CHAPTER ONE

ENGINEER IN SOCIETY

Introduction:[

Engineer in Society is founded on three basic concepts. The concepts are:

Science, Engineering and Technology. For proper understanding and
appreciation of this course it is important to a have basic
knowledge/meaning of the three concepts mentioned above.

SCIENCE:

What is science?

Science has been explained as a systematic study of anything that can be

examined, tested, and verified. The word science is derived from the Latin
word scire, meaning “to know.” From its early beginnings, science has
developed into one of the greatest and most influential fields of human
endeavor. Today different branches of science investigate almost
everything that can be observed or detected, and science as a whole
shapes the way we understand the universe, our planet, ourselves, and
other living things.

Science develops through objective analysis, instead of through personal

belief. Knowledge gained in science accumulates as time goes by, building
on work performed earlier. Some of this knowledge—such as our
understanding of numbers—stretches back to the time of ancient
civilizations, when scientific thought first began. Other scientific
knowledge—such as our understanding of genes that cause cancer or of
quarks (the smallest known building block of matter)—dates back less
than 50 years. However, in all fields of science, old or new, researchers
use the same systematic approach, known as the scientific method, to

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add to what is known.

During scientific investigations, scientists put together and compare new

discoveries and existing knowledge. In most cases, new discoveries
extend what is currently accepted, providing further evidence that existing
ideas are correct. For example, in 1676 the English physicist Robert Hooke
discovered that elastic objects, such as metal springs, stretch in
proportion to the force that acts on them. Despite all the advances that
have been made in physics since 1676, this simple law still holds true.

Scientists utilize existing knowledge in new scientific investigations to

predict how things will behave. For example, a scientist who knows the
exact dimensions of a lens can predict how the lens will focus a beam of
light. In the same way, by knowing the exact makeup and properties of two
chemicals, a researcher can predict what will happen when they combine.
Sometimes scientific predictions go much further by describing objects or
events that are not yet known. An outstanding instance occurred in 1869,
when the Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleyev drew up a periodic table of
the elements arranged to illustrate patterns of recurring chemical and
physical properties. Mendeleyev used this table to predict the existence
and describe the properties of several elements unknown in his day, and
when the elements were discovered several years later, his predictions
proved to be correct.

An important advance can also be made when current ideas are shown to
be wrong. A classic case of this occurred early in the 20th century, when
the German geologist Alfred Wegener suggested that the continents were
at one time connected, a theory known as continental drift. At the time,
most geologists discounted Wegener's ideas, because the Earth's crust
seemed to be fixed. But following the discovery of plate tectonics in the
1960s, in which scientists found that the Earth’s crust is actually made of
moving plates, continental drift became an important part of geology.
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Through advances like these, scientific knowledge is constantly added to
and refined. As a result, science gives us an ever more detailed insight into
the way the world around us works.

II WHY IS SCIENCE IMPORTANT?

For a large part of recorded history, science had little bearing on people's
everyday lives. Scientific knowledge was gathered for its own sake, and it
had few practical applications. However, with the dawn of the Industrial
Revolution in the 18th century, this rapidly changed. Today, science has a
profound effect on the way we live, largely through technology—the use of
scientific knowledge for practical purposes.

Some forms of technology have become so well established that it is easy

to forget the great scientific achievements that they represent. The
refrigerator, for example, owes its existence to a discovery that liquids
take in energy when they evaporate, a phenomenon known as latent heat.
The principle of latent heat was first exploited in a practical way in 1876,
and the refrigerator has played a major role in maintaining public health
ever since. The first automobile, dating from the 1880s, made use of many
advances in physics and engineering, including reliable ways of generating
high-voltage sparks, while the first computers emerged in the 1940s from
simultaneous advances in electronics and mathematics.

Other fields of science also play an important role in the things we use or
consume every day. Research in food technology has created new ways of
preserving and flavoring what we eat. Research in industrial chemistry has
created a vast range of plastics and other synthetic materials, which have
thousands of uses in the home and in industry. Synthetic materials are
easily formed into complex shapes and can be used to make machine,
electrical, and automotive parts, scientific and industrial instruments,
decorative objects, containers, and many other items.

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Alongside these achievements, science has also brought about
technology that helps save human life. The kidney dialysis machine
enables many people to survive kidney diseases that would once have
proved fatal, and artificial valves allow sufferers of coronary heart disease
to return to active living. Biochemical research is responsible for the
antibiotics and vaccinations that protect us from infectious diseases, and
for a wide range of other drugs used to combat specific health problems.
As a result, the majority of people on the planet now live longer and
healthier lives than ever before.

However, scientific discoveries can also have a negative impact in human

affairs. However, over the last period of hundred years, some of the
technological advances that make life easier or more enjoyable have
proved to have unwanted and often unexpected long-term effects.
Industrial and agricultural chemicals pollute the global environment, even
in places as remote as Antarctica, and city air is contaminated by toxic
gases from vehicle exhausts. The increasing pace of innovation means
that product becomes rapidly obsolete, adding to a rising tide of waste.
Most significantly of all, the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and
natural gas releases into the atmosphere carbon dioxide and other
substances known as greenhouse gases. These gases have altered the
composition of the entire atmosphere, producing global warming and the
prospect of major climate change in years to come.

Science has also been used to develop technology that raises complex
ethical questions. This is particularly true in the fields of biology and
medicine. Research involving genetic engineering, cloning, and in vitro
fertilization gives scientists the unprecedented power to bring about new
life, or to devise new forms of living things. At the other extreme, science
can also generate technology that is deliberately designed to harm or to
kill. The fruits of this research include chemical and biological warfare,

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 and also nuclear weapons, by far the most destructive weapons that the
world has ever known.

Scientific Method

Whatever the aim of their work, scientists use the same underlying steps
to organize their research: (1) they make detailed observations about
objects or processes, either as they occur in nature or as they take place
during experiments; (2) they collect and analyze the information observed;
and (3) they formulate a hypothesis that explains the behavior of the
phenomena observed.

Observation and Experimentation

A scientist begins an investigation by observing an object or an activity.

Observation typically involves one or more of the human senses—hearing,
sight, smell, taste, and touch. Scientists typically use tools to aid in their
observations. For example, a microscope helps view objects too small to
be seen with the unaided human eye, while a telescope views objects too
far away to be seen by the unaided eye.

Scientists typically apply their observation skills to an experiment. An

experiment is any kind of trial that enables scientists to control and
change at will the conditions under which events occur. It can be
something extremely simple, such as heating a solid to see when it melts,
or something highly complex, such as bouncing a radio signal off the
surface of a distant planet. Scientists typically repeat experiments,
sometimes many times, in order to be sure that the results were not
affected by unforeseen factors.

Most experiments involve real objects in the physical world, such as

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electric circuits, chemical compounds, or living organisms. However, with
the rapid progress in electronics, computer simulations can now carry out
some experiments instead. If they are carefully constructed, these
simulations or models can accurately predict how real objects will behave.

One advantage of a simulation is that it allows experiments to be

conducted without any risks. Another is that it can alter the apparent
passage of time, speeding up or slowing down natural processes. This
enables scientists to investigate things that happen very gradually, such
as evolution in simple organisms, or ones that happen almost
instantaneously, such as collisions or explosions.

Data Collection and Analysis

During an experiment, scientists typically make measurements and collect

results as they work. This information, known as data, can take many
forms. Data may be a set of numbers, such as daily measurements of the
temperature in a particular location or a description of side effects in an
animal that has been given an experimental drug. Scientists typically use
computers to arrange data in ways that make the information easier to
understand and analyze. Data may be arranged into a diagram such as a
graph that shows how one quantity (body temperature, for instance)
varies in relation to another quantity (days since starting a drug treatment).
A scientist flying in a helicopter may collect information about the location
of a migrating herd of elephants in Africa during different seasons of a
year. The data collected may be in the form of geographic coordinates
that can be plotted on a map to provide the position of the elephant herd
at any given time during a year.

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Scientists use mathematics to analyze the data and help them interpret
their results. The types of mathematics used include statistics, which is
the analysis of numerical data, and probability, which calculates the
likelihood that any particular event will occur.

Formulating a Hypothesis

Once an experiment has been carried out and data collected and analyzed,
scientists look for whatever pattern their results produce and try to
formulate a hypothesis that explains all the facts observed in an
experiment. In developing a hypothesis, scientists employ methods of
induction to generalize from the experiment’s results to predict future
outcomes, and deduction to infer new facts from experimental results.

Formulating a hypothesis may be difficult for scientists because there

may not be enough information provided by a single experiment, or the
experiment’s conclusion may not fit old theories. Sometimes scientists do
not have any prior idea of a hypothesis before they start their
investigations, but often scientists start out with a working hypothesis that
will be proved or disproved by the results of the experiment. Scientific
hypotheses can be useful, just as hunches and intuition can be useful in
everyday life. But they can also be problematic because they tempt
scientists, either deliberately or unconsciously, to favor data that support
their ideas. Scientists generally take great care to avoid bias, but it
remains an ever-present threat. Throughout the history of science,
numerous researchers have fallen into this trap, either in the hope of self-
advancement or because they firmly believe their ideas to be true.

If a hypothesis is borne out by repeated experiments, it becomes a

theory—an explanation that seems to consistently fit with the facts. The
ability to predict new facts or events is a key test of a scientific theory. In
the 17th century German astronomer Johannes Kepler proposed three

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 theories concerning the motions of planets (see Kepler’s Laws). Kepler’s
theories of planetary orbits were confirmed when they were used to
predict the future paths of the planets. On the other hand, when theories
fail to provide suitable predictions, these failures may suggest new
experiments and new explanations that may lead to new discoveries. For
instance, in 1928 British microbiologist Frederick Griffith discovered that
the genes of dead virulent bacteria could transform harmless bacteria into
virulent ones. The prevailing theory at the time was that genes were made
of proteins. But studies performed by Canadian-born American
bacteriologist Oswald Avery and colleagues in the 1930s repeatedly
showed that the transforming gene was active even in bacteria from
which protein was removed. The failure to prove that genes were
composed of proteins spurred Avery to construct different experiments
and by 1944 Avery and his colleagues had found that genes were
composed of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), not the proteins.

BRANCHES OF SCIENCE
Classifying sciences involves arbitrary decisions
because the universe is not easily split into separate compartments.
Science can be divided into five major branches namely: mathematics,
physical sciences, earth sciences, life sciences, and social sciences. A
sixth branch, technology, draws on discoveries from all areas of science
and puts them to practical use. Each of these branches itself consists of
numerous subdivisions. Many of these subdivisions, such as astrophysics
or biotechnology, combine overlapping disciplines, creating yet more
areas of research.

ENGINEERING:

What is engineering?

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Engineering, term applied to the profession in which a knowledge of the
mathematical and natural sciences, gained by study, experience, and
practice, is applied to the efficient use of the materials and forces of
nature. The term engineer properly denotes a person who has received
professional training in pure and applied science, but is often loosely used
to describe the operator of an engine, as in the terms locomotive engineer,
marine engineer, or stationary engineer. In modern terminology these
latter occupations are known as crafts or trades. Between the
professional engineer and the craftsperson or tradesperson, however, are
those individuals known as sub professionals or paraprofessionals, who
apply scientific and engineering skills to technical problems; typical of
these are engineering aides, technicians, inspectors, draftsmen, and the
like.

Before the middle of the 18th century, large-scale construction work was
usually placed in the hands of military engineers. Military engineering
involved such work as the preparation of topographical maps, the location,
design, and construction of roads and bridges; and the building of forts
and docks. In the 18th century, however, the term civil engineering came
into use to describe engineering work that was performed by civilians for
nonmilitary purposes. With the increasing use of machinery in the 19th
century, mechanical engineering was recognized as a separate branch of
engineering, and later mining engineering was similarly recognized.

The technical advances of the 19th century greatly broadened the field of
engineering and introduced a large number of engineering specialties, and
the rapidly changing demands of the socioeconomic environment in the
20th century have widened the scope even further.

