hard science vs science

hard science

noun
  • Any of the natural and physical sciences that use the scientific method and experiments to test theories. Examples include mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry and geology. 

science

noun
  • Specifically the natural sciences. 

  • The collective discipline of study or learning acquired through the scientific method; the sum of knowledge gained from such methods and discipline. 

  • Knowledge derived from scientific disciplines, scientific method, or any systematic effort. 

  • Synonym of sweet science (“the sport of boxing”) 

  • The fact of knowing something; knowledge or understanding of a truth. 

  • A particular discipline or branch of learning, especially one dealing with measurable or systematic principles rather than intuition or natural ability. 

  • The scientific community. 

verb
  • To use science to solve a problem. 

How often have the words hard science and science occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )