The word science has been used as early as the year 1340. Life itself has been
considered science, but until the year of 1340; it was written and noted as a
definition. As stated in The Oxford English Dictionary, "Aid thyngis depart fre
growre mouth: for God of sceins is lord, and till him ere redyd the thoughtis."
This basically meansscience is something both spoken and written. It is also
something known to its best. In Latin scientia(science) meant the study of
animals to help mankind. The Latin meaning also stated that now we get
information from commentaries(books, papers, etc...).
Science in the 1340's was obviously less complex from today's study of science.
But the concept was still the same. Ancient day science may have dealt with the
study of changing seasons or even plant growth. As man evolved science became
more complex and interesting. Rather than looking at the stars in the 1340's
man today is landing on them, and instead of watching the changes in plant
growth, man is controlling the growth. As stated in the earliest recorded
definition, "... fre growre mouth: for God of sciens is lord..." explains how
science is something that is explored by both mouth and writting. Now
everything imaginable has been observed and explained. Also, science is
something that will never terminate and there will always be something new to
be explained.
The most recent meaning dated is in The Oxford English Dictionary. It states
"The state or fact of knowing; knowledge or cognizance of something specified
or implied; also, with wider reference, knowledge(more or less extensive) as a
personal attribute. Science today is broader than the study of animals and
other basics. There are many other topics that fall under science. The
knowledge of science now compared to that of the past is much more greater, but
the basic concept is still there.
The most common thing people perceive science to be is a scientist studying in
a lab. I believe many other things fall under the category of science. It takes
someone who has the best knowledge in what they do. One example is music.
One composer I believe as a scientist of music is Bach. Some people may see him
as a musician but others may see him as a man who was the best at what he did
This like basic chemistry is used daily in grade school and college. His music
was written and is noted daily in classrooms. His music is something exact and
when played to perfection; is science.
Another example of science that is out of ordinary is art. Even though there is
not an exact way of doing art, there is a science in how an artist perceives
their own art work. One artist that comes to mind is Picasso. His art work was
so exact in his way that no one could duplicate it. This also could be
considered a science.
Many other topics are considered as some type of science. Mathmetics is one
that basically has not changed over thousands of years. Mathmetics could be
considered science because it
is something precise. One plus one equals two and will probably equal two for
the rest of human existence. Math is something that is exact and will not
change. All that is explored in math is concise and has some type of normality.
Addition will never change to multiplication and like wise for subtraction to
division. The knowledge of math is out there and I believe math has been
expanded as much as possible. This is what science is about. Being able to know
as much as possible in a certain discipline.
There are new things being discovered daily, and all of these things could be
considered science. For example, a cure for cancer. We as a society know there
is a cure but there is one thing holding us back; Science. Maybe we have not
reached that point in life yet where we should now the cure. That is what
science is all about; it is something unpredictable but when found is
precise.
The word or definition of science today resembles to the earliest known
definition. Even though science has advanced to proportions unbelievable, it
still has a basic concept. That concept being science is a state of knowing.
You have to experiment to know and that is how the word science has become.
Science today is much like science in the beginning of life. People or
scientists were finding something new daily. They were increasing there
knowledge as the evolution of man progressed. When the first man discovered how
to send a rocket up in the air, another pondered on that. Then he realized that
he could better the one man's idea and send life into space. Science is
something that contains a lot of knowledge and also a lot of ignorance. There
still many things out there that need to be discovered.
Like science in the 1340's, science today was built upon what happened in the
past. If the experiment of Ben Franklin with flying a kite in an electrical
storm did not happen we may not have electricity. Even though science is
defined as the state of knowing or fact; science could have a range from art to
the molecular break down of an atom. There is no boundary to science. If
something needs to be explained in detail, or it is to the best knowledge of
man, it should be considered science. But there is still that one chance that
something needs to be explained more if it is already done so.
Science as explained in the past is much like present day science. The subject
itself has just grown and has become more complex.