GED0011 - Science, Technology, and Society

Historical Antecedents of
Science and Technology
MPS Department | FEU Institute of Technology
 OBJECTIVES

● Discuss the interactions between science and technology, and society throughout ancient times.
● Discuss how scientific and technological developments affect society and the environment during
ancient times.
● Explain how Philippine scientific and technological inventions shaped and were shaped by various
social contexts
 GED0011 - Science, Technology, and Society

Historical Antecedents of Science

and Technology in the World
MPS Department | FEU Institute of Technology
SCIENCE
• SCIENCE is(knowledge from) the careful study of the structure and behavior of
the physical world, especially by watching, measuring, and doing experiments,
and the development of theories to describe the results of these activities

• SCIENTISTS (Natural Philosophers in the Ancient Time) formulate testable

explanations and predictions based on their observations
 TECHNOLOGY
• TECHNOLOGY is the application of scientific knowledge for practical
purposes, especially in industry. It is a scientific or industrial process,
invention, method, or the like.

• It is from Greek from tekhnē (art or craft) and -logia (study or

knowledge).

• ANTECEDENT is a thing or event that existed before or logically

precedes another
ANCIENT TIMES
 Mesopotamians
Cuneiform fron ancient
Mesopotamia. Source:
https://topancienthistory.com/the-
mesopotamians-inventions/history/
• Wheel
The wheel was used not for transportation but as
potter’s wheel and existed around 3500 BC.
The Wheel.Top 11 Inventions and Discoveries
ofMesopotamia.Source:https://www.ancienthis
• Chariot torylists.com/mesopotamia-history/top-11-
inventions-and-discoveries-of-mesopotamia/
It was originally based on two wheels which were
attached with an animal like a horse using wood and
ropes
• Cuneiform
The Sumerians developed the first form of writing called
“cuneiform” to maintain business records.
Scale model of a simple two-wheeled chariot
which was invented by the Sumerians in
Mesopotamia.
SSPL/Getty Images. Source
https://www.history.com/news/sumerians-
inventions-mesopotamia
 Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia was an ancient region located

in the eastern Mediterranean bounded in the
northeast by the Zagros Mountains and in
the southeast by the Arabian Plateau,
corresponding to today’s Iraq, mostly, but
also parts of modern-day Iran, Syria and
Turkey.
 Egyptians
• Aeolipile or steam engine
Hero of Alexandria as he was often known, was a
Greek born in 10AD in Alexandria, part of Egypt,
invented the Aeolipile or steam engine. It was used Papyrus.Source:https://www.museumfacts.co
.uk/20-great-inventions-of-ancient-egypt-
to automate opening of temple doors by lighting a that-changed-the-world/

fire on the altar.

• Papyrus Sheets
Papyrus sheets are the earliest paper-like material
An illustration of aeolipile, the earliest
recorded steam engine. Source:
https://www.museumfacts.co.uk/20-
great-inventions-of-ancient-egypt-
that-changed-the-world/
• Ox-drawn Plough
Using the power of oxen to pull the plough
revolutionized agriculture. The Ox-drawn Plough.
Source:https://discoveringegypt.com/ancient
-egyptian-inventions/
 Egyptians
• Ink
The black ink was the often used one for writing in hieroglyphs. This ink was
very black like carbon black and could not deteriorate when been applied
over the papyrus to write.
Black Ink. Source:

• Sunclock (sundial) https://topancienthistory.com/ancient-

egyptian-inventions/history
The Egyptians were so advanced that had the idea of calculating time as
early as the 3,500BC and they invented the sun clock (sundial). The sundial
made it possible to differentiate between and predict morning, afternoon
and night. The oldest surviving sun clock was found in the 2013 in the Valley
of the Kings.
Sunclock.

