History of science in early cultures
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In prehistoric times, advice and knowledge was passed from generation to generation in an oral tradition. The development of writing enabled knowledge to be stored and communicated across generations with much greater fidelity. Combined with the development of agriculture, which allowed for a surplus of food, it became possible for early civilizations to develop and more time to be devoted to tasks other than survival, such as the search for knowledge for knowledge's sake.
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[edit] Mesopotamia
From their beginnings in Sumer (now Iraq) around 3500 BC the Mesopotamian peoples began to attempt to record some observations of the world with extremely thorough quantitative and numerical data. But their observations and measurements were seemingly taken for purposes other than for scientific laws. A concrete instance of Pythagoras' law was recorded, as early as the 18th century BC: the Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet Plimpton 232 records a number of Pythagorean triplets (3,4,5) (5,12,13). ..., dated 1900 BC, possibly millennia before Pythagoras, [1] but an abstract formulation of the Pythagorean theorem was not.<ref>Paul Hoffman, The man who loved only numbers: the story of Paul Erdös and the search for mathematical truth, (New York: Hyperion), 1998, p.187. ISBN 0-7868-6362-5</ref>
Astronomy is a science which lends itself to the recording and study of observations: the vigorous noting of the motions of the stars, planets, and the moon are left on thousands of clay tablets created by scribes. Even today, astronomical periods identified by Mesopotamian scientists are still widely used in Western calendars: the solar year, the lunar month, the seven-day week. Using these data they developed arithmetical methods to compute the changing length of daylight in the course of the year and to predict the appearances and disappearances of the Moon and planets and eclipses of the Sun and Moon. Only a few astronomer's names are known: Kidinnu was a Chaldean astronomer and mathematician who was contemporary with the Greek astronomers. Kiddinu's value for the solar year is in use for today's calendars. Astronomy and Astrology were considered to be the same thing, a fact proven by the practice of this science in Babylonia by priests. Indeed, rather than following the modern trend towards rational science, moving away from superstition and belief; the Mesopotamian astronomy conversely became more astrology-based later in the civilisation - studying the stars in terms of horoscopes and omens, which might explain the popularity of the clay tablets. Hipparchus was to use this data to calculate the precession of the Earth's axis. Fifteen hundred years after Kiddinu, Al-Batani, born in what is now Turkey, would use the collected data and improve Hipparchus' value for the precession of the Earth's axis. Al-Batani's value, 54.5 arc-seconds per year, compares well to the current value of 49.8 arc-seconds per year (26,000 years for Earth's axis to round the circle of nutation).
[edit] India
See: Ancient Indian science and technology
The precession of Earth's axis can be used to grasp just how ancient is the study of astronomy; there were astronomers in India 6500 years ago; at that time, the vernal equinox was in Orion (around 4500 BC) as mentioned in the Vedas. These astronomers would mark the beginning of the year with the vernal equinox. The observatories of India and Persia were buildings to facilitate observation with the naked eye, much like the stone circles of Europe. Eventually they were miniaturized into the diptychs and astrolabes in use by the Greeks. These instruments, as well as the gnomon, facilitated development of early astronomy throughout Asia. Fire altars, with astronomical basis, have been found in third millennium cities of India. Their design can be conservatively dated to the 1st millennium BC. Around 1800 BC, Yajnavalkya already advanced a 95-year cycle to synchronize the motions of the sun and the moon. In a treatise from the 6th century, a summary of five astronomical systems can be found.
The idea that the Sun was at the centre of the solar system, and hence a heliocentric solar system, was first discovered sometime between 1500 BC and 500 BC in the Vedic literature of ancient India, such as the Vedas which often referred to the Sun as the "centre of spheres". There is an old Sanskrit shloka (couplet) which also states "Sarva Dishanaam, Suryaha, Suryaha, Suryaha" which means that there are suns in all directions. This couplet which describes the night sky as full of suns, indicates that in ancient times Indian astronomers had arrived at the important discovery that the stars visible at night are similar to the Sun visible during day time. In other words, it was recognized that the sun is also a star, though the nearest one. This understanding is demonstrated in another Sloka which says that when one sun sinks below the horizon, a thousand suns take its place. Many Indian astronomers had later formulated ideas about gravity and gravitation in the early Middle Ages.
