NEW IDEAS
Astronomical observer The things of this world cannot
An avid astronomer, Bacon argued
that the Universe must be spherical. “be made without a knowledge
He calculated the distance from Earth ”of mathematics.
to the stars as 130 million miles
(209 million km). We now know Roger Bacon, Opus Maius,
the distance is many millions of 1267–1268
times greater.
49
1245 ▶1345 In 1267, English monk Roger Bacon
described the eye’s structure, the
The earliest use of magnifying lenses, and also
manuscript of an early type of telescope.
Song Ci’s The
Washing Away 1286
of Wrongs is Eyeglasses
from 1408. This
example is from In the 13th century, scientists
the 19th century. began experiments with
magnifying objects using
1247 glass lenses. In 1286, Italian
friar Giordano da Pisa gave
Work on forensic medicine the first description of lenses
used as spectacles. Early
Song Ci, a Chinese lawyer, wrote The Washing eyeglasses corrected
Away of Wrongs—the world’s first work on forensic farsightedness, a particular
medicine (the use of scientific knowledge in crime problem for monks and
investigation). His aim was to improve the evidence friars who often had to
presented in legal cases, particularly of murder. He read and write manuscripts
collected information about past cases and was in dim light.
critical about the unreliable tests traditionally
conducted by court officers. French clergyman wears
eyeglasses for close work.
1245 1275
Seeds from 1260 1269
poppy head
Using anesthetics Magnetic force
In his groundbreaking medical writings, Italian French scholar Pierre de Marincourt
surgeon Teodorico Borgognoni discussed described the lines of magnetic
many aspects of surgery and the care of force surrounding a magnet. He
wounds. Using an early form of anesthesia, showed that a compass has two
he sedated his patients before operations poles, and that oppositely charged
with sponges soaked in opium or other magnetic poles attract each other,
sleep-inducing herbs. while similarly charged poles repel
(push apart) each other.
Mandrake root SHepe7eea6opl–pia7nlg7eges Dial marked
in degrees
Magnetized needle
A solution made with ingredients Then the stone that you Diagram of a needle compass,
such as opium poppy seeds or from de Marincourt’s Epistola de
mandrake root was soaked on “hold in your hand will appear Magnete (Letter on the Magnet)
a sponge and given to patients ”to flee the floating stone.
to make them sleep.
Pierre de Marincourt on magnetic
50 repulsion, Epistola de Magnete, 1269
LENSES AND THE EYE
The Ancient Greeks believed that vision was the result
of the eye emitting a wave that bounced back from an
object in the line of sight. By the 13th century, scholars
such as Roger Bacon (see pp.48–49) understood it was
the other way around: that light emitted from an object
hit the lens of the eye to create an image.
3. Cells on retina turn light rays
into signals that are sent to the
brain and interpreted as images.
2. Lens focuses
light onto retina
(light-sensitive layer
at back of eye).
1300 Light
Rainbow theory 1. Cornea diffracts Cross-section of the human eye
(bends) light as
German monk Theodoric of Freiburg used it strikes eye.
small, water-filled glass bottles to show that
light passing through them was both reflected
and refracted (sent in different directions). He
concluded that beams of sunlight hitting water
drops in a cloud bend in the same way,
causing a rainbow.
1305 1345
1315 1323
First public dissection Ockham’s razor
Italian physician Mondino da Luzzi In his book Summa Logicae (The Sum of Logic),
performed the first public dissection English friar William of Ockham reasoned that
of a body at Bologna, Italy. This gave seeking an explanation for something should
be simplified by cutting out any unnecessary
medical students and doctors a information or arguments. The principle became
greatly improved understanding known as Ockham’s razor.
of human anatomy.
c 1200–1280 ALBERTUS MAGNUS
German Dominican friar Albertus Magnus was inspired Page from Magnus’s treatise
by the work of the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle on natural history
(see pp.30–31) to compile an encyclopedia of
philosophical and scientific knowledge. Albertus
believed in discovering the causes of things through
science, and he is regarded as the founder of natural
science as a field of study. His work ranged across
many subjects, including theology (study of
religion), logic, zoology, and alchemy (medieval
chemistry). He was an excellent teacher and
among his pupils was the famous Christian
theologian Thomas Aquinas.
1390, MAHDIA, TUNISIA
French crusaders use cannons in an attempt to breach the walls of the North African city of Mahdia in 1390.
52
NEW IDEAS
History of
gunpowder
The Chinese understood the explosive properties
of gunpowder—a mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and
charcoal—as early as the 9th century ce. They adapted its
use to military purposes, producing “fire-arrows,” rockets,
and flamethrowers. Around 1250, they made the first
cannons. Knowledge of gunpowder weaponry spread
westward, reaching Europe about 1300. Cannons soon
appeared in battles there. Within a hundred years,
handheld guns were developed, but it was early artillery —
the big guns—that proved most effective in sieges,
where they could demolish fortifications once thought
indestructible. There was no such success for the French
at the so-called Mahdia Crusade pictured here, as their
firepower was not sufficient to breach city walls.
It made such a noise in the
“going, as though all the devils
”of hell had been on the way.
Jean Froissart, Chronicles, giving an
account of the use of cannons at the siege
of Oudenaarde, in Flanders, 1382
53
1345▶1445 In 1357, French
philosopher Jean
SAeneaptaogmeys 1368 Buridan developed the
36–37 theory of impetus,
Guild of Surgeons the force that makes
an object move.
The foundation of a Guild of Surgeons
in England, in 1368, was the first attempt 1380
to provide rules and regulations for the
profession. Before this, anyone—commonly Rocket warfare
barbers—had been able to practice surgery. reaches Europe
1349 The first recorded use in Europe
of rockets in warfare came at the
Motion and forces battle of Chioggia, a naval conflict
between the Italian cities of Venice
French mathematician and Genoa. Rockets are difficult
Nicolas d’Oresme worked to make and their military
out a new way of drawing use showed how a greater
graphs to represent the understanding of gunpowder
motion of moving objects. weaponry was developing.
The graphs helped to
explain the relationship An array of surgical instruments illustrated in the
between the speed, time, manuscript De Chirurgia (On Surgery) by the great
and distance traveled. Arab physician Albucasis.
1345 1385
1364 1377
Astronomical clock A rotating Earth
Italian clockmaker Giovanni de In his Livre du ciel et du monde (Book of
Dondi completed his astrarium—a Heaven and Earth), Nicolas d’Oresme
complex clock with dials showing disproved all the popular ideas that
the movements of the Sun, Moon, Earth was stationary at the center of the
and planets. It had more than 100 solar system. He also suggested that
gear wheels. As well as allowing Earth rotated on its axis. However,
astronomers to calculate the position he could not go as far as believing
of heavenly bodies, it provided that Earth moved around the Sun.
a calendar of Church holy days.
The astrarium had seven dials
and its central weight swung
around 30 times a minute.
“One could by this Nicolas d’Oresme seated by an armillary
sphere, a model of the solar system
believe that the earth
and not the heavens is
so moved, and there
”is no evidence to
the contrary.
Nicolas d’Oresme on the rotation of Earth,
Livre du ciel et du monde, 1377
c 1400 –1600 RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE NEW IDEAS
Inner dome
During the Renaissance, a cultural movement that Ring and herringbone of lighter
began in Italy in the mid-14th century, artists and pattern on outer dome material
architects rediscovered the classical past. Architects
based their buildings on Greek and Roman models,
using columns, arches, and domes. Architect
Filippo Brunelleschi of Florence spent 16 years
building the remarkable dome of Florence
Cathedral. This dome, at 147 ft (45 m) wide
and 374 ft (114 m) high, was the largest
unsupported dome yet built.
The dome of Florence Cathedral The campanile, or bell
tower, is 278 ft (85 m) high.
Building such a huge dome was believed
to be impossible. Brunelleschi designed an
inner dome of lightweight material and an
outer one of heavier stone. Oak timbers
set in rings connected the two domes and
supported them. Constructing the outer
dome was made easier because the
builder could balance on the already
finished inner dome.
1405 1445
1421 1436
First recorded patent Perspective in painting
The first patent—a license Roman artists knew how to use perspective
giving an inventor sole (a mathematical system for creating the
rights to an invention—was appearance of distance on a flat surface).
granted by the city of Florence Knowledge of the technique was later
to the Italian architect Filippo lost, but rediscovered during the Italian
Brunelleschi. It was for Renaissance. In 1436, Leon Battista Alberti,
a barge and hoist used to an architect and scholar, gave a full account
transport heavy marble slabs of it in his work On Painting.
up the Arno River. The patent
forbade anyone else from Vanishing
copying the idea for three years. point
Nicholas of Cusa Eye
German theologian level
Nicholas of Cusa (1401–
1464) believed that all Vanishing lines 55
things in the Universe are
in motion. From this he Perspective gives the illusion of depth.
concluded that Earth is not The artist draws objects smaller and closer
fixed and must move together until eventually they form a single
point known as the vanishing point.
around the Sun.
Nicholas of Cusa, portrayed here in a woodcut,
had theories on the Universe that would
influence scientists in later centuries.
1445 ▶1545 In 1490, Leonardo da Vinci described
capillary action: when water moves
Wooden plate 1450 up inside a thin tube, in a direction
for holding opposed to the force of gravity.
paper
1489
Lever tightens
plates together, Solid wooden Gutenberg’s press First use of
pressing inked frame holds + and – signs
type onto paper. plates steady to Johannes Gutenberg set up the first
prevent slippage. European printing press in Mainz, Johannes Widman, a German
Germany. This used movable type mathematician, was the first to
that could be rearranged and reused
to make up different pages of text. use the modern signs for plus
Producing books was made much (+) and minus (–). Previously,
easier and the technique spread
rapidly throughout Europe. mathematicians had used a
variety of signs, including “p”
and “m.” The sign “=” to
mean “equals” came into
use later, in 1557.
Replica of Gutenberg’s original press 1464 Page from
Regiomontanus’s
Trigonometry text On Triangles
German mathematician
Johannes Müller (known by his
Latin name, Regiomontanus)
wrote On Triangles, the first
textbook on trigonometry
(the study of the relationship
between angles and lengths
in triangles).
