MODULE 2

HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS IN THE COURSE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION
This lesson will give light to the development of Science and scientific ideas in
the heart of the society. It explores the dynamic interactions between different societal
factors on science and technology. Along with the discussion of this antecedent during
the ancient period, Middle Ages and modern ages, it also discussed Philippine invention
and innovations. It is goal of this lesson to articulate ways by which society is
transformed by science and technology.

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, the students should be able to:
1. Discuss the paradigm shift through history
2. Explain how science and technology affected the society and vice versa.
3. Identify inventions and discoveries that changed the world over the course of
history
4. Explain how the industrial revolution changed the ways of human life

The development of science and technology is as old as mankind. From the

genesis of time Science has existed. It is always interwoven with the society. It indeed
plays major roles in the everyday life.
The birth of technology was when the first human-like species, Homo Habilis made
sharp cutting edges from stone. Later, Homo Neanderthals or cave men used tools and
weapons and were the very successful ancestors of Homo sapiens.
Many features of civilization emerged gradually as agricultural economics
developed. The invention of tools increased agricultural production, which led both to
new job specializations. A more complex economy also created new needs for more
formal governments and better methods communication and record keeping.

ANCIENT TIMES

The Sumerian Civilization

The first civilization emerged in Sumer, the southern region of ancient Mesopotamia
(Iraq and Kuwait) about 3500 B.C.E. Between the desert of Arabian Peninsula, running
from the eastern Mediterranean cost to the plains of great Tigris and Euphrates rivers
lays a fertile soil that generated several features characteristic of civilization including
system of farming, writing, expanded cities, complex social structure, distinctive
religious beliefs and artistic styles. It was so flat that it was open to invasion, leading to
the rise and fall of the empire.

Many technical innovations are attributed to the Sumerians. Among these are:

1
 1. Cuneiform is the first form of writing developed by Sumerian. It
was a system that utilizes word pictures and triangular symbols,
baked on clay tablets, which were turned into symbols and
gradually transformed into phonetic elements. It recorded data,
generated scientific knowledge and promoted trade.

2. The wheel around 4500 BC the wheel and axle combination

became the most important invention of all time. The Sumerians
were able to invent the wheels not intended for transportation
but for farm work and food processes.

3. The first successful efforts to control the flood of water and to

grow crops were developed by Sumerian. An irrigation system
was usually made up of canals, dikes, basins, dams, and
levees. Water was stored in basins or dikes, along the fields for
the crops. The canals, levees, and dams were used to stop
flooding.

4. Cities and temple complexes, with their famous ziggurats were

all built using oven-baked bricks of clay which were then
painted. A ziggurat is a type of massive structure and it has the
form of a terraced compound of successively receding stories or
levels.

5. The invention of the plow helped them provide their city-states

with a stable food supply. Before farmers invented the plow,
they used animal horns or pointed sticks to poke holes in the
earth. 

Source:
https://www.ancienthistorylists.com/mes
opotamia-history/top-10-sumerian-
inventions-followed-many-civilizations/

Babylonian Civilization

A civilization derived from Sumerian culture around 1800 B.C.E. the Babylonian
Empire arose and again unified much of Mesopotamia. This empire was headed by
Hammurabi which sets the Hammurabi’s law. The Babylonians went on to greatly
influence Mesopotamian culture. More importantly, they had a great impact on the

2
history of western civilization. Among the most important contributions of Babylonia are
the first ever positional number system; accomplishments in advanced mathematics;
laying the foundation for all western astronomy; and impressive works in art,
architecture and literature.

One of the seven wonders of the ancient world was built on the banks of the
Euphrates River. It may never have existed except in the imagination of Greek poets
and historians although archaeologists claim to have found the remains of its walls.
Most scholars attribute its construction to King Nebuchadnezzar II to console his
Median wife, Amytis, who missed the mountains and greenery of her home land. The
Gardens didn't really "hang" but were built on terraces which were part of the ziggurat
and was irrigated by water lifted up from the Euphrates. There is not a single mention of
a "hanging garden" in the Babylon cuneiform record but this is probably because it was
considered part of the ziggurat structure and not a separate entity in itself.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging_Gardens_of_Babylon

Egyptian Civilization

Egyptian civilization formed by 3000 B.C.E along the Nile River. They benefited
from trade and technological influence from Mesopotamia, but they produced a very
different society and culture. More stable that Sumer and protected from the main
invasion route by desert, Egyptian civilization flourished for more than 2000 years
before beginning to decline about 1000 B.C.E.

