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Assignment on Math & Science Discovery

Throughout the Ancient History

Submitted By

MD Fahad Hossen- 18303063

Anirudha Bar- 19103013

Farzana Yasmin- 19203033

MD Saker Abdullah- 20103033

Submitted To

Kaniz Farzana

Subject

Hum 101 - World Civilization & Culture

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Letter of Transmittal

14, June, 2020

Prof. Kaniz Farzana

Faculty of World Civilization & Culture

Subject: Submission of an Assignment on “Math & Science Discovery Throughout the Ancient
History”

Dear Sir,

It is a great pleasure that you have given me an opportunity to submit the Assignment on “Math
& Science Discovery Throughout the Ancient History” Which was assigned by you. I tried my
level best to observe, identify and recommend its business process. For preparation of the project
I have collected information from social media and also my personal experience.

I have tried at my best to avoid my deficiencies and hope that my project will satisfy you and I
also would like to thank you again for giving me the opportunity to submit the project.

Sincerely yours,

MD Fahad Hossen

ID No: 18303063

Department Of BBA

Canadian University of Bangladesh

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Acknowledgement

First, I would like to pay gratitude to almighty Allah by whose grace and blessings we have able to conduct
this report. Then we would like to thank to Kaniz Farzana who sincerely supervised our work by providing
valuable ideas, concepts, guidance and suggestion.

The outcome of any particular report depends on hard work and contribution of people. To make the
report my team mates Anirudha Bar, MD Saker Abdullah, Farzana Yasmin is helping most. The information
of the report is based on my real-life experience and also using internet.
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Summary

Introduction: The history of science and mathematics are nearly as old as humanity itself. Since antiquity,
mathematics has been fundamental to advances in science, engineering, and philosophy.

Pre-historic: The origins of mathematical thought lie in the concepts of number, magnitude and form.
Modern studies of animal cognition have shown that these concepts are not unique to humans.

Babylonian: Babylonian mathematics refers to any mathematics of the peoples of Mesopotamia (modern
Iraq) from the days of the early Sumerians through the Hellenistic period almost to the dawn of
Christianity.

Egyptian: Egyptian mathematics refers to mathematics written in the Egyptian language. From the
Hellenistic period Greek replaced Egyptian as the written language of Egyptian scholars.

Greek: Greek mathematics refers to the mathematics written in the Greek language from the time of
Thales Miletus (~600 BC) to the closure of the Academy of Athens in 529 AD.

Roman: Although ethnic Greek mathematicians continued under the rule of the late Roman Republic and
subsequent Roman Empire, there were no noteworthy native Latin mathematicians in comparison

Islamic World: Mathematics during the Golden Age of Islam, especially during the 9th and 10th centuries,
was built on Greek mathematics and Indian mathematics

Western Europe: The area of study known as the history of mathematics is primarily an investigation into
the origin of discoveries in mathematics and, to a lesser extent.

Indian: Indian mathematics emerged in the Indian subcontinent from 1200 BC until the end of the 18th
century.

Chinese World: Mathematics in China emerged independently by the 11th century BC. The Chinese
independently developed a real number system that includes significantly large and negative numbers.

Impact of science in Europe: The renewal of learning in Europe began with 12th century Scholasticism.

Physics: The scientific revolution is a convenient boundary between ancient thought and classical physics.

Chemistry: Modern chemistry emerged from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries through the
material practices and theories promoted by alchemy, medicine, manufacturing and mining

Biology and Medicine: William Harvey published De Motu Cordis in 1628, which revealed his conclusions
based on his extensive studies of vertebrate circulatory systems

Conclusion: So, the founders of modern science were inheriting a great deal. They were building on a
great deal.
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Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................... 6
Pre-historic ............................................................................................................ 7
Babylonian ............................................................................................................. 8
Egyptian ............................................................................................................... 10
Greek ................................................................................................................... 11
Roman ................................................................................................................. 13
Islamic World ....................................................................................................... 15
Western Europe ................................................................................................... 16
Indian ................................................................................................................... 17
Chinese World ..................................................................................................... 19
Impact of science in Europe ................................................................................. 21
Physics ................................................................................................................. 22
Chemistry............................................................................................................. 24
Biology and Medicine........................................................................................... 25
Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 26
Reference ............................................................................................................ 26
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Introduction

The history of science and mathematics are nearly as old as humanity itself. Since antiquity,
mathematics has been fundamental to advances in science, engineering, and philosophy. It has
evolved from simple counting, measurement and calculation, and the systematic study of the
shapes and motions of physical objects, through the application of abstraction, imagination and
logic, to the broad, complex and often abstract discipline we know today.

From the notched bones of early man to the mathematical and scientific advances brought about
by settled agriculture in Mesopotamia and Egypt and the revolutionary developments of ancient
Greece and its Hellenistic empire, the story of mathematics and science are a long and impressive
one.

