Definition of Science
-from Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge" is a systematic enterprise that
builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and
predictions about nature and the universe. In an older and closely related meaning,
"science" also refers to a body of knowledge itself, of the type that can be
rationally explained and reliably applied. A practitioner of science is known as
a scientist.
The Branches of Science and their Meaning
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Physics
Physics (from Ancient Greek: φύσις physis "nature") is a natural science that
involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with
related concepts such asenergy 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 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.
4. Chemistry
Chemistry (the etymology of the word has been much disputed) 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 (or reaction), 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
(especially carbon based); 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 (see subdisciplines).
5. Earth Science
Earth science (also known as geoscience, the geosciences or the Earth
sciences) 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.
6. 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 (biomass), number,
and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems.
7. Oceanograpgy
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.
8. 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
(such as the geology of the Moon or geology of Mars).
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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.[14] Biology is a vast subject containing many
subdivisions, topics, and disciplines.
12. Zoology
Zoology /zoʊˈɒlədʒi/, 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 (zōon, "animal") +
λόγος (logos, "knowledge").
13. 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.
14. 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.
Foreign Scientists and their Contributions
1. Jonas Edward
Salk
(October 28, 1914 – June 23, 1995) was an
American medical researcher and virologist.
He discovered and developed the first
successful inactivated polio vaccine. Born in
New York City to Jewish parents, he
attended New York University School of Medicine, later choosing to do
medical research instead of becoming a practicing physician.
2. Marie Skłodowska
(7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish
and naturalized-
Frenchphysicist and chemist who conducted
pioneering research on radioactivity. She was
the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the
first person (and only woman) to win twice, the
only person to win twice in multiple sciences, and was part of the Curie family
legacy of five Nobel Prizes. She was also the first woman to become a
professor at the University of Paris, and in 1995 became the first woman to be
entombed on her own merits in the Panthéon in Paris.
3. Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac
(8 August 1902 – 20 October 1984) was an
English theoretical physicist who made fundamental
contributions to the early development of both quantum
mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. He was
the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at
the University of Cambridge, a member of the Center
for Theoretical Studies, University of Miami, and spent the last decade of his life
at Florida State University.
Among other discoveries, he formulated the Dirac equation, which describes the
behavior of fermions and predicted the existence of antimatter. Dirac shared
the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1933 with Erwin Schrödinger, "for the discovery of
new productive forms of atomic theory". He also did work that forms the basis of
modern attempts to reconcile general relativity with quantum mechanics.
4. Robert Heinrich Herman
Koch
(11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a
celebrated German physician and pioneering
microbiologist. The founder of modern bacteriology,
he is known for his role in identifying the specific
causative agents of tuberculosis, cholera,
and anthrax and for giving experimental support for the concept of infectious
disease. In addition to his trail-blazing studies on these diseases, Koch created
and improved laboratory technologies and techniques in the field of microbiology,
and made key discoveries in public health. His research led to the creation of
Koch’s postulates, a series of four generalized principles linking specific
microorganisms to specific diseases that remain today the "gold standard" in
medical microbiology. As a result of his groundbreaking research on
tuberculosis, Koch received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1905.
5.Christiaan Huygens
(14 April 1629 – 8 July 1695) was a prominent
Dutch mathematician and scientist. He is known
particularly as an astronomer, physicist, probabilist and
horologist.
Huygens was a leading scientist of his time. His work
included early telescopic studies of the rings of
Saturn and the discovery of its moon Titan, the
invention of the pendulum clock and other investigations
in timekeeping. He published major studies
of mechanics and optics, and a pioneer work on games of chance.
6. Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev
(
8 February 1834 – 2 February 1907 O.S. 27 January
1834 – 20 January 1907) was a Russian chemist and
inventor. He formulated the Periodic Law, created
his own version of the periodic table of elements,
and used it to correct the properties of some
already discovered elements and also to predict the
properties of eight elements yet to be discovered.
7. Murray Gell-Mann
(Born September 15, 1929) is an
American physicist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize
in physics for his work on the theory of elementary
particles. He is the Robert Andrews MillikanProfessor
of Theoretical Physics Emeritus at the California
Institute of Technology, a Distinguished Fellow and co-
founder of the Santa Fe Institute, Professor in the Physics and Astronomy
Department of the University of New Mexico, and the Presidential Professor of
Physics and Medicine at theUniversity of Southern California.
He introduced, independently of George Zweig, the quark - constituents of
allhadrons - having first identified the SU(3) flavor symmetry of hadrons. This
symmetry is now understood to underlie the light quarks, extending isospin to
include strangeness, a quantum number which he also discovered.
8. Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel
(16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a
German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician,
professor, and artist who discovered, described and
named thousands of new species, mapped
a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and
coinedmany terms
in biology,including anthropogeny, ecology,phylum, phylogeny, stem cell, and the
kingdom Protista. Haeckel promoted and popularised Charles Darwin's work in
Germany and developed the controversial recapitulation theory ("ontogeny
recapitulates phylogeny") claiming that an individual organism's biological
development, or ontogeny, parallels and summarises its species' evolutionary
development, orphylogeny.
9. James Clerk Maxwell
(1 3 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish
mathematical physicist. His most notable
achievement was to formulate the classical theory
of electromagnetic radiation, bringing together for
the first time electricity, magnetism, and light as
manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell's
equations for electromagnetism have been called the "second great unification in
physics"after the first one realised by Isaac Newton.
