History of Science and Technology



History of Science and Technology

Introduction

Science and technology have changed significantly since their beginnings. Some of these changes have been due to differences in our requirements others have been the result of dissatisfaction with old theories. According to Ede (2004) modern science did not happen in a single day - it took time to make an impact on people's thinking and on institutions, with added difficulties because, when experimental science started, most facts were still uncertain. The key characteristics of modern science only become clear when modern science is compared with Western Science in earlier periods.

Greek Period and Scientific explanations

The ancient Greek alphabet was a marvelous piece of mechanism, the result of thousands of years of intellectual effort. It distinguished itself from the alphabetical system adopted by other cultures by having a minimal set of alphabets making possible for the first time education of the masses upon which all later progress of civilization was so largely to depend upon. Writing thus led to the beginnings of science and philosophy (Ede, 2004).

Plato & Aristotle

In the fourth century B.C., Greek intellectual life centered increasingly in Athens, where first Plato and then Aristotle established schools, the Academy and the Lyceum respectively, which were really the first universities. They attracted philosophers and scientists from all over Greece. They provided a place where people could listen to lectures and discussions at no charge (Ede, 2004). These schools also started the trend of cooperative research specifically in the area of natural philosophy. A few hundred years before the birth of Christ, the great philosophers of Greece were proposing natural explanations for phenomena that had previously been explained only by reference to supernatural myth or tradition.

Greek Philosopher-Scientists

Much of human understanding and belief about nature for the centuries that followed was based on the writings and teachings of the great Greek philosopher-scientists.

According to Ede (2004) the ancient Greeks also managed to develop an astronomy that was based on recorded empirical observations (passed on from the Babylonians), used geometry, and was capable of verification and correction by prediction and observation (Lindberg, 2002). This astronomy became the model of objective knowledge. The Greek astronomy became the origin of the Western intellectual tradition and the model for scientific explanation. As a result the Greek explanation of nature employed rational analysis, epitomized in mathematical description, and the identification of nature's purposeful goals (Ede, 2004).

One of the most important contributions of this period by the Greeks was their development of Geometry, evident in euclid's elements which systematized geometry and presented it in an elegant logical fashion. This in turn became the definitive work on geometry until the 19th century. The elements is divided into: definitions, postulates, axioms and propositions (Ede, 2004). Such a logical structure of scientific drafting became an ideal for scientists, mathematicians and philosophers to strive for, for the rest of history.

Role of Christianity in Science & Technology

Around 4 A.D. Christianity started spreading gradually throughout europe. Contrary to common conviction the spread of Christianity helped to the revival ...