhmann.
In this context the word systems is used to refer specifically to self-regulating systems,
i.e. that are self-correcting through feedback.
Self-regulating systems are found in nature, including the physiological systems of our
body, in local and global ecosystems, and in climate.
Theoretical computer science
Theoretical computer science is a division or subset of general computer science and
focuses on more abstract or mathematical aspects of computing.
These divisions and subsets include analysis of algorithms and formal semantics of programming
languages.
Technically, there are hundreds of divisions and subsets besides these two.
Each of the multiple parts have their own individual personal leaders and there are
many associations and professional social groups and publications of distinction.
Applied science
Applied science is the application of scientific knowledge transferred into a physical environment.
Examples include testing a theoretical model through the use of formal science or solving
a practical problem through the use of natural science.
Applied science differs from fundamental science, which seeks to describe the most basic objects
and forces, having less emphasis on practical applications.
Applied science can be like biological science and physical science.
Example fields of applied science include Applied mathematics
Applied physics Medicine
Computer science Fields of engineering are closely related
to applied sciences.
Applied science is important for technology development.
Its use in industrial settings is usually referred to as research and development.
See also Outline of science
Exact science Fundamental science
Hard and soft science
Branches of philosophy Philosophy of science
Engineering Science Moral Science
Notes
References
External links Branches of science