Science Technology During Industrial Revolution

Background

In 1750, most people in Europe lived on small farms and produced most of their needs
by hand. A century later, many people lived in cities and most of their needs were
produced by complex machines using steam power. The Industrial Revolution began in
Great Britain and spread to Belgium, France, Germany, the United States and Japan. It
was a fundamental change in the way goods were produced, and altered the way people
lived. The Industrial Revolution was a time of scientific and technological advancement.

Agriculture

The Dutch led the way in improvements for agriculture. They built dikes to protect
farmland from the seas, and improved fertilizers. The British improved on many of these
methods, and developed others of their own, including breeding better livestock to aid in
work and mixing different soils to yield a better crop. Jethro Tull, a British farmer and
inventor, created the mechanical seed drill to aid in planting.

Energy
Britain experienced a revolution in energy use as they switched from animal power, to
water power, to steam power in a few short years. In 1712, Thomas Newcomen
developed a steam engine powered by coal. This engine was used to pump water out of
mines. Later, James Watt would improve on this engine, and Watt's steam engine would
be the power source of the Industrial Revolution.

New Technology

Once steam power became prominent, most machines used in the production of cloth
became "powered". This includes the Spinning Jenny used to make thread, and power
looms that combined the thread to make cloth. Other uses for steam power dealt with
transportation, such as the steam locomotive. Within a few short years of the start of the
Industrial Revolution, Great Britain had miles of track all across the country. This
resulted in a great need for iron track & nails, which in turn led to improvements in iron
production.

Urbanization

As a result of industrialization, people moved to towns and cities to be closer to the

factories. Conditions were very poor during the early part of the Industrial Revolution, as
factory workers lived in over crowded buildings, with no sewage or sanitation services.
This resulted in widespread disease. As the Industrial Revolution moved forward, new
improvements in sanitation, housing construction, and medicine made life much better
for the industrial worker.
Science and Technology in 19th Century

The last half of the nineteenth century was a period which experienced rapid progress in
science and technology. There were important breakthroughs in: iron and steel
technology, electricity .

From VTS to STS

The STS program (originally called VTS, the Program in Values, Technology and
Society) was launched in 1971 by the religious studies scholar William Clebsch,
philosopher Philip Rhinelander and engineers Walter Vincenti and Stephen Kline. While
there was no dearth of research in the sciences and engineering, they wanted to promote
more inquiry into how these forces shaped and transformed society.

"Not only is Stanford situated in the heart of Silicon Valley, but really Stanford, as an
institution, has played an important role in the history of 20th-century science," Findlen
said. "The university has also been a key contributor to the growth of technology in post-
war America, and is strongly situated to have a program that takes a multi-dimensional
view."

University and college programs that focus on the relationship between science,
technology and society have been on the rise nationwide. There are now STS programs at
MIT, Cornell, Penn State, North Carolina State University, Vassar, Virginia Tech and the
Claremont Colleges, among others, and abroad at schools such as York University in
Canada, the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the universities of Wollongong
and New South Wales in Australia. .

While many such programs offer bachelor of arts degrees or the equivalent, Stanford's is
one of the very few if not the only one that also offers a bachelor of science degrees.
And while many STS programs focuses almost exclusively on the history, policy and
social ramifications of science, Stanford's also requires an understanding of hard science
fulfillment of a technical-literacy requirement for students pursing a B.A. and a technical-
depth requirement for those pursing a B.S. McGinn said he believes this balance is both
distinctive to Stanford's program and makes it attractive to students and faculty.

"[STS] was one of the best things I did at Stanford," said Edmond Toy, who graduated in
1993 and is now working toward his doctorate at Harvard's Program for Health Policy. "It
helped me appreciate that fact that practically all of the most important issues facing
policy-makers are interdisciplinary."

Now, 30 years after its inception, STS, which started in the equivalent of one of those
famous Silicon Valley garages, has become a distinctive feature of the university's from
below for three decades," McGinn said. "Finally it is a major whose time has come."

"Not only is Stanford situated in the heart of Silicon Valley, but really Stanford, as an
institution, has played an important role in the history of 20th-century science," Findlen
said. "The university has also been a key contributor to the growth of technology in post-
war America, and is strongly situated to have a program that takes a multi-dimensional
view."

University and college programs that focus on the relationship between science,
technology and society have been on the rise nationwide. There are now STS programs at
MIT, Cornell, Penn State, North Carolina State University, Vassar, Virginia Tech and the
Claremont Colleges, among others, and abroad at schools such as York University in
Canada, the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the universities of Wollongong
and New South Wales in Australia. .

While many such programs offer bachelor of arts degrees or the equivalent, Stanford's is
one of the very few if not the only one that also offers a bachelor of science degrees.
And while many STS programs focuses almost exclusively on the history, policy and
social ramifications of science, Stanford's also requires an understanding of hard science
fulfillment of a technical-literacy requirement for students pursing a B.A. and a technical-
depth requirement for those pursing a B.S. McGinn said he believes this balance is both
distinctive to Stanford's program and makes it attractive to students and faculty.

"[STS] was one of the best things I did at Stanford," said Edmond Toy, who graduated in
1993 and is now working toward his doctorate at Harvard's Program for Health Policy. "It
helped me appreciate that fact that practically all of the most important issues facing
policy-makers are interdisciplinary."

Now, 30 years after its inception, STS, which started in the equivalent of one of those
famous Silicon Valley garages, has become a distinctive feature of the whose time has
come."

from Apollo 17. The second half of the 20th century saw an increase of interest in both
space exploration and the environmental movement.

The period witnessed radical changes in many areas of human endeavors. first decade of
the 20th century, Einstein produced the theory university's academic landscape.

