As the history of science has developed as an area of study, its course has exhibited patterns similar to those seen in the natural sciences. Both have undergone processes of fission and fusion, with research areas branching out into subfields, and two or more uniting to create new fields of research. The history of science, initially practiced by historians, philosophers, and retired scientists, now attracts social historians, sociologists, anthropologists, historians of religion and of technology, and literary historians. It has come to embrace biographies of scientists; the histories of scientific disciplines and their branches; scientific institutions; the analysis and development of broad concepts such as matter, motion, and life; the support of scientific activities; the philosophical foundations and implications of science; the relation of science to fields such as medicine and technology; and the social contexts within which scientific ideas and practices emerged.
