History of technology

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This article is about the topic of technology in history. For the publication, see History of Technology (magazine).
Image:Wheel Iran.jpg
The wheel was invented circa 4000 BC, and has become one of the world's most famous, and most useful technologies. This wheel is on display in The National Museum of Iran, in Tehran.

The history of technology is the history of the invention of tools and techniques. Background knowledge has enabled people to create new things, and conversely, many scientific endeavors have become possible through technologies which assist humans to travel to places we could not otherwise go, and probe the nature of the universe in more detail than our natural senses allow.

Technological artifacts are products of an economy, a force for economic growth, and a large part of everyday life. Technological innovations affect, and are affected by, a society's cultural traditions. They also are a means to develop and project military power.

Contents

[edit] By period and geography

[edit] Early technology

Image:Farming-on-Indonesia.jpg
Agriculture preceded writing in the history of technology.

[edit] Stone Age

During the Stone Age, all humans had a lifestyle which involved limited use of tools and few if any permanent settlements. The first major technologies, then, were tied to survival, hunting, and food preparation in this environment. Fire, stone tools and weapons, and clothing were technological developments of major importance during this period. Stone Age cultures developed music, and engaged in organized warfare. A subset of Stone Age people developed ocean-worthy outrigger ship technology, leading to an eastward migration across the Malay archipelago, across the Indian ocean to Madagascar and also across the Pacific Ocean, which required knowledge of the ocean currents, weather patterns, sailing, celestial navigation, and star maps. The early Stone Age is described as Epipaleolithic or Mesolithic. The former is generally used to describe the early Stone Age in areas with limited glacial impact. The later Stone Age, during which the rudiments of agricultural technology were developed, is called the Neolithic period.

Although Paleolithic cultures left no written records, the shift from nomadic life to settlement and agriculture can be inferred from a range of archaeological evidence. Such evidence includes ancient tools[1], cave paintings, and other prehistoric art, such as the Venus of Willendorf. Human remains also provide direct evidence, both through the examination of bones, and the study of mummies. Though concrete evidence is limited, scientists and historians have been able to form significant inferences about the lifestyle and culture of various prehistoric peoples, and the role technology played in their lives.

[edit] Copper and Bronze Age

The Stone Age developed into the Bronze Age after the Neolithic Revolution. The Neolithic Revolution involved radical changes in agricultural technology which included development of agriculture, animal domestication, and the adoption of permanent settlements. These combined factors made possible the development of metal smelting, with copper and later bronze, being the metals of choice. This technological trend began in the Fertile Crescent, and spread outward over time. It should be noted that these developments were not, and still are not, universal. The Three-age system does not accurately describe the technology history of groups outside of Eurasia, and does not apply at all in the case of some isolated populations, such as the Spinifex People, the Sentinelese, and various Amazonian tribes, which still make use of Stone Age technology, and have not developed agricultural or metallurgical technology...

[edit] Iron Age

The Iron Age involved the adoption of iron smelting technology. It generally replaced bronze, and made it possible to produce tools which were stronger and cheaper to make than bronze equivalents. In many Eurasian cultures, the Iron Age was the last major step before the development of written language, though again this was not universally the case.

[edit] Ancient civilizations

[edit] Egypt

Main article: Ancient Egyptian technology

The Egyptians invented and used many simple machines, such as the ramp and the lever, to aid construction processes. Egyptian paper, made from papyrus, and pottery was mass produced and exported throughout the Mediterranean basin. The wheel, however, did not arrive until foreign invaders introduced the chariot. They also played an important role in developing Mediterranean maritime technology including ships and lighthouses.

For later technologies in Ptolemaic Egypt, Roman Egypt, and Arab Egypt, see Ancient Greek technology and innovation, Roman technology and Inventions in the Muslim world respectively.

