HASSAN USMAN KATSINA POLYTECHNIC, KATSINA,

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY,

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS.

EDU. 211: HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY

AND MATHEMATICS.

LECTURE NOTES

BY

BINTA HAMISU TAFASHIYA.

NOVEMBER, 2022
Education

Education, focused on the transmission of knowledge to the younger generations

rather than questioning the laws of existence, reality, etc. and the production of
new knowledge. When speaking of education, it is often believed that education
performs two functions, namely conservative function and the creative function.
The conservative function of education is the transmission of knowledge to the
younger generations, which can also be considered as a form of conformity. It
socializes the child to the culture of a society. The creative function includes
developing the cognitive skills of the individual so that he will think outside of the
box. This can be viewed as a promotion of social change. In this sense, the two
functions of education in molding the child are almost oppositional. Education
occurs not only within the premises of the school and other formal educational
institutions, but also through various social agents, sometimes consciously and
even unconsciously. The family and religion can be considered as two such social
institutions. Education allows the individual to develop one’s faculties and also
become acculturated. In different societies, education can mean different things.
For example, in a hunting and gathering society, what is considered as education is
very much different to the modern education. This highlights that education can be
context bound.

Philosophy can be defined as the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge,

reality, and the existence. Socrates, Plato, Thomas Hobbes, Rene Descartes can be
considered as some of the very famous philosophers of the West. When speaking
of philosophy, philosophers question the varied phenomena of the world. This can
be of the society, of the nature of people, of knowledge or even of the very concept
of the universe. Philosophy consists of sub-disciplines such as metaphysics,
epistemology, ethics, politics and also esthetics. Philosophy is often categorized as
Western philosophy and Eastern philosophy. Western philosophy dates back to the
sixth century in Greece. Thales of Miletus is often considered as the first
philosopher. The development of philosophy from this point rapidly increased
during the fifth century with the ideas of Socrates and Plato. The development of
ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, and political philosophy occurred during this
period. It was in the seventeenth century along with the advances in science and
technology that modern philosophy was created. This was considered the age of
enlightenment and broke away from the existing system of beliefs that was
dominated by the religion towards a more rational empiricist path.

Philosophy of education is the branch of practical philosophy concerned with the

nature of education, as well as the philosophical issues that can arise from
educational theory and practice. The major philosophies of education can be
divided into three main types: teacher-centered philosophies, student-centered
philosophies, and society-centered philosophies. A philosophy of education refers
to the examination of the goals, forms, methods and meaning of education. The
term can be used to describe the fundamental philosophical analysis of these
themes and analysis of practical pedagogical approaches. Its subject matter
includes both basic philosophical issues, such as the nature of the knowledge that
is worth teaching and learning and the state of educational justice as well as
problems concerning practical educational policies and practice, such as
standardized testing or the social, economic, and legal implications of school
funding.

Mathematics

Mathematics has been regarded as the backbone of scientific and technological

development without which no nation can attain any sustainable development.
Okafor and Adeleye (2011) defines Mathematics as the study of number, symbols,
sizes, shapes, spaces, patterns, generalization, measurement, models, qualities,
relationships and functions. Also Mathematics can be defines as the language of
science and technology. Mathematics is an important subject that cut across all
science subjects; hence, Mathematics is considered as one of the disliked subjects.
Every student needs to do some efforts for this subject; it is difficult but if you can
understand the concepts of Mathematics, solving problems will be easier. Many
students have had negative experiences with Mathematics, and end up disliking it or
failing. But truly, understanding Mathematics requires effort and perseverance and is
worth the time if they can still perform well. Students often enroll in non-
Mathematics courses before

Mathematics’ importance to human existence cannot be overemphasized in view of

its application to human daily life activities (Sunday, etal., 2014). Mathematics is
an essential discipline that is recognized as a tool for solving everyday problems
faced by individuals. It stands to reason, therefore, mathematics can be applied to
every aspect of human existence including the economic development which leads
to the development of science and technology. Mathematics is therefore seen as the
language of science and technology (Ugbebor, 2009).

Mathematics is an autonomous intellectual discipline, one of the clearest exponents

of the creative power of the human mind. It plays a fundamental role in modern
science that leads to technology. Present day mathematics can be pure or applied.

 Pure Mathematics: - Mathematics which has postulates and theorems and

its methods of proof in the areas of Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, statistics,
probability, calculus, mathematical logic and computation. Its express
beauty of axioms, theorems and numerical relations. Therefore, pure
 mathematics lies closest to the researchers, professionals and Great scholars
like Pythagoras, Plato and Gauss devote part of their lives to it. Mathematics
taught all over the world universities recruited engineers, physicists,
chemists, computer scientists, economists and professionals of other
discipline.
 Applied Mathematics: goes far beyond the pure mathematics for the fact, it
is more essential. Applied mathematics is just the “Mathematics of Reality”
that is the real world. Applied mathematics is the application of
mathematical methods by different fields such as Physics, Engineering,
Medicine, Biology, Business, Computer Science, Industry and other diverse
areas for the development of new or improved methods to meet the
challenges of new problems. . Thus, applied mathematics is a combination
of mathematical Science and specialized knowledge. Example, Engineers
build aero plane with the use of mathematical science knowledge using the
tools of Science. Applied mathematics fields includes:
1. Combinatorics
2. Computational Biology
3. Physical Applied Mathematics.
4. Computational Science and Numerical Analysis.
5. Theoretical Computer Science.
6. Theoretical Physics.

