FEDERAL UNIVERSITY DUTSINMA, KATSINA STATE

DIRECTORATE OF GENERAL STUDIES (DIGEST)

COURSE TITLLE: HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
COURSE CODE: GST 211
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Introduction to the study of History and philosophy of science
a) The philosophy behind the study of history and philosophy of science
b) Importance of the study of history and philosophy of science
2. Man and his origin:
a) Various views on the origin of Man:
i) Creationists (religious and traditionalist)
ii) Evolutionists (Charles Darwin theory and other evolutionary
theories)
3. The nature of Man:
a) Reproductive cells
b) Chromosomes (carriers of hereditary materials)
4. Man and his cosmic environment:
a) The cosmos
b) The cosmic environment
c) The earth; Rotation of the earth; Revolution of the earth; Spares of earth
d) The solar system
e) The Galaxies
f) Measurement of distance in space.
5. Science and technology and innovations:
a) The impact of science and technology on society
b) Definition/ Distinctions between science and technology
c) The beginning and importance of technology in human affairs
d) The impact of science, technology and inventions today.
e) Subdivision of science and technology
f) Methods of acquiring technological advancement
g) Some early contributions to science and technology
h) Some modern contributions to science and technology

6. The nature of science:

a) Definition of science
b) Branches of science
 c) Aims of science
d) Difference between science and non-science disciplines
7. The scientific method:
a) Scientific method of acquiring knowledge
b) How it works in real life (scientific method)
c) How it has worked in science
d) Creative and critical thinking
8. History of science-1 (Origin of western science in the ancient times):
a) Ancient Western science
b) Egypt
c) Babylonia (Present day Iraq)
d) African Philosophy
e) Ancient Greeks
f) Science in the Roman period
9. History of western Science-3 (Rise of modern science)
a) Rise of modern science
b) Scientific revolution
c) The classic ages of science
 GST 211 LECTURE NOTE

LESSON 1
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF
SCIENCE
Background of the study area:
Generally, history and Philosophy of science is relevant to human affairs for the
same reason that the history of anything is relevant. It is important for the
understanding of one’s self, and of the nature of human societies and humanity as a
whole.
History and philosophy of science allows us to have a glimpse into both the history
of the world and into how we discovered everything we know about the world.
Those moments of discovery may seems anti-climatic to us now, but imagine not
having discovered them at all. Imagine living without that knowledge.
History and philosophy of science allows to stand back from the specialized
concerns of other subjects and gain some prospective on what science is, how it
came to acquire its current form and how it fits into contemporary society. It also
integrates Philosophical, historical and sociological approaches to the study of
science.
Philosophy:
Simply means, ”LOVE OF WISDOM” It is an activity people undertake when they
seek to understand fundamental truths or nature of a thing about themselves, the
world in which they live, and their relationships to the world and to each other. It is
the study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence,
reason, knowledge, values, mind and language. Such questions are often posed as
problems to be studied or resolved.
As an academic discipline, it deals with the study of the fundamental nature of
knowledge, reality, and existence. Philosophy is a theory or attitude that acts as a
guiding principle for behavior.
Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy that concerned with the
foundations, methods, and implications of science. This study concerns with what
qualities as, science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultimate purpose
of science. Philosophy of science focuses on metaphysical, epistemic and semantic
aspect of science.
History:
This is the study of past events as well as the memory, discovery, collections,
organizations, presentations and interpretation of these events.
Science:
This is the study of intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic
study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through
observations and experimentations.
The term science is derived from the Latin word scientia meaning knowledge. In
its broadest sense therefore, science is any systematic knowledge based on
prescriptive practice that is capable of resulting in a prediction. It is thus a
continuing effort to discover and increase knowledge and understanding.

THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND THE STUDY OF HISTORY AND

PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE:
History and philosophy of science is the exploration of historical evolutions of the
science and the philosophical perspectives that inform them, as well as the
dynamics between science, technology, and other human endeavors. It inform
about the origins of experimental practice, the social and institutional contexts of
science, the origins and applications of quantitative methods, specific
developments since antiquity in physics, biology, chemistry, Geography and
cartography, medicine, and biographical and comparative studies in these fields.
Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations,
methods, and implications of science. This study concerns with what qualities as
science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultimate purpose of science.
Philosophy of science as a discipline overlaps with metaphysics, ontology, and
epistemology, for example, when it explores the relationship between science and
truth. Philosophy of science focuses on metaphysical, epistemic and semantic
aspects of science. Ethical issues such as bioethics and scientific misconduct are
often considered ethics or science studies rather than philosophy of science.
LESSON 2
MAN AND HIS ORIGIN
Man:
Modern humans originated in Africa within the past 2million years and evolved
from their most likely recent common ancestor, Homo erectus, which means ‘up
right man’ in Latin. Homo erectus is an extinct species of Human that live between
1.9 million and 135,000 years ago.
The earliest record of homo is the 2.8 million-year old specimen LD 350-1 from
Ethiopia, and the earliest named species are Homo habilis and Homo rudoltensis
which evolved by 2.3 million years ago. The appearance of the genus coincides
with the invention of stone tool manufacturing.
There are two main views on the origin of man; there is the religious and the
scientific views. The religious view says that man was created by God in his own
image. The scientific view held by the evolutionist who believes in the theory of
evolution. The theory states that man like all other living things evolved from
scripter forms of life by a slow and gradual change. One of its greatest theorists
was Charles Darwin who postulated that man evolved from Apes consisting of
monkeys, gorillas and chimpanzees. The main ancestors of man are the Homo
habilis, from where evolved the Homo-erectus to the Homo-sapiens who looked
very much like modern man.
The two different views on the origin of Man:
1. Religious view on the Origin of Man:
This view is upheld by the creationist. Man, according to them, is created by God
and in God’s image. This view is also upheld by the African traditionalists. Thus
God is variously called names differently: ALLAH, CHUKWU, OLADUMARE
etc. the most popular account of the origin of man are found in the doctrines of
various religions. For instance, the Christian account of man’s origin can be found
in chapter 1 and 2 of the book of Genesis in the Holy Bible. In the other hand, the
religion of Islam account of man’s origin can be found in chapter 55 verses 14 and
chapter 76 verses 2 of the Holy Qur’an.
2. The scientific view:
It is interesting to know that this view is held by the evolutionist= people who
believe in the theory of evolution of man. This theory is developed from the
perspective of science, which states that man like all other living things (Animal
and Plants) have evolved from simpler forms of life by a process of slow and
gradual change (evolution). Scientists in the field of paleontology, comparative
anatomy, embryology, natural history etc. have provided evidence for this
evolutionary account of the origin of man and other creatures from the study of
fossils. Ancient animals’ remains and various plant forms spread over large areas,
over a long period of time have provided evidence to support the view, that all
forms of life have a common origin and that each form of life has developed at
certain periods in the evolution of the entire life forms.
According to the Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution of man, all living (animals
and plants) have evolve in a gradual process of change. Every living thing
struggles to exists to provide both food and favorable environment which are
essential in the existence of the. Only living things with those characteristics that
enable them to feed on available food and to survive the effects of the environment
can continue its line of development or evolution to a higher form.
Darwin’s wealth of information also made him put forward evidence that man
originated from Africa. But before then, former evolutionists believe that man
originated from central Asia. At about 85 years after Darwin’s proposal, fossils
evidence was found to show that he was right, and that it was in the continent of
Africa that the basic stock which eventually gave rise to apes as well as many as
we have known today emerged. This evolution believes that man evolved from
apes, consisting of the monkeys, gibbons, gorillas and chimpanzee. The main
ancestors of man are the Homo habilis which had small hairs with small supra
orbital ridge developed neck and forehead but with jaws. From the Homo habilis
evolved the Homo erectus; its neck was more developed and this made its head not
look hanging. It had a more elongated forehead, amore developed nose than that of
the Homo habilis and it fashioned more advanced tools and also controlled fire.
From the Homo erectus evolved the Homo sapiens, which looked very much like
the modern man.
FACTORS OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
Students need to study how these factor influence evolution of human begin
1. Natural selection
2. Random genetic drift
3. Mutation
4. Population mating structure
5. Culture.
LESSON 3
THE NATURE OF MAN
Man is a living being; that is to say he has life just like other living things like
plants and animals. He grows and dies and has a principle of growth and death
inbuilt in him. Man eats, breath, moves just like other animals. All living things
including man are composed of cells which are the basic unit of life. The cells are
skin cells, bone cells muscle cells, blood cells, nervous cells and reproductive cells.
Reproductive cells are responsible for birth of new organisms. The male cell is
called spermatozoa while the female is known as the egg.
Man is a living being, that is to say he has life just like plants and other animals.
He grows and dies and has the principles of growth and death inbuilt in him. Man
eats, breathes moves, etc. Man has common characteristics with other animals. In
addition to this, he reasons, communicates with his fellow men through speech and
other forms of communication and produces the means of his subsistence in a
manner far beyond what any other animal can do. Man has attained the highest
level of cultural and intellectual development unthinkable for any other living
being. These have enable man to become master of the created beings in the
universe.
What distinguishes man and places him high above all other earthly and visible
creatures is his infinite capacity to create. The abundance of his creative capacity is
seen in the massive and profound systems of thought art, technology, morals,
religion, law, society, etc, which he has created. It is also seen in the wonders of
the interplanetary intercourse he has initiated, the invisible forms of
communication of the computer age, his destructive capacity, i.e., ability to destroy
him, all forms of life and all that man has created.
All living beings, including man, are composed of cells, that is, the basic unit of
life. Man is made up of the most complex type of cell structure. There are six kinds
of specialized cells in man. These are:
a) Skin cells called Epithelium tissue; this tissue covers the outside of the
body and those parts that communicate with the outside. They include the
mouth, throat, and stomach, the rest of the digestive canal, the nose,
windpipe, and the lungs. Epithelium tissues are also found in the liver and
the kidney. The liver is the great factory of the body, where dissolved
substances from the food are prepared for burning to produce energy or for
building new cells. The kidney, on its part, is a filtering plant where waste
substances are filtered out of the blood.
b) Bone or connective tissues cells; these include all supportive structures of
the body including the bones and cartilages.
 c) Muscles cells: Muscle tissue is one of the basic tissue types. Histologically,
the muscles of the body can be classified into 3 types: skeletal, smooth, and
cardiac. The 3 types of muscle tissue are based on the morphologic and
functional properties of the cells. One of the defining characteristics of
muscle tissue is its contractility, which generates forces that move the
musculoskeletal system as well as cause movement in the vasculature and
multiple organ systems. This contractility is due to specialized proteins
known as myofilaments, which create organized structures that have the
ability to lengthen and contract.

