SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND

SOCIETY FROM THE

PERSPECTIVE OF HISTORY
THROUGH THE CENTURIES, THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE CAN BE
VIEWED AS A CONTINUOUS EXPANSION AT THE EXPENSE OF
RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY AND HUMANITIES.
Think of this . . .
Knowing about the nature of science as
a human activity is a necessity.
Beyond the scientific research, we must
see its consequences affecting our way
of life.
The Dawn of the First Civilization
Through archeological
excavations, men
evolved from being
hunter-gatherer-
wanderers to
sophisticated city-
dwellers.
The Dawn of the First Civilization
Archeological excavations and
discoveries have revealed that
gradually and most
simultaneously, the first
civilizations emerged
independent of one another
along fertile river valleys in
Mesopotamia, Egypt and India.
How People of the first civilizations
discovered, learned and developed
science and technology?
Science and Technology
developed essentially as
the consequences of their
search for food and other
survival needs, for practical
reasons as well as curiosity.
S and T Highlights in History
As theorized that throughout
history, individual civilization have
arisen and collapsed, but
civilization’s basic features did not
disappear: way of life, society,
religion, customs and tradition,
government, economy, arts,
literature, science and
technology.
S and T Highlights in History
As one people’s civilization is
assimilated by its conquerors, its
ideas, discoveries, inventions
and practices were not only
spread, but likely, modified or
refined in the process of
adaptation
Evidence of S and T during the
Pre-Historic Times
Stone Age : Paleolithic Age (3000
to 1000 B.C.) and Neolithic Age
(9000 to 5000 B.C.):
 Fossil remains of Peking man
(500mya) were found
accompanied by stones seemingly
selected and shaped to be used as
tools for survival
Sometime in 1000 B.C. fire was
discovered through percussion
method
What benefit do you
think the discovery of
fire brought to
Paleolithic men?
Evidence of S and T during the
Pre-Historic Times
How will you describe
the early S and T during
the prehistoric times? Tell
some evidences or
proof.
How did people get food during the
Paleolithic Age?
Men would hunt for
meat.
Women, children,
and old, sick, or
injured men would
gather whatever
they could find
that was edible.
How did people get food during the
Neolithic Age?
People learned to
grow their own food.
People also
domesticated
animals.
Where did people live during the
Paleolithic Age?
There were no
permanent homes.
Because people hunted
and gathered, they
would have to move
where the food was.
Homes were temporary
places like caves or
mammoth bone huts.
Where did people live during the
Neolithic Age?
Because people were
growing their own food they
had to settle in one location.
Homes were built out of
timber (wood) or mud
bricks.
How did people dress during the
Paleolithic Age?
Clothing was made
primarily from the fur
of the animals that
had been killed for
food.
The climate during
the time was cold, so
people dressed to
stay warm.
How did people dress during the
Neolithic Age?
People still used mostly
animal skins for clothing.
In some places people
were able to make
fabric from the wool of
their sheep.
Comparison
Paleolithic Age
Food
Hunted for meat and
gathered nuts, berries,
eggs, insects, and fruit.
Shelter
Lived in temporary
homes such as caves
and mammoth bone
huts.
Clothing
Wore warm clothing
made of animal fur.
Tools
Simple shaped stone
tools like cutters, hand
axes, primitive spear tips,
and sharpened sticks.
Neolithic Age
Farmed and herded
animals
Lived in permanent
homes near their crops
and animals.
Wore animal furs and
clothing made of
woolen cloth.
More advanced stone
tools, bow and arrows,
refined spear tips,
harpoons.
Bronze Age (3500 – 2500 B.C.)
Although man began
learning to use metals
during the 7000’s B.C. it
was only in the 3500’s
B.C. that people in the
Middle East were
smelting copper and
making bronze tools and
weapons.
EVIDENCES OF S AND T DURING
ANCIENT TIMES (3500 B.C. – A.D.
12000 IN THE OLD WORLD)
Sumerian Civilization:
System of writing: Cuneiform
Mathematics: basic algebra and geometry,
base-6 number counting
Astronomy: movement of the stars and planets
Sumerian Society
Farming and trade: grew dates,
grains, and vegetables; raised
domestic animals; grew flax for
linen and wove woolen goods;
worked as artisans and traders
Education and Religion: only
upper -class boys were
educated; practiced
polytheism; afterlife?
Religion
Life was centered around religion.
Sumerians believed in and worshiped many gods
(polytheism).
Each city had its own main god and a temple
dedicated to that god. Everything belonged to
that god.
Temple became the center of activities.
Daily life
Very harsh and violent---
enemies threatened
constantly.
Geographically, there were
few natural barriers so there
were constant invasions.
Famine and drought were
constant worries.
Male-dominated society;
women and children had few
rights.
Sumerian Discoveries
Writing: Clay tablets were also used
to keep written records.
Form of writing by the Sumerians
was known as cuneiform writing.
This meant "wedge-shaped" writing.
Called this because the Sumerians
used a pointed instrument to make
wedge-shaped characters in clay.
This writing used about 550 different
characters.
 Sumerian Discoveries
Architecture
-arch
-ziggurats
Science
-wheels watch, compass
-lunar calendar
Number system based on sixty (we still
use it today– how?)
Babylonian Civilization
Hammurabi law code
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
System of book-keeping
 Egyptian Civilization
Early settlers were depicted as animal
hunters, with weapons and traps.
At the beginning of the Neolithic period,
sketches of cattle and goats appeared,
reflecting the change in lifestyle from
nomadic to farmland settlers.
 Due to floods which caused damaged,
they constructed canals and dikes
Hieroglyphics, representing individual
objects or actions (pictorial symbols)
Studied heavens to record time, calculate
distance, forecast the seasons (annual
flooding)
Role of Science
The pillar of Egyptian culture was not
science, but religion, which was firmly
established as the basis of their view
of the world. Thus ancient Egypt had
some advanced scientific
technologies, with special emphasis in
the fields of irrigation and medicine.
Pyramids
These are the Giza pyramids,
the most famous.
Pyramids were tombs for the
kings.
These were built in 3500
B.C.E.
 Mummies
Egyptians who could afford to
do so would have themselves
mummified.
They believed in a better
afterlife if their body was
preserved.
Greek Civilization
Around 1100 B.C. one turning
point in the history of world
civilization took place in the
Mediterranean region: the
transition from the Bronze Age to
the Iron Age.
Their wise men were the first to
systematically separate
scientific ideas from superstition
and stressed the logical
development of general
principles or theories about
natural phenomena.
Ancient Greece

