CHAPTER 5:

REVOLUTIONIZING
HUMAN LIFE
Through automation, which led to increased efficiency through innovation,
technology is serving its purpose. The traditional objectives of mass production, efficiency,
and labor streamlining to carry out industrial operations have been surpassed by the
advancement in science and technology.

The advancements in science and technology have revolutionized every aspect of life
and society. Through advancements in communication, industry, economy, education, and all
facets of human existence, the basic spheres of life changed and were altered.

BREAKTHROUGH IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

As key drivers to modern change, science and technology significantly impact not
only economies but health systems, industries, infrastructures and even the educational
systems. The 21st century breakthrough such those pertaining to biotechnology, information
communication technology (ICT), nano technology have transformed practices and lives of
people across the globe.

Breakthrough in factors affecting human tasks have stood out over the last century as they
have revolutionized human life.

Printing Press
 German Johannes Gutenberg developed this machine in 1439. This device allows ink
made of linseed oil and soot to be transferred on a piece of paper which include
images and characters. This permitted the multiple publications of books and writings
which facilitated the spread of information. Printing presses allowed the exponential
increase of speed in the printing of books, which triggered the widespread knowledge
dissemination specifically in western Europe around 1500.

Electricity
 These phenomena drove the developments largely for the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries specifically for residential and industrial use. Electricity powered
innovations in transportation, communications and computer technologies. Electric
charge, which is either positive or negative, produces electric current which in turn
run machines.

Electric Battery
 This is a device made of electrochemical cells and provides electricity to power
electrical devices. Developed around 1800s when people have no continuous
electricity supply. Alessandro Volta was the first to use zinc and silver discs, which
produces, sparks to devices.
Steam Engine
 This was invented by James Watt around 1763 -1775 This machine can power
factories, trains and even ships that were used significantly during the Industrial
Revolution. It allowed mass production in factories and the increased mobility which
brought forth the rise of cities and urbanization.

Internal Combustion Engine

 This was invented by an Etienne Lenoir, an Engineer around 1859 Nikolaus Otto from
Germany further enhanced this machine around 1876. This engine can convert
chemical energy into mechanical energy for use in modern vehicles. This invention
allowed the release of high temperature gas, which can move a piston, which in turn
can run automobiles and even aircrafts.

Telegraph
 This is a device developed by Samuel Morse (1791-1872). It was used to
communicate through the Morse code. Invented around 1830-1840, this device
revolutionized long distance communication. This is a code, which assigned a set of
dashes and dots to every letter of the English alphabet to transmit complex messages
across telegraph lines. Through the Morse code, sending of messages became quick
through telegram offices.

Telephone
 Invented by Alexander Graham Bell around 1876, this device facilitated electronic
voice transmission. Bell called the first telephone an 'electrical speech machine'. This
device greatly helped in conducting business operations and facilitated better
communication that defied space.

Vaccination
 This is a means to eliminate diseases and help in extending human lifespan. In 1796,
Edward Jenner developed the first vaccine against smallpox. Louis Pasteur improved
the practice of developing vaccines in 1885. From his name came the pasteurization.
These curbed deaths caused by life-threatening process illnesses and greatly reduced
mortality rate. This advancement in the practice of medicine earned for Louis Pasteur
the title Father of Immunology

Automobile
 Karl Benz in 1885 created the first practical motorcar after developing a gasoline-
powered two-stroke piston engine in 1873 The manufacturing of this motorized
vehicle did not only change how humans travel. It initiated the concept of an
assembly line in factories. This invention revolutionized mobility as this development
permitted faster transport from one point to another of not only humans but also
products and services.

Airplane
 In 1903, the Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, invented the first successful
airplane. Travel to great distances has become quick and swift using this 'flying
machine'. Through this invention, human flight became possible and literally shrank
the planet as it allowed covering thousands of miles in matters of minutes and hours.
Penicillin
 A great contribution to the field of medicine and wellness, this was discovered by
Alexander Fleming in 1928. The purpose of this drug is to cure bacterial diseases.
Penicillin came from the fungus penicillium which was later purified and developed
into a very efficient drug against bacterial infections.

Nuclear Fission
 This is a process developed by Otto Hahn and Fritz Stassmann, both Germans. This
process splits atoms, which consequently produces enormous energy. This
development brought forth the rise of nuclear reactors and atomic bombs

Semiconductors
 This creation laid the foundation of Silicon Valley These electronic devices were
largely made of silicon and semiconductor devices. It was in 1947 that John Bardeen.
Walter Brattain and William Shockley developed the first device made out of silicon.

