Natural history
"Natural history" is a somewhat archaic term for what are now usually viewed as a number of distinct scientific disciplines. Most definitions include the study of living things (e.g. botany and zoology); other definitions extend the topic to include paleontology or ecology or biochemistry, as well as parts of geology and physics. A person interested in natural history is known as a naturalist.
In the Eighteenth and well into the Nineteenth Century, Natural History as a term was frequently used to refer to all scientific studies, as opposed to political or ecclesiastical history. As such, the subject area would include all aspects of physics, astronomy, archeology, etc. We still see this usage in some institution names, such as the Natural History Museum in London, the National Museum of Natural History (part of the Smithsonian Institution) in Washington, D.C., the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, which also publishes a magazine called Natural History.
Referenced By
Buffon | Class Q: Science (Library of Congress classification) | Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | James Bowdoin | Johann Eschscholtz | John Ray | Library of Congress Classification/Class Q -- Science | Library of Congress Classification:Class Q -- Science | Thomas Hunt Morgan | Thomas Morgan | Verona, Italy
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