FIELDS OF ENGINEERING

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The main branches of engineering are discussed below in alphabetical
order. The engineer who works in any of these fields usually requires a
basic knowledge of the other engineering fields, because most
engineering problems are complex and interrelated. Thus a chemical
engineer designing a plant for the electrolytic refining of metal ores must
deal with the design of structures, machinery, and electrical devices, as
well as with purely chemical problems.

Besides the principal branches discussed below, engineering includes

many more specialties than can be described here, such as acoustical
engineering, architectural engineering, automotive engineering, ceramic
engineering, transportation engineering, textile engineering among many
other fields in engineering.

Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering

Aeronautics deals with the whole field of design, manufacture,

maintenance, testing, and use of aircraft for both civilian and military
purposes. It involves the knowledge of aerodynamics, structural design,
propulsion engines, navigation, communication, and other related areas in
aviation.

Aerospace engineering is closely allied to aeronautics, but is concerned

with the flight of vehicles in space, beyond the earth's atmosphere, and
includes the study and development of rocket engines, artificial satellites,
and spacecraft for the exploration of outer space.

Chemical Engineering

This branch of engineering is concerned with the design, construction, and

management of factories in which the essential processes consist of
chemical reactions. Because of the diversity of the materials dealt with,

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the practice, for more than 50 years, has been to analyze chemical
engineering problems in terms of fundamental unit operations or unit
processes such as the grinding or pulverizing of solids. It is the task of the
chemical engineer to select and specify the design that will best meet the
particular requirements of production and the most appropriate
equipment for the new applications.

With the advance of technology, the number of unit operations increases,

but of continuing importance are distillation, crystallization, dissolution,
filtration, and extraction. In each unit operation, engineers are concerned
with four fundamentals: (1) the conservation of matter; (2) the
conservation of energy; (3) the principles of chemical equilibrium; (4) the
principles of chemical reactivity. In addition, chemical engineers must
organize the unit operations in their correct sequence, and they must
consider the economic cost of the overall process. Because a continuous,
or assembly-line, operation is more economical than a batch process, and
is frequently amenable to automatic control, chemical engineers were
among the first to incorporate automatic controls into their designs.

Civil Engineering

Civil engineering is perhaps the broadest of the engineering fields, for it

deals with the creation, improvement, and protection of the communal
environment, providing facilities for living, industry and transportation,
including large buildings, roads, bridges, canals, railroad lines, airports,
water-supply systems, dams, irrigation, harbors, docks, aqueducts, tunnels,
and other engineering constructions. The civil engineer must have a
thorough knowledge of all types of surveying, of the properties and
mechanics of construction materials, the mechanics of structures and
soils, and of hydraulics and fluid mechanics. Among the important
subdivisions of the field is construction engineering, includes: irrigation

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engineering, transportation engineering, soils and foundation engineering,
geodetic engineering, hydraulic engineering, and coastal and ocean
engineering.

Electrical and Electronics Engineering

The largest and most diverse field of engineering, it is concerned with the
development and design, application, and manufacture of systems and
devices that use electric power and signals. Among the most important
subjects in the field in the late 1980s are electric power and machinery,
electronic circuits, control systems, computer design, superconductors,
solid-state electronics, medical imaging systems, robotics, lasers, radar,
consumer electronics, and fiber optics.

Despite its diversity, electrical engineering can be divided into four main
branches: electric power and machinery, electronics, communications and
control, and computers.

Electric Power and Machinery

The field of electric power is concerned with the designing and operating
systems for generating, transmitting, and distributing electric power.
Engineers in this field have brought about several important developments
since the late 1970s. One of these is the ability to transmit power at
extremely high voltages in both the direct current (DC) and alternating
current (AC) modes, reducing power losses proportionately. Another is the
real-time control of power generation, transmission, and distribution, using
computers to analyze the data fed back from the power system to a
central station and thereby optimizing the efficiency of the system while it
is in operation.

A significant advance in the engineering of electric machinery has been

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the introduction of electronic controls that enable AC motors to run at
variable speeds by adjusting the frequency of the current fed into them.
DC motors have also been made to run more efficiently this way.

Electronics

Electronic engineering deals with the research, design, integration, and

application of circuits and devices used in the transmission and
processing of information. Information is now generated, transmitted,
received, and stored electronically on a scale unprecedented in history,
and there is every indication that the explosive rate of growth in this field
will continue unabated.

Electronic engineers design circuits to perform specific tasks, such as

amplifying electronic signals, adding binary numbers, and demodulating
radio signals to recover the information they carry. Circuits are also used
to generate waveforms useful for synchronization and timing, as in
television, and for correcting errors in digital information, as in
telecommunications.

Prior to the 1960s, circuits consisted of separate electronic

devices—resistors, capacitors, inductors, and vacuum tubes—assembled
on a chassis and connected by wires to form a bulky package. Since then,
there has been a revolutionary trend toward integrating electronic devices
on a single tiny chip of silicon or some other semi conductive material.
The complex task of manufacturing these chips uses the most advanced
technology, including computers, electron-beam lithography, micro-
manipulators, ion-beam implantation, and ultraclean environments. Much
of the research in electronics is directed toward creating even smaller
chips, faster switching of components, and three-dimensional integrated
circuits.

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 Communications and Control

Engineers in this field are concerned with all aspects of electrical

communications, from fundamental questions such as “What is
information?” to the highly practical, such as design of telephone systems.
In designing communication systems, engineers rely heavily on various
branches of advanced mathematics, such as Fourier analysis, linear
systems theory, linear algebra, complex variables, differential equations,
and probability theory. More examples can be seen in Mathematics; Matrix
Theory and Linear Algebra; Probability.

Engineers work on control systems ranging from the everyday, passenger-

actuated, as those that run an elevator, to the exotic, as systems for
keeping spacecraft on course. Control systems are used extensively in
aircraft and ships, in military fire-control systems, in power transmission
and distribution, in automated manufacturing, and in robotics.

Engineers have been working to bring about two revolutionary changes in

the field of communications and control: Digital systems are replacing
analog ones at the same time that fiber optics is superseding copper
cables. Digital systems offer far greater immunity to electrical noise. Fiber
optics is likewise immune to interference; they also have tremendous
carrying capacity, and are extremely light and inexpensive to manufacture.

Computers

Virtually unknown just a few decades ago, computer engineering is now

among the most rapidly growing fields. The electronics of computers
involve engineers in design and manufacture of memory systems, of
central processing units, and of peripheral devices. Foremost among the
avenues now being pursued is the design of Very Large Scale Integration
(VLSI) and new computer architectures. The field of computer science is

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closely related to computer engineering; however, the task of making
computers more “intelligent” (artificial intelligence,), through creation of
sophisticated programs or development of higher level machine
languages or other means, is generally regarded as being in the realm of
computer science.

One current trend in computer engineering is microminiaturization. Using

VLSI, engineers continue to work to squeeze greater and greater numbers
of circuit elements onto smaller and smaller chips. Another trend is
toward increasing the speed of computer operations through use of
parallel processors, superconducting materials, and the like.

Geological and Mining Engineering

This branch of engineering includes activities related to the discovery and

exploration of mineral deposits and the financing, construction,
development, operation, recovery, processing, purification, marketing of
crude minerals and mineral products. The mining engineer is trained in
historical geology, mineralogy, paleontology, and geophysics, and employs
such tools as the seismograph and the magnetometer for the location of
ore or petroleum deposits beneath the surface of the earth. The surveying
and drawing of geological maps and sections is an important part of the
work of the engineering geologist, who is also responsible for determining
whether the geological structure of a given location is suitable for the
building of such large structures as dams.

Industrial or Management Engineering

This field pertains to the efficient use of machinery, labor, and raw
materials in industrial production. It is particularly important from the
viewpoint of costs and economics of production, safety of human
operators, and the most advantageous deployment of automatic

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machinery.

Mechanical Engineering

Engineers in this field design, test, build, and operate machinery of all
types; they also work on a variety of manufactured goods and certain
kinds of structures. The field is divided into (1) machinery, mechanisms,
materials, hydraulics, and pneumatics; and (2) heat as applied to engines,
work and energy, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning. The mechanical
engineer, therefore, must be trained in mechanics, hydraulics, and
thermodynamics and must be fully grounded in such subjects as
metallurgy and machine design. Some mechanical engineers specialize in
particular types of machines such as pumps or steam turbines. A
mechanical engineer designs not only the machines that make products
but the products themselves, and must design for both economy and
efficiency. A typical example of the complexity of modern mechanical
engineering is the design of an automobile, which entails not only the
design of the engine that drives the car but also all its attendant
accessories such as the steering and braking systems, the lighting system,
the gearing by which the engine's power is delivered to the wheels, the
controls, and the body, including such details as the door latches and the
type of seat upholstery.

Military Engineering

This branch is concerned with the application of the engineering sciences

to military purposes. It is generally divided into permanent land defense
and field engineering. In war, army engineering battalions have been used
to construct ports, harbors, depots, and airfields. In the U.S., military
engineers also construct some public works, national monuments, and
dams.

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Military engineering has become an increasingly specialized science,
resulting in separate engineering sub disciplines such as ordnance, which
applies mechanical engineering to the development of guns and chemical
engineering to the development of propellants, and the Signal Corps,
which applies electrical engineering to all problems of telegraph,
telephone, radio, and other communication.

Naval or Marine Engineering

Engineers who have the overall responsibility for designing and

supervising construction of ships are called naval architects. The ships
they design range in size from ocean-going supertankers as much as 1300
feet long to small tugboats that operate in rivers and bays. Regardless of
size, ships must be designed and built so that they are safe, stable, strong,
and fast enough to perform the type of work intended for them. To
accomplish this, a naval architect must be familiar with the variety of
techniques of modern shipbuilding, and must have a thorough grounding
in applied sciences, such as fluid mechanics, that bear directly on how
ships move through water.

Marine engineering is a specialized branch of mechanical engineering

devoted to the design and operation of systems, both mechanical and
electrical, needed to propel a ship. In helping the naval architect design
ships, the marine engineer must choose a propulsion unit, such as a diesel
engine or geared steam turbine that provides enough power to move the
ship at the speed required. In doing so, the engineer must take into
consideration how much the engine and fuel bunkers will weigh and how
much space they will occupy, as well as the projected costs of fuel and
maintenance.

Nuclear Engineering

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This branch of engineering is concerned with the design and construction
of nuclear reactors and devices, and the manner in which nuclear fission
may find practical applications, such as the production of commercial
power from the energy generated by nuclear reactions and the use of
nuclear reactors for propulsion and of nuclear radiation to induce
chemical and biological changes. In addition to designing nuclear reactors
to yield specified amounts of power, nuclear engineers develop the special
materials necessary to withstand the high temperatures and concentrated
bombardment of nuclear particles that accompany nuclear fission and
fusion. Nuclear engineers also develop methods to shield people from the
harmful radiation produced by nuclear reactions and to ensure safe
storage and disposal of fissionable materials.

Safety Engineering

This field of engineering has as its object the prevention of accidents. In

recent years safety engineering has become a specialty adopted by
individuals trained in other branches of engineering. Safety engineers
develop methods and procedures to safeguard workers in hazardous
occupations. They also assist in designing machinery, factories, ships, and
roads, suggesting alterations and improvements to reduce the likelihood
of accident. In the design of machinery, for example, the safety engineer
seeks to cover all moving parts or keep them from accidental contact with
the operator, to put cutoff switches within reach of the operator, and to
eliminate dangerous projecting parts. In designing roads the safety
engineer seeks to avoid such hazards as sharp turns and blind
intersections, known to result in traffic accidents. Many large industrial
and construction firms, and insurance companies engaged in the field of
workers compensation, today maintain safety engineering departments.

