British achievements in science and technology

CONTENTS

 
 

Introduction………………………………………………………..…….……..

1 Science before the Industrial Revolution ………………………....................

1.1 The Royal Society………………….…………...…….................................

1.2 Sir Isaac Newton...........................................................................................

1.3 Robert Hooke……………….………………………………..………….…

1.4 Robert Boyle……………….………………………………………………

1.5 William Harvey …………...……………………………………………….

1.6 Henry Cavendish, William Gilbert and Joseph Priestley ………………….

2 Science during the Industrial Revolution…………………………………….

2.1 Inventions and inventors that made revolution closer……..……………….

2.2 The history of the steam engine …………………………………...............

2.3 Invention of locomotive and railway …………………………………..….

2.4 Michael Faraday ……………………….…………………………………..

2.5 James Joule and Thompson Kelvin …………………………......................

2.6 Charles Darwin ………………………….…………………………………

2.7 Charles Bell and James Young ……………………………………………

3 British science today…………………………………………………………

3.1 Medicine and biology …………………………………...............................

3.2 Genetics…………………………………………………………………….

3.4 Botany and agriculture……………………………………………………..

3.5 Engineering and technology………………………………………………..

3.6 Air and space exploration…………………………………………………

3.7 Military technologies………………………………………………………

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………… 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

     INTRODUCTION 
 

     Knowledge is power and with knowledge you can face up to anything. Science is one of its leading forces. Those who have best opportunities for scientific researches and progress has best future prospect: highly developed countries has best industrial equipment, best arms, stable profit and good position on the world area.

     Britain is one of the nations, whose science and technologies has always been trendsetters in the world. Since the opening of the Royal Society and first world-famous universities Britain has taken leading role in scientific progress among other countries. You don’t need to be an expert in science to know such names as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle, Michael Faraday. It’s also notable that such inventions as first computer, steam engine and electric motor, railway and thermometer were made in Britain. Britain has always been good testing ground for scientific minds and new ideas. It was the only country where during the Middle-Ages scientists were not persecuted. And it was the first country where the Industrial Revolution had started. Today Britain retains its high scientific and technological standards: Britain is the second after the USA in the number of Nobel prize winners, it has leading physic, engineering and medical research laboratories, it has good opportunities for air and space exploration and advanced army equipment.

     I decided to divide my course work into three sections: British science before the Industrial Revolution (11-18 centuries), during the Industrial Revolution (18-20 centuries) and British science today (from the beginning of the 20th century till nowadays). The first two sections will be devoted to the best scientists in British history and their innovations. I didn’t divide these sections into usual learning spheres such as physics or biology because in my opinion it’s impossible for humanist to describe for example all achievements of British physics or chemistry in terms of one entire article. Also in some periods there were simply just one or two representatives of biology or astronomy and it would be incorrect to associate them with the whole scientific sphere. So I decided to give preference to the most important and famous British minds and associate every article with one or several of them. Of course third section about modern British science and technologies will be presented according to the most prosperous scientific spheres. Before each new section I’ll try to give some kind of preview where I’ll explain why I chose such and such topics, what are the main trends of that period and I’ll try to add my own thoughts in some articles. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

     1 SCIENCE BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 
 

     This period occupies huge time since the opening of Oxford and Cambridge universities and till the first premises for the Industrial Revolution.

     One of the most important events of that period was the establishment of the Royal Society. As well as the Royal Society governed work of almost all scientists, the society helped to bring up some of them: Newton, Hooke and Boyle. More or less the society took part in every new discovery or invention of that time.

     This period was also associated with one of the most outstanding scientists: Sir Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, Robert Hooke, Henry Cavendish and Joseph Priestley. Their theoretical and experimental discoveries has raised world science to the new level. As for example Harvey’s discovery of blood circulation that had absolutely changed medical and biological community of that tome. Or Newton’s law of gravity which had opened new horizons for experimental scientists.

     It was very interesting for me that in comparison with other countries, pre-industrial Britain has much more experimental scientists than anyone else. In tote this period could not be proud of many experimenters but in comparison with other countries Britain stands out of them. I think it was because of early governmental involvement into science and scientific progress. British sovereigns were first to understand all the importance of scientists and their work.

     Unfortunately this times didn’t left us outstanding mathematicians or astronomers. In 1594 John Napier invents logarithms and later some mathematical discoveries were made by Newton and William Brouncker. Some astronomical discoveries were made by Robert Hooke but we can’t consider him as the astronomer only.

     This period can be also denoted as the period of funny but necessary inventions: mousetrap, flush toilet, spinning rod, cuff link, weathercock corkscrew and some other. We don’t know the names of authors of these inventions but along with Newton and Darwin Britain can be proud of these men.