[edit] India

Main article: Science and technology in ancient India

The Indus Valley Civilization, situated in a resource-rich area, is notable for its early application of city planning and sanitation technologies. Cites in the Indus Valley offer some of the first examples of closed gutters, public baths, and communal granaries. The Takshashila University was an important seat of learning in the ancient world. It was the center of education for scholars from all over Asia. Many Greek, Persian and Chinese students studied here under great scholars including Kautilya, Panini, Jivaka, and Vishnu Sharma.

Ancient India was also at the forefront of seafaring technology - a panel found at Mohenjodaro, depicts a sailing craft. Ship construction is vividly described in the Yukti Kalpa Taru, an ancient Indian text on Shipbuilding. The Yukti Kalpa Taru, compiled by Bhoja Narapati is concerned with shipbuilding. (The Yukti Kalpa Taru had been translated and published by Prof. Aufrecht in his 'Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts').

Indian construction and architecture, called 'Vaastu Shastra', suggests a thorough understanding or materials engineering, hydrology, and sanitation. Ancient Indian culture was also pioneering in its use of vegetable dyes, cultivating plants including indigo and cinnabar. Many of the dyes were used in art and sculpture. The use of perfumes demonstrates some knowledge of chemistry, particularly distillation and purification processes.

[edit] China

Main article: History of science and technology in China
Image:ArmillarySphere1.JPG
Chinese armillary sphere

According to the Scottish researcher Joseph Needham, the Chinese made a great many first-known discoveries and developments. Major technological contributions from China include early seismological detectors, matches, paper, sliding calipers, the double-action piston pump, cast iron, the iron plough, the multi-tube seed drill, the wheelbarrow, the suspension bridge, the parachute, natural gas as fuel, the magnetic compass, the raised-relief map, the propeller, the crossbow, the South Pointing Chariot, and gun powder. Other Chinese discoveries and inventions from the Medieval period, according to Joseph Needham's research, include: the paddle wheel boat, block printing and movable type, phosphorescent paint, chain drive, the escapement mechanism, and the spinning wheel.

The solid-fuel rocket was invented in China about 1150, nearly 200 years after the invention of black powder (which acted as the rocket's fuel), and 500 years after the invention of the match. At the same time that the age of exploration was occurring in the West, the Chinese emperors of the Ming Dynasty also sent ships, some reaching Africa. But the enterprises were not further funded, halting further exploration and development. When Ferdinand Magellan's ships reached Brunei in 1521, they found a wealthy city that had been fortified by Chinese engineers, and protected by a breakwater. Antonio Pigafetta noted that much of the technology of Brunei was equal to Western technology of the time. Also, there were more cannons in Brunei than on Magellan's ships, and the Chinese merchants to the Brunei court had sold them spectacles and porcelain, which were rarities in Europe. Chinese scientific understanding, however, was less developed than that in the West.

[edit] Tribal Europe

By 1000 BC - 500 BC, the Germanic tribes had a Bronze Age civilization, while the Celts were in the Iron Age by the time of the Hallstatt culture. Their cultures collided with the military and agricultural practices of the Romans, leading the Europeans to appropriate both social and technological processes of the Romans.

[edit] Greek and Hellenistic

Main article: Ancient Greek technology

Greek and Hellenistic engineers invented many technologies and improved upon pre-existing technologies, particularly during the Hellenistic period. Heron of Alexandria invented a basic steam engine and demonstrated knowledge of mechanic and pneumatic systems. Archimedes invented several machines. The Greeks were unique in pre-industrial times in their ability to combine scientific research with the development of new technologies. One example is the Archimedean screw; this technology was first conceptualized in mathematics, then built. Other technologies invented by Greek scientists include the ballistae, and primitive analog computers like the Antikythera mechanism and the piston pump.Greek architects were responsible for the first true domes, and were the first to explore the Golden ratio and its relationship with geometry and architecture.

Apart from Hero of Alexandria's steam aeolipile, Hellenistic technicians were the first to invent watermills and windwheels, making them global pioneers in three of the four known means of non-human propulsion prior to the Industrial Revolution (the fourth being sails), although only water power became extensively used in antiquity.