The East carried on the baton, particularly China, India and the medieval Islamic empire before
the focus of mathematical innovation moved back to Europe in the late Middle
Ages and Renaissance. Then, a whole new series of revolutionary developments occurred in 17th
Century and 18th Century Europe, setting the stage for the increasing complexity and abstraction
of 19th Century mathematics, and finally the audacious and sometimes devastating discoveries
of the 20th Century.

From the 18th through the late 20th century, the history of science, especially of the physical and
biological sciences, was often presented as a progressive accumulation of knowledge, in which
true theories replaced false beliefs. More recent historical interpretations, such as those
of Thomas Kuhn, tend to portray the history of science in terms of competing paradigms or
conceptual systems within a wider matrix of intellectual, cultural, economic and political trends.
These interpretations, however, have met with opposition for they also portray the history of
science as an incoherent system of incommensurable paradigms, not leading to any actual
scientific progress but only to the illusion that it has occurred.
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Pre-historic

The origins of mathematical thought lie in the concepts of number, magnitude and form. Modern
studies of animal cognition have shown that these concepts are not unique to humans. Such
concepts would have been part of everyday life in hunter-gatherer societies. The idea of the
"number" concept evolving gradually over time is supported by the existence of languages which
preserve the distinction between "one", "two", and "many", but not of numbers larger than two.

Prehistoric Artifact discovered in Africa, dated 20,000 years old or more suggest early attempts
to quantify time. The Ishango bone, found near the headwaters of the Nile river
(northeastern Congo), may be more than 20,000 years old and consists of a series of marks
carved in three columns running the length of the bone. Common interpretations are that the
Ishango bone shows either a tally of the earliest known demonstration of sequence of prime
number or a six-month lunar calendar. Peter Rudman argues that the development of the
concept of prime numbers could only have come about after the concept of division, which he
dates to after 10,000 BC, with prime numbers probably not being understood until about 500 BC.
He also writes that "no attempt has been made to explain why a tally of something should exhibit
multiples of two, prime numbers between 10 and 20, and some numbers that are almost
multiples of 10. The Ishango bone, according to scholar Alexander Marshack, may have
influenced the later development of mathematics in Egypt as, like some entries on the Ishango
bone, Egyptian arithmetic also made use of multiplication by 2; this however, is disputed.

Many ancient civilizations systematically collected astronomical observations. Rather than

speculating on the material nature of the planets and stars, the ancients charted the relative
positions of celestial bodies, often inferring their influence on human individuals and humankind.
This demonstrates how ancient investigators generally employed a holistic intuition, assuming
the interconnectedness of all things, whereas modern science rejects such conceptual leaps.

Basic facts about human physiology were known in some places, and alchemy was practiced in
several civilizations. Considerable observation of macroscopic flora and fauna was also
performed.
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Babylonian

Babylonian mathematics refers to any mathematics of the peoples

of Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) from the days of the early Sumerians through the Hellenistic
period almost to the dawn of Christianity. The majority of Babylonian mathematical work comes
from two widely separated periods: The first few hundred years of the second millennium BC
(Old Babylonian period), and the last few centuries of the first millennium BC (Seleucid period). It
is named Babylonian mathematics due to the central role of Babylon as a place of study. Later
under the Arab empire, Mesopotamia, especially Bagdad, once again became an important
center of study for Islamic mathematics.

Geometry problem on a clay tablet belonging to a school for scribes; Susa, first half of the 2nd
millennium BCE

In contrast to the sparsity of sources in Egyptian mathematics, our knowledge of Babylonian

mathematics is derived from more than 400 clay tablets unearthed since the 1850s. Written
in Cuneiform script, tablets were inscribed whilst the clay was moist, and baked hard in an oven
or by the heat of the sun. Some of these appear to be graded homework.

The earliest evidence of written mathematics dates back to the ancient Sumerians, who built the
earliest civilization in Mesopotamia. They developed a complex system of metrology from 3000
BC. From around 2500 BC onwards, the Sumerians wrote multiplication table on clay tablets and
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dealt with geometrical exercises and division problems. The earliest traces of the Babylonian
numerals also date back to this period.

Other topics covered by Babylonian mathematics include fractions, algebra, quadratic and cubic
equations, and the calculation of regular reciprocal pairs. The tablets also include multiplication
tables and methods for solving linear, quadratic equation and cubic equation, a remarkable
achievement for the time. Tablets from the Old Babylonian period also contain the earliest known
statement of the Pythagorean theorem However, as with Egyptian mathematics, Babylonian
mathematics shows no awareness of the difference between exact and approximate solutions,
or the solvability of a problem, and most importantly, no explicit statement of the need
for proofs or logical principles.

