From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
wheel,
invented sometime before the 4th millennium BC, is one of the most
ubiquitous and important technologies. This detail of the "Standard of
Ur", ca. 2500 BC., displays a Sumerian
chariot
The
history of technology is the history of the
invention of
tools and techniques and is one of the categories of the
history of humanity. Technology can refer to methods ranging from as simple as
stone tools to the complex
genetic engineering and
information technology
that has emerged since the 1980s. The term technology comes from the
Greek word techne, meaning art and craft, and the word logos, meaning
word and speech. It was first used to describe applied arts, but it is
now used to described advancements and changes which affect the
environment around us.
New knowledge has enabled people to create new things, and conversely, many scientific endeavors are made possible by
technologies which assist humans in
traveling to places they could not previously reach, and by
scientific instruments by which we study nature in more detail than our natural senses allow.
Since much of technology is
applied science, technical history is connected to the
history of science. Since technology uses
resources, technical history is tightly connected to
economic history. From those resources, technology produces other resources, including
technological artifacts used in
everyday life.
Technological change affects and is affected by, a society's cultural
traditions. It is a force for
economic growth and a means to develop and project economic, political, military power and wealth.
Measuring technological progress
Many
sociologists and
anthropologists have created
social theories dealing with
social and
cultural evolution. Some, like
Lewis H. Morgan,
Leslie White, and
Gerhard Lenski have declared
technological progress
to be the primary factor driving the development of human civilization. Morgan's concept of three major stages of social evolution (savagery,
barbarism, and
civilization) can be divided by technological milestones, such as
fire. White argued the measure by which to judge the evolution of culture was
energy.
For White, "the primary function of
culture" is to "harness and control energy." White differentiates between five stages of
human development: In the first, people use the energy of their own muscles. In the second, they use the energy of
domesticated animals. In the third, they use the energy of plants (
agricultural revolution). In the fourth, they learn to use the energy of
natural resources: coal, oil, gas. In the fifth, they harness
nuclear energy.
White introduced a formula P=E*T, where E is a measure of energy
consumed, and T is the measure of the efficiency of technical factors
using the energy. In his own words, "culture evolves as the amount of
energy harnessed per capita per year is increased, or as the efficiency
of the instrumental means of putting the energy to work is increased".
Nikolai Kardashev extrapolated his theory, creating the
Kardashev scale, which categorizes the energy use of advanced civilizations.
Lenski's approach focuses on
information. The more information and knowledge (especially allowing the shaping of
natural environment) a given society has, the more advanced it is. He identifies four stages of human development, based on advances in the
history of communication. In the first stage, information is passed by
genes. In the second, when humans gain
sentience, they can
learn and pass information through experience. In the third, the humans start using signs and develop
logic. In the fourth, they can create
symbols, develop
language and
writing. Advancements in
communications technology translate into advancements in the
economic system and
political system,
distribution of wealth,
social inequality
and other spheres of social life. He also differentiates societies
based on their level of technology, communication, and economy:
In economics,
productivity
is a measure of technological progress. Productivity increases when
fewer inputs (classically labor and capital but some measures include
energy and materials) are used in the production of a unit of output.
Another indicator of technological progress is the development of new
products and services, which is necessary to offset unemployment that
would otherwise result as labor inputs are reduced. In developed
countries productivity growth has been slowing since the late 1970s;
however, productivity growth was higher in some economic sectors, such
as manufacturing. For example, in employment in
manufacturing in the United States
declined from over 30% in the 1940s to just over 10% 70 years later.
Similar changes occurred in other developed countries. This stage is
referred to as
post-industrial.
In the late 1970s sociologists and anthropologists like
Alvin Toffler (author of
Future Shock),
Daniel Bell and
John Naisbitt have approached the theories of
post-industrial societies, arguing that the current era of
industrial society is coming to an end, and
services and information are becoming more important than
industry and
goods. Some extreme visions of the post-industrial society, especially in
fiction, are strikingly similar to the visions of near and post-
Singularity societies.
