SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

IN MIDDLE AGES
TO BE REPORTED BY: GROUP 1
 MIDDLE AGES
• Middle Ages is between 5th and 15th centuries of European History
• It is called the middle ages because is the time between the fall of
Roman Empire and the Beginning of the Early Modern Europe. This
period of time is also known as:
• Dark Ages (450 A.D. to 1450 A.D.)
• Age of Faith
• Poverty was endemic and people suffered from wars, piracy and
famine and epidemics. Inevitably, science retreated as well
 ARAB SCIENCE
• The Islamic Culture (700 to 1300)
-This played a key role in bridging the gap between the Hellenistic
and the Renaissance
• Islamic Empire became the most advance civilization in the Western
World
• Development of science demonstrated by the number of scientific
terms with Arabian origins such "Azimuth and Algebra"
• Arabic Language became the unifying factor in the Islamic Empire
 Arabs contributed to several scientific fields.

The Arabs not only translated and preserved the scientific works of
Antiquity and of the Indians, they also contributed to several scientific
fields.
• In Astronomy
• In Chemistry
• In Physics
• In Medicine
• However, the science of anatomy did not progress in this period
 THE REVIVAL OF SCIENCE IN EUROPE

• Trade and food production started to

increase ,starting in the Northern part of
Europe.
• Water was more abundant in the north than
in the Mediterranean countries and the soil
was more fertile.
 CHARLEMAGNE

• An emperor who learn an an adult to

read and tried unsuccessfully to
learn to write,decreed in 787 that
every must establish a school.
• These cathedral schools became the
forerunners of the first universities
• Establishments of contact
with the Islamic culture
• The cities are more
educated population that
began to develop in Europe
that result that Christian
scholars were eager to
absorb the knowledge
gathered by the muslim.
 
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

• One of the founder of scholastic

school.
• He argued that knowledge can be
obtained through both religious faith
and natural reasons.
• He believed that teachings of Plato
and Aristotle were compatible to
Christian Religion.
 THE TECHNOLOGY IN THE MIDDLE
AGES
• It was one of the most
outstanding inventive periods
• Foundation of the modern
Science
• First Industrial Revolution
• Efforts to develop labor-saving
machinery
Farmers working the land outside a castle from an early
15th century French illuminated manuscript. In the middle
ages, the use of wheeled flow increased and the invention
of the horse collar allowed more efficient use of horse as
draft animals
 THE TECHNOLOGY IN THE MIDDLE AGES
• Inherent in Catholic theology
• Unnecessary work was
unworthy of the dignity of
man
• Monasteries was the center
of technological innovation

Flying Buttress which is considered as one of the best

influential architectural design into modern times.
 TWO FACTORS OF INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION IN MIDDLE AGES:
• Several technologies from Antiquity
that had been forgotten has been
used again on a large scale, and
new inventions brought medieval
technology to more advanced stage
that of the Roman.

Miniature illustration of Nicole Oresme in

his study, with an armillary sphere in the
foreground.
TWO FACTORS OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
IN MIDDLE AGES:
• Many tools and machines
developed during these
times remained practically
unchanged until the
industrial revolution.

The Mechanical Clock at Salisbury Cathedral

Capture by: Matt Brown
Retrieved from
www.buyoya.com/Salisbury-cathedral-mechanical-clock-Salisbur
y-England/
EARLY MIDDLE AGES (500-1000)
WATERMILL

• Used since Roman Times

but lost after the collapse
of the Empire
• Used for crop irrigation and
grinding grains, as well as
to supply drinking water to
villages
STIRRUPS
- came to Europe from China
- Allowed warriors on horseback to
deliver more powerful spear thrusts
from a mounted position
- Help the riders to create a steadier,
more effective fighting situation
- Allowed horsemen to stand in the
saddle and use their swords to chop
down on their opponents
- It revolutionized military strategy and
techniques on the medieval battlefield
PLOUGH

• Came to England around 10th

Century
• Help peasants to work in larger
area of land
• The way it cut and turned the soil
helped to uproot the weeds and
improve drainage
 HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300)
• In Europe there was a radical change in the rate of new
inventions, innovations in the ways of managing traditional
means of production, and economic growth.
MEDIEVAL GLASSES/ SPECTACLES
• Didn't have arms to go over the ear at first
• Wearers would either have to hold or
pinch while using them tightly to keep it in
place
• They are not super-comfortable, but worth
the effort cause these glasses enabled the
scholars to continue their studies until
their older years
 WINDMILL

• One of the more redefined inventions

to arrive in the medieval world
• Utilizes the energy of the wind in
order to do its physical activities
• Created to replace animal power in
grinding grain
 TIDAL MILLS
• Constructed in low-lying areas near
the ocean or another source of water
• Molded after watermill with slight
adjustments
• Unlike the water mills, they are
powered by the rise and fall of the
tide
 BLAST FURNACE