In Babylonian astronomy records of the motions of the stars, planets, and the moon are left on
thousands of clay tablets created by scribes. Even today, astronomical periods identified by
Mesopotamian proto-scientists are still widely used in Western calendars such as the solar
year and the lunar month. Using these data they developed arithmetical methods to compute
the changing length of daylight in the course of the year and to predict the appearances and
disappearances of the Moon and planets and eclipses of the Sun and Moon. Only a few
astronomers' names are known, such as that of kidinnu a Chaldean astronomer and
mathematician. Kiddinu's value for the solar year is in use for today's calendars. Babylonian
astronomy was "the first and highly successful attempt at giving a refined mathematical
description of astronomical phenomena." According to the historian A. Aaboe, "all subsequent
varieties of scientific astronomy, in the Hellenistic world, in India, in Islam, and in the West—if
not indeed all subsequent endeavor in the exact sciences—depend upon Babylonian astronomy
in decisive and fundamental ways.
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Egyptian

Egyptian mathematics refers to mathematics written in the Egyptian language. From

the Hellenistic period Greek replaced Egyptian as the written language of Egyptian scholars.
Mathematical study in Egypt later continued under the Arab Empire as part of Islamic
mathematics, when Arabic became the written language of Egyptian scholars.

The most extensive Egyptian mathematical text is the Rhind Papyrus (sometimes also called the
Ahmes Papyrus after its author), dated to c. 1650 BC but likely a copy of an older document from
the middle kingdom of about 2000–1800 BC. It is an instruction manual for students in arithmetic
and geometry. In addition to giving area formulas and methods for multiplication, division and
working with unit fractions, it also contains evidence of other mathematical
knowledge, including composite and prime numbers; arithmetic, geometric and harmonic
means; and simplistic understandings of both the Sieve Eratosthenes and perfect number theory
(namely, that of the number 6). It also shows how to solve first order linear equation as well
as arithmetic and geometric series.

Another significant Egyptian mathematical text is the Moscow papyrus, also from the Middle
kingdom period, dated to c. 1890 BC. It consists of what are today called word problems or story
problems, which were apparently intended as entertainment. One problem is considered to be
of particular importance because it gives a method for finding the volume of a frustum (truncated
pyramid).

Image of Problem 14 from the Moscow mathematical papyrus. The problem includes a diagram
indicating the dimensions of the truncated pyramid
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Finally, the Berlin papyrus (c. 1800 BC) shows that ancient Egyptians could solve a second-
order algebraic equation.

Egypt was also a center of alchemy research for much of the Mediterranean. The Edwin Smith
papyrus is one of the first medical documents still extant, and perhaps the earliest document that
attempts to describe and analyse the brain: it might be seen as the very beginnings of
modern neuroscience. However, while Egyptian medicine had some effective practices, it was
often ineffective and sometimes harmful. Medical historians believe that ancient Egyptian
pharmacology, for example, was largely ineffective. Nevertheless, it applied the following
components to the treatment of disease: examination, diagnosis, treatment, and
prognosis, which display strong parallels to the basic empirical method of science and, according
to G.E.R. Lloyd, played a significant role in the development of this methodology. The Ebers
papyrus (c. 1550 BC) also contains evidence of traditional empiricism.

Greek

Greek mathematics refers to the mathematics written in the Greek language from the time
of Thales Miletus (~600 BC) to the closure of the Academy of Athens in 529 AD. Greek
mathematicians lived in cities spread over the entire Eastern Mediterranean, from Italy to North
Africa, but were united by culture and language. Greek mathematics of the period
following Alexander the great is sometimes called Hellenistic mathematics.

Greek mathematics was much more sophisticated than the mathematics that had been
developed by earlier cultures. All surviving records of pre-Greek mathematics show the use of
inductive reasoning, that is, repeated observations used to establish rules of thumb. Greek
mathematicians, by contrast, used deductive reasoning. The Greeks used logic to derive
conclusions from definitions and axioms, and used mathematical rigor to prove them.

Greek mathematics is thought to have begun with Thales of Miletus (c. 624–c.546 BC)
and Pythagoras of Samos (c. 582–c. 507 BC). Although the extent of the influence is disputed,
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they were probably inspired by Egyptian and Babylon mathematics. According to legend,
Pythagoras traveled to Egypt to learn mathematics, geometry, and astronomy from Egyptian
priests.

Thales used geometry to solve problems such as calculating the height of pyramids and the
distance of ships from the shore. He is credited with the first use of deductive reasoning applied
to geometry, by deriving four corollaries to Thales theorem. As a result, he has been hailed as the
first true mathematician and the first known individual to whom a mathematical discovery has
been attributed. Pythagoras established the Pythagorean School, whose doctrine it was that
mathematics ruled the universe and whose motto were "All is number". It was the Pythagoreans
who coined the term "mathematics", and with whom the study of mathematics for its own sake
begins. The Pythagoreans are credited with the first proof of the Pythagorean theorem though
the statement of the theorem has a long history, and with the proof of the existence of irrational
number Although he was preceded by the Babylonians and the Chinese the Neopythagorean
mathematician Nichomus (60–120 AD) provided one of the earliest Greco-Roman Multiplication
tables whereas the oldest extant Greek multiplication table is found on a wax tablet dated to the
1st century AD (now found in the British museum) The association of the Neopythagoreans with
the Western invention of the multiplication table is evident in its later Medieval name: the mensa
Pythagorica.

