History of science

The history of science is the study of the development of and scientific knowledge, including both the  and s (the history of the arts and humanities is termed ). Science is a body of, , and  about the , produced by scientists who emphasize the observation, , and prediction of real-world. , in contrast, studies the methods employed by historians of science.

The English word scientist is relatively recent, first coined by in the 19th century. Before that, investigators of nature called themselves "". While of the natural world have been described since  (for example, by  and ), and the  has been employed since the  (for example, by  and ), modern science began to develop in the, and in particular in the  of 16th- and 17th-century Europe. Traditionally, historians of science have defined science sufficiently broadly to include those earlier inquiries.

From the 18th through the late 20th century, the history of science, especially of the physical and biological sciences, was often presented as a progressive accumulation of knowledge, in which true theories replaced false beliefs. More recent historical interpretations, such as those of, tend to portray the history of science in terms of competing paradigms or conceptual systems within a wider matrix of intellectual, cultural, economic and political trends. These interpretations, however, have met with opposition for they also portray the history of science as an incoherent system of incommensurable paradigms, not leading to any actual scientific progress but only to the illusion that it has occurred.

Early cultures
In times, knowledge and technique were passed from generation to generation in an. For instance, the domestication of maize for agriculture has been dated to about 9,000 years ago in southern Mexico, before the development of s. Similarly, archaeological evidence indicates the development of astronomical knowledge in preliterate societies. The development of writing enabled humans to store and communicate knowledge across generations with much greater accuracy.

Many ancient civilizations systematically collected astronomical observations. Rather than speculating on the material nature of the planets and stars, the ancients charted the relative positions of celestial bodies, often inferring their influence on human individuals and humankind. This demonstrates how ancient investigators generally employed a holistic intuition, assuming the interconnectedness of all things, whereas modern science rejects such conceptual leaps.

Basic facts about were known in some places, and  was practiced in several s. Considerable observation of   and  was also performed.

Ancient Near East
The ancient Mesopotamians had no distinction between "rational science" and. When a person became ill, doctors prescribed magical formulas to be recited as well as medicinal treatments. The earliest medical prescriptions appear in during the  (c.  2112 BC – c.  2004 BC). The most extensive Babylonian medical text, however, is the Diagnostic Handbook written by the ummânū, or chief scholar, of, during the reign of the Babylonian king  (1069–1046 BC). In cultures, the main medicinal authority was a kind of exorcist-healer known as an . The profession was generally passed down from father to son and was held in extremely high regard. Of less frequent recourse was another kind of healer known as an asu, who corresponds more closely to a modern physician and treated physical symptoms using primarily composed of various herbs, animal products, and minerals, as well as potions, enemas, and ointments or. These physicians, who could be either male or female, also dressed wounds, set limbs, and performed simple surgeries. The ancient Mesopotamians also practiced and took measures to prevent the spread of disease.

The ancient Mesopotamians had extensive knowledge about the chemical properties of clay, sand, metal ore,, stone, and other natural materials, and applied this knowledge to practical use in manufacturing , , glass, soap, metals, , and waterproofing. required scientific knowledge about the properties of metals. Nonetheless, the Mesopotamians seem to have had little interest in gathering information about the natural world for the mere sake of gathering information and were far more interested in studying the manner in which the gods had ordered the universe. Biology of non-human organisms was generally only written about in the context of mainstream academic disciplines. was studied extensively for the purpose of ; the anatomy of the, which was seen as an important organ in , was studied in particularly intensive detail. was also studied for divinatory purposes. Most information about the training and domestication of animals was probably transmitted orally without being written down, but one text dealing with the training of horses has survived. The Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet, dating to the eighteenth century BC, records a number of ts (3,4,5) (5,12,13) ..., hinting that the ancient Mesopotamians might have been aware of the over a millennium before Pythagoras.

In, records of the motions of the s, s, and the are left on thousands of s created by s. Even today, astronomical periods identified by Mesopotamian proto-scientists are still widely used in Western calendars such as the  and the. Using these data they developed arithmetical methods to compute the changing length of daylight in the course of the year and to predict the appearances and disappearances of the Moon and planets and eclipses of the Sun and Moon. Only a few astronomers' names are known, such as that of, a astronomer and mathematician. Kiddinu's value for the solar year is in use for today's calendars. Babylonian astronomy was "the first and highly successful attempt at giving a refined mathematical description of astronomical phenomena." According to the historian A. Aaboe, "all subsequent varieties of scientific astronomy, in the Hellenistic world, in India, in Islam, and in the West—if not indeed all subsequent endeavour in the exact sciences—depend upon Babylonian astronomy in decisive and fundamental ways."

Egypt
made significant advances in astronomy, mathematics and medicine. Their development of was a necessary outgrowth of  to preserve the layout and ownership of farmland, which was flooded annually by the. The 3-4-5 and other rules of geometry were used to build rectilinear structures, and the post and lintel architecture of Egypt. Egypt was also a center of research for much of the. The is one of the first medical documents still extant, and perhaps the earliest document that attempts to describe and analyse the brain: it might be seen as the very beginnings of modern. However, while had some effective practices, it was often ineffective and sometimes harmful. Medical historians believe that ancient Egyptian pharmacology, for example, was largely ineffective. Nevertheless, it applied the following components to the treatment of disease: examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis, which display strong parallels to the basic  of science and, according to G.E.R. Lloyd, played a significant role in the development of this methodology. The (c. 1550 BC) also contains evidence of traditional.