Sanitary Engineering

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This is a branch of civil engineering, but because of its great importance
for a healthy environment, especially in dense urban-population areas, it
has acquired the importance of a specialized field. It chiefly deals with
problems involving water supply, treatment, and distribution; disposal of
community wastes and reclamation of useful components of such wastes;
control of pollution of surface waterways, groundwater’s, and soils; milk
and food sanitation; housing and institutional sanitation; rural and
recreational-site sanitation; insect and vermin control; control of
atmospheric pollution; industrial hygiene, including control of light, noise,
vibration, and toxic materials in work areas; and other fields concerned
with the control of environmental factors affecting health. The methods
used for supplying communities with pure water and for the disposal of
sewage and other wastes are described separately.

MODERN ENGINEERING TRENDS

Scientific methods of engineering are applied in several fields not

connected directly to manufacture and construction. Modern engineering
is characterized by the broad application of what is known as systems
engineering principles. The systems approach is a methodology of
decision-making in design, operation, or construction that adopts (1) the
formal process included in what is known as the scientific method; (2) an
interdisciplinary, or team, approach, using specialists from not only the
various engineering disciplines, but from legal, social, aesthetic, and
behavioral fields as well; (3) a formal sequence of procedure employing
the principles of operations research.

In effect, therefore, transportation engineering in its broadest sense

includes not only design of the transportation system and building of its
lines and rolling stock, but also determination of the traffic requirements
of the route followed. It is also concerned with setting up efficient and

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safe schedules, and the interaction of the system with the community and
the environment. Engineers in industry work not only with machines but
also with people, to determine, for example, how machines can be
operated most efficiently by the workers. A small change in the location of
the controls of a machine or of its position with relation to other machines
or equipment, or a change in the muscular movements of the operator,
often results in greatly increased production. This type of engineering
work is called time-study engineering.

A related field of engineering, human-factors engineering, also known as

ergonomics, received wide attention in the late 1970s and the '80s when
the safety of nuclear reactors was questioned following serious accidents
that were caused by operator errors, design failures, and malfunctioning
equipment. Human-factors engineering seeks to establish criteria for the
efficient, human-centered design of, among other things, the large,
complicated control panels that monitor and govern nuclear reactor
operations.

Among various recent trends in the engineering profession, licensing and

computerization are the most widespread. Today, many engineers, like
doctors and lawyers, are licensed by the state. Approvals by professionally
licensed engineers are required for construction of public and commercial
structures, especially installations where public and worker safety is a
consideration. The trend in modern engineering offices is overwhelmingly
toward computerization. Computers are increasingly used for solving
complex problems as well as for handling, storing, and generating the
enormous volume of data modern engineers must work with.

The National Academy of Engineering, founded in 1964 as a private

organization, sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national
needs, encourages new research, and is concerned with the relationship of
engineering to society.
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TECHNOLOGY:

Technology is a general term for the processes by which human beings

fashion tools and machines to increase their control and understanding of
the material environment. The term is derived from the Greek words
tekhnē, which refers to as an art or craft, and logia, meaning an area of
study; thus, technology means, literally, the study, or science, of crafting.

Many historians of science argue not only that technology is an essential

condition of advanced, industrial civilization but also that the rate of
technological change has developed its own momentum in recent
centuries. Innovations now seem to appear at a rate that increases
geometrically, without respect to geographical limits or political systems.
These innovations tend to transform traditional cultural systems,
frequently with unexpected social consequences. Thus technology can be
conceived as both a creative and a destructive process.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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The meanings of the terms science and technology have changed
significantly from one generation to another. More similarities than
differences, however, can be found between the terms.

Both science and technology imply a thinking process; both are concerned
with causal relationships in the material world, and both employ an
experimental methodology that results in empirical demonstrations that
can be verified by repetition. Science, at least in theory, is less concerned
with the practicality of its results and more concerned with the
development of general laws, but in practice science and technology are
inextricably involved with each other. The varying interplay of the two can
be observed in the historical development of such practitioners as
chemists, engineers, physicists, astronomers, carpenters, potters, and
many other specialists. Differing educational requirements, social status,
vocabulary, methodology, and types of rewards, as well as institutional
objectives and professional goals, contribute to such distinctions as can
be made between the activities of scientists and technologists; but
throughout history the practitioners of “pure” science have made many
practical as well as theoretical contributions.

Indeed, the concept that science provides the ideas for technological
innovations and that pure research is therefore essential for any
significant advancement in industrial civilization is essentially a myth.
Most of the greatest changes in industrial civilization cannot be traced to
the laboratory. Fundamental tools and processes in the fields of
mechanics, chemistry, astronomy, metallurgy, and hydraulics were
developed before the laws governing their functions were discovered. The
steam engine, for example, was commonplace before the science of
thermodynamics elucidated the physical principles underlying its
operations.

In recent years a sharp value distinction has grown up between science

~ 22 ~
 and technology. Advances in science have frequently had their bitter
opponents, but today many people have come to fear technology much
more than science. For these people, science may be perceived as a
serene, objective source for understanding the eternal laws of nature,
whereas the practical manifestations of technology in the modern world
now seem to them to be out of control.

ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL TECHNOLOGY

Technology has been a dialectical and cumulative process at the center of

human experience. It is perhaps best understood in a historical context
that traces the evolution of early humans from a period of very simple
tools to the complex, large-scale networks that influence most of
contemporary human life. For the sake of simplicity, the following account
focuses primarily on developments in the Western world, but major
contributions from other cultures are also indicated.

Early Technology

The earliest known human artifacts are roughly flaked stones used for
chopping and scraping, found primarily in eastern Africa. Known as Old
wan tools, they date from about 2.3 million years before present, and
serve to define the beginning of the Stone Age. The first toolmakers were
nomadic groups of people who used the sharp edges of stone to process
food. By about 40,000 years before present, humans had begun to use fire
and to make a variety of tools, including pear-shaped axes, scrapers,
knives, and other instruments of stone, bone, and other materials. They
had also begun to use tools to make clothing and build shelters for
protection from hash weather. The use of tools can be observed in many
members of the animal kingdom, but the capacity for creating tools to

~ 23 ~
craft other objects distinguishes humans from all other animals.

The next big step in the history of technology was the control of fire. By
striking flint against pyrites to produce sparks, people could kindle fires at
will, thereby freeing themselves from the necessity of perpetuating fires
obtained from natural sources. Besides the obvious benefits of light and
heat, fire was also used to bake clay pots, producing heat-resistant
vessels that were then used for cooking grains and for brewing and
fermenting. Fired pottery later provided the crucibles in which metals
could be refined. Advanced thought processes may well have first
developed around the hearth, and it was there that the first domesticated
animal, the dog, was tamed.

Early technologies were not centered only on practical tools. Colorful

minerals were pulverized to make pigments that were then applied to the
human body, to clay utensils, and to baskets, clothing, and other objects.
In their search for pigments, early peoples discovered the green mineral
malachite and the blue mineral azurite. When these copper-containing
ores were hammered they did not turn to powder but bent instead, and
they could be polished but not chipped. Because of these qualities, small
bits of copper were soon made into jewelry. Early peoples also learned
that if this material was repeatedly hammered and put into a fire, it would
not split or crack. This process of relieving metal stress, called annealing,
eventually brought human civilizations out of the Stone Age—particularly
when, about 3000 BC, people also found that alloying tin with copper
produces bronze. Bronze is not only more malleable than copper but also
holds a better edge, a quality necessary for such objects as swords and
sickles.

Although copper deposits existed in the foothills of Syria and Turkey, at

the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates, the largest deposits of copper
in the ancient world were found on the island of Crete (Kríti). With the
~ 24 ~
development of seaworthy ships that could reach this extremely valuable
resource, Knossos (Knosós) on Crete became a wealthy mining center
during the Bronze Age.

FEATURES OF TECHNOLOGY

Basically, technology is synonymous with culture, civilization and

materials/tools production which man employs as object for survival.
Technology in a broader sense could be likened to the new methods of
knowing and doing things i.e, is all about making things work and how our
society is arranged. The following are features of technology:

1. Technology involves all the things humans invent, create, design

and make uses.
2. Technology involves all the discoveries and the transformations of
the natural resources for human benefits.
3. Technology helps to improve or change humans’ way of life for
better or for worse.
4. Technology gives mankind the ability to master and control his
physical environment.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAN, TECHNOLOGY

AND ENVIRONMENT

MAN:

Under this category we have the following: Classes, people,

~ 25 ~
 Individual, Families, Communities, Organizations, Countries and World.

A Relationship between man and technology:

Man designs, invent, construct and make uses of technology.

B Relationship between technology and man:

Provides man with sophisticated tools, gadgets, machines,

equipments, and the ability to control and make use/ exp-
loit physical environment

C Relationship between man and physical environment:

Exploit, improves, transforms, beautifies, control and

pollutes the physical environment.

D Relationship between physical environment and man:

Provide mankind with living space, like accommodation,

factory, food, water, air, climate, plants and meat, for human
use.

E Relationship between physical environment and techno.

Physical environment provides raw materials, energy, land-

for technological potential and usage.

F Relationship between technology and physical environ.

With the help of technology the physical environment can

be mastered, control, transform, exploit, degrade and

Pollutes.

~ 26 ~
 CHAPTER TWO:

EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF CIVILIZATION AND

CONTRIBUTIONS OF ANCIENT SOCIETIES

PHARAOHNIC CONTRIBUTION:

The history of modern civilization begins with the works and contribution of ancient

~ 27 ~
civilization, presumably the ancient societies of Egypt, Greece and Roman Empire. The
contribution of these distinct societies is crucial to the development/progress of
modern civilization, because it laid the basis for the framework of all other subsequent
development in the fields of Science, Engineering and Technological break-through.

CIVILIZATION:

What is civilization? Civilization has been explained as a short hand expression of

“Material and Technical progress” placing emphasis or importance on human abilities
to have adequate knowledge and control of their environment. It involves the creation
and the utilization of material objects of our culture, the improvement of our skills, the
methods of doing things and the appreciation of these realities and their impact on lives
in the society. It may also be term as the advanced level of development in society that
is characterized by complex social and political organization, and material, scientific
and artistic progress.

EGYPTIAN/PHARAONIC CIVILIZATION:

Notable and common among ancient Egyptian contribution are, Pyramids and Pharaohs,
Mummies and Magic, Picture writing on papyrus which ancient Egypt had all of this and
lots more. Ancient Egypt was a rich powerful peace loving kingdom and home for first
civilization in the world that lasted for 3000 years dated as far back as from 3300BC to
30BC.

Ancient Egypt was a vast territory with an area mass of about 1100 kilometer situated
south of the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt is a hot, dry and dusty area. The Egyptians called
their land “Deshret” meaning red land. Egypt housed the world longest river called the
River- Nile. It runs through the desert and empty in the Red Sea. Every year, the river Nile
floods its banks to the surrounding land. When this occurs yearly, it always leaves
behind it rich black soil/mud deposit which the Egyptians called the deposit as “Kemet”
meaning (black land). The deposit made the land around the river Nile very fertile for
farming activities.

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About 5000BC, the ancient Egypt built the world first urban settlement around the Nile
areas. As a result, they practiced agriculture that is the system of land cultivation
because of the richness of the soil deposit. Hence, a new farming village emerged. The
Egyptians, called the Nile as a natures “gift”. Farmers dug ditches and trenches to direct
water into fields of wheat, grapes, onions, garlic, and cucumber.

Rich people, town traders, and poor country families all built homes made of sun-dried
river mud. Craft-men alike, shaped clay from the Nile into pottery and wave cloth from
flax plant that grew on its banks. Families also caught fish and river birds for food.
Children played at the river side etc. Most ancient Egyptians homes had at least 2 or 3
rooms with a work place on the roof of their homes.

Rich people built larger houses, with painted walls, fine furniture, gardens, and pools.
While among the poor families, the typical characteristics are, women wore rough
homemade dresses and men wore cloths tied around their waists. The rich families
could afford expensive wears and jewels. They could also afford the services of
domestic servants in their homes. Whether rich or poor, the Egyptians valued family life.
They are seen to marry early raised many children. Families worked and cooperate
together and as well played together. Typically of the Egyptians, they love games,
stories, music, dancing, and holidaying feast and parades.