The Pythagorean theorem. The Pythagorean are generally credited with the first proof of the
theorem.
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The astronomer Aristarchus Samos was the first known person to propose a heliocentric model
of the solar system, while the geographer Eratosthenes accurately calculated the circumference
of the Earth. Hipparchus (c. 190 – c. 120 BC) produced the first systematic star catalog. The level
of achievement in Hellenistic astronomy and engineering is impressively shown by
the Antikythera Mechanism (150–100 BC), an analog computer for calculating the position of
planets. Technological artifacts of similar complexity did not reappear until the 14th century,
when mechanical astronomical clock appeared in Europe.

In medicine, Hipprocrates (c. 460 BC – c. 370 BC) and his followers were the first to describe many
diseases and medical conditions and developed the Hippocratic Oath for physicians, still relevant
and in use today. Herophilos (335–280 BC) was the first to base his conclusions on dissection of
the human body and to describe the nervous system. Galen (129 – c. 200 AD) performed many
audacious operations—including brain and eye Surgeries— that were not tried again for almost
two millennia.

Roman

Although ethnic Greek mathematicians continued under the rule of the late Roman Republic and
subsequent Roman Empire, there were no noteworthy native Latin mathematicians in
comparison. Ancient Roman such as Cicero (106–43 BC), an influential Roman statesman who
studied mathematics in Greece, believed that Roman surveyors and calculators were far more
interested in applied mathematics than the theoretical mathematics and geometry that were
prized by the Greeks. It is unclear if the Romans first derived their numerical directly from the
Greek precedent or from Etruscan civilization used by the Etruscan civilization centered in what
is now Tuscany, central Italy.

Using calculation, Romans were adept at both instigating and detecting financial fruad, as well
as managing taxes for the treasury. Siculus Flaccus one of the Roman gramatic (i.e. land
surveyor), wrote the Categories of Fields, which aided Roman surveyors in measuring the surface
areas of allotted lands and territories. Aside from managing trade and taxes, the Romans also
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regularly applied mathematics to solve problems in engineering, including the erection

of architecture such as bridges, road-building, and preparation for military campaigns. Arts and
Crafts such as Roman mosaics, inspired by previous Greek designs, created illusionist geometric
patterns and rich, detailed scenes that required precise measurements for each tessera tile,
the opus tessellatum pieces on average measuring eight millimeters square and the finer opus
vermiculatum pieces having an average surface of four millimeters square.

The creation of the Roman calendar also necessitated basic mathematics. The first calendar
allegedly dates back to 8th century BC during the Roman Kingdom and included 356 days plus
a leap year every other year. In contrast, the lunar calendar of the Republican era contained 355
days, roughly ten-and-one-fourth days shorter than the solar year, a discrepancy that was solved
by adding an extra month into the calendar after the 23rd of February. This calendar was
supplanted by the Julian calendar, a solar calendar organized by Julius Caesar (100–44 BC) and
devised by Sosigenese of alexander to include a leap day every four years in a 365-day cycle. This
calendar, which contained an error of 11 minutes and 14 seconds, was later corrected by
the Gregorian calendar organized by Pope Gregory (r. 1572–1585), virtually the same solar
calendar used in modern times as the international standard calendar.

Equipment used by an ancient Roman land surveyor (gromatici) found at the site of Aquincum
modern Budapest, Hungary
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Islamic World

Mathematics during the Golden Age of Islam, especially during the 9th and 10th centuries, was
built on Greek mathematics and Indian mathematics. Important progress was made, such as the
full development of the decimal place-value system to include decimal fractions, the first
systematized study of algebra (named for The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion
and Balancing by scholar Al-Khwarizmi), and advances in geometry and trigonometry.
Arabic works also played an important role in the transmission of mathematics to Europe during
the 10th to 12th centuries. The study of algebra, the name of which is derived from the Arabic
word meaning completion or "reunion of broken parts", flourished during the Islamic golden age.
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, a scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, is along with
the Greek mathematician Diaphanous, known as the father of algebra. Omar Khayyam (c.
1038/48 in Iran – 1123/24) wrote the Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra
containing the systematic solution of cubic or third-order equations, going beyond the Algebra
of al-Khwārizmī. Khayyám obtained the solutions of these equations by finding the intersection
points of two conic sections. This method had been used by the Greeks, but they did not
generalize the method to cover all equations with positive roots. Sharaf al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (? in Tus,
Iran – 1213/4) developed a novel approach to the investigation of cubic equations—an approach
which entailed finding the point at which a cubic polynomial obtains its maximum value. In the
9th century, Islamic mathematicians were familiar with negative numbers from the works of
Indian mathematicians, but the recognition and use of negative numbers during this period
remained timid.
Between the 9th and 10th centuries, the Egyptian mathematician Abu Kamil wrote a now-lost
treatise on the use of double false position, known as the Book of the Two Errors. The oldest
surviving writing on double false position from the Middle East is that of Qusta ibn Luqa (10th
century), an Arab mathematician from Baalbek, Lebanon. He justified the technique by a formal,
Euclidean-style geometric proof.
In the history of science, Islamic science refers to the science developed under the Islamic
civilization between the 7th and 16th centuries, especially during the Islamic Golden Age. It is
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also sometimes known as Arabic science due to most texts during this period being written in
Arabic, the lingua franca of the Islamic civilization. Despite these names, not all scientists during
this period were Muslim or Arab, as there were a number of notable non-Arab scientists, as well
as some non-Muslim scientists, contributing to science in the Islamic civilization. Islam science
was created in the 8th century in the golden age and that lasted from the 8th century to the 14th
century.