By period and geography
The following is a summary of the history of technology by time period and geography:
- Olduvai stone technology (Oldowan) 2.5 million years ago (scrapers; to butcher dead animals)
- Acheulean stone technology 1.6 million years ago (hand axe)
- Fire creation and manipulation, used since the Paleolithic, possibly by Homo erectus as early as 1.5 Million years ago
- (Homo sapiens sapiens - modern human anatomy arises, around 200,000 years ago.)
- Clothing possibly 170,000 years ago.
- Stone tools, used by Homo floresiensis, possibly 100,000 years ago.
- Ceramics c. 25,000 BC
- Domestication of animals, c. 15,000 BC
- Bow, sling c. 9th millennium BC
- Microliths c. 9th millennium BC
- 6000 BCE Handmade bricks first used for construction in the Middle East
- Agriculture and Plough c. 4000 BC
- Wheel c. 4000 BC
- Gnomon c. 4000 BC
- Writing systems c. 3500 BC
- Copper c. 3200 BC
- Bronze c. 2500 BC
- Salt c. 2500 BC
- Chariot c. 2000 BC
- Iron c. 1500 BC
- Sundial c. 800 BC
- Glass ca. 500 BC
- Catapult c. 400 BC
- Cast iron c. 400 BC
- Horseshoe c. 300 BC
- Stirrup first few centuries AD
Prehistory
Stone Age
During most of the
Paleolithic
- the bulk of the Stone Age - all humans had a lifestyle which involved
limited tools and few permanent settlements. The first major
technologies were tied to survival, hunting, and food preparation.
Stone tools and weapons,
fire, and
clothing were technological developments of major importance during this period.
Human ancestors have been using stone and other tools since long before the emergence of
Homo sapiens approximately 200,000 years ago. The earliest methods of
stone tool making, known as the
Oldowan "industry", date back to at least 2.3 million years ago, with the earliest direct evidence of tool usage found in
Ethiopia within the
Great Rift Valley, dating back to 2.5 million years ago. This era of stone tool use is called the
Paleolithic, or "Old stone age", and spans all of human history up to the development of
agriculture approximately 12,000 years ago.
To make a stone tool, a "
core" of hard stone with specific flaking properties (such as
flint) was struck with a
hammerstone. This flaking produced sharp edges which could be used as tools, primarily in the form of
choppers or
scrapers. These tools greatly aided the early humans in their
hunter-gatherer lifestyle to perform a variety of tasks including
butchering carcasses (and breaking bones to get at the
marrow); chopping wood; cracking open nuts; skinning an animal for its
hide, and even forming other tools out of softer materials such as bone and wood.
The earliest stone tools were irrelevant, being little more than a fractured rock. In the
Acheulian era, beginning approximately 1.65 million years ago, methods of working these stone into specific shapes, such as
hand axes emerged. This early Stone Age is described as the
Lower Paleolithic.
The
Middle Paleolithic, approximately 300,000 years ago, saw the introduction of the
prepared-core technique, where multiple blades could be rapidly formed from a single core stone. The
Upper Paleolithic, beginning approximately 40,000 years ago, saw the introduction of
pressure flaking, where a wood, bone, or antler
punch could be used to shape a stone very finely.
The end of the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago is taken as the end point of the
Upper Paleolithic and the beginning of the
Epipaleolithic /
Mesolithic. The Mesolithic technology included the use of
microliths as composite stone tools, along with wood, bone, and antler tools.
The later Stone Age, during which the rudiments of agricultural technology were developed, is called the
Neolithic period. During this period, polished
stone tools were made from a variety of hard rocks such as
flint,
jade,
jadeite, and
greenstone,
largely by working exposures as quarries, but later the valuable rocks
were pursued by tunneling underground, the first steps in mining
technology. The polished axes were used for forest clearance and the
establishment of crop farming and were so effective as to remain in use
when bronze and iron appeared. These stone axes were used alongside a
continued use of stone tools such as a range of
projectiles, knives, and
scrapers, as well as tools, made organic materials such as wood, bone, and antler.