Ancient Egyptians believed very much in magic and many gods. People built little
shrines to their favourite gods. Egyptians wore amulets (charms), and recited prayers
and cast spells. They built statutes representing gods, famous among it is the statute of
Great Sphinx of Giza. The huge statue with the body of a lion and the head of a man is
still standing to this very day.

HIEROGLYPHS AND PAPYRUS:

Ancient Egyptians invented a complex system of writing known as hieroglyphics. This

forms of writing looks like columns of little pictures. They are a symbol that is the
reason why they are called hieroglyphs. Reading and writing was a job of special

~ 29 ~
scholars called scribes. The scribes wrote in hieroglyphs on papyrus, a kind of paper
made from reeds, grown along the Nile. It was the world first writing invented. Poems,
songs, stories, maths, science, and astronomy were recorded and preserved in this
system of writing.

PHARAOHS:

All the Egyptians kings were called Pharaohs. Egyptians said the pharaohs were the
children of a god. They were link between heaven and earth. Pharaohs were the chief
priests, lawmakers, and army commanders of their kingdom. They gave orders to
governors, judges, tax- collectors, and soldiers. They made treaties with foreign rulers,
and controlled trade with other countries. All Egyptians had to pay taxes to Pharaohs or
be made to work on their building projects.

PYRAMID TOMBS AND MUMMIES:

Some of the Pharaohs had great pyramids constructed to their honours. A pyramid was
an enormous stone tomb constructed. Building a pyramid is a big project which may
take 1000 people many years of hard labour to construct one. Stone blocks made up the
pyramid and can weigh more than 2 elephants put together.

The ancient Egyptians believed that their bodies must survive for life after death. They
had their bodies made into mummies, which preserved dried and wrapped in cloth.
Egyptians hoped this would help their spirits survive after they died. Pharaoh’s
mummies were placed in pyramids or great tombs surrounded by treasures to be used
in the after-life. Guides to the world of the dead written in hieroglyphs on papyrus have
been found with mummies.

Some of the areas of Egyptian contributions are, namely: Writing, Agriculture, Medicine,

~ 30 ~
Pharmacology, Surgery, Architecture, Decorative Art, Archeology, Calendar, Urban
settlement, Physics, Geology, Geometry, Applied Mathematics, Chemistry, etc ancient
Egypt gave humanity a large store of experience in each of the fields.

THE ANCIENT GREECIAN CIVILIZATION/CONTRIBUTION:

Without the Greeks, who would have given the world Science, Technology, Democracy,
Politics, Drama, and History? All these areas and ideas originated with the ancient
Greece.

Greece is a mountainous peninsula that juts into the Mediterranean Sea. It includes
hundred of rocky Islands off the coast. The people of ancient Greece settled over a
much wider area, from Southern France to Asia Minor (now Turkey). Everywhere they
went, they spread their unique cultural heritage in the form of their language and rich
traditions.

The first Greek civilization developed on the Mediterranean Island of Crete around
2200BC. This civilization was called Minoam after legendary ruler Crete named Minos.
The Minoams lived by farming, fishing, and sea-faring. Their rulers, built huge, brightly
painted palaces, A magnificient palace at Knossos may have belonged to king Minos.
The Minos invented a way of writing, but no one today can read it.

After 1500BC, Minos civilization collapsed. Mycenae, a city on main land Greece, rose to
power. The mycenaeans builts palaces fortified, with massive walls, and they rode in
chariots, they must have been rich because beautiful objects of gold were found in their
graves. The Mycenaeans were warriors. They fought each other and they went to war in
distant places such as Troy in Asia Minor.

These, wars were disastrous to Greece. From 1000 to 750BC, farming, craftwork, and
trade suffered. People even forgot how to write- slowly, Greece recovered. The people
of Greece organized themselves into self-governing communities called city-states.
Each city-state had homes, workshops, temples devoted to the Greek gods, markets,
schools, sports, dramas, and meeting places.

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A city-state controlled the surrounding country-side. In villages and on farms, Greek
families grew olives, grapes, and grain food. They raised sheep and goats, for hides and
wool. Along the coastal areas, people lived by fishing or by trading with other
Mediterranean communities. They sold olive oil, wine, timber, and craft products. The
Greeks were especially known for their excellent metal work and painted pottery.

The Greeks like debating, questioning, and exploring new ideas. They loved logical
arguments and scientific proof. They believed in the idea of justice and human dignity.
Though, they were not all equal. Some Greeks were born free. Others were slaves with
no rights. Greek men had freedom to work, study, and travel. The women spent their
lives at home. They wove cloth, bore children, and cared for their families.

The Greeks also believed in gods who controlled human lives. They honoured the gods
and made offerings to them. In return they hoped for blessings. To please their gods,
city held religious festivals with competitions in music, dance, drama, poetry, and sports.
Olympic Games began as a religious festival of all kind, probably in 776BC.

ARTISTIC AND SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENTS

Applying enormous creativity to the inspiration that they took from Egypt and the Middle
East, Greek thinkers, artists, and authors produced brilliant works that remain famous to
this day. Above all, Greeks were curious and open to innovation, so long as it did not
threaten to anger the gods or cause social unrest. Artists in vase painting and sculpture
and authors of literature introduced fascinating changes to traditional models.

Philosophy and science developed because the most powerful Greek thinkers were
skeptical about appearances, insisting that hard work was needed to discover the
underlying reasons for things in nature and people's real motives. They also thought
there was beauty in the search for truth, whether moral or scientific. This belief
encouraged them to persevere despite difficulties. Scientific investigation, for example,
was limited by a lack of technology. Scientists and doctors could only wonder about

~ 32 ~
things too small to see with the naked eye, and they could not do experiments that
required measurements of very small amounts of time or distance. Therefore, they had
no choice but to make ideas and theory more important than practical applications.

Philosophy and Science

The first Greek philosophers were interested in theoretical science. They lived in the
Ionia region of western Asia Minor and learned from earlier Middle Eastern thinkers,
especially those from Babylonia. The Greek philosophers Thales and Anaximander, who
lived in the 6th century BC, reached the revolutionary conclusion that the physical world
was governed by laws of nature, not by the whims of the gods. Pythagoras, who also
lived in the 6th century BC, taught that numbers explained the world and started the
study of mathematics in Greece. These philosophers called the universe cosmos,
meaning “a beautiful thing,” because it had order based on scientific rules, not
mythology. Therefore, the philosophers believed in logic. Their insistence that people
produce evidence for their beliefs opened the way to modern science and philosophy.

Philosophers called Sophists upset many people in the 5th century BC by teaching
relativism, the belief that there is no universal truth or right and wrong. The most
famous Sophist was Protagoras, who said, “Man is the measure of all things.” Socrates
(469-399 BC) insisted that the Sophists were wrong and that well-informed people would
never do wrong on purpose. His pupil Plato (428-347 BC) became Greece's most famous
philosopher. Plato’s complicated works argued universal truths did exist and that the
human soul made the body unimportant. Plato founded an academy in Athens that
remained in business until AD 529. His pupil Aristotle (384-322 BC) turned away from
theoretical philosophy to teach about practical ethics, self-control, logic, and science.
Alexander the Great (whom Aristotle once tutored) sent him information on plants and
animals encountered on the march to India. Aristotle's works became so influential that
they determined the course of Western scientific thought until modern times.

Hellenistic philosophers concentrated on ethics, helping people achieve tranquility in a

period of change when things seemed out of their control. In the 3rd century BC,

~ 33 ~
Epicurus taught that people should not be afraid because everything, including our
bodies, consists of microscopic atoms that dissolve painlessly at death. Zeno of Citium,
who also lived in the 3rd century BC, founded Stoicism, which taught that life was ruled
by fate but that people should still live morally to be in harmony with nature.

The Golden Age of Greek science came in the Hellenistic period, with the greatest
advances in mathematics. The geometry theories published by Euclid about 300 BC still
endure. Archimedes (287-212 BC) calculated the value of pi (the ratio of the
circumference of a circle to its diameter) and invented fluid mechanics. Aristarchus,
early in the 3rd century BC, argued that the earth revolved around the sun, while
Eratosthenes accurately calculated the circumference of the earth. Also in the 3rd
century BC, Ctesibius invented machines operated by air and water pressure; Hero later
built a rotating sphere powered by steam. These inventions did not lead to practical
uses because the technology did not yet exist to produce the pipes, fittings, and screws
needed to build powerful machines. Military technology vaulted ahead with the invention
of huge catapults and wheeled towers to batter down city walls. Finally, medical
scientists made many discoveries, such as the significance of the pulse and the
nervous system.

Sculpture, Pottery, and Architecture

Greek sculpture and architecture originally followed Egyptian and Middle Eastern
models. Statues of the Archaic Period stood stiffly, staring forward, and temples were
rectangular boxes on platforms with columns. Later architecture retained this basic
plan, although buildings became much bigger. The style of sculpture and pottery,
however, changed dramatically over time.

Sculpture was always painted in bright colors, but over time its poses became more
lively and lifelike. By the Classical period, Greeks were carving statues in motion and in
more relaxed stances. Their spirited movement and calm expressions suggested the
era's confident energy. Statues of gods could be 12 m (40 ft) high and covered with gold

~ 34 ~
and ivory, such as Phidias's Athena in the Parthenon temple at Athens. The female nude
became popular. Praxiteles's naked Aphrodite of Cnidus became so renowned that the
king of Bithynia offered to pay off the city's entire public debt if he could have the statue.
Cnidus refused.

Hellenistic artists began showing emotion in their statues. A 3rd-century BC sculpture

from Pergamum showed a defeated Gaul escaping slavery by stabbing himself after
having killed his wife. New subjects departed from traditional notions of beauty by
representing drunkards, battered boxers, and elderly people with wrinkles.

Greeks painted pottery and turned an everyday item into art. Mycenaean vases featured
lively designs of sea creatures and dizzying whorls. Dark Age potters stopped drawing
animals, using only geometric patterns. Artists of the Archaic Age, inspired by Middle
Eastern pots, reintroduced beasts and people on Greek vases. From then on, vase
painters portrayed mythological and everyday scenes with increasing realism. When
they switched in the late 6th century BC from black on red painting to red on black, they
could add tiny details that made their pictures come alive.

Greek large-scale architecture began with the Minoan and Mycenaean palaces. These
multistory buildings had many rooms centered on courtyards. Balconies provided space
for viewing festivals in the open areas below. Architects in the later city-states designed
public structures, such as stoas, government buildings, and temples. Stoas were
sheltered walkways placed around the agora to provide shade for conversation.
Temples were the largest buildings in the city-state. Athens's Parthenon became
Greece's most famous building for its size, many columns, and elaborate sculptural
decoration. Hellenistic kings outdid the Athenians by erecting huge temples. The temple
of Artemis at Ephesus is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. See also Greek Art and
Architecture.

.Literature and
Dramas

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Greek literature began in the Mycenaean Period as stories told aloud. Mycenaeans used
their pictorial script (Linear B) only for accounting. Fighting from 1200 to 1000 BC
destroyed Greek knowledge of writing, until they adopted an alphabet from Phoenicia in
the 8th century BC to record the exciting poetry of Homer. His epics The Iliad and The
Odyssey became Greece's most famous literature. The epics told about the Trojan War
and the suffering it caused its heroes and its victims. People loved the stories for their
fabulous descriptions of action and for their lessons about the effects of anger and
mercy. Hesiod, a poet of the 8th century BC, also became a lasting favorite with his long
stories of how the world began and how justice was the proper guide for life in business
and farming. Somewhat later, lyric poets spun short tales of passion and emotion that
people loved to sing.