[edit] Roman

Main article: Roman technology
Image:Pont du gard.jpg
Pont du Gard in France, a Roman aqueduct

Romans developed an intensive and sophisticated agriculture, expanded upon existing iron working technology, created laws providing for individual ownership, advanced stone masonry technology, advanced road-building (exceeded only in the 19th century), military engineering, civil engineering, spinning and weaving and several different machines like the Gallic reaper that helped to increase productivity in many sectors of the Roman economy.

Roman engineers were the first to build monumental arches, amphitheatres, aqueducts, public baths, stone bridges, vaults and domes. Notable Roman inventions include the book (Codex), glass blowing and concrete. Because Rome was located on a volcanic peninsula, with sand which contained suitable crystalline grains, the concrete which the Romans formulated was especially durable. Some of their buildings have lasted 2000 years, to the present day.

Roman civilization was highly urbanized by pre-modern standards. Many cities of the Imperium had over 100,000 inhabitants with the capital Rome being the largest metropolis of antiquity. Features of Roman urban life included multistory apartment buildings, street paving, public flush toilets, glass windows and floor and wall heating. The Romans understood hydraulics and constructed fountains and waterworks, particularly Aqueducts, which were the hallmark of their civilization. Some Roman baths have lasted to this day. The Romans developed many technologies which were lost in the Middle Ages, and were only fully reinvented in the 19th and 20th centuries.

[edit] Inca

The engineering skills of the Inca were great, even by today's standards. An example is the use of pieces weighing in upwards of one ton in their stonework (e.g., Machu Picchu in Peru), placed together so that not even a blade can fit in-between the cracks. The villages used irrigation canals and drainage systems, making agriculture very efficient. While some claim that the Incas were the first inventors of hydroponics, their agricultural technology was still soil based, if advanced. This technology, including tiered farm plots, allowed significant yields from steeply sloped or otherwise unproductive land.

[edit] Maya

Though the Maya civilization had no metallurgy or wheel technology, they developed complex writing and astrological systems, and created sculptural works in stone and flint. Like the Inca, the Maya also had command of fairly advanced agricultural and construction technology. Throughout this time period much of this construction, was made only by women, as men of the Maya civilization believed that females were responsible for the creation of new things.

[edit] Medieval and Modern technologies

[edit] Muslim Agricultural Revolution

Main articles: Muslim Agricultural Revolution and Inventions in the Muslim world
Further information: Timeline of science and technology in the Islamic world

From the 8th century, the medieval Islamic world witnessed a fundamental transformation in agriculture known as the "Muslim Agricultural Revolution", "Arab Agricultural Revolution", or "Green Revolution".[1] Due to the global economy established by Muslim traders across the Old World during the "Afro-Asiatic age of discovery" or "Pax Islamica", this enabled the diffusion of many crops, plants and farming techniques between different parts of the Islamic world, as well as the adaptation of crops, plants and techniques from beyond the Islamic world, distributed throughout Islamic lands which normally would not be able to grow these crops.[2] Some have referred to the diffusion of numerous crops during this period as the "Globalisation of Crops",[3] which, along with an increased mechanization of agriculture, led to major changes in economy, population distribution, vegetation cover,[4] agricultural production and income, population levels, urban growth, the distribution of the labour force, linked industries, cooking and diet, clothing, and numerous other aspects of life in the Islamic world.[2]