One of the trusted instruments for solving problems or challenges is mathematics

widely regarded as the science of all sciences and art of all arts. In developed
societies, mathematics is the bedrock of transformation.


The Importance Of Mathematics

Outline Math and Science Correlation with space 3/10/2014 I.Introduction A. “It
should be evident that each step in my career has rested on a firm foundation in
mathematics. For me, the study of mathematics was the key that opened the doors to
the universe.”(ROBERT L. STEWART, NASA Astronaut) B. Math and Science are
necessary for space exploration. The work NASA does demand increased focus on
STEM in our education system. C. In this section, we’ll discuss the importance of
math and science correlated with
Science

Science (from Latin scientia 'knowledge') is a systematic enterprise that builds and

organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about
the universe. Science studies things that exist, and everything that exists is
constantly changing, which means that science requires new experiments, studies,
etc. and the application of science is technology. The earliest roots of science can be
traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in around 3000 to 1200 BCE.  Their
contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and medicine entered and shaped
Greek natural philosophy of classical antiquity, whereby formal attempts were
made to provide explanations of events in the physical world based on natural
causes. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, knowledge of Greek
conceptions of the world deteriorated in Western Europe during the early centuries
(400 to 1000 CE) of the Middle Ages, but was preserved in the Muslim
world during the Islamic Golden Age. The recovery and assimilation of Greek
works and Islamic inquiries into Western Europe from the 10th to 13th century
revived "natural philosophy", which was later transformed by the Scientific
Revolution that began in the 16th century as new ideas and discoveries departed
from previous Greek conceptions and traditions. The scientific method soon played
a greater role in knowledge creation and it was not until the 19th century that many
of the institutional and professional features of science began to take shape; along
with the changing of "natural philosophy" to "natural science."

Modern science is typically divided into three major branches that consist of

the natural sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry, and physics), which study nature in
the broadest sense; the social sciences (e.g., economics, psychology,
and sociology), which study individuals and societies; and the formal
sciences (e.g., logic, mathematics, and theoretical computer science), which deal
with symbols governed by rules. Disciplines that use existing scientific knowledge
for practical purposes, such as engineering and medicine, are described as applied
sciences.

New knowledge in science is advanced by research from scientists who are

motivated by curiosity about the world and a desire to solve
problems. Contemporary scientific research is highly collaborative and is usually
done by teams in academic and research institutions, government agencies,
and companies. The practical impact of their work has led to the emergence
of science policies that seek to influence the scientific enterprise by prioritizing the
development of commercial products, armaments, health care, public
infrastructure, and environmental protection.

Science

Empirical sciences
Formal science
Natural science Social science

Anthropology, economics, 
Physics, chemistry, biolog Logic, mathema
political science, human
Basic y, earth science, and space tics,
geography, psychology,
science and statistics
and sociology

Appli Engineering, agricultural Business Computer

ed science, medicine, administration, public science
and materials science policy, marketing, law, ped
 agogy, and international
development

Natural science

Natural science is the study of the physical world. It can be divided into two main
branches: life science (or biological science) and physical science. These two
branches may be further divided into more specialized disciplines. For example,
physical science can be subdivided into physics, chemistry, astronomy, and earth
science. Modern natural science is the successor to the natural philosophy that
began in Ancient Greece.  Galileo, Descartes, Bacon, and Newton debated the
benefits of using approaches which were more mathematical and more
experimental in a methodical way. Still, philosophical perspectives, conjectures,
and presuppositions, often overlooked, remain necessary in natural
science. Systematic data collection, including discovery science, succeeded natural
history, which emerged in the 16th century by describing and classifying plants,
animals, minerals, and so on.  Today, "natural history" suggests observational
descriptions aimed at popular audiences.

Social science

In economics, the supply and demand model describes how prices vary in a market

economy as a result of a balance between product availability and consumer
demand. Social science is the study of human behavior and functioning of
societies. It has many disciplines that include, but are not limited
to anthropology, economics, history, human geography, political
science, psychology, and sociology. In the social sciences, there are many
competing theoretical perspectives, many of which are extended through
competing research programs such as the functionalists, conflict theorists, and
interactionists in sociology. Due to the limitations of conducting controlled
experiments involving large groups of individuals or complex situations, social
scientists may adopt other research methods such as the historical method, case
studies, and cross-cultural studies. Moreover, if quantitative information is
available, social scientists may rely on statistical approaches to better understand
social relationships and processes.

Formal science

Formal science is an area of study that generates knowledge using formal

systems. It includes mathematics, systems theory, and theoretical computer
science. The formal sciences share similarities with the other two branches by
relying on objective, careful, and systematic study of an area of knowledge. Formal
sciences play an important role in the empirical sciences. Calculus, for example,
was initially invented to understand motion in physics. Natural and social sciences
that rely heavily on mathematical applications include mathematical
physics, mathematical chemistry, mathematical biology, mathematical finance,
and mathematical economics.

