The History of Science and Technology: A Browser's Guide to the Great Discoveries, Inventions, and the People Who MadeThem from the Dawn of Time to Today

785 Pages·2004·13.03 MB·English

by  Bryan Bunch

The History of Science and Technology
A Browser’s Guide to
the Great Discoveries, Inventions,
and the People Who Made Them,
from the Dawn of Time to Today
THE
H I S T O R Y
OF
S C I E N C E
AND
T E C H N O L O G Y
BRYAN BUNCH with ALEXANDER HELLEMANS
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY / BOSTON • NEW YORK / 2004
Copyright © 2004 by Bryan Bunch and Alexander Hellemans
all rights reserved
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,
write to Permissions,Houghton Mifflin Company,215 Park Avenue South,
New York,New York 10003.
Visit our Web site:www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com.
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
isbn 0-618-22123-9
printed in the united states of america
Book Design:Robert Overholtzer and G & H Soho, Inc.
Produced by Scientific Publishing,Inc.
Editorial Assistant:Marianne Bunch
Composition and paging: G & H Soho, Inc.(Kathie Kounouklos)
Copyediting:Felice Levy
Illustration Research: Susan Hormuth
VB 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Introduction vii ESSAYS: Telling time 103 Alchemy from start to
finish 105 Early surgery 109 The other Omar
Science and Technology before Scientists:
Khayyám 113 Water for power 114 Cathedrals 116
through 599 BCE viii Wind power,Perpetual motion:an old dream 119 Water
for control 122 Impetus and inertia 132 Early
OVERVIEW: The Stone Ages 1 Knowledge among hunter-
mechanical clocks 133 Movable type 138
gatherers 1 The Agricultural Revolution and other
revolutions 2 Civilization 3 A note on dating 4
The Renaissance and the Scientific
Major advances 4
Revolution:1453 through 1659 140
ESSAYS: The best rocks for tools 11 Stone technologies of
the Old Stone Age 13 The first immigrants 14 Machines OVERVIEW: The Renaissance 141 The Scientific
that go around 15 The first ceramics 16 Stone technology Revolution 142 Technology 143 Major advances 143
ofthe Middle Stone Age and Neolithic 17 New materials:
ESSAYS: The mystery ofLeonardo da Vinci 149 Inventing
tooth,bone,and horn 18 The first machines 19 Trade
signs 154 Fossils:organisms turned to rock 155 Old
with distant peoples 20 What caused the Agricultural
and New World plants meet 157 The pepper plant’s
Revolution? 21 Building with brick and stone 23 Irrigation
story 159 1543:A great year in publishing 160
and the rise ofcivilization 24 Metals and early smelting 27
Gunpowder and guns in East and West 161 A great
City life 28 Inventing and writing numbers 29 The
scoundrel 162 The immutability ofthe heavens 166
invention ofthe wheel 31 The Iceman Ötzi 32
Replacing Aristotle’s physics 167 Galileo and
Mesopotamian mathematics 33 Early sailing 34 The
measurement 168 Pendulum myths 174 Galileo and his
calendar 35 How did the Egyptians build the pyramids? 36
telescope 167 Saturn’s rings 178 Francis Bacon and the
Paddles and oars 38 Early units ofmeasure 40 Egyptian
scientific method 181 Circulation ofthe blood 184
medicine 41 Santorini and Atlantis 43
The Church and astronomy 185 The first vacuums on
Earth 188 The advent ofelectricity 190
Science and Technology in Antiquity:
600BCEthrough 529 CE 50 Scientific Method:Measurement and
OVERVIEW: Philosophy,a precursor to science 51 The Communication:1660 through 1734 194
Hellenistic world and the Roman Empire 52 Other
OVERVIEW: European domination 195 The scientific
cultures ofthe period 52 Major advances 53
method 195 Science becomes a shared activity 196
ESSAYS: The first great explorers 57 The first known Major advances 196
date 58 Mathematics and mysticism 59 The elements 61
ESSAYS: The first statistician 199 Mad Madge,the
Early atomists 63 Three classic problems 64 Cast iron
scientist 203 Velocity oflight 208 Progress in
in China 68 Inventions ofArchimedes 71 Salt and the
keeping time 209 The nature oflight 210 Newton’s
fall ofcivilization 73 Domes,beams,columns,arches,
Principia 213 Recognizing the power ofsteam 215
trusses 74 Maps ofthe world 78 Why was the steam
The canal age 216 Phlogiston 218 Temperature 224
engine not used in Antiquity? 80 The great eruption of
