Natural science
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Natural science is the study of the physical, nonhuman aspects of the Earth and the universe around us. Natural sciences generally attempt to explain the workings of the world via natural processes rather than divine processes. The term natural science is also used to identify science as a discipline following the scientific method, in contrast to natural philosophy, or in contrast with social sciences, which use the same scientific method applied to different subjects.
Natural sciences form the basis for the applied sciences. Together, the natural and applied sciences are distinguished from the social sciences on the one hand, and from the humanities, theology and the arts on the other. Mathematics is not itself a natural science, but provides many tools and frameworks used within the natural sciences.
Alongside this traditional usage, more recently the words "natural sciences" are sometimes used in a way more closely matching their everyday meaning, stemming from natural history. In this sense "natural sciences" can be an alternative phrase for biological sciences, involved in biological processes, or perhaps also the earth sciences, as might distinguished from the physical sciences (more directly involved in the study of physical and chemical laws underlying the universe).
See Category:Science for articles about the individual Natural sciences
Natural sciences
- Astronomy, the study of celestial objects and phenomena that are outside the Earth's atmosphere, e.g. stars, the cosmos, etc.
- Biology, the study of life.
- Ecology, the study of the interrelationships of life.
- Chemistry, the study of the composition, structure, and properties of substances and with the transformations that they undergo.
- Earth science, the study of earth and specialties including:
- Geology
- Science-based or Physical Geography
- Soil science
- Physics, the study of the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces and interactions they exert on one another, and the results produced by these forces.
See also
- List of academic disciplines
- History of science
- Natural philosophy, the precursor of physics.
- Science
External links
- Natural Sciences at Cambridge University
- The History of Recent Science and Technology
- Reviews of Books About Natural Science This site contains over 50 previously published reviews of books about natural science, plus selected essays on timely topics in natural science.
General subfields within the Natural sciences |
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Astronomy | Biology | Chemistry | Earth Sciences | Ecology | Physical Science | Physics |