• Huge steel stack lined with refractory brick

• Iron ore, coke and limestone are dumped
on top and preheated air is blown into the
bottom
• Raw materials take 6-8 hours to descend to
the bottom
• Result with liquid slag and liquid iron
 LATE MIDDLE AGES (1300-1500)
• Great Famine of 1315-1317 and the Black Death
reduced the population in Europe
• It was also a time of great progress in arts and
sciences
JOHANNES GUTENBERG
• German inventor
• He was the first to produce serial
standardized individual parts, which
made the printing process faster and
less expensive.
• "Forty-Two-Lline" bible
• Paper printing machines made the
works of journalists much easier
• Printing press that time was a great
technological advancement
 ROGER BACON
• The first European to describe in
detail the process of making
gunpowder, wherein gunpowder
was the primary propellant and
was first use in 1248
• Canons were first used in Europe
in1324
 THE ISLAMIC GOLDEN AGE
• Muslim were at the forefront of discoveries:
- ophthalmology (study of human eye)
- anatomy (study of the human body)
- physiology (study of the ways in which bodies of living
things work)
- pathology (the study and diagnosis of disease)
- surgery
- chemistry
- pharmaceuticals
 THE ISLAMIC GOLDEN AGE

• The significant achievements made by Muslims from

approximately 750 to 150 A. D. led to the naming of this period
as the Islamic Renaissance, or the Islamic Golden Age

• Muslim translated most of the scientific works of antiquity (from

ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt) into Arabic.
 THE ISLAMIC GOLDEN AGE

• Great advances were also made in astronomy and

mathematics, as well as in architecture, art and literature
 ARABIC NUMERALS

• One of the greatest

advances was
introduction of Arabic
numerals.
 PROPHET MOHAMMED
• Islam was one of the first global
religions to place emphasis on
bodily hygiene. The Prophet
Mohammed popularized the use of
the first toothbrush in around 7th
Century, using a twig from the
Miswak tree.
• Arab people also perfected the
recipe for soap which we still use
today-combining vegetable oils
with sodium hydroxide and
aromatics such as thye oil.
 ABU AL-QASIM AL-ZAHRAWI (ABULCASIS)
(935 AD – 1013)

• Was born in Cordoba

• Physician-Pharmacist-Surgeon

• “Father of Modern Surgery”

 ABU AL-QASIM AL-ZAHRAWI (ABULCASIS)
(935 AD – 1013)

Kitab- Al- Tasrif

• (THE METHOD OF MEDICINE)
• 1,500 page illustrated encyclopedia of
surgery and medical practices

THREE CHAPTERS ABOUT SURGERY:

• Cauterization
• Incision, perforation, venesection,
and wounds.
• Bone-setting
 ABU AL-QASIM AL-ZAHRAWI (ABULCASIS)
(935 AD – 1013)
SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS:

Scalpel, Syringe, forceps, surgical hook, needle, bone saw, catnug

 ABU ADL-QASIM ABBAS IBN FIRNAS
(810 AD – 887 AD)
• Muslim poet, astronomer, musician and engineer
• “Leonardo Da Vinci” of the Islamic world
• Devoted his entire life to science and wrote many books on
mathematics, physics, astronomy, and engineering

RUDIMENTARY HANG-GLIDER
(875 AD)

• He jumped from the minaret of the Grand Mosque in Cordova

• World’s first parachute jump
• Ibn Firnas realized that he forgot to design a tail.
• World’s first aviator
 ALHAZHEN

•He is a scholar from Basra

•First person to describe how the eye
works
•Identified the principles that underpin
photography
•Built the first camera obscura on record
DARK ROOM
•1800's - photographic
plates were added to the
camera obscura to capture
images permanently.

•All modern cameras---and

indeed the eye itself---use
the same physical principles
as the camera obscura.
References:
• Durham P. (1910), “A Forerunner of Coppernicus. Forgotten Nicole Oresme”, retrieved
from www.todayinsci.com/O/Oresme_Nicole/OresmeNicole-Forerunner.htm
• DHWTY (May 2019), “Armillary spheres: Following Celestial Objects in the Ancient
World”, Retrieved from
www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-ancient-technology/armillary-spheres-following-cel
estial-objects-ancient-world-004025
• Black A. (N), “Medieval Clock at Salisbury Cathedral”, retrieved from
www.atlasobscura.com/places/medieval-clock-at-Salisbury-cathedral
• Medievalist.com (August 2014), “Ten Medieval Inventions that Changed the world”
retrieved from
www.medievalists.net/2014/08/ten-medieval-inventions-changed-world/
• Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (August 2019), “Manorialism”, retrieved from
www.Britannica.com/topic/manorialism