In medicine, inoculation was practiced in China, India, and Turkey. Inoculation was a precursor to vaccination for smallpox. Sushruta who lived sometime between the 6th century BC and 1st century BC is the author of the book Sushruta Samhita, in which he describes over 120 surgical instruments, 300 surgical procedures and classifies human surgery in 8 categories. Because of his seminal and numerous contributions to the science and art of surgery he is also known by the title "Father of Surgery." Susrutha is also the father of plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery since his technique of forehead flap rhinoplasty (repairing the disfigured nose with a flap of skin from the forehead) that he used to reconstruct noses that were amputated as a punishment for crimes, is practiced almost unchanged in technique to this day. The Susrutha Samhita contains the first known description of several operations, including the uniting of bowel, the removal of the prostate gland, the removal of cataract lenses and the draining of abscesses. Susrutha was also the first surgeon to advocate the practice of operations on inanimate objects such as watermelons, clay plots and reeds; thus predating the modern practice of the surgical workshop by hundreds of years.
Indian philosophers in ancient India from the 6th century BC developed atomic theories, which included formulating ideas about the atom in a systematic manner and propounding ideas about the atomic constitution of the material world. The principle of relativity was also available from the 6th century BC in an early embryonic form in the Indian philosophical concept of "sapekshavad". The literal translation of this Sanskrit word is "theory of relativity" (not to be confused with Einstein's theory of relativity).
[edit] Egypt
Significant advances in Ancient Egypt include astronomy, mathematics and medicine (Homer's Odyssey stated that "the Egyptians were skilled in medicine more than any other art".)Their invention of geometry was a necessary outgrowth of surveying to preserve the layout and ownership of farmland, which was flooded annually by the Nile river. The 3,4,5 right triangle and other rules of thumb served to represent rectilinear structures, and the post and lintel architecture of Egypt. Egypt was also a center of alchemy research for much of the western world.
Egyptian hieroglyphs, a phonetic writing system, has served as the basis for the Phoenician alphabet from which the later Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Cyrillic alphabets were derived. The city of Alexandria retained preeminence with its library, which was so great that it became a symbol for knowledge itself. Much of it was destroyed in fire in the first centuries AD. A huge amount of antique literature and knowledge was lost.
The Edwin Smith papyrus is one of the first medical documents still extant (perhaps the first). It is perhaps the earliest document which attempts to describe and analyse the brain: given this, it might be seen as the very beginnings of modern neuroscience.
WhileEgyptian medicine had some effective practices such as many of the surgical procedures given the Edwin Smith papyrus it was not without its ineffective and sometimes harmful practices. For example, Homer's Odyssey declared regarding the ancient Egyptians that "the Egyptians were skilled in medicine more than any other art". [2] However, medical historians believe that ancient Egyptian pharmacology was largely ineffective. [3] For example, according to a paper published in the 10th Annual Proceedings of the History of Medicine Days by Michael D. Parkins, 72% of medical 260 prescriptions in the Hearst Papyrus had no curative elements. [4] Also according to Michael D. Parkins, sewage pharmacology first began in ancient Egypt and was continued through the Middle Ages.[5] While the use of animal dung has curative properties [6] it is not without its risk. For example, Mamtani, Malhotra, Gupta, and Jain found in their comparative study of urban and rural tetanus in adults that practices such as applying cow dung to wounds, ear piercing and tatooing, and chronic ear infections were important factors in developing tetanus. [7] Frank J. Snoek, PhD wrote that Egyptian medicine used fly specks, lizard blood, swine teeth, and other such remedies which he believes could have been harmful. [8]
[edit] Persia
See main article: History of Persian science
Scientific studies, especially in medicine and chemistry, were conducted by Sassanid physicians. The Academy of Gundishapur was an early teaching hospital established during this time.
[edit] China
See: Four Great Inventions of Ancient China
Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China lists a number of early discoveries, among which important ones in astronomy and medicine. In astronomy, The book Gan Shi Xing Jing (甘石星经) of the Warring States Period (403 BC to 221 BC) is the earliest star catalogue in the world. An important occasion was July 4, 1054, when Chinese astronomers noted the appearance of a guest star, the supernova now called the Crab Nebula, Messier's M1 (M1 was only the second of seven to be observed in the last 1000 years).
[edit] Korea
Korean science is little known in the West but involved significant discoveries, particularly in medicine, and invaluable astronomical records of meteor showers and eclipses, particularly from 1500-1750 in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty.
[edit] Maya
Mayan astronomy was advanced enough to support an accurate calendar.
[edit] Notes
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[edit] Bibliography
- Aaboe, Asger. Episodes from the Early History of Astronomy. Springer, 2001.
- Evans, James. The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
- Lindberg, David C. The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, 600 B.C. to A.D. 1450. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.
- Pedersen, Olaf. Early Physics and Astronomy: A Historical Introduction. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