1445 1465 1485
Tent canvas on 1472 1492
a wooden frame
A comet observed Christopher Columbus
discovers America
An interest in astronomy led
Regiomontanus (Johannes When Genoese mariner Christopher
Müller) to make the first detailed Columbus sailed westward from
observations and descriptions of Spain, he was hoping to reach
a comet. Using trigonometrical
techniques, he worked out methods China. Instead he discovered the
for calculating the size of a comet Americas, landing somewhere in
and its distance from Earth.
the Bahamas. His voyage led to
Model of European colonization and an
the parachute exchange of food crops—and
Leonardo designed diseases—between Europe
in his sketchbooks
and the Americas.
Da Vinci’s Woodcut of a comet, from the Model of Santa Maria,
parachute Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493 Columbus’s flagship on
In his notebooks, Leonardo
da Vinci (see pp.58–59) his first expedition
sketched out many ideas for
machines centuries before
their final invention. In 1481,
he drew and described
a parachute made
of tent canvas.
56
NEW IDEAS
1473–1543 NICOLAUS COPERNICUS
Born in Poland, Copernicus studied astronomy,
mathematics, law, and medicine in Italy. When
asked to take part in a reform of the calendar,
Copernicus began to study Greek astronomer
Ptolemy’s 1,500-year-old system of celestial
spheres, in which he found flaws.
First The Copernican cosmos
surviving
Copernicus did not disagree with
globe Ptolemy’s idea that the planets
The first surviving globe
of the world was produced rotated in concentric spheres, but
in 1492 by cartographer he made corrections to some of
Martin Behaim, who made it Ptolemy’s other notions. In his
for his home city of Nuremberg amended version, he placed the
in Germany. It shows a world
Sun at the center of the Universe,
map and has many not Earth, as Ptolemy had done.
decorative illustrations.
Painting by Andreas Cellarius depicting
1505 Copernicus’s Sun-centered Universe, 1660
1525 1545
1527
Classifying chemicals
German chemist Theophrastus
von Hohenheim (better known as
Paracelsus) worked out a new
classification for chemical substances.
This was based on a division of
substances into salts, sulfurs, and
mercuries, according to their properties.
1543
Illustrated anatomy
Flemish physician Andreas Vesalius
published De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On
the Structure of the Human Body), which
remained a standard textbook for centuries.
New printing techniques produced full-color
plates illustrating human anatomy
in the clearest detail seen so far.
By 1500, printing presses Diagram of muscles from
had been set up in 282 cities De Humani Corporis Fabrica
and had printed around
28,000 editions of books. 57
The artist
Out of Leonardo’s artistic output only
15 of his paintings are known to have
survived, and several are unfinished. But
among these are masterpieces such as the
Mona Lisa and The Adoration of the Magi.
He also left thousands of sketches,
including this self-portrait.
58
GREAT SCIENTISTS NEW IDEAS
The anatomist
Leonardo da Vinci From the 1490s, Leonardo studied
anatomy. He dissected animals and attended
The Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was also an post-mortems of human corpses so that he
extremely clever scientist. As well as painting the Mona Lisa, could see the internal structure of the body.
one of the most famous works of art of all time, he studied As a result, he was able to produce a series
anatomy, geology, geography, and optics. He was a brilliant of highly detailed anatomical sketches.
engineer and drew designs for submarines, parachutes, and
airships centuries before the technology existed to build them.
Renaissance Florence
In 14th-century Italy, people began to take a fresh interest in Greek and
Roman learning that had been lost for centuries. By the late 15th century,
the city of Florence, Leonardo’s birthplace, was at the heart of what is
called the Renaissance (rebirth), a time of cultural renewal. From art
to medicine and from architecture to engineering, scholars relearned
old techniques and discovered new ones.
The engineer
Leonardo’s desire to understand how things worked, combined with his
skill at technical drawing, sparked in him an interest in machines and
engineering. He designed complex levers, pulleys, and springs for use
in construction. Leonardo was also a talented military engineer, and in
1500, he advised the Venetians on how to defend themselves from attacks
by the Turks. One of his suggestions was to use a form of submarine to
sink enemy ships. In his lifetime, Leonardo’s inventions attracted little
public interest. Today, we recognize his importance to science.
Ropes and pulleys
control flight.
Leonardo Netting wings
and flight were intended to
Leonardo was intrigued support a covering
by flight. He made many of feathers.
studies of the bodies of birds
and their wings, and believed these Pilot uses Pilot pedals to
worked according to mathematical hand lever to move wings
laws that he could use to design move wings downward.
flying machines. Leonardo drew
up plans for mechanical wings upward.
operated by levers and pulleys,
but he never built such a machine.
“No human investigation Leonardo’s inventions
This wooden tanklike vehicle for storming fortifications was just
can be called real science if
one among many ingenious machines that Leonardo devised.
”it cannot be demonstrated Others included a parachute, a dredging machine, and a robotic
mathematically.
knight that could grasp objects and open and close its jaw.
Leonardo da Vinci, Trattato della Pittura
(Treatise on Painting) 59
1545–1790
The age of discovery
In the 16th century, new scientific knowledge replaced old ways of thinking.
The invention of the microscope and the telescope stimulated the study of
anatomy and astronomy. Long-distance travel at sea led to more accurate
ways of measuring distance and time. These advances created a need for
complex calculations, which brought about advances in mathematics. Instead
of relying on traditional teaching, scientists (then known as natural philosophers)
began to test ideas and theories through observation, investigation, and
experimentation. Their discoveries laid the foundations of modern science.
1545 ▶1570 All the platinum ever mined
would fit in an average-sized
1551 living room.
Measuring distances Platinum
nugget
English surveyor Leonard Digges invented
Eye piece an early theodolite, an instrument used
in surveying to measure distances
accurately. His device could measure
vertical and horizontal angles to
work out distances, but did
not have a telescope, unlike
modern examples.
Telescope 1551 1557
Knob to adjust Prolific inventor Rare metal
horizontal
position Islamic scientist Taqi Italian scholar Julius
Modern example al-Din wrote a book Caesar Scaliger wrote
of a theodolite describing how a steam that Spanish explorers
turbine worked. He also in Mexico had found a
invented the first weight- substance that did not
driven astronomical clock, melt at high temperatures
clocks that measured and did not rust. It is the
minutes and seconds, first known reference in
and an early telescope. European writings to
platinum, one of Earth’s
rarest metals.
1545 1550 1555
Gesner’s 1551 1557
illustration of
a two-humped Animal magic Math symbols
(Bactrian) camel
and driver Swiss naturalist Konrad von Gesner set out to catalog all the Welsh mathematician Robert
world’s animals in his five-volume Historiae Animalium Recorde wrote The Whetstone of
(History of Animals), one of the first works of zoology. Witte, the first book on algebra in
English. He popularized the use
Although his colorful drawings are noted for their accuracy,
he included some fictional beasts such as unicorns. of + (plus) and – (minus) signs,
and is credited with inventing
the = (equals) sign.
TtShreae9ev2wpe–alo9ignr3elgds
1560
First scientific society
Giambattista della Porta was an
Italian playwright and polymath
(someone who knows a lot about
many subjects). He founded what
is believed to be the world’s first
scientific society in Naples, Italy.
Membership of the society, called
the Academia Secretorum Naturae
(Academy of the Mysteries of
Nature) was open to anyone who
had made a new scientific discovery.
1561 Ambroise Paré operates on a patient in this 19th-century print
Anatomical discovery 1564
Gabriello Falloppio, an Italian Compassionate surgery
anatomist and professor of surgery at
Padua University, in Italy, published a French surgeon Ambroise Paré wrote a manual of modern surgery
description of the human reproductive based on his experience of carrying out amputations on the battlefield.
Ahead of his time, Paré stated that pain relief, healing, and good
organs. He gave his name to the patient care were essential to successful surgery.
Fallopian tubes, the pair of channels
1565 1570
in female mammals through which
eggs pass from the ovaries
to the uterus.
1560
1550–1570 MAPMAKING SKILLS
Advances in navigation and exploration
in the 1500s led to improvements in
mapmaking. The center of mapmaking
was Antwerp (in modern-day Belgium),
then a busy center of international trade.
Printed collections of maps familiarized
Europeans with the new lands discovered
in America and Asia.
Gerard Mercator The first atlas
In 1569, Flemish Abraham Ortelius, a Flemish cartographer, published the first modern
mapmaker Gerard world atlas in 1570. It contained 70 separate maps on 53 sheets,
Mercator published showing all the countries and continents known at that time.
a new world map.
His represention, or 63
projection, of the globe
on a flat surface used a
grid of straight lines
to show direction. This
proved an aid to sailors.
Measuring things Measuring small distances
In ancient times, parts of the human body were used Engineers and others who need to
to measure length (some systems today still use measure small distances use a
“feet”). The first weights were often based on fixed two-armed instrument called
quantities of grain. These traditional units served
well for thousands of years, until the rise of scientific a caliper. The simplest form of
experimentation brought the need for far more caliper is a pair of compasses
accurate methods of measuring things. or dividers. This much more
elaborate gunner’s caliper
was used to measure the
bore (internal dimension)
of a cannon as well as
the external width
of a cannonball.
Early weights Arc marked
and measures with a scale
Today, we measure length, weight, gives diameter.
Compass for
and volume using international standard navigation also
has a sundial.
units. In the past, these units were local—
each city or country set their own. For
example, in medieval England, an inch
was equivalent to three grains of
barley laid length to length. Balance
Rod is one scale used for
cubit (the weighing goods
length of
a forearm)
Divided into 28 Thermometer Curved arm
segments called with Fahrenheit with scale
fingers (width of scale, 1720s
a human finger) Points are used to
and seven palms Degrees of temperature measure internal and
(width of a external distances.
human hand) Two scales for accurately measuring
temperature were invented in the 1700s—
Egyptian royal cubit the Fahrenheit scale in 1724 and the
measuring rod Celsius (or centigrade) scale in 1742.
Today, the Celsius scale is used in nearly
every country in the world. The US
still uses the Fahrenheit scale.
Key events
Egyptian c 3000 bce 1631 1724
royal
cubit The royal cubit was a standard French mathematician Paul Vernier Dutch physicist Gabriel
measurement of length in Ancient invented a sliding scale for taking Fahrenheit devised the
Egypt. It was based on the length of accurate measurements that are temperature scale named
the forearm, from the middle smaller than the smallest on an after him. It has 32° as the
fingertip to the elbow. instrument’s main scale. The freezing point of water, and
vernier scale is still used today. 212° as its boiling point.