Muscle Cell Definition

A muscle cell, known technically as a myocyte, is a specialized animal cell which
can shorten its length using a series of motor proteins specially arranged within the
cell. While several associated proteins help, actin and myosin form thick and thin
filaments which slide past each other to contract small units of a muscle cell. These
units are called sarcomeres, and many of them run end-to-end within a larger fiber
called a myofibril. A single muscle cell contains many nuclei, which are pressed
against the cell membrane. A muscle cell is a long cell compared to other forms of
cells, and many muscle cells connect together to form the long fibers found in
muscle tissue.
Structure of a Muscle Cell
As seen in the image below, a muscle cell is a compact bundle of many myofibrils.
Each myofibril is made of many sarcomeres bundled together and attached end-to-
end. A specialized form of the endoplasmic reticulum, known as the sarcoplasmic
reticulum, extends in and around these myofibril bundles. The sarcoplasmic
reticulum (SR for short) concentrates a chemical needed for the muscle cells to
contract, and is activated by signals from nerve cells. The signals travel through the
transverse tubules (T tubules in the picture below) after being received from a
nerve and activates the SR. Mitochondria are densely packed throughout muscle
cells, to provide a constant flow of ATP. The entire cell is covered in a specialized
cell membrane known as the sarcolemma. The sarcolemma has special opening
which allow nerve impulses to be passed into transverse tubules.
Each sarcomere is made primarily from thick and thin filaments. Thick filaments
are made from repeating units of a protein known as myosin. Myosin has small
heads on it which can bind to an actin filament. Repeating units of the protein actin
make up the thin filament. Actin is supported by a number of accessory proteins
which give the strands stability and allow the muscle to be controlled by nerve
impulses.
The actin filaments are supported on each end by specialized proteins. The Cap Z
protein holds actin to the Z plate, while tropomodulin connects to the end of each
actin filament. Nebulin connects Cap Z to tropomodulin, providing a structural
framework to hold the actin filaments rigid. Another large protein, titin, connects
the Z plates together and prevents the sarcomeres from being overstretched when it
is not contracting. These proteins cannot be seen in the image below.
Actin is covered by two additional proteins, troponin and tropomyosin. Troponin is
the small yellow ball in the image below, while tropomyosin is the thread-like
protein which follows the actin filament. The myosin proteins can also be seen.
The heads extend upward from a thick fiber made of many myosin tails wound
together.
Function of a Muscle Cell
To activate a muscle, the brain sends an impulse down a nerve. The nerve impulse
travels down the nerve cells to the neuromuscular junction, where a nerve cell
meets a muscle cell. The impulse is transferred to the nerve cell and travels down
specialized canals in the sarcolemma to reach the transverse tubules. The energy in
the transverse tubules causes the SR to release of the Ca2+ it has built up, flooding
the cytoplasm with calcium. The Ca2+ has a special effect on the proteins
associated with actin.
Troponin, when not in the presence of Ca2+, will bind to tropomyosin and cause it
to cover the myosin-binding sites on the actin filament. This means that without
Ca2+ the muscle cell will be relaxed. When Ca2+ is introduced into the cytosol,
troponin will release tropomyosin and tropomyosin will slide out of the way. This
allows the myosin heads to attach to the actin filament. Once this happens, myosin
can used the energy gained from ATP to crawl along the actin filament. When
many sarcomeres are doing this at the same time, the entire muscle contract.
While only a small percentage of the heads are attached at any one time, the many
heads and continual use of ATP ensures a smooth contraction. The myosin crawls
until it reaches the Z plate, and full contraction has been obtained. The SR is
continually removing Ca2+ from the cytoplasm, and once the concentration falls
below a certain level troponin rebinds to tropomyosin, and the muscle releases.
While this model is a generalized version of what happens in skeletal muscle,
similar processes control the contractions of both cardiac and smooth muscle. In
cardiac muscle, the impulses are in part controlled by pacemaker a cell which
releases impulses regularly. Smooth muscle is different from skeletal muscle in
that the actin and myosin filament are not organized in convenient bundles. While
they are organized differently, smooth muscle still operates on the functioning of
myosin and actin. Smooth muscle can obtain a signal to contract from many
sources, including the nervous system and environmental cues the cells receive
from other parts of the body.
 d) Nervous tissue cells: These are like telephone wires of the body, carrying
messages from one part to another. One group of nerves carries messages
from the brain to the muscles. And other carries messages from the other
parts of the body to the brain. The brain together with the spinal cord, form
the telephone exchange. Each nerve cell has a central body with very long
filaments reaching out from it, some to the particular area it serves and some
to meet the filaments of neighboring nerve cells.
1. Reproductive cells: This is the cell responsible for the birth of new organisms.
It is called the seed or egg of reproduction. The father’s cell is called the
spermatozoa (or sperm) which fuses with the mother’s cell called the egg, to
produce a new organism or life. It was Dr. Williams Harvey who showed that
every living thing comes from the union of the sperm and egg. The truth about
whether man has a special place in the scheme of things depends on the truth of the
theory of evolution. It was Anton van leeuwen hoe (1632-1723), a Dutch naturalist,
who made a detailed study of the spermatozoa and showed that at the meeting of
the male sperm and the female egg, if fertilization takes place, then a new life start.
The hitting of the spot or nucleus of the ovum of the mother by the nucleus of the
father is the vital stage in the starting of a new life.
The embryologists are the scientists who study the development of life from the
point of fertilization. They have shown that from the point of fertilization. They
have showed that from the point of fertilization, the development of the individual
creature appears to resemble that of its ancestors in the long course of evolution.
The genes of a man is first a single cell, like a protozoa, then a cluster of cells
together, like some of the little water creatures, then a folded-in ball, like a jelly-
fish, and so on, until a backbone appears and four limbs borne out well-developed
tail. It never looks like an actual fish, but goes through a stage of looking like the
embryo of fish, and another stage of looking like the embryo of a quadruped.

2. Chromosomes (carriers of hereditary materials) A chromosome is a long

DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most
chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins;
in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are the histones. These
proteins, aided by chaperone proteins, bind to and condense the DNA molecule
to maintain its integrity. These chromosomes display a complex three-
dimensional structure, which plays a significant role in transcriptional regulation.

Chromosomes are normally visible under alight microscope only during the
metaphase of cell division (where all chromosomes are aligned in the center of the
cell in their condensed form). Before this happens, each chromosome is duplicated.
(S phase) Both copies are joined by a centromere, resulting either in an X-shaped
structure (pictured above), if the centromere is located equatorially, or a two-arm
structure, if the centromere is located distally. The joined copies are now called
sister chromates. During metaphase the X-shaped structure is called a metaphase
chromosome, which is highly condensed and thus easiest to distinguish and study.
In animal cells, chromosomes reach their highest compaction level in anaphase
during chromosome segregation.

Chromosomal recombination during meiosis and subsequent sexual reproduction

play a significant role in genetic diversity. if these structures are manipulated
incorrectly, through processes known as chromosomal instability and translocation,
the cell may undergo mitotic catastrophe .Usually, this will make the cell initiate
apoptosis leading to its own death, but sometimes mutations in the cell hamper this
process and thus cause progression of cancer.

Some use the term chromosome in a wider sense, to refer to the individualized
portions of chromatin in cells, either visible or not under light microscopy. Others
use the concept in a narrower sense, to refer to the individualized portions of
chromatin during cell division, visible under light microscopy due to high
condensation.

