16th Century and 17th Century development of science of technology

 The willingness to question previously held truths and search for new answers resulted in a period of
major scientific advancements, now known as the Scientific Revolution/ Beginning of modern era

In this era it focuses primary at

 Science
Exploration
Advancements were made in the theories of:
mathematics,
cosmography
geography
Science in 16 century

 Nicolaus Copernicus/Mikolaj Kopernik (1473-1543) was one of the great astronomers of the 16th
century
 Around 1514 he distributed a little book, not printed but hand written, called the Little Commentary,
set out Copernicus's theory of a universe with the sun at its centre. The Little Commentary is a
fascinating document. It contains seven axioms which:
o There is no one centre in the universe.
o The Earth's centre is not the centre of the universe.
o The centre of the universe is near the sun.
o The distance from the Earth to the sun is imperceptible compared with the distance to the
stars.
o The rotation of the Earth accounts for the apparent daily rotation of the stars.
o The apparent annual cycle of movements of the sun is caused by the Earth revolving round it.
o The apparent retrograde motion of the planets is caused by the motion of the Earth from
which one observes.

 Finally by 1540 he was ready. The theory was published in 1543. The book was called On the
Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies. It was dedicated to Pope Paul III.
 Shortly afterwards on 24 may 1543 Copernicus died However after his death Copernicus
became famous throughout Europe. Yet it was a long time before the Copernican
Heliocentric theory was widely accepte
 Johannes Kepler (1571-1630). In the 16th century people believed that the planets move in circles.
Kepler showed they orbit the Sun in ellipses and they move faster as they approach the Sun. Kepler
published two laws of planetary motion in 1609. He published a third in 1619. Furthermore in 1604
Kepler published a book on Optics.
 The 3 laws of planetary motion :

o All planets move about the Sun in elliptical orbits, having the Sun as one of the foci
o A radius vector joining any planet to the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal lengths of time
o The squares of the sidereal periods (of revolution) of the planets are directly proportional to the
cubes of their mean distances from the Sun.

 One of the most famous early scientists was Galileo a Italian natural philosopher, astronomer,
and mathematician (1564-1642). Aristotle said that if two objects, a heavy one and light one both
fall from a height the large one will reach the ground first. According to legend Galileo tested the
theory by dropping two different weights from the leaning Tower of Pisa. Both hit the ground at
the same time or known as the law of falling body.
  1609 Galileo heard of a new invention from Holland. A man named Hans Lippershey (c 1570-
1619) had invented the telescope. Galileo made his own telescope and soon improved it.
 Also in 1610 Galileo discovered that Venus has phases like the Moon.
 Using a telescope Galileo was able to see several things invisible to the naked eye. Firstly he
could see many stars not visible without a telescope. Secondly the ancient Greeks believed that
the Moon was smooth. Looking through a telescope Galileo could see the Moon's surface is
actually rough, with mountains and craters. He also discovered 4 small 'moons' orbiting the
planet Jupiter. At the time these were astonishing discoveries
 He concluded the sun must be the central point of the solar system, not the Earth as was
previously assumed.

 Isaac Newton is Britain's greatest scientist. In 1668, he invented a reflecting telescope

 Newton made discoveries in optics, motion and mathematics. Newton theorized that white light was a
composite of all colors of the spectrum, and that light was composed of particles
 The Apple myth According to this common myth, Newton was sitting under an apple tree when a fruit fell
and hit him on the head, inspiring him to suddenly come up with the theory of gravity.
 Publication of his physics book Principia and his theory and classification of gravity
16 century and 17 century technology

Telescope

Hans Lippershey also known as Johann Lippershey or Lipperhey, was a German –Dutch
spectacle -maker. He is commonly associated with the invention of the telescope.

Muskets

A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smoothbore long gun that appeared in early 16th century
Europe.
The microscope

The microscope may have been invented by eyeglass makers in Middelburg, The Netherlands, invented
sometime between 1590 and 1610. Hans and his son Zacharias Janssen are mentioned in the letters of
William Boreel ( the Dutch envoy to the Court of France) as having invented a 20X magnification
microscope.