Many inventions and developments of Science and Technology are attributed to

Egyptian. Among these are:

3
1. The Egyptians kept written records using a writing
system known as hieroglyphics. Some writing was
preserved on stone or clay, and some was preserved on
papyrus, a paper-like product made from reed fiber.
Papyrus is very fragile, but due to the hot and dry climate
of Egypt, a few papyrus documents have survived.

2. Building pyramid, such as the Great Pyramid and the

Sphinx in Giza, and temples for different gods required a
centralized government that could command vast
resources.

3. Egyptians cosmetics reflected their social class, so they

devoted a lot of time to their personal appearance. Wigs
were often worn not only for style purposes but also as
protection as people needed to protect their skin from the
dry climate and strong sun. 

Mummification is a process in which the skin and

4. Flesh of a corpse can be preserved. They wanted to
preserve their pharaoh because they believe in
afterlife. When a pharaoh died, his life force would
leave his body, but only temporarily. It was important
to preserve the body because the spirit would return.

5. The Egyptians were among the first to divide their

days into parts. They invented the first portable clock
which was so lightweight that people could carry it
with them.

Source:
https://www.ancienthistorylists.com/egypt-
history/top-10-inventions-discoveries-ancient-
egypt/

GREEK CIVILIZATION

Greek civilization began to take shaped around 800 B.C.E. on the peninsula and island
of Greece and in the surrounding territory in the eastern Mediterranean.

1. Water mills have been used all over the world for the
purpose of metal shaping, agriculture and, most
importantly, milling. This in turn led to the production
of edible food staples like rice, cereals, pulses, flour,
and so on.

4
2. Odometer, measures the distance traveled by a
vehicle such as a bicycle or automobile. It was
invented by Archimedes of Syracuse

3. Cartography is the study and practice of making

maps. It has played an important role in travel and
navigation since ancient times.

4. Hippocrates was an ancient Greek physician of the

Classical age and was considered one of the most
outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He was
referred to as the father of Western medicine in
recognition of his lasting contributions to the field and
was the founder of the Hippocratic School of
Medicine.

Source: https://www.ancienthistorylists.com/greek-history/

ROMAN CIVILIZATION

Roman and Greek achievements in science and technology were closely intertwined but
somewhat Roman had more focused on engineering. Roman used and copied Greek
Science, monumental architectural styles, sculpture and drama.

1. Romans are the first to set an arch on top of tall

pedestal. These arches went on to become pivotal
engineering constructions that the foundation for
building bridges, aqueducts, sewer, amphitheater and
coliseum

2. The first Roman aqueducts were built around 312 BC

and from then on took off as an engineering marvel
that used the downhill flow of water to supply the city
centers.

5
3. Roman numerals originated in ancient Rome.
Constituting one of the most popular numbering
systems still in use today, the first use of these
numbers dates back to somewhere between 900 and
800 BC. 

4. Rome was the first to establish a sophisticated

system of circulating written news which it published
the Acta Diurna (“Daily Events”). The majority of the
content in the Acta Diurna usually comprised of
political news, trials, military campaigns, executions
and major scandals.

5. The revolutionary concrete developed by the Romans

helped to build impeccable and lasting structures,
playing a huge part in the architectural accession of
ancient Rome. 

Source:
https://www.ancienthistorylists.com/rome-
history/top-10-ancient-roman-inventions/

CHINESE CIVILIZATION

Chinese civilization started along Huanghe or yellow river. Established by

nomadic warriors and lasted for six centuries. The vital irrigation systems that earlier
inhabitants of the yellow river basin had begun were greatly expanded and improved.
They also developed a system of writing that has proved critical identity, unity and
civilized development among the chines

Science and Technology development arose in this era. Among these are:

1. Silk was widely used in a variety of sectors including

writing, fishing, and for musical instruments. It was
dominantly used by emperors and high-class society
but later it spread to the rest of the population. 

2. Tea was discovered by the Chinese emperor

Shennong in 2737 BC. During a march, while they
were resting, his servant prepared some boiling water
for him. A brown leaf fell into the water and the water

6
 turned brown. The servant presented it to the
emperor, he drank it and found it refreshing.

3. The Chinese used silk or paper and lightweight

bamboo framework to make kites. Paper kites were
being used to carry messages for rescue missions, to
test the wind, measure distance, and for military
communication.

4. The Chinese considered south their cardinal direction,

and the original compass was created by the
Chinese using a lodestone to point south. This was
called the south pointer.

