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Science Friction_ Where the Known Meets the Unknown - Michael Shermer [124]

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of animals and plants (ends hunter-gatherer lifestyle): dog: c. 10,000; goat/sheep: 8,700; pig: 7,500; cattle: 6,800; chicken: 5,000; horse: 4,400; mule/donkey/camel: 3,000; cat: 2,500; wheat/barley: 8,600; potatoes: 8,000; rice: 7,000; sugarcane: 7,000; squash: 6,000; maize: 5,700; grapes: 4,000; olives: 3,500; cotton: 3,300

2. Widespread use of metals: copper c. 4,000; bronze c. 3,000; iron c. 2,000

3. Plow in common use c. 3500-3000

4. Wheel in common use c. 3500-3000

5. Writing (cuneiform) c. 3300 (Sumeria)

6. Founding of natural Greek philosophy c. 600-500 (Ionian Miletus)

7. Geometry (Pythagoras) 581-497 (helped found Western science)

8. Hippocratic collection/oath 460-377 (sixty medical books)

9. Atomic theory (“Atomists”) c. 400 (Democritus)

10. Aristotelian logic and naturalism c. 335

11. Elements of geometry (Euclid)

12. Zero used in mathematics c. 300 (Babylon)

13. Alexandrian library burned 47 (burned again in C.E. 391)

14. Waterwheel in productive use 14 (Roman)

15. Guide to geography and Almagest c. 90-160 (Ptolemy—geocentrism; grid lines on map bend with curvature of earth; “Terra Incognita” triggers later explorations)

16. Arch c. 100 (Roman architecture)

17. Lateen sail (Arab) c. 100-200 (improves speed/maneuverability of ships)

18. Paper (China) 105 (Ts’ai Lun)

19. Descriptive anatomy/experimental physiology 129-199 (Galen—four humors identified)

20. Stirrup (Europe) c. 700-800 (changed knight warfare)

21. Astrolabe 850 (Arab—navigation)

22. Magnetic compass in common use 1125 (China and Europe)

23. Flying buttress c. 1200 (European architecture)

24. Coal discovered 1233 (England-—source of fuel)

25. Decimal notation (Arab) 1250 (replaced Roman numerals)

26. De Computo Naturali 1264 (Roger Bacon—experimental “natural” science)

27. Marco Polo’s explorations 1271-1295 (to China and the Far East)

28. Verge-and-Foliot clock 1280 (improves timing, mechanizes society)

29. Gunpowder c. mid-thirteenth century (earlier in China)

30. Spectacles 1303 (unknown inventor)

31. Perspective geometry c. 1400 (Toscanelli/Brunelleschi—cartography and art; world map with grid lines/perspective used by Columbus)

32. Printing press/movable type 1454 (Gutenberg—Germany)

33. Portable/inexpensive book 1495 (Aldus Manutius—Italy, “pocket” book)

34. Circumnavigation of the earth 1522 (Magellan’s expedition)

35. Organic theory of disease 1527 (Paracelsus)

36. On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres 1543 (Copernicus)

37. Structure of the human body 1543 (Vesalius)

38. Telescope 1600 (Lippershey/Holland; 1608—Galileo’s astronomical observations)

39. Laws of planetary motion 1618-1619 (Kepler)

40. Patent laws 1623 (England)

41. Circulatory system 1628 (Harvey)

42. Development of scientific method 1629 (Francis Bacon’s Novum Organum initiates development, followed by contributions from Galileo, Descartes, Newton)

43. Dialogue concerning two chief world systems 1632 (Galileo supports heliocentricism)

44. Discourse on Method and Geometrie 1637 (Descartes, mechanistic/reductionistic philosophy of science; analytic geometry)

45. Coke (England) 1640 (improved fuel from coal)

46. Probability theory 1654 (Pascal)

47. Pendulum clock 1657 (Huygens vastly improves timing devices)

48. Microscope 1665 (unknown inventor; Hookes Micrographia)

49. Balance spring timepiece 1674 (Hooke/Huygens—accurate time keeping/calculation of longitude)

50. Differential/integral calculus 1675 (Newton/Leibniz)

51. Mathematical principles of natural philosophy 1687 (Newton’s Principia)

52. Crucible steel process 1740 (Huntsman)

53. Steam engine 1775 (Watt, Newcomen, Papin)

54. Elements of chemistry 1789 (Lavoisier)

55. Cotton gin 1793 (Whitney)

56. Vaccination 1798 (Jenner)

57. Essay on population 1798 (Malthus identifies overpopulation problem)

58. Standardization of machine parts 1800 (Brunel/Maudslay)

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