Historical Antecedents of the World (PDF)

HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS IN THE WORLD  The Advent of Science (600BC – 1400AD)  The globe started in was known then as ancient Mesopotamia.  Mesopotamia is a historical region in Western Asia situated within the Tigris– Euphrates river system, in m...

HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS IN THE WORLD  The Advent of Science (600BC – 1400AD)  The globe started in was known then as ancient Mesopotamia.  Mesopotamia is a historical region in Western Asia situated within the Tigris– Euphrates river system, in modern days roughly corresponding to most of Iraq, Kuwait, parts of Northern Saudi Arabia etc.  From the age of 4,000 BC, the high priest of Sumeria scrutinized the stars and vast records.  They were not able to leave traces of their methods, but an old tablet which was supposed to come from the period of 1800 BC.  The Science and Technology Practice in Ancient Greece  The people of ancient Greece did not consider science as a distinct subject from Philosophy.  But, We can consider the work of one Philosopher as showing signs of scientific perspectives.  Thales of Miletus a pre-Socratic philosopher, foresaw the occurrence of a rare solar eclipse, which showed his tremendous knowledge with a approaches relating to science.  Many of the early Greek philosophers made Athens as their center of learning.  The Onset of Science and Technology in Asia  The Chinese were able to invent gunpowder, and in quick succession, also made fireworks, rockets, metals, and even guns.  They also believe to have first invented the first compass.  On the other hand, India was not to be left behind as many of the most advance technology in the first millennium AD, such as the spinning wheel, was first used by Indian, and Indian farming techniques were considered superior even to the Chinese.  Ushering the Golden Age of Islam (750 AD)  In such capital, the caliph founded the so-called house of wisdom, abiding with the Islamic saying “The ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a Martyr”.  The House of Wisdom library in Baghdad had provided inspiration and well being to several lovers of Astronomy, such as Al-Sufi, who was a fan on the works of Ptolemy.  The Science of Astronomy was of great use to Arabic nomads, who use such knowledge of the heavenly bodies to navigate their tireless camels across the Arabian desert, especially in the middle of the night.  Some other Arab chemists discovered distillation and formulated words, such as alkali and alcohol. The Great Scientific Revolution Of 1400 to 1700 AD  The Golden Age of the Islamic period, which allowed for the blossoming of the sciences in the 750s, lasted for more than 5 centuries.  It was very important because it is provided the basis for the experiments to flourish and allowed the use of modern scientific ways.  Many years passed in Europe before scientific thinking overcame the inhibitions that resulted from religious doctrines.  The Dangers of the Times  For many centuries, many intellectual, including the Catholic church tinkered with the thought that the earth was at the epi-center of all heavenly objects.  The time of Nicolaus Copernicus, a doctor from Poland, when the idea came about in 1532 that it was the sun which was at the center of the solar system.  Finally in 1610 the Italian Galileo Galilei, with the use of more powerful telescope, unidentified 4 moons of the planet Jupiter which mark the dawn of a new age in cosmology.  Robert Boyle’s – Air pump. Isaac Newton – Theories of Light Travel. Danish Astronomer – Calculation on the approximate speed of light.  The Age of Micro-beings  The 1600s saw the growth of new technological developments that drove scientists to study objects in their smallest state and become obsessed with anything minute.  Dutch makers of eye glass produce the very first microscope, in late 1600. Robert Hooke, using his own microscope revealed for the very first time to the scientific community, his findings on the complex structure of small insects such as flees and bugs.  Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek a store owner of fabric, started making his own microscope and was able to found small life forms in places where scientists had not thought of conducting research before, such as water.  John Swammerdam using a microscope, showed that the different stages in the development of an insect were not separate animals but were just 1 and the same and just undergoing a process.  The Dawn of Mathematical Analysis  The new discoveries were quiet important as they laid a stable foundation and basis for the rise of modern scientific discipline, such as astronomy, chemistry, physics and biology.  The best achievement of the century, however, belonged to newton, whose magnificent treatise Philosophiae Naturalis, Principia Mathematical, laid to rest doubts over laws of motion and gravity.  