Human chromosomes

Chromosomes in humans can be divided into two types: autosomes (body

chromosome(s) and allosome (sex chromosome (s). Certain genetic traits are
linked to a person's sex and are passed on through the sex chromosomes. The
autosomes contain the rest of the genetic hereditary information. All act in the
same way during cell division. Human cells have 23 pairs of chromosomes (22
pairs of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes), giving a total of 46 per cell.
In addition to these, human cells have many hundreds of copies of the
mitochondrial genome. Sequencing of the human genome has provided a great
deal of information about each of the chromosomes. Below is a table compiling
statistics for the chromosomes, based on the Sanger Institute’s human genome
information in the Vertebrate Genome Annotation (VEGA) Database? Number of
genes is an estimate, as it is in part based on gene predictions. Total chromosome
length is an estimate as well, based on the estimated size of un sequenced
heterochromatin regions.
Students are expected to study the following areas independently and answer the
following questions. So they may test their understanding of the concept.
3. Sex determination:
4. Twins:
5. Heredity and environment:
Questions:
1. Describe man’s nature vividly
2. Explain what chromosomes are
3. Indicate with an example how sex is determined.
4. Describe how twins are produced and how the environment modifies
inherited traits
LESSON 4
MAN AND HIS COSMIC ENVIRONMENT
The cosmic environment is the entire universe in which we live especially its parts
connected with human life, survival and interest. It includes the earth, their
satellites, sun and other stars called galaxies. The earth is a planet or satellite of the
sun. It takes it about 24 hours to rotate on its axis. It takes it about 365 days to
complete one revolution round the sun. It is about 93 million miles away from the
sun. The sun and nine planets that revolve around it and their satellites make up the
solar system. The planets are: mercury, Venus, earth, mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune and Pluto.
a) The cosmos: the word “cosmos “is used to refer to the universe, which is
regarded as one orderly system with a system with a structure, whose part is
linked together in an orderly manner. Both philosophy and astronomy study
the structure of the universe. Cosmology is the area of study concerned with
the structure of the universe. Cosmology therefore, is the: Branch of
philosophy, which studies the structure of the universe. It deals with its
origin and general structure, its part.
Elements laws are focuses on such characteristics of the universe as space,
time, causality and freedom.
It is also the branch of astronomy, which deals with the general structure and
evolution of the universe. It studies the composition extend and origins of
the universe and its various components. The branch of philosophy which
deals with the evolution and origin of the universe is called cosmogony.
b) The cosmic environment: the cosmic environment is the entire universe in
which we live, especially those of its aspects or parts that one connected
with human life, survival and interests. The structure of the cosmos as
revealed by astronomy show that it includes the earth(and other
planets),planetary satellites, the sun and other stars, the groups of stars called
galaxies, e.t.c remarkable fact about the universe we find ourselves in is that
it is capable of sustaining a planet like the earth and the complex chemistry
of life. On this planet we have archived understandings of the vast universe
are in habit, but this has been achieved only in the past century. Man
depends on air, heat, water, and other natural resources from the entire
cosmos, particularly his own earth and the sun for survival.
Furthermore, some scientists believe that the planets were formed from the sun,
from which they broke off as gaseous elements and gradually become solid bodies
in spaces. While some other scientists believe that the planets in the solar system
were created at the same time and from the same general material. The massive
sum, a star that generates heat by nuclear fusion, is the center of the system.
Because of the suns vast gravitational influence, all of the planets orbit around it.
As seen from the above discussion, the planets move counterclockwise about the
sun in slightly elliptical orbits. Moreover, all orbits in the same plane as the sun is
equator, except Pluto. a simple analogy may help Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, moon,
earth, mercury, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto mars convey the size and structure of the
solar system. If the sun were the size of a grain of sand orbiting 9m (30ft) away,
Jupiter would be the size of a pea revolving 60m (200ft) away. Pluto would be like
a grain of silt 10 city blocks away. The nearest star would be the size of another
orange more than 1600km (1000ml) away. Until recently, the planets and their
moon were mute astronomical bodies, only small specks view in a telescope. But
today they are new worlds as real as our own, because they have discovered and
landed on their surfaces and studied them with remotely controlled probes. One of
the most fundamental facts revealed by the exploration of the solar system is that
the sizes and compositions of the planets vary systematically with distance from
the sun. the inner planets include mercury and the planet like moon, with their
cratered surfaces; Venus, with its extremely hot, thick atmosphere of carbon
dioxide and numerous volcanoes; earth, with cool blue seas, swirling clouds and
multicolored lands; and mars; with huge canyons, giant extinct volcanoes, frigid
polar ice caps, and long, dry river beds. Among the inner planets (mercury, Venus,
earth, the moon and mars), earth is unique because of its size and distance from the
sun. It is large enough to develop and retain an atmosphere and a hydrosphere.
Temperature ranges are moderate, such that water can exist on its surface as liquid,
solid and gas. The large outer planet-Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune –are
giant balls of gas, with majestic rings and dozens of small satellites composed
mostly of ice. The most distance planet, Pluto is small and similar to these icy
moons. Indeed, water ice is the most common ‘’rock ‘in the outer solar system.
The density of a planet or moon reveals these dramatic differences in
composition.(density is a measure of mass per unit volume:9(cm3).for example,
the densities of the rocky inner planets are quite high(over 3 gkm3)compared to the
gas and ice rich outer planet which have densities less than about 1.6 gkm3.on best
evidence tell us that earth formed, along with the rest of the solar system, about 4.6
billion years ago.non the less, only the inner planet are even vaguely like the earth.
The sun itself is an motion in space and at the same time the planets revolve
around it. The planets and their satellites are held in their relative positions around
the sun by the gravitational power of the sun. This magnetic power holds them
together as a common system. The powerful energy from the sun, called solar
energy is responsible for all the energy and the light in the whole solar system.
c) The Earth:
The earth on which man lives is a planet or satellite of the sun. we do not as yet
have evidence of human habitation in any other celestial body. The earth is one of
the nine planets, which rotate on their axis and revolve around the sun. the earth is
spherical in shape and moves around the sun in space.
C.1) Rotation of the earth:
It takes the earth approximately 24 hours (around the equator) to rotated i.e. Make
complete 360 turn on its axis. This rotation gives rise to day and night as the earth
faces or turns away from the sun. The earth derives its light from the sun. When it
faces the sun, it’s a day for that part of the earth. From the explanations it is early
to decide that when it is day in one part of the earth, it will be night in another part.
C.2) Revolution of the earth: it takes the earth about 365 days (i.e. one year) to
complete one revolution around the sun. The sun is at the centre around which the
earth and all other planets (or satellites of the sun) revolve. The earth is
approximately 149,668,992 km (93 million miles) away from the sun and it is
approximately 6,437 km (4,000 miles) on radios. Because of its diameter is
approximately 21 km (13 miles) shorter at the poles than the equatorial radius. The
equatorial diameter is approximately 63,779 km (39,630.5 miles) while the polar
diameter is approximately 12,713 km (7,900 miles). The earth has a surface area of
approximately 316,316,563 square km (196,550,000 square miles). Approximately
89,318,592 Sq km (55, 5000 sq miles) of the earth surface is land while the rest is
water. Do you know that the greatest known height is Mount Everest, (located in
south Asia between Nepal and Tibet) which is about 29,028, feet high while the
greatest known oceanic depth is the Swire deep, which is 34,430 feet below sea
level? Mount Everest is in south Asia between Nepal and Tibet.
C.3) Spheres of the Earth: the mayor spheres of the earth include the bio spheres,
hydrosphere, atmosphere, and the lithosphere.
 The Biosphere: The biosphere refers to the part of the earth where lives
exist. This includes all part of the earth grass, water and atmosphere where
living organism can subsist. It includes the forest, grasslands and familiar
animal of the land, together with numerous creatures that inhabit the sea and
atmosphere. Microorganisms such as bacteria are too small to be seen, but
they are probably the most common form of life in the biosphere. As a
terrestrial covering, the biosphere is discontinuous and irregular; it is an
intone web of life existing within and reacting with atmosphere,
hydrosphere, and lithosphere. It consists of more than 1.6 million described
species and perhaps as many as 3 million more not yet described. Each
species lives within its own limited environmental setting. Almost the entire
biosphere exist in a narrow zone extending from the depth to which sunlight
penetrates the oceans( about zoom ) to the snow line in the tropical and
subtropical mountains ranges(about 600 million above sea level). Certainly
one of the interesting questions about the biosphere concerns the number and
variety of organisms that compose it. Surprisingly, the truth is that no one
knows the answers. Despite more than 250 years of systematic research,
estimates of the total number of plant and animals species vary from 3
million to more than 30 million of this number; only 1.6 million species
have been recorded. The diversity is stronger than one half of all known
species, whereas there are only 4000 species of small animals than the large
ones. The smallest living creatures are those invisible to the unaided eye,
such as protozoa, bacteria and virus this contribute greatly to the variety of
species. The biosphere is a truly remarkable part of the earth system. He
main factors controlling the distribution of life on our environmental
condition is which life is possible, truly amazing, especially the range of
environments in microorganisms can exist.
 The Hydrosphere: the hydrosphere is the total mass of water on the surface
of our planet water cover about 71% of the surface. About 98% of this water
is in the oceans. Only 2% is in the stream, takes groundwater, and glaciers.
Thus, it is for good reason that the earth has been called the water planets; it
has been estimated that all the regularities of the earth’s surface were
smoothed out to form a perfect sphere; a global ocean would cover earth to a
depth of 2.22 km. Again, it is the great mass of water that makes earth
unique. Water permitted life to evolve and flourished; every inhabitant on
 the earth is directly or indirectly controlled by its all earths weather patterns,
climate, rainfall and even the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
are influenced by the water in the oceans. The hydrosphere is in constant
motion; water evaporates from the ocean and move through the atmosphere,
precipitin as rain and snow and returning to the sea in rivers, glaciers and
ground water. As water moves over earth’s surface it evades and transports
whearthred rock material and deposit it. These actions constantly modify
earth landscape. Many of the earth’s distinctive surface features are formed
by action of the hydrosphere.
 The Atmosphere: this refers to the gaseous envelope (or air) surrounding
the earth, it is of mixed gases consisting of; nitrogen (78.09%), oxygen
(20.95%), argon (0.93), carbon dioxide (0.035%) and water vapor. The
atmosphere is particularly significant because it moves easily and it is
constantly interacting with the ocean and land. It plays a part in the
evolution of most features of the landscape and is essential for life. The
atmosphere is circulation pattern that are shown by the shape and orientation
of the clouds at first glance, the patterns may appear confusing, but upon
close examination we find that they are well organized. If we ignore the
details of local weather systems, the global atmospheric circulation becomes
apparent. Solar heat, the driving force of atmospheric circulation, is greatest
in the equatorial regions. the heat causes water in the ocean to evaporate, and
the heat makes the noise air less dense, causing it to rise. the warm, humid
air forms an equatorial belt of spotty clouds, bordered on the north and
south by zones that are clouds-free, where air descends. to the north and
south, cyclonic storm systems develop where warm air form low latitudes
confronts cold air around the poles. The earliest atmosphere was much
different. It was essentially oxygen free and consisted largely of carbon
dioxide and water vapor. The present carbon dioxide poor atmosphere
developed as soon as limestone began to form in the oceans, tying up the
carbon dioxide. Oxygen was added to the atmosphere later, when plants
evolved. as a result of photosynthesis, plants extracted carbon dioxide from
the primitive atmosphere and expelled oxygen into it .thus, the oxygen in the
atmosphere is divided into layers. According to major changes in
temperature. Cavity pushes the layers of air down on the earth is surface.
 This push is called air pressure. The atmosphere is made up of several layers
or zones based on temperature.
 Troposphere: this is the lowest layer of earth is atmosphere most of the
mass (about 75-80%) of the atmosphere is in the troposphere and almost all
weather occurs within this layer. The bottom of the troposphere is at earth
surface. The troposphere extends upward to about 10km (6.2 miles or about
33,000 feet) above sea level. The height of the top of the troposphere varies
with latitude (it is lowest over the poles and highest at the equator) and by
(10) season (it is lower in winter and higher in summer).it can be as high as
20km (12 miles or 65,000 feet)near the equator, and as low as 7km(4 miles
or 23,000 feet) over the poles in winter. Air is warmest at the bottom of the
troposphere near ground level. air get colder as one rises through the
troposphere. That is why the peaks of all mountains can be snow covered
even in the summer time. Air pressure and density of the air also decrease
with altitude. That is why the cabins of high flying jet aircraft are
pressurized. The layer immediately above the troposphere is called the
stratosphere. The boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere is
called the”
 The Stratosphere: this is the second layer of the atmosphere as you go
upward. The troposphere, the lowest layer, is right below the stratosphere.
The next higher layer above the stratosphere is the mesosphere. The bottom
of the stratosphere is around 10km (6.2miles or about 33,000 feet) above the
ground at middle latitudes. the top of the stratosphere occurs at an altitudes
of 50km (31 miles).the height of the bottom of the stratosphere varies with
latitude and with the seasons, the lower boundary of the stratosphere can be
as high as 20km (12 miles or 65,000 feet) near the equator and as low as
7km (4 miles or 23,000 feet) at the poles in winter. The lower boundary of
the stratosphere is called the tropopause; the upper boundary is stratopause.
Ozone, an unusual type of oxygen molecule that is respectively abundant in
the stratosphere, heats this layer as it absorbs energy from incoming
ultraviolet radiation from sun. Temperature rises as one moves upward
through the stratosphere, this is exactly the opposite of the behavior in the
troposphere in which we live, where temperatures drops with increasing
altitude because of this temperature stratification, there is little convection
and mixing in the stratosphere, so the layers of air there are quite stable.
Commercial jet aircraft fly in the lower stratosphere to avoid the turbulence
which is common in the troposphere below. the stratosphere is very dry, air
that contains little water vapor. Because of this, few clouds are found in this
layer, almost all clouds occur in the lower, more humid, troposphere. Polar
stratosphere clouds (pscs) are the exception. Pscs appear in the lower
stratosphere near the pole winter. They are found at altitudes of 15 to 25km
(9.3 to 15.5 miles) and form only when temperature at those heights dip
below `-78c. They appear to help cause the formation of the infamous holes
in the ozone layer by “encouraging’ certain chemical reactions that destroy
ozone. Pscs are also called nacreous clouds. Air is roughly a thousand times
thinner at the top of the stratosphere than it is at sea level. Because of this,
jet aircraft and weather balloons reach their maximum operational altitudes
within the stratosphere. Due to the lack of vertical convection in the
stratosphere, materials that get into the stratosphere can stay there for long
times. Such is that the case for the ozone destroying chemicals called cfcs
(chlorofluorocarbons). Large volcanic eruptions and major meteorite
impacts can fling aerosol particles up into the stratosphere where they may
linger for month or years, sometimes altering earth global climate. Rocket
lunches in jet exhausted gases into the stratosphere, producing uncertain
consequences. Various types of waves and tides in the atmosphere influence
the stratosphere. Some of these waves and tide carry energy from the
troposphere upward into the stratosphere; others convey energy from the
stratosphere up into the mesosphere. The waves and tides influence the
flows of air in the stratosphere and can also cause regional heating of this
layer of the atmosphere. a rare type of electrical discharge, somewhat similar
to lighting, occurs in the stratosphere. These “blue jets’ appears above
thunderstones, and extend from the bottom of the stratosphere up to altitudes
of 40 or 50 km.
d) The solar system: The solar system consists of the sun, as the major
planetary bodies plus the minor planets (about 2000 in number) called
asteroids. This earth is cosmic home, the place of its origin and
development. The sun is a star; one of the innumerable stars in the universe.
The solar system is held together by the gravitational force of the sun. The
nine planets (which revolve around the sun in their different orbits)
according to their proximity to the sun are:
 1) Mercury - the smallest planet.(no satellite
2) Venus – most brilliant planet in the solar system.(no satellite)
3) Earth (one satellite i.e. the moon)
4) Mars (2 satellites i.e. phoebes and demos)
5) Jupiter (12 satellites and the largest planet in the solar system)
6) Saturn (10 satellites and second largest planet)
7) Uranus (5 satellites)
8) Neptune (2 satellites)
9) Pluto (no satellites and outermost planet in the entire solar system.
e) Galaxies: the sun, plus its nine planets and theirs satellites form the solar
system. The solar system along with other stars and their satellites form a
collection or group called the galaxy. Galaxies are a large system of stars held
together by mutual gravitation and isolated from similar system by vast region of
space. Precisely our galaxy is called the milky wary galaxy. The wary galaxy
contains about 100 billion stars. There are several other galaxies (or nebulae) with
different shapes in the universe. The discovery of the microwaves background
radiation and the realization that the universe began in a hot big bang dates back
only to 1965 interestingly, the true origin of the universe and it galaxies is still
unknown. And it is only since the begging of the new millennium that cosmology
has become a precision science, with a strong consensus emerging about what kind
of universe we inhabit.
f) Measurement of Distance in Space: The distances between celestial objects,
especially stars and galaxies, are so great that we cannot express them with
ordinary numerical notation. The unit of measurement which is used to measure
such astronomical distances is called a light year. A light year is therefore, a unit of
measurement of distance objects such as stellar (I e. star) distance. A light year is
the distance traversed by light in one mean solar year. One light year is about 9
billion km (5,880,000,000 miles) so; some distance is so great that they look
clumsy when written in plain figures. Hence, the used of the light year (or light
year) as unit. One set of such stellar objects is quasar-stellar radio source. Some are
as far as 14 billion light years.
In addition, there 2,000 minor planets called asteroids. Each planet has its own
moon (s) or satellite(s) which rotate (s) around it. The earth has one. Mars has two
moons (Phobos and Deimos). Neptune has two. The planets with large members of
satellites are Saturn and Jupiter. Saturn has 10 while Jupiter has 12. Uranus has 5
It is believed that the planets were formed from the sun, from which they broke off
as gaseous elements and gradually became solid bodies in space. The sun itself is
in motion in space and at the same time the planets rotate around it. The planets
and their satellites are held in their relative positions around the sun by the
gravitational power of the sun. This magnetic power holds them together as a
