What is the real definition of science?

Many of us believe that science is just a subject or a field of science, which we study since our childhood. But, we don't actually realize that everything around us including ourselves, is a part of science. The concept of science is very broad, and hence one needs to elaborate one's understanding and imagination. 

Science is not just any field of study, rather it is an endeavour of the humanity to understand the nature- its origin and its existence. For this, we have to define some laws to explain how it works. In the words of the greatest mind of all time-

"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the universe. A part limited in time, experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings are separated from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affections for a few people nearest to us. Our endeavour must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion, to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. "

- Albert Einstein 

Curiosity, quest for knowledge, objectivity, honesty and truthfulness, courage to question, systematic reasoning, acceptance after proof/verification, open-mindedness, search for perfection and team spirit are some of the basic values related to science. The processes of science, which help in searching the truth about nature and its phenomena are characterized by these values. Science aims at explaining things and events. 

Textbooks on science may give you wrong impression that studying science is dry and all too serious and that scientists are absent minded introverts who never laugh or grin. This image of science and scientists is patently false. Scientists, like any other group of humans, have their share of humorists, and many have led their lives with a great sense of fun and adventure, even as they seriously pursued their scientific work. Two great physicists of this genre are Gamow and Feynman. 

To learn and practise science:

*Be inquisitive about things and events around you.

*Have the courage to question beliefs and practices.

*Ask what, how and why and find your answers by critically observing, experimenting, consulting, discussing and reasoning.

*Record honestly your observations and experimental results in your laboratory or outside it.

*Repeat the experiments carefully and systematically if required but donot manipulate your results under any circumstances.

*Be guided by the facts, reason and logic. Donot be biased in one way or the other.

*Aspire to make new discoveries and inventions by sustained and dedicated work.

As per the British physicist P.A.M. Dirac, "It is more important to have beauty in equations of physics, than to have them agree with experiments".

No physicist has ever seen an atom. Yet all physicists believe in its existence. An intelligent but superstitious man advances this analogy to argue that ghosts exist even though no one has seen one. 

Physics deals with the study of the basic laws of nature and their manifestation in different phenomena. The basic laws of physics are universal and apply in widely different contexts and conditions. Conservation laws have a deep connection with symmetries of nature. Symmetries of space and time, and other type of symmetries play a central role in modern theories of fundamental force in nature. 

Technology too is related to physics. Sometimes technology gives rise to new physics; at other times physics generates new technology. Both have direct impact on society.

"Attempt to formulate your moral views on the practice of science. Imagine yourself stumbling upon a discovery, which has great academic interest but is certain to have nothing but dangerous consequences for the human society. How, if at all, will you resolve this dilemma?"