Science Technology Technology During Industrial In dustrial Revolution
Background
In 1750, most people in Europe lived on small farms and produced most of their needs by hand. A century century later, later, many people people lived lived in cities cities and most most of their their needs needs were were produced produced by b y complex machines using steam power. The Industrial Industrial Revolution Revolution began in Great Britain and spread to Belgium, France, Germany, the United States and Japan. It was a fundamental change in the way goods were produced, and altered the way people lived. The Industrial Revolution was a time of scientific and technological advancement. Agriculture
The Dutch led the way in impro improveme vements nts for agricu agricultu lture. re. They built built dikes dikes to protect protect farmland from the seas, and improved fertilizers. The British improved on many of these methods, and developed others of their own, including breeding better livestock to aid in work and mixing different different soils soils to yield yield a better better crop. Jethro Jethro Tull, a British farmer farmer and inventor, created the mechanical seed drill to aid in planting. Energy Britain experienced a revolution in energy use as they switched from animal power, to wate waterr powe power, r, to steam steam power power in a few few shor shortt years. ears. In 1712, 1712, Thomas Thomas Newc Newcome omen n developed developed a steam engine powered powered by coal. This engine engine was used to pump water out of mines. Later, James Watt Watt would improve on this engine, and Watt's Watt's steam engine would be the power source of o f the Industrial Revolution. New Technology
Once steam power became prominent, most machines used in the production of cloth became "powered". "powered". This includes includes the Spinning Jenny used to make thread, and power looms that combined combined the thread to make cloth. Other uses uses for steam power dealt with with transportation, such as the steam locomotive. Within a few short short years of the start of the Indust Industria riall Revolut Revolution ion,, Great Great Britai Britain n had miles miles of track track all across across the countr country y. This This resulted in a great need for iron track & nails, which in turn led to improvements in iron production. Urbanization
As a result of industrialization, people moved to towns and cities to be closer to the factories. Conditions were very poor during the early part of the Industrial Revolution, as factory workers lived in over crowded buildings, with no sewage or sanitation services. This resulted resulted in widespread widespread disease. disease. As the Industrial Industrial Revolution Revolution moved forward, forward, new improvements improvements in sanitation, sanitation, housing construction, construction, and medicine medicine made life much better for the industrial worker.
Science and Technology in 19th Century
The last half of the nineteenth century was a period which experienced rapid progress in science science and technol technology ogy.. There There were were import important ant breakt breakthro hroughs ughs in: iron iron and steel steel technology, electricity. From VTS to STS
The STS progra program m (origi (original nally ly called called VTS, VTS, the Progr Program am in Values, alues, Technolo echnology gy and Societ Society) y) was launch launched ed in 1971 by the religi religious ous studie studiess schola scholarr William illiam Clebsc Clebsch, h, philosopher Philip Rhinelander and engineers Walter Vincenti and Stephen Kline. While there was no dearth of research in the sciences and engineering, they wanted to promote more inquiry into how these forces shaped and transformed society. "Not only is Stanford situated in the heart of Silicon Valley, but really Stanford, as an institution, has played an important role in the history of 20th-century science," Findlen said. "The university has also been a key contributor to the growth of technology in postwar America, and is strongly situated to have a program that takes a multi-dimensional view." Unive Univers rsity ity and and colle college ge progr programs ams that that focus focus on the the rela relati tion onsh ship ip betw between een scie science nce,, technology and society have been on the rise nationwide. There are now STS programs at MIT, Cornell, Penn State, North Carolina State University, Vassar, Virginia Tech and the Claremont Colleges, among others, and abroad at schools such as York University in Canada, the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the universities of Wollongong and New South Wales Wales in Australia. . While many such programs offer bachelor of arts degrees or the equivalent, Stanford's is one of the very few if not the the only one that also also offers offers a bachelor bachelor of science science degrees. degrees. And while many STS programs focuses almost exclusively on the history, policy and social ramifications of science, Stanford's also requires an understanding of hard science fulfillment of a technical-literacy requirement for students pursing a B.A. and a technicaldepth requirement for those pursing a B.S. McGinn said he believes this balance is both distinctive to Stanford's program and makes it attractive to students and faculty. "[STS] was one of the best things I did at Stanford," said Edmond Toy, who graduated in 1993 and is now working toward his doctorate at Harvard's Program for Health Policy. "It helped me appreciate that fact that practically all of the most important issues facing policy-makers are interdisciplinary." interdisciplinary." Now, 30 years after its inception, STS, which started in the equivalent of one of those famous Silicon Valley garages, has become a distinctive feature of the university's from below for three decades," McGinn said. "Finally it is a major whose time has come." "Not only is Stanford situated in the heart of Silicon Valley, but really Stanford, as an institution, has played an important role in the history of 20th-century science," Findlen