Cubit
Caliper using vernier scale
Palm
64
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
Another ranging pole is set in Metric and
ground to establish a right angle imperial systems
Surveyor’s assistant Wooden cross The metric system, first introduced
holds a ranging pole with arms of in France, is the official system of
(used to establish equal length measurement in most countries today.
a straight line) The imperial system was once used
throughout the British Empire. The US
Swivel arm is the only major country that still uses
it officially—it is known there as the
customary measurement system.
While both systems are still in use,
the values are not directly equivalent.
Marker stake Metric Imperial
Centimeter (cm) Inch (in)
Plumb line Meter (m) Foot (ft)
Kilometer (km) Mile (m)
Surveyor’s tool Kilometer per Mile per
hour (km/h) hour (mph)
The Romans, who were skilled builders and surveyors, Gram (g) Ounce (oz)
used a device called a groma to measure right angles. It
consisted of a horizontal wooden cross and a weighted Kilogram (kg) Pound (lb)
Liter (l) Gallon (gal)
cord (plumb line), which hung from each of the four Celsius (°C) Fahrenheit (°F)
arms. The surveyor would look down each pair of
plumb lines in turn to establish a right angle.
Scale marked
in degrees
Gunner’s caliper Dual-purpose device Sailor’s tobacco box
from Venice, Italy, Perpetual calendar
16th century The lid of this small tobacco box, which possibly belonged engraved on lid
to an 18th-century seaman, was engraved with a perpetual
calendar (meaning it is valid for numerous years) so he
always knew what day of the week it was. Mathematical
tables on the bottom, used with the ship’s log float (see p.93),
also enabled him to calculate the ship’s speed.
1875 1960 Leica DISTO D3 1993
is an LDM
The Treaty of the Meter, signed in The International System of The handheld Laser Distance
Paris by representatives of 17 nations, Units (SI), the modern form of Meter (LDM) came into use. It
agreed to international standard units the metric system, was officially shoots a laser pulse at a distant
of measurement based on the meter adopted. It is the most widely object and measures the time
and the kilogram. used system of measurement. taken for the pulse to be
reflected back.
65
1570 ▶1590 StTehe8eel0plt–iian8mgg1ees 19th-century replica
of the Strasbourg
The light passes through Darkened room
a lens (or small opening). astronomical clock
The image of the Moving
building appears figures
upside down on
the opposite wall.
Building 1574
1570 Complex timepiece
Camera obscura An astronomical clock, nearly
59 ft (18 m) high, was built in
Italian scholar Giambattista della Porta refined the Cathedral of Notre-Dame
the camera obscura—an optical device that in Strasbourg (now in France).
projects an image of an object through a It included a celestial globe,
pinhole (small opening) onto a flat surface. an astrolabe, a calendar dial,
Instead of using a pinhole to focus the image, and automata (moving
della Porta used a convex lens (see p.137). figures), representing the
This innovation imitated the shape of the latest ideas in mathematics,
lens in the human eye. astronomy, and clockmaking.
1570 1575
1577
Taqi al-Din’s observatory
Islamic scientist Taqi al-Din built an observatory
in Istanbul (in modern-day Turkey) equipped
with the latest instruments for measuring the
positions of the planets and other heavenly
bodies. Unfortunately, he also incorrectly
predicted that the Sultan would win a war
against the Persians. When he lost, the Sultan
ordered the observatory to be pulled down.
Typhoid fever
In 1576, Italian
physician Gerolamo
Cardano wrote the first
clinical description of the
symptoms of typhoid fever.
This highly infectious disease
killed many people.
Astronomers
at work in
Taqi al-Din’s
observatory
in Istanbul
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
Seed
1546–1601 TYCHO BRAHE
Roots Botanical Danish nobleman Tycho Brahe was one of the leading
illustration astronomers of his day. Under the patronage of King
of a dandelion
Frederick II of Denmark, he built a huge observatory
on the island of Ven (in Sweden), where he studied
the stars and planets. He made all his observations
with the naked eye, before the invention of the
telescope. As a student, he lost part of his nose in a
duel and wore a false metal one for the rest of his life.
1583 Brahe’s new star Modern-day image of SN 1572,
In 1572, Brahe observed believed to be Brahe’s supernova
Plant studies
a bright new star in
Italian botanist the constellation of
Andrea Cesalpino Cassiopeia (at the top,
developed a method labeled “I” on his map).
of grouping flowering Modern telescopes have
plants by their fruits, revealed that this was
seeds, and roots in his
book De Plantis Libris an exploding star,
XVI (The Book of or supernova.
Plants XVI). Brahe’s map of Cassiopeia
showing his new star
1585 1590
1582 1589 Spring
maintains
New calendar First knitting machine tension
Great Britain did not switch to the Pope Gregory XIII introduced a new English inventor William Lee designed
Gregorian calendar until 1752. calendar to modify the Julian calendar, a machine called a stocking frame for
which had been used in Europe since knitting woollen and silk stockings. He
Roman times. Known as the Gregorian demonstrated it to Queen Elizabeth I, who
calendar, this calendar calculated the date feared his invention might put hand-
of the holy festival of Easter more accurately. knitters out of work. He was unable to
At first recognized only by Catholic patent his invention in England,
countries, the Gregorian calendar is now
used by many countries around the world. so he moved to France.
Knitted stocking
Pope Gregory XIII presides over the discussion Foot Wool or
to reform the calendar in Rome treadle for silk yarn
operating
67
machine
Replica of William
Lee’s knitting
machine
Surface of the Moon GREAT SCIENTISTS
Galileo was one of the first people to point a telescope
at the sky and he made many important observations. Galileo Galilei
He wrote about his discoveries in a book called The
Starry Messenger. Until then, people had thought the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei, who is always known by his
Moon was a flat, silvery disc. Galileo’s drawings, based first name, was born in 1564 near the town of Pisa, Italy.
on his observations, revealed that it is a sphere with an He originally studied to become a doctor, but was much more
uneven surface ridged with mountains and craters. The interested in mathematics. While still a medical student, he
book brought him instant fame. noticed a lamp in Pisa Cathedral swaying back and forth.
Using his pulse to time the intervals, he worked out that the
It is a beautiful and lamp took the same time to complete each swing, regardless
of the length of the arc followed during the swings.
“delightful sight to behold
”the body of the Moon. Professor of mathematics
Galileo never became a doctor. He was made Professor of Mathematics
Galileo Galilei, at Pisa University at the age of 25 and began to study the physics of
The Starry Messenger, 1610 motion, as well as engineering. He moved to Padua University and
turned his attention to astronomy after building his first telescope in 1609.
Lever (pawl) attached to
pendulum stops and releases Support for Copernicus
pinwheel with each swing In 1614, Galileo publicly stated his support for the Copernican theory
back and forth. that the planets, including Earth, orbit the Sun. This went against the
Church’s teaching that Earth was at the center of the Universe and
Galileo was told to stop spreading such ideas. He was a devout
Catholic and agreed to remain silent, though he was convinced that
Copernicus was right.
Final years
Galileo continued with his scientific experiments, but was arrested
and put on trial in 1633 for denying the Church’s teachings. He spent
the rest of his life under house arrest in the village of Arcetri, near
Florence. Here he wrote Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences,
his last great work on physics, which included his law of falling
bodies. He died in 1642.
Pendulum clock The trial of Galileo
Galileo studied pendulums Galileo’s trial took place before a crowded Church court in Rome.
throughout his life. Just before Charged with heresy and facing a punishment of torture or death,
his death, he designed a clock Galileo publicly denied that Earth moves around the Sun. He is said
to have muttered defiantly under his breath “And yet, it moves.”
that used the regular sweeps
of a pendulum to keep time.
By now he was totally blind,
but he described the
mechanism to his son
Vincenzio, who made a
drawing of it. Vincenzio
began building the clock
but it was never completed.
This model is based on
Vincenzio’s drawing.
Weighted pendulum
swings to other extreme.
68
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
Galileo in old age
This portrait of Galileo was painted
in 1636, when he was living at
Arcetri. He holds a telescope in
his right hand, though by this
time he was going blind.
“Mathematics is the
language with which
”God has written
the Universe.
Galileo Galilei
69
1590 ▶1610 Compass needle held 1600
at different positions
always points north
Giant magnet
English scientist William
North Pole Gilbert believed that Earth
must have a huge magnet
inside because navigators’
SLceoleookpsaeinglyges Model of Earth compasses always pointed
84–85 made from north. He made models of
Earth from magnetic rock
magnetic rock
and found that compass
needles held close to the
1590 rock pointed toward
the model’s North Pole,
Inventing the microscope behaving just like real
compass needles on Earth.
Dutch spectacles-maker Zacharias
Janssen is credited with inventing the Illustration of Earth South Pole
compound microscope. He inserted two as a magnetic rock
lenses into a tube and looked through
1600
one end. Small objects at the other
end appeared nine times larger.
Burned at the stake
Giordano Bruno, an Italian friar and
mathematician, was burned at the stake as a
heretic by the Catholic Church. Influenced by
Copernicus’s ideas of Earth revolving around
the Sun, Bruno had argued that the Sun was
not the center of the Universe because the
Universe was infinite, and that Earth was
Replica of Janssen’s original microscope unlikely to be the only inhabited world.
1590 1595
Water cistern 1596 1596
Flush toilet Puzzle of continents
Sir John Harington, a member of After noting that their coastlines
Queen Elizabeth’s court, invented a seemed to fit together like pieces of
flush toilet, called the Ajax. It worked a jigsaw puzzle, Flemish mapmaker
much like a modern toilet except that Abraham Ortelius suggested that the
the water swept the contents of the continents of Africa and the Americas
pan straight into a pit below. Sadly, his were once joined together. This idea
invention did not catch on. Hygienic, would be confirmed by the theory of
flushing toilets did not come into use continental drift developed by German
for another three centuries. geophysicist Alfred Wegener in 1915
(see p.170).
