technological breakthroughs on people, society and

the environment must be critically assessed to

Chapter 1
Historical Antecedents in Which Social
Considerations Changed the Course of
Science and Technology

Introduction
This section presents an overview of how
science and technology evolved from ancient times
to the present. It shows how man was able to
develop crude technological tools and eventually
improve them through time to make his way of living preserve its value.
more convenient and the society more progressive. A lot of our problems in modern society
involve not only technology but also human values,
Intended Learning Outcomes: social organization, environmental concerns,
economic resources, political decisions, and a
1. Discuss the interactions between science myriad of other factors. These things sits at the
interface between the three fields and can also be
and technology and society throughout
solved (if they can be solved at all) by the application
history
of scientific knowledge, technical expertise, social
2. Discuss how scientific and technological understanding, and humane compassion.
developments affect society and the
environment In the past, science is learned as an independent
3. Identify the paradigm shifts in history study from other fields. It focuses on the scientific
methods, natural processes and understanding nature.
But in the current global scenario, science is studied
A. General Concepts holistically, often in an interdisciplinary method,
emphasizing systems rather than processes, synthesis
What is Science, Technology and Society? more than analysis and predicting nature’s behavior in
order to have useful application in solving
contemporary problems.
Science and Technology and Society is an
interdisciplinary course designed to examine the
The scientific data that have built up a considerable
ways that science and technology shape, and are
base of knowledge led to a vast portfolio of useful
shaped by, our society, politics, and culture. It
technologies, especially in the 21st century, to solve
explores the conditions under which production,
many of the problems now facing humankind
distribution and utilization of scientific knowledge
(UNESCO, 1999).
and technological systems occur;; and the effects of
these processes upon the entire society. History and
To solve our contemporary problems, science needs
philosophy of science and technology, sociology and
to become more multidisciplinary and its practitioners
anthropology are greatly interconnected to the
should continue to promote cooperation and integration
discussion of STS because these are the very
between the social and natural sciences. A holistic
factors that molded the development of science and
approach also demands that science draw on the
technology as we know it today.
contributions of the humanities (such as history and
Science is an evolving body of knowledge
philosophy), local knowledge systems, aboriginal
that is based on theoretical expositions and
wisdom, and the wide variety of cultural values.
experimental and empirical activities that generates
universal truths. Technology, on the other hand is
The influence of science and technology on people’s
the application of science and creation of systems,
lives is expanding. While recent benefits to humanity
processes and objects designed to help humans in
are unparalleled in the history of the human species, in
their daily activities. The development of science and
some instances the impact has been harmful or the
technology has brought immense progress in society
long-term effects give causes for serious concerns. A
and men. Scientific knowledge and technology
considerable measure of public mistrust of science and
influences individuals and society. Better
fear of technology exists today. In part, this stems from
understanding of science and technology is essential
the belief by some individuals and communities that
to know the unique attributes of each enterprise,
they will be the ones to suffer the indirect negative
then addressing their implications for society.
consequences of technical innovations introduced to
Society is the sum total of our interactions
benefit only a privileged minority. The power of science
as humans, including the interactions that we
to bring about change places a duty on scientists to
engage in to understand the nature of things and to
proceed with great caution both in what they do and
create things. It is also defined as a group of
what they say. Scientists should reflect on the social
individuals involved in persistent social interaction,
consequences of the technological applications or
or a large social group sharing the same
dissemination of partial information of their work and
geographical or social territory, typically subject to
explain to the public and policy makers alike the
the same political authority and dominant cultural
degree of scientific uncertainty or incompleteness in
expectations (Science Daily).
their findings. At the same time, though, they should
not hesitate to fully exploit the predictive power of
Science, technology and society is
science, duly qualified, to help people cope with
important to the public because it helps address
environmental change, especially in cases of direct
issues and problems that are of concern to the
threats like natural disasters or water shortages.
general population. Scientific and technological
principles have been and continue to be applied to
The Role of Science and Technology
solve problems that people experience in their day--
to-day aspects of living. But scientific findings must
be applied at the right scales. The impact of 1. alter the way people live, connect,
 communicate and transact, with profound tablets or smooth rocks. This was a time-consuming
effects on economic development;; process, and the products were not easy to store or
2. key drivers to development, because transport. When Egyptians began writing on papyrus,
technological and scientific revolutions all of that changed. Papyrus was easy to roll into
underpin economic advances, scrolls. Thus, Egyptian writings became easy to store
improvements in health systems, education and transport. As a result, the knowledge of one
and infrastructure;; scholar could be easily transferred to other scholars.
As this accumulated knowledge was passed down from
3. The technological revolutions of the 21st generation to generation, Egyptian medicine became
century are emerging from entirely new the most respected form of medicine in the known
sectors, based on micro-processors, tele-- world. Papyrus was used as a writing material as early
communications, bio-technology and as 3,000 BC in ancient Egypt, and continued to be
nano-technology. Products are used to some extent until around 1100 AD.
transforming business practices across the
economy, as well as the lives of all who Although the Egyptians were renowned for their
have access to their effects. The most medicine and for papyrus, other cultures had
remarkable breakthroughs will come from impressive inventions of their own. Around the time
the interaction of insights and applications that papyrus was first being used in Egypt, the
arising when these technologies converge. Mesopotamians were making pottery using the first
4. have the power to better the lives of poor people known potter’s wheel. Not long after, horse-drawn
in developing countries chariots were being used.
5. differentiators between countries that are
As early as 1,000 years before Christ, the Chinese
able to tackle poverty effectively by were using compasses to aid themselves in their
growing and developing their economies, travels. The ancient world, then, was filled with
and those that are not.
inventions that, although they sound commonplace
6. engine of growth today, revolutionized life during those times. These
7. interventions for cognitive enhancement, inventions are history’s first inklings of science.
proton cancer therapy and genetic
engineering
The Advent of Science (600 BC to 500 AD)
B. With the whole world suffering from CoViD-19 The ancient Greeks were the early thinkers and as far
pandemic, discuss the interplay between as historians can tell, they were the first true scientists.
science, technology and society in mitigating this They collected facts and observations and then used
problem. Historical Antecedents in the World those observations to explain the natural world.
Although many cultures like the ancient Egyptians,
Just like with any other discipline, the best way to truly Mesopotamians, and Chinese had collected
understand where we are in science today is to look observations and facts, they had not tried to use those
back at what happened in the past. The history of facts to develop explanations of the world around them.
science can teach us many lessons about the way
scientists think and understand the world around us. A
historical perspective will make us appreciate more Scientific thought in Classical Antiquity becomes
what science really is. tangible from the 6th century BC in pre-Socratic
philosophy (Thales, Pythagoras). In circa 385 BC,
From Ancient Times to 600 BC Plato founded the Academy. With Plato's student
Aristotle begins the "scientific revolution" of the
Science during ancient times involved practical arts like Hellenistic period culminating in the 3rd to 2nd
healing practices and metal tradition. Some of the centuries with scholars such as Eratosthenes,
earliest records from history indicate that 3,000 years Euclid, Aristarchus of Samos, Hipparchus and
before Christ, the ancient Egyptians already had Archimedes.
reasonably sophisticated medical practices. Sometime
around 2650 B.C., for example, a man named Imhotep This period produced substantial advances in scientific
was renowned for his knowledge of medicine. Most knowledge, especially in anatomy, zoology, botany,
historians agree that the heart of Egyptian medicine mineralogy, geography, mathematics and astronomy;;
was trial and error. Egyptian doctors would try one an awareness of the importance of certain scientific
remedy, and if it worked, they would continue to use it. problems, especially those related to the problem of
If a remedy they tried didn’t work, the patient might die, change and its cause;; and a recognition of the
but at least the doctors learned that next time they methodological importance of applying mathematics to
should try a different remedy. Despite the fact that such natural phenomena and of undertaking empirical
practices sound primitive, the results were, sometimes, research.
surprisingly effective.
The scholars frequently employed the principles
The Egyptian medicine was considered advanced as developed in earlier Greek thought: the application of
compared with other ancient nations because of one of mathematics and deliberate empirical research, in their
the early inventions of Egyptian civilization – the scientific investigations. This was passed on from
papyrus. The papyrus is an ancient form of paper, ancient Greek philosophers to medieval Muslim
made from the papyrus plant, a reed which grows in philosophers and scientists, to the European
the marshy areas around the Nile river. As early as Renaissance and Enlightenment, to the secular
3,000 years before Christ, Egyptians took thin slices of sciences of the modern day.
the stem of the papyrus plant, laid them crosswise on Islamic Golden Age
top of each other, moistened them, and then pressed
and dried them. The result was a form of paper that
was reasonably easy to write on and store. The The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural,
invention of this ancient form of paper revolutionized economic and scientific flourishing in the history of
the way information was transmitted from person to Islam, traditionally dated from the eighth century to the
person and generation to generation. Before papyrus, fourteenth century, with several contemporary scholars
Egyptians, Sumerians, and other races wrote on clay dating the end of the era to the fifteenth or sixteenth
century. This period is traditionally understood to have
begun during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-- As stated by Karl Marx, "Gunpowder, the compass,
Rashid (786 to 809) with the inauguration of the House and the printing press were the three great inventions
of Wisdom in Baghdad, where scholars from various which ushered in bourgeois society. Gunpowder blew
parts of the world with different cultural backgrounds up the knightly class, the compass discovered the
were mandated to gather and translate all of the world market and found the colonies, and the printing
world's classical knowledge into the Arabic language press was the instrument of Protestantism and the
and subsequently development in various fields of regeneration of science in general;; the most powerful
sciences began. Science and technology in the lever for creating the intellectual prerequisites.”
Islamic world adopted and preserved knowledge and
technologies from contemporary and earlier
civilizations, including Persia, Egypt, India, China, and The Renaissance (1300 AD – 1600AD)
Greco-Roman antiquity, while making numerous
improvements, innovations and inventions. The 14th century was the beginning of the cultural
movement of the Renaissance, which was considered
Islamic scientific achievements encompassed a wide by many as the Golden Age of Science. During the
range of subject areas, especially astronomy, Renaissance period, great advances
mathematics, and medicine. Scientific inquiry was occurred in geography, astronomy, chemistry, physics,
practiced in other subjects like alchemy and chemistry, mathematics, anatomy, manufacturing, and
botany and agronomy, geography and cartography, engineering. The rediscovery of ancient scientific texts
ophthalmology, pharmacology, physics and zoology. was accelerated after the Fall of Constantinople
in 1453, and the invention of printing
Islamic science was characterized by having practical democratized learning and allowed a faster
purposes as well as the goal of understanding. propagation of new ideas.
Astronomy was useful in determining the Qibla, which
is the direction in which to pray, botany is applied in Marie Boas Hall coined the term Scientific
agriculture and geography enabled scientists to make Renaissance to designate the early phase of the
accurate maps. Mathematics also flourished during the Scientific Revolution, 1450–1630. More recently, Peter
Islamic Golden Age with the works of Al-Khwarizmi, Dear has argued for a two-phase model of early
Avicenna and Jamshid al Kashi that led to advanced in modern science: a Scientific Renaissance of the 15th
algebra, trigonometry, geometry and Arabic numerals. and 16th centuries, focused on the restoration of the
natural knowledge of the ancients;; and a Scientific
There was also great progress in medicine during this Revolution of the 17th century, when scientists shifted
period. Al-Biruni, and Avicenna produced books that from recovery to innovation.
contain descriptions of the preparation of hundred of
drugs made from medicinal plants and chemical But this initial period is usually seen as one of scientific
compounds. Islamic doctors describe diseases like backwardness. There were no new developments in
smallpox and measles, and challenged classical Greek physics or astronomy, and the reverence for classical
medical knowledge. sources further enshrined the Aristotelian and
Ptolemaic views of the universe. Renaissance
Likewise, Islamic physicists such as Ibn Al-Haytham, philosophy lost much of its rigour as the rules of logic
Al-Biruni and others studied optics and mechanics as and deduction were seen as secondary to intuition
well as astronomy, and criticized Aristotle’s view of and emotion. At the same time, Renaissance
motion. humanism stressed that nature came to be viewed as
an animate spiritual creation that was not governed by
The significance of medieval Islamic science has been laws or mathematics. Science would only be revived
debated by historians. The traditionalist view holds that later, with such figures as Copernicus, Gerolamo
it lacked innovation, and was mainly important for Cardano, Francis Bacon, and Descartes.
handing on ancient knowledge to medieval Europe.
The revisionist view holds that it constituted a scientific The most important technological advance of all in this
revolution. Whatever the case, science flourished period was the development of printing, with movable
across a wide area around the Mediterranean and metal type, about the mid-15th century in Germany.
further afield, for several centuries, in a wide range of Johannes Gutenberg is usually called its inventor, but
institutions. in fact many people and many steps were involved.
Block printing on wood came to the West from China
Science and Technology in Ancient China between 1250 and 1350, papermaking came from
China by way of the Arabs to 12th-century Spain,
Ancient Chinese scientists and engineers made whereas the Flemish technique of oil painting was the
significant scientific innovations, findings and origin of the new printers’ ink. Three men of Mainz—
technological advances across various scientific Gutenberg and his contemporaries Johann Fust and
disciplines including the natural sciences, engineering, Peter Schöffer—seem to have taken the final steps,
medicine, military technology, mathematics, geology casting metal type and locking it into a wooden press.
and astronomy. The invention spread like the wind, reaching Italy by
1467, Hungary and Poland in the 1470s, and
Ancient China gave the world the Four Great Scandinavia by 1483. By 1500 the presses of Europe
Inventions that include the compass, gunpowder, had produced some six million books. Without the
papermaking and printing. These were considered as printing press it is impossible to conceive that the
among the most important technological advances and Reformation would have ever been more than a
were only known to Europe 1000 years later or during monkish quarrel or that the rise of a new science,
the end of the Middle ages. These four inventions had which was a cooperative effort of an international
a profound impact on the development of civilization community, would have occurred at all. In short, the
throughout the world. However, some modern Chinese development of printing amounted to a
scholars have opined that other Chinese inventions communications revolution of the order of the invention
were perhaps more sophisticated and had a greater of writing;; and, like that prehistoric discovery, it
impact on Chinese civilization – the Four Great transformed the conditions of life. The communications
Inventions serve merely to highlight the technological revolution immeasurably enhanced human
interaction between East and West. opportunities for enlightenment and pleasure on one
hand and created previously undreamed-of possibilities aniline dyes, of fundamental industrial importance, and
for manipulation and control on the other. The that electricity and magnetism were harnessed in the
consideration of such contradictory effects may guard electric dynamo and motor. Until that period science
us against a ready acceptance of triumphalist probably profited more from industry than the other
conceptions of the Renaissance or of historical change way around. It was the steam engine that posed the
in general. problems that led, by way of a search for a theory of
steam power, to the creation of thermodynamics. Most
importantly, as industry required ever more
The Enlightenment Period (1715 A.D. to 1789 A.D.) complicated and intricate machinery, the machine tool
industry developed to provide it and, in the process,
The Enlightenment Period or the Age of Reason was made possible the construction of ever more delicate
characterized by radical reorientation in science, which and refined instruments for science. As science turned
emphasized reason over superstition and science over from the everyday world to the worlds of atoms and
blind faith. This period produced numerous books, molecules, electric currents and magnetic fields,
essays, inventions, scientific discoveries, laws, wars microbes and viruses, and nebulae and galaxies,
and revolutions. The American and French Revolutions instruments increasingly provided the sole contact with
were directly inspired by Enlightenment ideals and phenomena. A large refracting telescope driven by
respectively marked the peak of its influence and the intricate clockwork to observe nebulae was as much a
beginning of its decline. The Enlightenment ultimately product of 19th-century heavy industry as were the
gave way to 19th-century Romanticism. steam locomotive and the steamship.