said. "The university has also been a key contributor to the growth of technology in postwar America, and is strongly situated to have a program that takes a multi-dimensional view." Unive Univers rsity ity and and colle college ge progr programs ams that that focus focus on the the rela relati tion onsh ship ip betw between een scie science nce,, technology and society have been on the rise nationwide. There are now STS programs at MIT, Cornell, Penn State, North Carolina State University, Vassar, Virginia Tech and the Claremont Colleges, among others, and abroad at schools such as York University in Canada, the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the universities of Wollongong and New South Wales Wales in Australia. . While many such programs offer bachelor of arts degrees or the equivalent, Stanford's is one of the very few if not the the only one that also also offers offers a bachelor bachelor of science science degrees. degrees. And while many STS programs focuses almost exclusively on the history, policy and social ramifications of science, Stanford's also requires an understanding of hard science fulfillment of a technical-literacy requirement for students pursing a B.A. and a technicaldepth requirement for those pursing a B.S. McGinn said he believes this balance is both distinctive to Stanford's program and makes it attractive to students and faculty. "[STS] was one of the best things I did at Stanford," said Edmond Toy, who graduated in 1993 and is now working toward his doctorate at Harvard's Program for Health Policy. "It helped me appreciate that fact that practically all of the most important issues facing policy-makers are interdisciplinary." interdisciplinary." Now, 30 years after its inception, STS, which started in the equivalent of one of those famous Silicon Valley garages, has become a distinctive feature of the whose time has come." from Apollo 17. The second half of the 20th century saw an increase of interest in both space exploration and the environmental movement. movement. The period witnessed radical changes in many areas of human endeavors. first decade of the 20th century, Einstein produced the theory university's academic landscape. "STS has been percolating up from below for three decades," McGinn said. "Finally it is a major of the conversion of mass into energy, E=mC(2), which was confivations. social sciences, the study of Sociology was conceived by Auguste Comte, who wrote of a heirarchy of knowledge: 1. Theological (fictitious) 2. (metaphysical) 3. Scientific (positivist) Each level of knowledge was said to be more sophisticated than the preceding level.
In Psychology, Sigmund Freud looked for explanations for individual human behavior beyond beyond the rational rational level. level. He unders understoo tood d people people to be motiva motivated ted by a supere superego go (a consc conscie ienc nce) e),, an ego ego (the (the rati ration onal al mind mind), ), and and an id (sub (subco cons nsci ciou ouss moti motivat vatio ion) n).. In Biology, Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution. evolution. Traveling on a long voyage on the Beagle, he had the opportunity to observe great varieties of different species of life, some of which did not exist in England. He kept voluminous records which he later used to develop his theory. Essentially, he said that each of the surviving species had madetheory, when applied to human beings is more difficult to prove because of the relatively long time span of a human generation and the ability of humans to adapt through their culture rather than through through genetic genetic changes. changes. Nevertheless Nevertheless,, recent archeological archeological research has brought brought us closer to identification of the missing links in human evolution. The theory, when applied to human beings, was controversial because it contradicted religious beliefs. The latest challenge to the theory of evolution came in the form of a concept known as Intelligent Design or Creationism, which makes the claim that there must have been an intelligent being who designed the myriads of creatures found in nature. There also have been distortions and misinterpretations of Darwin. Social Darwinism, which theorized a struggle for survival of the fittest within Scientific discoveries, such as the theory of relativity and quantum physics, physics, drastically changed the world-view of scient scientist ists, s, causin causing g them to realiz realizee that that the univer universe se was much more more comple complex x than than previously believed, and dashing the hopes at the end of the 19th century that the last few details details of scienti scientific fic knowle knowledge dge were were about about to be filled filled in. Accelera Acceleratin ting g scient scientifi ificc understanding, more efficient communications, and faster transportation transformed the world in those hundred years more rapidly and widely than at any time in the past. It was a century that started with steam-powered ships and ended with the space shuttle. shuttle. Horses and other other pack animals animals,, Western estern society society's 's basic basic form form of person personal al transp transport ortati ation on for thousands of years, were replaced by automobiles within the span of a few decades. These developments were made possible by the large-scale exploitation of petroleum of petroleum resources, which offered great amounts of energy in an easily portable and storable liquid form, but also caused widespread concerns about pollution about pollution and our long-term our long-term impact on the environment. Humanity explored outer space for the first time, even taking their first footsteps on the Moon Moon.. Mass media, media, telecommunications telecommunications,, and information technology (especially the Internet Internet)) put the world' world'ss knowle knowledge dge at the dispos disposal al of nearly nearly anyone anyone in most most indust industria rializ lized ed societies. Many peoples's view of the world changed significantly as they became much more aware of the suffering and struggles of others and, as such, became increasingly concerned with human rights. rights. In the latter half of the century especially, mankind became aware of the vast scale on which it had affected the planet, and took steps to minimize its damage of the planet's fragile ecosystems ecosystems.. Advancements in medical technology also impr improv oved ed the the welf welfar aree of many many peopl peoplee on the plane planet; t; life life expec expecta tancy ncy incr increas eased ed
