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The
history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It

encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal.[1]
Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia around 3000 to 1200 BCE.
[2][3]
These civilizations' contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and medicine influenced later
Greek natural philosophy of classical antiquity, wherein formal attempts were made to provide
explanations of events in the physical world based on natural causes.[2][3] After the fall of the Western
Roman Empire, knowledge of Greek conceptions of the world deteriorated in Latin-
speaking Western Europe during the early centuries (400 to 1000 CE) of the Middle Ages,[4] but
continued to thrive in the Greek-speaking Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) Empire. Aided by
translations of Greek texts, the Hellenistic worldview was preserved and absorbed into the Arabic-
speaking Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age.[5] The recovery and assimilation of Greek
works and Islamic inquiries into Western Europe from the 10th to 13th century revived the learning
of natural philosophy in the West.[4][6]
Natural philosophy was transformed during the Scientific Revolution in 16th- to 17th-century Europe,
[7][8][9]
as new ideas and discoveries departed from previous Greek conceptions and traditions.[10][11][12]
[13]
The New Science that emerged was more mechanistic in its worldview, more integrated with
mathematics, and more reliable and open as its knowledge was based on a newly defined scientific
method.[11][14][15] More "revolutions" in subsequent centuries soon followed. The chemical revolution of
the 18th century, for instance, introduced new quantitative methods and measurements
for chemistry.[16] In the 19th century, new perspectives regarding the conservation of energy, age of
Earth, and evolution came into focus.[17][18][19][20][21][22] And in the 20th century, new discoveries
in genetics and physics laid the foundations for new subdisciplines such as molecular
biology and particle physics.[23][24] Moreover, industrial and military concerns as well as the increasing
complexity of new research endeavors ushered in the era of "big science," particularly after
the Second World War.[23][24][25]
The nature of the history of science (and by implication, the definition of science itself) is a topic of
debate. The history of science is often seen as a linear story of progress but historians have shown
that the story is more complex.[26][27][28] Science is a human activity, and scientific contributions have
been made by people from a wide range of different backgrounds and cultures. Science is
increasingly seen as part of a global history of exchange, conflict and collaboration.[29]
The relationship between science and religion has been characterized in terms of "conflict",
"harmony", "complexity", and "mutual independence", among others. Events in Europe such as
the Galileo affair of the early 17th century, associated with the scientific revolution and the Age of
Enlightenment, led scholars such as John William Draper to postulate (c. 1874) a conflict thesis,
suggesting that religion and science have been in conflict methodologically, factually and politically
throughout history. The conflict thesis has since lost favor among a majority contemporary scientists
and historians of science.[30][31][32] However, some contemporary philosophers and scientists, such
as Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, Peter Atkins, and Donald Prothero, still subscribe to this
thesis.
Historians have emphasized [citation needed] that trust is necessary for claims about nature to be agreed
upon. In this light, the establishment of the Royal Society and its code of experiment - trustworthy
because witnessed by its members - has become an important chapter in the historiography of
science.[33] Many people in modern history (typically women and persons of color) were excluded
from elite scientific communities and characterized by science as inferior. Historians in the 1980s
and 1990s described the structural barriers to participation and began to recover the contributions of
overlooked individuals.[34][35] Historians have also investigated the mundane practices of science such
as fieldwork and specimen collection,[36] correspondence,[37] drawing,[38] record-keeping,[39] and the use
of laboratory and field equipment.[40]
In prehistoric times, knowledge and technique were passed from generation to generation in an oral
tradition. For instance, the domestication of maize for agriculture has been dated to about 9,000
years ago in southern Mexico, before the development of writing systems.[41][42]
[43]
Similarly, archaeological evidence indicates the development of astronomical knowledge in
preliterate societies.[44][45]
The oral tradition of preliterate societies had several features, the first of which was its fluidity.[2] New
information was constantly absorbed and adjusted to new circumstances or community needs.
There were no archives or reports. This fluidity was closely related to the practical need to explain
and justify a present state of affairs.[2] Another feature was the tendency to describe the universe as
just sky and earth, with a potential underworld. They were also prone to identify causes with
beginnings, thereby providing a historical origin with an explanation. There was also a reliance on a
"medicine man" or "wise woman" for healing, knowledge of divine or demonic causes of diseases,
and in more extreme cases, for rituals such as exorcism, divination, songs, and incantations.
[2]
Finally, there was an inclination to unquestioningly accept explanations that might be deemed
implausible in more modern times while at the same time not being aware that such credulous
behaviors could have posed problems.[2]
The development of writing enabled humans to store and communicate knowledge across
generations with much greater accuracy. Its invention was a prerequisite for the development of
philosophy and later science in ancient times.[2] Moreover, the extent to which philosophy and
science would flourish in ancient times depended on the efficiency of a writing system (e.g., use of
alphabets).[2]
Starting in around 3000 BCE, the ancient Egyptians developed a numbering system that was
decimal in character and had orientated their knowledge of geometry to solving practical problems
such as those of surveyors and builders.[2] They even developed an official calendar that contained
twelve months, thirty days each, and five days at the end of the year.[2] Their development
of geometry was a necessary outgrowth of surveying to preserve the layout and ownership
of farmland, which was flooded annually by the Nile river. The 3-4-5 right triangle and other rules
of geometry were used to build rectilinear structures, and the post and lintel architecture of Egypt.
Egypt was also a center of alchemy research for much of the Mediterranean. Based on the medical
papyri written in the 2500–1200 BCE, the ancient Egyptians believed that disease was mainly
caused by the invasion of bodies by evil forces or spirits.[2] Thus, in addition to using medicines, their
healing therapies included prayer, incantation, and ritual.[2] The Ebers Papyrus, written in around
1600 BCE, contains medical recipes for treating diseases related to the eyes, mouths, skins, internal
organs, and extremities as well as abscesses, wounds, burns, ulcers, swollen glands, tumors,
headaches, and even bad breath. The Edwin Smith papyrus, written at about the same time,
contains a surgical manual for treating wounds, fractures, and dislocations. The Egyptians believed
that the effectiveness of their medicines depended on the preparation and administration under
appropriate rituals.[2] Medical historians believe that ancient Egyptian pharmacology, for example,
was largely ineffective.[46] Both the Ebers and Edwin Smith papyri applied the following components
to the treatment of disease: examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis,[47] which display strong
parallels to the basic empirical method of science and, according to G.E.R. Lloyd,[48] played a
significant role in the development of this methodology.
The Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet Plimpton 322, dating to the eighteenth-century BCE, records a
number of Pythagorean triplets (3,4,5) (5,12,13) ...,[57] hinting that the ancient Mesopotamians might
have been aware of the Pythagorean theorem over a millennium before Pythagoras.

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