The Enlightenment’s important 17th-century precursors The Industrial Revolution had one further important
included the key natural philosophers of the Scientific effect on the development of modern science. The
Revolution, including Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler prospect of applying science to the problems of
and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Its roots are usually industry served to stimulate public support for science.
traced to 1680s England, where in the span of three Governments, in varying degrees and at different rates,
years Isaac Newton published his “Principia began supporting science even more directly, by
Mathematica” (1686) and John Locke his “Essay making financial grants to scientists, by founding
Concerning Human Understanding” (1689)—two works research institutes, and by bestowing honors and
that provided the scientific, mathematical and official posts on great scientists. By the end of the 19th
philosophical toolkit for the Enlightenment’s major century the natural philosopher following his private
advances. interests had given way to the professional scientist
with a public role
In this era dedicated to human progress, the
advancement of the natural sciences is regarded as The main features involved in the Industrial Revolution
the main exemplification of, and fuel for, such progress. were technological, socioeconomic, and cultural. The
Isaac Newton’s epochal accomplishment in his technological changes included the following: (1) the
Principia Mathematica consists in the comprehension use of new basic materials, chiefly iron and
of a diversity of physical phenomena – in particular the steel, (2) the use of new energy sources,
motions of heavenly bodies, together with the motions including both fuels and motive power, such as
of sublunary bodies – in few relatively simple, coal, the steam engine, electricity, petroleum, and the
universally applicable, mathematical laws, was a great internal-combustion engine, (3) the invention of new
stimulus to the intellectual activity of the eighteenth machines, such as the spinning jenny and the power
century and served as a model and inspiration for the loom that permitted increased production with a smaller
researches of a number of Enlightenment thinkers. expenditure of human energy, (4) a new organization
Newton’s system strongly encourages the of work known as the factory system, which
Enlightenment conception of nature as an orderly entailed increased division of labor and specialization
domain governed by strict mathematical-dynamical of function, (5) important developments in
laws and the conception of ourselves as capable of transportation and communication, including
knowing those laws and of plumbing the secrets of the steam locomotive, steamship, automobile, airplane,
nature through the exercise of our unaided faculties. – telegraph, and radio, and (6) the increasing application
The conception of nature, and of how we know it, of science to industry. These technological changes
changes significantly with the rise of modern science. It made possible a tremendously increased use of natural
belongs centrally to the agenda of Enlightenment resources and the mass production of manufactured
philosophy to contribute to the new knowledge of goods.
nature, and to provide a metaphysical framework within
which to place and interpret this new knowledge. 20th Century Science: Physics and Information Age

Industrial Revolution (1760 - 1840) The 20th century was an important century in the
history of the sciences. It generated entirely novel
The rise of modern science and the Industrial insights in all areas of research – often thanks to the
Revolution were closely connected. It is difficult to introduction of novel research methods – and it
show any direct effect of scientific discoveries upon the established an intimate connection between science
rise of the textile or even the metallurgical industry in and technology. With this connection, science is
Great Britain, the home of the Industrial Revolution, but dealing now with the complexity of the real world. The
there certainly was a similarity in attitude to be found in scientific legacy of the 20th Century gave proof of the
science and nascent industry. Close observation and revolutionary changes in many areas of the
careful generalization leading to practical utilization sciences – in particular, physics, biology, astronomy,
were characteristic of both industrialists and chemistry, neurosciences and earth and environmental
experimentalists alike in the 18th century. sciences – and how they contributed to these changes.

