Thursday, January 3, 2008

Great Human Inventions - 11th to 15th Century

Glasses (1280's, Italy)

Mechanical clock (1335, Italy)

Viol (viola da gamba) and Cello (late 15th and 16th century, Italy)

Pocket watch (1510, Germany)Invented by Peter Henlein.

Violin (Early 16th century, Italy)

Thermometer (1593-1714)
1593 : Invented by Galileo (Italy)
1714 : Mercury thermometer invented by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (Poland/Netherlands) Invented by Galileo Galilei.

Microscope (1595, Netherlands)Invented by Zacharias Janssen.

Telescope
late 11th century : astronomical lenses (Sweden)
13th century : experimental telescopes built by Francis Bacon (UK)
1595/1608 : refracting telescope (Netherlands)
1609 : improved by Galileo (Italy)

Newspaper (1605, Belgium/France/Germany)The world's first printed newspapers were the Relation aller fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien published in Strasbourg (Germany at the time, now France), and the Nieuwe Tijdingen, published the same year in Antwerp (part of the Spanish Netherlands at the time, now Belgium).
Calculator (1623-1954)
1623 : automatic calculator invented by Wilhelm Schickard (Germany)
1642 : adding machine invented by Blaise Pascal (France)
1954 : electronic calculator invented by IBM (USA)

Barometer (1643, Italy)Invented by Evangelista Torricelli.

Daily newspaper (1645, Germany)The Einkommende Zeitungen in Lepizing.

Pendulum clock (1657, Netherlands)Invented by Christiaan Huygens.

Pressure cooker (1679, France)Invented by Denis Papin.

Clarinet (1690, Germany)Invented by Johann Christoph Denner.

Steam engine (1698, UK)Invented by Thomas Savery in 1698, and improved by James Watt in 1769.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Fields of Science...

Fields of science are commonly classified along two major lines:
1. Natural sciences, the study of the natural phenomena;
2. Social sciences, the systematic study of human behavior and societies.
Natural sciences
Astronomy, the study of celestial objects and phenomena that are outside the Earth's atmosphere, e.g. stars, the cosmos, etc.
Biology, the study of life.
Ecology and Environmental science, the studies of the interrelationships of life and the environment.
Chemistry, the study of the composition, chemical reactivity, structure, and properties of matter and with the (physical and chemical) transformations that they undergo.
Earth science, the study of earth and specialties including: Geology, Hydrology, Meteorology, Science-based or Physical Geography, Oceanography and Soil science
Physics, the study of the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces and interactions they exert on one another, and the results produced by these forces.
Main social sciences
Anthropology
Communication
Cultural studies
Economics
Education
Geography
History
Linguistics
Political science
Psychology
Social policy
Sociology
Development studies

What is science???


Many definitions and explanations given by people & institutes for this word Science. Let’s see some of them.

By Academic Press Dictionary of Science & Technology

The systematic observation of natural events and conditions in order to discover facts about them and to formulate laws and principles based on these facts.

The organized body of knowledge that is derived from such observations and that can be verified or tested by further investigation.

Any specific branch of this general body of knowledge, such as biology, physics, geology, or astronomy.

by Dr. Sheldon Gottlieb

Science is an intellectual activity carried on by humans that is designed to discover information about the natural world in which humans live and to discover the ways in which this information can be organized into meaningful patterns. A primary aim of science is to collect facts (data). An ultimate purpose of science is to discern the order that exists between and amongst the various facts.
from the Multicultural History of Science page at Vanderbilt University

Science involves more than the gaining of knowledge. It is the systematic and organized inquiry into the natural world and its phenomena. Science is about gaining a deeper and often useful understanding of the world.

by Robert H. Dott, Jr., and Henry L. Batten, Evolution of the Earth (2nd edition)

Science consists simply of the formulation and testing of hypotheses based on observational evidence; experiments are important where applicable, but their function is merely to simplify observation by imposing controlled conditions.

by Richard Feynman, Nobel-prize-winning physicist, in The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

Science alone of all the subjects contains within itself the lesson of the danger of belief in the infallibility of the greatest teachers in the preceeding generation . . .As a matter of fact, I can also define science another way: Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.
 
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