Vesuvius 82 TheAlmagest 86
The Enlightenment and the Industrial
Medieval Science and Technology: Revolution:1735 through 1819 230
530 through 1452 92
OVERVIEW: Philosophy and science 231 The romantic
OVERVIEW: The decline ofscience in Europe 93 Science reaction 232 The Industrial Revolution 232
in China 93 Science and mathematics in India 94 Arab TheEncyclopédie 232 Rise ofthe engineer 233 Major
science 94 The revival ofscience in Europe 95 The advances 233
technology revolution ofthe Middle ages 96 Major
advances 97
v
Contents
ESSAYS: Cast iron in England 238 Introducing Newton The quantum 497 Antibiotics:“Magic bullets”against
to the French 240 Verifying Newton’s theory of disease 505 The limits ofmathematics 512 The Hale
gravitation 245 The French describe technology 247 telescope at Mt.Palomar 516 Early digital computers 522
The taming ofthe longitude 252 The Lunar Society 255 The mathematics ofNicolas Bourbaki 527 Creating
The atmospheric steam engine 257 The transit of elements 529 The Manhattan project 533 The first
Venus 259 Steam engines power machines 266 working computers 535 Scientists and defense 538
When was the Industrial Revolution? 270 Flight 274
Neptunism v.Plutonism 276 Boulton & Watt 278 Big Science and the Post-Industrial Society:
A continuing search for fiber 281 An American 1946 through 1972 540
genius 285 Machine tools 296 Railroads,trains,and
locomotives 298 OVERVIEW: The cold war and new technology 541 Big
science 542 Specialization and changing categories 542
Technology changes society 542 Major advances 543
Science and Technology in the 19th Century:
ESSAYS: From tubes to chips 554 The force ofthe
1820 through 1894 308
vacuum 560 Discovering DNA 569 Nuclear power 573
OVERVIEW: Science becomes professional 309 National Stopping an epidemic 575 Higher computer
differences 309 The philosophical basis of19th-century languages 577 God is left-handed 581 The space
science 310 Science and the public 311 Science and race 583 Lasers 591 The chip 592 Seeing the whole
technology 311 Major advances 311 sky 594 Quasars 598 Ecology and sociobiology 602
Plate tectonics 611 Unifying the forces 612 Exploring
ESSAYS: Electricity and magnetism 320 The nature of the planets 619 Scanning the body 621
heat 325 Understanding fossils 326 Non-Euclidean
geometry 331 Galois and group theory 337 United The Information Age:1973 through 2003 624
States railroads 341 Intellectual and technological
property 342 The telegraph 353 Predicting the OVERVIEW: Information and society 625
planets 357 Nitrogen:A matter oflife and death 358 Globalization 626 The post-industrial society 626
The Crystal Palace 366 The value ofπ 370 The cell Science questioned 627 Problems ofthe Information
theory 372 Color and chemistry 374 The theory of Age 628 Major Advances 628
evolution 377 A chemist revolutionizes medicine 385
ESSAYS: Genetic engineering 641 Strings to branes 643
Field theories 387 Organic chemistry 389 Perpetual
Monoclonal antibodies 645 The first successful home
motion:a 19th century obsession 392 America’s
computer 649 The return ofcatastrophism 656 The
greatest inventor 395 The periodic table 399 The Bell
space shuttle 659 Humans learn to copy DNA 662
telephone 404 The germ theory ofdisease 406
AIDS 663 Missing mass 667 High-temperature
Lights and lighting 410 The feminine brain (a 19th
superconductors 672 Communicating with light 677
century view) 419 Does the ether exist? 424 The
Alternative energy sources 680 Measuring with
skyscraper 427 The perfect machine:the turbine 429
waves,seeing with fringes 695 Spin –– not just for
The development ofradio 436
politicians 697 Time shifting 701 Dark energy 702
Neutrino mass 703 The Human Genome Project 709
Rise of Modern Science and Technology:
1895 through 1945 438 Further reading 720
OVERVIEW: The growth of20th-century science 439 New Index 722
philosophies 439 Quantum reality 440 Energy
wherever needed 440 Electricity:a revolution in Illustration credits 776
technology 441 Science and technology 441 Major
advances 442
ESSAYS: Invisible radiation 452 Atoms have parts 455
The discovery ofgenes 459 Relativity 469 The age of
Earth 473 Composites 488 The size ofthe universe 494
vi
Introduction
W