Handle releases
water into toilet
Toilet seat
Illustration Exit pipe “It would make
of Harington’s
water closet, 1596 unsavory Places World maps, such as
this one from 1590, could have
70 ”sweet… and filthy
inspired Ortelius’s theory.
Places cleanly.
Sir John Harington,
describing his flush toilet
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
1608 THE TELESCOPE
Hans Lippershey was a German lensmaker working in the
Netherlands, then the center of the optical industry. He is
believed to have invented the refracting telescope in 1608,
though Zacharias Janssen may also have had a hand in
its development. A refracting telescope uses two lenses to
gather and focus light, making distant objects appear closer
than they are. Lippershey’s invention could make objects
seem three times larger. It is likely that he intended his
telescope for use at sea or on the battlefield.
Gold
patterning
Galileo’s telescope The tube is made
of strips of wood
Based on reports of Lippershey’s telescope, covered with leather.
Galileo built his own telescope in 1609.
It could make distant objects appear eight
times larger. He later built a telescope
that could magnify objects 30 times.
Lippershey experiments with lenses
1605 1610
1604 1609
Falling objects Planetary motion
Galileo worked out a law that describes how objects German astronomer Johannes
fall under the influence of gravity. At the time, most Kepler published a work confirming
scientists believed Greek philosopher Aristotle’s idea, Copernicus’s belief in a Sun-centered
that the heavier an object is, the faster it falls. Galileo cosmos. He also used mathematics to
had already realized that all objects should fall at the prove that the planets travel in elliptical
same rate and land together, but that air resistance orbits around the Sun, and that their
affects the falls of some objects more than others. He speed is not constant, they speed up
supposedly tested his idea by dropping cannonballs of when they come closest to the Sun.
various weights from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy,
although historians dispute the story. Elliptical orbit
Faster firing Sun is not Planet travels
The flintlock was first at the center more slowly
used in France in 1608. of the orbit. when it’s
The spring-operated farther from
Metal balls mechanism increased the the Sun.
of different firing rate and safety of
weights handheld muskets and
pistols. It remained in use
for more than 200 years.
Galileo dropping balls English flintlock
from the Leaning pistol, c 1650
Tower of Pisa
The falling flint strikes a spark
to ignite the gunpowder. 71
Circular orbits Paths in the sky
Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomers had no idea what keeps planets in their
was the first European orbits, until English scientist Isaac Newton realized that
astronomer to argue it is a force called gravity. This force, which makes objects
that the Sun was at the fall down on Earth, is the same force that keeps the
center of the Universe. He planets from flying off in straight lines. The planets are
believed that Earth and actually falling toward the Sun—but they are also moving
the other planets traveled sideways in their orbits. If they stopped moving, they
around it in circular would crash into the Sun.
orbits. He published his
revolutionary ideas just
before his death in 1543.
Copernicus’s drawing of the Jupiter with Sun Mercury
Sun (at the center) and planets its moons
Saturn with its moons
Venus
Mars Moon
Earth
Sun in the middle
This clockwork model of the solar system
is called an orrery, a mechanical instrument
usually used as a teaching aid. When it is set
in motion, the arms rotate to demonstrate the
relative positions of the planets and their moons
as they orbit the Sun. This orrery must have been
made before 1781 as it does not include the
planets Uranus and Neptune.
Key events
140 ce 1543 1609 1610
Greek mathematician Ptolemy Nicolaus Copernicus published a In his three laws of planetary Using a telescope, Italian
stated that Earth is the fixed book in which he proposed that motion, Johannes Kepler scientist Galileo observed
center of the Universe. His Earth and the other planets travel proved mathematically
views were not challenged around the Sun in circular orbits. that the planets travel four moons in orbit around
for the next 1,500 years. in elliptical paths. Jupiter, proving that not
everything in space
orbits Earth.
Europa, a moon of Jupiter
72
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
Sun Earth is 93 million miles (149.6 million km) from Newton’s law of gravity
the Sun and takes a year to complete an orbit.
Astronomers could not explain why the planets follow elliptical orbits
until Isaac Newton, the great English physicist, supplied the answer
(see p.88). Gravity, which makes an apple fall to the ground on Earth,
also keeps the planets in orbit around the Sun. All matter exerts
gravity, pulling other matter toward it. The strength of gravity depends
on the mass of the object, and weakens with distance.
Elliptical orbits Planet’s
elliptical orbit
Newton’s law of gravitation predicts
mathematically what the gravitational
force on an object will be—the force
between any two objects depends
Orbital times Jupiter is 5.2 times farther away upon their masses and how
from the Sun than Earth. It takes
11.9 Earth years to complete an orbit. far apart they are. Newton Gravity pulls the
worked out the Sun toward
forces on planets— the planet.
and his equation
Kepler’s discoveries
predicted that
Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer, set out to prove
that Copernicus’s theory of a Sun-centered Universe was orbits would Sun
correct. Rather than orbit the Sun in circles, Kepler be elliptical,
found that the planets travel around it in ellipses (oval
paths). He also discovered that the farther a planet is just as Gravity pulls the planet
from the Sun, the longer it takes to complete its orbit. Johannes Kepler toward the Sun.
had observed.
Planet The planet revolves
Mercury’s orbit around the Sun in
changes over time. this direction due
to gravity.
The planet would move
in a straight line in the
absence of gravity.
Artist’s impression of Kepler-444 star system Mercury’s wobbly orbit
Planets beyond our solar system Over time, the planet Mercury’s orbit shifts
slightly. Newton’s law of gravity could not
We now know of thousands of planets orbiting explain this puzzling fact. In 1915, physicist
parent stars beyond our solar system. They are Albert Einstein solved the mystery in
outlining his theory of relativity (see p.173).
known as exoplanets. NASA’s Kepler space The wobbly orbit is due to Mercury having
telescope, launched in 2009, is able to detect to travel through an area of space that is
orbits of exoplanets by measuring how far a Sun curved due to the Sun’s mass.
star’s light dims when a planet passes “ ”We revolve around the Sun
in front of it. The Kepler-444 star system, like any other planet.
discovered by this telescope, contains five Nicolaus Copernicus
planets that orbit their star
in less than 10 days.
1687 1781 1846 2009
Isaac Newton formulated the William Herschel, a British Mathematical calculations correctly NASA launched Kepler, a
universal law of gravitation and astronomer, discovered the predicted the existence of a new space observatory, to discover
explained that it is the force of planet Uranus in orbit beyond planet, later given the name of habitable, Earth-sized
gravity that holds the planets Saturn. It was the first planet Neptune, before it was observed planets orbiting other
in elliptical orbits around the Sun. to be discovered since by telescope. stars. By 2016, it
ancient times. had discovered 21
Earth-like planets.
73
1610 ▶1630 CmaS1elac2ecu4phl–aai1ntg2ieen5ssg
Fixed column divided Set of movable rods
into numbers from 1 to 9 inscribed with digits for
multiplying and dividing
1610 Io 1614
Europa
Moons of Jupiter Multiplying
Ganymede numbers
Observing the night skies Callisto
through the telescope he had Scottish mathematician
built himself, Galileo Galilei John Napier introduced
(see pp.68–69) noticed three logarithms, which are used
small stars near the planet to multiply and divide very
Jupiter that changed position large numbers—especially
over a period of time. He useful in astronomy. In
realized they were moons, 1617, he introduced another
or satellites (objects that orbit aid to calculation—a set
a planet or star), circulating of rods divided into sections
the planet, and later identified and marked with digits,
a fourth. These four were the which became known
brightest of Jupiter’s moons, as Napier’s bones.
often called the Galilean
moons. Galileo’s observation
contradicted the Church’s
teaching that everything in the
Universe rotated around Earth.
Napier’s bones
1610 1615 1620
1620 Slide rule
Another handy aid to
First submarine calculation was the slide
rule, invented by English
Cornelis Drebbel, a Dutch inventor living in mathematician William
England, built a submarine made of a wooden Oughtred in 1622. Slide
frame covered with leather. It was powered by oars. rules remained in use until
The submarine stayed underwater for three hours when the late 20th century, when
given a trial run in the Thames River, but it is unclear they were replaced by
how the oarsmen sitting inside were able to breathe.
pocket calculators.
Replica of
Drebbel’s submarine
74
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
1578–1657 WILLIAM HARVEY
English physician William Harvey proved that
the heart pumps blood around the body. He
found that the body has a fixed amount
of blood that is always circulating.
Before this discovery, doctors
believed that blood was
continuously being made
in the liver.
Illustration of Santorio’s Royal physician
clinical thermometer
Harvey studied at the universities
1626 of Cambridge, England, and
Padua, Italy. On returning to
Body temperature
England, he became physician
Italian physiologist Santorio Santorio to King James I, and tended
was the first person to use a thermometer to victims of the English
to measure the temperature of the human Civil War (1642–1651).
body. Santorio was an early pioneer
of the study of metabolism—the chemical
processes in the body essential for life.
1625 1630
1629 One-way flow
Fanciful Arteries carry blood away from the heart and veins return it
steam engine
to the heart. This key discovery of the circulatory system was
Italian inventor Giovanni outlined in Harvey’s book De Motu Cordis (The Motion of the
Branca published a design
for a steam engine known Heart), where he shows how a one-way valve in a forearm
as an aeolipile. He suggested
it could be used to power vein prevents the blood from flowing back to the hand.
pestles and mortars to
grind medicinal drugs. 4. Weighted arms
It was never built and it rise and fall.
is doubtful it would have
been of any practical use. 3. Rotating Branca’s aeolipile,
turbine shifts a an early type of
2. Steam is series of gears. steam engine
blown through
1626
a pipe onto a
Death by freezing horizontal turbine.
Sir Francis Bacon, a major 5. Pestle
English figure in the history moves up
and down.
of science, is said to have
died of pneumonia after
trying to see if he could
preserve meat by stuffing
a chicken carcass with
snow. Bacon famously
maintained that scientists
should prove the truth of
their ideas through
experimentation.
1. Fire heats water in
boiler shaped like a man.
Healing people
In the past, the practice of healing the sick was based
on traditional knowledge of herb-based remedies. The
Ancient Greeks were the first to study the causes of
sickness, and passed their knowledge on to Roman
and Islamic physicians. The scientific study of medicine
emerged again in western Europe in the 1600s, leading
to ever more effective ways of diagnosing, preventing,
and treating disease.