Western Europe

The area of study known as the history of mathematics is primarily an investigation into the origin
of discoveries in mathematics and, to a lesser extent, an investigation into the mathematical
methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of
knowledge, written examples of new mathematical developments have come to light only in a
few locales. From 3000 BC the Mesopotamian states of Sumer, Akkad and Assyria, together with
Ancient Egypt and Ebla began using arithmetic, algebra and geometry for purposes of taxation,
commerce, trade and also in the field of astronomy and to formulate calendars and record time.
The study of mathematics as a "demonstrative discipline" begins in the 6th century BC with the
Pythagoreans, who coined the term "mathematics" from the ancient Greek, meaning "subject of
instruction". Greek mathematics greatly refined the methods (especially through the
introduction of deductive reasoning and mathematical rigor in proofs) and expanded the subject
matter of mathematics.
Prehistoric artifacts discovered in Africa, dated 20,000 years old or more suggest early attempts
to quantify time. The Ishango bone, found near the headwaters of the Nile river (northeastern
Congo), may be more than 20,000 years old and consists of a series of marks carved in three
columns running the length of the bone. Common interpretations are that the Ishango bone
shows either a tally of the earliest known demonstration of sequences of prime numbers or a six-
month lunar calendar. Babylonian mathematics refers to any mathematics of the peoples of
Mesopotamia from the days of the early Sumerians through the Hellenistic period almost to the
dawn of Christianity. The majority of Babylonian mathematical work comes from two widely
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separated periods: The first few hundred years of the second millennium BC (Old Babylonian
period), and the last few centuries of the first millennium BC (Seleucid period). It is named
Babylonian mathematics due to the central role of Babylon as a place of study. Later under the
Arab Empire, Mesopotamia, especially Baghdad, once again became an important center of study
for Islamic mathematics. Egyptian mathematics refers to mathematics written in the Egyptian
language. From the Hellenistic period, Greek replaced Egyptian as the written language of
Egyptian scholars. Mathematical study in Egypt later continued under the Arab Empire as part of
Islamic mathematics, when Arabic became the written language of Egyptian scholars.
As Roman imperial power effectively ended in the West during the 5th century, Western Europe
entered the middle Ages with great difficulties that affected the continent's intellectual
production dramatically. Most classical scientific treatises of classical antiquity written in Greek
were unavailable, leaving only simplified summaries and compilations. Nonetheless, Roman and
early medieval scientific texts were read and studied, contributing to the understanding of nature
as a coherent system functioning under divinely established laws that could be comprehended
in the light of reason. This study continued through the Early Middle Ages, and with the
Renaissance of the 12th century, interest in this study was revitalized through the translation of
Greek and Arabic scientific texts. Scientific study further developed within the emerging medieval
universities, where these texts were studied and elaborated, leading to new insights into the
phenomena of the universe. These advances are virtually unknown to the lay public of today,
partly because most theories advanced in medieval science are today obsolete, and partly
because of the caricature of Middle Ages as a supposedly "Dark Age" which placed "the word of
religious authorities over personal experience and rational activity.

