This article is about the general term, particularly as it refers to experimenta l sciences.

For other uses, see Science (disambiguation). Page semi-protected Part of a series on Science Formal sciences[show] Physical sciences[show] Life sciences[show] Social sciences[show] Applied sciences[show] Interdisciplinarity[show] Philosophy and history of science[show] Outline Portal Category v t e Science (from Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge"[1]) is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and pr edictions about the universe.[2][3] In an older and closely related meaning, "sc ience" also refers to a body of knowledge itself, of the type that can be ration ally explained and reliably applied. A practitioner of science is known as a sci entist. Since classical antiquity, science as a type of knowledge has been closely linke d to philosophy. In the early modern period the words "science" and "philosophy of nature" were sometimes used interchangeably.[4] By the 17th century, natural philosophy (which is today called "natural science") was considered a separate b ranch of philosophy.[5] In modern usage, "science" most often refers to a way of pursuing knowledge, not only the knowledge itself. It is also often restricted to those branches of stu dy that seek to explain the phenomena of the material universe.[6] In the 17th a nd 18th centuries scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge in terms of laws of nature such as Newton's laws of motion. And over the course of the 1 9th century, the word "science" became increasingly associated with the scientif ic method itself, as a disciplined way to study the natural world, including phy sics, chemistry, geology and biology. It is in the 19th century also that the te rm scientist was created by the naturalist-theologian William Whewell to disting uish those who sought knowledge on nature from those who sought other types of k nowledge.[7]