Stone Age cultures developed
music and engaged in organized
warfare. Stone Age humans developed ocean-worthy
outrigger canoe technology, leading to
migration across the
Malay archipelago, across the Indian Ocean to
Madagascar and also across the Pacific Ocean, which required knowledge of the ocean currents, weather patterns, sailing, and
celestial navigation.
Although Paleolithic cultures left no written records, the shift
from nomadic life to settlement and agriculture can be inferred from a
range of archaeological evidence. Such evidence includes ancient tools,
cave paintings, and other
prehistoric art, such as the
Venus of Willendorf. Human remains also provide direct evidence, both through the examination of bones, and the study of
mummies.
Scientists and historians have been able to form significant inferences
about the lifestyle and culture of various prehistoric peoples, and
especially their technology.
Ancient
Copper and bronze Ages
Metallic copper occurs on the surface of weathered copper ore deposits and copper was used before copper
smelting was known. Copper smelting is believed to have originated when the technology of pottery
kilns allowed sufficiently high temperatures.
The concentration of various elements such as arsenic increase with
depth in copper ore deposits and smelting of these ores yields
arsenical bronze, which can be sufficiently work hardened to be suitable for making tools.
Bronze
is an alloy of copper with tin; the latter being found in relatively
few deposits globally caused a long time to elapse before true tin
bronze to became widespread.
Bronze
was a major advance over stone as a material for making tools, both
because of it's mechanical properties like strength and ductility and
because it could be cast in molds to make intricately shaped objects.
Bronze significantly advanced shipbuilding technology with better
tools and bronze nails. Bronze nails replaced the old method of
attaching boards of the hull with cord woven through drilled holes. Better ships enabled long distance trade and the advance of civilization.
This technological trend apparently began in the
Fertile Crescent and spread outward over time. These developments were not, and still are not, universal. The
three-age system does not accurately describe the technology history of groups outside of
Eurasia, and does not apply at all in the case of some isolated populations, such as the
Spinifex People, the
Sentinelese,
and various Amazonian tribes, which still make use of Stone Age
technology, and have not developed agricultural or metal technology.
Iron Age
Before iron smelting was developed the only iron was obtained from
meteorites and is usually identified by having nickel content.
Meteoric iron was rare and valuable, but was sometimes used to make tools and other implements, such as fish hooks.
The
Iron age involved the adoption of iron
smelting
technology. It generally replaced bronze and made it possible to
produce tools which were stronger, lighter and cheaper to make than
bronze equivalents. The raw materials to make iron, such as ore and
limestone, are far more abundant than copper and especially tin ores.
Consequently, iron was produced in many areas.
It was not possible to mass manufacture steel or pure iron
because of the high temperatures required. Furnaces could reach melting
temperature but the crucibles and molds needed for melting and casting
had not been developed.
Steel could be produced by
forging
bloomery iron to reduce the carbon content in a somewhat controllable
way, but steel produced by this method was not homogeneous.
In many Eurasian cultures, the Iron Age was the last major step
before the development of written language, though again this was not
universally the case.
In Europe, large
hill forts
were built either as a refuge in time of war or sometimes as permanent
settlements. In some cases, existing forts from the Bronze Age were
expanded and enlarged. The pace of land clearance using the more
effective iron axes increased, providing more farmland to support the
growing population.
Egyptians
The
Egyptians invented and used many simple machines, such as the
ramp
to aid construction processes. Egyptian society made significant
advances during dynastic periods in areas such as astronomy,
mathematics, and medicine. They also made paper and monuments. The
Egyptians made significant advances in shipbuilding. Astronomy was used
by Egyptian leaders to govern people.
Indus Valley
The
Indus Valley Civilization,
situated in a resource-rich area, is notable for its early application
of city planning and sanitation technologies. Indus Valley construction
and architecture, called '
Vaastu Shastra', suggests a thorough understanding of materials engineering, hydrology, and sanitation.