Great literary innovations in drama were produced in Athens in the 5th century BC.
Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were the most famous authors of tragedies. They
based their plays on myths that presented moral issues, especially the danger of hubris
(arrogant overconfidence). Their plots often involved fierce conflicts in families or
dangerous interactions between gods and humans. The story of Oedipus, who
unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, was one of the most famous
tragedies. See also Greek Literature.

Plays were performed outdoors at festivals honoring the god Dionysus in a competition
sponsored by the city-state. Thousands of people packed the theater. Each author
presented three tragedies, followed by a semicomic play featuring satyrs (mythical half-
man, half-animal beings). Actors wore colorful costumes and masks; a chorus danced
and sang as part of each play.

Comedies also were performed in these competitions. These plays displayed

remarkable freedom of speech in criticizing public policy and making fun of politicians.
Their plots could be fantastic, for example having a character fly up on a dung beetle to
ask the gods for peace. Their language featured jokes, puns, and obscenities. The most
famous comic playwright was Aristophanes, who wrote some comedies with powerful
women as main characters. Greek comedy in the 4th century BC changed from political
~ 36 ~
commentary to social satire. Authors such as Menander produced comedies that
provided insights into human weaknesses and the complications of everyday life.

Greeks began writing about history in the 5th century BC. Herodotus and Thucydides
wrote long works that stressed eyewitness evidence, the multiple causes of events, and
judgments about people's motives. Thucydides, followed by Aristotle, developed
political science by analyzing how states operated. Hellenistic Greek writers made
history more personal and began composing biographies.

THE LEGACY OF ANCIENT GREECE

The enduring legacy of ancient Greece lies in the brilliance of its ideas and the depth of
its literature and art. The greatest ancient evidence of their value is that the Romans,
who conquered the Greeks in war, were themselves overcome by admiration for Greek
cultural achievements. The first Roman literature, for example, was Homer's Odyssey
translated into Latin. Greek art, architecture, philosophy, and religion also inspired
Roman artists and thinkers, who used them as starting points for developing their own
style of work. All educated Romans learned to read and speak Greek and studied Greek
models in rhetoric. Stoicism became the most popular Roman philosophy of life.

Arab philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists who became the leading thinkers of
medieval times studied the works of Aristotle and other Greek sources intensely. During
the European Renaissance from the 14th to the 16th centuries, people from many walks
of life read Greek literature and history. Writing in the late 16th and early 17th centuries,
English playwright William Shakespeare based dramas on ancient Greek biographies.
Modern playwrights still find inspiration for new works in Athenian drama. Many modern
public buildings, such as the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., imitate
Greek temple architecture. Although the founders of the United States rejected Athenian
democracy as too direct and radical, they enshrined democratic equality as a basic
principle. It was ancient Greeks who proved that democracy could be the foundation of
a stable government. Pride in the cultural accomplishments of ancient Greece
contributed to a feeling of ethnic unity when the modern nation of Greece was carved

~ 37 ~
out of the Ottoman Empire. That pride still characterizes modern Greece and makes it a
fierce defender of the Hellenic heritage.

Reliance on logic, allegiance to democratic principles, unceasing curiosity about what

lies beneath the surface of things, a healthy respect for the dangers of arrogant
overconfidence, and a love of beauty in stories and art remain incredibly important
components of Western civilization. Ancient Greece contributed all of these things.

Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome developed between 8th and 1st Centuries BC. It all began from a small
settlement and gradually evolved into great empire; it evolved from a monarchical to a
republican government.

SOME AREAS OF ROMANS FAMOUS CONTRIBUTIONS:

They are, namely:

 Architecture/ Building tradition

 Engineering- they developed simple engineering and mechanical principles such
as lever, pulley, contrieval principles etc.
 Military technology in the areas of drills, disciplines, weapons etc.
 Literature- Roman literatures were mainly seen in their literally writings and
drama used in colonies round the world for the spread of Roman civilization.
 Decorative works of art which could be seen either in their styles of sculpturing
or traditional painting.
 Legal system: Romans introduces system of codify laws. Laws written in codes
and sections dealing with criminal and civil law. Generally, they introduced the
study of Jurisprudence.
 Citizenship status. The Romans introduced the concept of citizenship which they
applied to the status of all Romans freely born or by acquisition through other
means.

~ 38 ~
  Republic- the Romans introduced the idea behind a republic, a system of
government that replaced system of governance that was based on monarchy.
 Senate- the Romans introduced a legislative chamber called the Senate as the
highest law making body which was vested with enormous power.
 Freedom- the Romans introduced the concept of freedom, thus individual
freedom which was later incorporated in the ‘Fundamental Human Rights’
 Constitution- the Romans developed a legal framework known and called as a
constitution. It serves as a guiding principle for ordering the state.

HISTORY OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY WITH BIAS TO SCIENTIFIC

REVOLUTION:

A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF NICOLAUS COPERNICUS LIFE:

Nicolaus Copernicus
Polish astronomer
Birth February 19, 1473
Death May 24, 1543
Place of
Torun, Poland
Birth
Proposing a heliocentric (sun-centered) model for the solar system, in which
Known for the Sun is stationary at the center, and Earth and the other planets orbit
around it
Career 1491-1494 Studied mathematics at Kraków Academy (now Jagiellonian

~ 39 ~
 University)
1496 Went to Italy to study astronomy and law at the University of Bologna
1497 Began observations of the Sun, Moon, and planets
1514? Wrote Commentariolus, an outline of his astronomical ideas, but did
not circulate it widely
1543 Published De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of
the Celestial Spheres), which held that Earth and the other planets orbit a
centrally located Sun
Before Copernican theory was accepted, astronomers believed that Earth
Did You
was stationary at the center of the solar system, and the Sun and planets
Know
revolved around it.
Copernicus was best known to his contemporaries as a doctor and the
Canon of Frauenburg Cathedral.
Italian physicist and astronomer Galileo attempted to publicize Copernican
theory in the early 1600s, and was convicted of heresy as a result.
Copernican theory was not widely accepted until the late 17th century—over
100 years after Copernicus's death.
Copernicus's book, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, was banned as
heretical by the Catholic Church until 1835.

INTRODUCTION:

The 21st Century is the depiction of the role science is playing in the modern world today.
Most significantly is the obvious manifestation of technology along its widespread,
gives contemporary civilization its modern outlooks. It is argued that the most
important results and widespread of modern science is not on the development of
machines and gadgets but on how the modern man thinks sharply and differently about
his natural/physical world around him and also how he think about himself in the natural
world in comparison to the way man think of himself during the medieval period
(meddle age).

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The striking differences that can be pointed out is not on the bases of the development
of automobiles, television tubes, computer, rockets, etc that sharply distinguished the
present modern age per-se, but rather the differences is rested in the mode of thinking.
Take for example, Thomas Aquinas who belong to the medieval period, would have little
or no difficulty in understanding the operation of machine or a computer, but would find
it extremely difficult to understand the conception of the universe and man’s place in it.

The fundamental question that is often asked is, where do we locate the origin of the
modern technology? The answer is very simple: the origin of modern technology can
only be located in the “intellectual revolution” made possible by modern science
(scientific revolution). To the medieval man, judging by history, it appears natural or
normal for him to be the focal point of the entire universe. Secondly, the entire
universe/nature exists exclusively for his benefit. Likewise certain phenomena in nature
such as “rain, floods, earth-quakes, volcanic eruptions and the likes, occurs essentially
for his benefit or for his punishment. To put it very simply, it is viewed as a “Will of God”.

The views held by the medieval man is rather very absurd in the sense that the
phenomena which he considered as for his own benefit or as a punishment by God on
him, are quite independent and indifferent to man’s benefits or purposes. Secondly, if all
of nature centers around man, it must then followed that the earth upon which man lives,
must be the centers of the universe for which all other planetary bodies revolved around
it. This idea, seems to present the universe as a small and a finite place and the earth
being the center, is very solid, flat and motionless. The starry heavens, not too far away
from the earth, while the sun, moon and other planetary bodies moved easily round the
earth surface being the center. To the medieval man, he believes that these all existed
exclusively for him to know God and to enjoy him forever. Apparently, the natural world
was a product of one great divine drama in which the earth is the center stage and with
man as the main principal “actor”.

This idea of the universe held by the Ptolemaic during the medieval periods was held for
over a period of 1000years, and the first radical break from this point of view, came with

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the “Scientific Revolution” which all began in the 16th Century. In 1543, Nicolas
Copernicus (1473- 1543) was a canon of the Catholic Church in Poland. He wrote a
book titled, “On the Revolution of the Heavenly Bodies”. The book was a classic work of
science the world has ever seen throughout its history. Copernicus presented a new
theory/conception of the universe which was radically different from the conception
earlier presented by the Ptolemaic. According to Nicolas Copernicus, who presented his
new facts as follows: i) the sun and not the earth is the center of the universe, ii) the
earth is not flat but spherical in shape, iii) the earth is not stationary or motionless but
moves round the sun on its own axis, iv) the sun is stationary and not the earth.

After Copernicus had written this book, he was afraid to publish it because he was not
so sure the impact his theory may create over the existing and dominant idea/theory
that had prevailed over one millennium, as such Copernicus with-held the publication of
his book for a period of twenty years. The first circulation of the book appeared in 1543
barely six weeks before his demise.

Certainly, the man who helps in launching the modern scientific revolution was neither a
revolutionary by nature nor was he a scientist in the modern sense of the world. In fact
what Copernicus did was the search for a new theory that will correspond with the
nature of reality because he was dissatisfied with the old theory. Nicolas Copernicus
relied on the writings of the ancient societies such as the Egyptians, the Greeks and the
Romans. His reliance on the writings of these ancient societies gave clues and facts to
go about his writings. What Copernicus presented was unlike a modern scientist, what
he rather offered to man was not a hypothesis that was based on a new data but one
that was based on a mathematical analysis. For him as a mathematician and a
philosopher the best recommendation he offers his theory was one based on its
simplicity and its ability to satisfy the demand for order and regularity in the universe. In
short, Copernicus saw his theory been able to explain the true nature of observed reality.

EXPERIMENTATION AS A TOOL FOR TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE

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16TH/17TH CENTURIES:

Scientific revolution is made up of several elements such as, (a) the impact of
Copernican revolution whose new theory changed the whole picture of man in the
universe. (b) The influence of Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650) theory, a French
mathematician and a philosopher who insisted that instead of looking for purpose in
nature, laws governing nature should be sought for. (c) That man must learn in as much
as possible to know much about nature in order to master and exploit it for his own
benefits. (d) Francis Bacon, an English empiricist said, that the “true end of knowledge
was for the benefit and use of life”. Therefore, the search for useful knowledge has
become a useful tools and the motivation of modern science.

Modern science is regarded to be composed of two things namely: (1) Ever growing
body of factual data and (2) A particular method of carrying investigation. Interestingly,
Nicolas Copernicus and his associate are linked with the first while Francis Bacon and
Rene Descartes are also linked with the second. By the early part of the 17th Century, the
issues of methods in scientific investigation began to occupy the mind of many
“thinkers” and “philosophers” as well as practicing scientist.

To be sure of this, there were men in the late medieval periods who had learned to be
careful observers of nature. But in the process of their observation of nature, they were
able to compiled encyclopedias of only descriptive matters as such. They couldn’t go
further to explain when it is been required as do the modern scientist, who derived their
theories from careful observation. Instead they relied heavily on the explanation
provided by the ancients’ societies. Because of the over reliance on the ancient sources,
Francis Bacon was distressed with the divorce between observation and explanation.
Therefore, he was of the opinion that explanation must stem out of observation.

Bacon further argued that, modern science must be separated from religion. Why?
Because there are two kinds of truth: the truth of religion and the truth of science. To
him the two kinds of truth are never the same and should not be confused or equated.
He sums it up this way, give to faith what is faith and give to science what is science.

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Bacon alluded that the existing interpretations of nature is too narrow a foundation in
experiment. Therefore, if man wants to achieve anything in this world, he must
recognize that the adoption of a new practices and policies is obvious and necessary.
By this he argued that it is only when all information about a particular phenomenon had
been gathered or collected can a general conclusion or hypothesis be formulated or
made. In this way research should lead to further research, and this process would be
perpetuated and man’s knowledge would increase.