elcome to a complicated Instead,chronicle entries are often The History ofScience and Technologyis
book that I think will be expanded to give a very briefprécis of based on two earlier books:Timetables of
easy to read and use. the meaning ofterms or the impact of Scienceby Alexander Hellemans and
Most histories ofscience a discovery on science or society. Bryan Bunch;and Timetables ofTechnolo-
or technology present a highly selected As a part ofthe chronicle,brief gyby Bryan Bunch and Alexander Helle-
story ofthe most important discover- biographies,set offin boxes,are pro- mans.Many ofthe essays,portions ofthe
ies.The History ofScience and Tech- vided for the most important scientists chapter introductions,and chronicle
nologytakes a different approach. or inventors. These biographies are entries were originally written by Helle-
While there are narrative accounts of placed near the first mentioned mans for these books.Hellemans also
more than a hundred different topics achievement ofthe scientist or inventor contributed some new chronicle entries
–– these are the short essays that have and provide information on the birth and essays to this book.But the present
gray backgrounds to distinguish them and death places and dates within the selection and arrangement ofmaterial as
from other elements ofthe book –– box. Most other scientists or inventors well as all editing is entirely my responsi-
the main body ofthe book is a chroni- have birth and death information bility,including ofcourse any errors of
cle ofvirtually everything that has hap- shown within square brackets at the fact or interpretation.
pened in science and technology, first mention.
including false steps and ignored pre- The square brackets for birth and I want to thank especially my agent,John
cursors.Cross references,labeled See death information are one ofseveral W.Wright,who has not only supported
also,direct the reader to the related typographical devices used throughout this book and its predecessors,but con-
material that begins,continues,or con- the book.Another is the use ofplace tributed to the structures that make these
cludes a line ofinvestigation.Thus, names in parentheses that provide the books work in their own rather unusual
there are thousands ofseparate histo- modern names for nations and some- ways,and also Gordon Hardy,my editor
ries embedded in the chronicle section. times cities. For example,the city at Houghton Mifflin,for his patience
A comprehensive index provides yet known as Königsberg during the 19th during a long production process.
another way to follow a particular line century is further identified by its cur- Thanks also go to my friends Jenny Tesar,
ofdevelopment. rent name as (Kaliningrad,Russia) or whose help with the history ofbiology
The History ofScience and Technology an ancient city such as Nineveh is was invaluable,and the artist James
is separated into ten chapters,each rep- identified by the modern name ofthe Koran Davis,who not only concerned
resenting a major division ofthe history country where its ruins are found, himselfwith the progress ofthe book on
ofscience and technology.The intro- (Iraq). Many book titles or words are a regular basis but also contributed a
ductions to these chapters provide a given in their original language but number ofdrawings and photographs
more conventional history,with the translated in a combination ofparen- that make it possible to visualize some of
emphasis on the character and philoso- theses with quotations marks,as for the ideas and inventions.My wife Mary
phy ofthe period,the new ideas or example,Galileo’s Dialogo sopra i due did a lot ofeverything to make this pro-
methods that emerged during the peri- massimi sistemi del mundo,Tolemaico e ject happen,from research to reading to
od,and the major advances in each Copernico(“dialogue concerning the indexing,and at the same time put up
branch ofscience or technology. two chiefworld systems,Ptolemaic with a husband who spent an inordinate
Throughout the chronicle an effort and Copernican”).Dates are given amount oftime shut away with the his-
has been made to do more than simply throughout in terms ofCE(“common tory ofscience and technology.
list the achievements,which might be era”) and BCE(“before common era”).
