Branches of Science and Their Fields of Study

Every exam that asks general science asks the names of its branches: one line each, a branch and the thing it studies. The marks are certain if the list is learnt, and the traps are always the same few look-alike pairs, pedology against petrology, nephology against nephrology, entomology against etymology. This note gives the branches by group, with the pairs that are confused set side by side at the end.

How science is divided

Science is first divided into the natural sciences, which study nature, and the social sciences, which study society. The natural sciences are divided again into the physical sciences, which deal with non-living matter and energy, that is physics, chemistry and astronomy; the life or biological sciences, which deal with living things; and the earth sciences, which deal with the planet itself. A second division is between pure science, which seeks knowledge for its own sake, and applied science or technology, which puts that knowledge to use. The name of a branch is normally the Greek or Latin word for its subject with the ending logy, meaning the study of, so remembering the root is usually enough to recover the whole word.

Branches of the life sciences

The branches that rear and grow

• Sericulture is the rearing of silkworms for silk, apiculture the keeping of honey bees, pisciculture the rearing of fish and aquaculture the farming of water organisms generally.
• Horticulture is the growing of garden crops, within which pomology is fruit growing, olericulture vegetable growing and floriculture flower growing.
• Silviculture is the raising and care of forest trees, viticulture the growing of grapes and vermiculture the rearing of earthworms for compost.

Medical branches

Osteology is the study of bones and myology of muscles, while orthopaedics is the treatment of bones and joints. Cardiology deals with the heart, nephrology with the kidneys, hepatology with the liver, gastroenterology with the stomach and intestines, neurology with the nervous system, dermatology with the skin and ophthalmology with the eye. Haematology is the study of blood, endocrinology of hormones and the ductless glands, immunology of the body's defences, and oncology of cancer. Paediatrics treats children, geriatrics the old, gynaecology the female reproductive system and obstetrics pregnancy and childbirth. Pathology is the study of disease itself, etiology of its causes and epidemiology of how it spreads in a population; toxicology is the study of poisons, pharmacology of drugs and radiology of imaging by X-rays and allied means.

Physical and earth sciences

The look-alike pairs

• Pedology is soils, petrology is rocks, and pedagogy is the art of teaching.
• Nephology is clouds and nephrology is kidneys.
• Entomology is insects and etymology is the origin of words.
• Ecology is organisms and their environment; oncology is cancer.
• Astronomy is the science of the heavens; astrology is not a science at all.
• Numismatics is the study of coins, philately the collection of stamps and epigraphy the study of inscriptions.

The founders papers ask about

Aristotle is called the father of biology and of zoology, and his pupil Theophrastus the father of botany. Hippocrates is the father of medicine, Gregor Mendel the father of genetics, Carolus Linnaeus the father of taxonomy and of binomial nomenclature, Charles Darwin the author of the theory of evolution by natural selection, Antoine Lavoisier the father of modern chemistry and Dmitri Mendeleev the maker of the periodic table. In India, Sushruta is the father of surgery and Charaka of Indian medicine, Vikram Sarabhai is called the father of the Indian space programme, Homi Jehangir Bhabha the father of the Indian nuclear programme, M. S. Swaminathan the father of the green revolution in India and Verghese Kurien the father of the white revolution.