Applied science

Louis Pasteur's pasteurization experiment illustrates that the spoilage of liquid is

caused by particles in the air rather than the liquid itself. Pasteur also discovered
the principles of vaccination and fermentation. Applied science is the use of
the scientific method and knowledge to attain practical goals and includes a broad
range of disciplines such as engineering and medicine. Engineering is the use
of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items,
including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. Engineering itself
encompasses a range of more specialized fields of engineering, each with a more
specific emphasis on particular areas of applied mathematics, science, and types of
application. Medicine is the practice of caring for patients by maintaining and
restoring health through the prevention, diagnosis,
and treatment of injury or disease.  Contemporary medicine applies biomedical
sciences, medical research, genetics, and medical technology to prevent, diagnose,
and treat injury and disease, typically through the use of medications, medical
devices, surgery, and non-pharmacological interventions. The applied sciences are
often contrasted with the basic sciences, which are focused on advancing scientific
theories and laws that explain and predict events in the natural world.

The Nature of Science

Science, any system of knowledge that is concerned with the physical world and its
phenomena and that entails unbiased observations and systematic experimentation.
In general, a science involves a pursuit of knowledge covering general truths or the
operations of fundamental laws.

Science can be divided into different branches based on the subject of study.
The physical sciences study the inorganic world and comprise the fields
of astronomy, physics, chemistry, and the Earth sciences. The biological sciences
such as biology and medicine study the organic world of life and its
processes. Social sciences like anthropology and economics study the social and
cultural aspects of human behavior. Over the course of human history, people have
developed many interconnected and validated ideas about the physical, biological,
psychological, and social worlds. Those ideas have enabled successive generations
to achieve an increasingly comprehensive and reliable understanding of the human
species and its environment. The means used to develop these ideas are particular
ways of observing, thinking, experimenting, and validating. These ways represent
a fundamental aspect of the nature of science and reflect how science tends to
differ from other modes of knowing.

It is the union of science, mathematics, and technology that forms the scientific
endeavor and that makes it so successful. Although each of these human
enterprises has a character and history of its own, each is dependent on and
reinforces the others. Therefore, it is science, mathematics, and technology that
emphasize their roles in the scientific endeavor and reveal some of the similarities
and connections among them.

Scientific Inquiry

Fundamentally, the various scientific disciplines are alike in their reliance on

evidence, the use of hypothesis and theories, the kinds of logic used, and much
more. Nevertheless, scientists differ greatly from one another in what phenomena
they investigate and in how they go about their work; in the reliance they place on
historical data or on experimental findings and on qualitative or quantitative
methods; in their recourse to fundamental principles; and in how much they draw
on the findings of other sciences. Still, the exchange of techniques, information,
and concepts goes on all the time among scientists, and there are common
understandings among them about what constitutes an investigation that is
scientifically valid.
Scientific inquiry is not easily described apart from the context of particular
investigations. There simply is no fixed set of steps that scientists always follow,
no one path that leads them unerringly to scientific knowledge. There are,
however, certain features of science that give it a distinctive character as a mode of
inquiry. Although those features are especially characteristic of the work of
professional scientists, everyone can exercise them in thinking scientifically about
many matters of interest in everyday life.

Science Demands Evidence

Sooner or later, the validity of scientific claims is settled by referring to

observations of phenomena. Hence, scientists concentrate on getting accurate data.
Such evidence is obtained by observations and measurements taken in situations
that range from natural settings (such as a forest) to completely contrived ones
(such as the laboratory). To make their observations, scientists use their own
senses, instruments (such as microscopes) that enhance those senses, and
instruments that tap characteristics quite different from what humans can sense
(such as magnetic fields). Scientists observe passively (earthquakes, bird
migrations), make collections (rocks, shells), and actively probe the world (as by
boring into the earth's crust or administering experimental medicines).

In some circumstances, scientists can control conditions deliberately and precisely

to obtain their evidence. They may, for example, control the temperature, change
the concentration of chemicals, or choose which organisms mate with which
others. By varying just one condition at a time, they can hope to identify its
exclusive effects on what happens, uncomplicated by changes in other conditions.
Often, however, control of conditions may be impractical (as in studying stars), or
unethical (as in studying people), or likely to distort the natural phenomena (as in
studying wild animals in captivity). In such cases, observations have to be made
over a sufficiently wide range of naturally occurring conditions to infer what the
influence of various factors might be. Because of this reliance on evidence, great
value is placed on the development of better instruments and techniques of
observation, and the findings of any one investigator or group are usually checked
by others.

Science Is a Blend of Logic and Imagination

Although all sorts of imagination and thought may be used in coming up with
hypotheses and theories, sooner or later scientific arguments must conform to the
principles of logical reasoning that is, to testing the validity of arguments by
applying certain criteria of inference, demonstration, and common sense. Scientists
may often disagree about the value of a particular piece of evidence, or about the
appropriateness of particular assumptions that are made—and therefore disagree
about what conclusions are justified. But they tend to agree about the principles of
logical reasoning that connect evidence and assumptions with conclusions.