Greco-Roman world
In, 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. The ancient people who are considered the first  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, provided competing answers to the question found in the myths of their neighbors: "How did the ordered in which we live come to be?" The pre-Socratic philosopher (640–546 BC), dubbed the "father of science", was the first to postulate non-supernatural explanations for natural phenomena. For example, that land floats on water and that earthquakes are caused by the agitation of the water upon which the land floats, rather than the god Poseidon. Thales' student of  founded the, which investigated mathematics for its own sake, and was the first to postulate that the Earth is spherical in shape. (5th century BC) introduced, the theory that all matter is made of indivisible, imperishable units called. This was greatly expanded on by his pupil and later.

Subsequently, and  produced the first systematic discussions of natural philosophy, which did much to shape later investigations of nature. Their development of was of particular importance and usefulness to later scientific inquiry. Plato founded the in 387 BC, whose motto was "Let none unversed in geometry enter here", and turned out many notable philosophers. Plato's student Aristotle introduced and the notion that universal truths can be arrived at via observation and induction, thereby laying the foundations of the scientific method. Aristotle also produced that were empirical in nature, focusing on biological causation and the diversity of life. He made countless observations of nature, especially the habits and attributes of plants and animals on, classified more than 540 animal species, and dissected at least 50. Aristotle's writings profoundly influenced subsequent and  scholarship, though they were eventually superseded in the.

The important legacy of this period included substantial advances in factual knowledge, especially in, , , , , and ; 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. In the scholars frequently employed the principles developed in earlier Greek thought: the application of  and deliberate empirical research, in their scientific investigations. Thus, clear unbroken lines of influence lead from ancient and, to medieval  and , to the European  and , to the secular s of the modern day. Neither reason nor inquiry began with the Ancient Greeks, but the did, along with the idea of, great advances in , , and the natural sciences. According to, former Professor of at :
 * "Men were weighing for thousands of years before 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."

The astronomer was the first known person to propose a heliocentric model of the solar system, while the geographer  accurately calculated the circumference of the Earth. (c. 190 – c. 120 BC) produced the first systematic. The level of achievement in Hellenistic and  is impressively shown by the  (150–100 BC), an  for calculating the position of planets. Technological artifacts of similar complexity did not reappear until the 14th century, when mechanical s appeared in Europe.

In, (c. 460 BC – c. 370 BC) and his followers were the first to describe many diseases and medical conditions and developed the  for physicians, still relevant and in use today. (335–280 BC) was the first to base his conclusions on dissection of the human body and to describe the. (129 – c. 200 AD) performed many audacious operations—including brain and eye — that were not tried again for almost two millennia.

In, the mathematician laid down the foundations of  and introduced the concepts of definition, axiom, theorem and proof still in use today in his , considered the most influential textbook ever written. , considered one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, is credited with using the to calculate the  under the arc of a  with the, and gave a remarkably accurate approximation of. He is also known in for laying the foundations of, , and the explanation of the principle of the.

wrote some of the earliest descriptions of plants and animals, establishing the first and looking at minerals in terms of their properties such as. produced what is one of the largest s of the natural world in 77 AD, and must be regarded as the rightful successor to Theophrastus. For example, he accurately describes the shape of the, and proceeds to mention that diamond dust is used by s to cut and polish other gems owing to its great hardness. His recognition of the importance of shape is a precursor to modern, while mention of numerous other minerals presages. He also recognises that other minerals have characteristic crystal shapes, but in one example, confuses the with the work of. He was also the first to recognise that was a fossilized resin from pine trees because he had seen samples with trapped insects within them.

India
Mathematics: The earliest traces of mathematical knowledge in the Indian subcontinent appear with the (c. 4th millennium BC ~ c. 3rd millennium BC). The people of this civilization made bricks whose dimensions were in the proportion 4:2:1, considered favorable for the stability of a brick structure. They also tried to standardize measurement of length to a high degree of accuracy. They designed a ruler—the Mohenjo-daro ruler—whose unit of length (approximately 1.32 inches or 3.4 centimetres) was divided into ten equal parts. Bricks manufactured in ancient Mohenjo-daro often had dimensions that were integral multiples of this unit of length.

Indian astronomer and mathematician (476–550), in his  (499) introduced a number of  (including, ,  and ),  , and techniques and s of. In 628 AD, suggested that  was a force of attraction. He also lucidly explained the use of as both a placeholder and a, along with the  now used universally throughout the world. translations of the two astronomers' texts were soon available in the, introducing what would become to the Islamic world by the 9th century. During the 14th–16th centuries, the made significant advances in astronomy and especially mathematics, including fields such as  and. In particular, is considered the "founder of ".

Astronomy: The first textual mention of astronomical concepts comes from the s, religious literature of India. According to Sarma (2008): "One finds in the intelligent speculations about the genesis of the universe from nonexistence, the configuration of the universe, the, and the year of 360 days divided into 12 equal parts of 30 days each with a periodical intercalary month.". The first 12 chapters of the Siddhanta Shiromani, written by 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 trigonometric calculations based on it.

's astronomical treatise the similar in nature to the  proposed by  had been the most accurate astronomical model until the time of  in the 17th century.

Linguistics: Some of the earliest linguistic activities can be found in (1st millennium BC) with the analysis of  for the purpose of the correct recitation and interpretation of  texts. The most notable grammarian of was  (c. 520–460 BC), whose grammar formulates close to 4,000 rules which together form a compact  of Sanskrit. Inherent in his analytic approach are the concepts of the, the and the.

Medicine: Findings from graveyards in what is now Pakistan show evidence of proto-dentistry among an early farming culture. is a system of traditional medicine that originated in ancient India before 2500 BC, and is now practiced as a form of in other parts of the world. Its most famous text is the of, which is notable for describing procedures on various forms of , including , the repair of torn ear lobes, perineal , cataract surgery, and several other excisions and other surgical procedures.

Metallurgy: The, and   were invented in India, and were widely exported in Classic Mediterranean world. It was known from as ferrum indicum. Indian Wootz steel was held in high regard in Roman Empire, was often considered to be the best. After in Middle Age it was imported in Syria to produce with special techniques the "" by the year 1000.

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.
 * — quoted the 12th-century Arab Edrizi.

China
Mathematics: From the earliest the Chinese used a positional decimal system on counting boards in order to calculate. To express 10, a single rod is placed in the second box from the right. The spoken language uses a similar system to English: e.g. four thousand two hundred seven. No symbol was used for zero. By the 1st century BC, negative numbers and decimal fractions were in use and  included methods for extracting higher order roots by and solving linear equations and by. Cubic equations were solved in the and solutions of equations of order higher than 3 appeared in print in 1245 AD by. for binomial coefficients was described around 1100 by.

Although the first attempts at an axiomatisation of geometry appear in the canon in 330 BC,  developed algebraic methods in geometry in the 3rd century AD and also calculated  to 5 significant figures. In 480, improved this by discovering the ratio $$\tfrac{355}{113}$$ which remained the most accurate value for 1200 years.

Astronomy: Astronomical observations from China constitute the longest continuous sequence from any civilisation and include records of sunspots (112 records from 364 BC), supernovas (1054), lunar and solar eclipses. By the 12th century, they could reasonably accurately make predictions of eclipses, but the knowledge of this was lost during the Ming dynasty, so that the Jesuit gained much favour in 1601 by his predictions. By 635 Chinese astronomers had observed that the tails of comets always point away from the sun.

From antiquity, the Chinese used an equatorial system for describing the skies and a star map from 940 was drawn using a cylindrical projection. The use of an is recorded from the 4th century BC and a sphere permanently mounted in equatorial axis from 52 BC. In 125 AD  used water power to rotate the sphere in real time. This included rings for the meridian and ecliptic. By 1270 they had incorporated the principles of the Arab.

Seismology: To better prepare for calamities, Zhang Heng invented a in 132 CE which provided instant alert to authorities in the capital Luoyang that an earthquake had occurred in a location indicated by a specific. Although no tremors could be felt in the capital when Zhang told the court that an earthquake had just occurred in the northwest, a message came soon afterwards that an earthquake had indeed struck 400 km (248 mi) to 500 km (310 mi) northwest of Luoyang (in what is now modern ). Zhang called his device the 'instrument for measuring the seasonal winds and the movements of the Earth' (Houfeng didong yi 候风地动仪), so-named because he and others thought that earthquakes were most likely caused by the enormous compression of trapped air. See for further details.

There are many notable contributors to the field of Chinese science throughout the ages. One of the best examples would be the medieval Song Chinese (1031–1095), a  scientist and statesman who was the first to describe the -needle  used for, discovered the concept of , improved the design of the astronomical , , sight tube, and , and described the use of s to repair boats. After observing the natural process of the inundation of and the find of  s in the  (hundreds of miles from the Pacific Ocean), Shen Kuo devised a theory of land formation, or. He also adopted a theory of gradual in regions over time, after observing   found underground at,  province. If not for Shen Kuo's writing, the architectural works of would be little known, along with the inventor of ,  (990–1051). Shen's contemporary (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, , , and , and had erected a large   in  city in 1088. To operate the crowning, his clocktower featured an mechanism and the world's oldest known use of an endless power-transmitting.

The 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." Western academic thought on the history of Chinese technology and science was galvanized by the work of and the Needham Research Institute. Among the technological accomplishments of China were, according to the British scholar Needham, early detectors ( in the 2nd century), the   (Zhang Heng), es, the independent invention of the, , sliding , the double-action , , the , the  , the multi-tube , the , the , the , the , the ,  as fuel, the , the , the , and a solid fuel , the , the , along with contributions in , , , and other fields.

However, cultural factors prevented these Chinese achievements from developing into what we might call "modern science". According to Needham, it may have been the religious and philosophical framework of Chinese intellectuals which made them unable to accept 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, indeed, would have scorned such an idea as being too naïve for the subtlety and complexity of the universe as they intuited it."

Post-classical science
In the Middle Ages the classical learning continued in three major linguistic cultures and civilizations: Greek (the Byzantine Empire), Arabic (the Islamic world), and Latin (Western Europe).

Byzantine Empire
Because of the collapse of the, the intellectual level in the western part of Europe declined. In contrast, the or  resisted the barbarian attacks, and preserved and improved the learning.

While the still held learning centers such as, Alexandria and Antioch, Western Europe's knowledge was concentrated in  until the development of  in the 12th centuries. The curriculum of monastic schools included the study of the few available ancient texts and of new works on practical subjects like medicine and timekeeping.

In the sixth century in the Byzantine Empire, compiled Archimedes' mathematical works in the, where all Archimedes' mathematical contributions were collected and studied.

