CHAPTER1
HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
"where is science now?" In the
pursuit of knowledge, human keeps on
asking questions, like "what is matter?",
"what is life?", "where are we?", or even
"when are we?". This questions were asked
and is continuously being asked today.
This chapter will provide a glimpse
on the development of science and
technology through the history of
humankind. Provide evidences of the
presence of science and technology in
different eras of different locations.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE:
 Define science based your historical
and philosophical understanding.
 Compare the similarities and
differences of the alchemist, natural
philosopher, engineer, and scientist.
 Recognize historical antecedents.
 Make a list of people of science,
include their contributions and
implications.
 Illustrate your futuristic view of
science and technology based on
history of Science.
 Create a mind map of the historical
roots of science starting from
alchemy to the science.
 Present the developed mind map
through oral presentation.
LESSON 1
INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
"What is matter?"
Science is not a single idea; it is not
as stable as other disciplines are. It covers
compounding contributions of different
natural philosophers and scientists all
throughout the history.
What was true then can "not be true"
now, and what is true now, can be "not true"
in the future.
Science is systematic, it abides with
rules of observations or experimentations
that can be universally be repeated.
In order to convince a scientist.
Observe some specific aspects of the world.
Some of the generated knowledge science
were generated through observations.
Conduct an experiment to answer some
questions about the world. Experimentation
plays an important role in proving and
disproving a proposed scientific principle.
"NULLIUS IN VERBA" = "no one's word"
Don’t believe something just because
someone tells you it’s true. Test out each
new hypothesis, or educated guess
yourself”
In 1660, a group of knowledge
makers founded the "College for the
Promoting of Physico-Mathematical
Experimental Leaning", this was later re-
founded in 1663 as "The Royal Society of
London for the Improvement of Natural
Knowledge"
"Societies Philosophical Transactions" - it is
one of the world's oldest peer reviewed
scientific journals.
LESSON SPOTLIGHT
The society based their unambiguous motto
to "scientific method", which the founding
members developed their motto:
"Don't believe something just because
someone tells you it's true. Test out each
new hypothesis, or educated guess,
yourself."
In fact, the word "science" was only termed
just recently on 1840 by William Whewell,
an English scientist who also served as a
historian and a priest.
NATURAL PHILOSOPHERS TO
SCIENTISTS.
The history of science includes more
types of people from different parts of the
world. The history of science aims to show
the different worlds of knowledge that will
serve as lenses in viewing our relatively
evolving science. Each system has social
norms which gives account on what is a
valid way to make and share the generated
knowledge in order to have a global science
perspective.
Humanity is still historically crafting
our understanding of the world. This
discipline also serves as a lens of the
science of the past, that science of the past
is also influenced by religion, because of its
unifying quest in the never ending attempt
of human in searching for the truth.
Humans has numerical attempts of
describing the natural world because it is
wonderful and fascinating to know, and to
control it. This boils down to the saying
"knowledge is power", the knowledge of
knowing how things work and why
thing exists gives the bearer power, which is
why one must study the history of science.
The history of science, highlights
understanding of what is good and bad, and
what should be the acceptable behavior of
scientists and engineers in facing the future
based on the learnings of the past.
It aims to answer the questions on
"how the science and technology shaped
the society, and vice versa?" and "how to
science things out?"
LESSON 2
THE ALCHEMIST: NOTA WIZARD
Alchemy wasn't a practice of magic
as many thought it was, "Alchemists",
people involved in the practice of alchemy,
were experimentally skilled and theorists of
understanding and answering the Perennial
question "What is matter?"
The field of chemistry, known to be
the central science, came from the word
"alchemy", which might mean "black earth",
that symbolizes the rich and fertile lands of
Egypt, the land of "Khem". Alchemy is a
philosophical manner of thinking about the
material world and changing it.
Alchemists wrote different books and
published it, but using allegorical codes.
It was not publicly available for the
people. They use code words called
Decknamen, which may mean the words
written in their books were "not what it
seems".