5. Invention of the wheelbarrow can be credited to

Prime Minister Zhuge Liangof Shu Han. It was
created the wheelbarrow to carry military weapons
and to move injured and dead soldiers from the
battlefield.

6. Han dynasty invented the first seismograph called

“Houfeng Didong” to measure the movements of the
earth and seasonal winds. 

7. The first chemical explosive known as a gunpowder

or black powder was made from sulfur, charcoal, and
potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Gunpowder wasn’t a
sudden invention. The Chinese used gunpowder and
gunpowder-based weaponry as a military defense.

7
8. The Great Wall of China was built by the first emperor
of China, Qin Shi Huang to protect the country from
northern invaders. 

Source:
https://www.ancienthistorylists.com/chin
a-history/top-18-ancient-chinese-
inventions/

MEDIEVAL AGES

The Medieval Era, often called The Middle Ages or the Dark Ages, began just
before 500 A.D. following a great loss of power throughout Europe by the Roman
Emperor. The Middle Ages span roughly 1,000 years, ending around 1450 A.D.

1. Building great Cathedrals as there was a huge rise in Christianity

The role of the cathedral is chiefly to serve God
in the community, through its hierarchical and
organizational position in the church structure.
The building itself, by its physical presence,
symbolizes both the glory of God and of the
church.

https://www.google.com/search?q=image+of+great+cathedral

2. Building great castles for local nobility

A castle was a fortress built to protect strategic

locations from enemy attack or to serve as a
military base for invading armies.
People seeking protection from invading
armies built villages around established
castles. Local nobility took the safest
residences for themselves, inside the castle
walls. 
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-castle-architecture

3. Astrolabe was an important Medieval invention, They were used by navigators,

astronomers who studied the movement of celestial bodies

8
 https://www.google.com/search?q=image+of+astrolabe&rlz=

4. Printing. Spreading knowledge and information was a very slow process before the
invention of typography. Johannes Gutenberg developed the first mechanical printing
machine in the 1440s. The first printed book was the Bible in 1456 with a run of 150
copies.

5. The telescope was invented by Dutchman

Hans Lippershey. In 1610, using his improved
design, Galileo Galilei was able to prove that
the Earth revolved around the Sun. This
confirmed the ideas of the Polish astronomer
Nicolaus Copernicus but it angered the
Catholic Church who had adopted the idea that
the Earth was at the center of everything.

https://www.google.com/
image+of+telescope+during+medieval+period&
tbm=isch&source

9
6. The microscope Looking at small things became possible when a Dutch maker of
spectacles, Hans Janssen and his son, put glass lenses together in 1590 to make a
primitive microscope. Anton van Leeuwenhoek took this invention a step further in 1676
with a magnification of 270 times and discovered tiny single-celled creatures in pond
water. Ultimately, this helped our understanding of microorganisms and disease.

https://www.google.com/search=image+of+microscope+in+the+mwdieval

7. Lightning conductor In1752, Benjamin

Franklin, the American statesman, philosopher
and scientist proved that lightning was a form of
electricity when he flew a kite in a thunderstorm.
Around 1754, Franklin and the Czech scientist,
ProkopDiviš independently developed the lighting
conductor to protect buildings from being hit and
damaged by lighting.
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHNY

7. Mechanical clock

Among the traditional time-keeping devices used at the time were water clocks,

candle clocks, the use of astrolabes for determining time and sundials. It was during
the High Middle Ages that new methods of time-keeping were discovered and new
instruments discovered for the purpose.

10
8. Eyeglasses.
When eyeglasses were first produced, they were known as iteros ab oculis ad legend or
“glasses that are for reading. Physical evidence for the use of spectacles during the
Concave glass is used to correct nearsightedness, so that the rays of light are diverged.
Convex lenses are used to aid the correction of farsightedness, so that the light rays are
converged. Cylindrical lenses used to correct astigmatism were invented by Sir George
Airy in 1825.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHNY_ eye+glassestheir+uses+inmiddle+age

MODERN ERA

The First Industrial Revolution

The Modern period is a cultural movement that has a lasting impact on the world.
The Romantic period provoked everyone to rebellion and two of the greatest revolutions,
the American and French, were an outcome of that period. Thus, the Modern period was
born when the Romantics faded out and this shift in culture changed the world forever.
Modernism changed the way people lived in a number of different reasons, but there are
three that stood out from the rest.
The Modern Era changed the world through literature, producing some of the
greatest works in history, through technology and science, this new scientific movement
invented groundbreaking technology, and lastly through wars, people realized that being
ruled by one all-powerful monarchy is not the way they want to live. A lot of credit can go
to the Enlightenment and Romantic periods, but the Modern period shaped the world so
radically that it would not be the same without it.
Modern history is the history of the world beginning after the Middle Ages.
Generally the term "modern history" refers to the history of the world since the advent of
the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries and the
beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
The early modern period is roughly around the 1500s - 1800s. It begins with
European exploration and ends around the period of the French Revolution. The late
modern period follows the early modern period and ends around World War 2.