, another Byzantine scholar, was the first to question Aristotle's teaching of physics, introducing the. The theory of impetus was an auxiliary or secondary theory of Aristotelian dynamics, put forth initially to explain projectile motion against gravity. It is the intellectual precursor to the concepts of inertia, momentum and acceleration in classical mechanics. The works of John Philoponus inspired ten centuries later.

The first record of separating conjoined twins took place in the in the 900s when the surgeons tried to separate a dead body of a pair of conjoined twins. The result was partly successful as the other twin managed to live for three days. The next recorded case of separating conjoined twins was several centuries later, in 1600s Germany.

During the in 1453, a number of Greek scholars fled to North Italy in which they fueled the era later commonly known as the "” as they brought with them a great deal of classical learning including an understanding of botany, medicine, and zoology. Byzantium also gave the West important inputs: John Philoponus' criticism of Aristotelian physics, and the works of Dioscorides.

Islamic world
In the, was able to find some support under the newly created. With the in the 7th and 8th centuries, a period of  scholarship, known as the, lasted until the 13th century. This scholarship was aided by several factors. The use of a single language,, allowed communication without need of a translator. Access to texts from the, along with  sources of learning, provided Muslim scholars a knowledge base to build upon.

began developing in the Muslim world, where significant progress in methodology was made, beginning with the experiments of (Alhazen) on  from c. 1000, in his . The most important development of the scientific method was the use of experiments to distinguish between competing scientific theories set within a generally 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.

In, the mathematician (c. 780–850) gave his name to the concept of the , while the term  is derived from al-jabr, the beginning of the title of one of his publications. What is now known as originally came from India, but Muslim mathematicians made several key refinements to the number system, such as the introduction of  notation.

In, (c. 858–929) improved the measurements of , preserved in the translation of 's Hè Megalè Syntaxis (The great treatise) translated as . Al-Battani also improved the precision of the measurement of the precession of the Earth's axis. The corrections made to the by al-Battani,,  and the  such as ,  and  are similar to  model. theories may have also been discussed by several other Muslim astronomers such as, , Abu Said , , and.

played an important role in the foundation of modern. Scholars such as and  considered Muslim chemists to be the founders of chemistry. In particular, (c. 721–815) is "considered by many to be the father of chemistry". The works of Arabic scientists influenced (who introduced the empirical method to Europe, strongly influenced by his reading of Persian writers), and later. The scholar contributed to chemistry and medicine.

Ibn Sina (, c. 980–1037) is regarded as the most influential philosopher of Islam. He pioneered the science of experimental medicine and was the first physician to conduct clinical trials. His two most notable works in medicine are the Kitāb al-shifāʾ ("Book of Healing") and, both of which were used as standard medicinal texts in both the Muslim world and in Europe well into the 17th century. Amongst his many contributions are the discovery of the contagious nature of infectious diseases, and the introduction of clinical pharmacology.

Scientists from the Islamic world include,  (pioneer of ),  (pioneer of ,  and ),  (polymath), and  (forerunner of  such as , , ,  and ), among many others.

Islamic science began its decline in the 12th or 13th century, before the in Europe, and due in part to the 11th–13th century, during which libraries, observatories, hospitals and universities were destroyed. The end of the is marked by the destruction of the intellectual center of, the capital of the  in 1258.

Western Europe
By the eleventh century, most of Europe had become Christian; stronger monarchies emerged; borders were restored; technological developments and agricultural innovations were made, increasing the food supply and population. Classical Greek texts were translated from Arabic and Greek into Latin, stimulating scientific discussion in Western Europe.

An intellectual revitalization of Western Europe started with the birth of in the 12th century. Contact with the Byzantine Empire, and with the Islamic world during the and the, allowed Latin Europe access to scientific  and  texts, including the works of , , , , , , , , and. European scholars had access to the translation programs of, who sponsored the 12th century from Arabic to Latin. Later translators like would learn Arabic in order to study these texts directly. The European universities aided materially in the and started a new infrastructure which was needed for scientific communities. In fact, European university put many works about the natural world and the study of nature at the center of its curriculum, with the result that the "medieval university laid far greater emphasis on science than does its modern counterpart and descendent."

In, Greek and Roman taboos had meant that dissection was usually banned, but in the Middle Ages medical teachers and students at Bologna began to open human bodies, and (c. 1275–1326) produced the ﬁrst known anatomy textbook based on human dissection.

As a result of the, Europeans, such as , began to venture further and further east. This led to the increased awareness of Indian and even Chinese culture and civilization within the European tradition. Technological advances were also made, such as the early flight of (who had studied Mathematics in 11th century England), and the  achievements of the   at.

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 in these texts began to be extended by such as, ,  and. 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 . 's thesis is that - the Bishop of Paris -  led to the study of medieval science as a serious discipline, "but no one in the field any longer endorses his view that modern science started in 1277". However, many scholars agree with Duhem's view that the mid-late Middle Ages saw important scientific developments.

The first half of the 14th century saw much important scientific work, largely within the framework of commentaries on Aristotle's scientific writings. emphasised the principle of : natural philosophers should not postulate unnecessary entities, so that motion is not a distinct thing but is only the moving object and an intermediary "sensible species" is not needed to transmit an image of an object to the eye. Scholars such as and  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. The began to mathematically analyze the  of motion, making this analysis without considering the causes of motion.

