STS

• Science and Technology (ST)

  Study of how social, political, and cultural values affect scientific research and technological innovation and how these, in turn, affect or the community, political and culture
• Science


  Rational inquiry into Nature, to gain knowledge about Nature. Scientific knowledge is more than just a collection of empirical statements, it satisfies requirements of being internally consistent, having logical interrelationships, and allowing deduction of testable predictions
• Science


  • A systematic approach that organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanation and predictions about nature and the universe
  • Seeks to discover the "Laws of Nature" which depend on assumptions of regularity in Nature, the human mind's ability to know these Laws, and the mathematical structure of Nature
• Fields of Science


  • Physical sciences
  • Life Sciences (Microbiology, Botany, Zoology)
  • Earth Sciences (Geology, Meteorology, Astronomy)
• Pure/Theoretical Science


  Method of investigating nature by the experimental method in an attempt to satisfy the need to know (matter of understanding); explains a phenomenon
• Applied/Practical Science


  Determines how a particular phenomenon may be put to use, applies existing scientific knowledge to develop more practical applications, like technology or inventions
• Fields of Applied Science


  • Engineering sciences (thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials, kinematics, electromagnetism, materials science, engineering physics)
  • Medical science (medical microbiology, clinical virology)
• The Scientific Method


  1. Observe

  2. Determine the Problem

  3. Formulate Hypothesis

  4. Gather and Analyze Data

  5. Formulate conclusion and provide recommendation

  6. Conduct Experiment
• Technology


  The practical application of scientific knowledge to human life; to solve problems. The collection of techniques, methods or processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives of scientific investigation
• Scientific and technological changes

  Caused by scientific and technological discoveries and inventions
• Historical Antecedents


  • Ancient Wheel
  • Paper
  • Shadoof
  • Antikythera Mechanism
  • Aeolipile
• Ancient Wheel


  Before the wheel the Sumerian's used flat bottomed structures called "sledges" which often got stuck and could not carry heavy loads. The Sumerians also put the sledge on a roller which is the picture under the sledge. This would not work well because they would have to keep the sledge balanced.
• Ancient Wheel


  • The Sumerians used the wheel to carry heavy loads over long distances
  • The wheel was also used for chariots for battle
  • The oldest known wheel found in an archaeological excavation is from Mesopotamia, and dates to around 3500 BC (Bronze Age)
• Advancement of Wheel


  • Egyptians
  • Paper
  • Cuneiform
• Paper


  Invented around 100 BC in China. In 105 AD, under the Han Dynasty emperor Ho-Ti, a government official in China named Ts'ai Lun was the first to start a paper-making industry.
• Cuneiform


  A system of writing first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia c. 3500-3000 BCE. It is considered the most significant among the many cultural contributions of the Sumerians and the greatest among those of the Sumerian city of Uruk which advanced the writing of cuneiform c. 3200 BCE.
• Cuneiform


  • The name comes from the Latin word "cuneus" for 'wedge' owing to the wedge-shaped style of writing
  • All of the great Mesopotamian civilizations used cuneiform until it was abandoned in favour of the alphabetic script at some point after 100 BCE
• Shadoof / Shaduf


  Hand-operated device for lifting water, invented in ancient times and still used in India, Egypt, and some other countries to irrigate land. Typically it consists of a long, tapering, nearly horizontal pole mounted like a seesaw. A skin or bucket is hung on a rope from the long end, and a counterweight is hung on the short end.
• Antikythera Mechanism


  Ancient Greek mechanical device used to calculate and display information about astronomical phenomena. The remains of this ancient "computer," now on display in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, were recovered in 1901 from the wreck of a trading ship that sank in the first half of the 1st century BCE near the island of Antikythera in the Mediterranean Sea. Its manufacture is currently dated to 100 BCE, give or take 30 years.
• Aeolipile


  Steam turbine invented in the 1st century AD by Heron of Alexandria and described in his Pneumatica. The Aeolipile was a hollow sphere mounted so that it could turn on a pair of hollow tubes that provided steam to the sphere from a cauldron. The steam escaped from the sphere from one or more bent tubes projecting from its equator, causing the sphere to revolve.
• Middle Period


  • Heavy Plough
  • Gunpowder
  • Paper Money
  • Mechanical Clock
  • Spinning Wheel
• Heavy Plough


  The heavy plow was one of the most influential inventions in Medieval Europe. This invention allowed for the settlement of Northern Europe and farming of the wet clay soil of Northern Europe.
• Heavy Plough


