Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
08 December 2010
Science Timeline Part Three
Oriental science and technology makes advances while Europe stumbles around in the Dark Ages
until it emerges with the medical school of Salerno
While Europeans were groping about in ignorance others were making scientific discoveries. In China, science enjoyed periods of progress, but there was no sustained drive.
Oriental Science Develops Independently
There is considerable debate about the timing of Chinese mathematical achievements. There is a famous mathematical text called The Zhou Bi Suan Jing, which means The Arithmetical Classic of the Gnomon and the Circular Paths of Heaven. The book dates from the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BCE to 256 BCE), however new material was added up to the second century CE. One of its entries shows ways of solving algebraic equations by means of matrices, and with the use of the arithmetic triangle (below).
By the 11th century BCE, Chinese thinkers were working with decimals, geometry, algebra, trigonometry, and other branches of mathematics. There is considerable debate about whether Mediterranean or Oriental civilizations have the bragging rights to particular developments. Let’s say that great breakthroughs occurred independently so perhaps both cultures can claim credit.
More important, however, was the impact on Europe of several practical Chinese innovations. These include the processes for making paper and gunpowder, the use of printing, and the compass.
In India, the chief contributions to science were the formulation of the so-
Combining Knowledge from Others
These advances were transmitted first to the Arabs, who combined the best elements from Babylonian, Greek, Chinese, and Hindu sources.
The Arabs also found some of the ancient Greek libraries and they pounced on the knowledge they contained. Using that as a base Arab scholars did some impressive new work in astronomy, medicine, optics, mathematics, and alchemy, the predecessor of chemistry.
They also worked on developing the accuracy of astrolabes (left).
By the 9th century, Baghdad on the Tigris River, had become a centre for the translation of scientific works, and in the 12th century this learning was transmitted to Europe through Spain, Sicily, and Byzantium (Turkey).
Muhammad ibn Musa Al-
Science Goes down a Blind Alley -
For centuries, people have dreamed of turning base metals into gold. The study of ways to make this happen is called alchemy.
In ancient China, alchemy was associated with Taoist philosophy and it was claimed that base metals could be changed into gold by use of a “medicine.” The gold so produced was thought to have the ability to cure diseases and prolong life.
The Arabs were big on alchemy, and one of their greatest practitioners was Jabir
ibn Hayyan, (721–815). He sought to create a mysterious dry powder that would do
the gold-
Others referred to the powder as the panacea, from Greek words meaning “all-
However, in the course of thousands of experiments in changing iron to gold other discoveries have been made. Arabian alchemists found new chemicals such as the alkalis and acids, and such processes as distillation.
The chemical facts that had been accumulated by alchemists as a by-
Europe Emerges from the Dark Ages
Around 1000, Europe began a slow recovery from its science doldrums. While most scientific enquiry had ceased, European monasteries did continue to study and develop medicine.
By the tenth century, a medical school was in operation at Salerno in Italy. A lot of people see this school as medieval Europe's first university. The medical school was noted for its physicians as early as the 10th century, and by the 11th century it was attracting students from all over Europe, as well as Asia and Africa.
(The school could advance the knowledge handed down from almost a thousand years earlier.
The Greek physician Galen (right) lived from 131 to 201 and worked, among other things,
at a school for gladiators. He was forbidden to dissect dead humans. However, his
job gave him a chance to study human anatomy by examining the sliced and diced bodies
coming in from the arena.
He identified numerous muscles for the first time and showed the importance of the spinal cord, noting the resulting paralysis when the cord was cut at different levels. Galen was also the first to consider the pulse a diagnostic aid. His theories include concepts of blood formation, digestion, and nerve function. His writing survived as the medical authority until the 16th century.)
In 1221, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II decreed that no doctor in the kingdom could legally practice medicine until he had been examined and publicly approved by the school at Salerno.
We can trace the revival of science in Europe to Salerno’s medical school. But, it
was a sometimes-
Then, the Black Death (mid-
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170 BCE
Parchment is developed in Ancient Greece; it is a huge improvement over papyrus in that it can be written on both sides.
150 BCE
The first astrolabes, instruments used for measuring the position of the Sun and other stars, make an appearance in Ancient Greece. The instrument underwent huge development by Arab astronomers around 800 CE.
105 CE
In China, Ts’ai Lun invents a method of making paper from cellulose fibres, the most common organic compound on Earth. It takes a thousand years for the technology of paper making to reach Europe.
About 135
Claudius Ptolemaeus, better known as Ptolemy, lived in Egypt under Roman rule and wrote in Greek. His work covered mathematics, astronomy, and geography. In his Almagest he gathered together the known information about the Universe for his time and accurately plotted the positions of the planets. However, he mistakenly identified Earth as the centre of the Universe and, again in error, said that it did not move.
400
The wheelbarrow is a deceptively simple device based on the principle of the lever.
The Chinese invented it about 1,600 years ago (some experts say they came up with
it much earlier). They even had some wheelbarrows rigged up with sails for a bit
of wind assistance. The wheel acts as a fulcrum and a person can use the lever action
to lift heavier weights of material than could be carried. The single wheel enables
cargo to be carried down narrow lanes and crowded streets. The wheelbarrow has an
enormous impact on commerce in helping vendors get more goods to market. But, it
took 800 years for the idea of the wheelbarrow to reach Europe. A window in Chartres
Cathedral, which was built in the mid-
673
Many scientific advances have come through warfare; as rivals try to gain an advantage over each other they have, and still do, expend enormous energy developing new ways to kill their enemies. Flaming weapons had been used for hundreds of years, but the arrival of “Greek Fire” on the battle scene was a quantum leap (whether backwards or forwards depends on whose side you are on). Said to be a mixture of quicklime, naphtha, pitch, and sulphur, Greek fire is thought to have been invented by an architect named Callinicus who may have been Syrian or Egyptian. It makes its first appearance in 673 when the, until then, secret weapon of the Byzantine Empire was used to repel Arab attackers during the siege of Constantinople. According to a Greek historical website, “The ‘liquid fire’ was hurled on to the ships of their enemies from siphons and burst into flames on contact…Its introduction into warfare of its time was comparable in its demoralizing influence to the introduction of nuclear weapons in our time.”
725
The venerable Bede, a monk in a northern English monastery tried to determine an atom of time. In his book, A Reckoning of Time, in which he also examines calendars, tides, and the cosmos he decided it was about 1/6 of a second, which made it “the briefest sounds that we can distinguish in speech"
770
Iron horseshoes come into common use.
A LOT OF FUSS
ABOUT NOTHING
All the top quality thinkers up to about 810 had failed to see the importance of zero.
Apparently, the number zero pops up occasionally in ancient Babylonia and Egypt. The Mayans did have a zero, but their numbering system (based on 20) was so cockeyed it was of little use.
It seems it was our old friend Muhammad ibn Musa al-
The concept of zero didn’t catch on quickly in Europe where people clung to the clumsy system of Roman numerals until the 16th century.
If you don’t think zero is important, try adding a column of numbers without it. The use of zero led to an ease of calculations needed in fields such as astronomy, manufacturing, and navigation. Eventually, it led to even more efficient forms of handling data such as logarithms, slide rules, mechanical and electrical calculators, and computers.