History of science in early cultures
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In prehistoric times, advice and knowledge was passed from generation to generation in an oral tradition. The development of writing enabled knowledge to be stored and communicated across generations with much greater fidelity. Combined with the development of agriculture, which allowed for a surplus of food, it became possible for early civilizations to develop and more time to be devoted to tasks other than survival, such as the search for knowledge for knowledge's sake.
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[edit] Mesopotamia
From their beginnings in Sumer (now Iraq) around 3500 BC the Mesopotamian peoples began to attempt to record some observations of the world with extremely thorough quantitative and numerical data. But their observations and measurements were seemingly taken for purposes other than for scientific laws. A concrete instance of Pythagoras' law was recorded, as early as the 18th century BC: the Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet Plimpton 232 records a number of Pythagorean triplets (3,4,5) (5,12,13). ..., dated 1900 BC, possibly millennia before Pythagoras, [8] but an abstract formulation of the Pythagorean theorem was not.[1]
Astronomy is a science which lends itself to the recording and study of observations: the vigorous noting of the motions of the stars, planets, and the moon are left on thousands of clay tablets created by scribes. Even today, astronomical periods identified by Mesopotamian scientists are still widely used in Western calendars: the solar year, the lunar month, the seven-day week. Using these data they developed arithmetical methods to compute the changing length of daylight in the course of the year and to predict the appearances and disappearances of the Moon and planets and eclipses of the Sun and Moon. Only a few astronomer's names are known: Kidinnu was a Chaldean astronomer and mathematician who was contemporary with the Greek astronomers. Kiddinu's value for the solar year is in use for today's calendars. Astronomy and Astrology were considered to be the same thing, a fact proven by the practice of this science in Babylonia by priests. Indeed, rather than following the modern trend towards rational science, moving away from superstition and belief; the Mesopotamian astronomy conversely became more astrology-based later in the civilisation - studying the stars in terms of horoscopes and omens, which might explain the popularity of the clay tablets. Hipparchus was to use this data to calculate the precession of the Earth's axis. Fifteen hundred years after Kiddinu, Al-Batani, born in what is now Turkey, would use the collected data and improve Hipparchus' value for the precession of the Earth's axis. Al-Batani's value, 54.5 arc-seconds per year, compares well to the current value of 49.8 arc-seconds per year (26,000 years for Earth's axis to round the circle of nutation).
[edit] India
The precession of Earth's axis can be used to grasp just how ancient is the study of astronomy; there were astronomers in India 6500 years ago; at that time, the vernal equinox was in Orion (around 4500 BC) as mentioned in the Vedas. These astronomers would mark the beginning of the year with the vernal equinox. The observatories of India and Persia were buildings to facilitate observation with the naked eye, much like the stone circles of Europe. Eventually they were miniaturized into the diptychs and astrolabes in use by the Greeks. These instruments, as well as the gnomon, facilitated development of early astronomy throughout Asia. Fire altars, with astronomical basis, have been found in third millennium cities of India. Their design can be conservatively dated to the 1st millennium BC. Around 1800 BC, Yajnavalkya already advanced a 95-year cycle to synchronize the motions of the sun and the moon. In a treatise from the 6th century, a summary of five astronomical systems can be found.
The idea that the Sun was at the centre of the solar system, and hence a heliocentric solar system, was first discovered sometime between 1500 BC and 500 BC in the Vedic literature of ancient India, such as the Vedas which often referred to the Sun as the "centre of spheres". There is an old Sanskrit shloka (couplet) which also states "Sarva Dishanaam, Suryaha, Suryaha, Suryaha" which means that there are suns in all directions. This couplet which describes the night sky as full of suns, indicates that in ancient times Indian astronomers had arrived at the important discovery that the stars visible at night are similar to the Sun visible during day time. In other words, it was recognized that the sun is also a star, though the nearest one. This understanding is demonstrated in another Sloka which says that when one sun sinks below the horizon, a thousand suns take its place. Many Indian astronomers had later formulated ideas about gravity and gravitation in the early Middle Ages.
In medicine, inoculation was practiced in China, India, and Turkey. Inoculation was a precursor to vaccination for smallpox. Sushruta who lived sometime between the 6th century BC and 1st century BC is the author of the book Sushruta Samhita, in which he describes over 120 surgical instruments, 300 surgical procedures and classifies human surgery in 8 categories. Because of his seminal and numerous contributions to the science and art of surgery he is also known by the title "Father of Surgery." Susrutha is also the father of plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery since his technique of forehead flap rhinoplasty (repairing the disfigured nose with a flap of skin from the forehead) that he used to reconstruct noses that were amputated as a punishment for crimes, is practiced almost unchanged in technique to this day. The Susrutha Samhita contains the first known description of several operations, including the uniting of bowel, the removal of the prostate gland, the removal of cataract lenses and the draining of abscesses. Susrutha was also the first surgeon to advocate the practice of operations on inanimate objects such as watermelons, clay plots and reeds; thus predating the modern practice of the surgical workshop by hundreds of years.
Indian philosophers in ancient India from the 6th century BC developed atomic theories, which included formulating ideas about the atom in a systematic manner and propounding ideas about the atomic constitution of the material world. The principle of relativity was also available from the 6th century BC in an early embryonic form in the Indian philosophical concept of "sapekshavad". The literal translation of this Sanskrit word is "theory of relativity" (not to be confused with Einstein's theory of relativity).