Mercury barometer

The mercury barometer was invented by the Italian physicist Evangelista Torricelli (1608 - 1647), a pupil of
Galileo, in 1643
Lead pencil

The "lead" pencil (which contains no lead) was invented in 1564 when a huge graphite (black carbon)
mine was discovered in Borrowdale, Cumbria, England. The pure graphite was sawn into sheets and then
cut into square rods. The graphite rods were inserted into hand-carved wooden holders, forming pencils

Blaise Pascal/MECHANICAL CALCULATOR

Blaise Pascal invented a mechanical calculator with a sophisticated carry mechanism in

1642. After three years of effort and 50 prototypes[19] he introduced his calculator to the
public. He built twenty of these machines in the following ten years.[20] This machine could
add and subtract two numbers directly and multiply and divide by repetition.
 Science of the 18 century

 Joseph Priestley was a great chemist of the 18th century

 In 1761 Priestley was offered a job at Warrington Academy. The same year he published his first book,
The Rudiments of English Grammar
 Meanwhile in the 1770s Priestley experimented with gases. He discovered 8 new gases including oxygen,
which he discovered in 1774.
 ammonia, sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxide and nitrogen dioxide.

 In 1752, Benjamin Franklin (1706 –1790), the American statesman, philosopher, founding father of
America
 And scientist proved that lightning was a form of electricity when he flew a kite in a thunderstorm.
Franklinand the Czech scientist
 Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (Feb. 18, 1745- March 5, 1827) was an Italian
physicist (at the University of Pavia) who invented the chemical battery (also called the voltaic pile) in
1800. This invention provided the first generator of continuous electrical current. Volta also discovered
(and isolated) methane gas, CH4 (in 1778). He had earlier invented the electrophorus, a device that
generated static electricity charges (in 1775). The volt, the unit of electrical potential, was named for
Volta in 1881.
 Then in 1800 Alessandro Volta (1745-1827) invented the first chemical battery.

 his announcement of the first electric battery in 1800, victory was assured for Volta.

 Known as the voltaic pile or the voltaic column, Volta’s battery consisted of alternating disks of zinc
and silver (or copper and pewter) separated by paper or cloth soaked either in salt water or sodium
hydroxide.

 The first electric light was made in 1800 by Humphry Davy, an English scientist. He experimented with
electricity and invented an electric battery. When he connected wires to his battery and a piece of carbon,
the carbon glowed, producing light thus creating the first light bulb. This is called an electric arc.
 Discovered and characterized several chemical elements including barium, calcium, potassium, sodium,
magnesium, strontium, and boron

 Antonie van Leeuwenhoek known as the Father of Microscopy and Microbiology
 Van Leeuwenhoek discovered "protozoa" - the single-celled organisms and he called them "animalcules
 Dutch tradesman and scientist, best known for his work on the development and improvement of the
microscope and also for his subsequent contribution towards the study of microbiology .
 Anton van Leeuwenhoek is another scientist who saw these cells soon after Hooke did. He made use of a
microscope containing improved lenses that could magnify objects almost 300-fold, or 27ox

 James Watt (1736–1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer and chemist. He is famous for
developing a separate condensing chamber for the steam engine.
 Around 1764, Watt was given a Newcomen steam engine to repair. He realised it was very inefficient
because energy was repeatedly being used to heat the cylinder. He decided to try and invent a more
efficient alternative and he worked on a model which caused steam to condense inside a separate
chamber apart from the piston. He soon had a working model and by 1775 had a patent
 Watt also made other important discoveries and inventions. These included a copying machine and an
improved production method for chlorine, a bleaching agent.
 Technology of 18th century

Steam engines

James Watt (1736 – 1819) recognised as the inventor of the steam engine in 1765. Water could be pumped out of
mines and industrial processes speeded up.
Rocket locomotive

George Stephenson’s (1781 - 1848) Rocket was the first locomotive to pull heavy loads a long distance. This
led to the rapid expansion of railways throughout Britain and the world. The combination of iron and steam paved the
way for the great Victorian engineering projects of Isambard Kingdom Brunel(1806 - 1859). He designed bridges,
tunnels, viaducts and ships

The lightning rod

Prokop Diviš(1698 - 1765) independently developed the lighting conductor to protect buildings from being hit and
damaged by lighting
Arc Lamp

An arc lamp or arc light is a lamp that produces lightby an electric arc (also called a
voltaic arc). The carbon arc light, which consists of an arc between carbon electrodes in air,
Cotton Gin

Eli Whitney was an American inventor best known for inventing the cotton gin A cotton gin is a
machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater
productivity than manual cotton separation
Microscope

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek made more than 500 optical lenses. He also created at least 25 single-lens microscopes,
of differing types, of which only nine have survived. These microscopes were made of silver or copper frames,
holding hand-made lenses.

HOT AIR BALLON MONTGOLFIER BROTHERS

Joseph (1740-1810) and Jacques Etienne (1745-1799) Montgolfier were two French bothers from Vidalon-les-
Annonay, near Lyons, who made the first successful hot-air balloon. Their first balloon was launched in December,
1782, and ascended to an altitude of 985 ft (300 m). This type of hot-air balloon was called the Montgolfiére; it was
made of paper and used air heated by burning wool and moist straw.