Hippocrates (460 – 370? B.C.)

• Greek physician
• Diseases have natural causes
• Rejected view that disease caused by evil spirits
• Believed that the brain was area of higher thought and
emotion, not heart
• Program for good health: rest, good nutrition, and
exercise.
• Started “Western Medicine”
Roman Times

Galen (130 - 200 A.D.)

• Anatomy & Physiology
• disease resulted from an internal imbalance of the
four humors
• Mistakes in understanding circulation
• Research based on ape dissection
• Textbook used for 1000 years
Dark Ages- 200 to 1200 A.D.

• Sad time
• Little new knowledge
• Taboo against dissecting human cadavers
continued
• Avoided actual involvement
• Authority prevails
Renaissance
da Vinci(1452-1515)

• Anatomy & Physiology

Renaissance
Vesalius (1514-1564)
• Anatomy & Physiology
• Followed Galen’s writings, but
later found he was wrong

Vesalius dissects a female cadaver in his

anatomy lab
Medieval Human Anatomy Before Vesalius
Vesalius’ Images
Vesalius’ Images

The female pelvic anatomy. From Vesalius's De

Corporis Humani Fabrica, 1543.
Microscope
Anton van Leeuwenhoek

1632 - 1723

Invented a simple microscope

Discovered bacteria, protists, sperm cells, blood cells…
Leeuwenhoek’s Microscope
Leeuwenhoek’s
“Animalcules”
Robert Hooke

