History of science facts for kids
The history of science is the story of how we have explored and understood the world around us, from ancient times to today. It covers all the major areas of science, including the study of nature (like biology and physics), societies (like sociology), and ideas (like mathematics and logic).
Long ago, people tried to understand the world using what we now call protoscience, which included things like alchemy and astrology. These early ideas were important first steps. The journey of science began thousands of years ago in places like Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, where people made amazing discoveries in math, astronomy, and medicine.
The ancient Greeks built on this knowledge, trying to explain the universe using reason and observation instead of myths. After the Roman Empire, much of this knowledge was preserved and expanded upon in the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world. Later, these ideas returned to Europe, leading to a revival of learning.
A huge turning point was the Scientific Revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries. Thinkers like Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton introduced new ways of thinking and a scientific method based on experiments. This led to incredible discoveries that changed the world. Since then, science has moved forward with amazing speed, with revolutions in chemistry, biology, and physics that have given us everything from modern medicine to space travel.
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Early Science in Ancient Times
Learning Before Writing
In prehistoric times, before writing was invented, people passed down knowledge by talking to each other. This is called an oral tradition. For example, people in southern Mexico learned how to farm maize (corn) about 9,000 years ago. Early societies also studied the stars and sky, which helped them track seasons and create calendars.
When people developed writing, it became much easier to store and share knowledge accurately. Writing allowed ideas to be passed down through generations, which was a key step for science to grow.
Science in the Ancient Near East
Some of the first roots of science grew in the Ancient Near East between 3000 and 1200 BCE, especially in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptians were skilled builders and surveyors. They used geometry to build their amazing pyramids and temples. Because the Nile river flooded every year, they needed geometry to re-measure farmers' fields and property lines.
They also studied medicine. The Ebers Papyrus is a famous ancient Egyptian scroll filled with medical advice and remedies. While some of their ideas were based on magic, they also used observation. They would examine a patient, make a diagnosis, and suggest a treatment, which is similar to what doctors do today. The Egyptians also created a 365-day calendar that was very simple and accurate for its time.
Mesopotamia
The people of Mesopotamia, who lived in the area of modern-day Iraq, were excellent astronomers. They kept detailed records of the movements of stars and planets on clay tablets. This information is still useful to us today. They created the first calendars based on the cycles of the moon and sun.
They were also skilled in mathematics. A famous clay tablet called Plimpton 322 shows that they knew about Pythagorean triples more than 1,000 years before the Greek mathematician Pythagoras was born. In medicine, they used a mix of herbs, remedies, and magical prayers to treat illnesses.
Science in Asia
India
The history of science in India is very rich, especially in mathematics. Indian mathematicians made many important contributions.
The most famous is the invention of the number zero as a placeholder and a number itself. This, along with the Hindu–Arabic numeral system (the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 we use today), was a huge breakthrough. The mathematician Aryabhata (476–550 CE) was a pioneer in algebra and trigonometry. Another mathematician, Brahmagupta, explained how to use zero and suggested that gravity was a force of attraction. These ideas later traveled to the Islamic world and then to Europe.
China
China has a long history of scientific discoveries and inventions. Some of the most famous are known as the Four Great Inventions: papermaking, printing, gunpowder, and the compass.
Chinese astronomers kept detailed records of events in the sky, including eclipses and supernovas. In 132 CE, the scientist Zhang Heng invented the world's first seismometer, a machine that could detect earthquakes from far away.
The scholar Shen Kuo (1031–1095) was the first to describe the magnetic compass for navigation and explained how fossils were formed. Another brilliant inventor, Su Song (1020–1101), built a giant astronomical clock tower that was powered by water and was one of the most complex machines of its time.
Science in Ancient Greece and Rome
The ancient Greeks were among the first to try to explain the world using logic and reason, a practice they called "natural philosophy."
The First Philosophers
Early Greek thinkers, known as the pre-Socratics, asked big questions about the universe. Thales of Miletus (around 600 BCE) is often called the first scientist because he suggested that natural events, like earthquakes, had natural causes, not supernatural ones. Pythagoras believed that mathematics was the key to understanding everything and was the first to propose that the Earth was a sphere.
Later, Plato founded a school called the Academy, and his student Aristotle became one of the most influential thinkers in history. Aristotle emphasized the importance of observation and collecting information about the natural world. He studied hundreds of animal species and wrote about biology, physics, and many other subjects. His ideas would shape science for nearly 2,000 years.