• Mummification Source:https://topancienthistory.com/anci
ent-egyptian-inventions/history/#sun-clock
The ancient Egyptians believed in the afterlife, plenty gods and goddesses
which made to actually start the process of mummification (to preserve the
human body from decaying). They whole heartedly believed that when a
Pharaoh dies his life energy (ka) would move from his body to another realm
temporarily, so it was important to them to preserve the body from decaying
when the spirit returns. Mummification. Source:
https://topancienthistory.com/ancie
nt-egyptian-inventions/history
 Chinese
• Great Wall
This is one of the seven famous wonders of the world, representing a
series of fortifications made initially of stone, earth and later of bricks. It
Great Wall of China. The Most Important Inventions of
was erected in 221 BC with the goal of protecting the northern borders Ancient China. Source: http://www.infoniac.com/offbeat-
of the country from different nomadic groups that invaded the Chinese news/the-most-important-inventions-of-ancient-china.html

Empire

• Compass
Originally, it was used in fortune-telling and architecture until the
Chinese figured out it could be used for traveling

Compass. The Most Important Inventions of Ancient

China. Source: http://www.infoniac.com/offbeat-
news/the-most-important-inventions-of-ancient-
china.html
 Chinese
• Seismograph
Each of the dragons was facing downwards and had a small ball in its
mouth. In the case of an earthquake, the dragon facing the closest
direction would open its mouth releasing the ball into the mouth of Ancient Chinese seismograph.
Source:https://ninchanese.com/blog/2016/06/09/ancie
small bronze frog underneath. nt-chinese-inventions/

• Paper
Although the discovery of paper is linked to 105 AD, recent
archaeological discoveries suggest that it already existed in Ancient
China from around 100 BC. Back then, the paper was made from
mulberry tree bark but the creator later included hemp and fishnets
to strengthen it.

Earliest know extant paper fragment from the second

century BC. Source: https://historyofyesterday.com/the-
ancient-chinese-inventions-that-changed-the-world-
3f6523cd4fe5
 Chinese
• Gunpowder Ancient Chinese Compass. 10 Most Signiificant
Gunpowder was invented in the Tang dynasty in the ninth century by alchemists Ancient Chinese Inventions we Use Today. Source:
https://curiosmos.com/10-most-significant-ancient-
searching for an elixir of immortality. Gunpowder is a mixture of charcoal, saltpeter chinese-inventions-we-use-today/
and sulfur

• Mechanical Clock
The first mechanical clock in Europe was created around the beginning of the 13th
century. However, the first chinese mechanical clock was created in 725 by Yi Xing, a
Buddhist monk, astronomer, mathematician and mechanical engineer who lived
during the Tang Dynasty (from 618 to 907).. His clock worked by dripping water that
activated a wheel

Mechanical clock. The Most Important Inventions of

Ancient China. Source:
http://www.infoniac.com/offbeat-news/the-most-
important-inventions-of-ancient-china.html
Greek Natural Philosophers
Aristotle Pythagoras
(384 –322 BC) (570 – 495
BC)

Thales of Plato Ptolemy

Miletus (90 – 168 CE)
(427 – 347 BC)
(620 – 546 BC)
• The Greeks’ interest in field of science can be seen as far back as the
sixth century BC, and they have often been hailed as the fathers of
science, medicine, zoology, and many other areas.

• Their findings in the areas of astronomy, geography, and mathematics

made them pioneers in the field of science.
 Thales of Miletus
(620 – 546 BC)

Ernst Wallis/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

Thales was a geometer, military engineer, astronomer, and logician. Probably

influenced by Babylonians and Egyptians, Thales discovered the solstice and
equinox and is credited with predicting a battle-stopping eclipse thought to
be on 8 May 585 B.C
 Anaximander of Miletus
(611 – 547 BC)

ISAW/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

He invented the gnomon on the sundial (although some

say it came from the Babylonians), providing a way to
keep track of time. He also created a map of the known The gnomon is the triangular blade
in this sundial.
world. He was one of the first cartographers.
 Plato
(428-348 BCE)

Ancient alarm clock used by the Egyptians was made by a

greek engineer, physicist and mathematician Ctesibius (285–
222 BCE) who lived in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt. Plato’s alarm clock. Ancient Greeks
Invented Alarm Clock. Source:
But, Plato (428–348 BCE), a greek philosopher constructed his https://www.ancientpages.com/2016/05/
06/ancient-greeks-invented-alarm-clocks/
own version of an alarm clock with vessels much ahead of
Ctesibius.
Aristotle (of Stagira)
(384-– 322 BCe)

• Aristotle decided the Earth must be a

globe. The concept of a sphere for the
Earth appears in Plato's Phaedo, but
Aristotle elaborates and estimates the
size.