The epistemological and methodological questions as

What science offered in the 18th century was the hope well as the interdisciplinary aspects become ever more
that careful observation and experimentation might important in scientific research. The common
improve industrial production significantly. The science denominator of the sciences is the notion of discovery,
of metallurgy permitted the tailoring of alloy steels to and discovery is an organised mode of observing
industrial specifications, the science of chemistry nature. Twentieth century cosmology greatly improved
permitted the creation of new substances, like the our knowledge of the place that man and his planet
occupy in the universe. The “wonder” that Plato and and biological worlds. It’s a fusion of advances in
Aristotle put at the origin of thought, today extends artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the Internet of
to science itself. Questions now arise on the origin and Things (IoT), 3D printing, genetic engineering, quantum
on the whole, its history and its laws. computing, and other technologies. It’s the collective
force behind many products and services that
The start of the 20th century was strongly marked by are fast becoming indispensable to modern life. Think
Einstein’s formulation of the theory of relativity (1905) GPS systems that suggest the fastest route to a
including the unifying concept of energy related to destination, voice-activated virtual assistants such as
mass and the speed of light: E = mc2 . He made many Apple’s Siri, personalized Netflix recommendations,
more contributions, notably to statistical mechanics, and Facebook’s ability to recognize your face and tag
and he provided a great inspiring influence for many you in a friend’s photo
other physicists. ([Link]
[Link]).
In the second half of the 20th century several branches
of science continued to make great progress and we As a result of this perfect storm of technologies, the
here list physics, chemistry, biology, geology and Fourth Industrial Revolution is paving the way for
astronomy. For example, there was the transformative changes in the way we live and radically
development of the semi-conductor(transistor), disrupting almost every business sector. It’s all
followed by developments in nanotechnology that led happening at an unprecedented, whirlwind pace.
to great advances in information technology. In nuclear
physics the discovery of sub-atomic particles provided a The easiest way to understand the Fourth Industrial
great leap forward. Revolution is to focus on the technologies driving it.
Artificial intelligence (AI) describes computers that
Modern physics grew in the 20th into a primary can “think” like humans — recognizing complex
discipline contributing to all today’s basic natural patterns, processing information, drawing conclusions,
sciences, astronomy, chemistry and biology. Although and making recommendations. AI is used in many
it took a hundred years since Clausius’s time for it to be ways, from spotting patterns in huge piles of
fully recognized that all biological processes have also unstructured data to powering the autocorrect on your
to obey the laws of thermodynamics, the border
phone.
between the origin of the living and the non-living
worlds has now at last been blurred. The year 1953 New computational technologies are making
was an important landmark for biology with the
computers smarter. They enable computers to
description by Crick and Watson of the structure of
process vast amounts of data faster than ever
DNA, the carrier of genetic information (Rosch, 2014).
before, while the advent of the “cloud” has allowed
Physics has enabled us to understand the basic businesses to safely store and access their information
components of matter and we are well on the way to an from anywhere with internet access, at any time.
ever more consistent and unitary understanding of the Quantum computing technologies now in development
entire structure of natural reality, which we discover as will eventually make computers millions of times more
being made up not only of matter and energy but also powerful. These computers will have the potential to
of information and forms. The latest developments in supercharge AI, create highly complex data models
astrophysics are also particularly surprising: they in seconds, and speed up the discovery of new
further confirm the great unity of physics that manifests materials.
itself clearly at each new stage of the understanding of
reality. Virtual reality (VR) offers immersive digital experiences
(using a VR headset) that simulate the real world,
Biology too, with the discovery of DNA and the while augmented reality merges the digital and physical
development of genetics, allows us to penetrate the worlds. Examples include L’Oréal’s makeup app, which
fundamental processes of life and to intervene in the allows users to digitally experiment with makeup
gene pool of certain organisms by imitating some of
products before buying them, and the Google
these natural mechanisms. Information technology and
Translate phone app, which allows users to scan
the digital processing of information have transformed
our lifestyle and our way of communicating in the and instantly translate street signs, menus, and
space of very few decades. The 20th century has seen other text.
medicine find a cure for many life-threatening diseases
and the beginning of organ transplants. Biotechnology harnesses cellular and biomolecular
processes to develop new technologies and products
It is impossible to list the many other discoveries for a range of uses, including developing new
and results that have broadened our knowledge and pharmaceuticals and materials, more efficient industrial
influenced our world outlook: from progress in manufacturing processes, and cleaner, more efficient
computational logic to the chemistry of materials, from energy sources. Researchers in Stockholm, for
the neurosciences to robotics. Scientific research not example, are working on what is being touted as
only gives expression to the strength of rationality in the strongest biomaterial ever produced.
explaining the world and the way in which this is done.
The application of scientific knowledge can induce Robotics refers to the design, manufacture, and use of
changes of environmental and thus living conditions. It robots for personal and commercial use. While we’re
is these aspects, the interrelations between scientific yet to see robot assistants in every home,
progress and social development, which together with technological advances have made robots
insights into the epistemological structure and the increasingly complex and sophisticated. They are
ethical implications of science play an important role in used in fields as wide-ranging as manufacturing,
the life and the work of scientists.
health and safety, and human assistance.
Science and Technology in the Fourth Industrial
Revolution 3D printing allows manufacturing businesses to print
their own parts, with less tooling, at a lower cost, and
faster than via traditional processes. Plus, designs can
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a way of describing be customized to ensure a perfect fit. Innovative
the blurring of boundaries between the physical, digital, materials, including plastics, metal alloys, and
biomaterials, promise to shake up sectors including technology in their everyday lives. The ancient crafts of
manufacturing, renewable energy, construction, and stone carving, pottery and smelting of metals involves
healthcare. a lot of science, which is understanding the nature of
matter involved. The ingenuity of the Ifugaos in building
The IoT describes the idea of everyday items — from the Banaue Rice Terraces The smelting of metals
medical wearables that monitor users’ physical exhibited the primitive Filipino’s knowledge on the
condition to cars and tracking devices inserted into composition of alloy and the optimum temperature that
parcels — being connected to the internet and will produce the metal with acceptable tensile strength.
identifiable by other devices. A big plus for businesses All in all, the primitive Filipinos were living in perfect
harmony with nature and they obtain from it what is just
is that they can collect customer data from constantly
needed in their everyday life through a very simple
connected products, allowing them to better gauge how
science of understanding how mother nature operates
customers use products and tailor marketing
campaigns accordingly. There are also many industrial Spanish Colonial Era.
applications, such as farmers putting IoT sensors into
fields to monitor soil attributes and inform decisions
As claimed by Caoili (1983), the beginnings of
such as when to fertilize.
modern science and technology in the country can
Energy capture, storage, and transmission represent a be traced back to the Spanish regime because they
established schools, hospitals and started scientific
growing market sector, spurred by the falling cost of
research that had important consequences in the
renewable energy technologies and improvements in
development of the country. These schools, which
battery storage capacity. are mostly run by Spanish friars, formed the first
Filipino professionals. The The 3 highest institution
C. Historical Development of Science and of learning during this time was the Royal and
Technology in the Philippines Pontifical University of Santo Tomas.

The current state of science and technology in the But the very strict hold of the church among citizens
country can be traced back to its historical and its intervention and meddling to the government
development and the latent events that helped shape it propelled by fear of intellectual awakening among
since the pre-colonial period to contemporary time. Filipinos have greatly hindered the progress of these
What we have or lack today in terms of science and professionals to further enhance their knowledge,
technology is very much an effect of the government conduct scientific investigations and contribute to the
policies that had been enacted by past public officials advancement of society. But a few of persistent
in trying to develop a technological society that is Filipino scientists succeeded by educating
responsive to the needs of time. themselves abroad. One notable example of course
is our national hero, the great Dr. Jose P. Rizal. Dr.
Jose Rizal is the epitome of the Renaissance man in
Pre-Spanish Era. the Philippine context. He is a scientist, a doctor, an
engineer (he designed and built a water system in
There is not much written about the Philippines during Dapitan), a journalist, a novelist, an urban planner
pre-colonial time but analysis from archeological and a hero. Being a doctor and scientist, he had
artifacts revealed that the first inhabitants in the extensive knowledge on medicine and was able to
archipelago who settled in Palawan and Batangas operate his mother’s blinding eye. When he was
around 40 000 years ago have made simple tools or deported in Dapitan, his knowledge on science and
weapons of stone which eventually developed engineering was translated into technology by
techniques for sawing, drilling and polishing hard creating a water system that improved the sanitation
stones. This very primitive technology was brought by of households in the area. Dr. Jose
primal needs of survival by hunting wild animals and
gathering fruits and vegetables in the forest. They Dr. Jose Rizal was a brilliant man and his life stood
learned that by polishing hard stones, they can develop out among his contemporaries. But it cannot be said
sharp objects that are useful in their day to day that there is no contribution to science and
activities. From this early, we can see that technology technology among the Filipino men and women
was developed because of a great necessity. during the Spanish era. The charity hospitals
became the breeding ground for scientific
Still on its primitive state, the first inhabitants in the researches on pharmacy and medicine, with great
country are learning what can be harnessed from the focus on problems of infectious diseases, their
environment. They have come to understand that when causes and possible remedies. And in 1887, the
clay is mixed with 2 water and then shaped into Laboratorio Municipal de Ciudad de Manila was
something before sun drying, it hardens to an object created and whose functions were to conduct
that can also be useful to them. And because clay is biochemical analyses for public health and to
moldable, it can be shaped into various objects. undertake specimen examinations for clinical and
medico-legal cases. Its publication, probably the first
As the early Filipinos flourished, they have learned how scientific journal in the country was titled Cronica de
to extract, smelt and refine metals like copper, gold, Ciencias Medicas de Filipinas showed the studies
bronze and iron from nature and consequently fashion undertaken during that time.
them into tools and implements. At this point, the
inhabitants of the country are showing a deeper As the colonization of the Spaniards lengthened, they
understanding of their nature because they were able began to exploit the natural resources of the country
to obtain valuable resources from nature. through agriculture, mining of metals and minerals and
establishing various kinds of industries to further promote
As the inhabitants shifted from wandering from one economic growth. As such, scientific research on these
place to another and learned to settle in areas near the fields were encouraged by the government. By the
water source, they also learned how to weave cotton, nineteenth century, Manila has become a cosmopolitan
engaged themselves in agriculture and are center and modern amenities were introduced to the city.
knowledgeable on building boats for coastal trade. However, little is known about the accomplishments of
From the above mentioned facts, it can be concluded scientific bodies commissioned by the Spanish government
that primitive Filipinos are practicing science and during this time. Because of limited scientific research and
 its consequent translation to technology during the Spanish of the Philippine Journal of Science. This scientific
regime, none of the industries prosper. The Philippines had journal published researches done in local
evolved into a primary agricultural exporting economy, and laboratories and reported global scientific
this is not because of the researches undertaken on this developments that had relevance to the Philippine
field, but was largely because of the influx of foreign capital society. The Bureau of Science became the primary
and technology which brought modernization of some research center of the Philippines until World War II.
sectors, notably sugar and hemp production. Lastly, on December 8, 1933, the National Research
Council of the Philippines was established.
American Period
Commonwealth Period
If the development in science and technology was
very slow during the Spanish regime, the Philippines When the Americans granted independence and the
saw a rapid growth during the American occupation Commonwealth government was established, the
and was made possible by the government’s Filipinos were busy in working towards economic
extensive public education system from elementary reliance but acknowledge the importance and vital
to tertiary schools. The establishment of various role of science and technology for the economic
public tertiary schools like the Philippine Normal development of the country by declaring that “The
School and University of the Philippines provided the State shall promote scientific research and
needs for professionally trained Filipinos in building invention…” The short-lived Commonwealth
the government’s organization and programs. The Government was succeeded by the Japanese
growth and application of science were still occupation when the Pacific war broke out in 1941.
concentrated on the health sector in the form of The prevailing situations during the time of
biochemical analyses in hospitals. The government Commonwealth period to the Japanese regime had
supported basic and applied research in the medical, made developments in science and technology
agricultural and related sciences. The University of practically impossible. This is also true when World
the Philippines Los Baños opened the College of War II ended and left Manila, the country’s capital, in
Agriculture in 1909 while the University of the ruins. The government had to rebuild again and
Philippines – Diliman opened the Colleges of Arts, normalize the operations in the whole country.
Engineering and Veterinary Medicine in 1910. The
College of Medicine was opened four years later. Science and Technology since Independence

In 1946 the Bureau of Science was replaced by the

During this time, there were already quite a number Institute of Science and was placed under the Office of
of qualified Filipino physicians who held teaching the President of the Philippines. However, the agency
positions in the College of Medicine, whereas most faced lack of financial support from the government
of the early instructors and professors in other and experienced planning and coordination problems.
colleges such as in the sciences and engineering In a report by the US Economic Survey to the
were Americans and foreigners. Capacity building Philippines in 1950, there is a lack of basic information
programs that include sending qualified Filipinos which were necessities to the country's industries, lack
abroad for advanced training were conducted to of support of experimental work and minimal budget for
eventually fill up the teaching positions in Philippine scientific research and low salaries of scientists
universities. Moreover, the American colonial employed by the government. In 1958, during the
government sent Filipino youths to be educated as regime of President Carlos P. Garcia, the Philippine
teachers, engineers, physicians and lawyers in Congress passed the Science Act of 1958 which
American colleges to further capacitate the Filipinos established the National Science Development Board
in various fields. (NSDB).

