Science in Ancient Civilizations

• History can make science better.

Ancient Times

• Science and technology in ancient times occurred in Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, and Chinese civilizations.

Sumerian Civilization

• Sumer was an ancient civilization founded in the Mesopotamian region of the Fertile Crescent, situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
• Sumerians are known for language, governance, and architecture innovations.
• The wheel, plow, and writing system called cuneiform are examples of Sumerian achievements.
• Sumerian farmers created levees and canals, a practice called irrigation.
• The Ziggurat of Ur, sailboats, and roads were also Sumerian inventions.

Babylonian Civilization

• Babylon was located about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Baghdad in modern-day Iraq.
• Babylon served as a center of Mesopotamian civilization for nearly two millennia.
• Hammurabi, an early ruler, created a harsh system of laws.
• The Babylonian language would later be used across the Middle East.
• The Hanging Gardens were built by King Nebuchadnezzar II.
• Babylonians excelled in science, with their priests watching the sun, moon, planets, and stars for forecasting.
• Like the Sumerians, Babylonians adopted a lunar calendar, dividing the year into 12 months, each with 30 days.

Egyptian Civilization

• Egypt made significant contributions to progress and societal advancement.
• Egypt was a cradle of civilization and a beacon of knowledge, leading in scientific discoveries and innovations.
• Egyptian discoveries included astronomy, chemistry, medicine, and engineering.
• The supremacy of Egyptian engineering is seen in the architecture of the Pyramids and Karnak.
• Ancient Egyptians left monuments such as pyramids and temples.
• Egyptians developed metallurgy for tools, and were the first to extract copper from its ores and gold by melting.
• Other ancient Egyptian inventions include hieroglyphics, ink, papyrus, wigs, cosmetics, water clocks, or clepsydra.

Greek Civilization

• The Ancient Greeks made many advancements in science and technology.
• Greek philosophers developed theories and observed the laws that could be learned through study.
• The ancient Greeks invented tools and techniques, such as the gear, screw, rotary mills, bronze casting, water clock, water organ, torsion catapult, and steam-powered machines and toys.
• Greeks developed a chart for finding prime numbers.
• Ancient Greek architecture is still admired and studied today

Roman Civilization

• The Romans were expert builders and civil engineers.
• Their civilization produced advances in technology, culture, and architecture.
• Roman inventions include newspapers, bound books or codex, Roman architecture, and Roman numerals.
• Romans were responsible for contributing aqueducts to civilization.

Chinese Civilization

• China has a long and rich history of science and technology innovation.
• Ancient Chinese philosophers made significant advances in science, technology, mathematics, and astronomy
• These achievements were independent of other civilizations.
• China made the first recorded observations of comets, solar eclipses, and supernovae.
• Traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and herbal medicine were practiced.
• The abacus, kites, and Kongming lanterns were among the earliest Chinese inventions.
• The compass, gunpowder, paper making, and printing, were among the most important technological advances
• These are known as the Four Great Inventions of ancient China
• A time of great innovation in China was during the Tang dynasty.
• There was a good deal of exchange between Western and Chinese discoveries up to the Qing Dynasty.
• Ancient China's popular products that still exist today are silk and tea.
• The Great Wall of China is the longest wall in the world, serving as an awe-inspiring ancient defensive architecture.

Medieval Times

• The Middle Ages (Medieval Times), far from being miserable and bloody, was a period of invention and innovation.
• After the fall of Rome in the West during the 5th Century AD, the power vacuum it created forced its former conquests into centuries of bitter warfare, famine, disease, and strife.
• There was enough calm during the Middle Ages with great leaps forward in science and invention.
• The inventions of the Middle Ages were important, ultimately paving the way to the modern world.

Printing Press

• The printing press is the most important invention of the Middle Ages.
• It removed control of information distribution from the State and The Church.
• The printing press laid the path for the Protestant Reformation, The Renaissance, and The Enlightenment.
• Johannes Guttenberg's famous press was developed in Germany in the 15th century
• It can trace its history back to 3rd-century China.