In 1348, the and other disasters sealed a sudden end to philosophic and scientific development. Yet, the rediscovery of ancient texts was stimulated by the in 1453, when many  scholars sought 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 ideas such as to propagate more rapidly. These developments paved the way for the, where scientific inquiry, halted at the start of the Black Death, resumed.

Impact of science in Europe
The renewal of learning in Europe began with 12th century. The showed a decisive shift in focus from Aristotelian natural philosophy to chemistry and the biological sciences (botany, anatomy, and medicine). Thus modern science in Europe was resumed in a period of great upheaval: the and  ; the discovery of the Americas by ; the ; 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 and  questioned religious doctrine. The works of (astronomy) and  (medicine) were found not always to match everyday observations. Work by on human cadavers found problems with the Galenic view of anatomy.

The willingness to question previously held truths and search for new answers resulted in a period of major scientific advancements, now known as the. The Scientific Revolution is traditionally held by most historians to have begun in 1543, when the books ' (On the Workings of the Human Body) by, and also ', by the astronomer , were first printed. The thesis of Copernicus' book was that the Earth moved around the Sun. The period culminated with the publication of the  in 1687 by, representative of the unprecedented growth of throughout Europe.

Other significant scientific advances were made during this time by, , , , , , , and. In philosophy, major contributions were made by, Sir , , and. The scientific method was also better developed as the modern way of thinking emphasized experimentation and reason over traditional considerations.

Age of Enlightenment
The was a European affair. The 17th century brought decisive steps towards modern science, which accelerated during the 18th century. Directly based on the works of, , and , the way was now clear to the development of modern ,  and by the generation of (1706–1790),  (1707–1783),  (1711–1765) and  (1717–1783). 's , published between 1751 and 1772 brought this new understanding to a wider audience. The impact of this process was not limited to science and technology, but affected,  (the increasingly significant impact of ), and society and politics in general. The is seen as a flowering of the European Renaissance, in what is often known as the, viewed as a foundation of.

Romanticism in science
The Romantic Movement of the early 19th century reshaped science by opening up new pursuits unexpected in the classical approaches of the Enlightenment. Major breakthroughs came in biology, especially in, as well as physics (electromagnetism), mathematics (non-Euclidean geometry, group theory) and chemistry (organic chemistry). The decline of Romanticism occurred because a new movement,, began to take hold of the ideals of the intellectuals after 1840 and lasted until about 1880.

Eurocentrism in scientific history
Eurocentrism in scientific history are historical accounts written about the development of that attribute all scholarly, technological, and philosophical gains to Europe and marginalize outside contributions. The in Europe during the 16th-18th centuries was the period of human advancement into modern science by disproving the Aristotelian view of natural sciences and philosophy through proofs of calculations. Until Joseph Needham's book series began in 1954, many historians would write about modern science solely as a European achievement with no significant contributions form civilizations other than the Greeks. Recent historical writings have argued that there was significant influence and contribution from Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Arabic, Indian, and Chinese astronomy and mathematics.

In contrast to the Eurocentric view, historians argue evidence of east Asian influence in the scientific revolution. The German astronomer and mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus's is credited to have begun the Scientific Revolution with his work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium which used calculations of Islamic astronomers. His findings were focused on the earth's rotation on its axis every twenty-four hours and its orbit around the sun every 365¼ days. These findings lead Copernicus's system; knowledge known to Chinese astronomers based on their understanding of heavenly bodies moving against the path of the sun and the pole star, such as comets. His heliocentric planetary theory was published in 1543, the same year the Greek works of were translated from Arabic into Latin. The change in philosophical mindset as well as astronomical improvements gained by the Jesuits research in China is used as evidence to argue for its influence in Copernican work as well as Arab calculations and translations of Greek texts.

Modern science
With the, paradigms established in the time of were replaced with those of scientists like ,  and. During the 19th century, the practice of science became professionalized and institutionalized in ways that 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.

Physics
The scientific revolution is a convenient boundary between ancient thought and classical physics. revived the model of the solar system described by. This was followed by the first known model of planetary motion given by in the early 17th century, which proposed that the planets follow  orbits, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse. ("Father of Modern Physics") also made use of experiments to validate physical theories, a key element of the scientific method. did some of the earliest experiments with electricity and magnetism, establishing that the Earth itself is magnetic.

In 1687, published the , detailing two comprehensive and successful physical theories:, which led to classical mechanics; and , which describes the fundamental force of gravity.

During the late 18th and early 19th century, the behavior of electricity and magnetism was studied by, , , , , and others. These studies led to the unification of the two phenomena into a single theory of, by (known as ).

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,, , 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 the theory of, proposed by Einstein in 1915, showed that the fixed background of , on which both and  depended, could not exist. In 1925, and  formulated, which explained the preceding quantum theories. The observation by 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  theory by.

In 1938 and  discovered  with radiochemical methods, and in 1939  and  wrote the first theoretical interpretation of the fission process, which was later improved by  and. Further developments took place during World War II, which led to the practical application of and the development and use of the. Around this time, was recruited by the  to help develop a process for separating uranium metal into U-235 and U-238 isotopes by. She was an expert experimentalist in beta decay and weak interaction physics. Wu designed an experiment (see ) that enabled theoretical physicists and  to disprove the law of parity experimentally, winning them a Nobel Prize in 1957.