• Aristotle classified animals and is the

father of zoology.
 Claudius Ptolemy
of Alexandria
(90– 168 CE)

Claudius Ptolemy. Source: https://www.famousscientists.org/claudius-ptolemy/

• Ptolemy founded the Ptolemaic System of geocentric astronomy, which held

for 1,400 years. He drew maps with latitude and longitude and developed
the science of optics.
 MIDDLE AGE INVENTIONS
1. MECHANICAL CLOCK
Timekeeping devices have
emerged since the ancient world, but it
was not until the Middle Ages that the
technology was invented that allowed for
mechanical clocks to accurately keep
track of time. The knowledge of not only
what hour it was, but even what minute
and second it was, would change the way
people scheduled their days and work
patterns, especially in urban areas.
 MIDDLE AGE
INVENTIONS
2. PRINTING PRESS

While printing technology had been developed

in 11th century China, it was the 15th century
German Johannes Gutenberg and his printing
press that started a new era of the mass
production of books. Until the rise of
computers in the 20th century, books and the
printed word would remain the dominant
form of media for the world’s knowledge.

Gutenberg’s Printing Press. Source: http://vrworld.com/2014/08/17/week-

history-gutenbergs-bible/
MIDDLE AGE
INVENTIONS
3. EYEGLASSES

Although we are not sure who can

be credited with the invention of
eyeglasses, this device could be found in
Western Europe the latter years of the
13th century. Its ability to correct vision
problems makes it a much it one of the
most useful medieval inventions and a
great benefit to hundreds of millions of
people today.
 MIDDLE AGE
INVENTIONS
4. WATER AND WINDMILLS

While mills were in used from

antiquity, it would be in the Early Middle
Ages that they became very popular.
Throughout the medieval period, new and
ingenious forms of mills were invented,
which allowed people to harness the
energy from natural forces like rivers and
wind, a process that continues to the
present-day.
Watermill. Source: https://inteng-
storage.s3.amazonaws.com/images/sizes/Mechanical_engineering_tidal_mill_112_resize_md.jpg
 MIDDLE AGE
INVENTIONS
4. SPINNING WHEEL

Spinning Wheels may have their

origin in India sometime between the 5th
and 10th Century AD. There is evidence
they were in use in China at about 1000
AD. They reached Europe via the Middle
East, by around 1400. The spinning wheel
replaced the earlier method of hand
spinning, in which the individual fibers
were drawn out of a mass of wool held on
a stick, or distaff, twisted together to form
a continuous strand, and then wound on a Spinning Wheel. Source: https://inteng-
storage.s3.amazonaws.com/images/NOVEMBER/sizes/inventions_of_the_middle_ages_spinning_wh
second stick. eels_resize_md.jpg
 BLACK DEATH
• The mass disruption to medieval society
caused by the plague set the progress of
science and discovery back, and the
knowledge would not reemerge until the
Renaissance.

• About 35% of the English population died due

to the Black Death. The devastation was so
severe that you might have found entire ghost
towns in the English countryside where the
whole town was killed by the plague.

Black Death. Source: https://www.factinate.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/could-

anthrax-have-caused-the-black-death.jpg
 Renaissance
THE ENGINEERS AND SCIENTISTS THAT LED TO A “REBIRTH”
IN TECHNOLOGY
Leonardo daVinci
• Inventions
Siege Defenses
War Scythe
Multi-Barrel Gun
Ornithopter
Tank
Helicopter
Airplane Wing
 Nicholas Copernicus
• Arts, Law, Medicine, Astronomy
• Heliocentric Universe
 Galileo Galilei
• Physics
Isochronous Motion
Parabolic Motion
Inertia (Newton)
• Thermometer
• Telescope
Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Milky Way
 Scientific Revolution
THE ENGINEERS AND SCIENTISTS THAT LAID THE SCIENTIFIC
PRINCIPLES OF TODAY
 Christian Huygens
• Pendulum Clock
John Harrison
• Regulating Spiral (1675)
• Theory of Light
 Isaac Newton
• Principia (3 books)
Modern Mechanics
Celestial Mechanics
Laws of the Universe
 Johannes Gutenburg