Microscope

• Hans and Zacharias Janssen from the Netherlands invented the first compound microscope in the late 16th century.
• The Janssens discovered that putting a lens at each end of a tube magnified objects looked through it.
• The microscope helped pave the way to usefulness in biology and medicine.
• Robert Hooke (1635-1703) English Chemist, Mathematician, Physicist, and Inventor, he also improved Microscope
• Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) Wine Assayer, Surveyor, Cloth Merchant, Minor Public Official, and Inventor made the Simple Microscope (1 lens)

Telescope

• The telescope originated from the early makers of eyeglasses and lenses in the 1400s.
• Lens makers had improved their abilities to cut and polish glasses, resulting in clearer lenses by the late 1500s and early 1600s.
• Hans Lippershey, experimented with lenses and created a telescope in the Netherlands.
• Lippershey put a mask on it that allowed only a small amount of light to enter.
• In September of 1608, Lippershey presented his telescope to Prince Maurice of Nassau and then applied for a patent a week later.
• Lippershey was denied his patent because other scientists and glass-makers claimed similar devices.
• Galileo picked up Lippershey's telescope, improving it for space observation.
• Astronomers built telescopes with more power and clearer images over time.
• Thomas Harriot in England built a telescope that could magnify objects six times.
• Galileo's telescope could magnify objects by eight times.

War Weapons

• People in the Middle Ages made weapons for offensive and defensive purposes.
• The sword was widely used by elite and common soldiers as a weapon.
• Variations occurred blade size, hilt and pommel fashion.
• Sword blades became narrower and sharper at the point in the thirteenth century , with armor becoming tougher.
• The sword became more of a thrusting weapon, gradually declining in military equipment.
• Other weapons of the time were crossbows and longbows that were used to attack enemies at long distances from walls and fortresses.
• Warriors used armor for short-range protection, but became too heavy, then chainmail was used.
• War weapons were developed in the medieval ages to acquire dominions and supremacy of power among nations.

Modern Times

• The Modern Age was a historical time period that spanned 1500 to 1945 (up to the present).
• The historical period recognized the importance of efficient transportation, communication, and production.
• Industrialization took place raising concerns of human health, food safety, and environment which required advances in scientific and technological progress,.

The Rise of Natural Sciences

• Elementary particles impact science.
• X-rays discovered by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (1895)
• Radioactivity by Henri Bacquerel (1896)
• Electron by J.J. Thompson (1897)
• In 1911, Rutherford, Marsden, and Geiger discovered the dense atomic nucleus by bombarding a thin gold sheet with radium's alpha particles.
• Quantum field theory, particles interact over zero distance in spacetime.
• Niels Bohr and Max Planck are founding fathers of Quantum Theory.
• Theory of relativity, the theorized force carrier particle for gravity, the graviton, cannot operate at zero distance.
• Albert Einstein explained the theory of relativity.
• These discoveries brought about quantum cryptography, computing, and optics.
• The study of chemistry is important for developing useful materials, such as medicine, sources of alternative energy, and materials that protect the environment.
• These materials are also used to improve building technology.

Chemistry Inventions in Modern Era

• Penicillin
• Polythene
• The Haber-Bosch Process

Biology Becomes An Interdisciplinary Science

• The development of biochemistry and the recognition that most important biological processes take place at the molecular level led to the rapid growth of the field of molecular biology.
• Significant inventions in Biology are vaccination, insulin, and Oroftan implantation

Improvement of Mathematics

• Abstraction of Mathematics is the process of extracting the underlying structures, patterns, or properties of a mathematical concept from real-world objects broadening its applications.
• Significant modern era discoveries were spherical geometry, hyperbolic geometry, and modern algebra

Improvement of Astronomy

• In astronomy, ever larger telescopes have assisted in discovering that the sun is an ordinary star in the Milky Way collection of stars.
• Significant discoveries and inventions in astronomy were modern telescopes, stellar photometry, and galatic radiation.

Modern Science and Technology

• Modern Era Affects every aspect of life.
• The Electronics Industry was born.
• Modern Era opened up new perspectives of understanding.
• It also developed treatment and therapeutic equipment.
• Some Major Modern Science & Technology Inventions:
  • Telephone by Alexander Graham Bell (1876)
  • (old) Rotary dial telephone (1900s)
  • Cell phones (1973-up to the present)
• Significant Technology Inventions:
• Guglielmo Marconi invented the wireless telegraph" or Radio
• John Logie Baird is largely credited for inventing modern television
• Orville and Wilbur Wright (brothers) for designing and successfully operating the first engine powered aircraft and flight scientifically