Mesopotamians
The peoples of
Mesopotamia (
Sumerians,
Akkadians,
Assyrians, and
Babylonians) have been credited with the invention of the
wheel, but this is no longer certain. They lived in cities from c. 4000 BC, and developed a sophisticated architecture in mud-brick and stone, including the use of the true arch. The walls of Babylon were so massive they were quoted as a
Wonder of the World.
They developed extensive water systems; canals for transport and
irrigation in the alluvial south, and catchment systems stretching for
tens of kilometers in the hilly north. Their palaces had sophisticated
drainage systems.
Writing was invented in Mesopotamia, using the
cuneiform
script. Many records on clay tablets and stone inscriptions have
survived. These civilizations were early adopters of bronze technologies
which they used for tools, weapons and monumental statuary. By 1200 BC
they could cast objects 5 meters long in a single piece. The Assyrian King
Sennacherib
(704-681 BC) claims to have invented automatic sluices and to have been
the first to use water screws, of up to 30 tons weight, which were cast
using two-part clay molds rather than by the 'lost wax' process. The Jerwan Aqueduct (c. 688 BC) is made with stone arches and lined with waterproof concrete.
The
Babylonian astronomical diaries spanned 800 years. They enabled meticulous astronomers to plot the motions of the planets and to predict eclipses.
Chinese
The Chinese made many first-known discoveries and developments. Major technological contributions from China include early
seismological detectors, matches,
paper, sliding calipers, the double-action piston pump,
cast iron, the iron plough, the multi-tube
seed drill, the wheelbarrow, the
suspension bridge, the parachute, natural gas as fuel, the
compass, the
raised-relief map, the propeller, the
crossbow, the
South Pointing Chariot and
gunpowder.
Other Chinese discoveries and inventions from the Medieval period include
block printing,
movable type printing, phosphorescent paint, endless power
chain drive and the clock escapement mechanism. The solid-fuel
rocket was invented in China about 1150, nearly 200 years after the invention of
gunpowder (which acted as the rocket's fuel). Decades before the West's age of exploration, the Chinese emperors of the
Ming Dynasty also sent
large fleets on maritime voyages, some reaching Africa.
Greek
An illustration of the
aeolipile, the earliest steam-powered device
Greek and
Hellenistic engineers
were responsible for myriad inventions and improvements to existing technology. The
Hellenistic period,
in particular, saw a sharp increase in technological advancement,
fostered by a climate of openness to new ideas, the blossoming of a
mechanistic philosophy, and the establishment of the
Library of Alexandria and its close association with the adjacent
museion. In contrast to the typically anonymous inventors of earlier ages, ingenious minds such as
Archimedes,
Philo of Byzantium,
Heron,
Ctesibius, and
Archytas remain known by name to posterity.
Ancient Greek innovations were particularly pronounced in mechanical technology, including the ground-breaking invention of the
watermill which constituted the first human-devised motive force not to rely on muscle power (besides the
sail). Apart from their pioneering use of waterpower, Greek inventors were also the first to experiment with wind power (see
Heron's windwheel) and even created the earliest steam engine (the
aeolipile), opening up entirely new possibilities in harnessing natural forces whose full potential would not be exploited until the
Industrial Revolution. The newly devised right-angled
gear and
screw would become particularly important to the operation of mechanical devices. That is when the age of mechanical devices started.
The compartmented water-wheel, here its overshot version, was invented in
Hellenistic times.
Ancient agriculture, as in any period prior to the modern age the
primary mode of production and subsistence, and its irrigation methods,
were considerably advanced by the invention and widespread application
of a number of previously unknown water-lifting devices, such as the
vertical
water-wheel, the compartmented wheel, the water
turbine,
Archimedes' screw, the bucket-chain and pot-garland, the
force pump, the
suction pump, the double-action
piston pump and quite possibly the
chain pump.
