STS 002.docx.pdf

Science, Technology and Society The Advent of Science (600 BC to 1400 AD) It has been said that man’s bewilderment and scientific view of the globe started in what was known then as ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia - A historical region in Western Asia - Situated within the Tigris-Eup...

Science, Technology and Society The Advent of Science (600 BC to 1400 AD) It has been said that man’s bewilderment and scientific view of the globe started in what was known then as ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia - A historical region in Western Asia - Situated within the Tigris-Euphrates River - From the Greek word meaning “The Land between two rivers” - The Cradle of Civilization o People Developed agriculture o Development of Permanent Housing – Beginning of Government o Development of Sailboat, the wheel, and the first plow Ancient Greece The people of Ancient Greece did not consider science as a distinct subject from that of Philosophy. But we can consider the work of one philosopher as showing signs of scientific perspectives. Thales - from Miletus in Asia Minor now known as Turkey - A pre-Socratic Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, and Astronomer - One of the seven Sages in Greece - Became famous for predicting a solar eclipse on May 28, 585 BCE Quotes: “The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.” “Nothing is more active than thought, for it travels over the universe, and nothing is stronger than necessity for all must submit to it.” Many of the early Greek Philosophers made Athens their center for learning. Aristotle - Along with Plato, he is considered the Father of Western Philosophy - He was from Stagira, Greece Nicomachean Ethics o The goal of the ethics is to determine how best to achieve happiness. o Happiness depends on living in accordance with appropriate virtues ▪ Virtue is a disposition rather than an activity ▪ A virtuous person is naturally disposed to behave in the right ways and for the right reasons, and to feel pleasure in behaving rightly. o While the moral virtues dispose us to behave in the correct manner, it is necessary also to have the right intellectual virtues in order to reason properly about how to behave. o Pleasure accompanies and perfects our activities. A good person will feel pleasure in doing good things. The highest good of all is rational contemplation. A life that consist exclusively of contemplation is obviously impossible, but we should aim to approximate this ideal as closely as possible. Science, Technology and Society o The practical sciences, then, help us find the right path toward this highest good and help us deal with the practical matters of everyday life that inevitably occupy a great deal of our time and attention. Archimedes - From Syracuse, Italy; Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer - Famous for his Law of Buoyance: o Heiron II wanted to give Ptolemy II a gift so he asked Archimedes to supervise the building of a great ship—the Syracusia. o The ship will include the following: ▪ Cargo: 400 Tons of Grain 10000 jars of pickled fish 20 horses with individual shelters inside the ship 74 tons of drinking water 600 tons of wool ▪ Can cater to at least 1000 person including 600 soldiers ▪ A temple for the goddess Aphrodite ▪ A Library with books and statues ▪ A pool with heated water ▪ A gymnasium ▪ A missile launcher that can fire a 180 pounds stone ▪ 8 watchtower built on the of the statue of Atlas carrying the globe at his back Eratosthenes - He was from Cyrene (now Libya in North Africa) - Greek mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theorist - Chief Librarian at the library of Alexandria - Invented the discipline of geography, including the terms we used up to today - He calculated the circumference of the earth using only his wooden stick and his mind Ctesibius - Greek inventor and mathematician - Father of Pneumatics - From Alexandria - He discovered elasticity - He developed the suction pump - Constructed a precise water clock - Hydraulis – a musical instrument which is the ancestor of pipe organ Inventions of the Chinese during the Onset of Science and Technology in Asia: - Gunpowder Science, Technology and Society - Fireworks - Rockets - Metals - Guns - They were also believed to have first invented the first seismograph and the first compass India - India was not to be left behind as many of the most advanced technology in the first millennium AD, such as the spinning wheel, was first used by Indians, and Indian farming techniques were considered superior even to the Chinese. - Brilliant Indian mathematicians were also responsible for the development of what we now call the “Arabic number system” By 750 AD, the capital of the Islamic Caliphate was moved from Damascus to Baghdad, in what is now known as the city of Iraq. After the age of Ancient Greeks and the end of the Roman Empire, the science of astronomy went into decline in western Europe. Barbarian incursions and empire building meant that little attention was paid to science and learning, and any such pursuits were limited to monasteries and the homes of nobles. Islam saw a shift of scientific knowledge from the philosophers of Greece, and the engineers of Rome to the East. House of Wisdom - The Caliph founded this in the capital in accordance with the Islamic saying “the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of martyr.” - It’s main purpose is to be a great library and formidable center of research. Al-Sufi (Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sufi) - Persian