A Brief History of Science

Title: A Brief History of Science – As Seen Through The Development of Scientific InstrumentsAuthor: Thomas CrumpPublisher: Universities Press (India) Pvt Ltd, 2004 (First published 2001)ISBN: 978-81-7371-497-9

The origin of science dates back to antiquity and starts with the mastery over fire. The pre-historic man was already familiar with fire in the form of wild-fires and lightnings which couldn’t be controlled. Darwin has noted that “the discovery of fire, possibly the greatest ever made by man, excepting language, dates from before the dawn of history”. The mastery over fire blossomed into rapid strides in pottery and ceramics which paved the way for civilizations to rise. There were only 10 chemical elements known to ancient man were iron, sulphur, carbon, zinc, copper, tin, lead, mercury, silver and gold. Newer kilns provided greater temperatures for smelting and it became possible to work with molten iron, which has a high melting point of 1535 deg C than copper (1083 deg C), zinc (420 deg) or tin (232 deg).

The ancient thought was dominated by the writings of Aristotle which was canonized by Thomas Acquinas in the 13^th century. Even though Aristotle was not a Christian, Acquinas took him from science to theology. In a day when politics was closely tied to the Church, the legacy of Acquinas placed a severe restriction on scientific thought. This was later to cause embarrassment for Galileo who maintained that the earth revolves round the sun. The Catholic church opposed it on the ground that Aristotle has said that the sun goes round the earth! The century after the fall of Constantinople (1453) saw the rise of great astronomers life Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler. Tycho coined the word ‘nova’ for exploding stars. In 1572, he observed a brilliant new heavenly body in the constellation Cassiopeia and designated it ‘nova stella’ (new star). Kepler’s observations about the errors in the orbits of Mars helped him formulate the famous Kepler laws and negated Aristotle in the sense that planets don’t move in perfect circles, but in ellipses. Interest in astronomy helped develop telescopes and as a natural corrollary, microscopes. Holland was the place where making of lenses and basic optical phenomena like refraction and its laws were fully understood. Van Leeuwenhoek performed observations on plant and animal physiology. Isaac Newton entered the stage by the latter half of 17^th century. He contributed to mathematics, optics, gravity and several other fields. He used a prism to separate light into its component colours and proposed a theory for interference. He also a built a telescope with a resolution of 40X which was great in those times.

Time keeping was an essential aspect of maritime travel, as the sighting of heavenly bodies was not practical in a cloudy night. John Harrison developed a chronometer H4 which was precise to a second in a course of one month. The development of the measure for length, steam locomotion, electric telegraphy and the postage stamp occurred in the 50-year period from 1790-1840. In 1842, an Austrian physicist, Christian Doppler stated the principle of changes in the pitch of sound from approaching or receding vehicles. This was tested in 1845 by having a locomotive draw an open carriage with several trumpeters through a station on the Dutch railway. The pitch of the trumpets, as heard by observers on the platform, lowered immediately as the train passed by. The drop in frequency, related to the speed of the train, accorded precisely with Doppler’s principle which was to prove a fundamental rule in the case of electromagnetic waves too. We measure the distance to stars using the red-shift in their spectra due to this effect.

Along with the developments in other areas, measurement also found prominence in the renaissance era. But the unit of pound dates back to Roman times. As the Roman empire came to its end, a unit of measurement called pound (libra) developed to denote the standard both of money and weight. The relationship was defined by equating a pound of silver to the same amount in money. France took the lead in developing a standard measure of length and weight by the end of 18^th century. In 1788, a commission of six scientists including Coulomb, Laplace and Lavoisier was founded in Paris. For developing the units, the commission decided to base it on some constant of physics. For metre, there were two possibilities. One was to make use to Huygens’ discovery that the period of oscillation of a pendulum depended only on its length and the other was to base it on the length of a meridian. It opted for the latter, a long straight meridian was chosen from Dunkirk in France to Barcelona in Spain passing through Paris. This was precisely measured by scientists using the triangulation method even during the turbulent times of the French revolution and the metre was standardised. To use the terms for international purposes, latin and greek words were used. For smaller measures, Latin suffixes milli-, centi-, and deci- were proposed and for larger measures, Greek suffixes like the deca, hecto and kilo were proposed. At the same time, the liquid measure, litre, was defined as 1 cubic decimetre of water. During this time the English were battling the French and they didn’t attend the convention to formulate new units. The English-speaking world, particularly the U.S with its archaic system of weights and measures, is still paying the price. (p.82-85). The quest for knowledge permeated all the spheres of lives of these scientists at that era. The Marquis of Laplace (1749-1827) published his magnum opus, ‘Celestial Mechanics’ of his theories on planetary origins. Napoleon, always interested in astronomy, was particularly impressed by Laplace’s achievements, and asked him what part God had played. Laplace is still remembered for his classic answer: “I have no need of that hypothesis” (p.297-98)

There have been recent speculations in India and elsewhere regarding the origin of the use of powered rockets as a means of warfare. Some people claim that it was used by Tipu Sultan during the siege of Srirangapatnam against the British. In fact, no less a person than Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, renowned rocket scientist and former President of India has claimed likewise. But, the author presents a different picture in this book. “In China, projectiles powered by rockets were used in the Sung-Chin wars, almost a thousand years ago. The basic science consisted of finding a fuel (gun powder in Sung China) that would burn at an optimal rate” (p.94-95). We should ascertain the true facts before honouring Tipu Sultan on this count!