In music, the
water organ, invented by Ctesibius and subsequently improved, constituted the earliest instance of a
keyboard instrument. In time-keeping, the introduction of the inflow
clepsydra and its mechanization by the dial and pointer, the application of a
feedback system and the
escapement mechanism far superseded the earlier outflow clepsydra.
The famous
Antikythera mechanism, a kind of analogous computer working with a
differential gear, and the
astrolabe both show great refinement in astronomical science.
Greek engineers were also the first to devise
automata such as
vending machines, suspended ink pots, automatic
washstands, and doors, primarily as toys, which however featured many new useful mechanisms such as the
cam and
gimbals.
In other fields, ancient Greek inventions include the
catapult and the
gastraphetes crossbow in warfare, hollow bronze-casting in metallurgy, the
dioptra for surveying, in infrastructure the
lighthouse,
central heating, the
tunnel excavated from both ends by scientific calculations, the
ship trackway, the
dry dock, and plumbing. In horizontal, vertical and transport, great progress resulted from the invention of the
crane, the
winch, the
wheelbarrow and the
odometer.
Further newly created techniques and items were
spiral staircases, the
chain drive,
sliding calipers and
showers.
Roman
The
Romans developed an intensive and sophisticated agriculture, expanded upon existing iron working technology, created
laws providing for individual ownership, advanced stone masonry technology, advanced
road-building
(exceeded only in the 19th century), military engineering, civil
engineering, spinning and weaving and several different machines like
the
Gallic reaper
that helped to increase productivity in many sectors of the Roman
economy. Roman engineers were the first to build monumental arches,
amphitheatres,
aqueducts,
public baths,
true arch bridges,
harbours,
reservoirs and
dams, vaults and domes on a very large scale across their Empire. Notable Roman inventions include the
book (Codex),
glass blowing and
concrete. Because Rome was located on a volcanic peninsula, with sand which contained suitable crystalline grains, the
concrete which the Romans formulated was especially durable. Some of their buildings have lasted 2000 years, to the present day.
Inca and Mayan
The engineering skills of the
Inca and the
Mayans
were great, even by today's standards. An example is the use of pieces
weighing upwards of one ton in their stonework placed together so that
not even a blade can fit into the cracks. The villages used irrigation
canals and
drainage systems, making agriculture very efficient. While some claim that the Incas were the first inventors of
hydroponics, their agricultural technology was still soil based, if advanced. Though the
Maya civilization
had no metallurgy or wheel technology, they developed complex writing
and astrological systems, and created sculptural works in stone and
flint. Like the Inca, the Maya also had command of fairly advanced
agricultural and construction technology. Throughout this time period,
much of this construction was made only by women, as men of the Maya
civilization believed that females were responsible for the creation of
new things. The main contribution of the
Aztec rule was a system of communications between the conquered cities. In
Mesoamerica,
without draft animals for transport (nor, as a result, wheeled
vehicles), the roads were designed for travel on foot, just as in the
Inca and Mayan civilizations.
Medieval to early modern
As earlier empires had done, the Muslim
caliphates
united in trade large areas that had previously traded little. The
conquered sometimes paid lower taxes than in their earlier independence,
and ideas spread even more easily than goods. Peace was more frequent
than it had been. These conditions fostered improvements in agriculture
and other technology as well as in sciences which largely adapted from
earlier Greek, Roman and Persian empires, with improvements.
Medieval Europe
European technology in the
Middle Ages
was a mixture of tradition and innovation. While medieval technology
has been long depicted as a step backwards in the evolution of Western
technology, sometimes willfully so by modern authors intent on
denouncing the church as antagonistic to scientific progress (see e.g.
Myth of the Flat Earth), a generation of medievalists around the American historian of science
Lynn White
stressed from the 1940s onwards the innovative character of many
medieval techniques. Genuine medieval contributions include for example
mechanical clocks,
spectacles and vertical
windmills. Medieval ingenuity was also displayed in the invention of seemingly inconspicuous items like the
watermark or the
functional button. In navigation, the foundation to the subsequent
age of exploration was laid by the introduction of pintle-and-gudgeon
rudders,
lateen sails, the
dry compass, the horseshoe and the
astrolabe.