Ironically, Francis Bacon made fewer experiments in his life time; he was primarily a
philosopher rather than a scientist. Though, through his writings he has helped to
popularized science, in Britain and also did influence the stimulation of research work.
Bacon did a lot more by going further to groomed his countrymen to develop interest in
science and be instructed in the proper method of scientific investigation.

Seeing beyond this phenomenon, the modern science was born in Europe but it has its
home in the whole world. Modern science has led to technological discovery which has
transformed the mechanism of human life. The 16th Century witnessed the disruption of
stern Christianity and the decline of Papacy and the rise of modern science. In modern
science, Copernicus and Visalia were chosen as representative figures, they exemplify
the new cosmology and scientific emphasis on direct observation.

Finally, the new mentality is now more important than even the science and technology.
It has altered the metaphysical pre-supposition so that the old serves as a new
response.

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 INDUSTRIAL REVELUTION IN BRITAIN (1750 – 1840):

Introduction:

The term Industrial Revolution like a similar historical concept is more convenient than
precise. It is convenient because history requires division into periods for purposes of
understanding and instruction, and because there were sufficient innovations at the turn
of 18th and 19th Centuries to justify the choice of this as one of the periods. The term is
not precise because industrial revolution has no clearly defined beginning or end; it is
continuum.

Besides this, it will be misleading if industrial revolution carries the implication of a once
for all change from “pre-industrial” to a “post-industrial” society because traditional
industrial revolution had been setting the ground as from 1000A.D and has led into
continued acceleration of the process of industrial revolution was subsequent
economic and technological development had been even more spectacular. For a time,
the second industrial revolution was often used to describe the spread of the first
industrial revolution from Britain to other parts of European continent or from Europe to
the rest part of the world. The use of the term industrial revolution presents problem of
precision as mentioned earlier because the internal combustion engine or atomic
energy or the computer age suggest, third, fourth or fifth industrial revolution.

The current practice is to apply Industrial Revolution to the early phase of machine
production in Britain and to any other similar period in the history of other nations when
handicraft production and social order based on it gave way to machine production. In
another words when production was shifted from the home to the factory settings.

Industrial Revolution stresses on changes in perception and the use of technical means
efficiently rather than human means and the qualitative efforts to increase the survival
potential. It also has to do with the development of machines and technical system and
knowledge which replaces the older and simpler tools and methods in obtaining the
survival potential of the society. Therefore, by definition Industrial Revolution is “a

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process of industrialization by which it reorders and remolds the internal structures of
the society. This is done through the altering the survival potential of human beings by
changing their techniques or means of obtaining foods, goods and services”.

FEATURES OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain because social, political, and legal
conditions there were particularly favorable to change. Property rights, such as those
for patents on mechanical improvements, were well established. More importantly, the
predictable, stable rule of law in Britain meant that monarchs and aristocrats were less
likely to arbitrarily seize earnings or impose taxes than they were in many other
countries. As a result, earnings were safer, and ambitious businesspeople could gain
wealth, social prestige, and power more easily than could people on the European
continent. These factors encouraged risk taking and investment in new business
ventures, both crucial to economic growths.

In addition, Great Britain’s government pursued a relatively hands-off economic policy.

This free-market approach was made popular through Scottish philosopher and
economist Adam Smith and his book The Wealth of Nations (1776). The hands-off
policy permitted fresh methods and ideas to flourish with little interference or regulation.

Britain’s nurturing social and political setting encouraged the changes that began in a
few trades to spread to others. Gradually the new ways of production transformed more
and more parts of the British economy, although older methods continued in many
industries. Several industries played key roles in Britain’s industrialization. Iron and steel
manufacture, the production of steam engines, and textiles were all powerful influences,
as was the rise of a machine-building sector able to spread mechanization to other
parts of the economy.

The development of power (coal sector)

Modern industry requires power to run its machinery. During the development of the
Industrial Revolution in Britain, coal was the main source of power. Even before the 18th

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century, some British industries had begun using the country’s plentiful coal supply
instead of wood, which was much scarcer. Coal was adopted by the brewing,
metalworking, and glass and ceramics industries, demonstrating its potential for use in
many industrial processes.

1-The development of Iron and Coal:

A major breakthrough in the use of coal occurred in 1709 at Coalbrookedale in the

valley of the Severn River. There English industrialist Abraham Darby successfully used
coke—a high-carbon, converted form of coal—to produce iron from iron ore. Using coke
eliminated the need for charcoal, a more expensive, less efficient fuel. Metal makers
thereafter discovered ways of using coal and coke to speed the production of raw iron,
bar iron, and other metals.

The most important advance in iron production occurred in 1784 when Englishman
Henry Cort invented new techniques for rolling raw iron, a finishing process that shapes
iron into the desired size and form. These advances in metalworking were an important
part of industrialization. They enabled iron, which was relatively inexpensive and
abundant, to be used in many new ways, such as building heavy machinery. Iron was
well suited for heavy machinery because of its strength and durability. Because of these
new developments iron came to be used in machinery for many industries.

Iron was also vital to the development of railroads, which improved transportation.
Better transportation made commerce easier, and along with the growth of commerce
enabled economic growth to spread to additional regions. In this way, the changes of
the Industrial Revolution reinforced each other, working together to transform the British
economy.

2-The development of the Steam:

If iron was the key metal of the Industrial Revolution, the steam engine was perhaps the
most important machine technology. Inventions and improvements in the use of steam
for power began prior to the 18th century, as they had with iron. As early as 1689,

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English engineer Thomas Savery created a steam engine to pump water from mines.
Thomas Newcomen, another English engineer, developed an improved version by 1712.
Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer James Watt made the most significant
improvements, allowing the steam engine to be used in many industrial settings, not
just in mining. Early mills had run successfully with water power, but the advancement
of using the steam engine meant that a factory could be located anywhere, not just
close to water.

In 1775, Watt formed an engine-building and engineering partnership with manufacturer

Matthew Bolton. This partnership became one of the most important businesses of the
Industrial Revolution. Bolton & Watt served as a kind of creative technical center for
much of the British economy. They solved technical problems and spread the solutions
to other companies. Similar firms did the same thing in other industries and were
especially important in the machine tool industry. This type of interaction between
companies was important because it reduced the amount of research time and expense
that each business had to spend working with its own resources. The technological
advances of the Industrial Revolution happened more quickly because firms often
shared information, which they then could use to create new techniques or products.
Like iron production, steam engines found many uses in a variety of ways in other
industries, including steamboats, and railroads. Steam engines are another example of
how some changes brought by industrialization led to even changes in other areas.
3-The development of Textiles:
The industry most often associated with the Industrial Revolution is the textile industry.
In earlier times, the spinning of yarn and the weaving of cloth occurred primarily in the
home, with most of the work done by people working alone or with family members.
This pattern lasted for many centuries. In 18th-century Great Britain a series of
extraordinary innovations reduced and then replaced the human labor required to make
cloth. Each advance created problems elsewhere in the production process that led to
further improvements. Together they made a new system to supply clothing.

The first important invention in textile production came in 1733. British inventor John
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Kay created a device known as the flying shuttle, which partially mechanized the
process of weaving. By 1770 British inventor and industrialist James Hargreaves had
invented the spinning jenny, a machine that spins a number of threads at once, and
British inventor and cotton manufacturer Richard Arkwright had organized the first
production using water-powered spinning. These developments permitted a single
spinner to make numerous strands of yarn at the same time. By about 1779 British
inventor Samuel Crompton introduced a machine called the mule, which further
improved mechanized spinning by decreasing the danger that threads would break and
by creating a finer thread.

With the striking features of industrial revolution in Britain and along with its
subsequent spread around the globe, brought with it certain discoveries and
development in the following areas:

POWER TECHNOLOGY
 The development of Wind- Mills.
 The development of Steam Engines Locomotives.
 The development of Electricity.
 The development of Internal Combustion Engine.
 The discovery and the development of Petroleum.
 The development of Metallurgical Industry.
 The development of Textiles Industry and
 The development of Chemical Industry.

IMPACT OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN EUROPE:

Throughout the textile industry, specialized machines powered by either water or steam
appeared. Row upon row of these innovative, highly productive machines filled large,
new mills and factories. Soon Britain became a major supplier of cloth to countries
around the world. This industry appeared to many people as an embodiment of an
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emerging, mechanized civilization.
The most important results of these changes were enormous increases in the output of
goods per worker. A single spinner or weaver, for example, could now turn out many
times the volume of yarn or cloth that earlier workers had produced. This marvel of
rising productivity was the central economic achievement that made the Industrial
Revolution such a milestone in human history.

1- URBANIZATION: Industrial revolution brought with it the destruction of village life

which was replaced by newly developing urban centre. It brought with the rapid
growth of town and cities, wage employment, problem of unemployment, social
problem such as prostitution, drug abuse, and increase in crime, over stretched
infrastructure because of growing population.
2- AGRICULTURE: Industrial revolution alters the method of farming from the
traditional method that depended on human labour to mechanize system of
farming. It has change ownership of land from individual feudal lords to
emerging capitalist. Farmers were de-landed of their farm land in favour of big
time farmers who own capital machines. The displaced farmers would later be
absorbed in the industries.
3- MANUFACTURING: A new emerging industries replaced the form of production
that was previously done in the home. The production that was in the home
settings were under the guild system but that this was completely transformed
when a new system of production emerged with new working class that led to
mass production of manufactured goods and a kind of new set of relationship
developed between owners of means of production and workers.
4- MARKET ECONOMY: Industrial revolution changed production life; in that
massive increase of goods was noticed therefore new outlet for these goods.
New markets were required for the sales of new products to consumers. The
emergence of new markets facilitated the introduction prices of goods or items
and money as a means of exchanged which previously had been a problem.
Location of markets also encourages the site of industries, settlements etc.
5- SOCIAL INEQUALITY: One of the impacts of industrial revolution is the division of

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 the society into different classes of the rich and the poor, the developed and the
undeveloped countries, employers and employee, producers and consumers
classes. The effects of this social inequality could be seen the more in widening
gap between the rich and the poor in the following areas such as education,
housing, food, medical facilities, availability of social amenities, life expectancy
etc.
6- SCRAMBLE AND PATITIONING OF AFRICA: Industrial revolution is mainly
responsible for the division of the whole of Africa into smaller states by the
European super powers in 1884 at Berlin- Germany. Because of the rapid
European industrialization there were shortages of raw materials. African
continent became the major suppliers of raw materials for their industries. In
view of this, there arose a stiff competition among European countries for the
control of Africa. Not only did Africa played the role of raw materials supplier but
also became major markets for European finished goods.
7- SLAVE TRADE: It led to the end of slave trade in the whole of Europe. Human
labour was replaced by new machines in plantations industries made human
slave no longer in hot demand as a result of the development of new technology.
This factor might have been responsible for the abolition of slave trade in Europe
and not the kind gesture of the Europeans who claimed to have seen its evil.
8- SOCIAL RESULT: It brought with it obvious advantages to man and as well
adverse consequences that is both affect man and the nature. It bought about
frequent industrial accidents, unhealthy working environments, long working
hours without break, poor wages, unemployment, poor sanitation in the place,
machines replacing human beings in manufacturing process, etc.
9- POPULATION: Industrial revolution is closely associated with population
increase and transformation. Population has growing at a geometrical
progression because of improve in living standard, medication, disease control,
reduction of malnutrition, higher life expectancy, etc.

THE ROLE OF MATERIAL IN TECHNOLOGY:

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Material development is so important and is linked to the potential of civilization.
One of the important of raw material is the ability of man to transform it into usable
forms. During this process man has discovered that material has no fixed quantity or
quality because it can either be improved through transformation or it can be
increased. Also, man has discovered that and different materials can serve different
purposes and can be available because man has improved in his knowledge about
the use of materials and the technical knowledge has also improved significantly.