However, there was difficulty in recruiting students The Philippine government focused on science and
for science and technology courses like veterinary technology institutional capacity-building which were
medicine, engineering, agriculture, applied sciences undertaken by establishing infrastructure-support
and industrial-vocational courses. The enrollment in facilities such as new research agencies and
these courses were dismal that the government had development trainings. However good these projects
to offer scholarships to attract students. The were, it produced insignificant effects because of lack
unpopularity of these courses stemmed from the of coordination and planning, specifically technology
Filipinos’ disdain toward manual work that developed planning, between concerned agencies which hindered
from the 400 years under Spanish colonization. The them from performing their assigned functions
Filipinos then prefer prestigious professions at that effectively. This was aptly illustrated in the unplanned
time like priesthood, law and medicine. activities of the researchers within the agencies. Most
areas of research were naively left to the discretion of
The government provided more support for the the researchers under the assumption that they were
development of science and created the Bureau of working for the interests of the country. They were
Government Laboratories in and was later changed instructed to look for technologies and scientific studies
to Bureau of Science. It was composed of a with good commercialization potential. Without clear
biological laboratory, chemical laboratory, serum research policy guidelines, researches were done for
laboratory for the production of virus vaccine, their own sake, leaving to chance the
serums and prophylactics, and a library. The bureau commercialization of the results. Likewise, during this
was initially managed by American senior scientists time, rebuilding the country involved establishing more
but as more Filipinos were trained and acquire the state funded manual and trading schools which would
necessary knowledge and skills, they eventually took eventually become the current state universities and
over their positions. The Bureau of Science served colleges. The trade schools produced craftsmen,
as the primary training ground for Filipino scientists tradesmen and technicians that helped in shaping a
and paved the way for pioneering scientific research, more technological Philippines while still being an
most especially on the study of various tropical agricultural based nation. Eventually, when these trade
diseases that were prevalent during those times like schools were elevated to college and university status,
leprosy, tuberculosis, cholera, dengue fever, malaria they produced much of the country’s professionals,
and beriberi. Another great contribution of the although there was a great disparity on the low
Bureau of Science to the development of science proportion of those in agriculture, medical and natural
and technology in the country was the publication sciences with those from teacher training and
commerce/business administration courses which had strengthen the scientific culture in the country, the
higher number of graduates. The increase in the National Academy of Science and Technology was
number of graduates led to the rise of professional established under Presidential Decree No. 1003-A, s.
organizations of scientists and engineers. These 1976. The National Academy of Science and
organizations were formed to promote professional Technology was composed of scientists with
interests and create and monitor the standards of “innovative achievement in the basic and applied
practice. sciences” who will serve as the reservoir of scientific
and technological expertise for the country.
As summarized by Caoili, “There has been little
innovation in the education and training of scientists In the 1980s, science and technology was still focused
and engineers since independence in 1946. This is in on applied research. In 1982, NSDB was further
part due to the conservative nature of self-regulation by reorganized into a National Science and Technology
the professional associations. Because of specialized Authority (NSTA) composed of four research and
training, vertical organizations by disciplines and lack development Councils;; Philippine Council for
of liaison between professions, professional Agriculture and Resources Research and Development
associations have been unable to perceive the (PCARRD);; Philippine Council for Industry and Energy
dynamic relationship between science, technology Research Development (PCIERD);; Philippine Council
and society and the relevance of their training to for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) and
Philippine conditions. the National Research Council of the Philippines
(NRCP). NSTA has also eight research and
Science and Technology in the 1960s to 1990s development institutes and support agencies under it.
These are actually the former organic and attached
During these years, the government gave greater agencies of NSDB which have themselves been
importance to science and technology. The reorganized.
government declared in Section 9(1) of the 1973
Philippine Constitution that the “advancement of The expanding number of science agencies has given
science and technology shall have priority in the rise to a demand for high calibre scientists and
national development.” engineers to undertake research and staff universities
and colleges. Hence, measures have also been taken
towards the improvement of the country’s science and
On April 6, 1968, Pres. Ferdinand Marcos proclaimed the manpower. In March 1983, Executive Order No. 889
35-hectare land in Bicutan, Taguig as the site of the was issued by the President which provided for the
Philippine Science Community. Then in 1969, the establishment of a national network of centers of
government provided funds to private universities to excellence in basic sciences. As a consequence, six
encourage them to conduct research and create new institutes were created: The National Institutes of
courses in science and technology. The government Physics, Geological Sciences, Natural Sciences
also conducted seminars for public and private high Research, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematical
school and college science teachers, training programs Sciences. Related to this efforts was the establishment
and scholarships for graduate and undergraduate of a Scientific Career System in the Civil Service by
science scholars, and workshops on fisheries and Presidential Decree No. 901 on 19 July 1983. This is
oceanography. designed to attract more qualified scientists to work in
government and encourage young people to pursue
In the 1970s, focus on science and technology was science degrees and careers.
given to applied research and the main objective was
to generate products and processes that were In 1986, under the Aquino administration, the National
supposed to have a greater beneficial impact to the Science and Technology Authority was replaced by the
society. Relative to this, several research institutes Department of Science and Technology, giving science and
were established under the National Science technology a representation in the cabinet. Under the Medium
Development Board (NSDB) which includes the Term Philippine Development Plan for the years 1987-1992,
Philippine Coconut Research Institute and Philippine science and technology's role in economic recovery and
Textile Research Institute. Moreover, the Philippine sustained economic growth was highlighted. In this period,
Atomic Energy Commission, another agency under science and technology was one of the top three priorities
NSDB, explored the uses of atomic energy for of the government towards economic recovery.
economic development. To prepare the pool of
scientists who will work on Philippine Atomic
Commission, Pres. Marcos assisted 107 institutions in With the agency's elevation to full cabinet stature by
undertaking nuclear energy work by sending scientists virtue of Executive Order 128 signed on 30 January
abroad to study nuclear science and technology, and 1987, the functions and responsibilities of DOST
providing basic training to 482 scientists, doctors, expanded correspondingly to include the following: (1)
engineers and technicians. Then in 1972, by virtue of Pursue the declared state policy of supporting local
Presidential Decree No. 4, the National Grains scientific and technological effort;; (2) Develop local
Authority was created and it was tasked to improve the capability to achieve technological self-reliance;; (3)
rice and corn industry and thereby help in the Encourage greater private sector participation in
economic development of the country. This was research and development. moreover, funding for the
followed by the creation of Philippine Council for science and technology sector was tripled from 464
Agricultural Research to support the progressive million in 1986 to 1.7 billion in 1992.
development of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries in
the country. The Marcos administration also The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is
established the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical the premiere science and technology body in the
and Astronomical Service Administration (PAGASA) country charged with the twin mandate of providing
under the Department of National Defense to provide central direction, leadership and coordination of all
environmental protection and to utilize scientific scientific and technological activities, and of formulating
knowledge to ensure the safety of the people through policies, programs and projects to support national
Presidential Decree No. 78, s. 1972. On the following development. The Science and Technology Master
year, the Philippine National Oil Company was created Plan was formulated which aimed at the modernization
by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 334, s. 1973, to of the production sector, upgrading research activities,
promote industrial and economic development through and development of infrastructure for science and
effective and efficient use of energy sources. To technological purposes. A Research and Development
Plan was also formulated to examine and determine key driver for a long-term growth of an economy.
which areas of research needed attention and must be Technology adoption allows a country’s firms and
given priority. The criteria for identifying the program to citizens to benefit from innovations created in other
be pursued were, development of local materials, countries, and allows it to catch up and even leap-frog
probability of success, potential of product in the export obsolete technologies. Technology adoption, the official
market, and the its strategic nature. The grants for the said, allows a country’s firms and citizens to benefit
research and development programs was included in from innovations created in other countries, and allows
the Omnibus Investment Law. it to catch up and even leap-frog obsolete technologies.

During President Fidel Ramos’s term, there was a

significant increase in personnel specializing in the Hopes in Philippine Science and Technology
science and technology field. In 1998, there was an
estimated 3,000 competent scientists and engineers in Despite the many inadequacies, from funding to human
the Philippines. Adding to the increase of scientists capital, there are some science and technology--
would be the result of the two newly built Philippine intensive research and capacity-building projects which
Science High Schools in Visayas and Mindanao which resulted in products which are currently being used
promotes further development of young kids through successfully and benefits the society.
advance S&T curriculum. The government provided
3,500 scholarships for students who were taking up One of these is the micro-satellite. In April 2016, the
professions related to S&T. Priority for S&T personnel country launched into space its first micro-satellite
increased when Magna Carta for Science and called Diwata-1. It was designed, developed and
Technology Personnel (Republic Act No. 8439) was assembled by Filipino researchers and engineers
established. The award was published in order to give under the guidance of Japanese experts. The Diwata
incentives and rewards for people who have been (deity in English) satellite provides real-time, high--
influential in the field of S&T. resolution and multi-color infrared images for various
applications, including meteorological imaging, crop
Still under the Ramos administration, DOST and ocean productivity measurement and high--
established the “Science and Technology Agenda for resolution imaging of natural and man-made features.
National Development (STAND)”, a program that was It enables a more precise estimate of the country’s
significant to the field of S&T. It identified seven export agricultural production, provides images of watersheds
products, 11 domestic needs, three other supporting and floodplains for a better understanding of water
industries, and the coconut industry as priority available for irrigation, power and domestic
investment areas. The seven identified export products consumption. The satellite also provides accurate
were computer software;; fashion accessories;; gifts, information on any disturbance and degradation of
toys, and houseware;; marine products;; metal forest and upland areas.
fabrications;; furniture;; and dried fruits. The domestic
needs identified were food, housing, health, clothing, The country also has the Nationwide Operational
transportation, communication, disaster mitigation, Assessment of Hazards (NOAH), which uses the Lidar
defense, environment, manpower development, and (light detection and ranging) technology. Project NOAH
energy. Three additional support industries were was initiated in June 2012 to help manage risks
included in the list of priority sectors, namely, associated with natural hazards and disasters. The
packaging, chemicals, and metals because of their project developed hydromet sensors and high--
linkages with the above sectors. resolution geo-hazard maps, which were generated by
light detection and ranging technology for flood
In the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration, modeling. Noah helps the government in providing
numerous laws and projects were implemented which timely warning with a lead time of at least six hours in
concerns both the environment and science to push the wake of impending floods. The country is now
technology as a tool to increase the country’s training the Cambodians on this technology, as part of
economic level. This is to help increase the productivity the partnerships among ASEAN countries, just like in
from Science, Technology and Innovations (STI) and the case of Japan which assisted the country’s
help benefit the poor people. Moreover, the term scientists and engineers in building its first micro--
“Filipinnovation” was the coined term used in helping satellite.
the Philippines to be an innovation hub in Asia.
Another hope lies in the so-called Intelligent Operation
The STI was developed further by strengthening the Center Platform. Established through a collaboration
schools and education system such as the Philippine between the local government of Davao City and IBM
Science High School (PSHS), which focuses in Philippines Inc., the center resulted in the creation of a
science, technology and mathematics in their dashboard that allows authorized government
curriculum. This helps schools produce get more agencies, such as police, fire and anti-terrorism task
involve in this sector. Private sectors were also force, to use analytics software for monitoring events
encouraged to participate in developing the schools and operations in real time.
through organizing events and sponsorships. Future
Filipino scientists and innovators can be produced Current Initiatives in Science and Technology in the
through this system. Country

