Lead
"What is the earliest discipline in natural science" is a common sense question that people conduct in natural science.
As we all know, agronomy is mainly the study of agriculture, fruit trees, farmland, agricultural machinery and other fields, and the origin and development of agronomy is closely related to the origin of agriculture.
Therefore, many people consider agriculture to be the earliest discipline in the natural sciences, but is this really the case?
Astronomy is the earliest discipline in the natural sciences.
The development process of agriculture has gone through a long history, but from the perspective of systematic disciplines, agriculture is not the earliest discipline in natural science, and all this remains to be studied.
First of all, the development of agriculture is accompanied by the development of human society and gradually matured, human beings in a primitive state of hunter-gatherer life, gradually learned to domesticate animals and plant plants, thus learning to carry out agricultural production.
This process is the process of human beings gradually moving towards civilization, and although human beings have accumulated a lot of experience in agriculture in the process, these experiences cannot be regarded as disciplines.
After human beings entered the civilized society, the production of agriculture had a corresponding basic system, and agronomy as a discipline that systematically studied agriculture was born.
But agriculture is not the earliest discipline in the natural sciences, in fact, the earliest discipline in the natural sciences is astronomy, which is a discipline that studies the universe, celestial bodies and astronomical phenomena.
Astronomy is not only a natural science, but also an interdisciplinary discipline that combines philosophy, religion, culture and technology, and the development of astronomy can be traced back to the early stages of human society.
Since ancient times, humans have been observing celestial bodies and astronomical phenomena, associating them with daily life, agricultural production, and beliefs, thus forming the first astronomical knowledge and beliefs.
With the continuous improvement of human observation and recording capabilities, the knowledge of astronomy has gradually expanded and enriched, and ancient civilizations such as ancient Babylon, ancient Greece and China have made very systematic astronomical observations.
In ancient Babylon, astronomical knowledge was used to formulate calendars and predict celestial phenomena, and in ancient Greece, astronomers discovered the laws of many astronomical phenomena through observation and calculation.
In China, astronomy was not only used to predict celestial phenomena, but also incorporated theories such as the five elements of yin and yang, and became an important part of ancient Chinese philosophy and culture.
Astronomy has developed since prehistoric times.
Astronomy has been developed since prehistoric times, and human beings have gradually discovered the movement of celestial bodies such as the sun, moon, and stars by observing the starry sky and recording astronomical phenomena, and formulated the calendar.
The earliest calendars were based on the time when crops were sown and harvested, and in order to adapt to the changing seasons, people divided the time of the year into four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter, and each season was divided into several months.
Over time, it was discovered that the waxing and waning of the moon could be used to measure time, which was the original lunar calendar.
Later, by observing the movement of the sun, people formulated the solar calendar, which is based on the changes of the four seasons of the year, and is divided into twelve months, each month has thirty days, and every two years there is a leap month.
Due to the seasonal differences between the lunar and solar calendars, different regions have different calendars, and most of the earliest calendars were set by the locals according to the natural environment and climate change.
With the passage of history, more advanced calendars have gradually become available, and people everywhere have more and more knowledge of calendars.
In addition to being used to establish calendars, astronomical knowledge also played an important role in agriculture and navigation.
In agriculture, people can judge the changes of the seasons by observing the movement of celestial bodies, so as to arrange the sowing and harvesting times and improve agricultural production.
In terms of navigation, people can judge the direction and direction by observing the starry sky and constellations, so as to find their way home in the vast sea.
It is for this reason that astronomy became the earliest discipline in the natural sciences.
In ancient times, due to the limited level of science and technology, many astronomical phenomena could only be observed by the naked eye and simple instruments.
Although the results of the observations were not accurate, they accumulated a lot of experience and knowledge, which laid the foundation for later astronomical research.
With the passage of history, the study of astronomy has gradually developed, and ancient astronomers have continuously discovered the laws of many astronomical phenomena through observation and calculation.
The importance of astronomy.
The importance of astronomy is not only reflected in its earliest discipline in the natural sciences, but also in its influence on human civilization.
First of all, astronomy played a major role in guiding human understanding of nature in ancient societies.
Throughout the long history of human beings, we have continued to explore and discover the laws of nature, and astronomy is a part of it.
It is precisely by observing the laws of the movement of celestial bodies that human beings can predict the occurrence of natural phenomena to a certain extent, which laid the foundation for later natural science.
Secondly, astronomy played a role in guiding the development of human society in ancient societies.
The ancients observed the starry sky to judge the changes of the seasons, which was of great significance to agricultural production.
Therefore, the development of astronomy has also contributed to the prosperity and development of human society.
Finally, astronomy also plays an important role in culture and religion.
In ancient societies, many people believed that the movement of celestial bodies was the will of the gods, and therefore regarded the movement of celestial bodies as part of their religious beliefs.
Although this belief has no scientific basis, it has influenced human thinking and behavior to a certain extent.
epilogue
To sum up, astronomy is the earliest discipline in the natural sciences.
Although agronomy, medicine, and mathematics also have a long history, they were established relatively late as systematic disciplines.
Astronomy played an important role in ancient societies and had a profound impact on the course of human civilization.