Indian

Indian mathematics emerged in the Indian subcontinent from 1200 BC until the end of the 18th
century. In the classical period of Indian mathematics (400 AD to 1200 AD), important
contributions were made by scholars like Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Bhaskara II, and
Varāhamihira. The decimal number system in use today was first recorded in Indian mathematics.
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Indian mathematicians made early contributions to the study of the concept of zero as a number,
negative numbers, arithmetic, and algebra. In addition, trigonometry was further advanced in
India, and, in particular, the modern definitions of sine and cosine were developed there. These
mathematical concepts were transmitted to the Middle East, China, and Europe and led to
further developments that now form the foundations of many areas of mathematics.
Excavations at Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and other sites of the Indus Valley Civilization have
uncovered evidence of the use of "practical mathematics". The people of the Indus Valley
Civilization manufactured bricks whose dimensions were in the proportion 4:2:1, considered
favorable for the stability of a brick structure. They used a standardized system of weights based
on the ratios: 1/20, 1/10, 1/5, 1/2, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500, with the unit weight
equaling approximately 28 grams. They mass-produced weights in regular geometrical shapes,
which included hexahedra, barrels, cones, and cylinders, thereby demonstrating knowledge of
basic geometry. The religious texts of the Vedic Period provide evidence for the use of large
numbers. By the time of the Yajurvedasaṃhitā- (1200–900 BCE), numbers as high as 10 were
being included in the texts. An important landmark of the Vedic period was the work of Sanskrit
grammarian, Pāṇini. His grammar includes early use of Boolean logic, of the null operator, and of
context free grammars, and includes a precursor of the Backus–Naur form (used in the
description programming languages). It is well known that the decimal place-value system in use
today was first recorded in India, and then transmitted to the Islamic world, and eventually to
Europe. The Syrian bishop Severus Sebokht wrote in the mid-7th century CE about the "nine
signs" of the Indians for expressing numbers. However, how, when, and where the first decimal
place value system was invented is not so clear. In the 7th century, two separate fields, arithmetic
(which included measurement) and algebra, began to emerge in Indian mathematics. The two
fields would later be called pāṭī-gaṇita (literally "mathematics of algorithms") and bīja-gaṇita (lit.
"Mathematics of seeds" with "seeds"—like the seeds of plants—representing unknowns with the
potential to generate, in this case, the solutions of equations).
The scientific breakthrough in India started pre-independence by C V Raman, Vikram Sarabhai
and many other well known Indian scientists science and technology in India. India aimed "to
convert India's economy into that of a modern state and to fit her into the nuclear age and do it
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quickly." It was understood that India had not been at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution,
and hence made an effort to promote higher education, and science and technology in India.
Radio broadcasting was initiated in 1927 but became state responsibility only in 1930. In 1947 it
was given the name All India Radio and since 1957 it has been called Akashvani. Limited duration
of television programming began in 1959, and complete broadcasting followed in 1965. The roots
of nuclear power in India lie in early acquisition of nuclear reactor technology from a number of
western countries, particularly the American support for the Tarapur Atomic Power Station and
Canada's CANDU reactors. The peaceful policies of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi may have
delayed the inception of nuclear technology in India. The Indian space program received only
financial support from the Soviet Union, which helped the Indian Space Research Organisation
achieve aims such as establishing the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, launching
remote sensing satellites, developing India's first satellite—Aryabhatta, and sending astronauts
into space. India sustained its nuclear program during the aftermath of Operation Smiling
Buddha, the country's first nuclear tests.

Chinese World

Mathematics in China emerged independently by the 11th century BC. The Chinese
independently developed a real number system that includes significantly large and negative
numbers, more than one numeral systems, algebra, geometry, number theory and trigonometry.
In the Han Dynasty, the Chinese made substantial progress on finding the nth root of positive
numbers and solving linear congruence equations. The major texts from the period, The Nine
Chapters on the Mathematical Art and the Book on Numbers and Computation gave detailed
processes to solving various mathematical problems in daily life. All procedures were computed
using a counting board in both texts, and they included inverse elements as well as Euclidean
divisions. The texts provide procedures similar to that of Gaussian elimination and Horner's
method for linear algebra and modular method for Diophantine equation, respectively. The
achievement of Chinese algebra reached its zenith in the 13th century, when Li Jingzhai invented
tiān yuán shù.
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As a result of obvious linguistic and geographic barriers, as well as content, Chinese mathematics
and the mathematics of the ancient Mediterranean world are presumed to have developed more
or less independently up to the time when The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art reached
its final form, while the Book on Numbers and Computation and Huainanzi are roughly
contemporary with classical Greek mathematics. Some exchange of ideas across Asia through
known cultural exchanges from at least Roman times is likely. Frequently, elements of the
mathematics of early societies correspond to rudimentary results found later in branches of
modern mathematics such as geometry or number theory. The Pythagorean Theorem for
example, has been attested to the time of the Duke of Zhou. Knowledge of Pascal's triangle has
also been shown to have existed in China centuries before Pascal, such as the Song dynasty
Chinese polymath Shen Kuo.
Ancient Chinese scientists and engineers made significant scientific innovations, findings and
technological advances across various scientific disciplines including the natural sciences,
engineering, medicine, military technology, mathematics, geology and astronomy.
Among the earliest inventions were the abacus, the "shadow clock," and the first items such as
Kongming lanterns. The Four Great Inventions, the compass, gunpowder, papermaking, and
printing – were among the most important technological advances, only known to Europe by the
end of the Middle Ages 1000 years later. The Tang dynasty in particular was a time of great
innovation. A good deal of exchange occurred between Western and Chinese discoveries up to
the Qing dynasty.
The Jesuit China missions of the 16th and 17th centuries introduced Western science and
astronomy, then undergoing its own revolution, to China, and knowledge of Chinese technology
was brought to Europe. In the 19th and 20th centuries the introduction of Western technology
was a major factor in the modernization of China. Much of the early Western work in the history
of science in China was done by Joseph Needham.
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Impact of science in Europe