Scientists do not work only with data and well-developed theories. Often, they
have only tentative hypotheses about the way things may be. Such hypotheses are
widely used in science for choosing what data to pay attention to and what
additional data to seek, and for guiding the interpretation of data. In fact, the
process of formulating and testing hypotheses is one of the core activities of
scientists. To be useful, a hypothesis should suggest what evidence would support
it and what evidence would refute it. A hypothesis that cannot in principle be put to
the test of evidence may be interesting, but it is not likely to be scientifically
useful.
The use of logic and the close examination of evidence are necessary but not
usually sufficient for the advancement of science. Scientific concepts do not
emerge automatically from data or from any amount of analysis alone. Inventing
hypotheses or theories to imagine how the world works and then figuring out how
they can be put to the test of reality is as creative as writing poetry, composing
music, or designing skyscrapers. Sometimes discoveries in science are made
unexpectedly, even by accident. But knowledge and creative insight are usually
required to recognize the meaning of the unexpected. Aspects of data that have
been ignored by one scientist may lead to new discoveries by another.

Science Explains and Predicts

Scientists strive to make sense of observations of phenomena by constructing

explanations for them that use, or are consistent with, currently accepted scientific
principles. Such explanations—theories—may be either sweeping or restricted, but
they must be logically sound and incorporate a significant body of scientifically
valid observations. The credibility of scientific theories often comes from their
ability to show relationships among phenomena that previously seemed unrelated.
The theory of moving continents, for example, has grown in credibility as it has
shown relationships among such diverse phenomena as earthquakes, volcanoes, the
match between types of fossils on different continents, the shapes of continents,
and the contours of the ocean floors.

The essence of science is validation by observation. But it is not enough for

scientific theories to fit only the observations that are already known. Theories
should also fit additional observations that were not used in formulating the
theories in the first place; that is, theories should have predictive power.
Demonstrating the predictive power of a theory does not necessarily require the
prediction of events in the future. The predictions may be about evidence from the
past that has not yet been found or studied. A theory about the origins of human
beings, for example, can be tested by new discoveries of human-like fossil
remains. This approach is clearly necessary for reconstructing the events in the
history of the earth or of the life forms on it. It is also necessary for the study of
processes that usually occur very slowly, such as the building of mountains or the
aging of stars. Stars, for example, evolve more slowly than we can usually observe.
Theories of the evolution of stars, however, may predict unsuspected relationships
between features of starlight that can then be sought in existing collections of data
about stars.

Scientists Try to Identify and Avoid Bias

When faced with a claim that something is true, scientists respond by asking what
evidence supports it. But scientific evidence can be biased in how the data are
interpreted, in the recording or reporting of the data, or even in the choice of what
data to consider in the first place. Scientists' nationality, sex, ethnic origin, age,
political convictions, and so on may incline them to look for or emphasize one or
another kind of evidence or interpretation. For example, for many years the study
of primates—by male scientists—focused on the competitive social behavior of
males. Not until female scientists entered the field was the importance of female
primates' community-building behavior recognized.

Bias attributable to the investigator, the sample, the method, or the instrument may
not be completely avoidable in every instance, but scientists want to know the
possible sources of bias and how bias is likely to influence evidence. Scientists
want, and are expected, to be as alert to possible bias in their own work as in that
of other scientists, although such objectivity is not always achieved. One safeguard
against undetected bias in an area of study is to have many different investigators
or groups of investigators working in it.

Science Is Not Authoritarian

It is appropriate in science, as elsewhere, to turn to knowledgeable sources of

information and opinion, usually people who specialize in relevant disciplines. But
esteemed authorities have been wrong many times in the history of science. In the
long run, no scientist, however famous or highly placed, is empowered to decide
for other scientists what is true, for none are believed by other scientists to have
special access to the truth. There are no pre-established conclusions that scientists
must reach on the basis of their investigations.

In the short run, new ideas that do not mesh well with mainstream ideas may
encounter vigorous criticism, and scientists investigating such ideas may have
difficulty obtaining support for their research. Indeed, challenges to new ideas are
the legitimate business of science in building valid knowledge. Even the most
prestigious scientists have occasionally refused to accept new theories despite there
being enough accumulated evidence to convince others. In the long run, however,
theories are judged by their results: When someone comes up with a new or
improved version that explains more phenomena or answers more important
questions than the previous version, the new one eventually takes its place.

Contributions of Great Philosophers and Scientists

Plato
Plato, (born 428/427 BCE, Athens, Greece—died 348/347, Athens), ancient Greek
philosopher, student of Socrates (c. 470–399 BCE), teacher of Aristotle (384–322
BCE), and founder of the Academy, best known as the author of philosophical
works of unparalleled influence.

Plato played a vital role in encouraging the Greek intelligentsia to regard science as
a theory. His academy taught arithmetic as part of philosophy, as Pythagoras had
done, and the first 10years of a course at the academy, included the study of
geometry, astronomy, and music.

a) Joseph Schwab (1909—1988)

Born in Columbus, Mississippi. American philosopher began to teach at the

University of Chicago in 1936 and was appointed Professor of natural Sciences in
1953 who emphasized the study of the philosophy of education. He served as
editor of the first experimental editions of the textbooks of the American Institute
of Biological Sciences and as supervisor of its teacher’s handbooks. He was
awarded the University of Chicago’s Quantrill Award for Excellence in
Undergraduate teaching.