Astronomer - Lunar crater Azoph was named after him - One of the two most outstanding practical astronomers of the middle ages Alhazen - Arab mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic golden age - Wrote a book about optics (comparable with the work of Newton) Al-Razi - A physician who formulated soap and made distinctions between smallpox and measles Al-Khwarizmi - Introduced algebra and algorithms Al-Jazari - An engineer who was the first to use rod systems still found in cars today THE GREAT SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION (1400 – 1700 AD) Science, Technology and Society The Golden Age of the Islamic period, which allowed for the blossoming of the sciences in the 750s, lasted for more than five centuries. It was very important because it provided the basis for experiments to flourish and allowed the use of modern scientific ways. For many centuries, many intellectuals, including the Catholic Church, tinkered with the thought that the Earth was at the epicentre of all heavenly objects. Until… Nicolaus Copernicus - A doctor from Poland who had the idea that it was the sun which was at the center of the solar system. ▪ Because of the sensitivity of the issue at that time, Copernicus did not publish his conclusions until he was at the threshold of death. Johannes Kepler - A German astrologer who observed the elliptical orbits of Mars Galileo Galilei - An Italian who identified around four moons of the planet Jupiter using more powerful telescopes, which marked the dawn of a new age in cosmology. - He also ably showed the utilization of scientific data by conducting experiments on falling objects and propagated the use of the pendulum as a keeper of time. Christian Huygens - Dutchman who took advantage of Galileo’s ideas with pendulum and soon built the first pendulum clock in 1657. Francis Bacon - An English Philosopher who made a pitch for the use of scientific method and, thus, laid a strong foundation for modern science that is grounded on observation and experiment. Robert Boyle - Discovered Air Pump - He defined elements, compounds, and mixtures, and he coined the new term ‘chemical analysis - He discovered Boyle’s Law – the first of the gas laws – relating the pressure of a gas to its volume; he established that electrical forces are transmitted through a vacuum, but sound is not; and he also stated that the movement of particles is responsible for heat. He was the first person to write specific experimental guidance for other scientists, telling them the importance of achieving reliable, repeatable results. Isaac Newton - English Physicist and Mathematician Science, Technology and Society Ole Romer - Danish astronomer who was famous due to his calculations on the approximate speed of light Bishop Nicolas Steno - A contemporary of Ole Romer who also made inroads into modern science and developed his own thinking in the fields of anatomy and geology. - Among his accomplishments was the study of rock layers, which established a new scientific ground for the emerging science of geology. THE AGE OF MICRO BEINGS The 1600’s saw the growth of new technological developments that drove scientists to study objects in their smallest state and become obsessed with anything minute. Robert Hooke - In the late 1600’s, revealed for the very first time to the scientific community his findings on the complex structure of small insects, such as fleas and bugs. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek - Dutchman and store owner of fabric, who started making his own microscopes and was able to found small life forms in places where scientists had not thought of conducting their research before, such as water. - He soon discovered life forms with single cells, like bacteria. Jan Swammerdam - Showed that the different stages in the development of an insect were not separate animals but were just one and the same and just undergoing a process; thus, outdated ideas, which dated back to the time of Aristotle were proven untrue by these latest discoveries. John Ray - An Englishman biologist who made a great collection of plants species which was considered the first important attempt to systematize the classification of living things. THE DAWN OF THE MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS The new discoveries were quite important as they laid a stable foundation and basis for the rise of modern scientific disciplines, such as astronomy, chemistry, physics, and biology. Science, Technology and Society The best achievement of the century, however, belonged to Newton, whose magnificent treatise Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematical, laid to rest dubts over laws of motion and gravity. THE EXPANSION OF SCIENTIFIC HORIZONS (1700 – 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 results perfect and mathematics-oriented. Stephen Hales - In the early 18th century, he was able to discover root pressure (rising of sap within plants) and, invented a trough for collecting gases. This instrument, later on, was found useful in dissecting air composition. Daniel Bernoulli - A Swiss mathematician, who was primarily responsible for the Bernoulli principle, which stated that “the pressure of a fluid falls when it is moving.” This principle allowed the Swiss wizard to keep tabs on blood pressure. This principle was later on utilized in the principles governing the flying of an aircraft. Joseph Black - A Scottish Chemist - He was able to produce an amazing doctoral thesis about calcium carbonate degeneration