Significant advances were also made in military technology with the development of
plate armour, steel
crossbows,
counterweight trebuchets and
cannon. The Middle Ages are perhaps best known for their architectural heritage: While the invention of the
rib vault and
pointed arch gave rise to the high rising
Gothic style, the ubiquitous medieval fortifications gave the era the almost proverbial title of the 'age of castles'.
Papermaking,
a 2nd-century Chinese technology, was carried to the Middle East when a
group of Chinese papermakers were captured in the 8th century. Papermaking technology was spread to Europe by the
Umayyad conquest of Hispania.
A paper mill was established in Sicily in the 12th century. In Europe
the fiber to make pulp for making paper was obtained from linen and
cotton rags. Lynn White credited the spinning wheel with increasing the
supply of rags, which led to cheap paper, which was a factor in the
development of printing.
Renaissance technology
Due to the casting of cannon, the
blast furnace came into widespread use in France in the mid 15th century.
The invention of the movable cast metal type
printing press,
whose pressing mechanism was adapted from an olive screw press, (c.
1441) lead to a tremendous increase in the number of books and the
number of titles published.
The era is marked by such profound technical advancements like
linear perceptivity,
double shell domes or
Bastion fortresses. Note books of the Renaissance artist-engineers such as
Taccola and
Leonardo da Vinci
give a deep insight into the mechanical technology then known and
applied. Architects and engineers were inspired by the structures of
Ancient Rome, and men like
Brunelleschi created the large dome of
Florence Cathedral as a result. He was awarded one of the first
patents ever issued in order to protect an ingenious
crane
he designed to raise the large masonry stones to the top of the
structure. Military technology developed rapidly with the widespread use
of the
cross-bow and ever more powerful
artillery, as the city-states of Italy were usually in conflict with one another. Powerful families like the
Medici were strong patrons of the arts and sciences.
Renaissance science spawned the
Scientific Revolution; science and technology began a cycle of mutual advancement.
Age of Exploration
An improved sailing ship, the (nau or
carrack), enabled the
Age of Exploration with the
European colonization of the Americas, epitomized by
Francis Bacon's
New Atlantis. Pioneers like
Vasco da Gama,
Cabral,
Magellan and
Christopher Columbus
explored the world in search of new trade routes for their goods and
contacts with Africa, India and China to shorten the journey compared
with traditional routes overland. They produced new maps and charts
which enabled following mariners to explore further with greater
confidence. Navigation was generally difficult, however, owing to the
problem of longitude and the absence of accurate
chronometers. European powers rediscovered the idea of the
civil code, lost since the time of the Ancient Greeks.
Pre-Industrial Revolution
The
stocking frame, which was invented in 1598, increased a knitter's number of knots per minute from 100 to 1000.
Mines were becoming increasingly deep and were expensive to drain
with horse powered bucket and chain pumps and wooden piston pumps. Some
mines used as many as 500 horses. Horse-powered pumps were replaced by
the
Savery steam pump (1698) and the
Newcomen steam engine (1712).
Industrial Revolution (1760-1830s)
The British
Industrial Revolution is characterized by developments in the areas of textile machinery,
mining,
metallurgy and
transport the
steam engine and the invention of
machine tools.
Before invention of machinery to spin yarn and weave cloth,
spinning was done the spinning wheel and weaving done on a hand and foot
operated loom. It took from three to five spinners to supply one
weaver. The invention of the
flying shuttle in 1733 doubled the output of a weaver, creating a shortage of spinners. The
spinning frame for wool was invented in 1738. The
spinning jenny, invented in 1764, was a machine that used multiple spinning wheels; however, it produced low quality thread. The
water frame patented by Richard Arkwright in 1767, produced a better quality thread than the spinning jenny. The
spinning mule, patented in 1779 by
Samuel Crompton, produced a high quality thread. The
power loom was invented by Edmund Cartwright in 1787.
