Vviewpoints
DOI: 10.1145/1562164.1562176
the profession of it
Computing: the Fourth
great domain of science
Computing is as fundamental as the physical, life, and social sciences.

THErE is MUCHdiscussionabout he generality and pervasive- ness of computing. Is com- puting really an inescapable part of the world? What does that imply about science? Engineering? Education? How can we build new stories and education experiences that attract new young people to the field? Can computing, like other sciences, advance technology and applications through strong scientific advances? Can computer science rightfully claim a place at the table of science? And so on.

Many people have been warming up to the ideas that computing is science,

deserves a place at the table of science, and is a rewarding profession. Yet a question nags at the edge of perception. Computers are admittedly everywhere. Roads, electricity, radio, television, and food are everywhere too, but they are not science. They are infrastructure. Why is computing any different?

We recently discovered a new answer to this old question. We noticed that all the acknowledged sciences are grouped into three great domains: physical, life, and social. We asked, what makes them great domains of science? And we found that computing meets all the same criteria. In other words, computing is the

fourth great domain of science.

We will show you why we make this claim. We hope that you will not only want to discuss it, but that you will warm up to it too.

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Great Scientific Domains

Most of us understand science as the quest to understand what is so about the world. Through observation and experimentation, scientists seek to discover recurrent phenomena. They formulate models to capture recurrences and enable predictions, and they seek to validate or refute models through experiments. Much of computing conforms to these ideals. 7, 10

Science has a long-standing tradition of grouping fields into three categories: the physical, life, and social sciences. The physical sciences focus on physical phenomena, especially materials, energy, electromagnetism, gravity, motion, and quantum effects. The life sciences focus on living things, especially species, metabolism, reproduction, and evolution. The social sciences focus on human behavior, mind, economic, and social interactions. 8 We use the term “great domains of science” for these categories. 9

These domains share three common features: their foci are distinctive phenomena important in all sciences; the fields of each category have rich sets of structures and processes that evolve together through constant interaction; and their influence is extensive, touching all parts of life and providing unique and useful perspectives.