HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENTIFIC &
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS
• ANTECEDENT – is defined as a precursor to the
unfolding or existence of something.
• HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS IN SCIENCE &
TECHNOLOGY are factors that paved the way for
the presence of advanced and sophisticated
scientific and technological innovations today.
• Knowledge of the History of Science &
Technology is useful in appraising these
innovations today.
THE ANCIENT PERIOD
• People used
animals for
transportation
long before
the invention
of the wheel.
ANCIENT WHEEL
• No one knows
exactly who
invented the wheel
and when.
• It was agreed that
the wheel grew out
of a mechanical
wheel known as the
“Potter’s Wheel”
• Is a heavy flat
disk made of
hardened clay
which spins
horizontally on
an axis.
• It is believed
that the
Sumerians
invented the
Potter’s wheel
shortly after
3500 B.C.
• It could be that a Potter thought of
shifting the potter’s wheel to a 90degree angle for the purpose of
transportation or the wheel was
reinvented for this purpose.
• 1000- 1500 years – that the wheel
was first used on carts.
PAPER
Papyrus Around 3000 BC
• Ancient Egyptians
• A material similar to thick
paper
• Made from pith of papyrus
plant –Cyperus papyrus
• Before papyrus – stone were
used.
• Because of its invention :
• Information dissemination
become faster. Records well
kept and stood the test of
time.
SHADOOF
FOR LAND IRRIGATION USED BY ANCIENT EGYPTIANS
• - also spelled as SHADUF
• - is a hand operated device
and used for lifting water.
• Its invention introduced the
idea of lifting things using
counterweights
• Because of this: Irrigation
and farming became much
more efficient.
• Believed to be an ancient
precursor of more
sophisticated irrigation
tools.
ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM
WORLD’S ANALOG
COMPUTER ORRERY
BELIEVED TO BE INVENTED BY
THEGREEK SCIENTISTS BET. 150-100
BC
• DISCOVERED IN 1902
• RETRIEVED FROM THE
WATERS OF ANTIKYTHERA,
GREECE
• SIMILAR TO MANTLE CLOCK
• BELIEVED THAT IT WAS
USED TO PREDICT
ASTRONOMICAL POSITIONS
AND ECLIPSES FOR
CALENDAR &
ASTROLOGICAL PURPOSES.
AEOLIPILE
ALSO KNOWN AS HERO’S
ENGINE
• IS A STEAM POWERED TURBINE
WHICH SPUN WHEN THE
WATER CONTAINER, AS ITS
CENTER WAS HEATED.
• BELIEVED TO BE ONE OF MANY
“TEMPLE WONDERS’
• A scientific invention through
which “the mighty and
wonderful laws of the heavens
and nature of winds” may be
understood and judged. Vitruvius-