In the mid 1750s the steam engine was applied to the water
power-constrained iron, copper and lead industries for powering blast
bellows. These industries were located near the mines, some of which
were using steam engines for mine pumping. Steam engines were too
powerful for leather bellows, so cast iron blowing cylinders were
developed in 1768. Steam powered blast furnaces achieved higher
temperatures, allowing the use of more lime in iron blast furnace feed.
(Lime rich slag was not free-flowing at the previously used
temperatures.) With a sufficient lime ratio, sulfur from coal or coke
fuel reacts with the slag so that the sulfur does not contaminate the
iron. Coal and coke were cheaper and more abundant fuel. As a result,
iron production rose significantly during the last decades of the 18th
century.
Above all else, the revolution was driven by cheap energy in the form of
coal, produced in ever-increasing amounts from the abundant resources of
Britain. Coal converted to
coke fueled higher temperature
blast furnaces and produced
cast iron in much larger amounts than before, allowing the creation of a range of structures such as
The Iron Bridge.
Cheap coal meant that industry was no longer constrained by water
resources driving the mills, although it continued as a valuable source
of power. The steam engine helped drain the mines, so more coal reserves
could be accessed, and the output of coal increased. The development of
the high-pressure steam engine made locomotives possible, and a
transport revolution followed. The
steam engine which had existed since the early 18th century, was practically applied to both
steamboat and
railway transportation. The
Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first purpose built railway line, opened in 1830, the
Rocket locomotive of
Robert Stephenson being one of its first working
locomotives used.
Manufacture of ships' pulley
blocks by all-metal machines at the
Portsmouth Block Mills in 1803 instigated the age of sustained
mass production.
Machine tools used by engineers to manufacture parts began in the first decade of the century, notably by
Richard Roberts and
Joseph Whitworth. The development of
interchangeable parts through what is now called the
American system of manufacturing
began in the firearms industry at the U.S Federal arsenals in the early
19th century, and became widely used by the end of the century.
Second Industrial Revolution (1860s-1914)
The 19th century saw astonishing developments in transportation,
construction, manufacturing and communication technologies originating
in Europe. After a recession at the end of the 1830s and a general
slowdown in major inventions, the
Second Industrial Revolution was a period of rapid innovation and industrialization that began in the 1860s or around 1870 and lasted until
World War I. It included rapid development of chemical, electrical, petroleum, and
steel technologies connected with highly structured technology research.
Telegraphy developed into a practical technology in the 19th century to help run the railways safely. Along with the development of telegraphy was the patenting of the first
telephone.
March 1876 marks the date that Alexander Graham Bell officially
patented his version of an "electric telegraph". Although Bell is noted
with the creation of the telephone, it is still debated about who
actually developed the first working model.
Building on improvements in vacuum pumps and materials research,
incandescent light bulbs
became practical for general use in the late 1870s. This invention had a
profound effect on the workplace because factories could now have
second and third shift workers.
Shoe production was mechanized during the mid 19th century. Mass production of
sewing machines and
agricultural machinery such as reapers occurred in the mid to late 19th century. Bicycles were mass-produced beginning in the 1880s.
Steam-powered factories became widespread, although the
conversion from water power to steam occurred in England before in the
U.S.
Ironclad warships were found in battle starting in the 1860s, and played a role in the opening of Japan and China to trade with the West.
20th century
20th-century technology developed rapidly. Broad teaching and implementation of the
scientific method,
and increased research spending contributed to the advancement of
modern science and technology. New technology improved communication and
transport, thus spreading technical understanding.
Mass production brought
automobiles and other high-tech goods to masses of consumers.
Military research and development sped advances including electronic
computing and
jet engines.
Radio and
telephony improved greatly and spread to larger populations of users, though near-universal access would not be possible until
mobile phones became affordable to
developing world residents in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Energy and engine technology improvements included
nuclear power, developed after the
Manhattan project which heralded the new
Atomic Age.