Islamic medicine The physician Alternative
medicine
In the Middle Ages, translations of The “is only nature’s
Canon of Medicine, a book by Persian scholar ”assistant. Alternative medicine refers to any form
Ibn-Sina (Avicenna), brought Greek and of healing that falls outside the “western”
Arabic knowledge of medicine to the West. Galen, Roman scientific tradition of medicine. Some
This illustrated page from an edition dated physician forms are very old and are followed by
1440 shows a pharmacist’s shop alongside millions of people around the world.
various medical practices of the time. and surgeon
+ Ayurveda
Leeches Bloodletting
were kept Originating in ancient India, ayurveda
in water. The process of removing blood aims for balance between mind, body,
from a patient, or bloodletting, was and spirit. It uses dietary adjustments,
practiced in medicine for thousands herbal remedies, and massage treatments.
of years. It was thought to balance
+ Acupuncture
the body’s fluids and was
believed to be a cure for In this Chinese form of healing, fine
most ailments. One way needles are inserted into certain sites in
of taking blood was to the skin to treat a variety of conditions.
attach leeches (blood-
sucking parasitic worms) + Homeopathy
to the skin. Leeches are
sometimes used today Based on the idea of “like cures like,”
to clean wounds. homeopathy treats ailments with tiny
doses of natural drugs.
The gauge displays Sphygmomanometer
the pressure. for measuring blood
A woman attaches pressure, c 1883
leeches to her arm in
a woodcut from 1638.
Key events
460 bce 1543 1628 1816
Hippocrates, the Ancient Greek Flemish physician Andreas Vesalius English physician William Harvey René Laennec, a French
physician, was born. The first published De humani corporis fabrica described the circulation of blood hospital doctor, invented the
person to study the causes of (On the Fabric of the Human Body), in animals, showing that the heart stethoscope—an instrument to
disease, he is called the father a work that revolutionized the pumps blood in one direction listen to the chest of patients
of modern medicine. understanding of human anatomy. around the body. as an aid to their diagnosis.
Laennec’s stethoscope
76
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
An antiseptic spray is used during an operation, c 1870 Hospital care Deadly diseases
In the past, hospitals were In most parts of the world, people live
dirty, overcrowded places. far longer than they did 500 years ago,
Two of the people who when average life expectancy was about
helped to change all that 40 years. With vaccines and antibiotics,
were British surgeon medical workers can now prevent or
Joseph Lister (see p.144), cure many infectious diseases that would
who introduced previously have killed thousands.
antiseptics, making
surgery safer, and British + Smallpox
nursing pioneer Florence
Nightingale, who Once a feared killer, smallpox has
demonstrated that clean now been wiped out thanks to a
hospitals prevented global immunization campaign.
infection and helped sick
people get better faster. + Polio
The very first requirement in a hospital This highly infectious viral disease
targets children. Vaccines are helping
“ ”is that it should do the sick no harm. to end it worldwide.
Florence Nightingale, Notes on Nursing, 1860
+ Plague
Bubonic plague (the Black Death) killed
millions of people in Europe in the
1300s. Outbreaks still occur today, but
the disease is treatable with antibiotics.
Medical aids Wood and pewter
syringe, late 1700s
Tools such as tweezers and
scalpels (sharp-bladed knives), Candle
similar to those doctors use today,
date back to ancient times. Over the centuries, Nozzle
as medical knowledge advanced, the need
arose for more complicated instruments, such
as endoscopes and blood pressure monitors
to identify and treat patients’ symptoms.
The tube ends in a rubber
bulb, which is placed on
the skin and inflated.
The funnel directs
light from the candle.
Viewing lens
Engraving of a doctor wearing a beak-shaped
mask for protection against plague, 1656
Otoscope for looking
inside the ear, 1890s
1865 1895 1928 1977
Joseph Lister introduced life- German physicist Wilhelm C. Sir Alexander Fleming, a Scottish The first MRI (magnetic
saving standards of cleanliness Röntgen produced the first X-ray biologist, discovered penicillin, resonance imaging)
and hygiene into operating photograph. X-rays, which can heralding the era of antibiotics. scan was carried out.
rooms and hospitals. penetrate skin and tissue to Penicillin was first used as an MRI creates multiple
reveal bone, have become effective drug in the 1940s. images of the body
a key tool in medicine. without exposing it to
damaging radiation.
First MRI machine
77
1630 ▶1650 1637 1637
It is not enough to have Descartes’s discourse Mathematical
puzzle
“a good mind. The main French philosopher René Descartes
”thing is to use it well. published Discourse on the Method, French mathematician
Pierre de Fermat scribbled
René Descartes, one of the most important books a theorem (a mathematical
Discourse on the Method written in the history of philosophy statement) in the margin
of an old textbook. He
and science. In it, he said that claimed he had proof
in order to arrive at the truth, you that his theorem was
should start by doubting everything. true, but had no room
to write out the answer.
Fermat’s theorem was
not solved until 1995.
Cinchona leaves 1631 Descartes’s Discourse Pierre de Fermat
and bark on the Method
Wonder drug
Agostino Salumbrino, an Italian
missionary living in Peru, noticed
that the Quechua people used the
powdered bark of the local cinchona
tree to treat fever. A small sample
was sent to Rome, where it was
used successfully to treat malaria,
then a common disease in marshy
parts of Europe. We now know that
cinchona bark contains a drug
called quinine.
1630 1634 1638
1633 1639
The trial of Galileo Transit of Venus
Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was put on trial
English astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks
in Rome on charges of heresy. He had published a correctly predicted that the shadow of the
planet Venus would pass in front of the Sun, a rare
book attacking the Church’s view that the Earth was event known as the transit of Venus. To observe the
occurrence, Horrocks projected the Sun’s image
at the center of the Universe and supported Polish through a telescope onto a sheet of paper.
astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus’s
theory of a Sun-centered Universe.
Fearing torture or death, Galileo SeGGeaaplliaillgeeeoi s
denied his beliefs in court. 68–69
Title page of Somnium 1634 Roundel from a stained glass window celebrates
Horrocks’s observation of the transit of Venus
78 First sci-fi novel
Johannes Kepler, a German
astronomer, wrote a story about a
young Icelandic boy who was taken
by demons to the Moon. The novel
was published a year after Kepler’s
death in 1633. Written in Latin, it
was titled Somnium (The Dream),
and has been described as the first
work of science fiction.
1643 Replica of THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
Torricelli’s
The first barometer barometer One of Hevelius’s maps of the Moon
When Italian physicist Evangelista Torricelli placed 1647
a glass tube filled with mercury in a bowl of mercury,
the mercury in the tube fell, leaving a vacuum at the Atlas of the Moon
top. He realized this was due to atmospheric pressure
(weight of air). Torricelli’s discovery led to the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius
invention of the barometer, an instrument that published the first atlas of the Moon’s surface.
measures air pressure to forecast the weather. Hevelius, who was a brewer by trade, built his
own observatory. His detailed maps showing
How a barometer works Higher atmospheric the Moon’s mountains and craters were the
pressure exerts stronger result of four years of observation.
Thin-walled,
inverted glass tube force on the mercury.
Vacuum
Mercury At low pressure, Mercury
reservoir mercury rises a rises higher
short way up up the tube.
the tube.
Low atmospheric
pressure exerts
less force on
the mercury.
Low atmospheric High atmospheric
pressure pressure
1642 1646 1650
1642 CmaS1elac2ecu4phl–aai1ntg2ieen5ssg French scientist
Blaise Pascal built
Calculating machine about 20 calculators
in his lifetime.
At the age of 19, Blaise Pascal invented a mechanical
calculating machine to help his father, a French Display windows
government tax collector. The machine could add, show answers
subtract, divide, and multiply. Pascal went on to become
a leading mathematician and philosopher of the age. Pascal’s first calculator
Dials for
inputting
numbers
79
Telling the time Hour hand
indicates the
hour of the day
The earliest people who tried to keep track of time used
simple devices such as sundials to track the movement
of the Sun through the sky. It was many centuries later,
about 700 years ago, that mechanical clocks were
introduced in Europe. Faster communications in
the 19th century led to timekeeping becoming
standardized across the world. Gilded sun marks
the position of the
Sun in the Zodiac
Early timekeeping
Sundials
Sundials measure time by using
a shadow cast by an upright rod
(gnomon) to track the position
of the Sun in the sky.
Water clocks Originally, the
phases of
In water clocks, a jar is filled
with water, which drains away the Moon were
at an even rate to indicate how indicated.
much time has passed.
Sundial (9th century)
in Northern Ireland
Hourglasses When the sand has run Astronomical clocks
through to the bottom,
A specific quantity of sand flows Early mechanical clocks in
from one glass bulb into another the hourglass can be Europe used a falling weight
through a narrow opening. The turned upside down.
sand flows through at a fixed on a chain and a pendulum
rate, usually taking an hour. to turn a series of gears
(see box opposite). They
Incense clocks often combined 24-hour
In China and Japan, incense clock faces with information
about the Sun, Moon, and
sticks that burn at an even rate stars. Their elaborate
designs often included
were used to measure time. moving figures (automata)
Candle clocks Hourglasses from The clock tower and detail of clock that danced or rang bells at
the 17th century face (above) in St. Mark’s Square, Venice. certain times of the day.
Slow-burning wax candles
had evenly spaced lines
marked on them, which were
numbered to mark the hours.
Key events
1500 bce 1088 1656 1759
Sundials were first used in In China, Su Song Dutch inventor Christiaan English clockmaker John
Egypt and Mesopotamia (now built a water-driven Huygens built the first Harrison built the marine
Iraq) thousands of years ago. mechanical clock to pendulum clock. Driven chronometer—a spring-driven
They are only able to tell the track the cycles of by the regular sweeps of timepiece that was accurate
time when the Sun is shining. the stars and planets. a weighted pendulum, it over a long time, allowing
was accurate to within sailors at sea to calculate
a few seconds a day. longitude (see p.93).
