History of Science and Technology Midterm Notes PDF

Lecture 1 History and Context Science -​ Transformed and shaped human history -​ History of science is different than other types of science -​ Deals with an idea/is an idea -​ There is tension -​ Intellectual aspect of science -​ Actual application of science...

Lecture 1 History and Context Science -​ Transformed and shaped human history -​ History of science is different than other types of science -​ Deals with an idea/is an idea -​ There is tension -​ Intellectual aspect of science -​ Actual application of science -​ Case amongst greek philosophers as it is today -​ Tension is further within research -​ Researching for its own sake or sake of knowledge -​ Pressure to apply the knowledge -​ What is viewed as useful varies Issue for historians → where does science end? → where does technology start? -​ Eden Cormack (scholar and craftsman debate) Interconnection ​ Early modern geographers bringing navigation and math together The Origins of Natural Philosophy Roots of modern science – be traced to heritage of natural philosophy -​ Small group of greek philosophers Early Civilization and Knowledge development Rise of agriculture and urban civilization → diversity of types of knowledge, new skills 4 great cradles of civilization (river systems): 1.​ Nile 2.​ Tigris-Euphrates 3.​ Indus-Ganges 4.​ Yellow → river systems prone to periodic flooding Floods - renewed soil, well suited towards agriculture, fed large populations → agriculture provided food from farm work → also subtle effect of intellectual development -​ Large scale agricultural production -​ Systems of counting + measuring → length, weight, area, volume -​ Accounting and record keeping → Loss of landmarks -​ Surveying skills developed -​ Introduced geometry -​ Angle and measurement -​ Building projects -​ Closely related to astronomy and navigation Agriculture and religion ​ Intertwined due to timekeeping ​ Lead to astronomical observations ​ Calendars With societal movements from villages to kingdoms to empires -​ Importance of record keeping, beyond memory -​ Lead to development of writing and accounting All created the idea that the world was based on abstract ideas! -​ Counting cattle → arithmetic 4 ancient empires (mastered skills): 1.​ Record keeping 2.​ Observation 3.​ Measurement 4.​ Mathematics → formed foundation of natural philosophy The Greek World Greek society – collection of city states in competition with each other → Ede and Cormack ​ Pressure to bring home intellectual and material wealth → greek life was public ​ Discussions, debates, teaching, news The public exchange of ideas lead to intellectual rigor and alternative POVs -​ Time and leisure for public life was due to SLAVERY for societal function Thales to Parmenides: Theories of Matter, Number and Change Greek -​ Separation of natural and supernatural -​ Central tenet for philosophers - 6th century BCE Most Famous: Thales of Miletus (624-548 BCE) → Water was a prime constituent of nature → All matter is made of water → form of water, earth or mist 2 noteworthy things: -​ Nature is completely material -​ No supernatural elements -​ Nature functions at its own accord Student of Thales - Anaximander → added fire to 3 elements → earth was at the centre of 3 rings of fire → hidden by mist → aperture in mist which let light through leading to stars, sun and moon → provided natural system for animal life – animals were created from wet earth, result of heat from sun → 4 elements were a prerequisite for life – water, earth, mist, fire → simple creatures changed into complex creatures -​ Links nature to natural processes At same time, another group of greek philosophers: → Pythagoreanism – universe is based on NUMBERS -​ All life can be expressed in numbers, ratios, proportions, geometry -​ Math used to quantify nature Developed cosmology that divided the universe in 3 spheres: Uranus, Olympos, Cosmos Famous geometric relation of Pythagoreans (not them who created): Pythagorean Theorem → length of hypotenuse triangle to its sides → known to egyptians and babylonians Greek Mathematics Two issues: 1.​ Used letters to represent numbers 2.​ No system of algebra Ionians – material structure Pythagoreans – math and geometry Another focus on CHANGE – motion, growth, decay, thought -​ 2 extremes Heraclitus of Ephesus (550-475 BCE) ​ All was change ​ Nature was in constant state of flux ​ Dynamic equilibrium of forces against one another ​ Fire that was at the heart of system ​ Looked to destroy others ​ “You can’t step into the same river twice” Parmenides of Elea (480 BCE) ​ Change was an illusion  ​ Change was impossible because you needed something to come from nothing ​ Zeno – came up with famous proof against motion ○​ “Zeno’s paradox” Achilles and the Tortoise → because the tortoise is always ahead, achilles will never catch up MERS – Middle East Respiratory Syndrome → Reproduction number - R → if greater than 1, each person will produce at least one secondary case = epidemic →