SCIENCE,

TECHNOLOGY,
AND SOCIETY
(STS)

AL-YUSRI S. ALLER, LPT, MAT

Instructor
 CRADLES OF EARLY SCIENCE
Development of Science in Asia
Asia is the biggest continent in the
world and the home of many ancient
civilizations. It is a host to many cultural,
economic, scientific, and political
activities of all ages.

In the field of science, technology, and

mathematics, great civilizations stood
out: India, China, and the Middle East
civilizations. These civilizations were
incomparable in terms of their
contributions to the development of
knowledge during their time.
INDIA
India is a huge peninsula
surrounded by vast bodies
of water and fortified by
huge mountains in its
northern boarders. The
Indians creatively
developed various ideas
and technologies useful in
their everyday lives. They
are known for
manufacturing iron and in
metallurgical works. Indian Civilization
v Their iron steel is considered to be the best and held with high
regard in the whole Roman Empire.

v India is also famous in medicine. For example, Ayurveda, a

system of traditional medicine that originated in ancient India
before 2500 BC, is still practiced as a form of alternative
medicine. They discovered some medicinal properties of plants
that led them to develop medicine to cure various illness. Some
ancient texts like Susruta Samhita, describes different surgical
and other medical procedures famous in Ancient India.
v Ancient India is also notable in the field of
astronomy. They developed theories on the
configuration of the universe, the spherical
self-supporting earth, and the year of 360
days with 12 equal parts of 30 days each.

Sama (2008) noted that their interest in

astronomy was also evident in the first 12
chapters of the Siddhanta Shiromani, written
in the 12th century.
v According to Sama (2008), this ancient text
covered topics such as: mean longitudes of
the planets; true longitudes of the planets;
the three problems of diurnal rotation;
syzygies; lunar eclipses; solar eclipses;
latitude of the planets; risings and settings;
the moon’s crescent; conjunctions of the
planets with each other; conjunctions of the
planets with the fixed stars; and the paths of
the sun and moon.
v Ancient India is also known for their mathematics.

Bisht (1982) noted that the earliest traces of mathematical

knowledge in the Indian subcontinent appeared in the Indus Valley
Civilization. The people of this civilization, according to Bisht (1982),
tried to standardized measurement of length to a high degree of
accuracy and designed a ruler, the Mohenjo-daro ruler.
ARYABHATA
He is an Indian astronomer and
mathematician. In his Aryabhatiya, he
introduced a number of trigonometric
functions, tables, and techniques, as well
as algorithms of algebra.
v Introduced the alphabetical counting system.
v The first to do calculations on the square and
cubic roots.
v Gave solutions to equations by = ax + c and
by = ax – c
v The first to provide approximation of 𝜋 and the
one who said that it is an irrational number.
v He formulated the tables of sines.
476-550
v The first to sum the first n integers. 80 years old
BRAHMAGUPTA
He is often considered one of the most
significant mathematicians of ancient India
and made important contributions to
various fields, including mathematics and
astronomy.

Brahmagupta's most famous work is the

"Brahmasphutasiddhanta," which can be
translated as "The Correctly Established Doctrine
of Brahma." Believe to have been born around
598 CE and died around 668 CE
70 years old
v Gravity. He suggested that gravity was a force of attraction.
v Introduction of Zero. He introduced the concept of zero as a
numerical digit in its own right. He recognized its importance in place
value notation and arithmetic operations, which had a profound
impact on mathematics worldwide.
v Negative Numbers. He developed rules for dealing with negative
numbers and defined operations involving positive and negative
integers.
v Algebra. He contributed in solving indeterminate equations of the
second degree and quadratic equations.
v Geometry. He worked on the understanding of plane figures, such as
quadrilaterals, and their properties.
v Numeral System. The Hindu-Arabic numeral system now used
universally throughout the world.
MADHAVA OF
SANGAMAGRAMA
He was an Indian mathematician and
astronomer who lived in the 14th century.
He was a significant figure in the Kerala
School of Mathematics and made
pioneering contributions to the fields of
calculus and mathematical analysis.

1340 BC – 1425 BC
85 years old
v Madhava of Sangamagrama is considered as the founder of
mathematical analysis.
v In trigonometry, He has discovered power series expansions
of arctangent, sine, and cosine function.
v He has derived the π infinite series summation formulae.
v He was the one who has taken the initiative in the
development of calculus.
v Madhava improved the works of great mathematicians like the
works of Bhāskara II.
v By iteration and continued fractions, He also discovered the
solutions of transcendental equations.
v He polynomial expansion methods.
v He also found an infinite series of tests of convergence.
v He explained the infinite continued fractions.
v He created the sin table in trigonometry.
v He also worked on to derive the value of mathematical
constant 𝜋.
v He evaluated the value of number series to n terms.
v He has done a significant development in mathematics in
Kerala.
CHINA
China is one of the ancient
civilizations with substantial
contributions in many areas of
life like medicine, astronomy,
science, mathematics, arts,
philosophy and music among
others. Chinese civilizations
have greatly influenced many of
its neighbor countries like
Korea, Japan. Philippines,
Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia,
Myanmar, and other countries
that belong the old Silk road. Chinese Civilization
Traditional medicine. The Chinese are known for traditional
medicine, a product of centuries of experiences and discovery of
the Chinese people. They discovered various medical properties
and uses of different plants and animals to cure illness. An example
of acupuncture.

Technology. The Chinese are known to develop many tools.

Among the famous discoveries and inventions of the Chinese
civilizations were compass, papermaking, gunpowder, and printing
tools that became in the West only by the end of Middle Ages.
They also invented other tools like iron plough, wheelbarrow, and
propeller, among others. They developed a design of different
models of bridges, invented the first seismological detector, and
developed a dry dock facility.
Astronomy. The Chinese made significant records on supernovas,
lunar and solar eclipses, and comets, which where carefully
recorded and preserved to understand better the heavenly bodies
and their effects to the world.

Seismology. The Chinese are also known in seismology. This

made them more prepared in times of natural calamities.

China made substantial contributions in various fields. These were made

along with mathematics, logic, philosophy, and medicine.
However, cultural factors prevented these Chinese achievements from
developing into modern science. According to Needham (1986), it may
have been the religious and philosophical framework of Chinese
intellectuals that made them unable to accept the ideas of laws of
nature.
MIDDLE EAST COUNTRIES
The middle east countries are dominantly occupied by Muslims. With the
spread of Islam in the 7th and 8th centuries, a period of Muslim scholarship,
or what is called the Golden Age of Islam lasted until the 13th century.

Muslim scientists placed greater value on science

experiments rather than plan-thought experiments.
This led to the development of the scientific method in
the Muslim world.

Ibn a-Haytham is regarded as Father of Optics, especially for his 965 CE – 1040 CE
empirical proof of the intromission theory of light. 75 years old
 1

In mathematics, the mathematician Muhammad ibn

Musa Al-Khwarizmi gave his name to the concept of
algorithm while the term algebra is derived from
al-jabr, the beginning of the title of one of his
publications.

What is now known as the Arabic Numeral System originally

came from India, but Muslim mathematicians did make
several refinements to the number system such as the
introduction of the decimal point system.

Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi 780 CE – 850 CE

70 years old
 1

Muslim chemists and alchemists also played an

important role in the foundation of modern chemistry.

In particular, some scholars consider Jabir ibn Hayyan

to be the “Father of Chemistry.”

Jabir ibn Hayyan 780 CE – 850 CE

70 years old
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