Name:

Chapter 1: Historical Antecedents in the Course of Science and Technology:

1. Explain how science and technology affected the society and environment and vice
versa.

SCIENCE
Seek to Seek to
improve improve

Technology is a use or
Demands application of Demands
more scientific knowledge more
for a specific goal or
purpose
SOCIETY TECHNOLOGY

Makes life
Benefits
easier
from
 In this diagram it refers to changing or creating more effective processes, products
and ideas that can increase the likelihood of a business succeeding. This could mean
implementing new ideas, creating dynamic products or improving existing services.
It explained that efforts have been made to define and classify the dimensions of
innovation, as the positive connotation of innovation, as a valuable improvement, is
itself a new idea. This neatly illustrates the ambiguity that underlies the role of
innovation in the society. Technological innovation is therefore the process through
which new or improved technologies are developed and brought into widespread
use; it is usually associated with product and process innovation. The role of science
and technology ultimately rubs off on the industrial and economic development of
any nation or people.

2. Identify inventions and discoveries that changed the world over the course of history.
 Here are some inventions that I have research;
 The wheel. Possibly one of the most important, and ancient, inventions in
history. Its origin is unknown but there is documentary proof that it was used
in Ur Mesopotamia almost five thousand years ago. Its many different
functions have been essential for humans to progress.
 The plough. Its origin also goes back to Mesopotamia, to almost four
thousand years ago. This invention, used to till the land by making furrows,
revolutionised farming.
 Paper. Invented in China in the 2nd century BC from silk threads, rice straw
and hemp fibre. Later, it spread to Central Asia and then the Arabs took it to
Europe, becoming an essential element for later innovations such as books
and, above all, printing.
 Printing. This mechanical device presses on an inked surface to reproduce
written texts and images. The invention has been attributed to Johannes
Gutenberg but there is proof of earlier versions in the Far East, such as the
prototype created by Bi Sheng in the 11th century.
 The steam-driven engine. It's not possible to determine the exact date the
steam engine first appeared but we do know the period when it became a
decisive: the Industrial Revolution. Passing through the hands of many
inventors who gradually improved it, the steam-driven engine was vital in
replacing traditional power sources: animals, mills and even humans.
 The telegraph. Considered to be one of the greatest revolutions in the field
of communication, this allowed people to contact each other over long
distances, instantaneously. It was developed by various pioneers but it's
believed that the first was the French scientist and clergyman Jean Antoine
Nollet.
 The calculator. Blaise Pascal invented the first machine to perform arithmetic
calculations but it was the Spaniard, Leonardo Torres Quevedo, who
patented the first analogue calculator in 1914 which could carry out highly
complex mathematical operations very quickly.
 The automobile. Although it's thought that the first cars were invented in
China at the end of the 17th century, the first steam-powered vehicle was
introduced in 1769 by Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot for transporting cannons. In
1833, Eilhard Mitscherlich provided a new approach to the automobile when
he discovered that petrol could be the perfect fuel.
 The light bulb. Throughout the 19th century, dozens of famous people were
involved in the invention of incandescent light bulbs. However, Thomas
Edison is considered to be the inventor of the device as we know it today.
The introduction of artificial light altered people's sleeping patterns but it
also improved industrial productivity and safety on city streets.
 The computer. Some mechanical computing devices have been documented
in the 19th century but the many different innovations introduced by a
 number of researchers, such as Babbage, Turing, Zuse and Flowers, led to the
creation of computers as we know them today.

3. Discuss the scientific and technological developments in the Philippines.

 Science and technology have had a major impact on society, and their impact is
growing. By making life easier, science has given man the chance to pursue societal
concerns such as ethics, aesthetics, education, and justice; to create cultures; and to
improve human conditions. Science, technology and innovation each represent a
successively larger category of activities which are highly interdependent but
distinct. Science contributes to technology in at least six ways: (1) new knowledge
which serves as a direct source of ideas for new technological possibilities; (2) source
of tools and techniques for more efficient engineering design and a knowledge base
for evaluation of feasibility of designs; (3) research instrumentation, laboratory
techniques and analytical methods used in research that eventually find their way
into design or industrial practices, often through intermediate disciplines; (4)
practice of research as a source for development and assimilation of new human
skills and capabilities eventually useful for technology; (5) creation of a knowledge
base that becomes increasingly important in the assessment of technology in terms
of its wider social and environmental impacts; (6) knowledge base that enables more
efficient strategies of applied research, development, and refinement of new
technologies.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTIONS:

1. Give three other major scientific and technological developments in the world (or in the
Philippines) that created a large impact on your daily life.
 DNA fingerprinting is now taken for granted. Whether in criminal trials, paternity
and maternity testing, personal identification or the diagnosis or treatment of
inherited diseases, people are used having access to this technique.
 The internet. Sometimes, scientists like to escape the confines of a traditional lab
and take their experiments into the field or even into the pub. In fact, one of
these more unorthodox settings was used for essential experiment in the history
of the internet.
 Wireless electricity. From smartphones, to laptops, to MP3 players, people’s lives
are now dominated by technology that requires power and they generally need
wires to recharge these devices.

2. What historical antecedents gave rise to the inventions you mentioned in the first
question?
  A DNA fingerprint was discovered by accident by molecular biologist Alec Jeffreys
in 1984. According to Jeffreys, he had a “eureka moment” when observing an X-
ray film of a DNA experiment which unexpectedly revealed similarities and
differences between the DNA of members of one of his technician’s family. To
test this, Jeffreys effectively turned his lab into the first ever setting for a crime
scene DNA analysis.
 The internet. In August 1976, a team a scientists from the Stanford Research
Institute set up a computer terminal on a table around the back of the popular
bar Rossotti’s. While sipping beer from plastic cups in the California sunshine,
the pioneering researchers conducted what can be described as the first internet
transmission. Their experiment in this makeshift open air lab helped to prove
that the technology could work.
 Wireless electricity. In 2007, Professor Marin Soljacic from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) had the idea of transferring power from wired
infrastructure to devices using magnetic fields.

3. How did the developments in science and technology shape human history?
 Science shaped the society through technological advancement and growth as it
goes along with the development of the society, while on the other hand, Society
shaped science according to the demands of the society. Science influences the
people through its knowledge and how they would view things around
them.Technology has completely changed the way humans live, and therefore
has shaped human history. Telephones, the Internet, and engines allow people
and goods to move from place to place much quicker, and we can communicate
around the world instantly.