11
https://www.utwente.nl/en/bms/steps/education/msc/courses/162261sciencetechnmodernsociet/

The First Industrial Revolution

Steam power. This era saw the development of steam engines to power factory
machinery. Heating water in a boiler to make steam to power a vehicle was a major
technological advance. James Watt is recognized as the inventor of the steam engine in
1765. Water could be pumped out of mines and industrial processes speeded up.
George Stephenson’s, Rocket was the first locomotive to pull heavy loads a long
distance. This led to the rapid expansion of railways throughout Britain and the world.
The combination of iron and steam paved the way for the great Victorian engineering
projects of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He designed bridges, tunnels, viaducts and
ships.

https/
www..historyhit,com/key imventions

Photography is the art, application and practice of creating durable images by

recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an
image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic
film.

12
 https://www.google.com/search1C1CHNphotography

A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their
seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation. The fibers are
then processed into various cotton goods such as linens, while any undamaged cotton
is used largely for textiles like clothing.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHNYCotton+gin&stick

Typewriters were a very good way to write books. Typewriters were much more
comfortable than writing in hand. This helped the industrial revolution by allowing people
to write manuals for the workers and mass produce them much easier.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz+impact+of+typewriter

In the 1880s, when the typewriter was first adopted in many offices, America

was a country in the throes of rapid change. The way in which the typewriter
was adopted reflected changes in women's roles, new ideas about the organization of
work, and the rapidly growing corporations of the day.

Telegraph
Samuel F. B. Morse created the telegraph in 1836. This invention changed the
face of communication. Instant communication became possible between the east and
13
west coasts and allowed people to know what was happening. This would revolutionize
media and personal. It worked by transmitting electrical signals over a wire lay between
stations communication. The telegraph revolutionized long-distance communication.
Each new communications technology has had a greater impact on society than
the one before. The telegraph changed society indirectly, by transforming the workings
of government and industry. But the telephone and radio had direct impacts on people's
working and social lives.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHNYAbS35jACg&q=i+imaget+of+telegraph

Sewing Machine

Elias Howe created the sewing machine in 1844. This forever changed the way
clothes were made and allowed the mass production of clothing. Before this it was most
common for women to make all of the clothes for their families. Only the very wealthy
could afford to have a tailor or seamstress make custom clothing of the latest fashion. It
was later improved upon and patented by Isaac Singer

https://
www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHNYwAOgib6wBw&qsewing+machine

Power Loom

Edmund Cartwright invented the power loom in 1785. It dramatically changed the
way cloth was woven by making it much easier. It would take almost another fifty years
and several alterations by other inventors before it would become commonly used.
The power loom, which partially automated textile weaving, was one of the most
important inventions of the Industrial Revolution. The  loom and
associated equipment went into operation in 1817, and with Lyman's encouragement,
Gilmour made his design freely available to other mechanics

14
 https://www.google.com/search?q=power+loom+image&rlz=1C1CHNY

Power looms reduced demand for skilled handweavers, initially causing reduced wages
and unemployment. Protests followed their introduction. For example, in 1816 two
thousand rioting Calton weavers tried to destroy power loom mills and stoned the
workers.

THE SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Bulb. In 1879, Thomas Edison’s invented

electric light bulbs for cheaper, opt for clean
and convenient electric lights. To sell bulbs,
energy was needed, so Edison’s Electric
Illumination Company built their own power
station in New York.

https://www.google.com/search?
rlz=1C1CHNYiimage+of+bulb+in+second+industrial+re
volution&tbm

The telephone. This is an invention that made money. Alexander Graham Bell was the
first in the race to patent a machine in 1876 that you could use to talk to someone on
the other side of the world. Admittedly, it was initially from one room to another. The
message was “Mr. Watson, come here, I want you”. A year later in 1877 he set up his
company and demonstrated long distance calls.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHNYimage+of+telephone+in+second+industrial+revolution

