SCIENCE

Science (from Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge")^[1][2]:58 is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictionsabout the universe.^[a]

Contemporary science is typically subdivided into the natural sciences, which study the material universe; the social sciences, which study people and societies; and the formal sciences, which study logic and mathematics. The formal sciences are often excluded as they do not depend on empiricalobservations.^[3] Disciplines which use science, like engineering and medicine, may also be considered to be applied sciences.^[4]Definitions of science and its more fundamental problems are discussed in the philosophy of science.

Empirical investigations of the natural world, especially in astronomy and medicine, are found in many ancient civilizations. Non-supernatural explanations for natural .

In the 17th and 18th centuries, scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge in terms of physical laws. From classical antiquity through the 19th century, science as a type of knowledge was more closely linked to philosophy than it is now, and in the Western world the term "natural philosophy" once encompassed fields of study that are today associated with science, such as astronomy, medicine, and physics.^[8][b].Over the course of the 19th century, the word "science" became increasingly associated with the scientific method itself as a disciplined way to study the natural world. It was during this time that scientific disciplines such as biology, chemistry, and physicsreached their modern shapes. During the same period, the terms "scientist" and "scientific community" originated, scientific institutions were founded, and the interactions of science with society and other aspects of culture became increasingly significant.^[9][10]

The scale of the universe mapped to the branches of science, with formal sciences as the foundation.^{[11]: Vol.1, Chaps.1,2,&3.}