common system. The powerful energy from the sun, called solar energy is
responsible for all the energy and the light in the whole solar system.
LESSON 5
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVENTIONS
Science is define as a body of knowledge such as chemistry, physics, and biology
etc. technology is defined as the application of scientific knowledge and research
with the aim of developing products or processes for the use of man. Invention is
the mental process in which discoveries and observations are combined and guided
by experience into some new tool or operation.
Next stage in the evolution of technology was the discovery of fire. Man used it to
warm himself and prepare food. Fire led to cooking, invention of kitchens and
other methods such as baking, frying, steaming etc. man domesticated animals and
made agricultural tools. Made textiles, pottery etc. science is divided into basic
sciences to practical uses. There include medicine, health and population, energy
policies, environment and pollution, earth sciences.
a) The impact of science and technology on society:
Where do you live, in a village or in a town? Wherever you may be living,
you are likely to see, hear, and touch or use various objects in the course of a
single day. Such object include soap, toothpaste, broom, knife, safety razors,
hot water, telephones, cars, buses, trains, objects in offices, factories, homes,
schools, restaurants and theatres. In addition to all these, you are likely to
touch and use such devices designed to save physical labour such as tractors,
those designed to help in communication, entertainment, transportation,
high-speed computers and medicines. All these and many more are called
products of technology.
It is interesting to note that before each of these examples demonstrates a
symbolic relationship between science and technology. For example,
knowledge obtained from the scientific disciplines of mathematics and
electronics were used to produce high-speed computers. What other
connections can you make between science and technology? Has technology
had any effect on your lifestyle? Consider how it has affected the way you
eat, drink, travel, work, play, and sleep. Think about technology and
environmental implications how some of the products such as cars can cause
air pollution with the exhaust fumes. Also think about technology and life
and death- about how babies are born today and how old people live before
they die, as compared to a hundred years ago. You might now be aware that
key influences in all these are science and technology. These have been the
most potent forces for social change in the history of man.
b) Definition/ Distinctions between science and technology:
Science has been defined in various ways defending the required
interpretation at the moment. It was defined as: (1) A body of knowledge
such as chemistry, physics, biology, etc.
(2) A method or process of acquiring knowledge and as (3) an institution
Thus, science is both the process and the product of investigation and
research. The process involves research and the product is a set of ideas,
theories and principles, which make up the various body of knowledge.
Technology is therefore, defined as the application of scientific knowledge
and research, with the aim of developing products or processes for the use of
man. It consists of the practical knowledge of what can be done and how. It
is not a body of theoretically related laws and principles. It is characterized
by techniques, devices, procedures, processes and materials. It is more of a
collection of practical information that can be used to do something.
Let us consider an example from Agricultural science. A crop of vegetables
is in danger of destructions by insects. Agricultural scientists have already
developed insecticides to be used to fight the insects. If a decision is taken to
spray the crops with the insecticide from an aero plane, that decision is made
by an agricultural engineer. He will take health, economic and
environmental factors into consideration in making the decision. The actual
spraying is carried out by a technician. The technician is a specialist who
knows how to load the insecticide, fly the plane and spray the crops. All the
techniques, procures and materials used make up the technology of
insecticide spraying from an aero plane.
It is important for you to know that in spite of the seeming differences
between science and technology, they are intimately linked or symbiotic.
This is because technology will be crippled and blinded, if not for the new
knowledge which science provides it. Science, on the other hand, will not
progress much, if technology does not supply it with new instruments, new
techniques and new powers. Let’s illustrate with the following examples.
The practice of photography (technology) originated before the theory of
photographic process was formulated. (Science). Photographic materials
were made by trial and error. Up till about 1950s, the methods used in
manufacturing photographic materials were a little advanced that the basic
science of the photographic process. A point was reached however, when
progress in photography became slow. Progress was only accelerated when
the physical chemistry underlying the photography process was understood.
X-rays were discovered through scientific research. The knowledge of these
x-ray machines, in turn, now helps scientific researchers to examine, for
example, the arrangement of atoms in crystals. So both science and
technology go hand in hand. Do you still remember who discovered x-ray?
Now let us consider what motivates scientists and technologists. What drives
the scientists when he is acting as a scientist is the longing to know and
understand. The key word here is curiosity. The scientist is curious to know
 and understand nature. He is not bothered about application of his
knowledge. Other characteristics of the spirit of inquiry include:
i. A questioning of all things;
ii. A search for data and for relations that give them meaning;
iii. A demand for verification;
iv. A respect for logic.
In other words, the principal activity of a scientist is research.
What drives the technologist, on the other hand, is the desire to translate
ideas and plans into concrete products or processes. The key word is know-
how. His aim is to produce things and not to formulate theories about the
devices and techniques used in the process. It is important for you to know
that the ideas implemented by technologists are derived both from science
and non-science areas. The corresponding plans are often developed by
engineers.
c) The beginning and importance of technology in human affairs:
Technology is as old as man himself. In his desire to provide for his basic
needs of food, clothing and shelter, he made and used tools (origin of
technology). With time, man not only sought to satisfy his needs but also his
wants. Technology also helped man to get what he wanted. These include
play, leisure, houses, exotic foods, travelling, faster communication with
others etc. do you know that man’s earliest natural tools were his hands and
teeth? He graduated to stones, and then to sticks shaped to be used as tools.
As time went on, he developed tools of special types to be used for hunting,
fishing and the making of clothes and shelters.
Man’s technical progress is believed to be governed by two elements, which
are discovery and invention. A discovery is a new way of looking at an old
phenomenon. Invention, however, is defined as a mental process in which
various discoveries and observations are combined and guided by experience
into some new tool or operation. In other words, experience guides
somebody to make use of his various discoveries and observation to produce
new tools or operation. It is important for you to know that much experience
is needed to lead to truly important inventions. This may be the reason why
the material progress of ancient man was very slow.
The next stage in the evolution of technology is the discovery of fire. It is
the most important discovery of Stone Age man. He used the fire to warm
himself and to prepare testier food. Fire them led to the birth of cooking and
subsequently to the invention of suitable kitchen utensils and cooking
methods such as baking, frying, steaming etc. the discovery of fire was
therefore, a very important event.
 Man later began to cultivate his own crops and rear animals for a more
regular supply of food. This led to the establishment of communities. He
domesticated animals and developed agricultural tools. He made textiles,
produced pottery, invented the wheel and the sail to improve his
transportation. Man also learned to mine and utilize metals such as copper
and iron. Technology thus made possible the beginning of civilization in
Egypt and Babylonia.
d) The impact of science, technology and inventions today:
It may interest you to know that distinguish our age (20th century upwards)
from the past are the recognition of the importance of science and
technology in human affairs, the increased pace of scientific and
technological development, which makes it part and parcel of our daily
living, and the realization that science and technology are not simply a
limited or local factor. It encompasses all men everywhere, and is
interrelated with nearly all-human endeavor.
The 20th century as we discussed has been characterized by rapid advances
in science, technology and inventions (ST&I) we all feel the impact of them
in our daily lives as well as in our social and political institutions. For
instance, modern man has replaced the heavenly implements and tools of
primitive man with tractors and ploughs for tilling the soil. These represent a
higher level of technology. The hydrogen bomb, nuclear weapons/missiles
have replaced the bow and arrow technologies of old eras. Even on the home
front; housekeeping has been happily made a lot easier for the housewives
with the introduction of labour saving machines such as microwave and
electric oven, vacuum cleaners etc.
Without doubt, the standard of living of a nation depends on ST&I!
Developing nations such as Nigeria and other African countries are
beginning to realize one essential difference between them and the so-called
developed nations. This is the fact that these (developed) nations have been
able to create, master and use, modern S&T. This means that S,T &I form
the foundations of modern existence.
A highly developed education and research programme in the basic sciences
is needed by any country (including Nigeria) that would want secure and
stable society knowledge of the basic sciences such as physics; biology and
chemistry are of indispensable value because it is through their research
efforts that technological growth can take place. The stable society should be
one where industrialization, public health care, advanced agriculture etc can
flourish. Long-term progress is only possible if a percentage of government
funds are used for teaching and research.
 In the past, especially during the colonial era S&T did not feature in the
policy of the colonialists and generally not seen as an important mechanism
that could contribute to the development of the African continent. Its
recognition in today’s Africa is a significant step forward, even though much
still remains to be done to make S&T an integral part of national
development strategy of African countries.
e) Subdivision of science and technology:
While science is usually subdivided into basic sciences and sciences and
sciences in application, technology is subdivided into classical-low
technology and science-based high technology. We shall discuss them one
after the other.
SCIENCE:
i) Basic science; this can also be called pure or fundamental sciences. They
can be defining as mans systematic effort to understand natural
phenomena. The instigators primary aim here is to have fuller knowledge
or understanding of the subject under study. They are not bothered about
practical application of the result obtained. These basic sciences play a
fundamental role in modern society. It is through deeper understanding of
nature that mankind has learn how to derive the greatest benefit from it
whether for good or bad. Basic sciences comprises of five sub-disciplines
which are: physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology and basic medical
sciences. This is why research and training for basic sciences are
conducted in the universities or in the research centers specially created
for this purpose.
ii) Sciences in application; these are concerned primarily with applying
the results of basic sciences to practical uses. These are five areas of
sciences in application. They are: medicines, health, and population,
energy policies, environment and pollution, as well as the earth sciences
(including, irrigation and soil, meteorology, oceanography and
seismology).
However, it is important for you to note that research and development in
applied sciences are carried out under the supervision of research
councils or by private industries. It is also worth noting that today,
especially in industries, basic and applied sciences work hand in hand.
Many conclusions arising from basic science cannot be tested unless the
applied scientist discovers the means of testing. Conversely, before the
applied scientist can produce desirable new products, years of basic
research may first be required. Thus, basic science is dependent on
applied science, as much as applied science is also dependent on basic
science.
Another important thing for you to take note of is that despite the large
technological contents of some of these areas of applied science, they are
not areas of manufacturing technology but of applied science.
TECHNOLOGY:
As we have mentioned before, technology may be sub-divided into two
groups which are: classical low technology and sciences based high
technology. The genetic word “technology” is used here to refer to the
whole area of manufacturing technology. High technology differs from
low technology because high expertise in the relevant basic sciences (like
physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, etc) is crucial. The materials
used in high technology are minimal in bulk. Just like basic versus
applied science, the distinction between the two areas of technology that
is low verses high is often not clear. This is noticed particularly when
methods and tools of high technology such as microprocessors are used
in industrial products of low technology.
a) Classical low technology: there are five sub-areas here and they are :
bulk chemicals, fabrication of iron, steel and other metals, design and
fabrication in (indigenous) industries( for example, cotton, leather,
wood, food products, tobacco, construction materials), petroleum
technologies, as well as power generation and transmission.
(Including heavy electrical industry).
in these areas there are no new scientific principles to be discovered.
However, designs, adaptation and modification of products need to be
developed from time to time. These areas are the traditional areas of
craftsmanship and skills. Thoroughness (in all aspects of manufacture
and after service), beauty of design, the quality of workmanship, cost
and manufacturing competitiveness are all-important. Do you think
Nigeria belongs to this area of technology? If you do try to categorize
the kinds of industries in Nigeria, do they fit into the five sub-areas of
classical low technology?
While the basic processes of classical low technology remain
unchanged as stated above, new high technologies such as
microelectronics, robotics and new materials are being introduced.
These have helped to modify some processes, management and
control of existing ones. When people talk about transfer of
technology from aboard, they are referring to this area of classical low
technology. A country that wishes to industrialize will have to
develop one or more of the technologies listed above. Japan, the
former Russian federation and South Korea became industrialized
through that method. The same is true with regards to other
 developing countries such as Nigeria. As it was in the case of those
countries imported, low technology is now playing a big role in
building up of our technological base.
b) Science-based high technology: you may have observed that the last
two decade of the 20th century has been characterized by an
unprecedented pace of development of new technologies and rapid
change in their adaptations and utilizations. The highest achievement
in this ultramodern technology may be divided into six areas, which
are: communication, informatics and other sciences. These consist of
two sub-disciplines.
i) Microelectronics. This includes development of software,
microprocessors, computer- aided design, eventual fabrication of
microchips. All these are in use in industries such as the automobile
industry.
ii) Micro photonics. It includes the development of lasers and fiber
optics. Of these two, micro photonics is the less developed and it
requires greater research effort to bring it to fruition.
Others here include space technologies such as the manufacturing of
rockets for space travel, composite material and high temperature super
conductors, nuclear energy, pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals, as well
as biotechnology and gene splicing.
Do you think Nigeria belongs to this group? I don’t think so. Very few of
the developing countries with the exception of the Confucian belt
countries (such as Singapore, South Korea, China, Malaysia, India, and
Brazil) are conscious of the need for or have made progress in high
technologies. The general feeling in many developing countries is that
these new areas are beyond them. You may agree with me that it is this
feeling of lack of faith in their own scientists and technologists that one
must fight against. This is because the future of these countries
undoubtedly lies in making effective use of these specialists.
f) Methods of acquiring technological advancement:
Technological advancement can be achieved in the following ways:
Technology transfer: This is a situation where the productive sectors of the
economy (that is the manufacturing industries in a country) import from
another, both the productive machinery and equipment and the expert that
will organize the systematic transfer of the required technology.
Acquisition technology: This is an advanced form of technology transfer.
Unpackaged technology: This refers to technology obtained through relevant
software and during the repairs/maintenance of the item. Through such
exposure, a local replication of the technology is made possible.
 Adaptation technology: Here, the technological product is first obtained. It is
then dismantled and reproduced with infused local input, based on useful
indigenous technology.
Poached technology: This is the convert taking away of technology without
the consent of its originator or producer. This may be achieved through the
help of spies or unscrupulous private entrepreneurs, with occasional support
of their governments. Occasionally, key scientists behind important
innovations are kidnapped or attracted to the seeking country by monetary
inducement. Such activities infringe on the patent law and the international
property rights.
g) Some early contributions to science and technology:
Some scientists who have contributed monumentally to scientific knowledge
by their pure or basic research include:
a. Robert Boyle (1627-1691). He is regarded as the father of chemistry.
He is famous for his discoveries on the physics of gases.
b. Marcello Malppghian (1628-1694). He has been referred t as the
“father of Microscopy; this is because of his numerous anatomical and
botanical investigations with the newly invented microscope. The
Malppghian layer in leaves of plants is named after him.
c. Christian Huygens (1629-1695). He was reputed mathematician and
an astronomer. He built the first accurate pendulum clock.
d. Robert Hooke (1635-1703). He made his living as a surveyor and an
architect. He was a research assistant to Boyle. He carried out various
researches in biology and physics. He is most remembered for his
microscopic discovery of the cells of plants.
e. Isaac Newton (1642-1727). He was a brilliant mathematician and
physicist. He is remembered mainly for his laws of motion, and the
discovery of the composite nature of white light using a sunbeam and
a prism.
f. Michael faraday (1741-1867). He was a brilliant physicist. He is
remembered for his discovery of electricity in 1813 during a series of
deliberate researches with very simple apparatus.
On the other hand, the production of steam power, a technical development
is the most important in the whole history of modern industrial civilization.
This technical production proceeded without any help from pure or basic
science. The original incentive for this invention was strictly commercial
and industrial. That is how to solve the problem of pumping water from a
mine. The only significant contribution from theory was the invention of
separated condenser in 1764 by James watt (1736-1819) Apart from this the
 steam engine was invented and improved by a succession of practical
inventors without any training in mathematics or physics.
h) Some modern contributions to science and technology:
It is important to know some modern contributions to science and
technology, invention is an outstanding feat emanating from science and
technology. The claim is often made that modern industry depends on basic
science for its supply of innovations. It is also said that the support of pure
science is justifiable because it would lead, eventually to economic benefits
through improved industrial products or processes.
For instance, the zip used to fasten a piece of clothing, especially women’s
dresses was invented by W.L. Judson, as an American mechanical engineer.
He applied for the first patent of his invention in 1891. (The patent is an
open letter from the government of a country, conferring the sole right for a
period of time to make, use or sell some innovation.) Judson’s invention was
a unique one. He formed a company to try to make and market a saleable