Discoveries in the Hellenistic World
After Aristotle, science continued to flourish.
- Euclid wrote a book called Elements, which became the foundation for the study of geometry for centuries.
- Archimedes was a brilliant mathematician and inventor. He figured out the principle of the lever ("Give me a place to stand, and I will move the Earth") and made a very accurate calculation of pi.
- Aristarchus of Samos was the first person we know of to suggest that the Earth revolves around the Sun.
- Eratosthenes accurately calculated the circumference of the Earth using only shadows and simple math.
One of the most amazing discoveries from this time is the Antikythera mechanism, a complex device with gears used to predict the positions of the planets and stars. It is sometimes called the world's first analog computer.
Greek and Roman Medicine
Hippocrates (around 400 BCE) is known as the "Father of Medicine." He was one of the first to argue that diseases had natural causes and were not punishments from the gods. Doctors today still take the Hippocratic Oath, a promise to practice medicine ethically, which is named after him.
Later, in the Roman Empire, a physician named Galen became famous for his work in anatomy. He learned a lot about the human body by treating injured gladiators. His medical writings were the main authority in Europe for over 1,000 years.
Science in the Middle Ages
The Byzantine and Islamic Worlds
After the Western Roman Empire fell, scientific progress slowed down in Western Europe. However, learning was kept alive in the Byzantine Empire (the Eastern Roman Empire) and especially in the Islamic world.
During the Islamic Golden Age (from about the 8th to the 14th century), scholars in cities like Baghdad, Cairo, and Córdoba made incredible advances. They translated ancient Greek texts into Arabic, which saved them from being lost.
- In mathematics, the Persian scholar Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi developed algebra (the word comes from the title of his book, al-jabr). His name gave us the word "algorithm."
- In optics, Ibn al-Haytham (known as Alhazen in Europe) conducted experiments on light and vision, laying the groundwork for modern optics.
- In medicine, doctors like Avicenna wrote huge encyclopedias of medical knowledge that were used in both the Islamic world and Europe for centuries. They also built the first modern hospitals.
The Return of Science to Europe
Starting around the 11th century, knowledge from the Greek and Islamic worlds began to flow back into Western Europe. Texts were translated from Arabic and Greek into Latin. This sparked a new interest in learning.
The first universities were founded in cities like Bologna, Paris, and Oxford. These became centers for studying science and philosophy. Scholars like Robert Grosseteste and Roger Bacon began to argue that experiments were the best way to gain knowledge about nature. This was an early step toward the modern scientific method.
The Scientific Revolution
From the 1500s to the 1700s, a period known as the Scientific Revolution completely changed how people saw the universe. It was a time of bold new ideas and groundbreaking discoveries.
A New View of the Heavens
For centuries, people believed in the geocentric model of Ptolemy, which said that the Earth was the center of the universe.
- In 1543, the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus published a book suggesting a heliocentric model, where the Earth and other planets orbit the Sun. This was a revolutionary idea.
- Johannes Kepler, a German mathematician, later figured out that planets move in elliptical (oval-shaped) orbits, not perfect circles.
- Galileo Galilei, an Italian scientist, was one of the first people to use a telescope to study the sky. He saw the moons of Jupiter and the craters on our Moon, which provided strong evidence for Copernicus's theory. Because his ideas challenged long-held beliefs, he got into trouble with the authorities. Galileo is often called the "father of modern science" for his reliance on observation and experiments.
Newton's Laws
The Scientific Revolution reached its peak with Sir Isaac Newton. In 1687, he published his book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, one of the most important scientific books ever written.
In it, Newton described his three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. He explained that the same force that makes an apple fall from a tree also keeps the Moon in orbit around the Earth. His work provided a single, powerful explanation for how the universe worked and dominated physics for over 200 years.
Science from the 18th to 19th Century
After the Scientific Revolution, the pace of discovery continued to speed up.
Chemistry, Geology, and Electricity
In the 18th century, Antoine Lavoisier helped turn chemistry into a modern science. He proved the law of conservation of mass and showed the role of oxygen in combustion, ending the old "phlogiston theory."
In geology, scientists like James Hutton and Charles Lyell argued that the Earth was much older than people had thought. They showed that slow, gradual processes, like erosion, had shaped our planet over millions of years.
Scientists also began to explore the mysteries of electricity. Alessandro Volta invented the first electric battery, and later, in the 19th century, Michael Faraday's experiments with electricity and magnetism laid the foundation for electric motors and generators.