Muslim engineers in the Islamic world were responsible for numerous innovative industrial uses of hydropower, the first industrial uses of tidal power, wind power, steam power, and petroleum, and the earliest large factory complexes (tiraz in Arabic).[5] The industrial uses of watermills were in widespread use since the 8th century. A variety of industrial mills were first invented in the Islamic world, including fulling mills, gristmills, hullers, paper mills, sawmills, shipmills, stamp mills, steel mills, sugar mills, tide mills, and windmills. By the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic world had these industrial mills in operation, from al-Andalus and North Africa to the Middle East and Central Asia.[6] Muslim engineers also invented crankshafts and water turbines, first employed gears in mills and water-raising machines, and pioneered the use of dams as a source of water power, used to provide additional power to watermills and water-raising machines.[7] Such advances made it possible for many industrial tasks that were previously driven by manual labour in ancient times to be mechanized and driven by machinery instead in the medieval Islamic world. The transfer of these technologies to medieval Europe later laid the foundations for the Industrial Revolution in 18th century Europe.[8]

A significant number of inventions were produced by Muslim scientists and engineers during this time, including inventors such as Abbas Ibn Firnas, Taqi al-Din, and especially al-Jazari, who is considered the "father of robotics"[9] and "father of modern day engineering".[10] Some of the inventions from the Islamic Golden Age include the camera obscura, coffee, hang glider, hard soap, shampoo, pure distillation, liquefaction, crystallisation, purification, oxidisation, evaporation, filtration, distilled alcohol, uric acid, nitric acid, alembic, crankshaft, valve, reciprocating suction piston pump, mechanical clocks driven by water and weights, programmable humanoid robot, combination lock, quilting, pointed arch, scalpel, bone saw, forceps, surgical catgut, windmill, inoculation, smallpox vaccine, fountain pen, cryptanalysis, frequency analysis, three-course meal, stained glass and quartz glass, Persian carpet, modern cheque, celestial globe, explosive rockets and incendiary devices, torpedo, and royal pleasure gardens.[9]

[edit] Medieval Europe

Image:Trebuchet.jpg
Medieval counterweight trebuchet (reconstruction)
Main article: Medieval technology

European technology in the Middle Ages may be best described as a symbiosis of traditio et innovatio. While medieval technology has been long depicted as a step backwards in the evolution of Western technology, sometimes willfully so by modern authors intent on denouncing the church as antagonistic to scientific progress (see e.g. flat earth myth), a generation of medievalists around the American historian of science Lynn White stressed from the 1940s onwards the innovative character of many medieval techniques. Genuine medieval contributions include for example mechanical clocks, spectacles and vertical windmills. Medieval ingenuity was also displayed in the invention of seemingly inconspicuous items like the watermark or the functional button. In navigation, the foundation to the subsequent age of exploration was laid by the introduction of pintle-and-gudgeon rudders, lateen sails, the dry compass and the astrolab.

Significant advances were also made in military technology with the development of plate armour, steel crossbows, counterweight trebuchets and cannon. Perhaps best known are the Middle Ages for their architectural heritage: While the invention of the rib vault and pointed arch gave rise to the high rising Gothic style, the ubiquitous medieval fortifications gave the era the almost proverbial title of the 'age of castles'.

[edit] Renaissance

Main article: Renaissance technology

[edit] Age of Exploration

The sailing ship (Nau or Carrack) enabled the Age of Exploration with the European colonization of the Americas, epitomized by Francis Bacon's The New Atlantis. European powers rediscovered the idea of the Civil code, lost since the time of the Ancient Greeks.

[edit] Industrial Revolution

Main article: Industrial Revolution

The British Industrial Revolution is characterized by developments in the areas of textile manufacturing, metallurgy and transport driven by the development of the steam engine.

[edit] 19th century

The 19th century saw astonishing developments in transportation, construction, and communication technologies originiating in Europe. The Steam Engine which had existed since the early 18th century, was practically applied to both steamboat and railway transportation. Telegraphy also developed into a practical technology in the 19th century. Other technologies were explored for the first time, including the Incandescent light bulb. The Portsmouth Block Mills was where manufacture of ships' pulley blocks by all-metal machines first took place and instigated the age of mass production. Machine tools used by engineers to manufacture other machines began in the first decade of the century, notably by Richard Roberts and Joseph Whitworth. Steamships were eventually completely iron-clad, and played a role in the opening of Japan and China to trade with the West. Mechanical computing was envisioned by Charles Babbage but did not come to fruition. The Second Industrial Revolution at the end of the 19th century saw rapid development of chemical, electrical, petroleum, and steel technologies connected with highly structured technology research.