LESSON SPOTLIGHT
Attempt to decode an allegorical code:
"Upon the battle of Venus and Mars, Venus
watched as the god of war decays."
Explanation:
"Upon mixing copper and iron, iron
immediately corroded."
The most known alchemical practice
transcribed in many alchemical books was
focused on transmutation, or changing
materials into a new form.
TWO KINDS OF ALCHEMICAL METALS
Noble metals - Gold (sun) and Silver (moon)
Base metals - Mercury (mercury). Copper
(Venus), Iron (Mars), Tin (Jupiter), and Lead
(Saturn)
TWO FORMS OF TRANSMUTATIONS:
Particulars - one transmutation. Change an
object into another form. (Ex. Copper
turning to silver). (impossible but nuclear
science make it possible).
Universals – turning (Philosophers stone)
anything into new form philosophers stone.
(possible)
Alchemy spread all around the world at
different era and influenced by different
cultures.
Asian alchemy was also very evident in the
Asian culture, take Chinese alchemy for
example, they are very tied up to the ideas
of nature (earth), and that the earth is a
living organism. They have also detected
important channels of transmission of
energy using the elemental metal, magnets,
to organize systems called Feng Shui. This
practice later led to the development of gun
powders in 900 AD. Similar to the conquest
to "elixir of life" (western civilization),
Chinese alchemy also searches for
"waidan", for immortality.
Indians alchemy has also shared a
part on the discipline, as they focused on
natural medicine, and preservation of heath.
Their Ayurvedic practice of life (book
compilation) focused on natural products
and toxicology.
Southeast Asian countries like the
Philippines also showed alchemical
practices, the "Babaylans" - spiritual
shamans who specializes in communicating
to spirits, showed intelligence on the
practice of medicine, scientific crafts, and
predicting weather and seasons.
The Middle-eastern alchemists with the
influence of Chinese, Aristotelian, and
Indian alchemical practices, has were more
advanced in the conquest, but they focused
more on mathematics and understanding
the heavens. A Persian alchemist, Jabir lbn
Hayyan also known as "Geber" in Europe
was known for authoring more than three
thousand texts about alchemical practices,
including minerology, transmutation, and
medical elixirs, and invented new
equipment.
WHAT HAPPENED TO ALCHEMY?
Since alchemy exhibits elements of religion
and science, and during the 16th to 18th
century, there was an evident separation of
the church and state, alchemy had to
choose between "being a science" or "being
a religion" in order for the discipline to
survive, it chose to "be science"
WHAT HAPPENED TO ALCHEMY?
Alchemy did not completely die out, part of it
lives on in the discipline of the central
science, chemistry. The death of alchemy is
a proof that "knowledge kept, dies, but the
knowledge shared, grows." Chemistry
continues to practice some of its alchemical
roots, but with more scientific foundation.
LESSON 3
NATURAL PHILOSOPHERS: THE
"HOW'S" AND "WHY'S" OF US
Greeks were people of interest and
craft, they practiced natural philosophy,
which means that their practice of intellect
was- "self -conscious inquiry into nature."
A lot of the Greeks contributed in the
practice of science today, like the art of
"scientific inquiry", this started off with their
quest on answering "what is matter?"
Ancient Greek philosophers were
not purely scientists as there was no single
discipline of science then, they didn't make
detailed or any accurate knowledge based
on observation, but they came up with many
theories that attempts to take account and
answer the "why's" and "how's" in the
material world.
They drew red lines between the
abstract and the material world, attempted
to separate the myths and truths, and the
practice of natural philosophy became a
conquest for abstract knowledge.
PRE-SOCRATICS
Philosophers before Socrates.
Before the time of Socrates, there were
many philosophers in the Ancient Greeks
who have taken initiatives to spark
questions on the material world.
"School of thoughts", or school of
philosophy which are not literal physical
schools, to spread ideas of the world.
