ACTIVITY

1. List down the scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs in each period. You
may conduct additional research and share what you have found in the class.
a. Ancient Times to 600 BC
 Papyrus
 Egyptian Medicine
 Mesopotamians’ making of pottery using the potter’s wheel
b. Advent of Science (600 BC to 500 AD)
 Application of Mathematics and deliberate empirical research in
scientific investigations
 Recognition of the methodological importance of applying mathematics
to natural phenomena and of undertaking empirical research
 Many cultures had collected observations and facts, but they had not
tried to use those facts to develop explanations of the world around
them
c. Islamic Golden Age
 Usefulness of Astronomy in Qibla
 Mathematics (e.g. Algebra, Trigonometry, geometry and Arabic
numerals)
 Botany is applied in agriculture and geography
d. Ancient China and the Far East
 Gunpowder
 Papermaking
 Compass
e. Renaissance
 Printing with movable metal type (printing with movable metal type,
wooden press, block printing on wood)
 Flemish technique of oil painting
 Communications revolution
f. Enlightenment Period
 Radical reorientation in science, emphasizing reason over superstition
and science over blind faith
 Sir Isaac Newton’s “Principia Mathematica” in 1686
 John Locke’s “Essay Concerning Human Understanding” in 1689
g. Industrial Revolution
 Rise of Textile and Metallurgical Industry in Great Britain
 Steam Engine
 Large Refracting Telescope
h. 20th Century
 Einstein’s Theory of relativity ( E=mc 2)
 Discovery of DNA
 Discovery of sub-atomic particles
i. Fourth Industrial Revolution
 Advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI)
 Quantum Computing
 3D Printing
2. If given a chance to live back in time and considering the influence of science and
technology in the society and the environment, which period would you choose and
why? Would you prefer a less technologically driven society or you wouldn’t trade the
comforts of modern life?

Having the first question reminisced me to watching Scarlet Johansson’s Lucy movie,
and if I will be given a chance to live back in time just like her, I would say the
Renaissance Period, which is from 1300 AD to 1600 AD. To live through that 300-year
period, from the rediscovery and restoration of knowledge of the ancients to the shifting
from this recovery to innovation is a thorough scientific journey I would want to go
through. It was the Golden Age of Science after all. Having myself immersed in the
academe, I could see myself contributing productively in the intellectual society and
really experience that “from very scratch” “the manual” way of discovering scientific
phenomena and developing these in technological breakthroughs of which the modern
world has been molded into.

Going on the second question, it would not be surprising if I would prefer the privilege of
today’s me living in the modern life. Having the digital and technological advancement as
accessible and as useful as today has been generally beneficial to all of us for obvious
and practical reasons; having the privilege of the past’s scientific discoveries and journey
being passed into us, living in the present modern world with an uplifted convenience,
and making innovations and breakthroughs from these make it really exciting for the
technological and scientific journey that we are still to unravel.