• Moveable Type
• Latin Bible
Industrial Revolution
THE ENGINEERS AND SCIENTISTS THAT POWERED THE
WORLD THROUGH THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution marked a period of development in
the latter half of the 18th century that transformed largely
rural, agrarian societies in Europe and America into
industrialized, urban ones.
Industrial Age: A Brief
● The American Industrial Revolution commonly referred to as the second
Industrial Revolution, started sometime between 1820 and 1870.
● The Industrial Revolution led to inventions that included the telephone,
the sewing machine, X-ray, lightbulb, and the combustible engine.
● The increase in the number of factories and migration to the cities led to
pollution, deplorable working and living conditions, as well as child labor.
Steam Engine, 1712
Thomas Newcomen invents the first
steam engine. It is not very useful yet,
but the idea of using steam to make
machines go will be important to the
Industrial Revolution.
Spinning Jenny, 1764
James Hargreaves, a British carpenter
and weaver, invents the spinning jenny.
The machine spins more than one ball
of yarn or thread at a time, making it
easier and faster to make cloth.
Cotton Gin, 1794
Eli Whitney creates a machine that
makes it much easier to separate cotton
seeds from cotton fiber. It greatly
reduces the time it takes to clean cotton
and helps the southern states make
more money from cotton crops.
Telegraph, 1844
Samuel Morse invents the telegraph,
which allows messages to be sent
quickly over a wire. By 1860, telegraph
wires stretch from the east coast of the
United States west of the Mississippi
River.
Sewing Machine, 1846
At a time when people had to make
their own clothes at home or pay
someone else to sew them by hand,
Elias Howe invents the sewing
machine. Now clothes can be made in
large factories.
Safety Break, 1853
Elevators were already invented by
1853, but people worried about elevator
cars falling. Elisha Otis invents a safety
break to prevent them from falling if a
cable breaks, making people feel more
confident about using elevators in tall
buildings.
Dynamite, 1866
Alfred Nobel invents dynamite, which is
a safer way to blast holes in mountains
or the ground than simply lighting black
powder. Dynamite is important in
clearing paths to build things such as
roads and railroad tracks.
Vaccine, 1870
A chemist named Louis Pasteur
believed that germs caused disease.
Using this information, he created
vaccines that helped prevent many
common diseases, which helped
people live longer.
Telephone, 1876
He may not have invented the
telephone, but Alexander Graham Bell
was the first to get a patent for it. Being
able to speak to people over a
telephone wire greatly changes the way
the world communicates.
Light Bulb, 1879
Not the first man to create a light bulb,
Thomas Edison created a light bulb
that lasted longer than other designs
and showed it off by lighting a lamp.
Edison's light bulbs allow people to do
many things at night, such as work, that
used to only happen during the day.
 Modern Era
THE ENGINEERS AND SCIENTISTS THAT PAVED THE WAY
INTO THE FUTURE
 Rockets to Space

• Robert Goddard
⬗ Liquid-Fueled (1929)
• Werner vonBraun
⬗ V1, V2, V5, Saturn 5
 Albert Einstein

● Special Theory (1905)

● General Theory
● Quantum Theory
● Big Bang Theory
• Curved, Finite Space
● Atomic Bomb
• Responsibility of Science
The Manhattan Project
 The Manhattan Project

• Oppenheimer
• Fermi, Berthe, Teller
• Four Sites
• Project Trinity
⬗ Los Alamos
⬗ Ground Zero - Alamagordo
• Fat Man & Little Boy
• Treason
The Computer Pioneers

• Charles Babbage
• Hollerith & Watson
• Enigma & Colossus
• John vonNeuman
• Ekert & Mockley
• Shockley, Bardeen &Brattain
• Jack Kilby
• Jobs & Wozniak
• Gates & Allen
Thomas A. Edison

“Invention is
1% Inspiration and
99% Perspiration”
 GED0011 - Science, Technology, and Society

History of Science and

Technology in the Philippines
MPS Department | FEU Institute of Technology
STONE AGE

• Archeological findings show that

modern man from Asian mainland
first came over land on across narrow
channels to live in Batangas and
Palawan about 48,000 B.C.