[edit] Egypt
Significant advances in Ancient Egypt include astronomy, mathematics and medicine.[2] Their geometry was a necessary outgrowth of surveying to preserve the layout and ownership of farmland, which was flooded annually by the Nile river. The 3,4,5 right triangle and other rules of thumb served to represent rectilinear structures, and the post and lintel architecture of Egypt. Egypt was also a center of alchemy research for much of the western world.
Egyptian hieroglyphs, a phonetic writing system, has served as the basis for the Phoenician alphabet from which the later Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Cyrillic alphabets were derived. The city of Alexandria retained preeminence with its library, which was damaged by fire when it fell under Roman rule,[3] being completely destroyed by 642.[4][5] With it a huge amount of antique literature and knowledge was lost.
The Edwin Smith papyrus is one of the first medical documents still extant, and perhaps the earliest document which attempts to describe and analyse the brain: given this, it might be seen as the very beginnings of modern neuroscience. However, while Egyptian medicine had some effective practices, it was not without its ineffective and sometimes harmful practices. Medical historians believe that ancient Egyptian pharmacology was largely ineffective. [6] According to a paper published by Michael D. Parkins, 72% of medical 260 prescriptions in the Hearst Papyrus had no curative elements.[7] According to Michael D. Parkins, sewage pharmacology first began in ancient Egypt and was continued through the Middle Ages,[8] and while the use of animal dung can have curative properties,[9] it is not without its risk. Practices such as applying cow dung to wounds, ear piercing and tattooing, and chronic ear infections were important factors in developing tetanus.[10] Frank J. Snoek wrote that Egyptian medicine used fly specks, lizard blood, swine teeth, and other such remedies which he believes could have been harmful.[11]
[edit] Persia
See main article: History of Persian science
Scientific studies, especially in medicine and chemistry, were conducted by Sassanid physicians. The Academy of Gundishapur was an early teaching hospital established during this time.
[edit] China and the Far East
China's history is both long and rich with technological contribution. Ancient Chinese philosophers made significant advances in technology, mathematics, and astronomy. The first recorded observations of comets, solar eclipses and supernovas were made in China.[12] On July 4, 1054, Chinese astronomers observed a guest star, the supernova now called the Crab Nebula.[12] Korean contributions include similar records of meteor showers and eclipses, particularly from 1500-1750 in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty. Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture and herbal medicine were also practised, with similar medicine practised in Korea.
Among the earliest inventions were the abacus and the "shadow clock".[13] Joseph Needham noted the "Four Great Inventions of ancient China" as among the most important technological advances; these were the compass, gunpowder, papermaking, and printing, which were later known in Europe by the end of the Middle Ages. The Tang dynasty (AD 618 - 906) in particular was a time of great innovation.[13] A good deal of exchange occurred between Western and Chinese discoveries up to the Qing dynasty.
However, Needham and most scholars recognised that cultural factors prevented these Chinese achievements from developing into what could be called "science".[14] It was the religious and philosophical framework of the Chinese intellectuals which made them unable to believe in the ideas of laws of nature:
It was not that there was no order in nature for the Chinese, but rather that it was not an order ordained by a rational personal being, and hence there was no conviction that rational personal beings would be able to spell out in their lesser earthly languages the divine code of laws which he had decreed aforetime. The Taoists, indeed, would have scorned such an idea as being too naïve for the subtlety and complexity of the universe as they intuited it.[15]
Similar grounds have been found for questioning much of the philosophy behind Traditional Chinese and Korean Medicine, which, derived mainly from Taoist philosophy, has received various criticisms based on scientific thinking. Philosopher Robert Todd Carroll deemed acupuncture a pseudoscience because it "confuse[s] metaphysical claims with empirical claims".[9]
[edit] Maya
Mayan astronomy was advanced enough to support an accurate calendar.
[edit] Sources
[edit] Notes
- ^ Paul Hoffman, The man who loved only numbers: the story of Paul Erdös and the search for mathematical truth, (New York: Hyperion), 1998, p.187. ISBN 0-7868-6362-5
- ^ Homer's Odyssey stated that "the Egyptians were skilled in medicine more than any other art". [1]
- ^ Plutarch, Life of Caesar 49.3.
- ^ Abd-el-latif (1203): "the library which 'Amr ibn al-'As burnt with the permission of 'Umar."
- ^ Europe: A History, p 139. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1996. ISBN 0-19-820171-0
- ^ [2]
- ^ 10th Annual Proceedings of the History of Medicine Days [3]
- ^ [4]
- ^ [5]
- ^ [6]
- ^ [7]
- ^ a b Ancient Chinese Astronomy
- ^ a b Inventions (Pocket Guides).
- ^ Woods
- ^ Joseph Needham, p. 581.
[edit] References
- Inventions (Pocket Guides). Publisher: DK CHILDREN; Pocket edition (March 15, 1995). ISBN 1564588890. ISBN 978-1564588890
- Aaboe, Asger. Episodes from the Early History of Astronomy. Springer, 2001.
- Evans, James. The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
- Lindberg, David C. The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, 600 B.C. to A.D. 1450. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.
- Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilization in China, volume 1. (Cambridge University Press, 1954)
- Pedersen, Olaf. Early Physics and Astronomy: A Historical Introduction. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
- Woods, Thomas, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, (Washington, DC: Regenery, 2005), ISBN 0-89526-038-7