1635 - 1703
Cells in Cork
 William Harvey
1578-1657
Discoveries
• Disproved Galen that blood not made from
the liver
• Heart is a pump not a suction device
• Showed closed circuit circulation
• Showed existence of valves in veins
Arteries & Veins
Tell the contributions of the
following Greeks:
Socrates: Socratic dialogue
Thales: nature was composed or convertible to water
Anaxagoras: matter was composed of countless tiny particles
Empedocles: nature was a mixture of four elements: earth, fire,
air and water
Hippocrates: regarded medicine as a science apart from
religion, prescribed the Hippocratic oath
Galen: laid down the first medical theories based on scientific
experiments (dissection of animal corpses.
Aristotle: classification and importance of critical observation
MEDICINE
Established a school for
study of medicine
where the cause of
illness was investigated
and where sick was
treated based on
observation.
Persian Civilization
Darius I (552-486 BC)-
introduced the standards for
uniform system of gold and
silver coinage
Weights and measure
Postal service
Code of law
Common calendar
Roman Civilization
Romans excelled in
architecture and
engineering but practically
nil in theoretical science.
Science from Greeks and
other cultures of other
people the colonized were
assimilated. –imitative rather
than original
Arabic/Islamic Civilization
The development of civilization was the eclectic
result of all ancient classical Greco-Roman, Persian,
Hindu and Chinese documents of knowledge and
traditions which obtained directly or indirectly from
their conquest and trade relations.
Scientific knowledge and technologies they acquired
were enriched through their own observations and
experiments before spreading over to Europe.
Arabic/Islamic Civilization
Arabs interest in the pseudoscience of alchemy
encouraged them to mix and manipulated
chemical elements and conducted experiments
to transform base meals into gold.
In technology, they were the first to use glass lens
for magnification.
In 1304 AD, the Arabs produced the first gun (a
bamboo tube reinforced with iron that used a
charge of black powder to shoot an arrow)
Chinese Civilization
Creation of magnificent bronze vessels (some with
removable lid)
Discovery of lacquer
Development of horse-drawn war chariots
Improved farming technology
The government supported their scholars in applying
their intellectual skills in astronomy, mathematics,
engineering, medicine, alchemy, geology and
technology.
Chinese Civilization
Chinese medical practices:
acupuncture and
apothecaries (selling of drugs)
Diagnosis of disease through
looking, smelling, touching
and asking.
Medications were obtained
mostly from plants.
Chinese Civilization
In 132 A.D., an instrument called
“earthquake weathercock” was
invented –seismograph
-A bronze vessel fitted with weighted
pendulum inside.
Technology of paper making (105 AD)
and the invention of printing press (in
700 AD).
- By 976 AD Chinese are already
compiling an encyclopedia
Other Chinese Contributions
Invention of gunpowder
Naturally magnetic iron ore to
magnetize a floating needle
(prototype of the magnetic needle
in compass) to indicate location.
Use of coal as fuel
Water wheel
Technology of copper coinage
Porcelain
Indus-Hindu Civilization
Most remarkable accomplishment of the Indus
civilization was the construction layout of its cities
which featured water wells, bathrooms and
wastepipe in nearly every house.
India was then recognized by the later classical
West as the home of the advanced knowledge
and practice of medicine through the prevention
and treatment of ailments.
Indian surgeons successfully performed various
operations.
 THE ADVANCE OF S & T DURING THE
RENAISSANCE (1300 – 1600 A.D.)
Renaissance in the history of
western Europe was its time of
rebirth, revival and outpouring of
intellectual and cultural pursuits
and talents.
Divisions: (1) revival through
classical learning of ancient
Greece and Rome, (2) period of
innovation spread faster and
farther through technological
means – print medium
 THE ADVANCE OF S & T DURING
THE RENAISSANCE
What made the
advancement of
technology for printing
books a global impact
in science?
 THE ADVANCE OF S & T DURING
THE RENAISSANCE
Printing of books
Translation of scientific
knowledge from Greek
to Latin
 S&T DURING THE SCIENTIFIC
REVOLUTION (1600-1700 A.D.)
Francis Bacon,
promoted the new
Scientific Method which
revolutionized the
medieval way of
deductive reasoning
since it involved the
process of empirical
inductive reasoning
S&T DURING THE SCIENTIFIC
REVOLUTION (1600-1700 A.D.)
Tell some of what you
remember about the
paradigm shift happened
due to the use of new
Scientific Method by
Galileo Galilei.
S&T DURING THE SCIENTIFIC
REVOLUTION (1600-1700 A.D.)
One legacy of the Renaissance that
pushed forward the spread of
scientific knowledge was the growing
emphasis on the supremacy of reason
over religion in human affairs.
S&T DURING THE SCIENTIFIC
REVOLUTION (1600-1700 A.D.)
It took about 150 years before the three Renaissance
astronomers (Galileo, Kepler and Tycho) to finally laid
to rest the Aristotelian – Ptolemaic universe. Their
careful and accurate way of conducting investigative
experiments, recording observations, using scientific
instruments, formulating mathematical solutions and
arriving logically valid conclusions enabled them to
make the breakthrough that ushered in the century of
Scientific Revolution in Europe.
 S&T DURING THE AGE OF
INDUSTRIALIZATION (1703-1930 A.D.)
While civilization progressed and got stabilized people’s
population increased. And as their population increased, to
satisfy their basic needs as well as to extend their territorial
power and boundary, they either engaged in trade relations
with or invaded their neighbors. In both cases, their skills and
craftsmanship in creative or inventive production, for trade
or weapons for war developed as the beginnings of modern
man’s science and technology.
 S&T DURING THE AGE OF
INDUSTRIALIZATION (1703-1930 A.D.)
1. How did the society changed in terms of
labor with the aid of human inventions like
simple machines?
2. How did the society transformed from simple
villages into many factories?
3. Relate all these significant development to
“Industrial revolution”.
4. What forms of technology were available
during the Industrial revolution?
 S&T DURING THE AGE OF
INDUSTRIALIZATION (1703-1930 A.D.)
Despite of many technological breakthroughs,
industrial development and progress remained
unevenly distributed geographically, and industrial
wealth was even more unequally shared socially.
Discuss some of the reasons for these.