[edit] 20th century

20th Century technology developed rapidly. Communication technology, transportation technology, broad teaching and implementation of Scientific method, and increased research spending all contributed to the advancement of modern science and technology. Due to the scientific gains directly tied to military research and development, technologies including electronic computing might have developed as rapidly as they did in part due to war. Radio, Radar, and early sound recording were key technologies which paved the way for the Telephone, Fax machine, and Magnetic storage of data. Energy and engine technology improvements were also vast, including Nuclear power, developed after the Manhattan project. Transport by rocketry: most work occurred in the U.S. (Goddard), Russia (Tsiolkovsky) and Germany (Oberth). Making use of computers and advanced research labs, modern scientists have Recombinant DNA.

[edit] 21st century

Despite the fact we have just entered into the 21st century, technology is being developed even more rapidly, marked progress in almost all fields of science and technology has led to massive improvements to the technology we currently possess, the rate of development in computers being only one example at which the speed of progress continues forward, leading to the speculation of a technological singularity occurring within this century. Current ongoing developments include research into the scramjet, nanotechnology, bioengineering, nuclear fusion, new developments in armor, advanced materials and a plethora of other fields, leading to speculations among some circles of the development of devices such as powered armor in the near future.

[edit] Measuring technological progress

Many sociologists and anthropologists have created social theories dealing with social and cultural evolution. Some, like Lewis H. Morgan, Leslie White, and Gerhard Lenski, declare technological progress to be the primary factor driving the development of human civilization. Morgan's concept of three major stages of social evolution (savagery, barbarism, and civilization) can be divided by technological milestones, like fire, the bow, and pottery in the savage era, domestication of animals, agriculture, and metalworking in the barbarian era and the alphabet and writing in the civilization era.

Instead of specific inventions, White decided that the measure by which to judge the evolution of culture was energy. For White "the primary function of culture" is to "harness and control energy." White differentiates between five stages of human development: In the first, people use energy of their own muscles. In the second, they use energy of domesticated animals. In the third, they use the energy of plants (agricultural revolution). In the fourth, they learn to use the energy of natural resources: coal, oil, gas. In the fifth, they harness nuclear energy. White introduced a formula P=E*T, where E is a measure of energy consumed, and T is the measure of efficiency of technical factors utilizing the energy. In his own words, "culture evolves as the amount of energy harnessed per capita per year is increased, or as the efficiency of the instrumental means of putting the energy to work is increased". Russian astronomer, Nikolai Kardashev, extrapolated his theory creating the Kardashev scale, which categorizes the energy use of advanced civilizations.

Lenski takes a more modern approach and focuses on information. The more information and knowledge (especially allowing the shaping of natural environment) a given society has, the more advanced it is. He identifies four stages of human development, based on advances in the history of communication. In the first stage, information is passed by genes. In the second, when humans gain sentience, they can learn and pass information through by experience. In the third, the humans start using signs and develop logic. In the fourth, they can create symbols, develop language and writing. Advancements in the technology of communication translates into advancements in the economic system and political system, distribution of wealth, social inequality and other spheres of social life. He also differentiates societies based on their level of technology, communication and economy: 1) hunters and gatherers, 2) simple agricultural, 3) advanced agricultural, 4) industrial 5) special (like fishing societies).

Finally, from the late 1970s sociologists and anthropologists like Alvin Toffler (author of Future Shock), Daniel Bell and John Naisbitt have approached the theories of post-industrial societies, arguing that the current era of industrial society is coming to an end, and services and information are becoming more important than industry and goods. Some of the more extreme visions of the post-industrial society, especially in fiction, are strikingly similar to the visions of near and post-Singularity societies.

