Was+ist+Wissenschaft?

Cornelius Bernardus Van Neil, a microbiologist, once said “In essence, science is a perpetual search for an intelligent and integrated comprehension of the world we live in.” Van Neil defines science in a way that I totally agree with. The most important words in his explanation are “search” and “comprehension”. There will never be a time when everything is known and there is nothing more to find or learn, which is why “search” is an important word. “Comprehension” is also important because one can comprehend a topic without totally understanding it. For example, young students know that water is really H2O; however, they may not know that there are two hydrogen molecules for every oxygen molecule. Science also changes focus over time. Long ago, the focus of science was to determine if the earth revolved around the sun or vice versa. Nowadays science is used to develop things such as paper batteries and nuclear fission. So with that in mind, one may ask the question, “What is this science?” Trust is the basis for any science, including this one. It is required for everything from time to measurements. Even with a subject as simple as time, trust is needed. How do we know that time is correct, that sixty seconds are really in a minute? We don’t, but that is what science says so it must be true. Before SI units were defined, people used their bodies as measuring tools to define measurements which are still used today. Charles Franklin Kettering, an inventor and an engineer said, “ A man must have a certain amount of intelligent ignorance to get anywhere.” I strongly agree with this statement because if “a man” did not have any ignorance he would get caught up on the questions about simple units of time and distance and their origins. This science is knowledge with the focus of defining things that cannot be defined. During my first day of high school physics, my teacher asked the class one question, “What is matter?” I came to a consensus with my group that matter is energy. My teacher kept on debating and questioning the class by asking questions such as “what is energy?” At the end of class he admitted that there are no definite answers to those questions. People may wonder why it is a big deal that we can’t define matter. In reality, it is a huge deal. Matter is everything, it is the keyboard that I am typing on right now and it is the fingers I am typing with. French physiologist Claude Bernard once said “The joy of discovery is certainly the liveliest that the mind of man can ever feel.” Curiosity drives scientists to come to a conclusion about topics that have never been answered as well as to refine and elaborate on questions that have tentative answers. The reason why “tentative” is used is because there is a never-ending pool of knowledge yet to be discovered, so there may be studies in the future to prove current knowledge wrong. Science is carried out at a variety of learning institutions; from schools such as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to religious institutions like churches and synagogues. At a literal institute such as RPI, science is used in every major and course of study, whether it is architecture, game design, or materials science. It is a little ironic that science is used in the studies of numerous topics, but the only class that actually studies science is Cultures of Scientific Revolutions. In Church, trust is needed because you need to believe that what the priest is saying is actually true. If I use the same deductive thinking that was used early science, I can say that trust is needed in religion, trust is a necessity in science; therefore, science is religion. This may seem farfetched, but they both overlap many times in history. Pope John Paul II relates science to religion perfectly, “Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes.” Not only does the Pope make this relation, but Albert Einstein makes a similar connection as well. He said, “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Society as we see it has been, and still is being, influenced by science. Industry is a large part of society, everything from clothes to cars is made in an industrial setting. One example of the progression of science in society is machine making. First, one must find a way to cut metal. Then with the cut metal, the machine body and all if its parts need to be constructed. After the machine is made, it then is used to make metal parts at a rapid rate that other machines will assemble to create more machines. This type of production brings order to industry. On the other hand, chaos can also result from science in society. There is a huge debate on whether it is morally right to clone humans. Other animals have been successfully cloned in the past, and test tube babies have been made, but ethics stops some discoveries from being made. The key to living in a scientific society is to find balance between order and chaos. One common answer to the question “what is science?” is “science is technology”. There is some truth in this answer, but it is not totally correct. Science and technology are dependent on each other. Scientific labs and studios use tools that were built with technology. For example, I use LoggerPro software in physics studio, but the software and sensors would not have been made without joint additions from science and technology. New sciences are “created” to expand upon technology. 100 years ago there were not nearly as many types of science or engineering to major in than there are now at technical universities. Technology and science are so tightly related that a term was coined by Gilbert Hottois in the 1970s to describe it, technoscience. I believe that there will never be a concrete answer to the question “what is this science?” One reason for this is that science is always developing and new areas of study are arising that cannot be predicted. Also, “this” science does not have a definite span so it is impossible to predict when the “next” science will begin. Gerard Piel, co-founder of //Scientific American//, said “The most remarkable discovery made by scientists is science itself.” This is a very intriguing statement because one would think that scientists use science so much that they would be able to explain it; but in reality, no one can.