product. But the company failed after a period of twenty years. It took
another company called the automatic Hook and Eye Company and up with
the essential design we know today. But public acceptance of this new
product only came in 1918.
Another notable invention was that of antibiotics. The invention was a
technical innovation that sprang directly from pure or basic scientific
research. In 1928, Alexandra Fleming accidentally observed the effects of
microorganisms (fungi) named penicillium on a bacterial culture. He was
deeply interested in natural products that could kill bacteria. He then
immediately started research on the penicillium phenomena. Over a period
of three to four years, he extracted the active agent in the fungi, tested its
action on animals and humans. He found out that was not toxic to animals
and humans. He published his result in a journal. But because Fleming was a
man who didn’t like publicity, his discovery was almost completely ignored.
Again, he didn’t have the money to isolate and purify the active agent for
commercial purposes. Additionally, he didn’t seek publicity because
commercial pharmacists of that time generally considered the concept of
non-toxic bactericide, contradiction.
Ten years later in 1939, a group under Howard Florey and Earnest Chain
began work on natural antibiotics. They came across Fleming’s paper in the
literature and soon confirmed Flemings work that penicillin was highly
effective and could be concentrated and purified. Florey went to the United
States in 1941. Since that was wartime and many people were being
wounded, he was able to convince the pharmaceutical industry to commit
some amount of money to develop and produce penicillin. In eighteen
months, they had enough active penicillin to treat 200 cases. After thirty
months, processes for large-scale industrial production became available.
For all these, Fleming, Florey and Chain were awarded the Nobel Prize for
Physiology and Medicine in 1945 and also received knighthoods. Being
basic scientists, they were well satisfied with the honors and glory. The
industrial had to comfort themselves with the financial profits of the
operation.
Lesson 6
NATURE OF SCIENCE
a) The definitions of science:
The word science is derived from the Latin word “scientia” which means
knowledge. There for it is defined as the knowledge of the world of nature. It is
divided into formal and empirical sciences. Formal sciences include mathematics,
logic, physics and statistics. Empirical sciences in clued physics, chemistry,
biology, psychology, botany, zoology, biochemistry, geology, medical sciences
etc. social sciences are another branch of science disciplines under social sciences
are economics, social psychology, geography, sociology and anthropology and
social philosophy.
The way we look at science:
1. Science as a body of knowledge; what does the word ‘body’ tell you
was the bodies of knowledge which generally regarded as science that
includes, chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics, microbiology,
pharmacy and medicine. These bodies of knowledge differ from other
forms of knowledge such as religion and art in both content and form.
2. Science as a method for acquiring knowledge; science has well-
known procedures for obtaining knowledge. The two branches of
science, which are empirical and formal sciences, use what is called
the scientific method. The steps of that method include observation,
problem definition, hypothesis formulation, experimentation,
conclusion and theory formulation. Formal science utilizes concepts,
rules and theories, and expresses them in a quantitative and statistical
manner. We need to understand the meanings of empirical, concepts,
rules and theories in the subsequent discussions. Anybody that uses
the scientific method or the method of formal sciences to obtain
knowledge is said to be involved in science.
3. Science as an institution; can be viewed as an institution which
comprises millions of experts. These experts can be found in various
research and educational institutions, industries, hospitals, companies,
etc. the cooperation and interaction among them make the
development of science possible and reliable.
b) BRANCHESES OF SCIENCE
In our previous discussion we learnt the various meanings of the word ‘science’
here we will be exposed to the two ways of grouping scientific disciplines or
bodies of knowledge. This will enable you to indentify, the areas of knowledge
which qualify to be called science. Scientific disciplines were grouped into two:
Formal science; Empirical science
 1. A formal science includes mathematics (which comprises geometry,
algebra, trigonometry, arithmetic) logic, theoretical physics, and statistics
formal sciences have a formal and deductive character. Science is said to be
formal if its contents, arguments and procedures obey certain rules. The
result and conclusions of such sciences are valid and authentic only if they
conform to those rules. Thus a body of formal science is systematic and
deductive in character.
2. Empirical sciences, on the other hand, include Physics, chemistry, biology,
psychology, botany, zoology, biochemistry, microbiology, geology, medical
sciences, etc. these study objects and phenomena which can be observed
through any of the senses and which can be tested with instruments such as
the telescope, microscope, ruler, tapes and scales. In other words, anything
that cannot be observed with the senses of sight, touch, hearing, taste and
smell or with instruments such as ruler, telescope, etc is outside science.
Let us look at sense perception and non-sense perception objects:
Sense perception objects are the subject of empirical sciences, which
includes the human body, bodies of other animals such as goats, cows and
dogs; as well as natural objects such as the weather, diseases, plants and
insects. These can be observed with the senses or measured with instruments
because they are material things. For instance, we can see a cow walking on
the road, perceived the odors of its droppings, touch its hairy body or taste
its flesh.
Thus, empirical scientists observe and experiment in order to find out how
things originate, grow or develop, function and relate to each other. They
also try to find out the laws which govern their behavior. They are interested
in the regularities or laws which enable them to understand or explain the
objects or phenomena under study. The knowledge derived in empirical
sciences includes inductive generalizations, laws and theories.
An object which cannot be perceived by the senses includes values such as
the goodness or badness of a thing, rightness, virtue, beauty, holiness and
truth. If the following statement is made, ‘Ada is a good girl’, do you think
you can observe ‘goodness’ with an instrument? It is not possible and so the
study of ‘goodness’ is outside empirical science.
The second way of grouping scientific disciplines is according to the class of
objects or phenomena they deal with.
Natural sciences deal with all natural objects. Under it are sub-branches such as:
a) Physical sciences, which include disciplines like physics, chemistry,
geology, applied mathematics, astronomy, etc. these deal with
physical and inanimate objects such as rocks, rivers and mountains.
 b) Biological sciences. Disciplines under it include biology, zoology,
botany, microbiology. These deal with living bodies such as human
beings, animals, insects and plants.
c) Medical sciences. They includes general medicine, anatomy, surgery,
physiology, and veterinary medicine. These disciplines deal with
objects and problems that affect human and animal health.
d) Pharmaceutical sciences, which include pharmaceutical,
pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmacognosy and pharmacology. These
discipline are concerned with drugs and drug contents of plants and
other objects.
Social sciences disciplines under it are:
a) Economics
b) Social psychology
c) Geography
d) Sociology and anthropology
e) Social philosophy etc.
These deal with society and social institutions. In spite of all these classifications
of science, there is a point that is worth noting. The differences between the
disciplines are not absolute. The disciplines began be systematically arranged in
the late 19th century so as to avoid inconsistency and overlap. You will understand
this point clearer when we come to the differences between the disciplines arises as
differences of viewpoint between the scientists. In other words, the significant
thing is not that chemistry differs from physics, but that the chemist’s view of the
world differs from that of the physicist. It is good that you accept all disciplines as
part of life and of living and of our curiosity about the world around us. But to be
realistic, most university departments or programmed and professional bodies are
based on wee-defined and separated subjects. Presently, however, some integration
of the sciences is making a comeback. For instance, we now have field of study
such as physical chemistry, biochemistry and biophysics to mention a few.
c) The aims of science:
In our previous discussion we described the two ways of grouping scientific
discipline before examining the steps involved in the process of obtaining
knowledge, let us turn to the aims or purposes of science.
Why do you think people involve themselves in scientific activities? Right from
the dawn of history, man has tried to understand himself and the nature that
surrounds him. He has seen the world around him, which evidently has remained
the same world, and yet is full of change, motion and of variety. There are dawns
and sunsets, births and deaths, the solid earth and the ever-restless seas. There are
various kinds of things in the world-minerals, plants and men. Thus we can say
that science aims at enabling man to explain how the world, events and objects
around him originate, develop, operate or function. It also helps him to predict how
they will behave in future and thus enables him to control the behavior of the
things around him, once he is able to develop the appropriate instruments for such
control.
Thus, science is theoretical. It equips us with theoretical knowledge about the
world. Such knowledge is usually summarized using concepts, laws and theories.
These help us to express and systematize our understanding of objects and
phenomena science also equips us with practical knowledge in terms of the various
ways, mechanisms and instruments which enables us to control objects and
phenomena. Science is, therefore, not only a source of knowledge; it is also a
source of power.
d) Differences between science and non science disciplines:
You may be able to identify areas of non-science if you have understand the
previous explanation on the definition of science and the discussion on the
branches of science and why do you think these are called non-science which
includes the religion, art, metaphysic (a branch of philosophy), mysticism,
common sense, imagination, etc.
Religion for instance, is concerned with worship of the supernatural; science is
concerned with nature and natural phenomena and objects. In particular, religion is
speculative. It is based on faith or dogma. The basic religious beliefs are not
questionable. In the field of study called rational religion or theology, the aim is to
make religious beliefs reasonable without rejecting them. In other words, theology
tries to confirm religious beliefs.
Religion relies on the principle that the universe is governed by spiritual laws. All
the other non-sciences exhibit some of these attributes. Thus non-sciences are said
to be subjective, unverifiable, non-factual, not objective, not systematic and not
quantifiable (that is measurable). Their study is often a matter of guesswork,
involving trial and error. Consequently, knowledge based on them does not enable
us to explain, predict and control phenomena in the way scientific knowledge can.
Science on the other hand, is not dogmatic. It is based ob reason and does not
accept any ideas or belief on faith. It subjects everything under its study to critical
examination. It does not accept anything as sacred and unquestionable. It relies on
the principle that the universe is governed by material law which may be
mechanical, electrical, chemical, biological, etc.
Science seeks knowledge that is objective, certain, systematic, provable and
supported by evidence. This is done through a systematic method of inquiry,
observation, formulation of hypothesis, experimentation, organized theory
construction, etc. it further overcomes the limitations of the senses through the use
of instruments, diagrams, equations and formal symbols.
However, some have argued that science differs from non-science only in degree.
It is pointed out, for example, that common sense has a certain scientific character.
It recognizes certain basic laws of nature and acts on their basis. For example,
traditional agriculture, which is based mainly on common sense experience,
recognizes the laws governing soil fertility. On the other hand, science involves a
certain degree of speculation and imagination especially at the level of formulating
hypotheses.
In general science is said to be objective, systematic, reliable, etc being objective
means that all those who adopt the same method or procedure can prove or verify
the claims or statements, which the body of scientific knowledge contains. Being
systematic means that all the various elements in a body of scientific knowledge
are locally related and each can be inferred from the other. For instance, go to the
library, and get hold of any science textbook. If you turn to the table of contents,
you will observe that topics are arranged sequentially. Basic topics in biology such
as the cell-its structure and functions are discussed before topics like the structure
of the kidney, liver, brain etc. These late organs are made up of cells. So you need
to understand what the cell is before you can understand the structure of the kidney
or the liver. Science being reliable means that it can enable us to adequately and
correctly explain, predict and control any phenomenon in question. Thus science
differs from non-science in method and in the systematic character of its
knowledge.
LESSON 7
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
a. Scientific method of acquiring knowledge:
Superficially, science is a collection of ‘facts’ (body of knowledge) that describe
and explain the workings of nature. Although these facts are interesting- even
fascinating- they are not the essence of science. Rather, the excitement of science
lies in the intriguing observation and the carefully designed experiments that
scientists have devised to help us learn nature. the important thing here is the
process of science-not just knowing the facts, but appreciating how scientists
discovered (and continue to discover) those facts. The process is characterized by a
sequence of steps, which enable scientists to approach objective truth as close as
possible. Taken singly, most of the steps are common place procedures carried out
by people on a daily basis. Taken together, they amount to one of the most
powerful tools man has devised to know and to control nature.
Science is a process characterized by steps which enable the scientist to approach
objective truth as closely as possible. They include the following: observation,
experimentation, definition, hypothesis formulation, experimentation, conclusion,
theory formulation.
The steps of science include the following:
a) Observation: this is the first step of the scientific method. Thus anything
that cannot be observed cannot be investigated by science for example, a
young student observes that maize grains, which were placed in a wet
container inside a dark cupboard, germinated, but that the leaves were
pale yellow instead of the normal green color of leaves. Scientific
observation can be both direct and indirect. Direct observations are made
with the aid of the senses just as our hypothetical student observed the
maize grains with his eyes. Indirect observations are performed with the
aid of instruments. Atomic nuclei and magnetism, for example, cannot be
perceived directly through our sense organs, but their effects can be
observed with instruments. What other things do you think can observe
indirectly?
Observations can also be classified into:
1. spontaneous or passive observations which are unexpected
2. Induced or active observations, which are deliberately looked out for.
Effective spontaneous observation involves firstly noticing some object or event.
The thing noticed will only have meaning if the mind of the observer either
consciously or unconsciously relates it to some relevant knowledge or past
experience. it can also be important if the observer in the process of thinking over
it arrives at some hypothesis. From our hypothetical example, the student noticed
that the pale yellow color of the leaves of the maize grains was different from the
normal green colour of maize grains. He thus related what he observed with his
previous knowledge.
Powers of observation can be developed by cultivating the habit of watching things
with an active enquiring mind. It is no exaggeration to say that well developed
habits of observation are more important in scientific research or even in daily
living than a large accumulation of academic learning.
Correct observation is a most difficult art acquired only after long experience and
many errors. The difficulty lies largely in unsuspected bias. People forever see
what they want to see or what they think they ought to see. It is extremely hard to
rid oneself of such unconscious prejudice and to see just what is actually there, no
more and no less. This is the reason why a scientific observation must be
repeatable. Science does not take any observation at face value. Several scientists
must be able to repeat that observation independently and report the same thing for
that observation to be of value to science (the nature of science)
After an observation has been made, the second step of the scientific method is to
define the problem.
b) Problem definition:
In this step, questions are asked about the observation. If our hypothetical
students in (1) above shows further curiosity, he will decide to find out why
those seedlings had pale yellow leaves instead of green. This is the definition
of the problem. He asks himself, why are the leaves pale yellow instead of
green? This is the kind causal question that the scientific method deals with.
Science is fundamentally about finding answers to questions.
Significantly, not everyone sees that there may actually be a problem
connected with an observation. For thousands of years, even curious people
simply took it for granted that any unsupported object that is thrown up in
the air must fall to the ground. It took a genius(Isaac Newton) to ask, ’How
come? (The nature of science), and few questions have ever contributed
more to science as this.
Good questioning, like good observing, is a light art. To be of value to
science, a question must be relevant and it must be testable. Experience
helps in deciding if a question is relevant or not. To find answers to
scientific questions, scientists use past experiences, ideas and observations.
c) Hypothesis formulation: this is the third step of the scientific method.
Do you know that this involves the seemingly quite unscientific
procedure of guessing? One guesses what the answer to the question
might be. Scientists call this assumed answer a hypothesis. A given
question, as you might be aware, may have thousands of possible
answers but only one right answer. Thus there are excellent chances that
a random guess will be wrong. The scientists will only know if his guess
 was correct after he must have completed the fourth step of the scientific
method, which is experimentation (the nature of science). The main
function of a hypothesis is to predict new experiments or new
observations.
Thus our hypothetical student in (2) above will try to state all the possible
explanations of his observation, or all the possible solutions to the problem
he defined. One possible explanation he might give is that the pale yellow
color referred to is the characteristic of the particular variety of maize that
was germinating in the dark cupboard. Another explanation he might give is
that the pale yellow coloration resulted from the exclusion of light.
As we said before, all the hypotheses relating to a problem cannot be valid,
and the only way to decide which hypothesis is valid is to test each of the
hypotheses. If experimentation shows that the first guess was wrong, the
scientists then must formulate a new hypothesis and once more test for
validity by performing new experiments. Clearly, the guessing and guess
testing might go on for years and a right answer might never be found.
Obviously, much faster progress would be made if the number of hypotheses
were few. The amount of previous knowledge or experience a scientists has
enable him to achieve this. This shows us the importance of previous
knowledge for scientific progress and the truly social character of
knowledge. It is while hypothesizing that common sense, intuitions and
lucky accidents help science enormously. The story has it that in one famous
case, the German chemist, Kekule went to bed one night after a fairly
alcoholic party (Olorode and Kloh: 2000). In his sleep, he dreamt of six
monkeys chasing one another in a circle, the tail of one held in the teeth of
the other. Practically, our whole chemical industry is based on that dream
because it told the sleeping scientists what the structure of benzene was.
Scientists at that time had been trying to figure out the structure of benzene.
Kekule then concluded that benzene has six carbon atoms chasing one
another in a circle, and that is exactly the present structure of benzene. And
it is good to know that benzene is the fundamental parent substances for
thousands of chemical products.
Since it is the function of every experiment to test the validity of a scientific
guess, the fourth step of the scientific method is experimentation.