[edit] By type of technology

[edit] History of biotechnology

Main article: History of biotechnology

To be incorporated into main article:

[edit] History of civil engineering

Main articles: History of civil engineering and History of construction

To be incorporated:

[edit] History of communication

Main article: History of communication

To be incorporated:

[edit] History of computing

Main article: History of computer hardware

[edit] History of consumer technology

Main article: History of consumer technology

To be incorporated:

[edit] History of electrical engineering

Main article: Electrical Engineering#History

To be incorporated:

[edit] History of energy technology

Main article: History of energy

To be incorporated:

[edit] History of materials science

Main article: History of materials science

To be incorporated:

[edit] History of measurement

Main article: History of measurement

To be incorporated:

[edit] History of medicine

Main article: History of medicine

[edit] History of military technology

Main article: History of warfare

To be incorporated into main article:

[edit] History of nuclear technology

Main article: Nuclear technology#History

[edit] History of science and technology

Main article: History of science and technology

[edit] History of transport technology

Main article: Historic transport

To be incorporated into main article:

[edit] See also

History of technology
By period and location:

By type of technology:

Technology timelines:

edit

[edit] Related history

[edit] Related disciplines

[edit] Related subjects

[edit] Future of science and technology (speculative)

Wikia has a wiki about this topic: Futures Wiki

[edit] People

[edit] Historiography of science and technology

[edit] Historians of science and technology

[edit] Journals and periodicals in the history of science and technology

[edit] Research institutes

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Thomas F. Glick (1977), "Noria Pots in Spain", Technology and Culture 18 (4), p. 644-650.
  2. ↑ a b Andrew M. Watson (1974), "The Arab Agricultural Revolution and Its Diffusion, 700-1100", The Journal of Economic History 34 (1), p. 8-35.
  3. ^ The Globalisation of Crops, FSTC
  4. ^ Andrew M. Watson (1983), Agricultural Innovation in the Early Islamic World, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 052124711X.
  5. ^ Maya Shatzmiller, p. 36.
  6. ^ Adam Robert Lucas (2005), "Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe", Technology and Culture 46 (1), p. 1-30 [10].
  7. ^ Ahmad Y Hassan, Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part II: Transmission Of Islamic Engineering
  8. ^ Adam Robert Lucas (2005), "Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe", Technology and Culture 46 (1), p. 1-30.
  9. ↑ a b Paul Vallely, How Islamic Inventors Changed the World, The Independent, 11 March 2006.
  10. ^ 1000 Years of Knowledge Rediscovered at Ibn Battuta Mall, MTE Studios.
  • Singer, C., Holmyard, E.J., Hall, A. R and Williams, T. I. (eds.), (1954-59 and 1978) A History of Technology,<cite>, 7 vols., Oxford, Clarendon Press,. (Vols 6 and 7, 1978, ed. T. I. Williams)
  • Kranzberg, Melvin and Pursell, Carroll W. Jr., eds. (1967)<cite>Technology in Western Civilization: Technology in the Twentieth Century<cite> New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Pacey, Arnold, (1974, 2ed 1994),<cite>The Maze of Ingenuity<cite> The MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1974, [2ed 1994, cited here]
  • Derry, Thomas Kingston and Williams, Trevor I., (1993) <cite>A Short History of Technology: From the Earliest Times to A.D. 1900. New York: Dover Publications.
  • Brush, S. G. (1988). The History of Modern Science: A Guide to the Second Scientific Revolution 1800-1950. Ames: Iowa State University Press.
  • Bunch, Bryan and Hellemans, Alexander, (1993) The Timetables of Technology,<cite> New York, Simon and Schuster.
  • Greenwood, Jeremy (1997) The Third Industrial Revolution: Technology, Productivity and Income Inequality AEI Press.
  • Landa, Manuel de, War in the Age of Intelligent Machines, 2001.
  • Olby, R. C. et al., eds. (1996). <cite>Companion to the History of Modern Science,<cite>. New York, Routledge.

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