     In general terms British science before the 18^th passed very fast start-up period and became characterized as stable ground for future discoveries. 
 

     1.1 The Royal Society 
 

     The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is arguably the oldest such society in existence.

     The origins of the Royal Society lie in an "invisible college" of natural philosophers who began meeting in the mid 1640s to discuss the ideas of Francis Bacon. Its official foundation date is 28 November 1660, when 12 of them met at Gresham College after a lecture by Christopher Wren, the Gresham Professor of Astronomy, and decided to found a College for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematical Experimental Learning. This group included Wren himself, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, Sir Robert Moray, and William, Viscount Brouncker.

     The Society was to meet weekly to witness experiments and discuss what we would now call scientific topics. The first Curator of Experiments was Robert Hooke. It was Moray who first told the King, Charles II, of this venture and secured his approval and encouragement. At first apparently nameless, the name The Royal Society first appears in print in 1661, and in the second Royal Charter of 1663 the Society is referred to as “The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge”. In 1662 the Society was permitted by Royal Charter to publish and the first two books it produced were John Evelyn's Sylva and Micrographia by Robert Hooke. In 1665, the first issue of Philosophical Transactions was edited by Henry Oldenburg, the Society's Secretary. The Society took over publication some years later and Philosophical Transactions is now the oldest scientific journal in continuous publication. Over the next century the work and staff of the Society grew rapidly and soon outgrew this site. Therefore in 1967 the Society moved to its present location on Carlton House Terrace with a staff which has now grown to over 120, all working to further the Royal Society's roles as independent scientific academy, learned society and funding body [1, p. 22].

     The Society today acts as a scientific advisor to Her Majesty's Government, receiving a grant-in-aid from them, funding a variety of research fellowships and scientific start-up companies and acting as the United Kingdom's Academy of Sciences. As a funding agency, the Society supports around 400 of the best young scientists in the UK as well as 17 senior research professors. In addition, more than 3000 scientists from the UK and abroad benefit from Society grants to undertake research or participate in visits or conferences. Outstanding scientific achievement is recognized through the Society's medals and prizes. These include the UK's foremost award for science communication, the Michael Faraday Prize, and the Rosalind Franklin Medal, awarded for scientific excellence with winners expected to undertake work in support of women in science. 
 

     1.2 Sir Isaac Newton

       

     Newton, Sir Isaac (1642-1727), English natural philosopher, generally regarded as the most important scientist in the history. In addition to his invention of the infinitesimal calculus and a new theory of light and color, Newton transformed the structure of physical science with his three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation.

     Newton's first innovations were connected with optical research. In 1665-1666, Newton performed a number of experiments on the composition of light. Guided initially by the writings of Kepler and Descartes, Newton's main discovery was that visible (white) light is heterogeneous - that is, white light is composed of colors that can be considered primary. Through a brilliant series of experiments, Newton demonstrated that prisms separate rather than modify white light. Contrary to the theories of Aristotle and other ancients, Newton held that white light is secondary and heterogeneous, while the separate colors are primary and homogeneous. Of perhaps equal importance, Newton also demonstrated that the colors of the spectrum, once thought to be qualities, correspond to an observed and quantifiable “degree of Refrangibility” [6, p. 171].

     Newton's most famous experiment, the experimentum crucis, demonstrated his theory of the composition of light. Briefly, in a dark room Newton allowed a narrow beam of sunlight to pass from a small hole in a window shutter through a prism, thus breaking the white light into an oblong spectrum on a board. Then, through a small aperture in the board, Newton selected a given color (for example, red) to pass through yet another aperture to a second prism, through which it was refracted onto a second board. What began as ordinary white light was thus dispersed through two prisms [11, p. 209].

     The myth of Newton and the apple maybe not true. Probably the more correct version of the story is that Newton, upon observing an apple fall from a tree, began to think along the following lines: The apple is accelerated, since its velocity changes from zero as it is hanging on the tree and moves toward the ground. Thus there must be a force that acts on the apple to cause this acceleration. Let's call this force "gravity", and the associated acceleration the "acceleration due to gravity". Then imagine the apple tree is twice as high. Again, we expect the apple to be accelerated toward the ground, so this suggests that this force that we call gravity reaches to the top of the tallest apple tree."

     Newton's final gesture before death was his three laws of motion. The first said that every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. The second described that the relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma. Acceleration and force are vectors (as indicated by their symbols being displayed in slant bold font); in this law the direction of the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector. And the third explained that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction [10, p. 371]. 
 