Though the process had begun with the invention of the by  in the 1930s, physics in the postwar period entered into a phase of what historians have called "", 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
Modern chemistry emerged from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries through the material practices and theories promoted by alchemy, medicine, manufacturing and mining. A decisive moment came when "chemistry" was distinguished from by  in his work , in 1661; although the alchemical tradition continued for some time after his work. Other important steps included the gravimetric experimental practices of medical chemists like, , and  and through the work of  ("") on  and the law of , which refuted. 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 in 1803, although the question took a hundred years to settle as proven. Dalton also formulated the law of mass relationships. In 1869, composed his  of elements on the basis of Dalton's discoveries.

The synthesis of by  opened a new research field,, and by the end of the 19th century, scientists were able to synthesize hundreds of organic compounds. The later part of the 19th century saw the exploitation of the Earth's petrochemicals, after the exhaustion of the oil supply from. By the 20th 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, the precursor to. The 20th century also saw the integration of physics and chemistry, with chemical properties explained as the result of the electronic structure of the atom. 's book on The Nature of the Chemical Bond used the principles of quantum mechanics to deduce s in ever-more complicated molecules. Pauling's work culminated in the physical modelling of, the secret of life (in the words of , 1953). In the same year, the demonstrated in a simulation of primordial processes, that basic constituents of proteins, simple s, 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. ' work on rocks, Peri lithōn, remained authoritative for millennia: its interpretation of fossils was not overturned until after the Scientific Revolution. Chinese polymath (1031–1095) first formulated hypotheses for the process of land formation. Based on his observation of fossils in a geological in a mountain hundreds of miles from the ocean, he deduced that the land was formed by erosion of the mountains and by  of silt.

Geology did not undergo systematic restructuring during the, but individual theorists made important contributions. , for example, formulated a theory of earthquakes, and developed the theory of  and argued that  were the remains of once-living creatures. Beginning with 's Sacred Theory of the Earth in 1681, 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 18th and early 19th centuries. and the saw the Earth as much older than the 6,000 years envisioned by biblical scholars. and hiked central France and recorded their observations on some of the first geological maps. Aided by chemical experimentation, naturalists such as Scotland's, Sweden's Torbern Bergman, and Germany's created comprehensive classification systems for rocks and minerals—a collective achievement that transformed geology into a cutting edge field by the end of the eighteenth century. These early geologists also proposed a generalized interpretations of Earth history that led, and , following in the steps of  , to argue 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 s 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 19th century, geologists such as, , and 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 had changed. The first comprehensive theories of mountain building were proposed during this period, as were the first modern theories of earthquakes and volcanoes. and others established the reality of continent-covering s, and "fluvialists" like argued that river valleys were formed, over millions of years by the rivers that flow through them. After the discovery of, methods were developed, starting in the 20th century. 's theory of "continental drift" was widely dismissed when he proposed it in the 1910s, but new data gathered in the 1950s and 1960s led to the theory of, 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 served as the unifying principle in geology.

Geologists' embrace of became 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 and  as one of the "earth sciences", and comparisons of Earth and the solar system's other rocky planets.

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

Advances in astronomy and in optical systems in the 19th century resulted in the first observation of an  in 1801, and the discovery of  in 1846.

In 1925, determined that stars were composed mostly of hydrogen and helium. She was dissuaded by astronomer from publishing this finding in her Ph.D.thesis because of the widely held belief that stars had the same composition as the Earth. However, four years later, in 1929, came to the same conclusion through different reasoning and the discovery was eventually accepted.

,, and had calculated that there should be evidence for a Big Bang in the background temperature of the universe. In 1964, and  discovered a 3 Kelvin background hiss in their   (the ), which was evidence for this hypothesis, and formed the basis for a number of results that helped determine the.

Supernova was observed by astronomers on Earth both visually, and in a triumph for, by the solar neutrino detectors at. But the solar neutrino flux was. This discrepancy forced a change in some values in the for.

Biology and medicine
published De Motu Cordis in 1628, which revealed his conclusions based on his extensive studies of vertebrate circulatory systems. He identified the central role of the heart, arteries, and veins in producing blood movement in a circuit, and failed to find any confirmation of Galen's pre-existing notions of heating and cooling functions. The history of early modern biology and medicine is often told through the search for the seat of the soul. Galen in his descriptions of his foundational work in medicine presents the distinctions between arteries, veins, and nerves using the vocabulary of the soul.

In 1847, Hungarian physician dramatically reduced the occurrency of  by simply requiring physicians to wash their hands before attending to women in childbirth. This discovery predated the. However, Semmelweis' findings were not appreciated by his contemporaries and handwashing came into use only with discoveries by British surgeon, who in 1865 proved the principles of. Lister's work was based on the important findings by French biologist. Pasteur was able to link microorganisms with disease, revolutionizing medicine. He also devised one of the most important methods in, when in 1880 he produced a against. Pasteur invented the process of, to help prevent the spread of disease through milk and other foods.

Perhaps the most prominent, controversial and far-reaching theory in all of science has been the theory of by  put forward by the English naturalist  in his book  in 1859. He proposed that the features of all living things, including humans, were shaped by natural processes over long periods of time. The theory of evolution in its current form affects almost all areas of biology. Implications of evolution on fields outside of pure science have led to both 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 n monk in 1866. Mendel's laws provided the beginnings of the study of, which became a major field of research for both scientific and industrial research. By 1953,, and  clarified the basic structure of DNA, the  for expressing life in all its forms. In the late 20th century, the possibilities of became practical for the first time, and a massive international effort began in 1990 to map out an entire human  (the ).