The discovery of electricity changed the course of history forever. The first serious study of magnetism and electricity was ‘On the Magnet’ by William Gilbert in 1600 based on experiments with lodestone, a magnet used by experimenters at that time. Images of the versorium, an instrument built by Gilbert was the first known pictorial representation of any electrical instrument. This consisted of a pivoted needle which pointed to the direction of electric charge. In 1660, Otto von Guericke constructed the first electrical machine consisting of a sulphur globe and demonstrating static electricity. Innovations in such instruments led to the development of Leyden jar, in the Dutch city Leyden, for storing electric charge.The discharge of the jar caused mild shock and this so delighted King Louis XV of France, when he had 700 monks hold hands in Paris, with the two at the ends of the chain using their free hands to discharge a Leyden jar. Experiments which followed helped Benjamin Franklin to develop lightning conductors. The power of lightning was demonstrated by Franklin in different ways. He constructed a sentry-box, constructed on an insulating stand to be placed on a high building. A rod, 20-30 feet long, pointed at its far end, would then rise vertically through the roof of the sentry-box. When thunder clouds gathered, the man inside who was well insulated brought a wax candle close to the rod which cause sparks. Franklin always made clear that the wax handle should be earthed with a metal wire to protect the man in the box. In St. Petersburg, a local scientist called Richmann omitted this precaution and was electrocuted. Alessandro Volta (1745-1827) developed the voltaic pile which provided the first continuous source of electric current. He was assisted in these ventures by Luigi Galvani, a physiologist who observed muscle contractions in dead frogs when subjected to electric charge. Michael Faraday (1791-1867) was the most successful inventor in the point of lastingness. Electromagnetic induction resulted in the development of electric motors and generators. James Clark Maxwell integrated electricity into magnetism with his theory.

Spectral analysis constituted another area of investigation, particularly in the 19^th century. The element, Helium was first observed using spectrometer on the surface of the sun, before it was discovered on earth. It also reached outside the visible range. J J Thomson’s experiments with specially designed cathode ray tubes led to the discovery of the electron. The integrity of the atom (which meant ‘indivisible’ in Greek) was lost forever. This led to researches in nuclear fission and fusion. After the Manhattan project brought out the devastating power of the atom in painful detail at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, scientists flocked to studies about fusion. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist in charge at Los Alamos, after the testing of the bomb in July 1945 is said to have quoted from the Bhagavad Gita, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”. It is interesting to read the resolution of the dispute between England and Germany regarding the location of their joint project (Joint European Torus – JET). While the arguments were on, a Lufthansa plane was hijacked and forced to land at Mogadishu in Somalia. The German chancellor, Helmut Schmidt was desperate to rescue the passengers, but only the British army had trained commandos to do the job. This team was called in to help the Germans and all passengers were rescued. Schmidt was so grateful that he offered the British prime minister, Jim Callaghan, to name a reward. The response was to ask Schmidt to give up Germany’s claim to the tokamak, and JET opened for business in Oxfordshire in 1978.

Summing up, the book is a must-read for knowing the historical origins of science. A large spectrum of inventions, from the fire to sub-atomic particles are explained and details given. Hundreds of scientists are mentioned by name and in this sense, is a good starting point for further exploration to interested readers. However, there are some points, like crystallography, which is explained in unnecessary and avoidable detail. The barrage of Greek letters in the book may repel at least some of the lay readers who don’t have any formal education in science. The organisation of the theme is also not well done and transgression from the main thread can be seen in several chapters. Besides, some scientists are made conspicuous by absence. Even though theories about stellar origins and ends are described, the name of Chandrasekhar is not mentioned which can only be construed as a slip rather than deliberate omission. The most serious accusation against the book can be that it doesn’t do justice to its title. ‘The development of scientific instruments’ is not developed enough in the main story. Some of the instruments discussed were not appealing to ordinary readers and articulations were not interesting. Even in spite of all these, the book is a superb piece of research and perseverance. The impressive bibliography given at the end may indeed make the work fit for a doctoral thesis. Authors from Gilbert in 1600 to Bertrand Russel are indicated. A very fine work indeed!

Rating: 3 Star