Science Year by Year. A Visual History, From Stone Tools to Space Travel

290 Pages·2017·66.07 MB·English

Science
Y E A R B Y Y E A R
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Contents
3 mya–800 ce 800–1545 1545–1790
Before science New ideas The age of
began discovery
8 3 mya–8000 bce 34 800–945 62 1545–1570
10 Farming begins 36 Anatomy 64 Measuring things
12 8000–3000 bce 38 945–1045 66 1570–1590
14 Cave art 40 Medieval medicine 68 Galileo Galilei
16 3000–2000 bce 42 1045–1145 70 1590–1610
18 Metalworking 44 Astronomy 72 Paths in the sky
20 2000–1000 bce 46 1145–1245 74 1610–1630
22 Stonehenge 48 Roger Bacon 76 Healing people
24 1000 bce–1 ce 50 1245–1345 78 1630–1650
26 Ancient architecture 52 History of gunpowder 80 Telling the time
28 1–800 ce 54 1345–1445 82 1650–1670
30 Aristotle 56 1445–1545 84 Looking closely
58 Leonardo da Vinci 86 1670–1690
88 Isaac Newton
90 1690–1710
92 Traveling the world
94 1710–1730
96 Celestial atlas
98 1730–1750
100 1750–1770
102 Studying weather
104 The Little Ice Age
106 1770–1790
Traveling through time
The earliest events in this book took place a very long time ago.
Some dates may be followed by the letters “mya,” short for “Million
Years Ago.” Other dates have bce or ce after them. These are short
for “Before the Common Era” and “Common Era.” The Common Era
began with the birth of Christ. Where the exact date of an event is
not known, the letter “c” is used. This is short for the Latin word
circa, meaning “round,” and indicates that the date is approximate.
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1790–1895 1895–1945 1945–present day
Revolutions The atomic age Modern science
110 1790–1805 158 1895–1900 196 1945–1950
112 Nature travels 160 1900–1905 198 The code of life
114 1805–1815 162 Taking to the skies 200 1950–1955
116 Studying fossils 164 1905–1910 202 Rachel Carson
118 1815–1825 166 1910–1915 204 1955–1960
120 Understanding evolution 168 The story of the atom 206 1960–1965
122 1825–1835 170 1915–1920 208 Ear on the Universe
124 Calculating machines 172 Albert Einstein 210 1965–1970
126 1835–1845 174 1920–1925 212 The space race
128 Stephenson’s locomotive 176 Driving around 214 1970–1975
130 The story of engines 178 1925–1930 216 1975–1980
132 1845–1855 180 Marie Curie 218 1980–1985
134 Charles Darwin 182 1930–1935 220 Changing climate
136 Studying light 184 Zooming in on the details 222 1985–1990
138 1855–1865 186 1935–1940 224 Stephen Hawking
140 Powering our world 188 Periodic table 226 1990–1995
142 Louis Pasteur 190 1940–1945 228 A connected world
144 1865–1875 192 The Trinity Test 230 Snaps from space
146 Learning chemistry 232 1995–2000
148 1875–1885 234 Robotics
150 Communication 236 2000–2005
152 Magnifying Transmitter 238 2005–2010
154 1885–1895 240 A smashing time
242 2010–2015
244 Nanotechnology
246 2015 onward
248 Reference
282 Glossary
284 Index
287 Acknowledgments
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3 –800
mya ce
Before science began
The earliest scientific discoveries of our ancestors—such as the use of fire
and the start of farming—happened long before the first civilizations arose
around 4000 bce. Once people became settled, the pace of change quickened.
The Babylonians made advances in astronomy, the Greeks developed medicine
and mathematics, and the Romans led the way in engineering. After the fall
of the Western Roman Empire in 476 ce, however, much scientific
knowledge was lost for centuries.
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3 8000
mya▶ bce
400,000
bce
Hunting with spears
Around this date, early hunters began
to use wooden sticks as spears. These
The earliest musical
tools had sharpened ends and could be
instruments found thrust or thrown, which meant prey
could be targeted from greater
are flutes more
distances. By about 200,000 bce,
than 40,000 years stone points were added to
the spears, making them
old, made out of
more effective.
bird bones and
The oldest-known wooden
mammoth ivory.
spears were found at
Schöningen, Germany.
790,000
bce
First use of fire
Human ancestors may have known how to
make and control fire as far back as 1.5 million
years ago. The earliest traces of domestic fire
are hearths at the site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in
Israel, dating from 790,000 bce. With fire, people
Early hunter
could cook and eat a wider range of foods.
aims his spear
3 400,000 125,000
mya
c 2.6 mya–250,000 bce STONE TOOLS
The first objects known to
71,000
have been purpose-made 1: Stone bce
core is
by our ancestors were prepared Bows and arrows
stone tools. The oldest, Small stone arrowheads
from Lake Turkana found in South Africa
show that humans had
in Kenya, date back
learned how to make bows
3.3 million years. The and arrows by 71,000 bce.
2: Flakes
toolmakers used one stone Such weapons were more
struck off
efficient than spears. A
to strike small flakes off in a pattern
person could carry many
another stone, creating Oldowan arrows on a hunt and bring
cutting tool
a sharp cutting edge. down prey at long range.
Tools made in this way are
3: Final shape
described as “Oldowan.” of tool emerges
Levallois technique
Handaxes Around 325,000 years ago,
stoneworkers started using a
The Oldowan stone tools were fairly crude.
tool-making technique, now
Then, around 1.76 million years ago, a new
known as Levallois. In this, they
method of working stone appeared. Known
cut flake tools in a deliberate
as Acheulean, it involved flaking off two
pattern from a stone core.
sides of the stone to create a double edge,
and shaping the bottom to make it easy to
grip. Such tools are called handaxes. Acheulean handax Early arrowhead
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