EVOLUTION AND HISTORY OF SCIENCE

EVOLUTION AND HISTORY OF SCIENCE

“ Science is knowledge acquired in a particular way. It becomes a human activity, an attitude and an exercise of the mind that put us as it were in a state of familiarity with nature”.                         - Gilbert Arcchey.

     The origin of science can be traced back to the old stone age when the earliest man made tools of wood, stone, bone, etc. during the new stone age men turned from hunting to agriculture. Some time about 3000 BC smelting and casting of metals were discovered. The Sumerians used Bronze and devised Cuneiform signs for writing. Empirical knowledge was first systematised by the Babylonians and Egyptians. The Babylonians recorded an eclipse of the sun and Egyptians built Pyramids using Mathematics of mensuration and surveying. The smelting of iron was discovered by about 1400 BC. It was the Greeks that first conceived Science as a body of knowledge, logically deducible from a limited number of principles. At the time of Pythagoras, Arithmetic and Geometry leaped forward. The application of reasoning in Geometry was perfected by Plato And his pupil Aristotle . Heraclides a pupil of  Aristotle was notable for his discovery of day and night by the earth’s rotation.

     Archimedes was one of the greatest mathematicians the world has ever known and he was also the greatest engineer of ancient times. In mechanics he developed the laws of levers and pulleys and principles of hydrostatic. Eratosthenes developed a remarkable way of measuring the circumference of the earth. Hipparchus compiled a catalogue of 850 stars which gave their positions and magnitude. Ptolemy summarised the Greek astronomical theory. Galen wrote authoritative books on anatomy, physiology and medicine. After the fall of Roman empire the heritage of Greek Science was preserved by the Arabs. They were particularly active in the field of Medicine and Alchemy from which the word Chemistry coined.  

     It was only at the end of the 11nth century Christian scholars took active interest in science. During the 13nth century there was a sudden growth experimental sciences. Roger Bacon experimented with lenses and gun powder and he is said to have invented magic lantern. Leonado da Vinci studied mechanics , geology and anatomy. Another important contribution of the later middle ages to Science was the invention of printing with movable type by John Gutenberg in 1440. Later William Harvey discovered the theory of blood circulation.

     In India a pioneer headway in the field of Mathematics, Medicine , Astronomy and agriculture till about 600 AD. The earliest available historical records indicates the Chemistry was well developed in India.  It also indicates that the peoples of India were well aware about how to manufacture pottery of backed or burned clay as well as how to extract copper from ores and to shape the metal into useful articles. The oldest Indian Scripture Rig-Veda refers to the process of extracting and purifying metals such as gold, silver , bronze and copper. The Sankhya theory of cosmology  originated by Kapila and the atomic theory by Kanada Muni that matter was composed of atoms were originated in India. Ayur –Veda  one of the upa-vedas consists of six books on surgery, nosology, anatomy, therapeutics, toxicology and supplementary section dealing with local diseases. The Charaka Samhitha and the Susrutha Samhitha are the two most important documents on Medicine and Surgery of these time.