recognized by a scientist or mathemati- The dating system is explained more Bryan Bunch
cian but not by the ordinary reader. fully on page 4. Pleasant Valley,New York
vii

Science and Technology
before Scientists: through 599
BCE
A
lthough early humans and Leakey and others,and since found tools,or toolkit or industry,continued
their ancestors understood elsewhere in Africa as well.It is cus- for more than a million years before a
many natural laws and devel- tomary to think that those tools were different stone tool emerged.Various
oped skills for making useful made by one ofour direct ancestors, types ofpoints,often considered to be
tools,no one person could be described perhaps Homo habilisorH.rudolfensis spearheads,knives,arrowheads,or teeth
as the first scientist.Nameless Egyp- 2,500,000 years ago.Despite this com- (such as saws’teeth) were devised.They
tians,Sumerians,Chinese,Maya,and mon assumption,some evidence sug- became parts ofdifferent toolkits used
others worked out mathematical rules, gests that the first stone tools were by different societies oflater species,
cured illnesses,built great structures, made by those early relatives not on the such as H.heidelbergensisandH.nean-
created new materials,and learned how direct line to modern humans,the aus- derthalensis(600,000 to 30,000 years
to read the stars and planets –– but tralopithecines. ago),as well as by our own species,H.
their successes were largely a collection The early tools associated with H. sapiens(which may be 200,000 years
ofskills,rather than a science.Science habilisandH.rudolfensiswere simple old).Other stone tools from this period
as an organized body ofthought is usu- broken pebbles.The next technology included awls or needles as well as
ally identified with the Ionian school of we know ofcame after different species burins (engraving tools).
Greek philosophers (about 600 bce) or emerged,H.ergasterandH.erectus The New Stone Age,or Neolithic,
later,perhaps as late as the Scientific (1,800,000 years ago).These African occupies a much shorter time than the
Revolution ofthe 17th century.The and Asian humans greatly improved Old Stone Age.Various criteria produce
Ionian philosophers made a serious stone tools by flaking pieces offa core, different starting dates for the Neolithic,
effort to develop a rational basis for the creating distinctive shapes with only a but in terms ofthe kinds ofstone tools
universe,although few ofthose early single cutting edge that we call hand manufactured,such as ground stone axe
thinkers could be called scientists or axes (or bifaces) and scrapers or chop- or adze heads and small points called
mathematicians in the modern sense of pers.The hammerstone used to work microliths,the period began as early as
the word. the other tools could be thought ofas 20,000 years ago in Europe and ended
Advances in knowledge,skills,and the first “machine tool.” when metal came into common use,
technology,however,had been part of Today we are so accustomed to the about 5,000 years ago.In other regions,
human history long before our ances- idea ofa time called the Stone Age that Neolithic technology persisted much
tors were fully human.We begin by it is easy to forget that the expression later,with some stone tools,such as
considering the arts,inventions,and was coined less than two centuries ago arrowheads,still in use in the 20th cen-
understandings ofthis early period, by Christian Jurgensen Thomsen for a tury in a few societies.
which might be classified as crafts or project started in 1816.He divided early
technology. artifacts for a museum collection into
Knowledge among hunter-gatherers
stone,bronze,and iron.The museum
catalog,published in 1836,enshrined The great apes live primarily by forag-
The Stone Ages
the Stone,Bronze,and Iron ages.In ing,rather than gathering –– the differ-
Stone tools have long been the first rec- 1865 Sir John Lubbock further subdi- ence being that a gatherer brings food
ognized technology.It is almost certain vided the Stone Age into the Old Stone picked up in various places back to a
that wooden tools preceded stone by Age and the New Stone Age.After these central location for consumption or
millions ofyears,but wood survives simple names were translated into the storage whereas a forager eats the food
only in exceptional circumstances. Greek-derived technical terms Paleolith- on site.There is no reason to suppose
Therefore,we must begin with the icandNeolithic,a middle stone age,the that the earliest hominids were gather-
stone tools first found in the Olduvai Mesolithicwas added. ers,but there is some evidence that H.
Gorge in Tanzania by Louis and Mary The hand axe and scraper set of habilisandH.rudolfensisoccupied cer-
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