This schools are group of students
and teachers that asks and attempts to
answer the questions on the natural world
and reason out. The biggest contribution of
the school is the "rational debates", in order
to generate knowledge.
THALES
He was the first European
philosopher that was recorded in the ancient
that contributed in the Greece crafting of
knowledge.
He was known to be first on many
things, one of these was, he was known to
be the first individual to have made and
proved his own theorem the Thales's
Theorem.
He believed in separating the
divinities of the gods to the power of the
human intellect, knowledge became object,
but this doesn't mean he was against them,
he in fact believed that things have souls
within them.
He was also regarded as the founder of the
first European “schools of philosophy” called
the “Milesians”. This schools were known
for its articulate ‘attempts in explaining the
natural and the material world, and started
making theories about them. The theories of
Thales were later on dismissed by Plato and
Aristotle.
ANAXIMANDER
Anaximander is one of the first
Greeks to contribute to the body of
knowledge, he has more recorded theories
than Thales, because he is also the first
European philosopher to write down his
ideas. He believed that the material world
and the natural world is governed by
discoverable laws/law of nature, he also
rejected the theory of Thales about the
watery universe and instead he proposed
his own explanation by introducing formless
initial state, called the “apeiron’ (normal or
stable state).
APEIRON EXAMPLE: hot to cold
He also contributed works on
astronomy geometry and mathematics, he
was also the one who introduced the
"gnomon", which is being used by the Asian
philosophers for over two millennia. This
also helped Anaximander develop a model
of cosmos that attempted. To picture by
heavenly wheels.
Anaximander also worked on the
possibility of animal transformation, which is
influenced by the Greeks myths, this work
was one of the Primordial points of starting
to ask the question, “where did we come
from", which eventually led to theory of
evolution.
EMPEDOCLES
The last great thinker and
philosopher that was said to be associated
with the Milesian schools was Empedocles.
Empedocles, literally made a book called
"On Nature”, here he formed his theories on
the four classical elements, the earth, air,
fire, and water, and ‘adding all of this by two
strong forces of love and strife.
One of the primeval questions of the
Philosophers that they attempted to answer
was the question, “what is matter?”
PYTHAGORAS
Pythagoras's creation of the pure,
elegant and abstract mathematics became
a model of proving systems of knowledge,
which is being used now as a practice in
science to prove a point, after all "math is
the language of science", but many also
believes that "mathematics is a separate
and independent body of knowledge."
Pythagoras is one of the most
famous pre-Socratic philosophers, he
studied the philosophy of the Milesians, but
he was more abstract thinker.
He was the one who introduced
idealism in the practice of science, an
idealist like him, generates abstract models
of perfect materials. But his largest
contribution known until today is his math,
his idealism shifted from the Egyptian and
Mesopotamian mathematics, which are
practical mathematics, to a new and pure
mathematics, the geometry.
LESSON SPOTLIGHT
Pythagoras on numbers:
"Numbers are not just mere counting
numbers, numbers are Sacred.” He also
hated irrational numbers.
DEMOCRITUS
The most known natural philosopher
in the pre-Socratic era that contributed a lot
in the sciences was the first person to
scientifically answer the question "what is
matter?" and "what is matter made off?"
using philosophical approach.
The biggest thread in the Greek
contributions of knowledge was "Atomism",
a theory remains a theory until today, but
has been supported through time.
Democritus held the idea of the
small particle that is indestructible,
uncreated, always in motion, and infinite
number, which may in many forms and
sizes. In his attempt to answer the question,
"what is matter?", like the Milesians, he was
also a materialist.
 To test his hypothesis, he held a
bottle filled with air and placed it under
water to prove that air is made of something
as it forms bubbles- this allowed him to
come up of the theory, but he still had a lot
to prove. He argued with many fellow
philosophers Zeno and Parmenides using
the "void hypothesis".
The rational debate on atom go
through many centuries. In a rational
debate, it is important to note the "structure
of dialogue".
