GE 7 MODULE 1 UNIT 2

HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Intended Learning Outcomes
1. List down scientific and technological inventions across time.
2. Discuss the historical antecedents, e.g., social, cultural,
economic, and political contexts, which shaped and was
shaped by the development of S&T across time.
3. Discuss Philippine scientific and technological inventions and
how these, too, shaped and were shaped by various social
contexts.
 Historical Antecedents of Science and
Technology
One of the key interests of STS as an academic field is the
history of science and Technology.
As a strand of STS, the history of S&T focuses on how it
changed across time.
It also explores the impacts of scientific and technological
innovations on the prevailing social, cultural, political, and
economic contexts throughout history.
 What’s in a historical antecedent?
It can be understood as a precursor of a thing.
It can be an antecedent of a something unfolded or existed
before it
Historical antecedents in S&T can be understood as the
previous state of science and technology or previous
scientific or technological tools that paved the way for
more advanced and sophisticated S&T to arise
 The Ancient Period
The rise of ancient civilization paved the way for advances in
science and technology. These advances during the ancient
period allowed civilizations to flourish by looking for better
ways to communicate, transport, self-organize, and enhance
their way of life, in general.
The Ancient Times were divided into three periods:

1. The Stone Age

2. The Bronze Age
3. The Iron Age
Some Technologies or Inventions from the Ancient
Period include:
1. The Ancient Wheel
2. Paper
3. Shadoof
4. Antikythera Mechanism
5. Aeolipile
The Ancient Wheel

The wheel was invented in the 4th

millennium BC in Lower
Mesopotamia(modern-​​day Iraq), where
the Sumerian people inserted rotating
axles into solid discs of wood. It was
only in 2000 BC that the discs began to
be hollowed out to make a lighter wheel.
 Paper

Papyrus, from which we get the modern

word paper, is a writing material made
from the papyrus plant, a reed which
grows in the marshy areas around the
Nile river. Papyrus was used as a writing
material as early as 3,000 BC in ancient
Egypt, and continued to be used to some
extent until around 1100 AD.
Shadoof

Shadoof, is a hand-operated device for

lifting water, invented in ancient times
and still used in India, Egypt, and some
other countries to irrigate land. Typically
it consists of a long, tapering, nearly
horizontal pole mounted like a seesaw. A
skin or bucket is hung on a rope from the
long end, and a counterweight is hung on
the short end.
 Antikythera Mechanism

The Antikythera mechanism had the first

known set of scientific dials or scales, and its
importance was recognized when radiographic
images showed that the remaining fragments
contained 30 gear wheels. No other geared
mechanism of such complexity is known from
the ancient world or indeed until medieval
cathedral clocks were built a millennium later.
 Aeolipile

The aeolipile was a hollow sphere mounted so

that it could turn on a pair of hollow tubes that
provided steam to the sphere from a cauldron.
The aeolipile is the first known device to
transform steam into rotary motion.
 The Middle Ages
As the world population steadily increased, people of the
Modern Ages realized the utmost importance of increasing
the efficiency of transportation, communication and
production. Industrialization took place with greater risks in
human health, food safety and environment which had to be
addressed as scientific and technological progress unfolded
at an unimaginable speed.
Some Technologies or Inventions from the Middle
Ages include:
1. Heavy Plough
2. Gunpowder
3. Paper Money
4. Mechanical Clock
5. Spinning Wheel
The Heavy Plough

“The heavy plough turned European

agriculture and economy on its head. Suddenly
the fields with the heavy, fatty and moist clay
soils became those that gave the greatest
yields.” – University of Southern Denmark
professor Thomas Bernebeck Andersen
 Gunpowder

Gunpowder, as it came to be known, is a

mixture of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulfur,
and charcoal. Together, these materials will
burn rapidly and explode as a propellant.

Chinese monks discovered the technology in

the 9th century CE, during their quest for a
life-extending elixir. The key ingredient,
saltpeter, had been in use by this same culture
since the late centuries BCE for medicinal
purposes. It was found to be incendiary and
immediately applied to warfare.
Paper money

Paper money is a country's official, paper

currency that is circulated for the transactions
involved in acquiring goods and services. The
printing of paper money is typically regulated
by a country's central bank or treasury in order
to keep the flow of funds in line with monetary
policy.
Mechanical Clock

It was only in the 14th century that innovations

in Church bell-ringing mechanism evolved to
give birth to the earliest mechanical clocks.
The first of these dates back to 1344 being
used in a cathedral in Padua. In subsequent
decades and centuries, clocks began to become
more accurate, sophisticated and compact. In
time, these clocks would give birth to pocket
watches and in more recent times, to wrist
watches.
 Spinning Wheel