The Expansion of Scientific Horizons (1700 to 1800)  The 17th century finally ended, and the toast of the century, Isaac Newton, had just publicized his mind-boggling laws of motion and gravity, which stunned the science community and impacted it with giant repercussions, such as making science result perfect and mathematics oriented.  It would not take long were able to unbare the fundamental principles governing the universe, and soon, the different branches of scientific encroachments became highly specialized.  More Discoveries  In the early 18th century, Stephen Hales was able to discover root pressure and, invented a trough for collecting gases.  Another important discovery was that of the Daniel Bernoulli, a Swiss mathematician, who was primarily responsible Bernoulli principle, which stated that “The pressure of fluid falls when it is moving”.  In other fields, a Scottish chemist, Joseph Black (1754), was able to produced an amazing doctoral thesis about calcium carbonate degeneration and the extraction of carbon.  In England, the great Henry Cavendish made an important contribution to the field by illustrating that water was made of two parts of hydrogen to one of oxygen.  In a related field, Dutchman John Ingenhousz the demonstrated how green plants emitted oxygen under the sun and carbon dioxide in the dark.  The Field Of Earth Sciences  In American for example, Benjamin Franklin was able to show how big-scale ocean currents flowed at the bottom of the sea with his inquiries of the gulf stream.  Some other notables included George Hadley, an English amateur meteorologist, Nevil Maskelyne, who took advantage of Newtons idea, James Hutton who became engrossed in geology and soon made the conclusion that the earth was a little bit older that anyone had previously believed.  The Basis of Life  A French naturalist and mathematician, Georges-Loius Leclerc, was one of those who pioneered the creation of theory of evolution.  German Theologian Christian Sprengel spent most of his time delving into the complex relationship between plants and insects.  Another Englishman, Thomas Malthus, focused on specific about demography and predicted the end of the world a population growth was left unchecked.  Inasmuch as Malthus negative thoughts was proven to be unrealistic so far, his belief that the unbridled population of man would soon have a tremendous effect on the availability of resources.  Another brilliant luminary, Italian physicist Alessandro Volta, made bigs strides with iconic invention of the electric battery.  English philosopher William Whewell introduced the creation of a new profession separate from that of philosophy.  A Hundred Years of Development (1800-1900)  The electric battery was discovered in 1799.  Danish Hans Christian Orsted, who established a connection between electricity and magnetism.  Michael Faraday invented the first electric motor with Scottish James Clerk Maxwell who made the calculation in the process, solved the complex mathematics of electromagnetism.  Invisibility Matter  William Herschel a astronomer, realized that his thermometer showed a higher temperature over the red end of the visible spectrum.  Wilhelm Rontgen also discovered the soon-to-be famous X-rays in his experiment in Germany.  Thomas Young put to rest the argument of whether light was a wave or a particle discovering wavelike interference.  Christian Doppler made the famous the “Doppler effect” by expounding on the color of binary stars.  Hippolyte Fizeau and Leon Foucault were able to measure the speed of light and concluded that light traveled faster in air than in water.  Chemical Reactions  John Dalton focusing on the potential use of atomic weights for veteran chemist.  Jons Jakob Berzelius contributed to the growing knowledge on this by making a full list of atomic weights.  Louis Pasteur illustrated that the spontaneous generation of life could not be done.  August Kekule discovered the structure of the benzene molecule.  Dmitri Mendeleev who was able to solve problem through periodic table of the elements.  Relics from the Past  Richard Owen pioneered the use of the word “dinosaurs” to describe the “terrible lizards”  Louis Agassiz the big parts of the planet were once covered with impregnable ice.  Thomas Henry Huxley illustrated that birds could have evolved from the now-extinct dinosaurs.  In early 1900s Lord Kelvin declares that “There is nothing new to be discovered in Physics now, all that remains is more and more precise measurement.”  The Dawn of a New Era (1900 to 1945)  Many things happened in the 19th century, which changed the fundamental views of many scientists.  The first half of the 20th century would, however provide more surprises as the old perspective of classical physics, relatively stable since the time of Isaac Newton.  Isaac Newton was an English mathematician, astronomer, theologian, author and physicist who is widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time, and a key figure in the scientific revolution.