In the 17th and 18th centuries, the project of modernity, as had been
promoted by Bacon and Descartes, led to rapid scientific advance and
the successful development of a new type of natural science,
mathematical, methodically experimental, and deliberately innovative.
Newton and
Leibniz succeeded in developing a new physics, now referred to as
classical mechanics, which could be confirmed by experiment and explained using mathematics. Leibniz also incorporated terms from
Aristotelian physics, but now being used in a new non-teleological way, for example, "
energy" and "
potential" (modern versions of Aristotelian "
energeia and potentia").
In the style of Bacon, he assumed that different types of things all
work according to the same general laws of nature, with no special
formal or final causes for each type of thing. It is during this period
that the word "science" gradually became more commonly used to refer to a
type of pursuit of a type of knowledge, especially knowledge of nature — coming close in meaning to the old term "
natural philosophy."
19th century
Both
John Herschel and
William Whewell systematized methodology: the latter coined the term
scientist.
[33] When
Charles Darwin published
On the Origin of Species he established
evolution as the prevailing explanation of biological complexity. His theory of
natural selection provided a natural explanation of how
species originated, but this only gained wide acceptance a century later.
John Dalton developed the idea of
atoms. The laws of
thermodynamics and the
electromagnetic theory
were also established in the 19th century, which raised new questions
which could not easily be answered using Newton's framework. The
phenomena that would allow the deconstruction of the
atom were discovered in the last decade of the 19th century: the discovery of
X-rays inspired the discovery of
radioactivity. In the next year came the discovery of the first subatomic particle, the
electron.
20th century and beyond
Einstein's
theory of relativity and the development of
quantum mechanics
led to the replacement of classical mechanics with a new physics which
contains two parts that describe different types of events in nature.
In the first half of the century, the development of
artificial fertilizer made global human
population growth possible. At the same time, the structure of the atom and its nucleus was discovered, leading to the release of "
atomic energy" (
nuclear power). In addition, the extensive use of scientific innovation stimulated by the wars of this century led to
antibiotics and increased life expectancy, revolutions in transportation (
automobiles and
aircraft), the development of
ICBMs, a
space race, and a
nuclear arms race, all giving a widespread public appreciation of the importance of modern science.
Widespread use of
integrated circuits in the last quarter of the 20th century combined with
communications satellites led to a revolution in
information technology and the rise of the global
internet and
mobile computing, including
smartphones.
More recently, it has been argued that the ultimate purpose of
science is to make sense of human beings and our nature. For example, in
his book
Consilience,
E. O. Wilson said: "The human condition is the most important frontier of the natural sciences."
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Scientific method
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