As I was trimming lavender and oregano bushes, it occurred to me that I have been intimidated by the field of Data Science because of the word “Science”. What makes Data Science a Science?

In a similar vein, what about “computer science”, “materials science”, “research science”?
Is the adoption of the word “science” a far stretch, or is there a thoughtful reason behind this?

In general the field of computer programming languages and data science follows logical thinking and deliberate nomenclature. I don’t know what qualifies as a science (perhaps following a logical procedure such as the scientific method?) but I will find out.

After attending the PyData conference last week I feel much less intimidated by terms like data science, machine learning, data structures, algorithms. In fact, I am hungry to learn more.