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Natural science

Empirical study of natural phenomena through observation and experimentation.

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Natural science is a branch of science that describes, understands, and predicts natural phenomena using empirical evidence from observation and experimentation.[1]

Quick Facts

Branches
Life science and physical science
Key criteria
  • Peer review
  • reproducibility
  • falsifiability
Historical roots
Natural philosophy, natural history

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

Pre-Socratic philosophers in Ancient Greek culture between 600 and 400 BC moved natural philosophy toward direct inquiry about cause and effect in nature.[2] Aristotle, who lived from 384 to 322 BC, described the inner workings of 110 species in his History of Animals and is considered the father of biology.[3] Grant (2007) also reports that more formal inquiry began between 3500 and 3000 BC in Mesopotamian and Ancient Egyptian cultures, which left the earliest written records of natural philosophy.[4]

What the cited sources add

According to the same source, earth sciences includes geology, oceanography, geography, atmospheric sciences, and planetary science.[5] Fidler's Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry reports that a 2016 Nature poll found more than half (52%) of scientists surveyed believed science faced a "replication crisis"[6] The same source notes that the open science reform movement aims to rectify conditions that led to the crisis.[6] Fidler also states that the cost of irreproducible research in US biomedical science alone is estimated at USD$28 billion per year.[6]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Natural science" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Definitions of the Natural Science", uopeople.edu, 10 June 2021 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Natural science" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Grant 2007, p. 1; Grant 2007, p. 1; Barr 2006, p. 2; Barr 2006, p. 2; Barr 2006, p. 2 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Natural science" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Grant 2007, p. 1; Grant 2007, p. 1; Grant 2007, p. 1; Grant 2007, p. 1; Grant 2007, p. 1; Grant 2007, p. 1 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Natural science" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Grant 2007, p. 1; Grant 2007, p. 1; Grant 2007, p. 1; Grant 2007, p. 1 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. "Definitions of the Natural Science", uopeople.edu, 10 June 2021. facts only, no text reused. uopeople.edu
  6. Fidler, "Reproducibility of Scientific Results", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2018-12-03. facts only, no text reused. plato.stanford.edu

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Natural science (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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