It is important to note that the
philosophers of the ancient Greece lived in
a very different time and different world. But
the way they think, the way they shared
their thoughts using rational debate framed
the body of knowledge on answering
questions of the material world and of truth,
which has echoed
all throughout centuries and across the
whole world.
SOCRATES
The urban Athens started in circa
399 BCE, during these era was the rise of
the famous philosopher, Socrates. He is not
a natural philosopher, he did not even dwell
on studying nature, his studies were more
on politics, morality, and citizenship. But, he
contributed a lot in the quest of
understanding the universe by "asking
questions", which eventually has influenced
a lot of succeeding philosophers in their
manner of teaching their ideas.
Today, we call it as "Socratic
Method", the "art of questioning", and this
method is used in many disciplines, for
science, we call it "Scientific inquiry
method", this method involves constantly
asking questions so that the students can
breakdown into the problem, and eventually
create and test their hypothesis.
The Socratic method is a relevant
method used in negative hypothesis
elimination. and improving the possibilities
of what is right.
But his biggest contribution in the history
were not books or philosophical phrases,
biggest contribution is "legacy". Though
Socrates did not directly contribute of
science, he inspired two icons in the
classical Greek philosophy. His student,
Plato, and his student's student, Aristotle.
PLATO
Plato had a great impact on what is now
called "Metacognition", means "thinking
about your own thinking". Until now his
establishment of physical schools called
"academy", is still being used to describe
philosophical learning for higher education.
Plato emphasized in the original
Academy the training on how to think
properly over the door of the academy. He
was inspired by Pythagoras, thus he based
his philosophy on geometry. He taught
inspired idealism or a theory of nature
based on the abstracts of the world, he
believed of rules that the material world is a
perfect example.
He had to fit his observations to the
theories of idealism rather than the other
way around, this is one of the major reasons
why he was more regarded as a
philosopher than a scientist, but he's
actually both.
Scientist observed, test hypotheis
and relate it to theory or idea but Plato fit
observation in idea.
LESSON SPOTLIGHT
Inscribed at the doors of the original
Academy of Plato,
"Let no one enter here who is ignorant of
Geometry"
 He was also inspired by the "Pre-
Socratics", but he then developed a more
complete lens on how to view the material
and natural world than they were.
Plato's system on cosmos was
perfect, he believed that the natural world is
governed by perfect rules, and believed that
all materials were made of atoms with
varied geometrical shapes, "Platonic
Solids", each solids creates sacred
elements;
Tetrahedron fire,
Cubes-earth,
Octahedron - air,
icosahedrons -water,
Dodecahedron - whole universe.
His theory of the heavens believes
that the wanderers of the cosmos, both
stars and planets a uniform circular motion.
"Success of the student is a shared success
for a teacher."
If Socrates shares the success of Plato,
Plato also has his piece of Success of
Aristotle.
ARISTOTLE
Aristotle is the star student of Plato,
is referred as the only Greek that has more
written philosophies than him.
Aristotle was a mentee and a rival to
Plato, in terms of philosophy.
Aristotle's philosophy has more
regard on the common sense, unlike Plato
whose philosophy is abstract, Aristotle's
work is passed on ideas that are grounded
on empirical evidences, he observed the
world and then explained it, developing his
own theories. This order of operations is
being used by in the practice of modern
science.
Aristotle came from Macedonian
roots who studied in the Academy of Plato
in Athens for twenty years, until Plato died.
He later took a very lucrative job as the tutor
of the son of King Philip ll of Macedonia,
Alexander the Great. Alexander expanded
the territory of the state by conquering parts
of all three continents of Asia, Africa, and
Europe.
Ironically, Aristotle is known for writing
books on "ethics", but supported his
student, Alexander the Great, to invade
Persia, kill barbarians, and conquer other
states. He remained teacher and adviser to
Alexander, until "Alex" died in young age,
Aristotle then decided to go back to Athens
and decided to put up his own school as
well, the "Lyceum".
