SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY ANS SOCIETY
chemical energy into mechanical
- It is the interaction between science and
technology and social cultural, political and
economic contexts which shape and are
shaped by them.
SOME OF THE NOTABLE HUMAN SUCCESSES
IN THE FIELD OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
 THE WHEEL
o 3500 BC
o The idea came to connect a non-
moving platform to a rolling cylinder.
o Wheeled carts facilitated agriculture
and commerce by enabling the
transportation of goods to and from
markets, as well as easing the
burden of people traveling great
distances.
 THE COMPASS
o Invented by the Chinese between 9th
to 11th century
o The first compass was made of
lodestone, a naturally-magnetized
iron ore, and the attractive properties
of which they had been studying for
centuries.
o The compass enabled mariners to
navigate safely far from the land,
increasing sea trade and
contributing to the Age of Discovery.
 THE PRINTING PRESS
o Around1440 by Johannes
Gutenberg
o Though others before him have
developed the movable type made
from metal, Gutenberg was the first
to have created the mechanized
process that transferred the ink
(made from licensed oil and soot)
from movable type to paper.
o This exponentially increased the
speed of making book copies,
leading to the rapid dissemination of
knowledge for the first time in
history.
 THE INTERNATIONAL COMBUSTION
ENGINE
o 19th century
o In these engines, the combustion of
fuel releases a high-temperature
gas, which, as it expands, applies
force to a piston, moving it.
o Thus, combustion engines convert
work.
o The engine steered into the
industrial Age, enabling the invention
of machines like modern cars and
aircraft.
 THE TELEPHONE
o 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell
o Though several inventors did
pioneering work on electronic voice
transmission, the invention quickly
took off, and revolutionized global
business and communication.
 PENICILLIN
o 1928 by Scottish scientist Alexander
Fleming
o Fleming noticed a bacteria-filled
Petri dish in his laboratory, the
sample had become contaminated
with a mold, and everywhere the
mold was, the bacteria was dead.
That antibiotic mold turned to to be
the fungus Penicillium.
o Penicillin fights a huge number of
bacterial infection in humans without
harming the humans themselves.
o Advertised and mass-produced by
1944
 THE INTERNET
o 1960s
o It is the global system of
interconnected computer networks
used by billions of people worldwide.
o A team of computer scientists
working for the US Defense
Department’s ARPA (Advanced
Research Projects Agency) built a
communication network to connect
he computers in the agency, called
ARPANET, the predecessor of the
Internet.
o It is a used method of data
transmission called “packet
switching”
o “information superhighway”