d) Experimentation: You might be aware by now that answers without

evidence are really unsupported opinions .experimentation can provide
the necessary evidence and anyone who experiments after guessing at
answer become truly ‘scientists’ in his approach. Experimentation is by
far the hardest part of the scientific method. There are no rules to follow;
 each experiment is a case unto itself. Technically, knowledge and
experience usually help. Making a correct decision on the means by
which a hypothesis might best be tested shows the difference between a
genius and an amateur (the nature of science).
Can you think of how the young student in our hypothetical example would
gather evidence in order to refute or confirm his hypotheses? Let us examine
the two hypotheses regarding the young man’s observation of pale yellowing
leaves of maize seedlings. The first hypothesis to explain the observation
was that the yellowing was due to the variety of maize germinating. A
simple way to test that hypothesis is to collect various varieties of maize, put
them in the dark cupboard and observe the results all the varieties will be
found to have produced the same pale yellow leaves. The other hypothesis,
which a state that the exclusion of light produced the pale yellow leaves
effect, can also be easily tested. This is done by germinating a batch of seeds
in the dark and another batch in a well-lit condition. The well-lit condition
serves as the control. It provides a standard of reference for assessing the
results of the experimental series. It would be found that the seedlings in
dark would be pale yellow while those in a well-lit condition would have the
normal green colour.
e) Conclusion: we shall again illustrate this step with our hypothetical
example above. The test of the first hypothesis leads us to accept the
second (alternative) hypothesis thus our respective conclusions are: (1)
yellowing of the leaves was not due to the variety of maize germinating.
(2) Exclusion of light caused the yellowing of the leaves. Scientific
conclusions can be redefined, modified and clarified when the situation
arises. Some other conclusions may even be overthrown and discarded.
For instance, the young man who observed the pale yellow leaves of
maize seedlings may want to find out if the same result will be obtained
with seedlings of other plants. He may also observed that in a large maize
farm, some rare seedlings which lack green pigments completely, may
exist. This will lead him to modify his original conclusion. He may add
that ‘other factors besides lack of light may cause yellowing of leaves.’
The last step of the scientific method is theory formulation.
f) Theory formulation: what is theory? A scientific theory is an
explanation about the cause or causes of a broad range of related
phenomena. It differs from a scientific hypothesis in its breath of
application.
A theory is usually proposed when a hypothesis has been supported by really
convincing evidence. This evidence must be obtainable in many different
laboratories and by many independent researchers .theories are open to
 tests,, revisions, and tentative acceptance or rejection. As soon as new
information is observed in the course of applying the theory, such existing or
established theory is revised. Thus, a new theory emerges to replace the
existing one. This is
a guarantee for the development of science and human knowledge. But you
must note that old theories do not become incorrect but merely become
obsolete.
Theory is something very important which you have to know concerning
figure 1.2.
In real life situations, the scientific method does not really work as
structured in that figure. In other words, you don’t have complete one step
before beginning the next one. In practice, you may go back ta an earlier
step or on several steps simultaneously. But for you to be sure that your final
conclusion is right, all steps must be completed.
b. HOW IT WORKS IN REAL LIFE: we have just gone through the process of
the scientific method. How do you think it can work in real life? Let’s suppose that
you wake up one night with a skin rash (observation).you want to know what
caused this rash (causal question). You first try to figure out how this situation is
similar to other known situations, perhaps a classmate of yours had a similar rash
that was caused by an allergy to the grass at a close by football field. You realized
that your rash has appeared after all the football games that you have played on
that field. The similarity (analogy) between your friends’ allergy and your rash
leads to the explanation (hypothesis) that your rash is caused by an allergy to the
grass, too.
If your hypothesis is correct, you would not expect to get a rash from other kinds
of grass (prediction). When you play football on several other fields, all with a
different kind of grass than your nearby football field (experiments), you do not get
a rash (results) your results match the prediction of the grass-allergy hypothesis
from which you decide that your rash is caused by the grass at a nearby football
field (conclusion).
However, if this was your only hypothesis, you have not actually identified the
cause. Perhaps your rash was caused by fertilizers, pesticides, bacteria, fungi or
other agents associated with the grass or soil at one football field and not another.
By testing a single hypothesis, you have not ruled out any of these other
possibilities. To do so, you would have to devise alternative hypotheses, make
predictions from them and obtain experimental results to compare with the
predictions. By this process you may be able to reject some but not all of the
alternatives or you may be able to reject all hypotheses, even the grass-allergy
hypothesis. Either way you make progress by testing several hypotheses, not just
one.
If you can reject all with the exception of the grass-allergy hypothesis, you can
more confidently conclude that the grass caused your rash. Furthermore, you may
decide not to ply in that particular field again so that you can avoid the irritating
plant (use of new knowledge).
You may agree with me that all of this seems like common sense, which it is. The
use of the scientific method is not restricted to scientists. For example, in 1820 in
new jersey USA a colonel named Robert Johnson used the scientific method to
disprove the belief the tomatoes were poisonous(Moore, McCann and McCann:
1974). He bravely climbed the steps of a city courthouse and ate a basketful of
tomatoes. This action greatly amazed the 2000 townspeople who thought that
tomatoes were poisonous. His bold experiment and its result (his survival) proved
the townspeople wrong.
A principle characteristic of scientific thinking is that the sequence of observing,
hypothesizing, experimenting, concluding and interpreting is a cycle, with new
ideas produced at every step. To the curious scientific person, a conclusions or a
theory is never the final answer. There is always something more to study,
something new to learn. Can you be such a person?
c. HOW IT HAS WORKED IN SCIENCE:
You have seen in the last discussion how the scientific method works in a real life
situation. In this section, one example will be used to illustrate how a real scientist
made an important discovery by using the method.
In 1950s (Beveridge: 1970), it was reported that in certain parts of great Britain
and western Australia there used to occur a nervous disease of sheep known as
‘swayback’ (observation). The cause of this diseases baffled investigators for years
(causal question). In Western Australia, a scientist known as H. W. Bennett for
certain reasons suspected that the cause of the disease might be lead poisoning
(hypothesis formulation). To test this hypothesis he treated some afflicted sheep
with ammonium chloride, which is the antidote to lead (experiment). The first trial
with this chemical gave promising results that enabled the sheep to recover a little.
However, subsequent trials or tests did not confirm this first result (observation and
non-confirmation of hypothesis 1.) a question then arose, ‘why did the initial
treatment with ammonium chloride give some relief to the sheep?’ (Causal
question).
This suggestion to Bennetts that the cause of the disease might be the deficiency of
some mineral which was present in small quantities in the first batch of ammonium
chloride (hypothesis 2) Bennetts went ahead to find out the constituents of the
ammonium chloride (experiment). He found out that ‘copper’ was present in the
ammonium chloride in small amount as an impurity. When afflicted sheep were
given pure copper mineral they recovered from the disease. He then concluded that
the disease was due to deficiency of copper (conclusions- confirmation of
hypothesis 2). A deficiency of copper can cause disease in an animal.
According to the report Bennetts stated that the solution of this problem came in
Western Australia from an accidental “lead” (clue) resulting from the testing of a
false hypothesis. In other words, by testing a false hypothesis, which stated that the
cause of swayback disease was lead poising, the true hypothesis came to limelight
and the right answer was found.
In the next section we will discuss on the creative and critical thinking briefly.
d. CREATIVE AND CRITICAL THINKING: we live in a complex but rapidly
changing society, in which we have to make simple or difficult decisions every
minute of our lives. Such decision might be vital to both our own and other
people’s health, success and happiness. How well the decision turns out to be will
depend in part on the procedures of thinking we use.
The importance of the scientific method of thinking is rightly illustrated by the
history of science. Until the 17th century, science progressed quite slowly, in the
last three centuries, procedures of thinking, the scientific method which we have
just discussed, evolved. Its use has been responsible to a large extent for the
impressive success of modern science in discovering the secrets of the universe, as
well as in developing solutions to technological problems. Many of our most
serious problems can be lessened or even solved by the application of these
techniques.
Progress in solving most human problems has lagged far behind progress in
science. Most human problems cannot, of course, be taken to the laboratory to be
worked on and some aspects of the scientific method may not apply to those
problems. However, a large body of evidence confirms that effective methods of
thinking can be of great value in solving everyday human problems.
The procedures of science (the scientific method), which we have discussed,
require two distinctly different kinds of thinking, creative thinking and critical
thinking. Creative thinking may be defined as the formation of possible solutions
to a problem or possible explanations of a phenomenon. Critical thinking on the
other hand is the testing and evaluation of these proposed solutions.
Effective thinking is both creative and critical. Indeed, both kinds of thinking are
essential in all areas of human activity. In diagnosing an illness for example, a
physician first develops possible diagnoses that seem to fit the symptoms. He then
evaluates them by further examination of the patient or by laboratory tests. The
final diagnoses cannot be right unless the possible diagnoses include the right one.
Even when the possible diagnoses do include the right one, the physician may still
make a mistake by being careless in criticizing them and settling on the wrong one.
If you have understood the scientific method discussed previously, you would
agree that it is both creative and critical. Outside the laboratory, however, both
scientists and laypersons tend to be careless about both creative and critical aspects
of thinking. When our feelings are aroused, we are likely to act first and think only
after it is too late. Thus to ‘create ‘and ‘criticize’ are the twin watchwords of the
effective thinker.
The general process for applying creative and critical thinking to any problem can
be described as a cycle of six phases. You have already studied these phases in
section 3.1.This cycle should not be treated as a rigid procedure in which each
phases must be completed before the next is began. In practice, you may go back to
an earlier phase or work on several phases at the same time. But if you are to have
any real assurance that your final decision is sound, all phases must be completed.
Why don’t you begin now to practice using this cycle (that is the scientific
method)?
You should know that every phase of decision-making is strongly affected by the
fact that each one of us sees both the world and ourselves from our own personal
point of view. This can interfere with objectivity, which is very important to
effective thinking. How effective our thinking is depends partly on how objective
we are in viewing ourselves and the world without bias. However, absolute
objectivity is impossible because we observe the world only through the lens of our
own point of view. You should keep in mind two essential things objectify. The
first is to concentrate on the pursuit of truth in all the problems you take up, no
matter how unpleasant or threatening it may be. Science has a system of punishing
failures of objectivity, but inhuman setting, you must develop your own sense of
discipline. The second element in objectivity is to be open to your feelings.
Exclude them when they are not relevant and include them when they are, and you
must be able to discern the difference.
It should now be clear to you that perfection in thinking cannot be attained
effectiveness is the important thing. Also a satisfactory solution to every problem
is to much to expect. The person who expects to solve every problem and make the
right decisions every time is unrealistic. Effective thinking, like playing a musical
instrument requires practice. This is important both for understanding the
techniques fully and for developing skill in applying them.
Lesson 8
HISTORY OF SCIENCE-1 (ORIGIN OF WESTERN SCIENCE IN THE
ANCIENT TIMES)
a) Ancient western science:
The origin of science is often traced to the Egyptians and the Babylonians. They
originated science during the Neolithic age when they settled down to an organized
agricultural life and activity. It has been possible to infer what the content of
science in these areas was from archaeological remains. This is because writing, as
we know it today, hadn’t been discovered. It is important to note that the
disciplines we call science today separated gradually from philosophy. Thus at the
time of the Egyptians and Babylonians, people who studied plants, animals, starts
and other heavenly bodies, rocks, soils, etc. were all called philosophers. There
was nothing like a botanist, zoologist, an astronomer, etc. it was in Alexandrian
academy in Egypt that specialization started.
Through the influence of Egypt and Babylonia, the Greeks acquired their
knowledge of mathematics, astronomy and philosophy. Science in Greece was
divided into pre-Socratic philosophers’ scientist and Socratic philosopher scientist.
The last and most important ancient civilization in Europe was the Roman Empire.
Please note that the word ‘philosophy’ was taken from two Greek words, namely:
‘philos’ (which means love) and ‘Sophia’ (which means wisdom) thus philosophy
literally means ‘love of wisdom.’ Therefore to call a person a philosopher was to
call him a lover of wisdom. This is because the Greeks believed that whoever tried
to study and understand nature was trying to be wise.
b) Egypt: The kingdom of Egypt was divided into three religious centers, which
were Memphis, Heliopolis, Thebes or Hermopolis. These centers were
administered by priest-scholars. They were called scholars because they were the
intellectual class of the ancient Egyptians. Their power was tremendous and even
the kings were subject to it.
These priest-scholars established a kind of school system known as the Egyptian
mystery system schools. The schools were a kind of university where every known
discipline was taught by the priests. Such disciplines were philosophy, comprising
religion, medicine, law, mathematics, geometry, astronomy, etc. this group of
disciplines was referred to as ‘the wisdom of the Egyptians.’ Thus a lot of ancient
Egyptian science was studied as sacred knowledge. And such knowledge was
possessed and disseminated by the priests. One of the main stimuli for the origin of
ancient Egyptian science was their practical needs in agriculture (such as
measuring, calculations, surveying and study of the weather and the heavens.)
second is their understanding of the world they lived in through religion and
philosophy.
Astronomy originated with the Egyptians through their study of the heavens, the
starts and the weather. They knew that the best time to plant their crops was right
after the Nile River overflowed its banks. Their priests noticed that between each
overflow the moon rose 12 times. So they counted 12 moons or months and figure
out when the Nile would rise again. Their accuracy in these predictions led to their
invention of the lunar calendar. They divided the year into 12 ‘moon’ or ‘months’
of 30 days each and added a space of 5 days to each year, thus bringing each year
to a total of 365 days.
Credit is also given to the Egyptians for the origination of mathematics. The
evidence was the finding of the Rind mathematical papyrus, which was written
during the reign of king A-User-Re (1650 B.C). It contained arithmetical problems
and solutions involving the use of fractions and decimals. Another ancient text
which contains evidence of Egyptian origin of the sciences is the famous writings
of Hermes Trismegistus which contain among other works, books on medicine,
physics and chemistry (then called alchemy). The theory of transmutation of
elements (the basis of modern chemistry) first appeared among ancient Egyptians.
The ancient Egyptians were also reputed highly in medicine. They are said to have
performed caesarean operations and removed cataracts from the eyes. Evidence for
these is contained in the Edwin papyrus, which was excavated. Do you know that
the first physician of the ancient world and the most famous was the black
Egyptian called imhotep .He lived about 2980BC.He was called “the god of
medicine” by the Greeks and he lived 2000 years before the Greek doctor,
Hippocrates, who in modern times is called the father of medicine (eneh:2000;