Ecology
The discipline of typically traces its origin to the synthesis of  and , in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Equally important in the rise of ecology, however, were and —particularly the  concept, prominent in the work  and. The word ecology was coined by, 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, and others began developing the field of, which combined experimental soil science with physiological concepts of energy and the techniques of.

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
Political science is a late arrival in terms of. However, the discipline has a clear set of antecedents such as, , , history, and other fields concerned with determinations of what ought to be and with  the characteristics and functions of the ideal form of. The roots of politics are in. In each historic period and in almost every geographic area, we can find someone studying politics and increasing political understanding.

In, the study of politics is first found in. The antecedents of European politics trace their roots back even earlier than and, particularly in the works of , , , , and. Later, Plato analyzed political systems, abstracted their analysis from more - and history- oriented studies and applied an approach we would understand as closer to. Similarly, Aristotle built upon Plato's analysis to include historical empirical evidence in his analysis.

An ancient Indian on,  policy and  by Kautilya and , who are traditionally identified with  (c. 350–283 BCE). In this treatise, the behaviors and relationships of the people, the King, the State, the Government Superintendents, Courtiers, Enemies, Invaders, and Corporations are analysed and documented. describes the Arthaśāstra as "a book of political realism, a book analysing how the political world does work and not very often stating how it ought to work, a book that frequently discloses to a king what calculating and sometimes brutal measures he must carry out to preserve the state and the common good."

During the rule of Rome, famous historians such as, and  documented the rise of the , and the organization and histories of other nations, while  like ,  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, there arose a more diffuse arena for political studies. The rise of and, particularly for the Western tradition,, brought to light a new space for politics and political action. During the, the study of politics was widespread in the churches and courts. Works such as 's  synthesized current philosophies and political traditions with those of, redefining the borders between what was religious and what was political. Most of the political questions surrounding the relationship between were clarified and contested in this period.

In the Middle East and later other ic areas, works such as the and Epic of Kings by  provided evidence of political analysis, while the Islamic  such as  and later  and, continued 's tradition of analysis and , writing commentaries on Aristotle's works.

During the, established the emphasis of modern political science on direct   of political s and actors. Later, the expansion of the scientific paradigm during the further pushed the study of politics beyond normative determinations. In particular, the study of, to study the subjects of the , has been applied to and.

In the 20th century, the study of ideology, behaviouralism and international relations led to a multitude of 'pol-sci' subdisciplines including, , (also used in economics), , /, /, , , , comparative political analysis and /conflict analysis.

Linguistics
emerged as an independent field of study at the end of the 18th century. proposed that, , , , , and 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 's  created the development of. Descriptive linguistics, and the related movement caused linguistics to focus on how language changes over time, instead of just describing the differences between languages. further diversified linguistics with the development of in the 1950s. His effort is based upon a mathematical model of language that allows for the description and prediction of valid. Additional specialties such as, , and have emerged from collaboration between linguistics and other disciplines.

Economics
The basis for forms 's , published in 1776. Smith criticized, advocating a system of free trade with. He postulated an "" that regulated economic systems made up of actors guided only by self-interest. developed an alternative economic theory, called. Marxian economics is based on the and assumes the value of good to be based on the amount of labor required to produce it. Under this assumption, was based on employers not paying the full value of workers labor to create profit. The responded to Marxian economics by viewing  as driving force of economic development. This replaced the labor theory of value by a system of.

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

Other modern schools of economic thought are and. 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.

The above "history of economics" reflects modern economic textbooks and this means that the last stage of a science is represented as the culmination of its history (, 1962). The "" mentioned in a lost page in the middle of a chapter in the middle of the "", 1776, advances as Smith's central message. It is played down that this "invisible hand" acts only "frequently" and that it is "no part of his [the individual's] intentions" because competition leads to lower prices by imitating "his" invention. That this "invisible hand" prefers "the support of domestic to foreign industry" is cleansed—often without indication that part of the citation is truncated. The opening passage of the "Wealth" containing Smith's message is never mentioned as it cannot be integrated into modern theory: "Wealth" depends on the division of labour which changes with market volume and on the proportion of productive to.

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 founded the first laboratory dedicated exclusively to psychological research (in ). Other important early contributors to the field include (a pioneer in memory studies),  (who discovered ),, and. 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 's atomistic approach of the mind. This led to the formulation of by, which was popularized by. Behaviorism proposed 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 again considers the mind as a subject for investigation, using the tools of, , , , and. New methods of visualizing the activity of the brain, such as s and s, began to exert their influence as well, leading some researchers to investigate the mind by investigating the brain, rather than cognition. 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.

Sociology
can be regarded as the earliest scientific systematic sociologist. 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., ), the aim of sociology was in, understanding the cohesion of social groups, and developing an "antidote" to social disintegration. was concerned with the modernization of society through the concept of, which he believed would trap individuals in an "iron cage" of rational thought. Some sociologists, including and, utilized more , qualitative analyses. This microlevel approach played an important role in American sociology, with the theories of and his student  resulting in the creation of the  approach to sociology.

In particular, just Auguste Comte, illustrated with his work the transition from a theological to a metaphysical stage and, from this, to a positive stage. Comte took care of the classification of the sciences as well as a transit of humanity towards a situation of progress attributable to a re-examination of nature according to the affirmation of 'sociality' as the basis of the scientifically interpreted society.

