Historical Antecedents

Science &
Technology (S&T)
HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS
Department of Biological Sciences

College of Arts and Sciences
Kabacan, Cotabato
Science, Technology and Society
Learning Objectives
❑To trace the history of S&T

across time (historical
antecedents)
❑To explain how Philippine
scientific and technological
inventions were shaped by
various social contexts.
Reflection….
2
What’s in a historical
antecedent?
✓ can be understood as a precursor of a thing
✓ an antecedent of a something unfolded or
existed before it
✓ historical antecedents in S&T can be
understood as the previous state of science
and technology or previous scientific or
technological tools that paved the way for
more advanced and sophisticated S&T to
arise
A brief history of discoveries

S&T in the Ancient times

(through 599 BCE)
❑ Divided into 3
periods:
1.Stone Age
(Paleolithic,
Mesolithic& Neolithic)
2. Bronze Age
3. Iron Age https://www.google.com.ph/search?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=592&tbm=isch&sa=1&
ei=EW1yW-SrGYrr-
Qab0bawCg&q=science+in+the+ancient+times&oq=science+in+the+ancient+ti
mes&gs_l=img.3...912226.917618.0.917677.28.16.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c.1.64.img..28.
0.0....0.1cg_oWPKyhc#imgdii=JZUSAtPlPPbZhM:&imgrc=NDzvPJdfCmBHPM:
Bunch, B and Hellemans, A. The History of Science and Technology. Houghton Mifflin Company. New York, USA. 2004.

❑ Stone tools have been the first
recognized technology (or
craft?)
❑ Wooden tools could have
preceded stones by millions of
years
❑ Made by one of our direct
ancestors (H. habilis or H.
rudolfensis) 2,500,000 years
ago
❑ Early tools were some broken
pebbles, then improved by
flaking pieces off a core,
creating distinctive shapes with
a single cutting edge

❑ Characterized by:
❑ Hunting & gathering (or
foraging?)
❑ Use of fire (man’s earliest
conquest)
❑ Agricultural revolution
(farming)
❑ Use of metal, instead of
stone tools, towards the
end
❑ Pottery and other ceramics,
along with glass were
dominant (Ceramics age)
❑ Civilization began to arise
(manufacturing, trading,
villages have rulers, etc.)

❑ Outstanding Ancient Inventions
❑ Ancient Wheel
❑ Paper
❑ Shadoof
❑ Antikythera mechanism
❑ Aeolipile
Some thoughts…
“With the beginnings of metallurgy, the

Stone Age of man comes to an end; with
the beginnings of writing, prehistory comes
to an end; with the beginnings of
agriculture, man's parasitism on nature
gives way to co-operation with nature”
–R.J. Forbes
S&T in the Middle Ages

(476 through 1500)
❑ Decline of science in Europe
❑ Use of currency replaced by
barter
❑ Trade ceased entirely
❑ Poverty was endemic and
people suffered from wars,
piracy, famine, and
epidemics
❑ Chinese philosophy
developed theories on
matter and living beings
Middle Ages
 Major advances in scientific and
technological development, including a
steady increase of new inventions, introduction
of innovations in traditional production, and
emergence of scientific thinking and method,
had taken place.
 Many medieval universities at the time stirred
scientific thinking and provided infrastructure
for scientific communities to flourish.
S&T in the middle ages

(530 through 1452)
 Revival of Western
science started
during the last
centuries of the first
millennium
 Technological
revolution took
place
 Vast improvements
in communication
and transportation

❑ Outstanding Middle Age Inventions
❑ Heavy Plough
❑ Gunpowder
❑ Paper Money
❑ Mechanical clock
Modern Age
 As world population steadily increased,
people of the modern age realized the
utmost importance of increasing the
efficiency of transportation, communication,
and production.
 Industrialization took place, but greater risks
in human health, food safety, and
environment rose, which had to be
simultaneously addressed as scientific and
technological progress unfolded at an
unimaginable speed.
Rise of modern S&T

(1895 through 1945)
 Large number of scientists
 Science became much more of
a communal effort
 Science started having an effect
on society directly
(the time span between a discovery and
its technical application became shorter)
 Science became highly successful in
explaining the nature of matter,
mechanisms of chemical reactions,
fundamental processes of life, and the
general structure of the universe
Rise of modern S&T

(1895 through 1945)
❑ Quantum theory changed the
way philosophers think about the
universe
❑ Technology did not remain
confined to large enterprises only
(became an important part of
everyday life)
❑ Enormous growth of automobile
industry
❑ Electricity revolutionized
technology
❑ Laboratories for testing and
development of new products
were established

❑ Outstanding Middle Age Inventions
❑ Compound microscope
❑ Telescope
❑ Jacquard Loom
❑ Engine-powered Airplane
❑ Television
Big science and

the Post-industrial society
(1946 through 1972)
❑ Discoveries and
inventions reached
practical applications as
a result of WW2
(synthetic rubber, radar,
DDT, penicillin, fusion
and fission bombs, jet
powered aircraft,
helicopter, ballistic
missiles, nuclear
weapons, and the
electronic digital
computer)
Big science and

the Post-industrial society
(1946 through 1972)
❑ Science became “big”
❑ Equipment/instruments were
shared (interdisciplinary)
❑ Even larger number of
scientists, scientists having
specialization
❑ Science changed society
❑ Availability of automobiles
changed how people
migrate
❑ Automation allowed many
manufacturing processes to
be done by less skilled
workers

Historical Antecedents

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Science &

Department of Biological Sciences

❑To trace the history of S&T

A brief history of discoveries

S&T in the Ancient times

S&T in the Ancient times

S&T in the Ancient times

S&T in the Ancient times

“With the beginnings of metallurgy, the

S&T in the Middle Ages

S&T in the middle ages

S&T in the Ancient times

Rise of modern S&T

Rise of modern S&T

S&T in the Ancient times

Big science and

Big science and

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