15
The motor car. Until the 1860s all prototype motor cars were steam driven. German
inventor Nicolas Otto created an improved internal combustion engine in 1876 and this
is still the way cars work today. In 1885, the first car, the Benz Patent Motorwagen, was
developed by Karl Benz. It was a long time before cars became common. Petrol, a
cleaning fluid, was only available from the chemist. Famous names such as Rolls Royce
and Henry Ford developed the technology; Rolls Royce for the rich and Henry Ford for
the man in the street.

https://
www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHNY_ imageof+motor i+second industrial+revolution

The movies. It has been only just over one hundred years since the first movie, or film,
was shown by the brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière at the Grand Café in Paris. The
terrifying film was entitled The Arrival of a Train at Ciotat Station. In 1889, George
Eastman pioneered celluloid film with holes punched in the side so that the movie
camera could show the film precisely frame by frame.

htt
ps://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHNY_image+of+movies++in+second+industrial+revolution

X-rays Science is impressive when something is discovered that cannot be seen. In

1895, German physicist Wilhelm Rontgen working with electrical discharges in glass
tubes noticed that there was a faint glow on a nearby screen. These rays were invisible
and could pass through most materials. He also recorded them on photographic paper
and thus the first X-ray image was developed. He quickly realized the medical potential
of his discovery. Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity in 1896 while trying to find
more out about X-rays. Marie Curie, a Polish born French chemist and physicist and two

16
times Nobel Prize winner, is best remembered for her research into radioactivity and
new radioactive elements.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHNY-QaWha+image+of++x-ray+machin e

Communications Radio waves travel in all directions at an incredible 300 000 km per
second. The German physicist Heinrich Hertz was the first to prove they existed but it
was Guglielmo Marconi who set up the world’s first radio stations to transmit and
receive Morse code. In 1896, he sent the first message across the Atlantic from
Cornwall to Newfoundland. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909. It was
not until 1915 that engineers were able to transmit sound effectively. The first clear
television pictures to be transmitted were sent by Scottish-born John Logie Baird. He
founded the Baird Television Company Limited and worked on programs for the BBC
(British Broadcasting Corporation).

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHNYof+communication+radio+in+second+industrial+revolution

Flight. At the turn of the century, in 1903, two bicycle repairmen from Ohio, Wilbur and
Orville Wright built and flew the first really successful airplane near Kitty Hawk, North
Carolina. From that time progress was rapid and the military advantages of flight were
realized in WWI.

17
 https:
//www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHNYi+image+ofcommunication+radio

Rockets and space flights. The earliest rockets were used in China in the 11th century
but by the 19th century speed and accuracy were much improved. Knowledge of
astronomy meant that scientists knew the relative movements of the planets in relation
to the Earth. A Russian mathematics teacher, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was the first
person to draw up plans for space stations and air locks to allow space walks. He
correctly calculated that a rocket would have to travel at 8 km per second to leave the
atmosphere and that liquid rocket fuel would be essential. American scientist Robert
Goddard not knowing of Tsiolkovsky’s ideas, independently developed liquid fuelled
rockets from 1926. Ultimately, NASA took up the challenge but the Russians eventually
won the race to put a man into orbit. Yuri Gagarin orbited the earth in 1961. In the US,
NASA scientists redressed the balance in the space race with their moon landing in
1969.

https://www.google.com/search?
rlz=1C1CHNYspace+flights+in+second+industrial+revolution

The atomic bomb. Science and technological advances can be seen as good or bad.
The invention of gunpowder must have seemed like that. In 1932, physicists John
Cockcroft and Earnest Walton did the impossible. They proved Albert Einstein’s theory

18
of relativity and unlocked the secrets of the atomic nucleus. Splitting the atom was a
brilliant scientific achievement. However, It allowed scientists to develop the atomic
bomb that was used to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan to end the WWII in
1945.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHNYatomic+bomb+
+in+second+industrial+revolution

THE THIRD SCIENTIFIC-TECHNICAL REVOLUTION

After the WWII new discoveries and advances in science and technology came thick
and fast. Plastics were developed for the first time. In 1949, the first practical
programmed electronic computer ran mathematical problems.
It fitted into one room! In the 1960s, the electronic silicon chip was invented; computers
became smaller and more powerful. In 1984, the CD was born and the digital revolution
began.
The worldwide web has given us access to billions of documents with information
and images as well as online shopping and banking.
Mobile telephone technology means we have instant contact with friends and family.
During this period, there have also been huge advances in genetics since the discovery
of the structure of DNA in 1953. Today, genetic engineering and nanotechnology show
fast growth trends and, also, are big business.

19