American sociology in the 1940s and 1950s was dominated largely by, who argued that aspects of society that promoted structural integration were therefore "functional". This 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, was developed, which was based in part on the philosophies of. 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. saw social interactions as a stage performance, with individuals preparing "backstage" and attempting to control their audience through. While these theories are currently prominent in sociological thought, other approaches exist, including, , , and.

Anthropology
Anthropology can best be understood as an outgrowth of the. 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 and later  whose work formed the basis for the  concept which is central to the discipline. Traditionally, much of the history of the subject was based on encounters between Western Europe and the rest of the world, and much of 18th- and 19th-century anthropology is now classed as.

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

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, a scientific discipline which draws on the of ,  and , 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. Examples include:

combines, , , , s and other forms of communication.

, built upon a foundation of, , and , studies the nature and limits of computation. Subfields include, , design, , , and the design of. One area in which advances in computing have contributed to more general scientific development is by facilitating large-scale. Contemporary computer science typically distinguishes itself by emphasising mathematical 'theory' in contrast to the practical emphasis of.

is an interdisciplinary field. It draws upon the disciplines of biology, chemistry,, ecology, geography, mathematics, and physics.

has its roots in, , and. It combines chemistry, physics, and several engineering disciplines. The field studies metals, s,, s, s, and s.

is a multidisciplinary branch of science that combines, , , , , and  to understand the fundamental and emergent properties of s, , s and.

(also known as meta-research) is the use of scientific methodology to study science itself. Metascience seeks to increase the quality of research while reducing waste. The is the result of metascientific research.

Academic study
As an academic field, began with the publication of '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 's publications, Introduction to the History of Science (1927) and the (founded in 1912). Sarton exemplified the early 20th-century view of the history of science as the history of great men and great ideas. He shared with many of his contemporaries a belief in history as a record of the advances and delays in the march of progress. The history of science was not a recognized subfield of American history in this period, and most of the work was carried out by interested scientists and physicians rather than professional historians. With the work of at Harvard, the history of science became an established subdiscipline of history after 1945.

The, , and 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.

History of science is an academic discipline, with an international community of specialists. Main professional organizations for this field include the, the , and the.

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. The 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 (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. The field of, an area that overlaps and often informs historical studies of science, focuses on the social context of science in both contemporary and historical periods.

refers to the early 19th century approach of combining scientific field work with the age of sensitivity, ethics and aesthetic ideals. It helped to install as a separate field, gave base for  and was based on the role model of scientist, naturalist and explorer. The later 19th century asserted that all authentic knowledge allows verification and that all authentic knowledge assumes that the only valid knowledge is scientific.

A major subject of concern and controversy in the has been the nature of theory change in science. argued that scientific knowledge is progressive and cumulative;, that scientific knowledge moves through "s" and is not necessarily progressive; and , that scientific knowledge is not cumulative or progressive and that there can be no in terms of method between science and any other form of investigation.

The mid 20th century saw a series of studies relying to the role of, starting from Thomas Kuhn's  in 1962. It opened the study of science to new disciplines by suggesting that the evolution of science was in part sociologically determined and that positivism did not explain the actual interactions and strategies of the human participants in science. As Thomas Kuhn put it, the history of science may be seen in more nuanced terms, such as that of competing paradigms or conceptual systems in a wider matrix that includes intellectual, cultural, economic and political themes outside of science. "Partly by selection and partly by distortion, the scientists of earlier ages are implicitly presented as having worked upon the same set of fixed problems and in accordance with the same set of fixed canons that the most recent revolution in scientific theory and method made seem scientific."

Further studies, e.g. 1971 Scientific Knowledge and its Social Problems referred to the role of the scientific community, as a social construct, in accepting or rejecting (objective) scientific knowledge. The of the 1990 were about the influence of especially French philosophers, which denied the objectivity of science in general or seemed to do so. They described as well differences between the idealized model of a pure science and the actual scientific practice; while, a revival of the positivism approach, saw in precise measurement and rigorous calculation the basis for finally settling enduring metaphysical and moral controversies. However, more recently some of the leading critical theorists have recognized that their postmodern deconstructions have at times been counter-productive, and are providing intellectual ammunition for reactionary interests. noted that "dangerous extremists are using the very same argument of social construction to destroy hard-won evidence that could save our lives. Was I wrong to participate in the invention of this field known as science studies? Is it enough to say that we did not really mean what we meant?"

Plight of many scientific innovators
One recurring observation in the history of science involves the struggle for recognition of first-rate scientists working on the periphery of the scientific establishment. For instance, the great physicist  looked back (cited ) on 's  seminal paper on the kinetic theory of gases. The history of the neglect of Waterston's path-breaking article, Rayleigh felt, suggests that "a young author who believes himself capable of great things would usually do well to secure favourable recognition of the scientific world . . . before embarking upon higher flights."

's experiences led him to an even more pessimistic view:"'But what remains to be said about the quantity and source of the blood which thus passes, is of so novel and unheard-of character that I not only fear injury to myself from the envy of a few, but I tremble lest I have mankind at large for my enemies, so much doth wont and custom, that become as another nature, and doctrine once sown and that hath struck deep root, and respect for antiquity, influence all men.'"In more general terms, Robert K. Merton remarks that "the history of science abounds in instances of basic papers having been written by comparatively unknown scientists, only to be rejected or neglected for years."