History as science

Answer 1

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SCIENCE

Ancient Greek Science

The Ancient Greeks were the first scientists. Greek philosophers tried to explain what the world is made of and how it works. Empedocles (c. 494-434 BC) said that the world is made of four elements, earth, fire, water and air. Aristotle (384-322 BC) accepted the theory of the four elements. However he also believed that the Sun, Moon and planets are made of a fifth element and are unchanging. Aristotle also studied zoology and attempted to classify animals.

Aristotle also believed the body was made up of four humours or liquids (corresponding to the four elements). They were phlegm, blood, yellow bile and black bile. If a person had too much of one humour they fell ill.

Although some of their ideas were wrong the Greeks did make some scientific discoveries. A Greek named Aristarchros believed the Earth revolved around the Sun. Unfortunately his theory was not accepted. However Eratosthenes (c.276-194 BC) calculated the circumference of the Earth.

Arab Science

Science flourished among the Arabs. Among their greatest scientists was a mathematician called al-Khwarizmi (790-850), the philosopher al-Kindi (801-866) and the astronomer al-Farghani. Their two greatest doctors were al-Razi (824-925) and Ibn-Sina (980-1037).

Another great Arab scientist was the astronomer al-Sufi (903-986). Another scholar named al-Haytham (965-1040) realised that light is reflected off objects into the eye. He also discovered that light travels in straight lines.

The Scientific Revolution

In the 2nd century AD an astronomer called Ptolemy stated that the Earth is the centre of the universe. The sun and the other planets orbit the Earth. In the 16th century a Polish clergyman called Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) realised this is untrue. The Earth and the other planets orbit the Sun. However his theory was not published until just before his death.

Another great astronomer of the 16th century was Tycho Brahe (1546-1601). He made accurate observations of the positions of stars. However Brahe did not accept the Copernican theory. Instead he believed that the Sun revolved around the Earth and the other planets revolved around the Sun.

Moreover in 1572 Brahe saw a new star (a nova). The Greek philosopher Aristotle said the heavens were unchanging. Change and decay, he said, only happened on Earth. Obviously Aristotle was wrong.

He was followed by Johannes Kepler (1571-1630). In the 16th century people believed that the planets move in circles. Kepler showed they orbit the Sun in ellipses and they move faster as they approach the Sun. Kepler published two laws of planetary motion in 1609. He published a third in 1619. Furthermore in 1604 Kepler published a book on Optics.

The Advance of Medicine

At this time doctors made great progress in understanding how the human body works. In 1628 William Harvey published his discovery of how blood circulates around the body. The Roman writer Galen said that blood passes from one side of the heart to the other through the septum. However by 1555 the great surgeon Vesalius had reached the conclusion that no such holes exist and that blood cannot pass from one side of the heart to the other in that way.

In 1559 a man named Realdo Colombo demonstrated that blood actually travels from one side of the heart to the other through the lungs.

Eventually William Harvey realised that the heart is a pump. Each time it contracts it pumps out blood. Harvey then estimated how much blood was being pumped each time.

The Roman writer Galen believed that the body constantly makes new blood and uses up the old (rather like an engine using up petrol). However Harvey realised this is not true. Instead the blood circulates around the body.

In the 17th century medicine was still handicapped by wrong ideas about the human body. Most doctors still thought that there were four fluids or 'humours' in the body, blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Illness resulted when you had too much of one humour. Nevertheless during the 17th century a more scientific approach to medicine emerged and some doctors began to question traditional ideas.

17th century

In the 17th century medicine was helped by the microscope (invented at the end of the 16th century). In 1658 Jan Swammerdan first observed red blood corpuscles. In 1661 Marcello Malpighi discovered capilliaries. Then in 1665 Robert Hooke was the first person to describe cells in his book Micrographia.

Many other scientists worked in the late 17th century. Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) discovered Titan, the moon of Saturn. In 1656 he made the first pendulum clock, which made accurate measurement of time possible.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) made his own microscopes and through them he made many observations.

Meanwhile in 1661 Robert Boyle (1627-1691) published the Sceptical Chemist, which laid the foundations of modern chemistry. Boyle rejected the Greek thinker Aristotle's idea that the world is made up of four elements, water, earth, fire and air. Boyle is also famous for Boyle's law (The volume of a gas kept at constant temperature is inversely proportional to its pressure).

During the 18th century chemistry made great advances. In 1751 Axel Cronstedt discovered nickel. In 1766 Henry Cavendish (1731-1810) isolated hydrogen and studied its properties. (He also calculated the density of the Earth). In 1772 Daniel Rutherford (1749-1819) discovered Nitrogen. Two men, Joseph Priestly (1733-1804) and Karl Scheele (1742-1786) discovered oxygen. In 1756 Joseph Black (1728-1799) discovered carbon dioxide.

Perhaps the greatest chemist of the 18th century was Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794). He discovered that during combustion oxygen combines with substances. He also discovered the role of oxygen in respiration and corrosion of metals.

Meanwhile during the 18th century people began to realised that the Earth is very old. A landmark in geology came in 1785 when James Hutton (1726-1797) published his book Theory of the Earth.

In 1781 the astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822) discovered the planet Uranus. In 1784 John Goodricke (1764-1786) discovered variable stars.

Two great biologists of the 18th century were Georges Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788) and Karl Linnaeus (1707-1778). Linnaeus invented a method classifying living things.

Meanwhile people began to investigate electricity. In 1746 Petrus van Musschenbroek (1692-1761) invented a way of storing electricity called a leiden Jar. In 1752 Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) proved that lighting is a form of electricity.

Then in 1800 Allessandro Volta (1745-1827) invented the first battery.

However during the 18th century medicine made slow progress. Doctors still did not know what caused disease. Some continued to believe in the four humours (although this theory declined during the 18th century). Other doctors thought disease was caused by 'miasmas' (odourless gases in the air).

Science in the 19th Century

During the 19th century science made great progress.

John Dalton (1766-1844) published his atomic theory in 1803. According to the theory matter is made of tiny, indivisible particles. Dalton also said that atoms of different elements had different weight. Dalton also studied colour blindness.

In 1827 the German chemist Friedrich Wohler (1800-1882) isolated aluminum. In 1828 he produced urea, an organic compound from inorganic chemicals.

A Russian, Dmitri Mendeleev (1834-1907) formulated the Periodic Table, which arranged all the known elements according to their atomic weight.

Meanwhile people continued to master electricity. In 1819 a Dane, Hans Christian Oersted discovered that electric current in a wire caused a nearby compass needle to move. The Englishman Michael Faraday (1791-1867) showed that a magnet can produce electricity.

In 1847 the German Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894) formulated the law of the Conservation of Energy, which states that energy is never lost but just changes from one form to another. In 1851 he invented the ophthalmoscope.

Meanwhile geology made huge strides. Charles Lyell (1797-1875) saw that rocks were formed by processes we see today. In 1830 he published his book Principles of Geology. In 1837 a Swiss, Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) realised that a vast sheet of ice had once covered northern Europe. Furthermore scientists discovered more and more fossils and the word Dinosaur was coined in 1842.

Answer 2

There isnt one they are two completely different things history Is looking into the last and science Is studying things and lookin into interesting cells

Answer 3

depends how seriously you study it