Su Song’s water clock
80
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
Inner dial How pendulum This catch Escape wheel Gears connect
shows the clocks work swings back the escape wheel
signs of and forth with to the second hand,
the Zodiac. A pendulum clock can keep the pendulum, moving it forward
excellent time because the every second.
rate at which the pendulum alternately
swings can be precisely catching and Hour hand
controlled. Inside the clock,
the pendulum regulates the releasing Drum Another set of
rate at which a drum turns, the cogs on the gears from the
via a catch on the escape main wheel
wheel. A weight unwinds the escape wheel. moves the minute
cord from around the drum The drum rotates and hour hands
and turns the gears, which the main wheel that forward at the
are connected to the minute connects through correct intervals.
and hour hands. The weight gears to the minute
takes eight days to unwind The falling weight Workings inside a
the cord and then the cord and hour hands. unwinds a cord to pendulum clock
must be rewound with a key. Each swing of the turn the drum.
pendulum takes Minute hand
one second.
Atomic clocks
Atomic clocks are the most accurate way
of keeping time yet known. They keep time
by counting the high-frequency waves
emitted by energized atoms in elements
such as caesium. A caesium clock will not
gain a second in 1 million years.
Outer dial shows the World’s first caesium
24 hours of the day atomic clock, 1955
in Roman numerals.
Time zones run along Greenwich Mean Time International
Time zones lines of longitude date line
Since 1884, to standardize Modern watches
the time around the
Wristwatches have been
world, the globe has been popular since the early
divided into 24 time zones. 1900s. Today’s watches
use quartz crystals to keep
Times are measured from time and are powered by
Greenwich Mean Time, or a battery, or even by solar
GMT, with each zone either power. They display the
hours ahead or behind GMT. time in analog (the way it
For example, New York City appears on a traditional
is five hours behind GMT and clock face) or in digital
Tokyo is nine hours ahead.
form, according to the
New York City Areas that have Tokyo wearer’s preference.
adopted a time
between two zones Early digital
watch, 1970s
1884 1927 1949 1970s
Greenwich Mean Time The first quartz clock, driven The first atomic clock was built in Watches and clocks began to
became the global by the natural electricity Washington D.C. In 1967, a show the time in digital form
time standard after an generated by a rapidly second was redefined as the time using light-emitting diode
international conference vibrating quartz crystal, that elapses during 9,192,631,770 (LED) or liquid-crystal display
adopted the Greenwich was built at the Bell Telephone cycles of radiation from a (LCD) instead of a traditional
meridian in the UK as the Prime Laboratories, New York City. caesium-133 atom. (analog) clock face.
Meridian (line of 0° longitude).
Marker for the Prime Meridian 81
Line at Greenwich, UK
1650 ▶1670 1654
Von Guericke made an Display of power
early friction machine for
producing static electricity. To demonstrate his understanding of vacuums,
German inventor Otto von Guericke made two
Von Guericke carries copper hemispheres, sealed them together, and
out his experiment at emptied them of air using a vacuum pump he
Magdeburg, Germany had invented earlier. Then he got two teams
of eight horses to try and pull the hemispheres
apart. They failed to do so because the external
air pressure that kept the hemispheres pressed
together so tightly was too strong.
1650 1655
1629 –1695 CHRISTIAAN HUYGENS
Christiaan Huygens was a Dutch physicist, astronomer, KEY DATES
mathematician, and instrument-maker. Best known
for proposing that light is made of waves, he made 1654 Huygens began
making improvements
important discoveries in many areas of science. to telescopes with his
He also traveled widely in Europe and met with brother Constantijn.
many of the leading scientists of the day.
1656 He produced
Astronomical discoveries his design for a
pendulum clock.
Huygens taught himself to grind the lenses
for the telescopes he built. It was with his 1678 He proposed that
light is made up of waves.
12-ft- (3.7-m-) long telescope, which could
magnify objects 50 times, that he first 1689 He met Isaac Newton
observed the rings around Saturn (see on a visit to England.
p.87), and discovered its largest
moon, later named Titan. Pendulum clock
Swinging pendulum Huygens designed a clock
keeps regular time. with a weighted pendulum
that kept time accurately
to within a few seconds a
day—a vast improvement
on existing clocks.
82
1662 THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
Boyle’s law Lower transfuses
blood from a lamb
Anglo-Irish scientist Robert Boyle published to a man
a law to show that the volume of a gas
decreases with increasing pressure, and vice Artist’s impression
versa. Boyle carried out many experiments of a dodo
using an air pump he had made. Often
called the father of modern chemistry,
he introduced the idea of an element as
a substance that cannot be broken down.
Diffusion Pressure
One weight creates Two weights
pressure within double the
the container. pressure within
the container.
Dead as a dodo 1666
The dodo, a large flightless
bird, had become extinct Blood transfusion
by 1662. It lived only on Richard Lower, an English doctor, carried
the island of Mauritius in the out a successful blood transfusion
Indian Ocean, where it was between two dogs. A year later, he
injected a small quantity of lamb’s
hunted for food by visiting blood into the vein of a human patient,
European sailors. who appears to have survived despite
the risk of a massive allergic reaction.
Evenly spread Higher pressure packs
molecules the molecules into half
of the original space.
1665 1670
Network of Malpighi’s 1669 1669
capillaries drawing of a
covering frog’s lungs Fossils in rock A new element
exterior of lung
Danish geologist Nicolas In his search for the “philosopher’s
Steno explained that sediment stone,” to turn base metal into gold,
formed horizontal layers of
rock (called strata) over time. German alchemist Hennig Brand
As new strata formed on top, boiled up concentrated human
animal remains within each
layer turned gradually into urine and accidentally discovered
fossils. So the oldest fossils the element phosphorus, which
are always at the bottom, with gives off a greenish glow.
the newer ones above them.
Cross-section Hennig Brand 83
shows tiny sacs is said to have
used 1,250 gallons
called alveoli (5,670 liters) of
human urine in
1661 his experiments.
Microscopic discoveries Hennig Brand in
his laboratory
Italian biologist Marcello Malpighi used
a microscope to study the structure of
the lung. He discovered capillaries, the
minute blood vessels that connect the
veins and arteries. William Harvey had
suggested 30 years earlier that these
blood vessels existed (see p.75).
Looking Eyepiece lens Scientific bestseller
closely
Micrographia, published by Robert Hooke in
The invention of the microscope 1665, introduced the public to the world of the
revealed a whole new world. microscope. It included wonderfully detailed
For the first time, scientists could drawings of the objects observed through his
observe objects too small to be seen microscope, including fleas, hairs, and even a
with the naked eye. Researchers began fly’s eye. The book became an instant bestseller.
to understand the building blocks of
life as they studied the structure of Hooke’s
cells and discovered the existence of illustration
microorganisms. Today, microscopes of a flea
can even identify individual atoms.
Water-filled sphere focuses
light from oil lamp.
Wooden barrel
Discovering cells Lens concentrates
light onto specimen.
Robert Hooke, a noted English
19th-century poster celebrates Janssen scientist, was the curator of
and his invention of the microscope
experiments at the Royal Society in
London, England. He designed a
compound microscope that used a
water-filled sphere to focus light from
an oil lamp onto the specimen. Hooke
noticed the spaces between long
empty cell walls in a piece of cork he
was examining and first coined the
word “cell” to describe them.
The first microscope Specimen
mounted on pin
By the 1590s, Dutch spectacle-makers were making
microscopes by fixing two lenses in a tube. They found that Hooke’s
light, refracted by the two lenses, made objects larger than compound
a single lens did on its own. One of these spectacle-makers, microscope
Zacharias Janssen, may have made the first microscope.
Key events
1590 1661 1665 1674 1860
Zacharias Janssen is Italian biologist Marcello Robert Hooke published Antoni van Leeuwenhoek French chemist
usually credited with Malpighi saw red blood Micrographia. It contained designed a single-lens Louis Pasteur used
the invention of the first cells, which he called illustrations of the tiny microscope that was a microscope to
compound microscope. particles, through objects he had observed able to magnify objects carry out research
a microscope. through a microscope. up to 270 times. into disease-
carrying microbes.
84
Leeuwenhoek’s drawings of microscopic life How a compound Eye looking
microscope works through
Single-lens microscope eyepiece lens
Compound light microscopes use at Eyepiece lens
Dutch scientist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek was least two lenses. Light from below is Path of light
able to achieve greater magnifications with his reflected up through the object
single-lens microscopes than Robert Hooke did being viewed—the specimen— Objective
with his compound microscope. Leeuwenhoek into the objective lens, which lens used
ground all his lenses himself, some of them no produces the first magnification. to magnify
bigger than a pinhead. The eyepiece lens then magnifies specimen
the image again.
Oil lamp
Specimen
Mirror reflects light
through specimen.
The world 2,000 times 10 million times 1 billion times
magnified This 19th-century light Electron microscopes fire The scanning tunneling
microscope can magnify a beam of electrons at a microscope (STM) uses
Today, there are three objects up to 2,000 times. specimen contained in a sharp metal probe to
kinds of microscope. Its achromatic lenses a vacuum. This example, scan the surface of an
Researchers use light, create a sharper image by dating from around 1946, object at an atomic level,
or optical, microscopes focusing different color was one of the first to be allowing scientists to
to view biological wavelengths together. mass-produced. Modern “see” individual atoms. The
specimens such as versions can magnify up atomic force microscope
cells and tissue. Electron to 10 million times. works in a similar way.
microscopes, including
the scanning tunneling
microscope, which use
a beam of electrons
to reveal an image,
can look at much
smaller things in
very great detail.
1880s 1882 1903 1931 1981
Working for German German microbiologist German chemist Richard German physicist Ernst The scanning tunneling
instrument-maker Carl Robert Koch developed Zsigmondy built the Ruska invented the microscope was the first
Zeiss, German optical ways of staining bacteria ultramicroscope, which let first scanning electron that allowed scientists to
scientist Ernst Abbe made with violet dye to make him view objects that could microscope (SEM) that see at an extremely small
radical improvements to them more visible under not be seen with a used electron beams scale, down to a nanometer
microscope design. a microscope. light microscope. to create images. (a billionth of a meter).
