The beginning of Science
600 BCE - 1400 CE
(From page 18-19)
The scientific study of the world has its roots in Mesopotamia. Following the invention of agriculture and writing, people had the time to devote to study and the means to pass the results of those studies on to the next generation. Early science was inspired by the wonder of the night sky. From the fourth millennium BCE, Sumerian priests studied the stars, recording their results on clay tablets. They did not leave records of their methods, but a tablet dating from 1800 BCE shows knowledge of the properties of right-angled triangles.
Ancient Greece
The ancient Greeks did not see science as a sperate subject from philosophy, but the first figure whose work is recognizablyb scientific is probably Thales of Miletus, of whom Plato said that he spent so much time dreaming and looking at the stars that he once feel into a well. Possibly using data from earlier Babylonians, in 585 BCE, Thales predicted a solar eclipse, demonstrating the power of a scientific approach.
Ancient Greece was not a single country, but rather a loose collection of city states. Miletus (now in Turkey) was the birthplace of several noted philosophers. Many other early Greek philosophers studied in Athens. Here, Aristotle was an astute observer, but he did not conduct experiments; he believed that, if he could bring together enough intelligent men, the truth would emerge. The engeneer Archimedes, who lived at syracuse on the island of Sicily, explored the properties of fluids. A new center of learning developed at Alexandria, founded at the mouth of the Nile by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE. Here Eratosthenes measured the size of Earth, Ctesibius made accurate clocks, and Hero invented the steam engine. Meanwhile, the librarians in Alexandria collected the best books they could find to build the best library in the world, which was burned down when Romans and Christians took over the city.
Science in Asia
Science flourished independently in China. The chinese invented gunpowder - and with it fireworks, rockets, and guns - and made bellows for working metal. They invented the first compass. In 1054 CE, Chinese astrinomers observed a supernova, which was Identified as the Crab Nebula in 1731.
Some of the most advanced technology in the first millenium CE, including the spinning wheel, was developed in India, and Chinese missions were sent to study Indian farming techniques. Indian mathematicians developed what we now call the "Arabic" number system, including negative numbers and zero, and gave definitions of the trigonometric functions sine and cosine.
600 BCE - 1400 CE
(From page 18-19)
The scientific study of the world has its roots in Mesopotamia. Following the invention of agriculture and writing, people had the time to devote to study and the means to pass the results of those studies on to the next generation. Early science was inspired by the wonder of the night sky. From the fourth millennium BCE, Sumerian priests studied the stars, recording their results on clay tablets. They did not leave records of their methods, but a tablet dating from 1800 BCE shows knowledge of the properties of right-angled triangles.
Ancient Greece
The ancient Greeks did not see science as a sperate subject from philosophy, but the first figure whose work is recognizablyb scientific is probably Thales of Miletus, of whom Plato said that he spent so much time dreaming and looking at the stars that he once feel into a well. Possibly using data from earlier Babylonians, in 585 BCE, Thales predicted a solar eclipse, demonstrating the power of a scientific approach.
Ancient Greece was not a single country, but rather a loose collection of city states. Miletus (now in Turkey) was the birthplace of several noted philosophers. Many other early Greek philosophers studied in Athens. Here, Aristotle was an astute observer, but he did not conduct experiments; he believed that, if he could bring together enough intelligent men, the truth would emerge. The engeneer Archimedes, who lived at syracuse on the island of Sicily, explored the properties of fluids. A new center of learning developed at Alexandria, founded at the mouth of the Nile by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE. Here Eratosthenes measured the size of Earth, Ctesibius made accurate clocks, and Hero invented the steam engine. Meanwhile, the librarians in Alexandria collected the best books they could find to build the best library in the world, which was burned down when Romans and Christians took over the city.
Science in Asia
Science flourished independently in China. The chinese invented gunpowder - and with it fireworks, rockets, and guns - and made bellows for working metal. They invented the first compass. In 1054 CE, Chinese astrinomers observed a supernova, which was Identified as the Crab Nebula in 1731.
Some of the most advanced technology in the first millenium CE, including the spinning wheel, was developed in India, and Chinese missions were sent to study Indian farming techniques. Indian mathematicians developed what we now call the "Arabic" number system, including negative numbers and zero, and gave definitions of the trigonometric functions sine and cosine.
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