Outline of applied science The following outline is provided as an overview of and • Sericulture – also called silk farming, is topical guide to applied science, which is the branch of the rearing of silkworms for the produc- science that applies existing scientific knowledge to de- tion of silk. Although there are several velop more practical applications, including inventions commercial species of silkworms, Bom- and other technological advancements. Science itself byx mori is the most widely used and in- is the systematic enterprise that builds and organizes tensively studied. knowledge in the form of testable explanations and pre- • Food science – study concerned with all tech- [1][2][3] dictions about the universe. nical aspects of foods, beginning with harvest- ing or slaughtering, and ending with its cook- ing and consumption, an ideology commonly 1 Branches of applied science referred to as “from field to fork”. It is the discipline in which the engineering, biological, Applied science – application of scientific knowledge and physical sciences are used to study the na- transferred into a physical environment. ture of foods, the causes of deterioration, the principles underlying food processing, and the improvement of foods for the consuming pub- • Agronomy – science and technology of producing lic. and using plants for food, fuel, feed, fiber, and recla- • Forestry – art and science of managing forests, mation. tree plantations, and related natural resources. • Animal husbandry – agricultural practice of • Arboriculture – cultivation, management, breeding and raising livestock. and study of individual trees, shrubs, • Aquaculture – also known as aquafarming, is vines, and other perennial woody plants. the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, • Silviculture – practice of controlling crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants.[4][5] the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests to meet di- • Algaculture – form of aquaculture involv- verse needs and values. It includes re- ing the farming of species of algae. generating, tending and harvesting tech- • Mariculture – cultivation of marine or- niques. ganisms for food and other products in • Horticulture – art, science, technology and the open ocean, an enclosed section of business of intensive plant cultivation for hu- the ocean, or in tanks, ponds or raceways man use which are filled with seawater. • Floriculture – discipline of horticulture • Agriculture – science of farming concerned with the cultivation of flower- • Cuniculture – also known as rabbit farm- ing and ornamental plants for gardens and ing, is the breeding and raising domestic for floristry, comprising the floral indus- rabbits, usually for their meat or fur. try. • Fungiculture – process of producing • Hydroculture – growing of plants in a food, medicine, and other products by soilless medium, or an aquatic based en- the cultivation of mushrooms and other vironment. Plant nutrients are distributed fungi. via water. Hydroculture is aquatic horti- • Heliciculture – also called snail farming, culture. is the process of farming or raising land • Hydroponics – subset of hydrocul- snails specifically for human consump- ture and is a method of growing tion, and more recently, to obtain snail plants using mineral nutrient solu- slime for cosmetics use. tions, in water, without soil. • Olericulture – science of vegetable grow- • Permaculture – branch of ecological de- ing, dealing with the culture of non- sign and ecological engineering, which de- woody (herbaceous) plants for food. velop sustainable human settlements and self- 1 2 1 BRANCHES OF APPLIED SCIENCE maintained agricultural systems modeled from craft that stay within Earth’s atmosphere, and natural ecosystems. the latter with craft that operate outside it. • • Architecture – process and product of planning, de- Aerospace engineering – Aerospace en- signing and construction. Architectural works, in gineering is the primary branch of engi- the material form of buildings, are often perceived neering concerned with the design, con- as cultural symbols and as works of art. struction, and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two ma- • Architectural engineering – application of en- jor and overlapping branches: aeronau- gineering principles and technology to build- tical engineering and astronautical engi- ing design and construction. neering. The former deals with craft that • Building science – collection of scientific stay within Earth’s atmosphere, and the knowledge that focuses on the analysis and latter with craft that operate outside it. control of the physical phenomena affecting • Agricultural engineering – engineering dis- buildings. cipline that applies engineering science and technology to agricultural production and pro- • Applied chemistry – cessing. • Computing technology (outline) – computer hard- • Agricultural science – broad multidisci- ware and software, and computing methods. plinary field that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sci- • Education – any act or experience that has a forma- ences that are used in the practice and un- tive effect on the mind, character, or physical ability derstanding of agriculture. of an individual. In its technical sense, education is • the process by which society deliberately transmits Applied engineering – field concerned with the its accumulated knowledge, skills, and values from application of management, design, and tech- one generation to another. nical skills for the design and integration of systems, the execution of new product designs, • Electronics – branch of physics, engineering and the improvement of manufacturing processes, technology dealing with electrical circuits that in- and the management and direction of physical volve active electrical components such as vacuum and/or technical functions of a firm or organi- tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and zation. associated passive interconnection technologies. • Biomedical engineering – application of en- • Energy technology (outline) – interdisciplinary en- gineering principles and design concepts to gineering science having to do with the efficient, medicine and biology. safe, environmentally friendly and economical ex- • Bioengineering – application of concepts traction, conversion, transportation, storage and use and methods of biology (and secondarily of of energy, targeted towards yielding high efficiency physics, chemistry, mathematics, and com- whilst skirting side effects on humans, nature and puter science) to solve real-world problems re- the environment. lated to the life sciences and/or the applica- tion thereof, using engineering’s own analyt- • Energy storage (outline) – accomplished by devices ical and synthetic methodologies and also its or physical media that store some form of energy traditional sensitivity to the cost and practical- to perform some useful operation at a later time. A ity of the solution(s) arrived at. device that stores energy is sometimes called an ac- • cumulator. Chemical engineering – application of phys- ical science (e.g., chemistry and physics), • Engineering (outline) – discipline, art, skill and pro- and life sciences (e.g., biology, microbiology fession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathe- and biochemistry) with mathematics and eco- matical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, nomics, to the process of converting raw mate- in order to design and build structures, machines, rials or chemicals into more useful or valuable devices, systems, materials and processes that safely forms. realize improvements to the lives of people. • Civil engineering – deals with the design, • Aeronautical engineering – Aerospace engi- construction, and maintenance of the physi- neering is the primary branch of engineer- cal and naturally built environment, including ing concerned with the design, construction, works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It buildings. Civil engineering has many sub- is divided into two major and overlapping disciplines. branches: aeronautical engineering and astro- • Computer engineering – design and develop- nautical engineering. The former deals with ment of computer systems 3 • Artificial intelligence (outline) – intelli- • Polymer engineering – subfield of materials gence of machines and the branch of science concerned with polymers, primarily computer science that aims to create it. synthetic polymers such as plastics. • Electrical engineering – field of engineering • Engineering physics – study of the combined that generally deals with the study and applica- disciplines of physics, engineering and math- tion of electricity, electronics and electromag- ematics in order to develop an understanding netism. of the interrelationships of these three disci- • Engineering technology (outline) – develop- plines. ment and implementation of existing technol- • Security engineering – focuses on the security ogy within a field of engineering. aspects in the design of systems that need to • Environmental engineering science – multi- be able to deal robustly with possible sources disciplinary field of engineering science that of disruption, ranging from natural disasters to combines the biological, chemical and physi- malicious acts. cal sciences with the field of engineering. • Software engineering (outline) – application • Industrial engineering – branch of engineering of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable ap- dealing with the optimization of complex pro- proach to