Brad+Mitchell+Entry+1

__History of Science: Origins to Newton - A brief outline__ by Dr Robert A. Hatch

I thought that this article provided a very good outline of scientific progress up until the advent of Newtonian physics. At the start of the page he summed up the role of myth in society by saying that "Many myths seem global in character, indicating that, in spite of vast geographical separation, various cultures were attempting to explain a 'shared experience'." This, the Giorgio de Santillana view, I agree with. Myth was just the way for early man to explain what was then unexplainable. It's true even today. Many times if one sees something that is beyond their comprehension,  they will make up a story to explain it. The next thing that Dr. Hatch covers is early science. He catalogs all the major early civilizations, giving their strengths, weaknesses, and scientific advancements. The Babylons for insistence, had a "sexagesimal computational system" which allowed thembe to do very accurate mathematics including quadratic and quartic equations. The Egyptians, on the other hand, were not so adept at straight computational work but were very skilled in geometry and simple machines. Hence their ability to construct such wonders as the great pyramids. Even more set apart from the aforementioned civilizations were the Greeks. They took a more philosophical approach to science. Philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle observed their surroundings and drew conclusions based on what they saw. Some of them were right on target, others were close, and many other conclusions were completely wrong but taken with little question as the truth. As the Romans took over, Greek science was absorbed but very little progress was made. They created many semi-advanced technologies, and began to adopt institutional research but the basic principals of science would stay the same.

Science would once again come into play in 11th century Europe. During this time and the centuries that followed there were tremendous advances in many technologies but the science behind them was unclear. This is was also the time when Universities began to come into play. They provided a place for people to question the accepted scientific truths and make changes to what were believed to be the laws of nature. They also provided for a place to assimilate science taken from the Arabs during the crusades. The Arabic people had studied mathematics indepth and had become adept at algebra. They also studied astronomy adding to the knowledge of the heavens.

Next, Dr. Hatch covers the begininngs of the Scientific revolution. It was a time when the western world was slowly crawling out of a time of very slow progress caused by ridiculous superstitions and once again beginning to embrace the world for what it was. It was the time that gave way to such revolutionary thinkers like Copernicus with his heliocentric model, Galileo with uniform acceleration during free-fall, and Kepler with his early theories on gravitation.