"STS has been percolating up from below for three decades," McGinn said. "Finally it is
a major of the conversion of mass into energy, E=mC(2), which was confivations. social
sciences, the study of Sociology was conceived by Auguste Comte, who wrote of a
heirarchy of knowledge:

1. Theological (fictitious)
2. (metaphysical)
3. Scientific (positivist)

Each level of knowledge was said to be more sophisticated than the preceding level.
 In Psychology, Sigmund Freud looked for explanations for individual human behavior
beyond the rational level. He understood people to be motivated by a superego (a
conscience), an ego (the rational mind), and an id (subconscious motivation).

In Biology, Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution. Traveling on a long

voyage on the Beagle, he had the opportunity to observe great varieties of different
species of life, some of which did not exist in England. He kept voluminous records
which he later used to develop his theory.

Essentially, he said that each of the surviving species had madetheory, when applied to
human beings is more difficult to prove because of the relatively long time span of a
human generation and the ability of humans to adapt through their culture rather than
through genetic changes. Nevertheless, recent archeological research has brought us
closer to identification of the missing links in human evolution.

The theory, when applied to human beings, was controversial because it contradicted
religious beliefs. The latest challenge to the theory of evolution came in the form of a
concept known as Intelligent Design or Creationism, which makes the claim that there
must have been an intelligent being who designed the myriads of creatures found in
nature.

There also have been distortions and misinterpretations of Darwin. Social Darwinism,
which theorized a struggle for survival of the fittest within Scientific discoveries, such as
the theory of relativity and quantum physics, drastically changed the world-view of
scientists, causing them to realize that the universe was much more complex than
previously believed, and dashing the hopes at the end of the 19th century that the last few
details of scientific knowledge were about to be filled in. Accelerating scientific
understanding, more efficient communications, and faster transportation transformed the
world in those hundred years more rapidly and widely than at any time in the past. It was
a century that started with steam-powered ships and ended with the space shuttle. Horses
and other pack animals, Western society's basic form of personal transportation for
thousands of years, were replaced by automobiles within the span of a few decades.
These developments were made possible by the large-scale exploitation of petroleum
resources, which offered great amounts of energy in an easily portable and storable liquid
form, but also caused widespread concerns about pollution and our long-term impact on
the environment. Humanity explored outer space for the first time, even taking their first
footsteps on the Moon.

Mass media, telecommunications, and information technology (especially the Internet)

put the world's knowledge at the disposal of nearly anyone in most industrialized
societies. Many peoples's view of the world changed significantly as they became much
more aware of the suffering and struggles of others and, as such, became increasingly
concerned with human rights. In the latter half of the century especially, mankind became
aware of the vast scale on which it had affected the planet, and took steps to minimize its
damage of the planet's fragile ecosystems. Advancements in medical technology also
improved the welfare of many people on the planet; life expectancy increased
dramatically from the mid-30s to the mid-60s worldwide during the century. The
healthiest countries had life expectancies of over 80 years by the turn of the millennium.
Rapid technological advancements, however, also allowed warfare to reach an
unprecedented scale; World War II alone killed over 60 million people, while nuclear
weaponry gave mankind the means to destroy itself in a very short amount of time. The
world also became more culturally homogenized than ever with developments in
transportation and communications technology, popular music and other influences of
Western culture, international corporations, and what was arguably a true global economy
by the end of the century

The Earth seen from Apollo 17. The second half of the 20th century saw an increase of
interest in both space exploration and the environmental movement.

The twentieth century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1901 and ended on
December 31, 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar.[1] The century saw a remarkable
shift in the way that vast numbers of people lived, as a result of technological, medical,
social, ideological, and political innovation. Arguably more technological advances
occurred in any ten-year period following World War I than the sum total of new
technological development in any century before the industrial revolution. Terms like
ideology, world war, genocide, and nuclear war entered common usage.

The period witnessed radical changes in many areas of human endeavors. Scientific
discoveries, such as the theory of relativity and quantum physics, drastically changed the
world-view of scientists, causing them to realize that the universe was much more
complex than previously believed, and dashing the hopes at the end of the 19th century
that the last few details of scientific knowledge were about to be filled in. Accelerating
scientific understanding, more efficient communications, and faster transportation
transformed the world in those hundred years more rapidly and widely than at any time in
the past. It was a century that started with steam-powered ships and ended with the space
shuttle. Horses and other pack animals, Western society's basic form of personal
transportation for thousands of years, were replaced by automobiles within the span of a
few decades. These developments were made possible by the large-scale exploitation of
petroleum resources, which offered great amounts of energy in an easily portable and
storable liquid form, but also caused widespread concerns about pollution and our long-
term impact on the environment. Humanity explored outer space for the first time, even
taking their first footsteps on the Moon.

Mass media, telecommunications, and information technology (especially the Internet)

put the world's knowledge at the disposal of nearly anyone in most industrialized
societies. Many peoples's view of the world changed significantly as they became much
more aware of the suffering and struggles of others and, as such, became increasingly
concerned with human rights. In the latter half of the century especially, mankind became
aware of the vast scale on which it had affected the planet, and took steps to minimize its
damage of the planet's fragile ecosystems. Advancements in medical technology also
improved the welfare of many people on the planet; life expectancy increased
dramatically from the mid-30s to the mid-60s worldwide during the century. The
healthiest countries had life expectancies of over 80 years by the turn of the millennium.
Rapid technological advancements, however, also allowed warfare to reach an
unprecedented scale; World War II alone killed over 60 million people, while nuclear
weaponry gave mankind the means to destroy itself in a very short amount of time. The
world also became more culturally homogenized than ever with developments in
transportation and communications technology, popular music and other influences of
Western culture, international corporations, and what was arguably a true global economy
by the end of the century