The distinction between science, engineering and
technology is not always clear. Science is the reasoned investigation or study of phenomena, aimed at
discovering enduring principles among elements of the phenomenal
world by employing formal techniques such as the scientific
method.[13]
Technologies are not usually exclusively products of science, because they have
to satisfy requirements such as utility, usability and safety.
Engineering is the goal-oriented
process of designing and making tools and systems to exploit natural phenomena
for practical human means, often (but not always) using results and techniques
from science. The development of technology may draw upon many fields of
knowledge, including scientific, engineering, mathematical,
linguistic,
and historical
knowledge, to achieve some practical result.
Technology is often a consequence of science and
engineering — although technology as a human activity precedes the two fields.
For example, science might study the flow of electrons in electrical conductors, by using
already-existing tools and knowledge. This new-found knowledge may then be used
by engineers to create new tools and machines, such as semiconductors,
computers,
and other forms of advanced technology. In this sense, scientists and engineers
may both be considered technologists; the three fields are often considered as
one for the purposes of research and reference.[14]
The exact relations between science and technology in particular have
been debated by scientists, historians, and policymakers in the late 20th
century, in part because the debate can inform the funding of basic and applied
science. In the immediate wake of World War
II, for example, in the United States it was widely considered that
technology was simply "applied science" and that to fund basic
science was to reap technological results in due time. An articulation of this
philosophy could be found explicitly in Vannevar
Bush's treatise on postwar science policy, Science—The Endless Frontier:
"New products, new industries, and more jobs require continuous additions
to knowledge of the laws of nature ... This essential new knowledge can be
obtained only through basic scientific research." In the late-1960s,
however, this view came under direct attack, leading towards initiatives to
fund science for specific tasks (initiatives resisted by the scientific
community). The issue remains contentious—though most analysts resist the model
that technology simply is a result of scientific research
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