     1.3 Robert Hooke 
 

     No portrait survives of Robert Hooke. His name is somewhat obscure today, due in part to the enmity of his famous, influential, and extremely vindictive colleague, Sir Isaac Newton. His interests knew no bounds, ranging from physics and astronomy, to chemistry, biology, and geology, to architecture and naval technology. He collaborated or corresponded with scientists as diverse as Christian Huygens, Antony van Leeuwenhoek, Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, and Isaac Newton. Among other accomplishments, he invented the universal joint, the iris diaphragm, and an early prototype of the respirator; invented the anchor escapement and the balance spring, which made more accurate clocks possible; served as Chief Surveyor and helped rebuild London after the Great Fire of 1666; worked out the correct theory of combustion; devised an equation describing elasticity that is still used today ("Hooke's Law"); assisted Robert Boyle in studying the physics of gases; invented or improved meteorological instruments such as the barometer, anemometer, and hygrometer; and so on. He was the type of scientist that was then called a virtuoso - able to contribute findings of major importance in any field of science. It is not surprising that he made important contributions to biology and to paleontology.

     Hooke is best known to those who study elementary Physics through Hooke's Law: Ut tensio, sic vis. The extension of a spring is proportional to the weight hanging from it. This work sprang from Hooke's interest in flight and the spring or elasticity of air. This work appeared in De Potentia Restitutiva in 1678 [8, p. 99]. His interest in gases and their properties also found expression in his work on respiration; one experiment had him in a sealed vessel, from which the air was gradually pumped. He did not emerge from this experiment without some damage to his ears and nose.

     Hooke’s achievements in Biology largely rest on his book Micrographia, published in 1665. Hooke devised the compound microscope and illumination system, one of the best such microscopes of his time, and used it in his demonstrations at the Royal Society's meetings. With it he observed organisms as diverse as insects, sponges, bryozoans, foraminifera, and bird feathers. Micrographia was an accurate and detailed record of his observations, illustrated with magnificent drawings, such as the flea shown below, which Hooke described as "adorn'd with a curiously polish'd suite of sable Armour, neatly jointed. . ." It was a best-seller of its day. Some readers ridiculed Hooke for paying attention to such trifling pursuits: a satirist of the time poked fun at him as "a Sot, that has spent 2000£ in Microscopes, to find out the nature of Eels in Vinegar, Mites in Cheese, and the Blue of Plums which he has subtly found out to be living creatures." More complimentary was the reaction of the diarist and government official Samuel Pepys, who stayed up till 2:00 AM one night reading Micrographia, which he called "the most ingenious book that I ever read in my life" [21, p. 218].

     Robert Hooke's researches over nearly 40 years covered a wide variety of Natural Philosophy. Hooke suggested a wave theory of light in his Micrographia (1665), comparing the spreading of light vibrations to that of waves in water. He suggested in 1672 that the vibrations in light might be perpendicular to the direction of propagation. He investigated the colours of membranes and of thin plates of mica, and established the variation of the light pattern with the thickness of the plates. 
 

     1.4 Robert Boyle 
 

     Among the many contenders for the title of "Father of Modern Chemistry" is Robert Boyle. Boyle was the first prominent scientist to perform controlled experiments and to publish his work with elaborate details concerning procedure, apparatus and observations. He assembled what we would today call a "research group", developed a key piece of apparatus - the vacuum pump, was instrumental in founding the Royal Society, and deserves at least partial credit for the famous gas law which bears his name.

     Boyle published copiously on topics ranging across several fields of science, philosophy, and theology. His first major scientific report, The Spring and Weight of the Air, was published in 1660 and described experiments using a new vacuum pump of his design. Previous pumps, invented by von Guericke (of Magdeburg hemisphere fame), required the strenuous efforts of two men and provided dubious results. Boyle's pump could be operated easily and efficiently by one man. With it Boyle demonstrated that the sound of a bell in the receiver (a thirty quart vacuum chamber) faded as the air was removed, proving that air was necessary for the transmission of sound. In further experiments, he also proved that air was necessary for life and for a candle flame [12, p. 47].

     Boyle's best known contribution to scientific knowledge is the 1661 publication of The Sceptical Chymist in which he discusses the idea of an element. Aristotelian science held that elements were not just the simplest of all substances but were also necessary ingredients of all bodies, i.e., if water is an element then all bodies must contain at least a small amount of water. Boyle's idea of an element was somewhat vague and certainly not "modern" in the 20th century sense. But he presented persuasive experimental evidence that most of the commonly accepted elements (fire, water, salt, mercury, etc) did not meet both of the Aristotelian criteria.