and the extraction of carbon dioxide. Henry Cavendish - Made an important contribution by illustrating that water was made of two parts of hydrogen to one of oxygen. Jan Ingenhousz - He demonstrated how green plants emitted oxygen under the sun and carbon dioxide in the dark. Antoine Lavoisier - He explained that many elements, including carbon and phosphorus, could burn by combining with oxygen to form what is now termed as oxides. Joseph Proust Science, Technology and Society - A French chemist who made another important discovery by figuring out that chemical elements, most of the time, merged in exact shares. This was an essential step toward knowing the production of simple compunds. THE FIELD OF EARTH SCIENCES While great strides were made in the fields of physics and chemistry, the functions of the earth also came to be realized. Benjamin Franklin - An American who was able to show how big-scale ocean currents flowed at the bottom of the sea with his inquiries of the Gulf Stream. George Handley - An English amateur meteorologist, who expounded in a paper the impact of the trade winds in relation to the rotation of the globe. Nevil Maskelyne - He took advantage of Newton’s idea, by taking measurements of the gravitational pull of a mountain in Scotland, and in the process, was able to find out the density of the earth. James Hutton - Who became engrossed in geology and soon made the conclusion that the earth was a little bit older than anyone had previously believed. THE BASIS OF LIFE With the emergence of knowledge on the earth’s real age, many scientists theorized on the evolution of life and how it originated. Georges-Louis Leclerc - A French naturalist and mathematician who was one of those who pioneered the creation of a theory of evolution. Christian Sprengel - He spent most of his time delving into the complex relationship between plants and insects and later made the conclusion that bisexual flowers did not have the ability to fertilize themselves because they produced male and female flowers at different peroiods. Thomas Maltus - An Englishman who focused his study on specifics about demography and predicted the end of the world if population growth was left unchecked. He emphasized this predicament with his essay, “The Principle of Population.” Science, Technology and Society - Inasmuch as Malthus’s 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, later had a deeper influence on the thinking of Charles Darwin. Alessandro Volta - An Italian physicist who made big strides with the iconic invention of the electric battery. This invention advanced the spread of technology in the coming decades. William Whewell - An English philosopher who introduced the creation of new profession separate from that of philosophy. He suggested a name for this man of science: the scientist. A HUNDRED YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT (1800 – 1900) As had already been said, the invention of electric battery in 1799 created a whole new field of scientific ideas and in the following years, various scientists discovered new things. Hans Christian Orsted - A Danish who established a connection between electricity and magnetism. Michael Faraday - A member of London Royal Institution who invented the world’s first electric motor. James Clerk Maxwell - A Scottish who made some calculations and in the process, solved the complex mathematics of electromagnetism. William Herschel - German astronomer who, during his scientific endeavours, realized that his thermometer showed a higher temperature over the red end of the visible spectrum. He had accidentally stumbled upon infrared radiation, and thus, proved that there was more than meets the eye in the spectrum aside from visible light. Wilhelm Rontgen - He discovered the soon-to-be famous X-rays in his experiments in Germany. Thomas Young - He was a British Physician who put to rest the argument of whether light was a wave or a particle by discovering wavelike interference in his studies. Christian Doppler Science, Technology and Society - Austrian physicist who also made famous the “Doppler effect” by expounding on the colour of binary stars. Hippolyte Fizeau & Leon Foucault - They were able to measure the speed of light and concluded that light travelled faster in air than in water. John Dalton - British meteorologist who focused on the potential use of atomic weights for veteran chemists. Jakob Berzelius - He also contributed to the growing knowledge on the field of chemistry by making a full list of atomic weights. Louis Pasteur - French who illustrated that the spontaneous generation of life could not be done. August Kekule - German Chemist who discovered the structure of the benzene molecule Dmitri Mendeleev - Russian Chemist who was able to solve the problem of the periodic table of the elements Marie Curie - Two-time Nobel-Prize winner who in her laboratory, was able to separate polonium from radium Mary Anning - From England who presented a substantial collection of fossils of extinct animals Richard Owen - An English biologist who also pioneered the use of the word “dinosaurs” to describe the “terrible lizards” that once were kings on this earth. Louis Agassiz - A geologist from Switzerland who also forwarded the view that big parts of the planet were once covered with impregnable ice. Alexander von Humboldt - He was able to uncover the connections inherent in nature and, thus, founded the study of ecology. Alfred Russel Wallace & Charles Darwin Science, Technology and Society - They came up with the idea on the