The document discusses natural sciences, which deal with matter, energy, and their interrelations and transformations. It provides examples of scientific discoveries that were made by accident, through emotion-driven research, intuition, and imagination. The development of sciences is not linear but involves revising facts and concepts over time. One achievement of 20th century physics was proving the aim of giving an exact picture of the material world to be unattainable. The document asks whether people place the same faith in science as religion and provides dictionary definitions of science and religion.

1. N A T U R A L S C I E N C E S
ToK

2. What are the areas of knowledge

5. What are natural sciences ?
What is it’s scope and applications?
The important thing in science is not so much to
obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking
about them.
William Lawrence Bragg

6. Natural science is
 any of the sciences (as physics, chemistry, or
biology) that deal with matter, energy, and their
interrelations and transformations or with
objectively measurable phenomena.

8. Discovery by an accident
 Penicillin-
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/the-real-
story-behind-the-worlds-first-antibiotic/
http://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/greatest-
discoveries/videos/100-greatest-discoveries-the-
discovery-of-penicillin/
 X- rays-
 Uranus
 Rayon

9. Knowledge acquired through emotion
Marie curie discovered Radium after years long
research.
She developed a method of radio therapy for medical
treatment.
After her husband’s death she continued the research
to go on in the laboratory as if Pierre were still there.
Had he not once said to her, “Whatever happens, even
if one were to be like a body without a soul, one must
work just the same”?

10. Scientific knowledge triggered from intuition
 "The theory of relativity occurred to me by
intuition, and music is the driving force
behind this intuition. My parents had me
study the violin from the time I was six. My
new discovery is the result of musical
perception" (Shinichi Suzuki, 1969. "Nurtured by
Love. A New Approach to Education", p90).

11. Scientific knowledge from imagination
 Imagination has brought mankind through the Dark
Ages to its present state of civilization. Imagination led
Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin
to discover electricity. Imagination has given us the
steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine and the
automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before
they became realities. So I believe that dreams – day
dreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your
brain-machinery whizzing – are likely to lead to the
betterment of the world. The imaginative child will
become the imaginative man or woman most apt to
create, to invent, and therefore to foster civilization.” –
L. Frank Baum

12. Historical development of sciences
 Science has not developed linearly- adding one step
above the other.
 It developed through revising the facts and concepts-
How the geo-centric explanation of solar system is
replaced by helio-centric solar system,.
The Newtonian mechanics give way to quantum
mechanics while explaining the microscopic world.

13. What are the implications of the following claim?
 ‘One aim of the physical sciences has been to give an
exact picture of the material world. One achievement
of physics in the twentieth century has been to prove
that this aim is unattainable.’ (Jacob Bronowski)

14. Let’s watch this interesting video..
https://www.ted.com/talks/stuart_firestein_the_pursuit_of_ignorance?language
=en

16. Knowledge question
 Do people place the same kind of faith in
science as they do in religion?

17. What is Science?
 According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary,
the definition of science is "knowledge attained
through study or practice," or "knowledge covering
general truths of the operation of general laws, esp.
as obtained and tested through scientific method
[and] concerned with the physical world."

18. What is religion ?
 According to Mariam Webster’s dictionary, religion
is an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and
rules used to worship a god or a group of gods.

19. Some thoughts on religion and science.