Recently, the Philippines ranked 73rd out of 128 DOST, in cooperation with HEIs and research
economies in terms of Science and Technology and institutions, established advanced facilities that seek to
Innovation (STI) index, citing the country’s strength in spur R&D activities and provide MSMEs access to
research and commercialization of STI ideas (DOST, testing services needed to increase their productivity
2018). However, a study by the Philippine Institute for and competitive advantage.
Development Studies highlighted the weak ties
between innovation-driven firms and the government, One is the Advanced Device and Materials Testing
and it also identified the country’s low expenditure in Laboratories. The center houses advanced equipment
research and development (R&D). This is the reason for failure analysis and materials characterization to
the government is now extending all its efforts to reach address advanced analytical needs for quality control,
out with the private sector, explaining that STI plays an materials identification and R&D. Closely related to this
important role in economic and social progress and is a facility is the Electronics Products Development
Center, used to design, develop and test hardware and how the questions are formulated
software for electronic products.
how the results are interpreted
There are also high-performance computing facilities
that perform tests and run computationally intensive
applications for numerical weather prediction, climate how research is carried out
modeling, as well as analytics and data modeling and
archiving. what equipment is appropriate
The Philippines could also boast of its Genome Center,
a core facility that combines basic and applied Many students who opt to study science do so with the
research for the development of health diagnostics, belief that they are undertaking the most rational path
therapeutics, DNA forensics and preventive products, to learning about objective reality. But science, much
and improved crop varieties. like any other discipline, is subject to ideological
idiosyncrasies, preconceptions and hidden
The country also has drug-discovery facilities, which assumptions.
address the requirements for producing high-quality
and globally acceptable drug candidates. She said the In fact, Kuhn strongly suggested that research in a
Philippines also has nanotechnology centers, which deeply entrenched paradigm invariably ends up
provide technical services and enabling environment reinforcing that paradigm, since anything that
for interdisciplinary and collaborative R&D in various contradicts it is ignored or else pressed through the
nanotechnology applications. preset methods until it conforms to already established
dogma.
There are also radiation processing facilities that are
used to degrade, graft, or crosslink polymers, The body of pre-existing evidence in a field conditions
monomers, or chemical compounds for industrial, and shapes the collection and interpretation of all
agricultural, environmental and medical applications. subsequent evidence. The certainty that the current
The Philippines could also boast of its Die and Mold paradigm is reality itself is precisely what makes it so
Solutions Center, which enhances the competitiveness difficult to accept alternatives.
of the local tool and die sector through the localization
of currently imported dies and molds. What is a Paradigm Shift?

These are reflections that we are advancing, albeit "The successive transition from one
slowly, to a culture that embraces STI as a sure path to paradigm to another via revolution is the usual
growth. developmental pattern of mature science" - Kuhn,
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
D. Paradigm Shift

What is a paradigm?

A scientific paradigm is a framework

containing all the commonly accepted views about a
subject, conventions about what direction research
should take and how it should be performed.

The philosopher Thomas Kuhn suggested

that a paradigm includes “the practices that define a
scientific discipline at a certain point in time."
Paradigms contain all the distinct, established
patterns, theories, common methods and standards The shift from one paradigm to another occurs when
that allow us to recognize an experimental result as enough anomalies to the current paradigm build up,
belonging to a field or not. causing scientists to question the foundational
principles upon which their worldview rests. During
Science proceeds by accumulating support “normal science,” when the current paradigm is in
for hypotheses which in time become models and place, these anomalies are discounted as acceptable
theories. But those models and theories themselves levels of error. However, during “revolutionary science”
exist within a larger theoretical framework. The or a paradigm shift, these anomalies become the
vocabulary and concepts in Newton’s three laws or center of attention as scientists attempt to construct a
the central dogma in biology are examples of new world view that incorporates and explains them.
scientific “open resources" that scientists have This period of intense focus on explaining anomalies
adopted and which now form part of the scientific and developing a new paradigm is considered
paradigm. “revolutionary science,” and it is sparked by a “crisis”
where the old paradigm fails explain key anomalies or
Paradigms are historically and culturally outliers. Once a new paradigm is developed, however,
bound. For example, a modern Chinese medical there is a return to “normal science” under the new
researcher with a background in eastern medicine,
will operate within a different paradigm than a
western doctor from the 1800s.

A paradigm dictates:

what is observed and measured

the questions we ask about those

observations
worldview.
 An Example of a Paradigm Shift Western science, like so many other aspects of
Western Civilization, was born with the ancient Greeks.
Many physicists in the 19th century were convinced They were the first to explain the world in terms of
that the Newtonian paradigm that had reigned for 200 natural laws rather than myths about gods and heroes.
years was the pinnacle of discovery and that scientific They also passed on the idea of the value of math and
progress was more or less a question of refinement. experiment in science, although they usually thought
When Einstein published his theories on General only in terms of one to the exclusion of the other.
Relativity, it was not just another idea that could fit
comfortably into the existing paradigm. Instead, The most influential figure in Western science until the
Newtonian Physics itself was relegated to being a 1600's, was the philosopher, Aristotle, who created a
special subclass of the greater paradigm ushered in by body of scientific theory that towered like a colossus
General Relativity. Newton’s three laws are still over Western Civilization for some 2000 years. Given
faithfully taught in schools, however we now operate the limitations under which the Greeks were working
within a paradigm that puts those laws into a much compared to now, Aristotle's theories made sense
broader context. when taken in a logical order.

Interestingly, Kuhn’s theory itself was something of a However, there were several factors that worked both
game changer at the time, since scientists were not to overthrow Aristotle's theories and to preserve it. First
accustomed to thinking of what they were doing in such of all, Aristotle's theories relied very little on
metaphysical terms. Kuhn’s theories are today experiment, which left them vulnerable to anyone who
understood to be part of a greater paradigm shift in the chose to perform such experiments. But attacking one
social sciences, and have also been modified since part of Aristotle's system involved attacking the whole
their original publication. thing, which made it a daunting task for even the
greatest thinkers of the day. Secondly, the Church had
Kuhn later conceded that the process of scientific grafted Aristotle's theories onto its theology, thus
advancement might be more gradual. For example, making any attack on Aristotle an attack on the
Relativity did not completely prove Newton wrong, but tradition and the Church itself.
merely reframed his theory. Even the Copernican
revolution was a little more gradual in replacing Finally, there were the Renaissance scholars who were
Ptolemy's beliefs. uncovering other Greek authors who contradicted
Aristotle. This was unsettling, since these scholars had
The concept of paradigm is closely related to the a reverence for all ancient knowledge as being nearly
Platonic and Aristotelian views of knowledge. Aristotle infallible. However, finding contradicting authorities
believed that knowledge could only be based upon forced the Renaissance scholars to try to figure out
what is already known, the basis of the scientific which ones were right. When their findings showed that
method. Plato believed that knowledge should be neither theory was right, they had to think for
judged by what something could become, the end themselves and find a new theory that worked. This
result, or final purpose. Plato's philosophy is more like encouraged skepticism, freethinking, and
the intuitive leaps that cause scientific revolution;; experimentation, all of which are essential parts of
Aristotle's the patient gathering of data. modern science.

Pattern of development
Chapter 2
Intellectual Revolutions that Defined The combination of these factors generated a cycle
Society that undermined Aristotle, but also slowed down the
creation of a new set of theories. New observations
Introduction would be made that seemed to contradict Aristotle's
theories. This would lead to new explanations, but
This section provides students with always framed in the context of the old beliefs, thus
background on the different intellectuals who made patching up the Aristotelian system. However, more
great contributions to science that propelled scientific observations would take place, leading to more
and technological revolutions. Emphasis is given on patching of the old system, and so on. The first person
how these intellectual revolutions shape and who started this slow process of dismantling Aristotle's
transform society. cosmology was Copernicus. His findings would
reinforce the process of finding new explanations, which
would lead to the work of Kepler and Galileo. The work
of these three men would lead to many new questions
Intended Learning Outcomes: and theories about the universe until Isaac Newton
would take the new data and synthesize it into a new
1. Articulate ways by which society is transformed by set of theories that more accurately explained the
science and technology. universe.

What is an Intellectual Revolution?