His publications appeared in many professional journals. His books includes Eros
and Education (1958), the teaching of Science as Enquiry (1962), Education and
the Structure of the Disciplines (1961), College Curriculum and Student Protest
(1969), Science Curriculum and Liberal Education: Selected Essays(1978).

Carl Gustav Hempel (1905—1997)

Carl Hempel, a German-born philosopher who immigrated to the United States,

was one of the prominent philosophers of science in the twentieth century. His
paradox of the ravens as an illustration of the paradoxes of confirmation has been a
constant challenge for theories of confirmation. Together with Paul Oppenheim, he
proposed a quantitative account of degrees of confirmation of hypotheses by
evidence. His deductive-nomological model of scientific explanation put
explanations on the same logical footing as predictions; they are both deductive
arguments. The difference is a matter of pragmatics, namely that in an explanation
the argument’s conclusion is intended to be assumed true whereas in a prediction
the intention is make a convincing case for the conclusion. Hempel also proposed a
quantitative measure of the power of a theory to systematize its data. Later in his
life, Hempel abandoned the project of an inductive logic. He also emphasized the
problems with logical positivism (logical empiricism), especially those concerning
the verifiability criterion. Hempel eventually turned away from the logical
positivists’ analysis of science to a more empirical analysis in terms of the
sociology of science.

Hempel studied mathematics, physics, and philosophy in Gottingen, Heidelberg,

Vienna, and Berlin. In Vienna, he attended some of the meetings of the Vienna
Circle. With the help of Rudolf Carnap , he managed to leave Europe before the
Second World War, and he came to Chicago on a research grant secured by
Carnap. He later taught at the City University of New York, Yale University and
Princeton University.

Thomas Samuel Kuhn (/kuːn/; July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996)

He was an American philosopher of science whose 1962 book The Structure of

Scientific Revolutions was influential in both academic and popular circles,
introducing the term paradigm shift, which has since become an English-language
idiom. Kuhn made several claims concerning the progress of scientific knowledge:
that scientific fields undergo periodic "paradigm shifts" rather than solely
progressing in a linear and continuous way, and that these paradigm shifts open up
new approaches to understanding what scientists would never have considered
valid before; and that the notion of scientific truth, at any given moment, cannot be
established solely by objective criteria but is defined by a consensus of a scientific
community. Competing paradigms are frequently incommensurable; that is, they
are competing and irreconcilable accounts of reality. Thus, our comprehension of
science can never rely wholly upon "objectivity" alone. Science must account for
subjective perspectives as well, since all objective conclusions are ultimately
founded upon the subjective conditioning/worldview of its researchers and
participants.

Galileo : (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642),

Galileo, was an astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a

polymath, from Pisa, in modern-day Italy. Galileo has been called the "father of
observational astronomy", the "father of modern physics" the "father of the
scientific method", and the "father of modern science". Galileo studied speed and
velocity, gravity and free fall, the principle of relativity, inertia, projectile motion
and also worked in applied science and technology, describing the properties of
pendulums and "hydrostatic balances". He invented the thermoscope and various
military compasses, and used the telescope for scientific observations of celestial
objects. His contributions to observational astronomy include telescopic
confirmation of the phases of Venus, observation of the four largest satellites of
Jupiter, observation of Saturn's rings, and analysis of sunspots.
Galileo's championing of Copernican heliocentrism (Earth rotating daily and
revolving around the sun) was met with opposition from within the Catholic
Church and from some astronomers. The matter was investigated by the Roman
Inquisition in 1615, which concluded that heliocentrism was foolish, absurd, and
heretical since it contradicted Holy Scripture.

Galileo later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World
Systems (1632), which appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII and thus alienated both
the Pope and the Jesuits, who had both supported Galileo up until this point. He
was tried by the Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of heresy", and forced to
recant. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest. During this time, he wrote
Two New Sciences (1638), primarily concerning kinematics and the strength of
materials, summarizing work he had done around forty years earlier.[14]

Sir Isaac Newton PRS (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27

He was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author

(described in his time as a "natural philosopher") widely recognised as one of the
greatest mathematicians, physicists, and most influential scientists of all time. He
was a key figure in the philosophical revolution known as the Enlightenment. His
book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of
Natural Philosophy), first published in 1687, established classical mechanics.
Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and shares credit with German
mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing infinitesimal calculus.

In Principia, Newton formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation that
formed the dominant scientific viewpoint until it was superseded by the theory of
relativity. Newton used his mathematical description of gravity to derive Kepler's
laws of planetary motion, account for tides, the trajectories of comets, the
precession of the equinoxes and other phenomena, eradicating doubt about the
Solar System's heliocentricity. He demonstrated that the motion of objects on Earth
and celestial bodies could be accounted for by the same principles. Newton's
inference that the Earth is an oblate spheroid was later confirmed by the geodetic
measurements of Maupertuis, La Condamine, and others, convincing most
European scientists of the superiority of Newtonian mechanics over earlier
systems.

Newton built the first practical reflecting telescope and developed a sophisticated
theory of colour based on the observation that a prism separates white light into the
colours of the visible spectrum. His work on light was collected in his highly
influential book Opticks, published in 1704. He also formulated an empirical law
of cooling, made the first theoretical calculation of the speed of sound, and
introduced the notion of a Newtonian fluid. In addition to his work on calculus, as
a mathematician Newton contributed to the study of power series, generalised the
binomial theorem to non-integer exponents, developed a method for approximating
the roots of a function, and classified most of the cubic plane curves.

