Development of Science in Ancient, Medieval and Modern Periods

INTRODUCTION

Science is a vast subject that plays an important role in our everyday life. Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Today the development of science is surprising and attractive. Without science, modern education and even the life of people are impossible. It is true that the things, related to science, were not like that of the present day in olden days. Scientific development have a great impact on all over the nation. Scientific inventions and discoveries, including the theory of the origin of the universe, the theory of evolution, and the discovery of genes, have given humanity many hints relating to human existence from civilized and cultural points of view. Science and technology have had an immeasurable influence on the formation of our understanding of the world, our view of society, and our outlook on nature. 

ANCIENT PERIOD

The earliest roots of science can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in around 3000 to 1200 BC. Their contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and medicine entered and shaped Greek natural philosophy of classical antiquity, whereby formal attempts were made to provide explanations of events in the physical world based on natural causes. Neither the words nor the concepts "science" and "nature" were part of the conceptual landscape in the Ancient Near East. The ancient Mesopotamians used knowledge about the properties of various natural chemicals for manufacturing pottery, faience, glass, soap, metals, lime plaster, and waterproofing; they also studied animal physiology, anatomy, and behaviour for divinatory purposes and made extensive records of the movements of astronomical objects for their study of astrology. 

The Pythagoreans developed a complex number philosophy and contributed significantly to the development of mathematical science.  The theory of atoms was developed by the Greek philosopher Leucippus and his student Democritus. The Greek doctor Hippocrates established the tradition of systematic medical science and is known as "The Father of Medicine". The Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos (310–230 BC) was the first to propose a heliocentric model of the universe. 

MEDIEVAL PERIOD

Because of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire due to the Migration Period an intellectual decline took place in the western part of Europe in the 400s. In contrast, the Byzantine Empire resisted the attacks from invaders, and preserved and improved upon the learning. John Philoponus, a Byzantine scholar in the 500s, questioned Aristotle's teaching of physics, noting its flaws. John Philoponus' criticism of Aristotelian principles of physics served as an inspiration to medieval scholars as well as to Galileo Galilei who ten centuries later, during the Scientific Revolution, extensively cited Philoponus in his works while making the case for why Aristotelian physics was flawed.

During late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, the Aristotelian approach to inquiries on natural phenomena was used. Another original work that gained influence in this period was Ptolemy's Almagest, which contains a geocentric description of the solar system. During late antiquity, in the Byzantine empire many Greek classical texts were preserved. The Islamic Golden Age flourished from this time until the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. Ibn alHaytham (Alhazen), as well as his predecessor Ibn Sahl, was familiar with Ptolemy's Optics, and used experiments as a means to gain knowledge. 

In Middle Age, medical teachers and students at Bologna began to open human bodies, and Mondino de Luzzi (c. 1275–1326) produced the first known anatomy textbook based on human dissection. By the eleventh century, most of Europe had become Christian; stronger monarchies emerged; borders were restored; technological developments and agricultural innovations were made which increased the food supply and population.

EARLY MODERN PERIOD

In the sixteenth century, Copernicus formulated a heliocentric model of the solar system unlike the geocentric model of Ptolemy's Almagest. Kepler and others challenged the notion that the only function of the eye is perception, and shifted the main focus in optics from the eye to the propagation of light.  Kepler is best known, however, for improving Copernicus' heliocentric model through the discovery of Kepler's laws of planetary motion. Galileo made innovative use of experiment and mathematics.

In Northern Europe, René Descartes and Francis Bacon published philosophical arguments in favor of a new type of non-Aristotelian science. Descartes emphasized individual thought and argued that mathematics rather than geometry should be used in order to study nature. Bacon emphasized the importance of experiment over contemplation. Bacon further questioned the Aristotelian concepts of formal cause and final cause, and promoted the idea that science should study the laws of "simple" natures, such as heat, rather than assuming that there is any specific nature, or "formal cause", of each complex type of thing. This new science began to see itself as describing "laws of nature".