A. Copernican Revolution
An intellectual revolution is a period where
paradigm shifts occurred and where scientific beliefs Nicolas Copernicus was a Polish scholar working at the
that have been widely embraced and accepted by University of Padua in northern Italy. The problem he
the people were challenged and opposed. wrestled with was the paths of planetary orbits.
Historically, this intellectual revolution can be Through the centuries close observations had shown
summed up as the “replacement of Aristotelian that the heavens do not always appear to move in
ethics and Christian morality by a new type of perfect, uninterrupted circles. Rather, they sometimes
decision making which may be termed instrumental seem to move backwards in what are known as
reasoning or cost-benefit analysis” (Wootton as cited retrogradations. In order to account for these
by McCarthy, 2019). irregularities, astronomers did not do away with
Aristotle's theory of perfectly circular orbits around the
earth. Instead, they expanded upon it, adding smaller
The Birth of Modern Science circular orbits (epicycles) that spun off the main orbits.
These more or less accounted for the retrogradations
seen in orbits. Each time a new irregularity was Galileo's work was the first comprehensive attack on the
observed, a new epicycle was added. By the 1500's, Aristotelian/Ptolemaic cosmic model. He treated celestial objects
the model of the universe had some 80 epicycles as being subject to the same laws as terrestrial objects. However,
attached to ten crystalline spheres (one for the moon, Galileo was still enthralled with perfect circular motion and, as a
sun, each of the five known planets, the totality of the result, did not come up with the synthesis of all these new bits of
stars, a sphere to move the other spheres, and information into a new comprehensive model of the universe. This
heaven). The second century Greek astronomer, was left to the last, and probably greatest, giant of the age, Isaac
Ptolemy was the main authority who put order to and Newton.
passed this cumbersome system of epicycles to
posterity. Isaac Newton

Copernicus' solution was basically geometric. By The story of Newton being hit on the head by an apple may very
placing the sun at the center of the universe and well be true. However, the significance of this popular tale is
having the earth orbit it, he reduced the unwieldy usually lost. People had seen apples fall out of trees for
number of epicycles from 80 to 34. His book, thousands of years, but Newton realized, in a way no one else
Concerning the Revolutions of the Celestial Worlds, had realized, that the same force pulling the apples to earth was
published in 1543, laid the foundations for a revolution keeping the moon in its orbit. In order to prove this
in how Europeans would view the world and its place in mathematically, Newton had to invent a whole new branch of
the universe. However, Copernicus' intention was not math, calculus, for figuring out rates of motion and change. The
to create a radically new theory, but to get back to even genius of Newton in physics, as well as William Harvey in
older ideas by such Greeks as Plato and Pythagoras medicine and Mendeleev in chemistry, was not so much in his
who believed in a heliocentric (sun centered) universe. new discoveries, as in his ability to take the isolated bits and
Once again, ancient authorities were set against one pieces of the puzzle collected by his predecessors and fit them
another, leaving it for others to develop their own theories. together. In retrospect, his synthesis seems so simple, but it took
tremendous imagination and creativity to break the bonds of the
It took some 150 years after Copernicus' death in 1543 to achieve old way of thinking and see a radically different picture.
a new model of the universe that worked. The first step was
compiling more data that tarnished the perfection of the Ptolemaic The implications of Newton's theory of gravity can easily escape
universe and forced men to re-evaluate their beliefs. us, since we now take it for granted that physical laws apply the
same throughout the universe. To the mentality of the 1600’s,
Johannes Kepler which saw a clear distinction between the laws governing the
At this time, Tycho Brahe, using only the naked eye, tracked the terrestrial and celestial elements, it was a staggering revelation.
entire orbits of various stars and planets. Previously, astronomers His three laws of motion were simple, could be applied
would only track part of an orbit at a time and assume that orbit everywhere, and could be used with calculus to solve any
was in a perfect circle. Brahe kept extensive records of his problems of motion that came up.
observations, but did not really know what to do with them. That
task was left to his successor, Johannes Kepler. The universe that emerged was radically different from that of
Aristotle. Thanks to Newton, it was within our grasp to understand,
Kepler was a brilliant mathematician who had a mystical vision of predict, and increasingly manipulate the laws of the universe in
the mathematical perfection of the universe that owed a great deal ways no one had been able to do before. Newton's work also
to the ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras. Despite these completed the fusion of math promoted by Renaissance
preoccupations, Kepler was open minded enough to realize that humanists, Aristotelian logic pushed by medieval university
Brahe's data showed the planetary orbits were not circular. professors, and experiment to test a hypothesis pioneered by
Finally, his calculations showed that those orbits were elliptical. such men as Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo into what we call the
scientific method. This fusion had gradually been taking place
Galileo since the Renaissance, but the invention of calculus made math a
As important as Kepler's conclusions was his method of arriving at much more dynamic tool in predicting and manipulating the laws
it. He was the first to successfully use math to define the workings of nature.
of the cosmos. Although such a conclusion as elliptical orbits
inevitably met with fierce opposition, the combination of Brahe's The printing of Newton's book, Principia Mathematica, in 1687 is
observations and Kepler's math helped break the perfection of the often seen as the start of the Enlightenment (1687-1789). It was a
Aristotelian universe. However, it was the work of an Italian significant turning point in history, for, armed with the tools of
astronomer, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), armed with a new Newton's laws and calculus, scientists had an unprecedented
invention, the telescope, which would further shatter the old theory faith in their ability to understand, predict, and manipulate the
and lead the way to a new one. laws of nature for their own purposes. This sense of power
popularized science for other intellectuals and rulers in
Using his telescope, Galileo saw the sun's perfection marred by Europe, turning it into virtual religion for some in the
sunspots and the moon's perfection marred by craters. He also Enlightenment. Even the geometrically trimmed shrubbery of
saw four moons orbiting Jupiter. In his book, The Starry Versailles offers testimony to that faith in our power over
Messenger (1611), he reported these disturbing findings and nature. Not until this century has that faith been seriously
spread the news across Europe. Most people could not undermined or put into a more realistic perspective.
understand Kepler's math, but anyone could look through a
telescope and see for himself the moon's craters and Jupiter's B. The Darwinian Revolution
moons.
The publication in 1859 of The Origin of Species by
The Church tried to preserve the Aristotelian and Ptolemaic view
of the universe by clamping down on Galileo and his book and Charles Darwin ushered in a new era in the intellectual
made him promise not to preach his views. However, in 1632, history of humanity. Darwin is deservedly given credit
Galileo published his next book, Dialogue on the Great World for the theory of biological evolution: he accumulated
Systems, which technically did not preach the Copernican theory evidence demonstrating that organisms evolve and
(which Galileo believed in), but was only a dialogue presenting discovered the process, natural selection, by which
both views "equally". Galileo got his point across by having the they evolve. But the importance of Darwin's
advocate of the Church and Aristotelian view named Simplicius achievement is that it completed the Copernican
(Simpleton). He was quickly faced with the Inquisition and the revolution initiated three centuries earlier, and thereby
threat of torture. Being an old man of 70, he recanted his views. radically changed our conception of the universe and
However, it was too late. Word was out, and the heliocentric the place of humanity in it.
heresy was gaining new followers daily.
The discoveries of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and origin and configuration of living creatures—the most
Newton in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, diversified, complex, and interesting realities of the
had gradually ushered in the notion that the workings world. It was Darwin's genius to resolve this conceptual
of the universe could be explained by human reason. It schizophrenia (Ayala, no date).
was shown that the earth is not the center of the
universe, but a small planet rotating around an average
star;; that the universe is immense in space and in
C. Freudian Revolution
time;; and that the motions of the planets around the
Sigmund Freud was born in 1856, before the advent of
sun can be explained by the same simple laws that
telephones, radios, automobiles, airplanes, and a host
account for the motion of physical objects on our of other material and cultural changes that had taken
planet. These and other discoveries greatly expanded place by the time of his death in 1939. Freud saw the
human knowledge, but the intellectual revolution these entirety of the first World War–a war that destroyed the
scientists brought about was more fundamental: a empire whose capital city was his home for more than
commitment to the postulate that the universe obeys seventy years–and the beginning of the next. He began
immanent laws that account for natural phenomena. his career as an ambitious but isolated neurologist;; by
The workings of the universe were brought into the the end of it, he described himself, not inaccurately, as
realm of science: explanation through natural laws. someone who had had as great an impact on
Physical phenomena could be accounted for whenever humanity's conception of itself as had Copernicus and
the causes were adequately known. Darwin.

Freud's most obvious impact was to change the way

Darwin completed the Copernican revolution by society thought about and dealt with mental illness. Before
drawing out for biology the notion of nature as a lawful psychoanalysis, which Freud invented, mental illness was
system of matter in motion. The adaptations and almost universally considered 'organic';; that is, it was
diversity of organisms, the origin of novel and highly thought to come from some kind of deterioration or
organized forms, even the origin of humanity itself disease of the brain. Research on treating mental illness
could now be explained by an orderly process of was primarily concerned–at least theoretically–with
change governed by natural laws. discovering exactly which kinds of changes in the brain led
to insanity. Many diseases did not manifest obvious
The origin of organisms and their marvelous signs of physical difference between healthy and
adaptations were, however, either left unexplained or diseased brains, but it was assumed that this was simply
attributed to the design of an omniscient Creator. God because the techniques for finding the differences were
had created the birds and bees, the fish and corals, the not yet sufficient.
trees in the forest, and best of all, man. God had given
us eyes so that we might see, and He had provided The conviction that physical diseases of the brain
fish with gills to breathe in water. Philosophers and caused mental illness meant that psychological
theologians argued that the functional design of causes–the kinds that Freud would insist on studying–
organisms manifests the existence of an all-wise were ignored. It also meant that people drew a sharp
Creator. Wherever there is design, there is a designer;; dividing line between the "insane" and the "sane."
Insane people were those with physical diseases of the
the existence of a watch evinces the existence of a
brain. Sane people were those without diseased
watchmaker.
brains.