• Subsequently they formed settlement

in Sulu, Davao, Zamboanga, Samar,
Negros, Batangas, Laguna, Rizal,
Bulacan and Cagayan.
• They made simple tools and weapons of stone flakes and later developed
method of sawing and polishing stones around 40,000 B.C.

• By around 3,000 B.C. they were producing adzes, ornaments of seashells and
pottery.

• Pottery flourished for the next 2,000 years until they imported Chinese
porcelain.

• Soon they learned to produce copper, bronze, iron, and gold metal tools and
ornaments.
IRON AGE
• During Iron Age, Filipinos were engaged in
extraction, smelting and refining of iron from
ores, until the importation of cast iron from
Sarawak and later from China.
Industry/Agriculture

• By the first century AD, Filipinos were weaving

cotton, smelting iron, making pottery and glass
ornaments, and cultivated lowland rice fields with
dikes and terraced fields with spring water in
mountain regions.

• They had also learned how to build boats for

trading purposes. Spanish chronicles noted refined
plank-built warships called caracoa suited for
interisland trade raids.
Trading

• By the 10th century, Filipinos from the Butuan were trading

with Champa (Vietnam) and those from Ma-i (Mindoro) with
China as noted in Chinese records containing several
references to the Philippines.

• The People of Ma-i and San-Hsu (group of Palawan and

Calamian Islands) traded bee wax, cotton, pearls, coconut
heart mats, tortoise shell and medicinal betel nuts, panie
cloth for porcelain, lead fishnets sinker, colored glass beads,
iron pots, iron needles and tin.

• Filipinos also traded with Borneo, Malacca and parts of Malay

peninsula
• By the time the Spaniards came, they found
autonomous communities (barangay) .
• Filipinos were already engaged in activities
and practices related to science forming
primitive or first wave technology. They
were curative values of some plant on how to
extract medicine from herbs.
• They had an alphabet, a system of writing, a
method of counting and weights and
measure. They had no calendar but counted
the years by the period of the moon and from
one harvest to another.
• Filipinos had learned to make and use artillery.
• They were growing rice, vegetables and cotton; raising swine,
goats and fowls; weaving cloth and producing beeswax and honey
• They wore colorful clothes, made their own gold jewelry and even
filled their teeth with gold
• Their houses were made of wood and bamboo
• The beginning of modern science and technology in
the Philippines
• Spaniards established schools, hospitals and started
scientific research, greatly shaped by the role of
religious orders though
• University of Santo Thomas remained as the highest
institution of learning
• In 1887, the Laboratory Municipal de Ciudad de
Ciudad de Manila was created
• Leon Ma. Guerrero, father of botany in the country
and one the first licensed pharmacist
• Manila prospered due to Galleon trade
• Only shipbuilding industry prospered. Shipbuilding
was entirely in the hands of the natives.
• Mining, handicrafts and other industries declined.
• Manila was opened to Asian shipping in 1789, then
eventually to world trade in 1829.
• Production of sugar and hemp was accelerated and
modernized.
• Imports of manufactured also rose
• Waterworks system, steam tramways, electric lights, newspaper and banking
system were introduced in Manila
• Meteorological studies were promoted by Jesuits
who founded the Manila Observatory in 1865.
• Fr. Federico Faura to issue the first public
typhoon warning
• In 1901, the Observatory was made a central
station of the Philippine Weather Bureau
• Manila prospered but countryside remained
underdeveloped and poor
• The expansion of the agricultural production
for export exacerbated existing socio
economic inequality and introduced private
ownership of land.
• There was an increase of concentration of
wealth to landowners, Spaniards, Chinese
mestizos, and native Principalia
● Science and technology in the Philippines advanced
rapidly during the American regime

● The Americans introduced a system of secularized

public-school education

● Primary education was free, with English as the

medium of instruction.

● It was followed by the setting up of a Philippine

Normal School to train Filipino teachers.

● Secondary school were opened afterward

The University of the Philippines was created on 18 June 1908 by
Act of the Philippine Legislature.
College of Agriculture in Los Baños, Laguna in 1909,
Colleges of Liberal Arts, College of Engineering and Veterinary
Medicine in 1910
College of Law in 1911.
School of Forestry and Conservatory of Music in 1916
College of Education in 1918

Most of the teachers were Americans and foreigners, except in the

college of Medicine.

