Science & Technology: A Journey from Prehistoric time till modern 21st Century

Since the dawn of human civilization, human species have come a long way in terms of 'scientific advancement' and 'technology'. It's been quite a journey.

From prehistoric time till today's modern human civilization, we as a species have been developing 'methods' and 'ways' to make our life comfortable. We know that the prehistoric period roughly dates from 2.5 million years ago to 1200 B.C. It can be categorized into: The Stone age, the Bronze age and the Iron age.

The Stone Age: First ever development of technology already begun. The first step was taken towards the better future. 'Making tools and tackles out of stones' - what a brilliant idea that was! our little human minds were capable of thinking that these simple rocks simply just existing in the surface of the earth can be converted into tools and used as hammers, knives, spearheads etc. One thing led to another and within few ages farming and agriculture were introduced, and slowly humans settlements were developed.

The Bronze Age: Well! the most notable people in this period were Ancient Egyptians. During this period - organized government, warfare and religion also came into play. 

As we all know why Egypt is famous- yes! because of pyramids. Construction of pyramids also took place during this age. So, we can conclude that they already have the idea and knowledge about Architectural & Structural Engineering. Its simply fascinating!

The Iron Age: Iron was discovered in this period. At that time it was considered more precious than gold - simply because iron can be heated and forged into any kind of tools as required. Iron overthrew bronze in this game of technology and thus 'Ferrous Metallurgy' and 'Iron Smelting was introduced'.

More widespread use of iron led to improve steel making technology at lower cost.

So, we can see that during the course of time we have been gathering the knowledge and skills to develop the living standards and our ideas about construction/engineering for our better future. We can conclude that nothing is impossible. Who would have thought during these prehistoric and historic times that humans can fly- today we have airplanes. Who would have thought that we can talk to another human across the world without any wired connection- today we have mobile phones. As a matter of fact I am writing this blog and you are reading it no matter where you are in the world, is simply fantastic- its the internet. The two most key things behind all of these accomplishments are 'Science' & 'Technology'.

The word 'Science' is derived from the Latin word 'Scientia' which means 'Knowledge', and the word 'Technology' is derived from the Greek word 'Techne' which means 'art/skill' and 'Logia' meaning 'branch of study'. 

During the early cultures, scientific study included nature, animal physiology, medicine, chemicals and astronomy. For easier understanding let us divide the timeline into: Classical Antiquity, Renaissance Period, Age of Enlightenment, 19th Century, 20th Century and 21st Century.

Classical Antiquity: This period witnessed eminent personalities like Pythagoras and Aristotle.

Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher and mathematician. He developed the famous 'Pythagoras Theorem' we all learn in school. Aristotle on the other hand was also a Greek philosopher and polymath. His contribution to science varies in vast areas. One of the most notable works of Aristotle include "Aristotle Five Elements": Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Aether (divine substance), also known as 'classical elements'. These were mainly proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter.

Renaissance Period: This was the period of Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei. 

Nicolaus Copernicus was a German mathematician and astronomer. He formulated the 'Helio-Centric Model' of the Solar System. This means that the sun is in the middle and all the planets orbit around it. This model had a slight problem as it conveys the information that - the planets has circular orbits. This theory was rectified and modified by Johannes Kepler who was also a German mathematician and astronomer. According to Kepler, the planets orbit around the sun in elliptical trajectories. This came to be known as 'Kepler's Law of Planetary Motion'. Nasa launched a space telescope on 7th March, 2009 to discover earth sized planets orbiting other stars- known as 'Kepler Space Telescope' named after Johannes Kepler. It was retired on 30th October, 2018.

Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, also known as 'Father of Observational Astronomy'. He invented the Thermometer, the Microscope and made significant improvements to the Telescope. He also discovered four biggest moons of Jupiter (Io, Europa, Ganymede & Callisto) and Saturn Rings.

Age of Enlightenment: This was the era of Sir Isaac Newton. He was an English mathematician, physicist and astronomer. In his book 'Philosophae Naturalis Principia Mathematica' - he formulated Classical Mechanics which consisted of 'Laws of Motion' and 'Universal Gravitation'. 

Newton used his mathematical description to derive Kepler's Law of Planetary Motion. Moreover he invented Calculus which we spent half of our life just to understand it.

Scientific development and modern physics would not be possible without Sir Isaac Newton. What a brilliant man he was!

19th Century: The modern atomic theory was established in this era. John Dalton an English chemist suggested this theory based on Democritus's idea of indivisible particles called atoms.

Although in modern nuclear physics, the atom can be split into two or more smaller nuclei. This process is known as Nuclear Fission. John Dalton was the first to propose the name 'atom'.

The electromagnetic theory was also established in this century. James Clerk Maxwell a Scottish scientist proposed the idea that electricity and magnetism are indeed related. This can be understood by Maxwell's equations.

20th Century: This was the time when 'Theory of Relativity' and 'Quantum Mechanics' came into play.

Albert Einstein was a German theoretical physicist. He developed the theory of relativity. The theory of relativity comprises of two interrelated concepts: 'The General Theory of Relativity' and 'The Special Theory of Relativity'. The theory superseded the Newtonian theory of classical mechanics. It also introduces concepts like: space-time and gravitational time dilation. These concepts helped immensely in the development of the ideas like: Gravitational Waves, Black Holes & Neutron Stars.

This era also witnessed the development of 'nuclear power', development of ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile), manned landings on moon, widespread use of integrated circuits, communication satellites.

21st Century: This is era we are presently living in. Until this time three most significant discoveries in human history changed the way we think about science and our universe in general. 

First, the discovery of Higgs Boson Particle in 2012 by CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in the Large Hadron Collider helped us to understand 'where matter gets its mass from'.

Second, the observational evidence of Gravitational Waves in 2015 were finally witnessed.

Third, the first picture of a black hole was actually taken. The supermassive black hole named M87 was pictured in the year 2019. The picture was constructed by combining radio-frequency signals from the M87 galaxy. As per recent data in 2021, the latest picture of the M87 also shows the magnetic vortex.

In the present 21st century many new inventions and discoveries are going to take place in various sectors like: automation, embedded systems, artificial intelligence, etc. We just have to wait, watch and celebrate the development of Science & Technology for a better future.

Glad you made it till here! I hope you liked this journey from Prehistoric age to Modern time. We as a human civilization can accomplish anything, we just have to have the desire. 

Comment below about your thoughts, I will like to read it and yes! constructive criticism is highly appreciated. Your criticism will help me a lot to improve in future. Also feel free to contact me at s.roncreative@gmail.com 

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Lastly, Thank you for reading my blog. See you on my next post, until then 'Keep reading!'

- Ron

Electrical Engineer & Technology Enthusiast

Email: s.roncreative@gmail.com

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