  • Before the heavy plow was invented, Northern Europe could not sustain a large population because the soil was heavy clay and there was no technology at the time that could turn the soil over
  • The heavy plow then lead to a 7.7% increase in population density and 14.3% increase in urbanization between 900 AD and 1300 AD in Europe
• Gunpowder


  In Chinese, gunpowder is called huo yao, meaning flaming medicine. Unlike paper and printing, the birth of gunpowder was quite accidental. It was first invented inadvertently by alchemists while attempting to make an elixir of immortality. It was a mixture of sulphur, saltpeter, and charcoal.
• Gunpowder


  • At the end of the Tang Dynasty, gunpowder was being used in military affairs. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, frequent wars spurred the development of cannons, and fire-arrows shot from bamboo tubes
  • In the 12th and 13th centuries, gunpowder spread to the Arab countries, then Greece, other European countries, and finally all over the world
• Paper Money


  • During the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE), merchants began to leave those heavy strings of coins with a trustworthy agent, who would record how much money the merchant had on deposit on a piece of paper
  • At the beginning of the Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE), the government licensed specific deposit shops where people could leave their coins and receive notes. In the 1100s, Song authorities decided to take direct control of this system, issuing the world's first proper, government-produced paper money. This money was called jiaozi.
• Mechanical Clock


  • There is historical disagreement as to when the oldest mechanical clock in medieval Europe was invented. Pope Sylvester II built a clock for a German town in 996 and it is considered one of the oldest clocks
  • By the 11th century, clocks were being used in different parts of Europe. However, the use of proper mechanical clocks which utilised heavy weights for time-keeping, is more accurately dated back to the 14th century.
• Mechanical Clock


  • One of these clocks was built by a monk at Glastonbury in the 14th century and exists to this day. From the 14th century to the 15th century, mechanical clocks evolved so that they began to use a spring-powered operation rather than relying on heavy weights. However, these clocks had to be wound up twice a day by the monks for them to functional accurately.
• Spinning Wheel


  Early machine for turning fibre into thread or yarn, which was then woven into cloth on a loom. The spinning wheel was probably invented in India, though its origins are obscure. It reached Europe via the Middle East in the European Middle Ages.
• Modern Period


  • Compound Microscope
  • Telescope
  • Jacquard Loom
  • Engine Powered Airplane
  • Television
• Compound Microscope


  The next breakthrough in microscopy was the invention of the compound microscope. While the origin of this device and the identity of its inventor are the subject of some debate, credit for the invention of the compound microscope has generally been given to Dutch optician Zacharias Janssen (1580-circa 1638).
• Compound Microscope


  • Around 1590 Janssen reportedly stumbled upon an idea for a multiple-lens microscope design, which he then constructed. Though he affirmed its ability, no record exists of Janssen actually using his invention. It is now believed that Janssen's son fabricated the story.
• MODERN PERIOD


  • Compound microscope
  • Telescope
  • Jacquard loom
  • Engine powered airplane
  • Television
• Compound microscope


  A microscope with multiple lenses that increases magnification
• Invention of the compound microscope

  1. Limitations of single-lens magnifier led scientists to develop a practical system to increase magnification

  2. Dutch optician Zacharias Janssen reportedly stumbled upon an idea for a multiple-lens microscope design and constructed it around 1590

  3. Dutch scientist Cornelius Drebbel claimed he constructed the first compound microscope in 1619

  4. Galileo reported using a two-lens microscope to examine and describe the eye of an insect
• Telescope


  An optical instrument used to observe distant objects
• History of the telescope

  1. Originated in 1608 with a group of Dutch spectacle-makers who created the first working models

  2. Credit given to Hans Lippershey, a German-born lens grinder and spectacle maker who first gained a patent on a telescope device

  3. Galileo Galilei improved on Lippershey's design two years later
• Galileo's telescope


  • Had many limitations (chromatic aberrations, low field of view) but was enough for Galileo to make important astronomical discoveries
  • Isaac Newton built the first practical reflecting telescope in 1668, although it was not used much due to complexity and expense
• Jacquard loom


  A loom that mechanised the production of patterned textiles, transforming textile weaving from a cottage industry to mass production on an industrial scale
• Engine powered airplane


  The Wright brothers' invention of the Flyer, the first crewed, powered, heavier-than-air and (to some degree) controlled-flight aircraft