Industrialization has also relied on greater “utility, wider variety and more efficient”
use of materials. However, materials have been discovered to play a significant role
to the development and growth of modern technology today. Take for example, the
earliest materials used by humans, were said to be natural materials that were
worked and shaped by a mechanical means without really understanding the internal
structure of the materials not to talk about changing it. But with the increased in the
accumulation of new knowledge about the internal structure of materials help in the
provision of new and additional knowledge and technical know-how that was
required for industrialization.

Materials were considered very important in human history of civilization. An

example of this is seen in the naming of the entire era of civilization after the kind or
type of material that was predominantly in use. We have era such as the Stone Age,
the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Each of these era, represents stages of human
development for which it was necessary for the evolution of civilization.

The manufacturing of tiles, bricks, glasses, ceramic pots, hydraulics and cements
provided new choices, new potential and a whole range of new information about
the structure of a matter. This new possibilities of a new knowledge acquired for the
understanding of the internal structure of materials has aided the process of
industrialization.

During the medieval period, there was a significant exploration and exploitation of
raw materials such as iron, copper, zinc, mercury, coal and clay. People of that

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period had the knowledge of using wider variety of materials such as chalk, alum,
vitriol sculpture and other chemicals. They also learned to improve the old materials
by developing newer techniques for its working; e.g glass making was improved as
was the case with ceramic products.

The importance of raw materials will be incomplete without mentioning the all
important discoveries of all times, that is the discovery and the control use of fire.
The discovery and the control use of fire was an important discovery to the process
of industrialization. Fire was used in the extraction, refining and the working of
metals.

You will agree that without the discovery of fire the discovery of metals and the
evolution of the metallurgical knowledge that began some 7500 years ago wouldn’t
have been possible. The increase in metallurgical knowledge did make the working
of the industry very simple. Therefore metals were easily extracted, molded, shaped,
formed, hardened and altered in so many desired ways by employing various
processes. Also, new materials such as bronze/ copper and tin etc, created new
opening and new possibilities.

The processing and the preparations of chemicals and the refining/ the preparations
of raw materials for the manufacturing of different products requires highly
specialized design and production of new machines that has brought about some
revolutionary changes during this period; e.g the building of steam engines requires
iron of high or superior quality that can withstand heat.

The development of the steam engine provided a new power source for the
powering and driving of machinery for the production and the processing of iron. The
increase use of steam engine increased the demand for iron. However the
production of new machine tools made from iron were capable of producing high
quality products from wrought iron, cast iron and steel.

New machines were created because of new processes and because new materials

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made new designs possible. Changes were seen from wood as a primary material in
construction industries ton iron as a primary material. Iron replaces wood as a
primary material for industrialization and the development of metallurgical
knowledge and the means of processing metal became critical to the success of the
new age.

THE PERVASIVE NATURE OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES:

Why are technologies developed? They are developed in response to social pressure.
The world over has experienced advancements of tools, machines and techniques.
Because of this advancement it has made technology to exert a lot of pervasive
influence to the society. If you consider carefully today one is left with no option of
seeing our tools growing more powerfully than those of the past eras and the sense
of finality in the modern technological process has made man more aware of the
role of technology as an all important social determinant leading to conscious
understanding and its control.

Modern technology has seen changes that is occurring on a wider scale that may be
wholly unknown to the past eras and ancestors. Today we have seen increase in our
speed of communication by a margin raised to 107, our speed of travel by a margin
raised to 105 . Our speed of data handling by a margin raised to 108 .Our speed of
energy resources by 104 .Our power of weaponry by 108. Our ability to control disease
by something like 105. Today it has been proclaimed that in our world of dislocations,
humans are working to become scientific managers of new realities.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF POWER AND FUEL:

The development of power or energy is essential to the development technology.

Energy is an important and fundamental resource for industrialization and the
development of energy sources and the devices for utilization of energy as an
essential condition for industrialization process. However, not until the 17th century
the primary sources of continuous use and control inanimate energy were wind and

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water. Prior to these human beings and animals were the only sources of energy.

In mans attempt to create energy, he developed other forms of energy for his uses in
such distinct stages for a period of over 700 years as follows starting with:

1- Wind energy
2- Energy of falling water
3- Heat of combustion energy
4- Electrical energy
5- Solar energy.

The primary sources of energy for industrialization have been capital sources as
opposed to income sources. The process had utilized fuel in one form or the other.
Capital energy is that type of energy which is non renewable that can be exhausted
or depleted with use examples are, coal, oil, gas etc. While the income energy is that
type of energy which can be renewed with usage that is the energy is subject to
renewal examples are, solar, wind, water, tidal power and geothermal sources. The
evolution of energy for industrialization began with the use of income sources like
wind and water before the capital.

ELECTRICAL ENERGY AND POWER

The development of electrical energy and power was similar to the development of
heat energy exemplified by steam engine. The advent for the potential of electrical
power brought to technology and to science new levels of abstraction. The world of
new technology was no longer mechanical and directly observable, rather new
knowledge and new means for measurement were developed.

The electrical age began in the 1800 following the work of Michael Farady; it was no
until the latter part of 1800s that the potential of electric power was fully developed
and utilized. The electrical power industry is an example of a new technology with
great potential that could gradually built economic demand and forced changes in
old energy and power structure.

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TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENTS

Transportation is a system of moving humans and cargo from one place to the other.
It is referred to as a system because it involves so many things in the process of
transiting. Transportation has different types which may include sea, land, air and
rail. Whatever the means of transportation the objective is to facilitate and ease
movement of goods and individuals to the desired destinations.

SEA TRANSPORT

As far back as the 1600s and the 1700s the transportation systems for which
industrialization depended on to move raw materials and products was based
entirely on the medieval methods with some of improvements. For example in the
North Sea, the introduction of the sternpost rudder which replaced the steering oar
marked the beginning of great improvements in the sea transportation. Bigger ships
were built to carry great amount of cargos to different parts of globe, thereby
making easy movement of goods and services available.

LAND TRANSPORTATION

Land transportation is another system of transportation that use of earth moving

vehicles of any type primarily to convey humans and other forms of cargo on land.
Land transportation consists mainly of road transportation. Initially the road
transportation is a means of transportation consisting of wheeled vehicles pulled by
horses using the horse collar. This earlier system of transportation became replaced
by motor car propelled by internal combustion engine.

There were people who contributed in the development of internal combustion

engine which help in the production of motor cars; people like Otto, Daimler, Benz,
Duryea, Opel, Hoch, Adler, Ford etc. These people revolutionized the world of
transportation including the rail transport system. Before 1500 land travel was
restricted to 20- 25 miles per day. But by 1900 the motor car and the rail way
transport had increased their potential speed to between 300 – 900 miles per day.

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Today the story has changed; we have hybrid cars and electronic trains that run at a
supersonic speed.

AIR TRANSPORTATION

Is another system of transportation that has to do with air moving planes? This
system of transportation is faster and more efficient.

Man understanding of the principle of thermodynamics was the secret behind the
invention of internal combustion engine which consequently led to aeronautics and
the principles of flying objects on the air. With this feat the world has witness a
revolution in this area. As a result the world seems to be a global village in that a
journey which otherwise would have last a life time is undertaken within hours.

NIGERIA INDIGENOUS TECHNOLOGY

What is being referred to modern technology today started about 500years ago?
Modern technology has its root from the ancient societies; and Nigeria also had its
own fair share or contribution to modern technology through the following areas of
works.

1- AGRICULTURE: The traditional Nigerian society had the knowledge and the
practice of land cultivation. Nigerians were engaged in the cultivation of staple
foods and cash crops production. The indigenous communities had the
knowledge of basin irrigation similar to that which was practiced in ancient Egypt.
Nigerians also had the knowledge of the use of local manure as fertilizers to
boost crops production. They also had the knowledge of animal husbandry.
2- MEDICINE: Nigerians are known to have the knowledge and the practice of
traditional medicine or healing practice and knowledge of pharmacology that is
the science of extracting drugs from herbs, animal fats and blood, plant roots,
leaves and stems, oil etc. The traditional medicine has trained traditionalist who
receive this knowledge from their ancestor pass from generation to generations.
Today people still patronize these traditional medicine practitioners. The world is

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 going through that direction as alternative medicine.
3- SMELTING OF IRON: Nigerians also discovered iron ore deposit and have learnt
the art of extracting or mining the iron, crushing , smelting and forging the iron
through firing to produce various implement or tools such as, cutlasses, sickles,
pick axe, knives, machetes, axe, etc. These implements were use for domestic
and agricultural purposes. We can conclude by saying that Nigerians had the
knowledge of metallurgical industry.
4- CASTING: This is another area that the indigenous societies of Nigeria were
believed to be involved with. Nigerians excelled in the works of art, they were
known to specialize in casting of brass and bronze using copper alloys. Mostly
the traditional societies of Old Benin Kingdom, old Ife kingdom and Igbo Ukwu
and Nok society. These societies at different times were directly involved with
the works of casting.
5- BUILDING: Nigerians were known to have excelled in architectural designs and
building constructions. Fine works of architecture abound in traditional palaces
and walls using the traditional mud bricks to build and adorn the houses. Some
of the traditional buildings have survived till date.
6- TRADITIONAL TEXTILES: The traditional Nigerian societies had the knowledge
and the practice of weaving clothes i.e local looms which otherwise call as
textiles. The clothes weave by the traditional method has a superior quality and it
was in fact the potential basis for emergence of modern textile and chemical
industry.
7- LEATHER WORKS: The knowledge Nigerians have on chemical works of dyeing
in textiles was extended to the hides and skin industry. Nigerians were involved in
the leather works especially in the Northern part of the country where there is
abundance hides and skins.
8- CARVING: The traditional societies were believed to have excelled in the
technology of carving of woods for decorative arts, sculptures, canoes etc.
9- POTTERY: Nigeria before her contact with the Europeans had excelled in the
works of pottery. Nigeria has gain international recognition for its works of
pottery. Late Hajiya Ladi kwali was notable for her works of pottery around Niger
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 and Abuja area.

FEATURES OF NIGERIAN NATIONAL POLICY ON TECHNICAL EDUCATION:

National policy on education is very important for countries to develop as it serves as a

road map for technological and scientific advancement. Governments of developed
countries set the paths of scientific and technological development through enacting
sound policies in their educational systems. Nigerian government like any other
government has vigorously pursued industrialization by stating educational policy that
would put Nigeria on the paths for advancement. The policy centered on the followings:

1- The training of scientist: In order to produce indigenous scientist who can

independently initiate scientific research and discoveries to solve our local
problems; therefore the need to train young scientist by encouraging and
catching them young in schools. The government had encouraged science
subjects to be taught in our schools especially from primary schools up to
university levels. The government also had to encourage science teachers with
incentives and better conditions of service. Other measures taken by government
to encourage training of scientist are the provision of adequate science
equipments for schools, science competition among students and schools, given
special award and bursary to deserving science students.
2- The training of technologist and technicians: The country has experience acute
shortages of technicians and technologist which made Nigeria to depend on
foreigners in the past. There is the need for more technical skill for self
sufficiency. People should be attracted and encouraged into the field by
improving their salary and conditions of service. Technical teachers should be
encouraged by making them part time industrial consultants. The creation and
financing technical schools and colleges, so as to produce more manpower.
3- Encouragement of scientific research and development: The essence of this is
to lay down a solid foundation for science and technology. This is a way of

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developing and encouraging the utilization of local resources and made in
Nigeria. In line with this the government had established research centers in
some Universities such as Ife, Nsuka and Zaria, as energy research centers.
There were other research centers later established to take care of specialize
areas, they were National Veterinary Research Institute Vom, National Institute of
Trypanosomiasis Research Kaduna, National Raw materials development center,
National Cereals center Badegi Niger state.