Rocket development led to long range missiles and the first
space age that lasted from the 1950s with the launch of Sputnik to the mid-1980s.
Electrification
spread rapidly in the 20th century. At the beginning of the century
electric power was for the most part only available to wealthy people in
a few major cities such as New York, London, Paris, and Newcastle upon
Tyne, but by the time the
World Wide Web was invented in 1990 an estimated 62 percent of homes worldwide had electric power, including about a third of households in the rural developing world.
Birth control also became widespread during the 20th century.
Electron microscopes were very powerful by the late 1970s and genetic theory and knowledge were expanding, leading to developments in
genetic engineering.
The first "
test tube baby"
Louise Brown was born in 1978, which led to the first successful
gestational surrogacy pregnancy in 1985 and the first pregnancy by
ICSI in 1991, which is the implanting of a single sperm into an egg.
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis was first performed in late 1989 and led to successful births in July 1990. These procedures have become relatively common.
The massive data analysis resources necessary for running transatlantic research programs such as the
Human Genome Project and the
Large Electron-Positron Collider
led to a necessity for distributed communications, causing Internet
protocols to be more widely adopted by researchers and also creating a
justification for
Tim Berners-Lee to create the
World Wide Web.
Vaccination
spread rapidly to the developing world from the 1980s onward due to
many successful humanitarian initiatives, greatly reducing childhood
mortality in many poor countries with limited medical resources.
The US
National Academy of Engineering, by expert vote, established the following ranking of the most important technological developments of the 20th century:
21st century
The
Mars Exploration Rovers have provided huge amounts of information by functioning well beyond NASA's original lifespan estimates.
In the early 21st century research is ongoing into
quantum computers,
gene therapy (introduced 1990),
3D printing (introduced 1981),
nanotechnology (introduced 1985),
bioengineering/
biotechnology,
nuclear technology,
advanced materials (e.g., graphene), the
scramjet and
drones (along with
railguns and high-energy laser beams for military uses),
superconductivity, the
memristor, and green technologies such as
alternative fuels (e.g.,
fuel cells, self-driving electric and plug-in hybrid cars),
augmented reality devices and
wearable electronics,
artificial intelligence, and more efficient and powerful
LEDs,
solar cells,
integrated circuits,
wireless power devices, engines, and
batteries.
Perhaps the greatest research tool built in the 21st century is the
Large Hadron Collider, the largest single machine ever built. The understanding of
particle physics is expected to expand with better instruments including larger
particle accelerators such as the LHC and better
neutrino detectors.
Dark matter is sought via underground detectors and observatories like
LIGO have started to detect
gravitational waves.
Genetic engineering technology continues to improve, and the importance of
epigenetics on development and inheritance has also become increasingly recognized.
New
spaceflight technology and
spacecraft are also being developed, like the
Orion and
Dragon. New, more capable
space telescopes, such as the
James Webb Telescope, to be launched to orbit in late 2018, and the
Colossus Telescope are being designed. The
International Space Station was completed in the 2000s, and
NASA and
ESA plan a
manned mission to Mars in the 2030s. The
Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) is an electro-magnetic thruster for spacecraft propulsion and is expected to be tested in 2015.
Breakthrough Initiatives, together with famed physicist
Stephen Hawking, plan to send
the first ever spacecraft to visit another star, which will consist of numerous super-light chips driven by
Electric propulsion in the 2030s, and receive images of the
Proxima Centauri system, along with, possibly, the
potentially habitable planet Proxima Centauri b, by midcentury.
2004 saw the
first manned commercial spaceflight when
Mike Melvill crossed the
boundary of space on June 21, 2004.
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Reconstruction of how Homo erectus may have looked
Model of a male Homo antecessor of Atapuerca mountains (Ibeas Museum, Burgos, Spain)
Reconstruction of Homo heidelbergensis
Fire started using a bow drill
Selection of prehistoric tools
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