The spinning wheel was originally invented

before the medieval period but in Europe, it
came to be widely used only in the medieval
era. In contrast to the earlier spinning methods
used in Europe, the spinning wheel was far
more efficient and allowed a spinner to spin
greater amounts of thread in less time. This
finally made it possible for well-spun clothes
to be worn by an increasingly greater section
of population in medieval Europe.
 The Modern Ages
Between the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th
century AD and the colonial expansion of Western Europe in
the late 15th century AD, major advances in scientific and
technological development took place.
These include the steady increase of new inventions,
introduction of innovations in traditional production, and the
emergence scientific thinking and the scientific method.
Some Technologies or Inventions from the Modern
Ages include:
1. Compound Microscope
2. Telescope
3. Jacquard Loom
4. Engine-Powered Airplane
5. Televisions
 Compound Microscope

It’s not clear who invented the first

microscope, but the Dutch spectacle maker
Zacharias Janssen (b.1585) is credited with
making one of the earliest compound
microscopes (ones that used two lenses)
around 1600. The earliest microscopes could
magnify an object up to 20 or 30 times its
normal size.
Telescope

News of the telescope's invention spread

rapidly through Europe. By April 1609,
three-powered spyglasses could be
bought in spectacle-makers' shops on
the Pont Neuf in Paris, and four months
later there were several in Italy. They
were made famous by an Italian
professor and experimenter named
Galileo Galilei in the summer of 1609 at
the University of Padua near Venice.
 Jacquard Loom

Invented by Joseph Jacquard and

demonstrated in 1801, the Jacquard
Loom is an attachment for powered
fabric looms. It uses a chain of punch
cards to instruct the loom on how to
make intricate textiles. For example, a
loom could have hundreds of cards with
holes corresponding to hooks that can be
raised or lowered to make a textile
brocade. Below is an illustration of the
Jacquard Loom attachment on top of a
textile loom.
Engine-powered Airplanes

Having flown their successful glider of

1902, the Wright brothers were
confident that their wings would lift the
weight of a powered flying machine and
that they could control such a craft in
the air. Moreover, three years of
experience with gliders, and the
information gathered with their wind
tunnel, enabled them to calculate the
precise amount of power required for
sustained flight.
Televisions

Electronic television was first successfully

demonstrated in San Francisco on Sept. 7,
1927. The system was designed by Philo
Taylor Farnsworth, a 21-year-old inventor
who had lived in a house without electricity
until he was 14. While still in high school,
Farnsworth had begun to conceive of a
system that could capture moving images
in a form that could be coded onto radio
waves and then transformed back into a
picture on a screen.
 Inventions of Filipino Scientists
Our country also has its own history and tradition of
scientific and technological innovations. It is very known
that Filipinos are innovative and ingenuous – making
something out of simple things that are available around
them. As with other inventions, for Filipinos, necessity is
also the mother of Philippine inventions.
 Inventions of Filipino Scientists
Throughout the Philippine history, Filipinos are responsible for developing many
scientific and technological innovations focused on navigation, traditional ship
building, textiles, food processing, indigenous arts and techniques, and even
cultural inventions. The following are some of inventions of Filipino scientists
and inventors:

1. E-jeepney
2. Erythromycin
3. Bamboo Incubator
4. Mole Remover
5. Banana Ketchup
 E-jeepney

 Jeepneys are one of the most recognized

national symbols of the Philippines. It is
also one of the most common mode of
transportation for Filipinos.
 The assembly and conversion of
“jeepneys” for transport and utility from
scraps of American military jeeps left
from World War 2 showed the ingenuity
and innovativeness of Filipinos.
 E-jeepneys are designed to be
environment-friendly, eliminating noise
and air pollution because they run on
electricity.
Erythromycin

 One of the most well- known antibiotics

in the market.
 Invented by an Ilonggo scientist,
Abelardo Aguilar, from a strain of
Streptomyces erythraeus.
 However, Aguilar was not credited for
this discovery because he was under the
employment of an American company,
Eli Lilli Co. The company eventually
owned the merits for this discovery.
 Bamboo Incubator

 World renowned Filipino paediatrician,

Dr. Fe Del Mundo, was credited for the
invention of the incubator and jaundice
removing device.
 Her original design consisted of two
native laundry baskets of different sizes
that are placed one inside the other.
Warmth was generated by bottles with
hot water placed around the baskets. A
makeshift hood over the baskets allows
oxygen to circulate inside the incubator.
 Was used to aid the regulation of body
temperatures of newborn babies,
especially in areas with no electricity.
Mole Remover

 Invented by Rolando dela Cruz in 2000.

 Used for removal of moles and warts,
the invention was made from cashew
(Annacardium occidentale) nut extracts
which are very common in the
Philippines.
 Dela Cruz won a gold medal for this
invention in the International Invention,
Innovation, Industrial Design, and
Technology Exhibition in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia in 2000.
 Banana Ketchup

 Invented by the Filipino food

technologist, Maria Orosa.
 Was invented to be used as an
alternative to tomato ketchup during the
backdrop of the World War 2 when there
was a shortage of tomatoes.
 Orosa developed banana ketchup made
from mashed banana, sugar, vinegar and
spices. Red food coloring was added so
that it would resemble tomato ketchup.