The renewal of learning in Europe began with 12th century Scholasticism. The Northern Renaissance
showed a decisive shift in focus from Aristotelian natural philosophy to chemistry and the biological
sciences (botany, anatomy, and medicine). Thus modern science in Europe was resumed in a period of
great upheaval: the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation; the discovery of the
Americas by Christopher Columbus; the Fall of Constantinople; but also the re-discovery of Aristotle
during the Scholastic period presaged large social and political changes. Thus, a suitable environment was
created in which it became possible to question scientific doctrine, in much the same way that Martin
Luther and John Calvin questioned religious doctrine. The works of Ptolemy (astronomy) and Galen
(medicine) were found not always to match everyday observations. Work by Vesalius on human cadavers
found problems with the Galenic view of anatomy.

The willingness to question previously held truths and search for new answers resulted in a period of
major scientific advancements, now known as the Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution is
traditionally held by most historians to have begun in 1543, when the books De humani corporis fabrica
(On the Workings of the Human Body) by Andreas Vesalius, and also De Revolution bus, by the astronomer
Nicolaus Copernicus, were first printed. The thesis of Copernicus' book was that the Earth moved around
the Sun. The period culminated with the publication of the Philosophy Naturalis Principia Mathematica in
1687 by Isaac Newton, representative of the unprecedented growth of scientific publications throughout
Europe.

Other significant scientific advances were made during this time by Galileo Galilei, Edmond Halley, Robert
Hooke, Christiaan Huygens, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Gottfried Leibniz, and Blaise Pascal. In
philosophy, major contributions were made by Francis Bacon, Sir Thomas Browne, René Descartes, and
Thomas Hobbes. The scientific method was also better developed as the modern way of thinking
emphasized experimentation and reason over traditional considerations.
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Physics

The scientific revolution is a convenient boundary between ancient thought and classical physics. Nicolaus
Copernicus revived the heliocentric model of the solar system described by Aristarchus of Samos. This was
followed by the first known model of planetary motion given by Johannes Kepler in the early 17th century,
which proposed that the planets follow elliptical orbits, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse. Galileo
("Father of Modern Physics") also made use of experiments to validate physical theories, a key element
of the scientific method. William Gilbert did some of the earliest experiments with electricity and
magnetism, establishing that the Earth itself is magnetic.

In 1687, Isaac Newton published the Principia Mathematica, detailing two comprehensive and successful
physical theories: Newton's laws of motion, which led to classical mechanics; and Newton's law of
universal gravitation, which describes the fundamental force of gravity.

During the late 18th and early 19th century, the behavior of electricity and magnetism was studied by
Luigi Galvani, Giovanni Aldini, Alessandro Volta, Michael Faraday, Georg Ohm, and others. These studies
led to the unification of the two phenomena into a single theory of electromagnetism, by James Clerk
Maxwell (known as Maxwell's equations).

The beginning of the 20th century brought the start of a revolution in physics. The long-held theories of
Newton were shown not to be correct in all circumstances. Beginning in 1900, Max Planck, Albert Einstein,
Niels Bohr and others developed quantum theories to explain various anomalous experimental results, by
introducing discrete energy levels. Not only did quantum mechanics show that the laws of motion did not
hold on small scales, but the theory of general relativity, proposed by Einstein in 1915, showed that the
fixed background of spacetime, on which both Newtonian mechanics and special relativity depended,
could not exist. In 1925, Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger formulated quantum mechanics,
which explained the preceding quantum theories. The observation by Edwin Hubble in 1929 that the
speed at which galaxies recede positively correlates with their distance, led to the understanding that the
universe is expanding, and the formulation of the Big Bang theory by Georges Lemaître.

In 1938 Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann discovered nuclear fission with radiochemical methods, and in
1939 Lise Meitner and Otto Robert Frisch wrote the first theoretical interpretation of the fission process,
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which was later improved by Niels Bohr and John A. Wheeler. Further developments took place during
World War II, which led to the practical application of radar and the development and use of the atomic
bomb. Around this time, Chien-Shiung Wu was recruited by the Manhattan Project to help develop a
process for separating uranium metal into U-235 and U-238 isotopes by Gaseous diffusion. She was an
expert experimentalist in beta decay and weak interaction physics. Wu designed an experiment (see Wu
experiment) that enabled theoretical physicists Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang to disprove the law
oparity experimentally, winning them a Nobel Prize in 1957.

The atomic bomb ushered in "Big Science" in physics.

Though the process had begun with the invention of the cyclotron by Ernest O. Lawrence in the 1930s,
physics in the postwar period entered into a phase of what historians have called "Big Science", requiring
massive machines, budgets, and laboratories in order to test their theories and move into new frontiers.
The primary patron of physics became state governments, who recognized that the support of "basic"
research could often lead to technologies useful to both military and industrial applications.