The English theologian William Paley in his Natural Freud changed all of this. Despite his background in
Theology (1802) elaborated the argument-from-design physicalism (learned during his stay in Ernst Brücke's
as forceful demonstration of the existence of the laboratory), his theories explicitly rejected the purely
Creator. The functional design of the human eye, organic explanations of his predecessors. One of
argued Paley, provided conclusive evidence of an all-- Freud's biggest influences during his early days as a
wise Creator. It would be absurd to suppose, he wrote, neurologist was Jean-Martin Charcot, the famous French
psychiatrist. Charcot claimed that hysteria had primarily
that the human eye by mere chance "should have
organic causes, and that it had a regular,
consisted, first, of a series of transparent lenses ...
comprehensible pattern of symptoms. Freud agreed
secondly of a black cloth or canvas spread out behind with Charcot on the latter point, but he disagreed
these lenses so as to receive the image formed by entirely on the former. In essence, Freud claimed that
pencils of light transmitted through them, and placed at neurotic people had working hardware, but faulty
the precise geometrical distance at which, and at which software. Earlier psychiatrists like Charcot, in contrast,
alone, a distinct image could be formed ... thirdly of a had claimed that the problems were entirely in the
large nerve communicating between this membrane hardware. As psychoanalysis became increasingly
and the brain." The Bridgewater Treatises, published popular, psychology and psychiatry turned away from
between 1833 and 1840, were written by eminent the search for organic causes and toward the search
scientists and philosophers to set forth "the Power, for inner psychic conflicts and early childhood traumas.
Wisdom, and Goodness of God as manifested in the As a consequence, the line between sane and insane
Creation." The structure and mechanisms of man's was blurred: everyone, according to Freud, had an
Oedipal crisis, and everyone could potentially become
hand were, for example, cited as incontrovertible
mentally ill.
evidence that the hand had been designed by the
same omniscient Power that had created the world.
Psychoanalysis has had an enormous impact on the
practice of psychiatry, particularly within the United
The advances of physical science had thus driven States, but today it is regarded by most sources–
humanity's conception of the universe to a split-- medical, academic, governmental, and others–as
personality state of affairs, which persisted well into the almost entirely incorrect in its conception of the mind.
mid- nineteenth century. Scientific explanations, This judgment is based on the crucial test of
derived from natural laws, dominated the world of psychoanalysis: whether or not it really helps patients
nonliving matter, on the earth as well as in the with behavioral or psychological problems. The
heavens. Supernatural explanations, depending on the consensus is that is does not. Psychoanalysis in its
unfathomable deeds of the Creator, accounted for the many varieties appears to have little or no efficacy in
treating mental illness. In contrast, buildings after the invention of the corbelled vault.
psychopharmacology and cognitive- behavioral Aztec city builders also understood the need for public
therapies (therapies that simply try to change what the sanitation;; public latrines were found along all
patient thinks and does rather than analyzing the highways, and to prevent pollution of Lake Texcoco
causes of the behavior), while far from perfect, do canoes transported the sewage from Tenochtitlán to
appear to help. the mainland every morning. (von Hagen, 1957)

If this is true–and we have a great deal of evidence that American people were gifted horticulturalists and cultivated
it is–why is Freud still so important? Why do we crop plants from the earliest times. Among the plants that
generally speak of him as a great figure in Western originated in Meso-America are corn (maize), papaya,
thought, instead of as a strange and misguided figure avocado and cocoa. Maize is the only cultivated plant that
of turn-of-the- century Europe? was developed so early in human history that its wild ancestor
is no longer known. It can, however, still be crossed with two
There are at least two reasons. The first is purely other plants found only on the Yucatan Peninsula.
practical: psychoanalysis has enormous historical
significance. Mental illness affects an large proportion Finally, several sculptures found at Meso-American
of the population, either directly or indirectly, so any sites in 1975, 1979 and 1983 and dating back to 2000
curative scheme as widely accepted as was Freud's is - 1500 BC have clear magnetic properties. In some of
important to our history in general. The second, more these sculptures the north and south poles are in most
important, reason is that Freud gave people a new way conspicuous positions, for example at the snout and at
of thinking about why they acted the way they did. He the back of the head of a frog or turtle. Another
created a whole new way of interpreting behaviors: one magnetic object found in 1966 was shaped as if it was
could now claim that a person had motives, desires, to be used to indicate direction. These finds strongly
and beliefs–all buried in the unconscious–which they suggest that the early Meso-American civilizations
knew nothing about but which nonetheless directly knew about and used magnetism. (Malmström, 1976,
controlled and motivated their conscious thought and 1979)
behavior. This hypothesis, derived from but
independent of Freud's psychiatric work, was the truly
radical part of his system of thought.
E. Asian Scientific Revolution