Young men and women were encouraged to get a higher professional

education in American colleges
• In 1901, the Bureau of Government
Laboratories was created and later named
Bureau of Science

• It pioneered research on diseases such as

leprosy, tuberculosis, cholera, dengue fever,
malaria and beri-beri.

• Studies on the commercial value of tropical

products, tests on minerals and roadbuilding
materials, the nutritional value of foods were
done here.
• From 1906, the Bureau of
Science published the
Philippine Journal of Science
which reported not only work
done in local laboratories but
also scientific developments
abroad which had relevance to
Philippine problems
The Philippines became an Asian leader in
transportation and communication.

Railroads were developed in Luzon, Cebu

and Panay.

More ports and shipping were opened up.

Pier 7 in Manila was the largest port in
Asia.
• Philippine economic development was
determined by free trade relations

• As a result, the Philippine economy became

tied to that of the United States, remaining
primarily an exporter of agricultural crops
and raw materials and an importer of
American manufactured goods.

• The Philippines entered Industrial age (mass

production)
Offices were organized for the growth of scientific research
Weather Bureau (1901)
Board (later Bureau) of Health (1898)
Bureau of Mines (1900)
Bureau of Forestry (1900)
Bureau of Agriculture (1901)
Bureau of Coast and Geodetic Survey (1905)
Bureau of Plant Industry (1929)
Bureau of Animal Industry (1929)
National Research Council of the Philippine Islands (NRCP)
The creation of these science agencies showed increasing concern and support for
the development of science and technology.

The Philippine Inventors Commission (1964)

Philippine Coconut Research Institute (1964)
Philippine Textile Research Institute (1967)
Forest Products Research and Industries Development
Commission (1969)
Metals Industry Research and Development Center (MIRDC)
Philippine Science High School (PSHS)
Philippine Council for Agriculture and Resources Research
(PCARR).
The Commonwealth government worked towards the development of economic self reliance but
failed due to foreign trade and tariff policies that were controlled by the American government

Public school system (basic education) expanded and private schools (higher education)
were reorganized.

The National Development Company was mandated to undertake the development of

successful researches of government science agencies, such as the Bureau of Science,
Bureau of Animal Industry and Bureau of Plant Industry.

The occupation of the Philippines by the Japanese during the war brought educational
and scientific activities to a halt.
TopAncientHistory. Top Inventions of Ancient Egyptian civilization, 2018. Retrieved from
https://topancienthistory.com/ancient-egyptian-inventions/history/

TopAncientHistory. Top Inventions of Ancient Egyptian civilization, 2018. Retrieved from

https://topancienthistory.com/the-mesopotamians-inventions/history/

JohnBlack, The ancient inventionof the steam engine by the Hero of Alexandria, March 21, 2014. Retrieved from
https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-technology/ancient-invention-steam-engine-hero-alexandria-001467

Vladislav Tchakarov, 10 Most Signiificant Ancient Chinese Inventions we Use Today. Aug. 25, 2020. Retrieved from
https://curiosmos.com/10-most-significant-ancient-chinese-inventions-we-use-today/

Ng, Esther K.H. The Ancient Chinese Inventions that Changed the World. Jan 2, 2021. Retrieved from
https://historyofyesterday.com/the-ancient-chinese-inventions-that-changed-the-world-3f6523cd4fe5
Gill, N.S. "Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greek Scientists." ThoughtCo, Feb. 16, 2021,
thoughtco.com/ancient-greek-scientists-inventions-and-discoveries-120966.

Lloyd, Ellen, Ancient Greeks Invented Alarm Clock. May 6, 2016, AncientPages.com. Source:
https://www.ancientpages.com/2016/05/06/ancient-greeks-invented-alarm-clocks/

Caoli. (1986) History of Science and Technology of the Philippines. Retrieved from
https://dokumen.tips/reader/f/47b-history-of-science-and-technology-in-the-philippines

Phillippine Daily Inquirer. Did you know: Leon Ma. Guerrero. Jan. 24, 2013. Retrieved from
ttps://newsinfo.inquirer.net/345945/did-you-know-leon-ma-guerrero