onyewuenyi:1993).the Egyptians also invented writing called hieroglyphics and
paper(papyrus)on which they recorded their ideas and culture.
c) Babylonian (present day Iraq)
The sciences of mathematics, astronomy and engineering (irrigation and canal
construction) also developed in Babylonian about 1800-1600 BC. The Babylonians
believed that the heavens were the abode of their gods. They also believed that
terrestrial disasters such as floods, insect attacks and storms were caused by these
gods. Thus, they studied heavenly events carefully in order to know when their
gods were angry so as to pacify them Out of these practices grew a descriptive
astronomy that was the most sophisticated of the ancient world until the Greeks
took it over and perfected it. The first accurate astronomical observation they
recorded was the rising and setting of the planet Venus.
The Babylonians also realized the importance of fixed units of physical
measurement. Their unit of length was the finger; the foot contained twenty
fingers; the cubit, thirty fingers. the measurements of weight were the grain, the
shekel and the talent, while their medium of exchange was the barley.
 Their land was harsh and was made habitable by extensive damning and
irrigation works from their two great Rivers-Tigris and Euphrates Mathematics
thrived under these conditions. for instance, they needed to calculate the volume of
dirt to be removed from canals and the provision necessary for work parties. It
might be interesting to you to know that they were the first to divide the day into
hours, minutes and seconds, and also divided the circle into 360 degrees.
You will agree that the Egyptians and the Babylonians were good observers of
nature and they gave precise descriptions. What were missing were scientific
explanations. To them, all knowledge was attributed to the revelations of their
gods. They believed that it was the function of religion and magic to understand
nature but that man could describe it and use it.
d) African philosophy
From the last two sections, you have learnt the contributions of Egyptians and
Babylonians to the origin of various sciences. Before we discuss the contributions
of ancients Greeks, your attention needs to be drawn to the influence of Egyptian
philosophy on Greek philosophy. You should note again that in ancient times,
philosophy embraced all the disciplines of study including natural science. but with
the advancement and development of learning, specialized areas of study such as
various sciences separated from their ancestor-philosophy, and became
independent disciplines.
The influence of colonial education has made it difficult for many to appreciate
Africans contribution to world civilization. This is especially with regard to
philosophy and science. European and western civilization and philosophy owe
their origins to Egypt and Babylonian. Indeed Egyptian philosophy is the origin of
western philosophy but Greek philosophy itself owes its origin to Africa,
particularly Egypt. The evidence includes the following:
1. From the writings of the ancient Greeks themselves, such as homer, Pythagoras,
Socrates, Herodotus, Plutarch, Plato and Aristotle, etc and modern historians such
as William Stace, Edith Hamilton and James Henry breasted, we learn
a) The fact that Egypt is said to have colonized Greece and dominated its culture.
The ancient Greeks also acknowledge the Egyptian origins of their language,
identity, science, philosophy, names of their gods, their rituals, etc.
b) The fact that many of the leading Greek intellectuals lived and studied in Egypt.
Africa’s major contributions to philosophy and philosophical foundations of the
various sciences include the following.
1. The world first philosopher in history Ptah-Hotep (c 2800 BC) was an African.
2. Another African, Ipuwar (c 2500 BC) was the world first social philosopher.
3. The black Egyptian imhotep who lived 2000 years before Hippocrates was
called by the Greeks “the god of medicine”.
4. Hypanthia-the world first woman philosopher (360-415AD).
5. The Alexandrian academy in Egypt, which flourished between 300 BC and AD
200, was the centre of the scientific world. It was also the first to establish the
tradition of disciplinary scholarship and specialization. Among its intellectual
giants were:
a) The great mathematician Euclid who synthesized geometry as a science in his
book elements of geometry.
b) Aristarchus, the great astronomer and Copernicus of antiquity.
c) Archimedes, the great mathematician who laid the foundation for the science of
mechanics. He founded the Archimedean screw for raising water and is attributed
with the doctrine of levers.
d) Herophilus, the great anatomist and the first to openly dissect the human body.
e) Eratosthenes the librarian at Alexandria who was called the most learned man of
antiquity. He also advanced the knowledge of prime numbers.
f) Ptolemy of Alexandria, a geographer and an astronomer. His two greatest works
were:
i) Al magest, one of the most influential scientific works of all ages. It showed the
paths in which the planets appear to move in the heavens detailed star catalogues
and extensive description of astronomical instruments.
ii) Geographical outline, which showed the map of the world representing the
curved surface of the earth or a plane surface using latitude and longitude.
e) Ancient Greeks
Through the influence of Egypt and Babylonia, the Greeks acquired their
knowledge of mathematics, astronomy and philosophy and developed these to an
unprecedented degree science in ancients Greece will be treated under two
headings: Pre-Socratic philosopher-scientists and Socratic philosopher-scientists.
Pre-Socratics philosopher-scientists:
These people were known as natural philosophers because they engaged
themselves with the study of nature and the origin of the world. They were ten in
number and they included, Thales of Miletus, a Phoenician who migrated to
Miletus in Ionia, Anaximander, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Democritus, etc who were
Ionian philosophers. These men are usually called early Greek philosophers by
some historians while some others are consistent in noting their non Greek origin.
They studied in Egypt or elsewhere under the same curriculum. After their studies,
they went back to their respective countries to expand the teachings of the
Egyptian mystery system school.
They were more concerned with the phenomenon of change. They observed that
physical substances(matter)change into one another but their main concern was to
find out the original stuff from which all things originated and to which they return
.has such a thought ever come to your mind? They attempted to answer this
question and named the world-stuff each in his way:
1. Thales of Miletus (620-546 BC)
He is usually referred to as the father of western philosophy. He taught that water
was the source of all things in the universe. According to Aristotle Thales got this
idea from seeing that the nutriment of all things is moisture and that water is the
origin of the nature of moist things. Things that exist in the world are solid, liquid
or gaseous in form of water, according to Thales, underlies these forms and change
from one form to another. Hales also forecast the eclipse of 585BC, although
knowledge about eclipse was far advanced in Egypt where he studied.
2. Anaximander (611-547 BC)
He was a pupil of Thales in the Milesian school. He was quick to argue that
water could not be the basic substance, because water is essentially wet and
nothing can be its own contradiction. According to him, if Thales were correct, the
opposite of wet could not exist in a substance and that would preclude all the dry
things in the world. Therefore Thales was wrong. Here was the birth of the critical
tradition that is fundamental to the advance of science. On his own part, he called
the world-stuff the infinite something. This expresses the idea that the original stuff
had no beginning, was imperishable, inexhaustible and indestructible. He was also
the first among the Greeks to represent the earth on a map, though the science of
map making (cartography) was known in Egypt and Babylonia.
3. Pythagoras (582-497 BC)
He spent 22 years in Egypt and received instruction in mathematics, physics,
theology, music, philosophy and ethics from the priest-scholars of the mystery
system schools. The new encyclopedia Britannica; 1995).the mathematical theory
called Pythagorean theory is named after him. For him all things are number. He
believed that the universe was composed of numbers in various shapes. Squares,
cubes, oblong, triangular, etc. to him all things in the universe were numerable and
could be counted. Pythagoreans (his followers) believed that the unit one is the
source of all numbers and they divided it into odd and even numbers. The whole
story is interesting, isn’t it?
4. Heraclitus (582-497BC)
For him the world – stuff is divine fire. he was the first Greek to advance the
principle of change as a universal law change, he said is the only reality and that
there is nothing permanent in the world. According to him, from life comes death;
from death come life; sleep changes into wakefulness and wakefulness changes
into sleep. Everything in the universe, he says, has its own opposite.
5. Democritus (460 BC)
He was a discipline of Leucippus who is credited with the founding of the
atomic theory or the doctrine of matter. He became the ablest and best-known
interpreter of the atomic theory. He proposed that matter is made up of atoms and
they are infinite in number and too small to be perceived by the senses. He said
that atoms differ in size, some bigger, some smaller and that there is empty space
between them. According to him, everything new is produced from a combination
of atoms and that death or cessation takes place when atoms separate.
So you can see that even the atomic theory was known in the ancient times. This
effort of the Greeks to explain the basic components of matter is important in the
history of scientific thought. This is because they tried to reason and explain it in
seemingly simpler terms.
The Socratics philosopher-scientists:
They included Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Plato studied in Egypt, but history
is silent on whether Socrates and Aristotle also studied in Egypt. We shall discuss
them one after the other.
1. Socrates (469-399 BC)
He was the teacher of Plato and was born in Athens. He was a moral teacher and
sought truth by asking questions. He enriched science with the tools of universal
definitions and inductive reasoning. You will learn about inductive reasoning in a
subsequent unit.
2. Plato (427-347 BC)
After Plato’s studies in Egypt, he returned to Athens and opened a school called
the academy. He taught that it was more noble and dignified to seek answers by
reasoning rather than by experiments. he loved mathematics and he formulated the
idea of negative numbers. His academy also produced philosopher-scientists such
as Heracleides of Pontus (388-315 BC). Heracleides suggested that the earth
rotates on its own axis once in every 24 hours and that mercury and Venus circle
round the sun like satellites.
3. Aristotle (384-322 BC)
He was the most accomplished of Plato’s pupils. He was born at Stagira in
Macedonia. He was a tutor of Alexander the great. He wrote books on almost all
the areas of knowledge-
biology,botany,anatomy,physics,metaphysics,astronomy,mathematics,logic,econo
mics,politics,law,psychology,etc.his influence on subsequent development of
science and philosophy was enormous. In particular, his views on physics and
astronomy controlled the view most men had of the universe for two thousand
years. However to him, the proper means of investigation was observation. In
conclusion, Greek science was said to be more of a speculative and theoretical
activity rather than experimental and practical. In the next section, you will learn
about the contribution of Rome to science. In the meantime, answer the following
questions to check your understanding of the topic so far.
f) Science in the Roman period (50 BC-AD 400)
 The last and the most important of ancient civilizations in Europe was the Roman
Empire. People of many different races came under its rule- the English, the
French, Arabians, Syrians, Greeks, etc.
The Roman Empire, however, did not have much influence in the development of
science. It was more interested in conquests and maintenance of power through
political and military administration. The spirit of independent research was quite
foreign to the roman mind, so scientific innovation was interrupted for a while
however, some scientific works were produced during this period, but none of
them was revolutionary in nature. they were mainly a detailed explanation of
scientific conceptions already developed in Alexandria or Greece. These include;
i. Geographical science
The wars and military expeditions of the Romans yielded much further
geographical knowledge to mankind. Nations or countries, which were relatively
unknown, entered the world map. Julius Caesar, one of the emperors gave the
world its present calendar called the Julian calendar in 46BC.in this calendar, the
length of the year is fixed at 365 days and at 366 days at every fourth year. There
were 12 calendar month of 30 and 31 days except for February, which has 28 days.
However, February has 29 days at every fourth year or leap year. The month of
July is also named after Julius Caesar.
Additionally, pope Gregory III made a slight innovation to the Julian calendar.
He made the leap year occur in any year whose number is exactly divisible by
4.the only exception is the centenary years whose numbers are not exactly divisible
by 400, for instance, 1800, 1900. The revised calendar is called the Gregorian
calendar.
ii. Medical education and health care
The Romans of this period also established hospitals and paid physicians who
worked there. They also promoted public health, hygiene and sanitation.
iii. Plinys natural history
Pliny (AD 23-79) promoted the development of natural history. He wrote a book
on natural history and the topics of discussion in it were on animals and plants,
especially medicinal plants and their uses. However, the book was a compilation of
2000 works by 146 roman and 326 Greek authors.
In conclusion, both scientific research and theoretical science were in decline
under the Roman Empire. The advances they made were more of a practical nature.
Lesson 9
HISTORY OF WESTERN SCIENCE-3 (RISE OF MODERN SCIENCE)
a) The rise of modern science:
This topic will be discussed under the following two sub-headings; the scientific
revolution and the classic ages of science.
i) Scientific revolution:
This was a period that witnessed a complex change in scientific outlook. It started
in the late 15 century, and reached its highest point in the 16 and 17 centuries. true
experimental science, free from philosophy and religion, emerged in the 16 and 17
centuries.
The first great change in scientific outlook after the renaissance was made by a
polish mathematician and an astronomer called Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543).
You will recall that, we came across a man called Ptolemy of Alexandria. He was a
geographer and an astronomer. he wrote a book called al magest. In that book, he
showed how the heavenly bodies such as the moon, the stars, the sun and all the
planets move. According to him, the earth is located at the centre of the universe,
and all other heavenly bodies move around it in circles. This view of his, can be
called the Ptolemaic system or geocentric system or geocentric theory.
Ptolemaic system was the view which people of that time had of the movement of
heavenly bodies, until Copernicus came along and challenged it. To Copernicus,
the sun is at the centre of the universe while the earth and other heavenly bodies
move around it in a uniform, circular motion. This view is known as Copernican
world system or heliocentric theory.
It is important to note that the Copernican theory was not based on
experimentation. He based his theory on logical assumptions or hypothesis and his
taste for aesthetic symmetry. He considered theory as a serious work in astronomy
rather than in philosophy. So he set out to justify it observationally and
mathematically. as a result, he had a lot of conflicts with the church authorities.
The implication of this theory is that humanity no longer stands at the centre of
creation, since the earth is no longer at the centre of the universe. It is not
surprising to know that the people of that time and their authorities felt bad over
the affront to them and their earth, not being the centre of attraction in the universe.
Galileo (1564-1642)
An Italian, provided most beautiful evidence, to justify that ancient authorities
should no longer be accepted without criticisms. He invented a telescope and used
it to view the heavens and thus confirmed the Copernican theory that the sun was
at the centre of the universe. Galileo also got into trouble with the church
authorities for his audacity to be on the side of Copernicus.
Credit is usually given to Galileo for discovering and establishing the true
method of physical sciences. This is because he combined experimental and
inductive methods with mathematical deductions to obtain his results; you will
learn the meanings of induction and deduction in a subsequent unit.
The experiment he carried out was to use the telescope to view the heavens. you
will recall that it was said in our previous discussion, that whoever experiments
after observations and hypothesis formulation are carried out becomes truly
scientific in his approach. Experimentation is the very essence of the scientific
method. Thus, we can safely say that one of the greatest scientist discoveries of
Galileo was the invention of the scientific instrument of observation called the
telescope. With the aid of this telescope, he saw countless stars, whose existence
no one had suspected.
At the same time Galileo was searching the heavens with his telescope, in
Germany, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was searching them with his mind. He
was the first to apply mathematics as an empirical instrument in searching for the
laws of heavenly motions. He was an advocate of the heliocentric theory. His
greatest achievement as an astronomer was the discovery of the three laws of
planetary motion. The laws are as follows;

