Science, Technology, and Society

• GEC 007 focuses on Science, Technology, and Society.

Learning Objectives

• Define the concept of antecedent.
• Discuss examples of inventions and discoveries that have changed the world throughout history.
• Identify some inventions during ancient and medieval times.
• Discuss the significance of inventions today.

Key Concepts

• Historical antecedents are factors that paved the way for advanced and sophisticated scientific and technological innovations today.
• Developments are not just products of imagination; they are also brought about by gradual improvements to earlier works from different time periods.
• The desire to raise the quality of life of people is the driving force behind continuous progress.
• An antecedent is a precursor to the unfolding or existence of something.

Ancient Times

• People were concerned with transportation, navigation, communication, record-keeping, mass production, security, protection, health, aesthetics, and architecture.
• Transportation was significant because people were trying to go to and discover new places.
• People traveled to trade surplus goods for things they lacked.
• Communication was essential to discover and occupy new places, facilitate trade, and prevent conflicts.
• Record keeping was important to remember places visited and document trades.
• Integrating needs led to better transportation, establishment of structures for protection, and construction of bigger infrastructure.
• Integration of needs led to the field of engineering.
• Elaborate architectural designs were signs of technological advancement.
• Developments in science and technology were the results of prior antecedents.
• People in ancient times were able to discover and invent things that would impact the lives of modern people out of necessity.
• The Sumerians had carts for transportation in the 3000s B.C., but they were probably used for ceremonies or by the military.
• Papyrus is a plant-based material to create written records, religious texts, administrative documents, and literature.
• Cuneiform writing was a pivotal invention that revolutionized communication and record keeping.
• Cuneiform writing was used for historical events, religious texts, trade agreements, and personal letters, and it was created by clay tablets.
• The shadoof was an early tool invented and used by Egyptians to irrigate land.
• The shadoof is a hand-operated device used for lifting water using counterweights, making irrigation and farming more efficient.
• The shadoof is believed to be an ancient precursor of more sophisticated irrigation tools.
• The Antikythera mechanism is an Ancient Greek hand-powered orrery, described as the oldest known example of an analogue computer.
• The Antikythera mechanism was used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses decades in advance.
• An aeolipile, also known as a Hero's engine, is a simple, bladeless radial steam turbine which spins when the central water container is heated.
• Torque is produced by steam jets exiting the aeolipile turbine.
• A ziggurat is a stepped pyramid temple with multiple floors, topped by the main temple.
• Ziggurats are religious structures typical of major cities of ancient Mesopotamia.
• Ancient people built waterways and reservoirs to manage floods, channel water to fields, and support agriculture in dry areas.

Medieval Times

• The heavy plow buried the weeds and brought up a lower soil level in which percolating water tended to concentrate plant nutrients.
• Turning soil allows for incorporation of crop residues, green manure, animal manure, or other substances.
• Gunpowder makers in the 14th and 15th centuries used black powder brought to Europe from China.
• Gunpowder ingredients include saltpeter (potassium nitrate), charcoal, and sulfur.
• Gunpowder was employed in warfare from at least the 10th century in weapons such as fire arrows, bombs, and the fire lance.
• The use of gunpowder preceded the appearance of the gun in the 13th century.
• The first paper money was introduced in medieval China in the late 10th century during the rule of the Song dynasty (960-1279).
• A sophisticated system of production issue and withdrawal was developed, and perfection was achieved during the Yuan Dynasty (1260-1368).
• Block printing offshoot easier to transport and replace gold and silver.
• Medieval presses used a handle to turn a wooden screw that moved the platen on which the paper was mounted.
• Johannes Guttenberg and his press made paper more accessible.
• The platen squeezed the paper against the type that was locked in place in a frame or form.
• Metal presses, developed in the 18th century, used steam to drive a cylinder press.
• Mechanical clocks did not yet have dials or hands, but told the time by striking bells.
• The clocks used suspended weights to move their wheels.
• Two weights were present: one to move the clock and the other to ring the bell.
• In medieval times, poor families needed yarn to make their cloth and clothes.
• All girls and unmarried women would keep busy spinning.
• "Spinster" became synonymous with an unmarried woman.

Modern Age

• Jacquard loom: A weaving device incorporated into special looms to control individual warp yarns.
• Jacguard enabled looms to produce fabrics having intricate woven patterns such as tapestry, brocade, and damask.
• Jacquard looms has been adapted to the production of patterned knitted fabrics.
• Zacharias Janssen, a Dutch spectacle maker, is credited with making one of the earliest compound microscopes (using two lenses) around 1600.
• The telescope magnifies images of distant objects.
• The telescope is useful for collecting and analyzing radiation from celestial objects, even those in the far reaches of the universe.
• On December 17, 1903, The Wright Flyer made its first sustained flight.
• The Wright flyer was a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft, an airplane.
• Orville and Wilbur Wright marked the pioneer era of aviation.
• Philo Farnsworth (1906 - 1971) was an American inventor who developed the first all-electronic television system.
• John Logie Baird (1888 - 1946) was a Scottish inventor and engineer.
• John Logie Baird, known as the Father of Television, invented Mechanical Television.