Newton was a fellow of Trinity College and the second Lucasian Professor of
Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. He was a devout but unorthodox
Christian who privately rejected the doctrine of the Trinity. Unusually for a
member of the Cambridge faculty of the day, he refused to take holy orders in the
Church of England. Beyond his work on the mathematical sciences, Newton
dedicated much of his time to the study of alchemy and biblical chronology, but
most of his work in those areas remained unpublished until long after his death.
Politically and personally tied to the Whig party, Newton served two brief terms as
Member of Parliament for the University of Cambridge, in 1689–1690 and 1701–
1702. He was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705 and spent the last three decades of
his life in London, serving as Warden (1696–1699) and Master (1699–1727) of the
Royal Mint, as well as president of the Royal Society (1703–1727).

Jerome Seymour Bruner (October 1, 1915 – June 5, 2016)

He was an American psychologist who made significant contributions to human

cognitive psychology and cognitive learning theory in educational psychology.
Bruner was a senior research fellow at the New York University School of Law.
He received a B.A. in 1937 from Duke University and a Ph.D. from Harvard
University in 1941. He taught and did research at Harvard University, the
University of Oxford, and New York University. A Review of General Psychology
survey, published in 2002, ranked Bruner as the 28th most cited psychologist of the
20th century. His other contributions are theory of development; Discovery
learning and representation, identifies three (3) mode of representation necessary
for intellectual development. The three (3) stages are; Enactive – Knowledge
through action, Iconic – Visual summarization of images and symbolic
representation – Use of word to describe expressions. Finally he opposed rote
memorization of facts.

Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its
origins in the religious, mythological, cosmological, calendrical, and astrological
beliefs and practices of prehistory: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a
discipline long interwoven with public and governmental astronomy. It was not
completely separated in Europe (see astrology and astronomy) during the
Copernican Revolution starting in 1543. In some cultures, astronomical data was
used for astrological prognostication. The study of astronomy has received
financial and social support from many institutions, especially the Church, which
was its largest source of support between the 12th century to the Enlightenment.

Ancient astronomers were able to differentiate between stars and planets, as stars
remain relatively fixed over the centuries while planets will move an appreciable
amount during a comparatively short. The history of medicine shows how societies
have changed in their approach to illness and disease from ancient times to the
present. Early medical traditions include those of Babylon, China, Egypt and India.
Sushruta, from India, introduced the concepts of medical diagnosis and prognosis.
The Hippocratic Oath was written in ancient Greece in the 5th century BCE, and is
a direct inspiration for oaths of office that physicians swear upon entry into the
profession today. In the Middle Ages, surgical practices inherited from the ancient
masters were improved and then systematized in Rogerius's The Practice of
Surgery. Universities began systematic training of physicians around 1220 CE in
Italy.

Invention of the microscope was a consequence of improved understanding, during

the Renaissance. Prior to the 19th century, humorism (also known as humoralism)
was thought to explain the cause of disease but it was gradually replaced by the
germ theory of disease, leading to effective treatments and even cures for many
infectious diseases. Military doctors advanced the methods of trauma treatment and
surgery. Public health measures were developed especially in the 19th century as
the rapid growth of cities required systematic sanitary measures. Advanced
research centers opened in the early 20th century, often connected with major
hospitals. The mid-20th century was characterized by new biological treatments,
such as antibiotics. These advancements, along with developments in chemistry,
genetics, and radiography led to modern medicine. Medicine was heavily
professionalized in the 20th century, and new careers opened to women as nurses
(from the 1870s) and as physicians (especially after 1970).

Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and

controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. The field
of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, marine navigation,
aeronautic navigation, and space navigation.

It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to
perform navigation tasks. All navigational techniques involve locating the
navigator's position compared to known locations or patterns.

Navigation, in a broader sense, can refer to any skill or study that involves the
determination of position and direction.[1] In this sense, navigation includes
orienteering and pedestrian navigation.[1]

In the European medieval period, navigation was considered part of the set of
seven mechanical arts, none of which were used for long voyages across open
ocean. Polynesian navigation is probably the earliest form of open-ocean
navigation, it was based on memory and observation recorded on scientific
instruments like the Marshall Islands Stick Charts of Ocean Swells. Early Pacific
Polynesians used the motion of stars, weather, the position of certain wildlife
species, or the size of waves to find the path from one island to another.

Maritime navigation using scientific instruments such as the mariner's astrolabe

first occurred in the Mediterranean during the middle Ages. Although land
astrolabes were invented in the Hellenistic period and existed in classical antiquity
and the Islamic Golden Age, the oldest record of a sea astrolabe is that of Majorcan
astronomer Ramon Llull dating from 1295. The perfecting of this navigation
instrument is attributed to Portuguese navigators during early Portuguese
discoveries in the Age of Discovery. The earliest known description of how to
make and use a sea astrolabe comes from Spanish cosmographer Martín Cortés de
Albacar's Arte de Navegar (The Art of Navigation) published in 1551, based on the
principle of the archipendulum used in constructing the Egyptian pyramids.