Satellite
 A satellite is an object launched onto space and orbits the earth. The earliest was
launched around 1960s into space from Russia. "Sputnik" was considered the first
artificial satellite that lifted off on October 4, 1957 The United States (US) also
launched its first artificial satellite Explorer' on January 31, 1958. These satellite
technologies allow instant communication in almost all areas of this planet.
Transmitting signals on radio and mobile devices these satellites are so powerful that
it can pinpoint locations through Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and even provide
detailed imagery from space

Personal Computer
 The Integrated Computer Systems developed around 1968 and by 1970s, the features
of these machines greatly expanded human capabilities. It was in 1983 that these
personal computers were used in office work. Pioneer companies like Apple,
Microsoft and IBM have refined the specifications and capacity of these machines.

The Internet
 The World Wide Web formed an interconnected network of computers since the
1970s when Fiber Optics which was coined as early as 1956. This fiber was made of
ultrapure glass that transmits light used for telecommunication. Consequently around
1989, the World Wide Web was developed by Tim Berners-Lee through the
“hypertext markup language (HTML) for creating Web pages as well as the “Uniform
Resource Locator (URL) to identify the location to which the data are stored.

Artificial Intelligence
 Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the simulation of human intelligence in machines. These
Als are programmed to think like humans. They can also mimic or imitate human
actions and movements. The term Al can be applied to any machine exhibiting traits
associated with a human mind which includes cognitive functions such as learning
and problem-solving
 The History of Computer Technology

Since ancient times, tools have been used to facilitate computation, most probably at
first in the form of a tally stick. The Antikythera mechanism, which dates to roughly the start
of the first century BC. is generally regarded as the earliest known geared mechanism and
mechanical analog computer. Comparable geared devices did not appear in Europe until the
16th century, and the first mechanical calculator that could perform the four fundamental
arithmetic operations was not created until 1645. Electronic computers, which used either
relays or valves, started to appear in the early 1940s. The first programmable computer in the
world was the electromechanical Zuse Z3, which was finished in 1941. By today's standards,
Colossus, which was created in the Second World War to decrypt German communications,
was the first electronic digital computer. It was programmable, but despite only being
intended for a single task, it was not general-purpose. Additionally, it was unable to keep its
program in memory. The Manchester Baby, which executed its first program on June 21,
1948, was the first distinctly modern electronic digital stored-program computer. Bell
Laboratories' work on transistor development in the late 1940s made it possible to create a
new generation of computers with significantly lower power requirements.
The integrated circuit (IC), the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor
(MOSFET) at Bell Laboratories in 1959, and the at Intel in 1971 are a few later
advancements in semiconductor technology. These significant discoveries contributed to the
rise of information and communications technology and the personal computer (PC) in the
1970s (ICT).
The magnetic drum, which was created in 1932 and utilized in the Ferranti Mark1,
was the first type of non-volatile computer storage. In 1956, as a part of their 305 RAMAC
computer system, IBM unveiled the first hard disk drive as the first general-purpose,
commercially available electronic device. The majority of data were kept in analog devices
around 2002, but for the first time that year, digital storage capacity surpassed analog. Nearly
94% of the data that was being stored globally as of 2007 was digital, with 52% of it being
stored on hard disks, 28% on optical devices, and 11% on digital magnetic tape. According to
estimates, the capacity of information storage on electronic devices increased globally from
less than 3 exabytes in 1986 to 295 exabytes in 2007, roughly doubling every three years.
In order to solve the issue of accurately and speedily storing and retrieving massive
amounts of data, database management systems (DMS) were developed in the 1960s. Oracle
introduced the first relational database management system (RDBMS) that was marketed for
sale in 1981.
The extensible markup language (XML) has gained popularity as a data representation format
in recent years. Being both machine and human readable is a benefit of XML's text-based
structure, which is an evolution of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). The
relational database model introduced the Structured Query Language (SQL), which is based
on relational algebra XML and is independent of programming languages. since the early
2000s, especially for machine-oriented interactions like those involved in web-oriented
protocols, has grown in popularity as a means of data exchange.
References
Magalona, E., Cruz, E. R., Evardone, J., & Papel, R. O. (n.d.). SCIENCE,
TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY A Rudimentary Approach.