Zsigmondy’s ultramicroscope
85
1670 ▶1690 1678
1672 CmaS1elac2ecu4phl–aai1ntg2ieen5ssg Hooke’s law
Rainbow colors 1672 English scientist Robert Hooke observed that the
force needed to stretch a spring is proportional
English physicist Isaac Newton Calculating questions
(see pp.88–89) published a to the distance it stretches. If the force is doubled,
Gottfried Leibniz, a German the distance is doubled. There is a point beyond
paper on light. He described an mathematician, created a
experiment he had carried out calculating machine called which the spring does not stretch, but snaps.
using two prisms to show that the step reckoner. In 1674,
white light is made up of the he invented calculus, the Length of
seven colors of the rainbow. mathematics of infinitesimal unstretched
(very small) changes. Isaac spring
Newton’s sketch of his Newton (see pp.88–89) also
experiment with prisms devised a version of calculus, The spring When the Weight is
and the two men fell out over is stretched force applied doubled
who had done so first. when a force
is doubled,
is applied. the spring
Object applies stretches
twice as far.
downward force
on spring.
1670 1675
1675 1679
Astronomer to the king Steam digester
England’s King Charles II appointed John Flamsteed the first French inventor Denis Papin
Astronomer Royal to head a new observatory in Greenwich, demonstrated a cooking device
London. This observatory marked what would later become that used high-pressure steam to
extract fat from bones. A forerunner
the Prime Meridian (0° longitude) between east and west. of the modern pressure cooker, Papin’s
digester was fitted with a steam release
valve and a piston, leading in time to
the development of the steam engine.
Lens for viewing Screw adjusts
microscopic position of
samples specimen.
1676 Leeuwenhoek’s
microscope
Life in miniature
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch merchant, made
his own microscopes. He used them to observe tiny
living creatures swimming in a drop of water, which
he called “animalcules.” These were, in fact, single-
celled protozoans called amoeba.
Royal Observatory, Greenwich, UK
1625–1712 GIOVANNI CASSINI THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
Born in Italy, astronomer Giovanni Cassini moved to France in 1669, Isaac Newton
where he was put in charge of the Paris Observatory. Among his was born in
1642, the year
contributions to astronomy, Cassini calculated the that Galileo died.
distance from Earth to Mars, and from Mars to the
Sun. His figures were close to current estimates. He Dental
discovered four of Saturn’s moons—Iapetus, Rhea, hygiene
Tethys, and Dione—and also shares credit with One of the first books on
English scientist Robert Hooke for the discovery of dentistry was published
a storm on Jupiter known as the Great Red Spot. in 1685. It recommended
brushing teeth only once
The large Rings around Saturn a week. Not surprisingly,
gap between most people had rotten
Saturn’s rings is In 1675, Cassini identified teeth, which had to be
known as the a gap that appeared to divide extracted by force.
“Cassini Division.” Saturn’s rings into two. He also
correctly suggested that the rings
were made up of
thousands of
tiny particles.
1685 1690
1686 Newton’s universal law of gravitation
New term Gravitation exerts an identical force on
two objects, pulling them together.
In Historia Plantarum, a three-volume
history of plants, English naturalist Doubling the mass of both objects
increases the forces to four times
John Ray used the word “species” to
describe a group of plants or animals their original strength.
sharing the same characteristics and
Doubling the distance between them
able to breed with one another. It reduces the forces by a quarter.
was the first biological use of the
term, and established “species” as 1687
the basic unit of taxonomy (the Breakthrough science
classification of living things). His
Isaac Newton published a book called Principia
book described 18,600 species. Mathematica in which he described his three laws of
motion and the universal law of gravitation. According
Title page of John Ray’s Isaac to the latter, the force of gravity between two objects
Historia Plantarum SNee8ew8p–at8og9nes is stronger as their masses increase, and weaker when
the distance between them is bigger. These four laws
One species never springs together form the basis of mechanics—the science of
forces and how things move.
“from the seed of another
”nor vice versa. 87
John Ray, Historia Plantarum, 1686
3. Observer sees reflected image GREAT SCIENTISTS
from small mirror through eyepiece.
Isaac Newton
2. Concave mirror
reflects image back British scientist Isaac Newton was born in the village
up tube onto angled of Woolsthorpe, England, in 1642. One of the leading
small mirror. minds of the 17th-century scientific revolution, he is
best known for outlining the law of universal gravitation
1. Light to explain what holds the Universe together.
enters
telescope
tube.
Replica of Reflecting telescope Schoolboy and student
Newton’s While he was studying Newton’s interest in science and mechanics became apparent at
reflecting optics, Newton built the an early age. An uncle recognized his ability and encouraged him
telescope, first reflecting telescope, to continue his studies at a university. In 1661, he became a
c 1672 using two mirrors to reflect student at Trinity College, Cambridge, England.
and focus the image. It gave
Escape from the plague
a better result than the When the plague broke out in Cambridge in 1665, Newton
traditional refracting withdrew to Woolsthorpe. He is said to have developed his theory
telescope (see p.71). of gravity after seeing an apple fall from a tree in the orchard
there. This is probably just a story, but it was during his time at
If I have seen further it is Woolsthorpe that he developed his ideas on gravitation and made
his first experiments with light.
“by standing on the shoulders
”of giants. Cambridge professor
Returning to Cambridge, Newton was appointed Lucasian Professor
Isaac Newton, in a letter to Robert Hooke, 1675, of Mathematics at the age of 26. In 1687, he published Philosophiae
supposedly acknowledging earlier Naturalis Principia Mathematica (usually called the Principia
work by other scientists Mathematica), one of the most important works in the history
of science, and where he described his three laws of motion.
Principia Mathematica
Later years
Newton’s most famous book was published with the In 1689, Newton became a Member of Parliament and moved to
help of fellow scientist Edmond Halley. In this book, London. Appointed Master of the Royal Mint in 1699, he reformed
Newton described the universal law of gravitation the coinage and took severe measures against forgers. He was
(see p.87) and the three laws of motion (below). elected President of the Royal Society in 1703 and made a knight
in 1705. He died in 1727 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
The laws of motion 1. Without speed to 2. With added speed, 4. With even greater speed
1. An object remains carry it forward, the ball follows a curve the ball travels so fast it
at rest or continues gravity pulls the for some distance before escapes Earth’s gravity
moving in a straight gravity pulls it back to Earth. and goes off into space.
line unless a force ball straight down.
acts upon it.
2. The greater the 3. If the speed is Newton’s cannonball
mass of an object, the greater, the ball To explain why one
more force it will take object orbits another,
to accelerate it. goes into orbit Newton imagined
around Earth firing a cannonball
3. For every action, horizontally from the
there is an equal and because Earth top of a very high
opposite reaction. is rotating away mountain on Earth.
In each experiment
Title page of from the ball he would increase
Principia Mathematica as fast as the the velocity (speed) at
ball is falling which the ball travels.
toward Earth.
88
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
Studying light
Newton made many studies
of light. In his book Opticks,
published in 1704, he described
light as a stream of tiny particles
traveling at speed and showed
that white light contains all the
colors of the rainbow.
“To myself I seem to
have been only like a boy
playing on the seashore...
while the great ocean of
”truth lay all undiscovered
before me.
Isaac Newton
89
1690 ▶1710 In 1699, Welsh naturalist and
museum keeper Edward Lhyud
Fruit 1694 published the first illustrated
catalogue of British fossils.
Secrets of flowers
Comparing brain sizes
German botanist Rudolf
Camerarius provided Macaque monkey Chimpanzee Human brain
scientific proof that brain brain
flowering plants
1699
reproduce sexually. He
showed that pollen, a Chimpanzee study
powdery dust produced Edward Tyson was an English physician
on the male stamens, is and anatomist. He dissected the body of a
necessary for fertilization chimpanzee, which he called an orang-outang,
of the female germ cells or “man of the woods.” The creature had been
brought to London on a ship from Africa and
(called ovules). When died shortly afterward. Tyson concluded that its
he removed the anatomy, particularly its brain, was closer
stamens, the flowers to that of a man than a monkey.
failed to seed.
Flower
Castor oil plant, studied
by Camerarius
1690 1695
1697 1698 3. Tank
showers
Mistaken theory Steam pump water on
vessel to
Georg Stahl, a German chemist, argued that a English inventor Thomas Savery condense
substance or “essence” called phlogiston is designed a steam pump to extract steam.
released into the air whenever something floodwater from mines. It worked by
is burned, leaving the calx (or ash). His condensing steam to create a vacuum.
theory was widely believed until disproved As air rushed in to fill it, atmospheric
by Antoine Lavoisier (see p.107). pressure forced up water from the
World mine. The entire process was
traveler controlled by a system of taps.
William Dampier, an
English adventurer, sailed 2. Steam enters
three times around the world, vessel beneath
making one of the earliest cold water tank.
scientific expeditions to the
coast of New Holland (now 1. Water in boiler
Australia). He wrote a is heated to
best-selling account of
his voyages. produce steam.
Model of Savery’s
steam pump
Dampier drew this
90 bird on his voyage to 4. Water
New Holland in 1699. from below is
forced up pipe.
Crowds turn out to admire Halley’s Comet 1705 THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
on its appearance in 1835.
Mercury thermometer
Halley’s prediction by Fahrenheit, c 1718
English astronomer Edmond Halley predicted that “... I dare venture
a comet he had observed in 1682 would be seen
again from Earth in 1758. His prediction proved to foretell, That it
[the comet] will
correct. The comet, which is visible roughly every
75 years, is now known as Halley’s Comet. ”return again in
the Year 1758.
Edmond Halley, A Synopsis of
the Astronomy of Comets, 1705
1709
Handy thermometer
Gabriel Fahrenheit, a Polish
physicist working in the
Netherlands, made the first
compact, modern-style
thermometer. It had a series of
scaled markings and was filled
with colored alcohol, which
expanded as the temperature
rose. Later versions used
mercury. Fahrenheit devised
the temperature scale named
after him in 1724.
1701 1705 1710
Agricultural pioneer Sheep and cattle were 1708
improved by selective
Jethro Tull, an English farmer, breeding in order to Porcelain discovery
invented the mechanical seed produce more meat.
drill—a device that planted Porcelain, a bluish-white
seeds in neat, evenly spaced Hopper ceramic imported from China,
rows. His drill wasted much contains seed was extremely popular in
less seed than the traditional Europe, but no one knew
method of scattering it by how to make it. After 20
hand. Although Tull’s invention years of experimentation,
did not catch on at first, it Ehrenfried von Tschirnhaus,
would have a key role in a German scientist, found
modernizing farming. the secret: a paste made of
kaolin (a fine white clay)
mixed with alabaster.