Nigerian educational system has been faced with the problem of persistent brain
drain, shortages and lack of adequate equipments and tools for students to
make use, ill equipped laboratories. Both the government and the private sector
only pay a lip service to the growth and development of the country educational
system. Records our over dependence on foreign technology is in the increase
more than before.

THE STRUCTURES OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Technical education may be define as that aspect of education which leads or

guarantees the acquisition of practical and applied skills as well as basic
scientific knowledge for the optimum benefit and utilization of man.

The structures of technical education in Nigeria identify five types of technical

institutions outside the university. We have as the first structure the pre-
vocational and the vocational schools at post primary level, followed by the
Technical Colleges, the Polytechnics and College of Technical Teacher Education
at post secondary level.

S/no Name of Category of Terminal National Minimum Entry

Requirement
Institution Manpower Qualification
produce

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1 Primary Pre-vocational Primary School None
school Leaving Certificate

2 Vocational Artisans Trade Test Primary School

school Certificate Certificate&
Jss

3 Secondary (a) Pre-Vocational Junior Sec. Schl. F.S L C

Junior Cert.
Vocation/ J.S S C
(b) Senior Vocational Sec. Cert SSCE

4 Technical Craftsmen (1) WAEC Tech& J.S.S.C

Fed Craft
College Master
Cert.
Craftsman
(2) National Tech
(NTC)
(3) WAEC Tech
ADV
(4) Advance
National Tec
WAEC Tech&
(NTC)
Fed Craft Cert.

5 Polytechnics Technicians, N.D& HND SSCE with 4

Technologist, credits & ND
Post HND
Professionals Cert

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 HND Cert.

6 Universities Professionals Degree SSCE with 5

credits in
Engineers
relevant field.

At the end of the day the policy sought to produce artisans, craftsmen,
technicians/ technologist and professional engineers that are capable at
operating at medium and high professional level. At the technical school level,
plumbing, electrical installation, bricks laying and concrete mixing, painting and
decoration, carpentry, furniture making, bakery, printing, metal fabrication,
electronics etc, were taught at sub professional level while at the medium and
professional levels polytechnics and the universities trained manpower in these
fields, electrical, mechanical, agriculture, civil engineering.

UNVERSITY PROGRAMMES IN ENGINEERING AND THE POLYTECHNICS

These are some basic similarities between the university engineering

programmes and the polytechnics.

UNIVERSITIES POLYTECHNICS

1Undergoes 5years course 1Undergoes 5years intensive course starting

without break. with (a) N.D3yrs (b)HND 2YRS.

2 Undergoes 4months I.T while in 2 Undergoes a compulsory 1yr I.T with

sch. 4months.

3 General Engineering with no 3 Choice of area of specialization at HND,

specialization at 1st degree. Which encourages professionalism.

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 4 Syllabus and lectures are based 4 Syllabus and lectures are based on
on general Engineering inculcation of practical skills and general
principles. Engineering principles.

5 Graduates as Engineers. 5 Graduates as technicians, technologist, and

senior technologist.
6 Conducts more research and
designs. 6 Conduct less research and design.

NATIONAL BOARD FOR TECHNICAL EDUCATION (NBTE)

The board was established by decree no:9 of 1977 to perform the following
functions:

1- To advice the federal government on matters pertaining technical education and

to coordinate all aspects of technical and vocational education and to make
recommendations on national policy that is necessary for development in this
area.
2- To determine the skills and middle range manpower for the country need in the
industrial, commercial and other relevant fields for the purpose of planning and
training to prepare periodic master plan for both polytechnics and colleges of
technologies.
3- To advice on and take steps to harmonize entry requirements and duration of
courses to all technical institutions.
4- To lay down standards of skills to be attained and to continuously review such
standards as it may be required from time to time.
5- To inquire into and advice the government on financial needs, both recurrent and
capital as applicable to polytechnics and colleges of technology and other technical

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 institutions in the country.
6- To carry out other activities in tandem with its various functions and to consider any
other matters pertaining to technical education in the country.

ENGINEERS PROFESSIONAL ROLES:

An engineer is that person who generally and formally acquired the professional skills/
knowledge in the art of applying science to solve engineering or societal problems; or
who uses his wealth of knowledge for the optimum conversion of natural resources for
humans benefit and uses. Engineering profession has so many areas of specializations
such as: Agricultural engineering, Mechanization, Civil, Chemical, Mechanical, Electrical,
Computer, Petroleum, Aeronautical, Industrial, Bio/Genetic engineering, Nuclear etc.
Specialists in any of these fields are call engineers.

The major functions or roles of an engineer in any human society is to first and famous
to solve problem or provides solutions to engineering problems in the society. Such
problems may involve quantitative or qualitative factors. It may be physical or economic;
it may require common sense or abstract mathematical calculations. The most
important thing is the process adopted to create synthesis or design, putting of ideas
together to create new and optimum solutions. However, in an attempt to solve
problems engineers generally performs the following roles:

1- RESEARCH: The engineer seeks new principles and processes by employing

mathematical and scientific concepts, experimental procedure and inductive
reasoning to conduct research into areas that he considered necessary to solve
problems confronting man so as to make life easier.
2- DEVELOPMENT: It is the role or responsibility of an engineer to apply the results
of the research to useful purposes. Ingenuity and creativity in the application of

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 new knowledge is critical in the working model of a new electrical circuit, a
chemical process or an industrial machine.
3- DESIGN: In designing specific materials determines the shapes to satisfy
technical requirement and the desire to meet performance specifications.
4- CONSTRUCTION: It is the role of an engineer to prepare site, determine the
procedures that will be economically viable and safe that will yield desired
result/quality, directing the placement of materials and the organizing the
personnel and equipments.
5- PRODUCTION: A Plant layout and equipment selection with consideration of
human and economic factors is also another role of an engineer in production.
The engineer chooses carefully the processes and the tools, integrate the flow of
materials and components and provide for testing and inspections.
6- OPERATION: The engineer should have the ability to control machines, plants
and organizations, providing power, transportation and communications. He
should determine the procedures and supervises personnel to obtain reliable and
economic operation of complex equipment.
7- MANAGEMENT/OTHER ROLES: The role of engineers is to analyze customers’
needs or the societal needs and to recommend units to satisfy needs
economically.
8- PUBLIC INTEREST: It is the responsibility of an engineer to have full regard to the
public interest. He should have full interest in the welfare of the community and
shall assist the public to arrive at a correct understanding of the technical phases
of issues of public interest. He shall try as much as possible to discourage and
challenge untrue affair and exaggerated statement on technical subjects,
especially when such statements leads to unworthy and uneconomic public
enterprises or waste.
9- MORAL ISSUES: It is the responsibility of an engineer to recognize his broader
obligation to provide safety, health, and comfort for the public in whatever field of
service he may be required of him. An engineer whether working in his country or
not he shall order his conduct in accordance to the roles of professional
standards or code of conducts. Unless he is found wanting his professional
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license should be withdrawn.

Again, when an engineer is trusted with funds of his client, he must be honest
and above suspicion in handling such. He must be conscious and morally up
right in discharging his responsibility to the public.

Finally, the engineer is expected to contribute to the material progress and

development of his country and national defense. He is to analyze proposals,
target time and strategies as they affect national development. He is to
contribute towards national defense by designing equipments and weapons of
superior quality for the protection of the nation against the enemy.

TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY:

Technology can be seen as the systematic application of knowledge towards

solving problems either through the control of human nature or processes of
mankind. Transfer of technology denotes the geographical movement of
problem solving devices from one locality or one environment to another.
Differences of environments as well as in climatic conditions will necessarily
determine or account for the differences in human sphere of problems.

Technology has gone beyond the creation of machines or technical process

because the human experience creates the “technology”. All nations and peoples’
are aware of the importance of the role technology plays as the transformer of
the society and a strategic requirement for any nation. In Nigeria for instance,
this clearly defined, formulated and co-oriented strategies that galvanize for
systematic transformation in production is lacking; because our policy makers
seem to have a common approach to the problem of technological development
which they base it on the massive importation of technology from the developed
and industrialized countries.

PROSPECTS OF TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY:

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The third world countries general perception of development is rested on the idea
and the campaign for the transfer of technology, initiated and propagated by the
developed countries over the 3rd world countries as remedy for development.
With this idea the 3rd world countries have now intensify efforts towards
aggressive importations and the presence foreign investment in the developing
countries as a prerequisite for development through the transfer of foreign
capital.

The North i.e the already developed countries of the West laid claims on the third
world countries of the South that for it to get developed, it must make a favorable
climate available through this institution of Neo International Economic Order
(NIEO) to transfer technology to the 3rd world countries. Hardliner countries that
belong to this school of thought are: United States, Britain, Germany and France.
These countries never hide their feelings about their outright disapproval for any
easy transfer of technology to the 3rd world countries.

With this position the North will not allow any compassionate ground to
compromise their superior technological advantage position. With these actions
of theirs at various instances such as their voting positions at UNCTAD II (1972),
the 7th special session of the General Assembly (1975) and the UNCTAD IV (1976)
proved that they cannot compromise their position regarding the demand as
unrealistic.

From the perspective of the North, for South to develop, they must open up their
environment for foreign investment in order to break from the shackles of vicious
poverty stricken. For the 3rd world countries to do that, they must involve a lot of
transfer of technology. This idea proffered as a solution for 3rd world
development does not rest on internal conditions for innovations but for the 3rd
world to swallow the concept of transfer of technology even if it will ensure the
continued dependency linkage between the North and the South.

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The level of technological development between countries has reduced the entire
world into what we refer today as a global village which the developed nation
claimed that the 3rd world has enjoyed some benefits of skill from the North. To
them the establishment of factories in the 3rd world countries which requires skill
and for which the 3rd world countries lacks, and therefore acquire it from the
transfer of expatriates, example the automobile assembly plants.

The acquisition of knowledge as a result of the introduction of Western

education has helped in reducing the literacy level in the 3rd world countries. The
technology of the North requires sophistication of knowledge in such fields.
Because of this schools were established as training and research centres
geared towards technological development in the 3rd world countries. Thirdly, the
investment by the North in the 3rd world countries has in one way or the other
reduce unemployment or diversified our job opportunities and encouraged us to
have options of taste. This taste can either be in the form of job or consumable
items.

That the 3rd world production systems had been boosted as the countries can
now produce in large quantities and high qualities which have further enhanced
the standard of living for the 3rd world countries. This they argued that it can be
seen in the setting up of modern technologically based infrastructure such as
Hospitals, Good Roads, Water system, Post office, Electricity etc that with the
technology acquired from the North has helped the 3rd world countries to
effectively exploit their natural environment and overcome some natural hazards.

However these prospect or advantages have been weighed down by the

dependency and other side effects of transfer of technology. Development is a
concept that rest solely on the internal innovations and experiences of an
environment rather than external inspired factors brought forward by transfer of
technology proponents.

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PROBLEM OF TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY:

Development is a far more complex social process which rest solely on the
internal innovative potential of a society. The scramble for capital importation of
technology from the western nations by the 3rd world has resulted into the
availability of machines which it neither operates nor repairs. The massive
importations of foreign technology have an acute negative consequence which
includes:

1- DEPENDENCE FOREIGN: The major function of any government is to improve

condition of living for its people through aggressive development programs.
Such development must be relevant to the need of the people and must
involve the people in the process of the development. Transfer of technology
has made us more dependence on foreign countries to meet and to solve our
problems. Therefore it has made us too over reliance on foreign goods/
capital.
2- DRAINAGE OF FOREIGN EXCHANGE: Large sum of money or currency are
exchange for foreign currency to enable the importation of equipment and
machinery. This drains our foreign reserve and has negative effect on our
economy.
3- DUMPING GROUND: As countries massively import foreign technology their
markets is filled with dubious investors. Cases of obsolete machines
refurbished and sold as new ones are rampant in our markets. Such
machines do not last long and their spare parts are not available because
they have been faced out. This machine contributes to degrading our
environment because they become waste.

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~ 70 ~
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