10. Archimedes of Syracuse
( 287 BC –c. 212 BC) was an Ancient
Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor,
and astronomer. Although few details of his life are
known, he is regarded as one of the
leading scientists in classical antiquity.
Generally considered the greatest mathematician of
antiquity and one of the greatest of all time, Archimedes anticipated
modern calculus and analysisby applying concepts of infinitesimals and the method
of exhaustion to derive and rigorously prove a range of geometrical theorems,
including the area of acircle, the surface area and volume of a sphere, and the area
under aparabola. Other mathematical achievements include deriving an accurate
approximation of pi, defining and investigating the spiral bearing his name, and
creating a system using exponentiation for expressing very large numbers. He was
also one of the first to apply mathematics to physical phenomena,
foundinghydrostatics and statics, including an explanation of the principle of
the lever. He is credited with designing innovative machines, such as his screw
pump,compound pulleys, and defensive war machines to protect his native Syracuse
from invasion.
Local Scientists and their Contributions
1. Gregorio Y. Zara
(8 March 1902 – 15 October 1978) was a Filipino engineer
and physicist. He was the inventor of the first two-way
videophone.
2. General Alfredo Manapat Santos
(July 13, 1905 – February 7, 1990) was Chief of Staff of
the Armed Forces of the Philippines in 1962 to 1965,
making him the first four-star general of the Philippines'
armed forces.
Engineer turned soldier, General Alfredo M. Santos is one
of the most notable "Freedom Fighters" of the Philippines with a heroic war
record. His outstanding achievements proved his selfless dedication to the service
of his country and people, thereby bringing distinct honor to the Armed Forces of
the Philippines.
He is well known for his physical and moral courage, and keen sense of fairness,
justice, honesty and integrity. He spearheaded programs for reserved officers and
integrees to gain merits and recognition in their military service.
3. Dr. Amando F. Kapauan
(July 4, 1931 – October 12, 1996) was a chemist and
researcher. He graduated magna cum laude
from University of the Philippines, Diliman in 1952, with a
bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He obtained his
doctorate from theUniversity of Southern California in
1959. In the Ateneo de Manila University Department of Chemistry, he worked on
inorganic and physical chemistry, particularly on radioactive bromine. With other
colleagues, he initiated investigations in the 1970s on heavy metals analysis in our
environment. He was among the first to look into the problem of mercury in the
environment, and he designed the appropriate equipment for mercury analysis in
water, fish and soil.
4. Dr. Hilario Lara
has been recognized as the pioneer in Philippine public
health research. He devoted over five decades of his life
to the study and application of of knowledge regarding
the epidemiology, prevention, and control of epidemics
such as cholera, typhoid, fever, dysentery, measles, and
diphtheria in the country.
As acclaimed medical man, Dr. Lara is also the founder of the Institute of Public
Health, University of the Philippines. He also organized the first medical library in
the country and established Community Health Demonstration Centers all over the
country.
5. Ramon Cabanos Barba
(born August 31, 1939, San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte) is a
Filipino inventor and horticulturistbest known for
inventing a way to induce more flowers in mango trees
using ethrel and potassium nitrate. Barba was proclaimed
a National Scientist of the Philippines in June 2014.
Dr. Barba was also recognized as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men in
Agriculture in 1974, and was given the Horticultural Technology Award in June
1999.
6. Paulo C. Campos
(July 7, 1921 – June 2, 2007) was a Filipino physician and
educator noted for his promotion of wider
community health care and his achievements in the field
of nuclear medicine for which he was dubbed as "The
Father of Nuclear Medicine in the Philippines" .[1] The first
president of the National Academy of Science and Technology, he was conferred
the rank and title of National Scientist of the Philippines in 1988.
7. Angel Alcal
has more than thirty years of experience in tropical marine
resource conservationa. Angel Alcala is considered a world
class authority in ecology and biogeography of amphibians
and reptiles, and is behind the invention of artifical coral
reefs to be used for fisheries in Southeast Asia. Angel
Alcala is the Director of the Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental
Management.
8. Dr. Francisco Fronda
On December 22, 1896, Dr. Francisco Fronda, the so-called
"Father of Poultry Science in the Philippines" for his
contributions in the improvement of methods of production
of local poultry and livestock, was born in Aliaga, Nueva
Ecija.
Fronda finished his degree in Agriculture from the University of the Philippines
Los Baños in 1919, Master of Science in Animal Husbandry from Cornell University
in 1920, and Doctor of Philosophy degree in Poultry Science, also from Cornell
University in 1922.
Hence, he earned the distinction of being one of the first five people in the world
who had a doctorate in poultry science.
9. Daniel Dingel
is a
controversial Filipino en
gineer who claims to
have invented a
“hydrogen reactor” - a
device which he claims
to have used to power a water-fuelled car.
10. Dr. Josefino C. Comiso
Comiso, who obtained his doctorate degree in
physics from the University of California at Los
Angeles, is a physical scientist at the Earth
Sciences Directorate of the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration/Goddard
Space Flight Center for more than two decades.
Most of his studies dealt with the polar processes and the detection of climate
change in the polar regions.
Comiso has developed techniques for using satellite data to obtain trends in the
parameters of studying sea ice. These data collected from his research have been
useful in the analysis and evaluation of changes in the ice cover in both the Arctic
and Antarctic regions, and provided scientists valuable information about the
extent and scope of global warming during the last two decades.
A
Research Work
In
Physics 2
(NATSCI 2)
Submitted to:
Mrs. Jeanne C. Berja
Instructress
Submitted by:
Nestor C. Octavio Jr. BSIT-III
Student