As a precursor to the Age of Enlightenment, Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz succeeded in developing a new physics, now referred to as classical mechanics, which could be confirmed by experiment and explained using mathematics . Leibniz also incorporated terms from Aristotelian physics, but now being used in a new nonteleological way, for example, "energy" and "potential". During this time, the declared purpose and value of science became producing wealth and inventions that would improve human lives, in the materialistic sense of having more food, clothing, and other things.

Science during the Enlightenment was dominated by scientific societies and academies, which had largely replaced universities as centres of scientific research and development. Some historians have marked the 18th century as a drab period in the history of science; however, the century saw significant advancements in the practice of medicine, mathematics, and physics; the development of biological taxonomy; a new understanding of magnetism and electricity; and the maturation of chemistry as a discipline, which established the foundations of modern chemistry.

MODERN PERIOD

• 19th CENTURY

The nineteenth century is a particularly important period in the history of science. Early in the 19th century, John Dalton suggested the modern atomic theory, based on Democritus's original idea of indivisible particles called atoms. When Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859 he established evolution as the prevailing explanation of biological complexity. His theory of natural selection provided a natural explanation of how species originated, but this only gained wide acceptance a century later.

The laws of conservation of energy, conservation of momentum and conservation of mass suggested a highly stable universe where there could be little loss of resources. With the advent of the steam engine and the industrial revolution, there was, however, an increased understanding that all forms of energy as defined in physics were not equally useful: they did not have the same energy quality. This realization led to the development of the laws of thermodynamics. The electromagnetic theory was also established in the 19th century, and raised new questions which could not easily be answered using Newton's framework. The phenomena that would allow the deconstruction of the atom were discovered in the last decade of the 19th century: the discovery of X-rays inspired the discovery of radioactivity. In the next year came the discovery of the first subatomic particle, the electron.

• 20th CENTURY

In 20th century, Albert Einstein's theory of relativity and the development of quantum mechanics led to the replacement of classical mechanics with a new physics which contains two parts that describe different types of events in nature.

In the first half of the century, the development of antibiotics and artificial fertilizer made global human population growth possible. At the same time, the structure of the atom and its nucleus was discovered, leading to the release of "atomic energy". The molecular structure of DNA was discovered in 1953. The discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation in 1964 led to a rejection of the Steady State theory of the universe in favour of the Big Bang theory of Georges Lemaitre.

The development of spaceflight in the second half of the century allowed the first astronomical measurements done on or near other objects in space, including six manned landings on the Moon. Space telescopes lead to numerous discoveries in astronomy and cosmology. Widespread use of integrated circuits in the last quarter of the 20th century combined with communications satellites led to a revolution in information technology and the rise of the global internet and mobile computing, including smartphones. 

Harmful environmental issues such as ozone depletion, acidification, eutrophication and climate change came to the public's attention in the same period, and caused the onset of environmental science and environmental technology.

• 21th CENTURY

The Human Genome Project was completed in 2003, determining the sequence of nucleotide base pairs that make up human DNA, and identifying and mapping all of the genes of the human genome. Induced pluripotent stem cells were developed in 2006, a technology allowing adult cells to be transformed into stem cells capable of giving rise to any cell type found in the body, potentially of huge importance to the field of regenerative medicine. With the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, the last particle predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics was found. In 2015, gravitational waves, predicted by general relativity a century before, were first observed.

CONCLUSION

Scientific development have a great impact on all over the nation. Scientific inventions and discoveries, including the theory of the origin of the universe, the theory of evolution, and the discovery of genes, have given humanity many hints relating to human existence from civilized and cultural points of view. The wide variety of technologies and science discoveries produced by humanity has led to the building and development of the civilizations of each age, stimulated economic growth, raised people’s standards of living, encouraged cultural development, and had a tremendous impact on religion, thought, and many other human activities. The impact of science and technology on modern society is broad and wide-ranging, influencing such areas as politics, diplomacy, defence, the economy, medicine, transportation, agriculture, social capital improvement, and many more. The fruits of science and technology fill every corner of our lives.