i. All planet travel about the sun in an elliptical (oval) path,

ii. A planet moves faster in its orbit as it nears the sun,

iii. There is a relation between its distance from the sun and the time it takes to
make an orbit (that is one movement round the sun).
What Galileo and Kepler could not provide, although they tried quite hard, were
answers to these questions;
i. if the earth revolves on its axis round the sun, then why do objects not fly off it?
ii. How is it possible for the earth suspended in empty space to go round the sun-
whether in circles or ellipses-without anything pushing it? The answer were long in
coming/
The year 1660 seems to be the most important time in early development of
modern science. It was in that year that Isaac Newton (1642-1727 AD) archived
one of the greatest successes of all times. In other words, through his work, he
confirmed the results of Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo. Thus all the results (of
Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and Newton) formed the first great synthesis of
physical knowledge, which is the primary aim of science. this means that science
aims to be able to combine many seemingly unrelated facts, so as to be able to
explain, predict and control nature.
Newton proposed a principle of gravitational attraction, and used it to answer the
questions posed by the works of Galileo and Kepler. The basic ideas in the
principle are each object in the universe attracts all other bodies to the centre of its
form, and that if the mass of one of the two attracting bodies in doubled, the
gravitational attraction will also be doubled; but their distance apart is doubled, the
force will be only one-quarter(1/4)as great(arkady;1977).
Using this theory, Newton was able to explain the motion of the planets round the
sun, the familiar fall to the ground of fruit from trees, and all other motions which
we see on earth. The accuracy of Newton’s theory or law proved to be amazing.
With the help of this theory, generations of astronomers have been able to explain
and predict astronomical event. Do the words-theory and predict ring a bell in your
mind.
Francis bacon (1561-1626 AD)
He was regarded as the first person to attempt to arrange the steps of the
scientific method in a logical manner. He emphasized the role of scientific
discoveries and inventions in giving man master over the forces of nature. at last,
we have been seen the true beginning of modern science. at the renaissance,
science was still a branch of philosophy, but after that period, it succeeded in
finding its own method of observation and experiment. where it is necessary,
mathematical analysis is also used.
ii) The classic ages of science (18th and 19th centuries)
At the time of the scientific revolution, scientific advances were restricted
largely to physics, astronomy and chemistry (that is to the say, physical
sciences).in the 18th and 19th centuries, further advances were made in mathematics
and astronomy. one of the most major advancements in chemistry in the 18th
century was the discovery of the role of air and gases generally in chemical
reactions. Such chemical reactions include combustion (burning) and respiration in
organisms.
The person that can be called the Newton of chemistry was a man named
Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794 AD).he discovered that it was a gas, which
he named oxygen that enables combustion (burning)and respiration to take place.
As you might be aware, people of nowadays now take it for granted that we need
air in order to breathe well.try to imagine what people that lived before Lavoisier
thought of an activity like burning of things. They were not able to explain why
burning takes place in certain situations and not others. So you can appreciate the
beauty of discoveries and inventions.
The revolution in chemistry was both a revolution in method as well as in ideas.
Lavoisier insisted that the central concern of the central concern of the new
chemistry was the use of gravimetric method. This involves paying particular
attention to the weight of the ingredient involved in chemical reactions and of the
products that result. He found from his experiments that the weight of the products
of combustion (burning), for instance, equals that of the original ingredients. His
discovery became known as the law of the conservation of mass (or matter).
The 19th century has been regarded as the beginning of the scientific age because
of many reasons. They include the following:
1. There was very rapid growth of knowledge of nature during the period.
2. It was during this period that the view or idea people had of the natural universe
changed, by recognizing that man was also subject to the same physical laws and
processes as the world around him. Therefore man should also be studied.
3. It was also realized that all the field of knowledge could use the scientific
method and not just pure science alone.
4. Again, within this century, people started carrying out scientific investigations,
with the sole objective of gaining more knowledge. It was understood that such
investigators were moved by their insatiable curiosity concerning the unknown.
5. The knowledge obtained by investigators above was used by applied researchers
to produce and invent things. for examples, in 1864,james clerk Maxwell, a British
physicist conducted research to determine such relationships.