process of evolution be means of natural selection Thomas Huxley - A follower of Darwin who illustrated that birds could have evolved from the now-extinct dinosaurs Gregor Mendel - A German-speaking friar from Silesia who made inroads into the ultimate function of genetics by seriously studying thousands of pea plants. Such data would later on provide the genetic mechanism for natural selection. Lord Kelvin - British physicist who boldly declared in early 1900’s that: “There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement.” THE DAWN OF THE NEW ERA (1900 – 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, was about to be discarded and soon, a new way of looking at matter, time, and space was about to begin. Max Planck - In the early 1900, he made an important discovery that electromagnetism travelled in distinct packets and not in continuous waves as previously thought of. Albert Einstein - He presented his fundamental paper on special relativity with the belief that the speed of light was always constant and independent of the movement of the observer. - However, after studying the consequences of general relativity, Einstein later found out that the idea of an absolute time and space, which was independent of the observer, had to be discarded in favour of a single space-time. - He further illustrated that matter and energy might just be characterized as aspects of the same phenomenon that was capable of being converted from one to the other. Sir Joseph John Thomson - An English physicist in Cambridge who was the first to discover the electron, unearthing its negative charge and the wave-like characteristics of its particles. Erwin Schrodinger Science, Technology and Society - An Austrian who also made an array of equations that fully described the probability of finding a particle in a specific place and state. Werner Heisenberg - A colleague of Schrodinger who illustrated that there was a probable uncertainty to the values of place and momentum and soon enough, this was later found out to be fundamental to the overall structure of the universe. Ernest Rutherford - A New Zealander who first illustrated that an atom was made basically of space, comprising of small, dense nucleus and electrons orbiting around it. - He also elaborated that certain forms of radioactivity were present at the splitting of this nucleus. Linus Pauling - A chemist who took advantage of the picture of an atom and was then able to explain how atoms bonded to each other with the use of quantum physics. John Robert Oppenheimer - He was tasked to lead the Manhattan Project, an undertaking to produce the first nuclear weapons ever made. THE NEW CONCEPT OF THE UNIVERSE In the early 20th century, the nebulae were just believed to be distant clouds of gas within our very own galaxy, the Milky Way. But in a major twist of events… Edwin Hubble - The great American astronomer who found out that these nebulae were in reality, distant galaxies which lead to the thinking that the universe is bigger and larger than previously thought of by anyone. - He also made the observation that the universe was expanding in all directions. Gerges Lemaitre - A Belgian priest and physicist who also got into fray by suggesting that the universe came into being from a “primeval atom” (Big Bang Theory). Fritz Zwicky - An astronomer who invented the term “dark matter” to elucidate why the Coma Galaxy Cluster seemed to exude 400 times as much mass as observed from its gravitational pull. SUBSTANTIAL DISCOVERIES (1945 – Present) Science, Technology and Society During the upper half of the 20th century, a variety of technology, such as telescopes, exploded into the scene and burst into all fields of sciences. This latest technology opened up endless possibilities for better calculation and scientific experiments. The early 1940’s saw the emergence of the first computers, and the new science of artificial intelligence was born. The invention of powerful and efficient microscopes provided avenues for the first direct contact with atoms while high capacity telescopes showed the existence of far-away planets that had not yet been seen before. By the beginning of the 21st century, science has become an interdisciplinary activity where cooperation and team activities are the fundamental core. THE ORIGIN OF LIFE Many Scientists, curious of life’s beginnings, conducted experiments to find the truth. Harold Urey & Stanley Miller - American chemists at the University of Chicago who conducted an experiment to know whether life on earth started when chemical reactions were sparked by lightning. James Watson & Briton Francis - Two American molecular biologists who made a key scientific contribution when they were able to dissect the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. Such discovery lead to the unlocking of the genetic code of life, which would later lead to the successful mapping of the human genome. Lynn Margulis - American biologist who expounded on the theory that organisms absorbed each other and continued with their existence, resulting in the production of complex cells of all multicellular life forms. It was only after two decades that her proposal was vindicated. Michael Syvanen - American microbiologist who was able to illustrate how genes could have the ability to transfer from one species to another, and thus, acquired characteristics could be passed from one generation to another. Craig Venter - American who, using his own experiments, had created artificial life by carefully outlining its DNA on his computer. Ian Wilmut - A Scottish who, after countless failures, was able to finally succeed in the cloning of a sheep. Richard Feynman - An American who concluded that quantum interactions happened in terms of exchange of virtual particles. Science, Technology and Society Paul Dirac - A scientist who was able to correctly predict the existence of anti-matter. Sheldon Glashow - An American who merged electromagnetism with the weak nuclear force and transformed it into one “electro-weak” theory. Hugh Everett III - He made a unique proposal that there might be a mathematical basis for concluding that there could be the real existence of more than one universe. THE FUTURE BECKONS Questions have remained over sexual other scientific inquiries, including an elusive theory that would merge quantum mechanics with general relativity. But tantalizing possibilities, especially with the emergence of new technologies, are also opening up, including a potential revolution in such field as computation. It is highly probable that more and more problems that we have not previously imagined would soon emerge. In this regard, we must always be ready to expect the unexpected as surprises are always present in the field of science. HIGHER EDUCATION AND SIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE PHILIPPINES CHED - Commission on Higher Education - Has been mandated by law to chart a new and better direction of higher education in the Philippines. - They are tasked with the responsibility of developing our burgeoning human resources to satisfy the ever-changing needs and well-being of our society and nation and to face the challenges of a rapidly evolving world. - They have always been given reminders to prepare themselves for the strict demands of globalization and the information age. “It would be a great century that would ultimately demand the needed services of knowledge-creators and knowledge-based workers.” Science, Technology and Society “We should always reflect on the higher philosophy that would give guidance and proper mandate for higher education efforts to address future needs of the state and solve the challenges of the modern society.” “We should prepare students for the basic needs of tomorrow, always mindful of their talents and taking advantage of their strong potentials for the survival of the Filipino nation.” “Efforts must also be undertaken for the preservation and enrichment of our Filipino Culture, the realization of our real identity as a people, and the continued proper utilization and conservation of our natural resources for the development, progress, and economic growth of our society.” Looking back at the history of higher education in the Philippines, we will see the influence of Spanish, and, later American colonial principles and policies on our educational system. Spanish Colonization - Educational institutions were established primarily to Christianize the Filipinos, influence the elite class, and ensure the docility of Filipinos by Spanish masters. American Colonization - There was an extensive public system that was established to spread the ideals of democracy, facilitate colonial rule and to unify the archipelago. - English was used as the main medium of instruction in schools - The primary aim of higher education was to train Filipino graduates who would staff the higher levels of the colonial bureaucracy. “The former leaders in the Philippine history had foreseen the importance and necessity of education, and they became fully aware of the need for quality education to achieve the goals of freedom, democracy, and economic development, which were necessary for a sovereign and independent state.” “Higher Education in contemporary Philippines has been transformed by a deep philosophical orientation that puts primary importance on the pursuit of knowledge and formation requisite skills and physical tools necessary to make the Filipino a productive member of the society.” Higher Education is considered a means to harness, develop, and put into good use not only the productive capacities of Filipinos but more importantly, the constructive use of their full potentials and capabilities in: (a) Realizing the specific Filipino identity and strong esteem for national pride (b) Cultivating and imposing the moral fiber and spiritual harmony (c) Reaching political soundness, economic stability, and equitable social responsibility Science, Technology and Society (d) Preserving and enriching the historical and cultural foundation of the Filipinos as a distinct people and race. Mission of Higher Education in the Philippines: (a) Accelerate the development of high-level professionals who will search for new knowledge, and provide leadership in various disciplines required by a dynamic and self-sustaining economy. (b) Harness the productive capacity of the country’s human resource base towards international competitiveness. Twin Goals for Human Resource Development: 1. People empowerment 2. Global Competitiveness “The world of the 21st century will undergo change even faster. There is a need to be always at the knife’s edge in the pursuit of knowledge not for its own sake but for the benefit of citizens and society. Individuals who will have a broad general education, grounded on patriotic love of country and humanity, and who have specialized skills and broad knowledge suited to their God-given talents have to be educated and developed.” Online Sources: https://www.famousscientists.org/robert-boyle/ http://www.academia.edu/25057171/Sir_Isaac_Newtons_Contribution_to_Physics_Astronomy_and_Ma thematics