Q1:What is Science ? A1:Science, systematic study of anything that can be examined, tested, and verified. The word science is derived from the Latin word scire, meaning “to know.†From its early beginnings, science has developed into one of the greatest and most influential fields of human endeavor. Today different branches of science investigate almost everything that can be observed or detected, and science as a whole shapes the way we understand the universe, our planet, ourselves, and other living things. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Q2:What is Astronomy ? A2:Astronomy, study of the universe and the celestial bodies, gas, and dust within it. Astronomy includes observations and theories about the solar system, the stars, the galaxies, and the general structure of space. Astronomy also includes cosmology, the study of the universe and its past and future. People who study astronomy are called astronomers, and they use a wide variety of methods to perform their research. These methods usually involve ideas of physics, so most astronomers are also astrophysicists, and the terms astronomer and astrophysicist are basically identical. Some areas of astronomy also use techniques of chemistry, geology, and biology. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Q3:What is Mathematics? A3:Mathematics, a way of describing relationships between numbers and other measurable quantities. Mathematics can express simple equations as well as interactions among the smallest particles and the farthest objects in the known universe. Mathematics allows scientists to communicate ideas using universally accepted terminology. It is truly the language of science. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Q4:What is Biology? A4:Biology, the science of life. The term was introduced in Germany in 1800 and popularized by the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck as a means of encompassing the growing number of disciplines involved with the study of living forms. The unifying concept of biology received its greatest stimulus from the English zoologist Thomas Henry Huxley, who was also an important educator. Huxley insisted that the conventional segregation of zoology and botany was intellectually meaningless and that all living things should be studied in an integrated way. Huxley’s approach to the study of biology is even more cogent today, because scientists now realize that many lower organisms are neither plants nor animals (see Prokaryote; Protista). The limits of the science, however, have always been difficult to determine, and as the scope of biology has shifted over the years, its subject areas have been changed and reorganized. Today biology is subdivided into hierarchies based on the molecule, the cell, the organism, and the population. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Q5:What is Physics? A5:physics, major science, dealing with the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces they exert on one another, and the results produced by these forces. Sometimes in modern physics a more sophisticated approach is taken that incorporates elements of the three areas listed above; it relates to the laws of symmetry and conservation, such as those pertaining to energy, momentum, charge, and parity. See Atom; Energy. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Q6:What is Chemistry? A6:Chemistry, study of the composition, structure, properties, and interactions of matter. Chemistry arose from attempts by people to transform metals into gold beginning about ad 100, an effort that became known as alchemy (see Chemistry, History of). Modern chemistry was established in the late 18th century, as scientists began identifying and verifying through scientific experimentation the elemental processes and interactions that create the gases, liquids, and solids that compose our physical world. As the field of chemistry developed in the 19th and 20th centuries, chemists learned how to create new substances that have many important applications in our lives. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Q7:What is Computer? A7:Computer, machine that performs tasks, such as calculations or electronic communication, under the control of a set of instructions called a program. Programs usually reside within the computer and are retrieved and processed by the computer’s electronics. The program results are stored or routed to output devices, such as video display monitors or printers. Computers perform a wide variety of activities reliably, accurately, and quickly. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
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Galileo (1564-1642), Italianphysicist and astronomer who, with Germanastronomer Johannes Kepler, initiated thescientific revolution that flowered in the workof English physicist Sir Isaac Newton.Galileo’s main contributions were, inastronomy, the use of the telescope inobservation and the discovery of sunspots,mountains and valleys on the Moon, the fourlargest satellites of Jupiter, and the phasesof Venus. In physics, he discovered the laws offalling bodies and the motions of projectiles.In the history of culture, Galileo stands as asymbol of the battle against authority forfreedom of inquiry. Charles Darwin (1809-1882), British scientist,who laid the foundation of modern evolutionarytheory with his concept of the development ofall forms of life through the slow-workingprocess of natural selection. His work was ofmajor influence on the life and earth sciencesand on modern thought in general. Thomas Edison (1847-1931), American inventor,one of the greatest inventors of all time.Edison began to work at an early age andcontinued to work right up until his death.Throughout his prolific career as an inventor,he was well known for his focus anddetermination. During his career Edisonpatented more than 1,000 inventions, includingthe electric light, the phonograph, and themotion-picture camera. These three inventionsgave rise to giant industries—electricutilities, phonograph and record companies, andthe film industry—thus changing the work andleisure habits of people throughout the world.The period from 1879 to 1900, when Edisonproduced and perfected most of his devices, hasbeen called the Age of Edison. Isaac Newton (1642-1727), English physicist,mathematician, and natural philosopher,considered one of the most important scientistsof all time. Newton formulated laws ofuniversal gravitation and motion—laws thatexplain how objects move on Earth as well asthrough the heavens (see Mechanics). Heestablished the modern study of optics—or thebehavior of light—and built the firstreflecting telescope. His mathematical insightsled him to invent the area of mathematicscalled calculus (which German mathematicianGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz also developedindependently). Newton stated his ideas inseveral published works, two of which,Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica(Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy,1687) and Opticks (1704), are considered amongthe greatest scientific works ever produced.Newton’s revolutionary contributions explainedthe workings of a large part of the physicalworld in mathematical terms, and they suggestedthat science may provide explanations for otherphenomena as well. Blaise Pascal (1623-62), French philosopher,mathematician, and physicist, considered one ofthe great minds in Western intellectualhistory.(1879-1955), German-born Americanphysicist and Nobel laureate, best known as thecreator of the special and general theories ofrelativity and for his bold hypothesisconcerning the particle nature of light. He isperhaps the most well-known scientist of the20th century.