One of the first questions I liked to pose to a new class was “what is science?” So I pose that question now. Two other follow-up questions were “when did science begin and what was probably the first “branch” of science to develop?” Let’s answer the last question first. Although there is no single correct answer, many people agree that ever since mankind inhabited the earth, people have looked up into the heavens and observed the stars and planets and their motion in space. Out of the pseudoscience of astrology, arose astronomy. However, it could not advance to a technical level until mathematical principles were well formulated. Some people would argue that chemistry was the first branch of science to develop citing the alchemists who tried to convert some metals to gold and silver. However, that was much later. They never succeeded in making gold but they did further the study of matter and its changes. Biology could not really develop until a very important tool, the microscope, was invented.
There is again no universal agreement on when science or scientific thinking began but most agree that a significant step to ending the Middle Ages was the rise of science and, yes, technology. Many scholars would point to Francis Bacon (1561-1626) as one of the first true scientists because he used an experimental (and empirical) method to systematically investigate questions of a scientific nature. Bacon was also a statesman, writer, and philosopher. Other noteworthy early scientists include Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) who refuted the ancient and universally accepted Ptolemaic theory which held that the earth was the center of not only the solar system but the entire universe. Copernicus proposed the heliocentric idea that the sun was the center of our solar system and the earth and other planets revolve around it. Later Galileo (1564-1642) contributed much to the fields of physics and, of course, astronomy. The latter two would gradually change the worldview of not only science but of religion and of man’s place and importance on earth. At about the same time, Johannes Kepler, (1571-1630) a German astronomer, proposed a mathematical model to explain planetary motion. He postulated that, among other things, planets move in elliptical (egg shaped) orbits, not circles.
No discussion of early scientists would be complete without including Isaac Newton, an English scientist. In his Mathematical Principle of Natural Philosophy, he married the disciplines of mathematics, astronomy, and physics. He described three laws of motion:
1. Inertia– acceleration depends on force and mass
2. Action and reaction– for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction (e.g. a jet or rocket engine)
3. The force of gravity depends on distance
I have purposely not answered the first question for two reasons. I want the reader to think about what science is for a while and that will be the topic of the second essay. Stay tuned.