Currently, general relativity and quantum mechanics are inconsistent with each other, and efforts are
underway to unify the two.
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Chemistry

Modern chemistry emerged from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries through the material
practices and theories promoted by alchemy, medicine, manufacturing and mining. A decisive moment
came when "chemistry" was distinguished from alchemy by Robert Boyle in his work The Skeptical
Chemist, in 1661; although the alchemical tradition continued for some time after his work. Other
important steps included the gravimetric experimental practices of medical chemists like William Cullen,
Joseph Black, Torbern Bergman and Pierre Macquer and through the work of Antoine Lavoisier ("father
of modern chemistry") on oxygen and the law of conservation of mass, which refuted phlogiston theory.
The theory that all matter is made of atoms, which are the smallest constituents of matter that cannot be
broken down without losing the basic chemical and physical properties of that matter, was provided by
John Dalton in 1803, although the question took a hundred years to settle as proven. Dalton also
formulated the law of mass relationships. In 1869, Dmitri Mendeleev composed his periodic table of
elements on the basis of Dalton's discoveries.

The synthesis of urea by Friedrich Wöhler opened a new research field, organic chemistry, and by the end
of the 19th century, scientists were able to synthesize hundreds of organic compounds. The later part of
the 19th century saw the exploitation of the Earth's petrochemicals, after the exhaustion of the oil supply
from whaling. By the 20th century, systematic production of refined materials provided a ready supply of
products which provided not only energy, but also synthetic materials for clothing, medicine, and
everyday disposable resources. Application of the techniques of organic chemistry to living organisms
resulted in physiological chemistry, the precursor to biochemistry. The 20th century also saw the
integration of physics and chemistry, with chemical properties explained as the result of the electronic
structure of the atom. Linus Pauling's book on The Nature of the Chemical Bond used the principles of
quantum mechanics to deduce bond angles in ever-more complicated molecules. Pauling's work
culminated in the physical modelling of DNA, the secret of life (in the words of Francis Crick, 1953). In the
same year, the Miller–Urey experiment demonstrated in a simulation of primordial processes, that basic
constituents of proteins, simple amino acids, could themselves be built up from simpler molecules.
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Biology and Medicine

William Harvey published De Motu Cordis in 1628, which revealed his conclusions based on his extensive
studies of vertebrate circulatory systems. He identified the central role of the heart, arteries, and veins in
producing blood movement in a circuit, and failed to find any confirmation of Galen's pre-existing notions
of heating and cooling functions. The history of early modern biology and medicine is often told through
the search for the seat of the soul. Galen in his descriptions of his foundational work in medicine presents
the distinctions between arteries, veins, and nerves using the vocabulary of the soul.

In 1847, Hungarian physician Ignatius Philip Semmelweis dramatically reduced the occurrence of
puerperal fever by simply requiring physicians to wash their hands before attending to women in
childbirth. This discovery predated the germ theory of disease. However, Semmelweis' findings were not
appreciated by his contemporaries and handwashing came into use only with discoveries by British
surgeon Joseph Lister, who in 1865 proved the principles of antisepsis. Lister's work was based on the
important findings by French biologist Louis Pasteur. Pasteur was able to link microorganisms with
disease, revolutionizing medicine. He also devised one of the most important methods in preventive
medicine, when in 1880 he produced a vaccine against rabies. Pasteur invented the process of
pasteurization, to help prevent the spread of disease through milk and other foods.

Perhaps the most prominent, controversial and far-reaching theory in all of science has been the theory
of evolution by natural selection put forward by the English naturalist Charles Darwin in his book On the
Origin of Species in 1859. He proposed that the features of all living things, including humans, were shaped
by natural processes over long periods of time. The theory of evolution in its current form affects almost
all areas of biology. Implications of evolution on fields outside of pure science have led to both opposition
and support from different parts of society, and profoundly influenced the popular understanding of
"man's place in the universe". In the early 20th century, the study of heredity became a major
investigation after the rediscovery in 1900 of the laws of inheritance developed by the Moravian monk
Gregor Mendel in 1866. Mendel's laws provided the beginnings of the study of genetics, which became a
major field of research for both scientific and industrial research. By 1953, James D. Watson, Francis Crick
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and Maurice Wilkins clarified the basic structure of DNA, the genetic material for expressing life in all its
forms. In the late 20th century, the possibilities of genetic engineering became practical for the first time,
and a massive international effort began in 1990 to map out an entire human genome (the Human
Genome Project).

Conclusion

So, the founders of modern science were inheriting a great deal. They were building on a great deal. To
call it a revolution is fundamentally misleading because it makes light of the evolution in which a sensitivity
to method and the idea of knowledge played a key role in allowing people to integrate all of these pieces.
They were lying around, so to speak, and could be pulled together and were pulled together by the people
who founded modern science.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science ,14.06.20

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mathematics , 14.06.20