dramati dramatical cally ly from from the mid-30 mid-30ss to the mid-60 mid-60ss worldw worldwide ide during during the century century.. The healthiest countries had life expectancies of over 80 years by the turn of the millennium. Rapid Rapid tech technol nologi ogical cal advan advancem cement ents, s, howev however er,, also also allo allowe wed d warf warfar aree to reach reach an unprecedented unprecedented scale; World War II alone killed over 60 million people, while nuclear weaponry gave mankind the means to destroy itself in a very short amount of time. The world world also also becam becamee more more cultu culturally rally homogen homogenized ized than than ever ever with with devel develop opme ment ntss in transportation and communications technology, popular music and other influences of Western culture, international corporations, and what was arguably a true global economy by the end of the century
The Earth seen from Apollo 17. The second half of the 20th century saw an increase of interest in both space exploration and the environmental movement. movement. The twenti twentieth eth century century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1, 1901 and ended on [1] December 31, 31, 2000 2000,, according to the Gregorian calendar . The century saw a remarkable shift in the way that vast numbers of people lived, as a result of technological, medical, social social,, ideolog ideologica ical, l, and politic political al innovat innovation ion.. Argua Arguably bly more more technol technologi ogical cal advance advancess occurre occurred d in any ten-y ten-year ear period period follow following ing World War I than the sum total of new technological development in any century before the industrial revolution. revolution. Terms like ideology,, world war , genocide ideology genocide,, and nuclear war entered war entered common usage. The period witnessed radical changes in many areas of human endeavors. Scientific discoveries, such as the theory of relativity and quantum physics, physics, drastically changed the worldworld-vie view w of scient scientist ists, s, causing causing them to realiz realizee that that the univer universe se was much much more more complex than previously believed, and dashing the hopes at the end of the 19th century that the last few details of scientific knowledge were about to be filled in. Accelerating scient scientifi ificc underst understand anding ing,, more more effic efficien ientt communi communicat cation ions, s, and faster faster transp transport ortati ation on transformed the world in those hundred years more rapidly and widely than at any time in the past. It was a century that started with steam-powered ships and ended with the space shuttle.. Horses and other shuttle other pack animal animals, s, Western estern societ society' y'ss basic basic form form of person personal al transportation for thousands of years, were replaced by automobiles within within the span of a few decades. These developments were made possible by the large-scale exploitation of petroleum resources, which offered great amounts of energy in an easily portable and storable liquid form, but also caused widespread concerns about pollution about pollution and our longour longterm impact on the environment. Humanity explored outer space for the first time, even taking their first footsteps on the Moon Moon.. Mass media, media, telecommunications telecommunications,, and information technology (especially the Internet Internet)) put the world' world'ss knowle knowledge dge at the dispos disposal al of nearly nearly anyone anyone in most most indust industria rializ lized ed societies. Many peoples's view of the world changed significantly as they became much more aware of the suffering and struggles of others and, as such, became increasingly concerned with human rights. rights. In the latter half of the century especially, mankind became aware of the vast scale on which it had affected the planet, and took steps to minimize its damage of the planet's fragile ecosystems ecosystems.. Advancements in medical technology also impr improv oved ed the the welf welfar aree of many many peopl peoplee on the plane planet; t; life life expec expecta tancy ncy incr increas eased ed
dramati dramatical cally ly from from the mid-30 mid-30ss to the mid-60 mid-60ss worldw worldwide ide during during the century century.. The healthiest countries had life expectancies of over 80 years by the turn of the millennium. Rapid Rapid tech technol nologi ogical cal advan advancem cement ents, s, howev however er,, also also allo allowe wed d warf warfar aree to reach reach an unprecedented unprecedented scale; World War II alone killed over 60 million people, while nuclear weaponry gave mankind the means to destroy itself in a very short amount of time. The world world also also becam becamee more more cultu culturally rally homogen homogenized ized than than ever ever with with devel develop opme ment ntss in transportation and communications technology, popular music and other influences of Western culture, international corporations, and what was arguably a true global economy by the end of the century
