How do scientific disciplines evolve in applied sciences? The properties of scientific fission and ambidextrous scientific drivers

TL;DR

This paper investigates how scientific disciplines, especially in applied physics, evolve through processes like fission and driven by technological and discovery-based factors, revealing typical durations and dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces the concepts of scientific fission and ambidextrous drivers, providing empirical insights into the evolution of experimental physics and applied sciences.

Findings

Scientific fission leads to autonomous research fields.

Evolution driven by scientific discoveries and new technologies.

Average duration of scientific upwaves is about 80 years.

Abstract

One of the fundamental questions in science is how scientific disciplines evolve and sustain progress in society. No studies to date allows us to explain the endogenous processes that support the evolution of scientific disciplines and emergence of new scientific fields in applied sciences of physics. This study confronts this problem here by investigating the evolution of experimental physics to explain and generalize some characteristics of the dynamics of applied sciences. Empirical analysis suggests properties about the evolution of experimental physics and in general of applied sciences, such as: a) scientific fission, the evolution of scientific disciplines generates a process of division into two or more research fields that evolve as autonomous entities over time; b) ambidextrous drivers of science, the evolution of science via scientific fission is due to scientific discoveries or new technologies; c) new driving research fields, the drivers of scientific disciplines are new research fields rather than old ones; d) science driven by development of general purpose technologies, the evolution of experimental physics and applied sciences is due to the convergence of experimental and theoretical branches of physics associated with the development of computer, information systems and applied computational science. Results also reveal that average duration of the upwave of scientific production in scientific fields supporting experimental physics is about 80 years. Overall, then, this study begins the process of clarifying and generalizing, as far as possible, some characteristics of the evolutionary dynamics of scientific disciplines that can lay a foundation for the development of comprehensive properties explaining the evolution of science as a whole for supporting fruitful research policy implications directed to advancement of science and technological progress in society.