Open-seas navigation using the astrolabe and the compass started during the Age
of Discovery in the 15th century. The Portuguese began systematically exploring
the Atlantic coast of Africa from 1418, under the sponsorship of Prince Henry. In
1488 Bartolomeu Dias reached the Indian Ocean by this route. In 1492 the Spanish
monarchs funded Christopher Columbus's expedition to sail west to reach the
Indies by crossing the Atlantic, which resulted in the Discovery of the Americas. In
1498, a Portuguese expedition commanded by Vasco da Gama reached India by
sailing around Africa, opening up direct trade with Asia. Soon, the Portuguese
sailed further eastward, to the Spice Islands in 1512, landing in China one year
later.

The first circumnavigation of the earth was completed in 1522 with the Magellan-
Elcano expedition, a Spanish voyage of discovery led by Portuguese explorer
Ferdinand Magellan and completed by Spanish navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano
after the former's death in the Philippines in 1521. The fleet of seven ships sailed
from Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Southern Spain in 1519, crossed the Atlantic
Ocean and after several stopovers rounded the southern tip of South America.
Some ships were lost, but the remaining fleet continued across the Pacific making
a number of discoveries including Guam and the Philippines. By then, only two
galleons were left from the original seven. The Victoria led by Elcano sailed across
the Indian Ocean and north along the coast of Africa, to finally arrive in Spain in
1522, three years after its departure. The Trinidad sailed east from the Philippines,
trying to find a maritime path back to the Americas, but was unsuccessful. The
eastward route across the Pacific, also known as the tornaviaje (return trip) was
only discovered forty years later, when Spanish cosmographer Andrés de Urdaneta
sailed from the Philippines, north to parallel 39°, and hit the eastward Kuroshio
Current which took its galleon across the Pacific. He arrived in Acapulco on
October 8, 1565.

Immanuel Kant: Metaphysics

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is one of the most influential philosophers in the

history of Western philosophy. His contributions to metaphysics, epistemology,
ethics, and aesthetics have had a profound impact on almost every philosophical
movement that followed him. This article focuses on his metaphysics and
epistemology in one of his most important works, The Critique of Pure Reason. A
large part of Kant’s work addresses the question “What can we know?” The
answer, if it can be stated simply, is that our knowledge is constrained to
mathematics and the science of the natural, empirical world. It is impossible, Kant
argues, to extend knowledge to the supersensible realm of speculative metaphysics.
The reason that knowledge has these constraints, Kant argues, is that the mind
plays an active role in constituting the features of experience and limiting the
mind’s access only to the empirical realm of space and time.

Kant responded to his predecessors by arguing against the Empiricists that the
mind is not a blank slate that is written upon by the empirical world, and by
rejecting the Rationalists’ notion that pure, a priori knowledge of a mind-
independent world was possible. Reason itself is structured with forms of
experience and categories that give a phenomenal and logical structure to any
possible object of empirical experience. These categories cannot be circumvented
to get at a mind-independent world, but they are necessary for experience of
spatio-temporal objects with their causal behavior and logical properties. These
two theses constitute Kant’s famous transcendental idealism and empirical realism.

Kant’s contributions to ethics have been just as substantial, if not more so, than his
work in metaphysics and epistemology. He is the most important proponent in
philosophical history of deontological, or duty based, ethics. In Kant’s view, the
sole feature that gives an action moral worth is not the outcome that is achieved by
the action, but the motive that is behind the action. And the only motive that can
endow an act with moral value, he argues, is one that arises from universal
principles discovered by reason. The categorical imperative is Kant’s famous
statement of this duty: “Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the
same time will that it should become a universal law.”

The Introduction of Science into Schools in France (NEPOLEON’S

ACADEMY).

Napoleon was a French man of his time, was interested in how science could do
good. His contribution to post-revolutionary France scientific development
includes;

1. encouraged inventors.

2 Lead a scientific mission to Egypt.

3. Chemistry and Mathematics.

Napolians Academy was the fore front of scientific development in Europe in the
17th and 18th centuries is one of the earliest academics of sciences in 1795had the
following to be their newly accepted branches of scientific study

1. Mathematics
2. Mechanics
3. Astronomy
4. Physics
5. Botany
6. Chemistry
7. Menaralogy
8. Agriculture
9. Anatomy and Zoology
10.Medicine and Surgery.

The first four were for industrial development. from 1795-1914 the first world war,
the French Academy of Science was the most prevalent organization of French and
became Napoli’as Academy.

The Introduction of Science in Germany (Universities.)

Day of the science in Germany in the 19th century began with the integration of
research and teaching in the university it took the leading position in the world and
became the needed for the successful advancement of science.

At the beginning of the 20th century American scholar who had insisted or studied
at German Universities began to emulate the German idea of integrating research
and teaching, and also introduced the Science laboratory.

However, the German idea of unity of teaching and research was not simply
complied but fused with the earlier ideal-type of the British college with its focus
on teaching. This eventually allowed for a much broader disciplinary
differentiation for the establishment of under disciplinary research centers at the
intersection of a variety of disciplines and sub disciplines and for a greater renewal
potential in the form of establishing new academic of professional fields and
specialities.