Aside from China, there were other Asian countries

D. Scientific Revolution in Mesoamerica that contributed to the development of science and
technology in the world, although it varied depending
Meso-America is the region from Mexico to Guatemala, on country and time, specially in the present times.
Belize and parts of Honduras and El Salvador. There Currently, Japan is probably the most notable country
were no major ancient civilization that developed in in Asia in terms of scientific and technological
North America. The Mesoamerican civilization were achievement, particularly in terms of its electronics and
isolated from the accumulated scientific knowledge of automobile products. Other countries are also notable
Africa, Asia and Europe. They were confronted with in other scientific fields such as chemical and physical
much harder conditions than the ancient civilizations of achievements.
the Indus valley, Mesopotamia, and Egypt which
developed in parallel with each other and established The general conception is that many of the cutting--
contacts between each other at a very early stage. This edge technological developments, and to a lesser
exchange of knowledge between these ancient extent scientific advancements, emanate from Asia.
civilizations was critical in the development of their For instance, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and China
scientific knowledge. Because of this isolation, together produce a staggering 90% of the world’s
Mesoamerican civilization developed on their own and digital gadgets. Aside from the region’s hardware
became much more self-reliant. dominance, nations across Asia are becoming
increasingly important to the global supply of digital
The most advanced Mesoamerican civilization was the content and services, something which will only
Maya civilization that was well on its way to develop increase as the continent develops over the coming
true science. They knew how to make paper and had decades.
pictorial script called Maya hieroglyphs that allowed
them to record all knowledge on long strips of paper South Korea’s cultural popularity around the world has
folded harmonica-style into books. One of the three caused a number of startup’s to emerge working within
books recovered called The Dresden Codex contains the digital and technology sectors, including website
predictions of solar eclipses for centuries and a table of [Link].
predicted positions of Venus. Unlike the European Taiwan is following a similar path to Japan meanwhile,
scientists who used astronomical instruments like moving away from hardware production, instead
telescopes, the Maya made predictions by aligning turning to software and content [Link],
stars with two objects that were separated by a large the points raised throughout this article proves Asia is
distance, a technique that achieved great accuracy of truly a crucible of innovative technological
angular measurement. As a result, the Maya development;; a continent that will play an incredibly
developed the most accurate calendar ever designed. important role in the evolution of our digital age.
F. Scientific Revolution in Middle East
The Aztec followed the same road. They kept their own
script and languages but assimilated all they could During the 3,000 years of urbanized life in
learn from Maya society. Their manuscripts describe Mesopotamia and Egypt tremendous strides were
how the Maya performed their astronomical made in various branches of science and technology.
observations. The greatest advances were made in Mesopotamia—
very possibly because of its constant shift of population
Several outstanding achievements can be reported in and openness to foreign influence, in contrast to the
the area of technology and invention. The manufacture relative isolation of Egypt and the consequent stability
of rubber was one of the earliest inventions, of its population. The Egyptians excelled in such
documented by the use of a rubber ball in the ball applied sciences as medicine, engineering, and
game tlachtli, a game played by Meso-American surveying;; in Mesopotamia greater progress was made in
civilizations from earliest times. In architecture the astronomy and mathematics. The development of
Maya were the first to use pitched ceilings in their astronomy seems to have been greatly accelerated by
that of astrology, which took the lead among the quasi-- gordonii and combrettum caffrum are being integrated
sciences involved in divination. The Egyptians remained within contemporary pharmaceutical systems
far behind the Babylonians in developing astronomy, while (Emeagwali, n.d.).
Babylonian medicine, because of its chiefly magical
character, was less advanced than that of Egypt. In Africa’s areas of scientific investigation include the
engineering and architecture Egyptians took an early lead, fields of astronomy, physics, and mathematics. Laird
owing largely to the stress they laid on the construction of Scranton, making use of the extensive collections of
such elaborate monuments as vast pyramids and temples Marcel Griaule, has deepened our understanding of
of granite and sandstone. On the other hand, the Malian cosmological myths and their perceptions of the
Babylonians led in the development of such practical arts structure of matter and the physical world. Dogon
as irrigation (Albright, 2014). knowledge systems have also been explored in terms
of their perceptions on astronomy. Dogon propositions
Both sciences and pseudosciences spread from Egypt and about Sirius B have been discussed by Charles Finch
Mesopotamia to Phoenicia and Anatolia. The Phoenicians in in The Star of Deep Beginnings. The solar calendar
particular transmitted much of this knowledge to the various that we use today evolved from the Egyptian calendar
lands of the Mediterranean, especially to the Greeks. The of twelve months, calibrated according to the day on
direction taken by these influences can be followed from Egypt to which the star Sirius rose on the horizon with the Sun.
Syria, Phoenicia, and Cyprus, thanks to a combination of Scranton suggests major interconnections between the
excavated art forms that prove the direction of movement, as well thought of the ancient Egyptians and that of the
as to Greek tradition, which lays great stress on what the early Malians of West Africa.
Greek philosophers learned from Egypt. Mesopotamian influence
can be traced especially through the partial borrowing of
Babylonian science and divination by the Hittites and later by the In the field of Mathematics, Nubian builders calculated
transmission of information through Phoenicia. The Egyptians the volumes of masonry and building materials, as well
and Mesopotamians wrote no theoretical treatises;; information as the slopes of pyramids, for construction purposes.
had to be transmitted piecemeal through personal contacts. Bianchi points to a Nubian engraving at Meroe, in
ancient Sudan, dated to the first century B.C.E., which
Of all the accomplishments of the ancient Middle East, the reflects “a sophisticated understanding of
invention of the alphabet is probably the greatest. While pre-- mathematics.” Included in the engraving were several
alphabetic systems of writing in the Old World became steadily lines, inclined at a 72-degree angle, running diagonally
more phonetic, they were still exceedingly cumbersome, and the from the base of a pyramid. Bianchi suggests that the
syllabic systems that gradually replaced them remained complex Nubian King Amanikhabale of the first century BCE
and difficult. In the early Hyksos period (17th century BC) the was the owner of that pyramid. Interestingly, the
Northwestern Semites living in Egypt adapted hieroglyphic Nubians of Meroe, who constructed more pyramids
characters—in at least two slightly differing forms of letters—to than the Egyptians, built steep, flat-topped pyramids.
their own purposes. Thus was developed the earliest known
purely consonantal alphabet, imitated in northern Syria, with the In the field of medicine, common patterns and trends
addition of two letters to designate vowels used with the glottal emerged across the continent. These included
catch. scientifically proven methods, as well as techniques
and strategies which were culturally specific and
This alphabet spread rapidly and was in quite common use psychologically significant. Among the common
among the Northwestern Semites (Canaanites, Hebrews, principles and procedures were hydrotherapy, heat
Aramaeans, and especially the Phoenicians) soon after its therapy, spinal manipulation, quarantine, bone-setting
invention. By the 9th century BC the Phoenicians were using it in and surgery. Incantations and other psychotherapeutic
the western Mediterranean, and the Greeks and Phrygians devices sometimes accompanied other
adopted it in the 8th. The alphabet contributed vastly to the techniques. The knowledge of specific medicinal
Greek cultural and literary revolution in the immediately following plants was quite extensive in some kingdoms, empires,
period. From the Greeks it was transmitted to other Western and city states such as Aksum, and Borgu (in
peoples. Since language must always remain the chief mode of Hausaland). The latter continues to be well known for
communication for people, its union with hearing and vision in a orthopedics (bone-setting), as is the case of Funtua in
uniquely simple phonetic structure has probably revolutionized Northern Nigeria. Many traditional techniques are still
civilization more than any other invention in history. utilized in some areas. Others have undergone change
over time, have been revived in more recent periods, or
have fallen into oblivion.
G. Scientific Revolution in Africa
Various types of metal products have been used over
The history of the sciences in Africa is rich and diverse. time by Africans, ranging from gold, tin, silver, bronze,
The applied sciences of agronomy, metallurgy, brass, and iron/steel. The Sudanic empires of West
engineering and textile production, as well as medicine, Africa emerged in the context of various commercial
dominated the field of activity across Africa. So routes and activities involving the gold trade. In the
advanced was the culture of farming within West North and East, Ethiopia and Sudan were the major
Africa, that ‘New World‘ agricultural growth was suppliers of gold, with Egypt a major importer. In
spawned by the use of captives from these African Southern Africa, the kingdom of Monomotapa
societies that had already made enormous strides in (Munhumutapa) reigned supreme as a major gold
the field of agronomy. In her work Black Rice, Judith producer. In the various spheres of metal production,
Carnoy demonstrates the legacy of enslaved Africans specific techniques and scientific principles included:
to the Americas in the sphere of rice cultivation. We excavation and ore identification;; separation of ore
know also that a variety of African plants were adopted from non-ore bearing rock;; smelting by the use of
in Asia, including coffee, the oil palm, fonio or acha bellows and heated furnaces;; and smithing and further
(digitaria exilis), African rice (oryza glabberima), and refinement.
sorghum (sorghum bicolor). Plants, whether in terms of The use of multishaft and open-shaft systems
legumes, grain, vegetables, tubers, or, wild or facilitated circulation of air in intense heating
cultivated fruits, also had medicinal implications for processes, while the bellows principle produced strong
Africans and were used as anesthetics or pain killers, currents of air in a chamber expanded to draw in or
analgesics for the control of fever, antidotes to counter expel air through a valve. The various metal products
poisons, and anthelmints aimed at deworming. They served a wide range of purposes, including: armor (as
were used also in cardiovascular, gastro-intestinal, and in some northern Nigerian city-states), jewelry (of gold,
dermatological contexts. Some of these such as hoodia silver, iron, copper and brass), cooking utensils, cloth
dyeing, sculpture, and agricultural tools. The technical internet-based global economy requires a worldwide
know-how and expertise of blacksmiths helped to network with high capacity and availability,
enhance their status, although they were also often which is currently limited by submarine
associated with supernatural and psychic powers, as optical communication cables.
well.
New ideas keep coming from the information transport
In various parts of ancient, medieval, and community. Since the first edition of Undersea Fiber
contemporary Africa, building constructions of various Communication Systems in 2002, the optical fiber
dimensions, shapes, and types emerged, reflecting communication industry moved into the “coherent” era.
various concepts, techniques, raw material We transport an order of magnitude more bits than just
preferences, and decorative principles. Builders five years ago. We encode information into phase,
integrated the concepts of the arch, the dome, and polarization, and amplitude of electromagnetic waves.
columns and aisles in their constructions. The Michael Faraday would be proud, knowing that we
underground vaults and passages, as well as the rock-- send over 10,000,000,000,000 bits every second
hewn churches, of Axum are matched in Nubia and across the Atlantic Ocean in a single strand of fiber.
Egypt with pyramids of various dimensions. In the We would leave in awe Sir William Thomson (known as
Sahelian region, adobe, or dried clay, was preferred in Lord Kelvin), who was the scientific leader of an 1858
the context of moulded contours, at times integrated endeavor that built the first submarine cable with a
with overall moulded sculpture. Permanent scaffolding transmission speed of one word per minute. Sir
made of protruding planks characterized the Malian Thomson and Cyrus Field, an American
region. The principle of evaporative cooling was businessman and telecommunications pioneer, would
integrated into building design. Mats were used as part be surprised to find out how many tools developed
of the decor and also to be saturated repeatedly in during their first transatlantic expedition are still in use
order to cool the room. Derelict ruins from walled today. At first glance, the modern cable looks similar to
cities—such as Kano, Zazzau, and other city-states of the 1858 cable, which was copper based with a gutta--
Hausaland in the central Sudanic region of West Africa percha (trans-poly isoprene) isolator. In modern day
—complement structures such as the rock-hewn and cables, gutta- percha has been replaced with
moulded churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia or the polyethylene. We still use copper to power submarine
Zimbabwe enclosures. The structures of ancient Nubia, repeaters, and have added optical fibers during the last
as well as those of Egypt, are parallel structures in the decade of the last century.
northeast.
The uniqueness of this engineering marvel is a
combination of information science, nonlinear optics,
H. Information Revolution electrical engineering, material science, engineering
practices, project management, marine expertise, and
Information revolution is a period of change that high reliability standard. Undersea fiber communication
describes current economic, social and technological systems will continue to serve society.
trends beyond the Industrial Revolution. The
information revolution was fueled by advances in Impact of Information Revolution
semiconductor technology, particularly the metal--
oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) The truly revolutionary impact of the Information
and the integrated circuit (IC) chip, leading to the Revolution is just beginning to be felt. But it is not
Information Age in the early 21st century (Lukasiak, "information" that fuels this impact. It is not "artificial
2010;; Orton, 2009). intelligence." It is not the effect of computers and data
processing on decision- making, policymaking, or
Information revolution might prove as significant to the strategy. It is something that practically no one foresaw
lives of people. Computer technology is at the root of or, indeed, even talked about ten or fifteen years ago:
this change, and continuing advancements in that e-commerce—that is, the explosive emergence of the
technology seem to ensure that this revolution would Internet as a major, perhaps eventually the major,
touch the lives of people. Computers are unique worldwide distribution channel for goods, for services,
machines;; they help to extend the brain power. and, surprisingly, for managerial and professional jobs.
Computerized robots have been replacing blue-collar This is profoundly changing economies, markets, and
workers;; they might soon be replacing white collar industry structures;; products and services and their
workers as well. Computers are merely devices that flow;; consumer segmentation, consumer values, and
follow sets of instructions called computer programs, or consumer behavior;; jobs and labor markets. But the
software, that have been written by people called impact may be even greater on societies and politics
computer programmers. Computers offer many and, above all, on the way we see the world and
benefits, but there are also many dangers. They could ourselves in it.
help others invade one's privacy or wage war. They At the same time, new and unexpected industries will
might turn one into button pusher and cause massive no doubt emerge, and fast. One is already here:
unemployment. User- friendly systems can be easily biotechnology. And another: fish farming. Within the
used by untrained people. The key development that next fifty years fish farming may change us from
made personal computers possible was the invention hunters and gatherers on the seas into "marine
of the microprocessor chip at Intel in 1971. pastoralists"—just as a similar innovation some 10,000
years ago changed our ancestors from hunters and
The information revolution led us to the age of the gatherers on the land into agriculturists and
internet, where optical communication networks play a pastoralists.
key role in delivering massive amounts of data. The
world has experienced phenomenal network growth It is likely that other new technologies will appear
during the last decade, and further growth is imminent. suddenly, leading to major new industries. What they
The internet will continue to expand due to user may be is impossible even to guess at. But it is highly
population growth and internet penetration: probable—indeed, nearly certain—that they will
previously inaccessible geographical regions in Africa emerge, and fairly soon. And it is nearly certain that
and Asia will come online. Network growth will only few of them—and few industries based on them—will
be accelerated by improvements in integrated come out of computer and information technology. Like
circuits. Transistor size has been halved every two biotechnology and fish farming, each will emerge from
years since the middle of the last century. The new its own unique and unexpected technology.
Of course, these are only predictions. But they are
made on the assumption that the Information 1894
Revolution will evolve as several earlier technology-- William Ramsay discovered the noble gases
based "revolutions" have evolved over the past 500 and realized that they represented a new group in the
years, since Gutenberg's printing revolution, around periodic table. The noble gases added further proof
1455. In particular, the assumption is that the to the accuracy of Mendeleev’s table.
Information Revolution will be like the Industrial
Revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries. And that is indeed exactly how the
Information Revolution has been during its first fifty 1944
years.
Glenn Seaborg proposed an ‘actinide hypothesis’
and published his version of the table in 1945. The
lanthanide and actinide series form the two rows under
Pre-Activity Discussion
Scientists today build on the knowledge the periodic table of elements.
and discoveries made by others. It might be that
they continue and grow the work of the scientists
who have mentored and supervised them or that 1864
they build on prior discoveries – both recent and
historical. English chemist John Newlands proposed
his Law of octaves based on the periodic similarity
Tying in stories of science in history and scientific every seventh element.
breakthroughs can offer engaging opportunities for
further exploration and learning. For example, the
periodic table that we know today was actually a
result of numerous experiments and discoveries that 1869
spanned for centuries starting from 1669 when the
first scientific discovery of an element was made by Dmitri Mendeleev produced a periodic table
Hennig Brand. Over the next 200 years, a great deal based on atomic weights but arranged
of knowledge about elements and compounds was “periodically”. Elements with similar properties
gained. By the middle of the 19th century, about 60 appeared under each other. Gaps were left for
elements had been discovered. Scientists began to yet to be discovered elements.
recognize patterns in the properties of these
elements and set about developing classification
1913
schemes.
Henry Moseley determined the atomic number
Scientists are constantly working on
discovering new materials and further investigating of each of the known elements. He realized that arranging
the properties of existing elements. The periodic the elements in order of increasing atomic number rather
table can be reviewed and new elements can be than atomic weight gave a better fit within the “periodic
added, but only added after rigorous scientific table.
examination. The International Union of Pure and
Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) verifies the additions of
new elements and at the end of 2015 the 7th period
of the periodic table of elements was completed with
the addition of four new elements.

Activity Task:

The following timeline summarizes the

development of the periodic table. Using the brief
history of the periodic table as an example and
applying what you have learned about intellectual
revolutions, select any topic (can be an object or
theory) and present its historical evolution to its
present day form. Identify the key persons who are
instrumental in its development and how each key
person worked on the findings of his/her
predecessors in the field to further improve the work.
Be creative in presenting your timeline and in
presenting your work.

1862
Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois plotted
the atomic weights of elements on paper tape and wound
them, spiral like, around a cylinder. He called his model the
telluric helix or screw.

1868
Lothar Meyer compiled a periodic table based on
regular repeating pattern of physical property such as
molar volume. Once again the elements were arranged in
order of increasing atomic weights.
18