The Sciences:

[beecee]

While firstly agreeing that all the sciences are interesting and each beneficial and essential in their own way: all are obviously used to advance mankind, as plain old humans, each of us would have a favourite that he/she sees as most interesting:
My vote goes with Astronomy and as an extension Cosmology, Astrophysics........
I am unable to describe it any better then the following quote by the Scottish Astronomer James Furguson


“Of all the sciences cultivated by mankind, Astronomy is acknowledged to be, and undoubtedly is, the most sublime, the most interesting, and the most useful. For, by knowledge derived from this science, not only the bulk of the Earth is discovered, but our very faculties are enlarged with the grandeur of the ideas it conveys, our minds exalted above their low contracted prejudices.” - James Ferguson

I came across that quote here....
http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/universe/201367/cosmic-perspective
and a piece by Neil DeGrasse-Tyson......
Cosmic Perspective
Neil deGrasse Tyson explains how embracing cosmic realities can enlighten our view of human life.
The article begins with the quote in question and.....
"Long before anyone knew that the universe had a beginning, before we knew that the nearest large galaxy lies two and a half million light-years from Earth, before we knew how stars work or whether atoms exist, James Ferguson's enthusiastic introduction to his favorite science rang true. Yet his words, apart from their eighteenth-century flourish, could have been written yesterday"
and concludes thus.......
"The cosmic perspective flows from fundamental knowledge. But it's more than just what you know. It's also about having the wisdom and insight to apply that knowledge to assessing our place in the universe. And its attributes are clear:

The cosmic perspective comes from the frontiers of science, yet it is not solely the provenance of the scientist. It belongs to everyone.

The cosmic perspective is humble.

The cosmic perspective is spiritual—even redemptive—but not religious.

The cosmic perspective enables us to grasp, in the same thought, the large and the small.

The cosmic perspective opens our minds to extraordinary ideas but does not leave them so open that our brains spill out, making us susceptible to believing anything we're told.

The cosmic perspective opens our eyes to the universe, not as a benevolent cradle designed to nurture life but as a cold, lonely, hazardous place.

The cosmic perspective shows Earth to be a mote, but a precious mote and, for the moment, the only home we have.

The cosmic perspective finds beauty in the images of planets, moons, stars, and nebulae but also celebrates the laws of physics that shape them.

The cosmic perspective enables us to see beyond our circumstances, allowing us to transcend the primal search for food, shelter, and sex.

The cosmic perspective reminds us that in space, where there is no air, a flag will not wave—an indication that perhaps flag waving and space exploration do not mix.

The cosmic perspective not only embraces our genetic kinship with all life on Earth but also values our chemical kinship with any yet-to-be discovered life in the universe, as well as our atomic kinship with the universe itself.

At least once a week, if not once a day, we might each ponder what cosmic truths lie undiscovered before us, perhaps awaiting the arrival of a clever thinker, an ingenious experiment, or an innovative space mission to reveal them. We might further ponder how those discoveries may one day transform life on Earth.

Absent such curiosity, we are no different from the provincial farmer who expresses no need to venture beyond the county line, because his forty acres meet all his needs. Yet if all our predecessors had felt that way, the farmer would instead be a cave dweller, chasing down his dinner with a stick and a rock.

During our brief stay on planet Earth, we owe ourselves and our descendants the opportunity to explore—in part because it's fun to do. But there's a far nobler reason. The day our knowledge of the cosmos ceases to expand, we risk regressing to the childish view that the universe figuratively and literally revolves around us. In that bleak world, arms-bearing, resource-hungry people and nations would be prone to act on their “low contracted prejudices.” And that would be the last gasp of human enlightenment—until the rise of a visionary new culture that could once again embrace the cosmic perspective"
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Even though I am a lay person as far as science is concerned, I have always been interested in astronomy and space, and followed the first space endeavours from around 1957 with Sputnik, and the many successes and failures which followed, up to the present day......

My Interests in associated sciences including SR and GR was spiked by the Cosmos series in the early seventies and Carl Sagan, who I see as probably the greatest educator of our time.

I still periodically to this day listen to his "Pale Blue Dot" narrative.

So, is Astronomy truly the "the most sublime, the most interesting, and the most useful"of the sciences.

What do you think?

Edited June 29, 2017 by beecee

[NimrodTheGoat]

Useful to whom?

[EdEarl]

It's hard to separate the sciences as most useful and interesting. Each person will decide which is most interesting. Moreover, most useful is confounded by the interactions of many sciences. For example, electronics is necessary to build instruments for astronomers, mechanics is necessary to build massive enclosures, optics is used to make mirrors and lenses, and computer science is used to make user friendly interfaces and software to operate telescopes.

[NimrodTheGoat]

It's hard to separate the sciences as most useful and interesting. Each person will decide which is most interesting. Moreover, most useful is confounded by the interactions of many sciences. For example, electronics is necessary to build instruments for astronomers, mechanics is necessary to build massive enclosures, optics is used to make mirrors and lenses, and computer science is used to make user friendly interfaces and software to operate telescopes.

Yes, well phrased, but I think gender studies is the most important, useful, and most useful of them all. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Edited June 30, 2017 by NimrodTheGoat

[beecee]

It's hard to separate the sciences as most useful and interesting. Each person will decide which is most interesting. Moreover, most useful is confounded by the interactions of many sciences. For example, electronics is necessary to build instruments for astronomers, mechanics is necessary to build massive enclosures, optics is used to make mirrors and lenses, and computer science is used to make user friendly interfaces and software to operate telescopes.

 

Of course you are correct. What would any of is do without medicine for example. And of course advances in cosmology can be traced back to advances in other fields, and vice versa. Still the "awe inspiring" aspect of cosmology/astronomy driven by the sheer size and numbers involved, is of course staggering.