Darwin and the Theory of Evolution
In 1859, the English naturalist Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species. In this book, he introduced the theory of evolution by natural selection.
Darwin argued that all life on Earth is related and has changed over vast amounts of time. He proposed that species evolve through a process where individuals with traits that help them survive and reproduce are more likely to pass those traits on to the next generation. This theory was one of the most important and controversial ideas in the history of science, and it remains the central organizing principle of modern biology.
Medicine and the Germ Theory
The 19th century also brought huge advances in medicine. Louis Pasteur showed that tiny organisms called germs could cause diseases. This is known as the germ theory of disease. His work led to the development of vaccines for diseases like rabies. He also invented pasteurization, a process of heating liquids to kill germs, which makes food like milk safer to drink.
Building on Pasteur's work, Joseph Lister introduced the use of antiseptics in surgery, which dramatically reduced infections and saved countless lives.
Science in the 20th and 21st Centuries
The 20th century saw more scientific change than all of human history before it.
A Revolution in Physics
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At the start of the century, Albert Einstein turned physics upside down. His theory of relativity showed that space and time are not absolute but are relative to the observer. His famous equation, E = mc², revealed that matter and energy are two forms of the same thing.
At the same time, scientists like Max Planck and Niels Bohr were developing quantum mechanics, a strange new theory that describes the world of atoms and subatomic particles. This led to inventions like lasers and computers. Later, observations by Edwin Hubble showed that the universe is expanding, which led to the Big Bang theory.
The Secret of Life
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In 1953, James D. Watson and Francis Crick, using important work from Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins, discovered the structure of DNA—the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for all living things. They showed it was a double helix.
This discovery opened the door to modern genetics and biotechnology. In 2003, scientists completed the Human Genome Project, mapping all the genes in the human body. In the 21st century, new technologies like CRISPR gene editing have given scientists the ability to change DNA with incredible precision.
The Space Age and Beyond
The 20th century was also the Space Age. Humans walked on the Moon, sent robotic probes to explore every planet in our solar system, and placed powerful telescopes in orbit to look at distant galaxies.
In the 21st century, science continues to advance at a rapid pace. In 2012, physicists at CERN discovered the Higgs boson, a particle that helps explain why other particles have mass. The first detection of gravitational waves in 2015, ripples in spacetime predicted by Einstein, opened a new window to observe the universe. From artificial intelligence to new medicines, the history of science is a story that is still being written every day.
Main Branches of Natural Science
The natural sciences study the physical world around us. Here are some of the main ones:
- Astronomy: The study of stars, planets, and space.
- Physics: The study of matter, energy, and how they interact.
- Chemistry: The study of substances and how they change.
- Geology: The study of Earth's physical structure and history.
- Biology: The study of living things.
- Botany and Zoology: The study of plants and animals.
- Cell biology: The study of cells, the basic units of life.
- Genetics and evolution: The study of how traits are passed down and how life changes over time.
There are also many applied sciences. These use ideas from natural sciences to solve real-world problems. For example, Medicine uses biology and chemistry to help people stay healthy.
Related pages
Images for kids
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The Ebers Papyrus (around 1550 BC) from ancient Egypt shows early medical knowledge.
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Clay models of animal livers from 19th-18th centuries BCE, found in Mari.
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A star list from Uruk (Iraq), 320-150 BC, showing constellations and distances.
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Ancient India was skilled in metallurgy, seen in the wrought-iron Pillar of Delhi.
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Lui Hui's Survey of a sea island.
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A modern copy of Zhang Heng's seismometer from 132 CE.
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Plato's Academy in a 1st century mosaic from Pompeii.
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An old piece of Euclid's Elements, found at Oxyrhynchus (around 100 CE).
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The front page of the Vienna Dioscurides, showing seven famous doctors.
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A 15th-century book of Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine.
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A statue of Roger Bacon at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
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Galileo Galilei, often called the father of modern science.
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Isaac Newton started classical mechanics in physics.
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Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations, a key book on economics.
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Alessandro Volta showing the first electrical cell to Napoleon in 1801.
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In 1837, Charles Darwin drew his first evolutionary tree.
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Einstein's photo after getting the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.
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The atomic bomb led to "Big Science" in physics.
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Watson and Crick used templates like this (for Adenine) to build their DNA model in 1953.
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Alfred Wegener in Greenland (1912–13). He suggested that continents move slowly around Earth.
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A possible sign of a Higgs boson from a simulated proton–proton collision.
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See also
In Spanish: Historia de la ciencia para niños