The Introduction of Science in Britain (ROYAL ACADEMY)

the Royal society was founded in 1660 to bring together leading scientific minds of
the day, and became an international network for practical and philosophical
investigation of the physical world. Today, the world oldest national scientific
Academy.

Twelve original Fellows met on 28th November 1660 and resolved to form a
permanent learned society dedicated to Science. Among the founding members
was Robert Boyle,l who would become famous for his chemical work, his air
pump experiments and the air pressure that now bears his name.

Another famous figure was Christopher wren, later the architect who helped to
rebuild London after the Great Fire. Wren was also a professor of Astronomy at
Gresham College and a future President of the Royal Society

Although, the Industrial Revolution evolved out antecedents that occurred over a
long period of time historians generally agree that it had its beginnings in Britain in
the second half of the eighteenth century.

Architecture is the art and science of designing and engineering large structures
and buildings. The history of architectures traces the change in architecture
through various traditions, regions, overarching stylistics trend, and dates. The
beginning of all those traditions is though to be humans satisfying the very basic
need of shelter and protection. The term "architecture" generally refers to building,
but in it's essence is much broader, including fields we now consider specialized
forms of practice, such as urbanism, civil engineering, naval, military, and
landscape architecture.

Most early buildings in china were timber structures. Colum's with sets of brackets
on the face of the buildings, mostly in even numbers, made the central
intercolumnal space the largest interior opening. Heavily tiled roofs sat squarely on
the timber building with walls constructed in brick or pounded earth

From start to finish, technology affects the way that architect design buildings and
even the way that clients experience the design process. Technology can improve
building efficiency and durability, while making it easier for architects to more
accurately render a building design.
Technology has advanced architecture for centuries. Beginning with vitruvirus,
we've seen technology, both in theory and practice, enhance the way we design
buildings. Our craft will never stop evolving. And if we, as designers, continue to
evolve, then we will always continue to have worked to do.

Science in the Dark Ages

The "Dark Ages" is the term for the Early middle ages or middle ages in western
Europe after the fall of the western Roman Empire, characterizing it as marked by
economic, intellectual, and cultural decline.

The concept of a 'Dark Ages' originated in the 1330s with the Italian scholar
Petrarch, who regarded the post-Roman centuries as "dark" compared to the "light"
of classical antiquity. The term employs traditional light-versus-darkness imagery
to contrast the era's "darkness" (lack of records) with earlier and later periods of
"light" (abundance of records).

This is the first part of the middle age in Europe, as a result constant invasion by
barbarian tribes ( the tribes outside the Roman Empire), civilization which had
flourished under the rule of the Roman empire came to standstill. Development in
learning, architecture, science and art slowed down or stopped altogether, life also
became unsafe as a result of the many wars among the petty kingdoms within the
empire. A kind of 'darkness' covered life in Europe, for this reason, the period from
AD 150 to 800 is sometimes called the 'Dark Ages', (you might be interested to
know that this was period when the kingdom of Ghana reached the peak of this
civilization).

The "Dark Ages" is the term for the early middle ages or middle ages in Western
Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, characterizing it as marked by
economic, intellectual, and cultural decline.
The concept of a 'Dark Ages' originated in the 1330s with the Italian scholar
Petrarch, who regarded the post-Roman centuries as "dark" compared to the "light"
of classical antiquity. The term employs traditional light-versus-darkness imagery
to contrast the era's "darkness" (lack of records) with earlier and later periods of
"light" (abundance of records).

This is the first part of the middle age in Europe, as a result constant invasion by
barbarian tribes (the tribes outside the Roman Empire), civilization which had
flourished under the rule of the Roman empire came to standstill. Development in
learning, architecture, science and art slowed down or stopped altogether, life also
became unsafe as a result of the many wars among the petty kingdoms within the
empire. A kind of 'darkness' covered life in Europe, for this reason, the period from
AD 150 to 800 is sometimes called the 'Dark Ages', (you might be interested to
know that this was period when the kingdom of Ghana reached the peak of this
civilization).

Renaissance of science in Europe

The period of 14th century and got to its peak in the 16th century. The historians of
science call the period the age of the re-birth of science otherwise called the
Renaissance.

The term 'Renaissance' is a french word cultural movement that encompasses a

Renaissance can be viewed as a bridge between the middle ages and the modern
era. It was a cultural movement that affected European intellectual life. It began in
Italy and spread gradually to Europe. Renaissance attempt to improve and perfect
the way intellectuas of the middle ages approached religion. It also affected other
intellectual inquiries such as literature, philosophy, arts, politics and science.
Renaissance thinkers sought out learning from ancient texts typically written in
Latin on Greek.
Renaissance was a period of revival in classical learning in Europe which was
brought about partly by contact with other civilization, especially islamnic
civilization in Spain and Palestine and partly by the development of urban centres
with literate upper classes. The period was characterized mainly by the founding of
universities and scholars in scholastic learning some of the scholars of this period
included St. Thomas Aquinas, a theologian and the experimentally- minded Roger
Bacon.

"The Renaissance was a time of transition from the ancient world to the modern
and provided the foundation for the birth of the Enlightenment," said Abernethy.
The development in science, art, philosophy, and trade, as well as technological
advancements like the printing press, left lasting impressions on society and set the
stage for many elements of our modern culture.