TWO GREAT SCHOOLS OF
PHILOSOPHY AND INTELLECT
"Academy of Plato"
A Physical School, it is a building.
Original Academy the training on how to
think properly over the door of the academy.
He was inspired by Pythagoras, thus based
his philosophy on geometry.
"Lyceum of Aristotle"
NOT a building, its classroom is the
environment field with grove trees and
plants outside the city, students and
teachers "walk and talk" about their ideas.
His school was called "Peripatetic", which
means "walkie", an informal education,
unlike to that of the academy. This was
large influenced because of Aristotle’s
interest of plants and living organisms.
Aristotle wrote many of his books and works
on meta-physics, "On the heavens", "On the
soul" – this book was a primeval book that
married protobiology and psychology, and
the most influential natural philosophy
textbook of Aristotle in his school is called
"Physics".
He attempted to answer many big
questions about the material and natural
world, and the perennial question, "what is
matter", even the astronomical question,
"where are we". He posed a complete
system by joining the elements of the
heavens, which became the basic European
understanding on the physical world for two
thousand years.
Aristotle trusted the senses, he used
it for his works, such as history of animals,
he is one of the first to write down his
observations of animals and classified them
in their kinds. He also tried to order the
system of the living things, animals, which
led to the development of the taxonomy. He
also attempted to answer the question
"what is life?", the taxonomy he created
were based on what he called "system of
souls".
Plants - has the simplest soul, they have the
vegetative soul. (grow)
Animals - have a mobility soul, they have
vegetative and sensitive animal souls. (grow
and move)
Humans- has the highest form of soul,
combination of vegetative, sensitive and the
rational soul, and these three souls allows
the humans to think and reflect. (grow,
move and rational soul)
His system of classification
influenced the succeeding natural
philosophers and scientists today.
Plato saw the world of idealism,
while Aristotle had accepted the some of the
concepts of discord, and that things
naturally messes up, but always trying to go
back to its original position or situation.
Aristotle also loved looking at Living
things, he looked at them very closely and
discovered details about it.
NATURAL PHILOSOPHERS
Both Plato and Aristotle's views on
the material and natural world influenced
many natural philosophers, they both
inspired centuries of scholars to think about
thinking, observe the laws of nature, and to
reflect on the universe.
The Ancient Greece has indeed
contributed a lot and has rippled through
centuries and across the world. Just like
Egypt, this powerful, and long standing state
of greatness and power came to an end, the
Ancient Greece ended in the Roman
conquest in 146 BCE.
EXTRA NOTES!
SCIENCE – fundamental element in
understanding the world and the universe. A
compounding discipline.
PHILOSOPHERS – people who practices
the field of natural world.
TECHNOLOGY – major contributions craft
in the practical
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY – major
contributions to development of culture and
understanding Science.
FATHER OF SCIENCE – Galileo Galilei
MATTER – anything that has mass and
occupy space.
TATTOO – members of physico / royal.
NATURAL PHILOSOPHERS – called to
scientist before 1840.
OILERS METHOD – Ancient formula used
to calculate the spaceship to travel the
moon.
ALLEGORICAL CODE BOOKS – not
publicly available to people.
LESSON 3 PIC – Mesopotamia and
Babylonia.
GREEK – 800 BCE to 600 BCE, start of
contribution.
600 to 400 BCE - dense knowledge biggest
contribution.
ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHERS –
called natural philosophers.
EGYPTIAN – first used mathematical
measurement like cubic system.
ALGEBRA – came from middle east
1905 (early 20th century) – presence of
atoms is only proven.
Socrates – Plato – Aristotle – Alexander the
great.
ARISTOTLE AND PLATO – Aristotle is
more in abstract but Plato is more on
abstract.
Plato is idealist but Aristotle accepts
possibility of discord and chaos.

WHY WE STUDY SCIENCE?

Because science is from past and we use
theories from past to experiment it and
develop assumptions from human
perspectives up until today.