Plow digs Tube drops The farmer’s yield is
furrow for seeds seed into increased because
furrow the seeds have more
Jethro Tull’s space to grow.
seed drill
Handles
guide drill
91
Traveling Celestial navigation
the world
The sextant was a highly accurate instrument
The word “navigation” originally meant finding used to determine latitude (position north or
your way at sea. For centuries, sailors would keep south of the equator) by measuring the angle
close to the coast, using landmarks and local between the horizon and the Sun during the
knowledge of currents and weather conditions day, or the Moon, planets, and stars at night.
to navigate by. Later, they used compasses to Invented in the 18th century, it remained the
indicate the direction in which to sail and they ultimate navigational tool until the arrival
developed navigational aids to calculate their of satellite navigation (sat nav).
position at sea. Now we use the term navigation
to mean finding your way anywhere. Top mirror
2. Lower mirror
reflects light to
the telescope
and is fixed
on the horizon.
Early mariners’
compass,
c 1500–1700s
Portolan chart of the Gulf of Mexico, 1547 Arc measures
one-sixth (sextant)
Early navigational chart
of circle.
This portolan is drawn “upside-down” with south at the 1. Movable arm adjusts top
top. Places along the coast are carefully named and located, mirror to reflect light from
while inland areas contain fanciful scenes. Compass “roses” Sun onto lower mirror.
give direction. The captain plotted a course by following the
lines that crisscross the chart from the roses.
Key events
1000 1300 1400 1569
The Vikings used a Knowledge of the magnetic European sailors began using Mercator’s map projection,
device called a sun compass reached Europe coastal charts called portolans on which lines of latitude and
compass (a wooden disc from China, where it had in combination with a compass longitude intersect at right
with directional markings) been in use for at least to plot a course from port to port. angles, made it easier to
to help them navigate by 1,000 years. navigate at sea.
the Sun.
Viking sun compass
92
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
Log float with gauge, c 1861 The marine
chronometer
Measuring speed
In the 1700s, ships were frequently lost at
Speed at sea is measured in knots because sea because captains had no way of keeping
sailors used to throw a rope (also called a log) track of longitude (how far the ship has
tied with knots behind their ship. They allowed traveled east or west). To do this required
it to roll out for a specific amount of time, then an accurate clock that would always show
counted the number of knots to calculate how the right time back at home port. Sailors
fast the ship was moving. Later, a log float with worked out their longitude by comparing
a mechanical gauge was thrown from the ship. that time with “local” time. This was difficult
to achieve on board a rolling ship. After
working on the problem for many years,
John Harrison built the first accurate marine
chronometer (timepiece) in 1759.
The original designs for
Harrison’s chronometer. It
was about the size of a
large pocket watch.
3. Telescope Lighthouses
focuses light from
mirrors so you The Romans built the first
see the Sun on lighthouses at the entrance to
the horizon. harbors. Modern lighthouses date
from the early 1800s. They were
4. Angle between designed to prevent shipwrecks by
horizon and the Sun shining a powerful beam of light
is read off the scale. to warn approaching ships of
Sextant, 18th century dangerous hazards such as
rocky reefs.
Early lighthouses were often built
on rocky outcrops.
Satellite navigation
Sat nav systems such as GPS
(Global Positioning System)
use a series of global satellites
to work out where a receiver is
located. The receiver, which could
be a smartphone, picks up signals
from at least four satellites to
instantly calculate its position
and speed (see p.232).
1750 1759 1935 1990
Sextants, navigational instruments John Harrison built an Radar, which locates unseen objects GPS, the first sat nav system,
used to measure the altitude of the accurate marine chronometer by bouncing radio waves off came into use. It quickly
planets and stars, had come into use. to calculate longitude at sea. them, was invented. It is replaced most other
Sailors used them to determine used on ships to reveal
latitude at night as well as day. coastlines and navigation aids.
other ships.
Radar screen
93
1710 ▶1730 “The whole cavity
of the bell was kept
entirely free from
water, so that I sat
”on a bench… with
all my clothes on.
Edmond Halley, on going
underwater in the
diving bell, 1715
Illustration of Halley’s diving bell, from a 19th-century encyclopedia 1715
Halley’s diving bell
English scientist Edmond
Halley designed a practical
diving bell. An air-filled,
weighted barrel was suspended
next to the bell and kept it
constantly fed with air through
a hose. Halley dived to a depth
of 60 ft (18 m) inside his bell
and remained submerged for
90 minutes. Diving bells were
used to recover goods from
sunken ships.
1710 1715
1712 1716 MALARIA
Practical steam engine Italian physician Giovanni Lancisi
argued that mosquitoes, which
Thomas Newcomen, an English engineer, breed in swamps, are responsible
built the world’s first practical steam for spreading malaria. Few people
believed him at the time, but he was
engine, designed to pump water out of proved right in 1894.
mines. A growing demand for coal meant
Female 6. It bites another 1. An infected
that mines were being dug deeper, and Anopheles person, who also mosquito lands
flooding was a serious problem. mosquito becomes ill with malaria. on a human host.
4. The up-and-down action of the Malaria lifecycle 2. Its bite infects the
pump expels water from the mine. host with parasites
Malaria is transmitted carrying malaria.
2. The rocking beam to humans in the bite 3. The parasites
falls, pushing the of infected female
pump down. Anopheles mosquitoes. multiply in the liver.
Tiny parasites from the
3. Cold water sprays mosquito’s saliva enter
into the cylinder to the victim’s bloodstream
condense the steam. and multiply in the liver,
This creates a vacuum causing fever.
that forces the piston
down and the pump up. 5. A second mosquito is 4. More red blood
infected after feeding cells are infected.
1. Steam from the on the host’s blood.
boiler enters the
cylinder, pushing
the piston up.
Fire
94 Diagram of Newcomen’s steam engine
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
Sweet tooth Illustration from 1729
Pierre Fauchard, The Surgeon Dentist,
a French doctor, published in 1728
was the first person to
link the eating of sugar Electrifying experiments
to tooth decay. In his book Stephen Gray, a self-taught English scientist, was an early
The Surgeon Dentist, he
urged people to give pioneer of electricity, which he produced by friction. He
up eating sugar.
was able to conduct an electric charge hundreds of yards
along a thread, which was draped through the house and
out into the garden. He later put on public displays of
electricity, including a spectacle called the Flying Boy.
1721 2. The charged 3. Silk 4. The static charge
rod is passed over cords from the boy’s face
Smallpox protection act as and hands attracts
the boy’s body insulators. pieces of paper.
Variolation was a way of protecting to give him an
healthy people from getting smallpox electrostatic charge.
by scratching them with infected
material from a smallpox scab. It
became fashionable after members
of the British royal family underwent
the procedure.
Instrument used 1. A glass rod
to puncture the is rubbed to
skin in variolation
generate static
electricity. 5. A small ivory ball
is also attracted.
Gray’s Flying Boy
1725 1730
1725 StehT8ee0epl–tla8iinmg1gees 1727
Speedy weaving Indian observatory
Basile Bouchon, a French silk maker, Jai Singh II, Maharaja of the kingdom
invented the first semiautomated of Jaipur, India, began constructing the
Jantar Mantar astronomical observatory
weaving machine. He came up with a at Jaipur. It contained a collection of
way to speed up weaving by using a massive astronomical instruments built
perforated paper tape to control of brick and stone—including the world’s
the raising of the warp threads on largest sundial, Samrat Yantra.
the loom. His invention was the
forerunner of other programmable This triangular wall is This wall is a scale that
machines, such as the computer. the gnomon (the part of registers the position
a sundial that casts a of the shadow cast by
Samrat Yantra shadow from the Sun). the gnomon.
sundial The shadow travels at
a rate of about 0.04 in
(1 mm) per second.
Samrat Yantra, the
sundial at Jantar
Mantar, has a height
of 88 ft (27 m).
1729, ENGLAND
Celestial atlas
This atlas of the heavens (Atlas Coelestis) was
published in 1729—ten years after the death of its
author John Flamsteed, Astronomer Royal of Great
Britain. It is based on his detailed observations of
2,935 stars visible with a telescope from the Royal
Observatory at Greenwich. Atlas Coelestis was one
of the first major atlases to be based on observations
through a telescope, and was considered much
more accurate than previous star atlases.
96
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
The constellations of the northern and southern
hemispheres from the Atlas Coelestis
You are to apply the most exact care and diligence
“ ”to rectifying… the places of the fixed stars.
King Charles II’s instructions to John Flamsteed on making him Astronomer Royal, 1675
97
1730 ▶1750 Stretchy stuff
While in the Amazon
Seismic 1731
waves rainforest, French
See page Earthshaking discovery explorer Charles de la
Condamine came across
164 Inventor Nicholas Cirillo used a the substance rubber,
Laura Bassi pendulum to measure earthquakes which is obtained from
in Naples, Italy. The amplitude of a rainforest tree called
the pendulum’s sways (the extent Hevea brasiliensis. He
of their back-and-forth movement)
indicated where the earth tremors sent samples back
were most intense. His device to Europe.
was the first seismograph.
Incision made in
1731 the tree’s bark
Female pioneer Page from Linnaeus’s Rubber latex fluid
Systema Naturae collected from tree
Italian academic Laura Bassi
was the first woman to hold a 1735
university post in science when
she was appointed Professor Classifying life
of Anatomy at the University of
Bologna, Italy. A year later, she Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus divided
was also made Professor the natural world into three kingdoms—
of Philosophy. animal, plant, and mineral. In his book
Systema Naturae, he introduced the
binomial (two-name) system that classified
plants and animals by genus and species.
This system is still used today.
1730 1734 1738
1733 1738
The flying shuttle Bernoulli’s principle
Invented by Englishman John Kay, Swiss mathematician Daniel
the flying shuttle was a simple Bernoulli stated that as the
device that revolutionized the textile speed of a moving fluid
industry. On a loom, the shuttle
(liquid or gas) increases, the
drew the weft (yarn) through the pressure within it decreases.
warp (lengthwise threads). The His principle explains how an
weaver then passed Kay’s aircraft gains lift because air
flying shuttle, which was in flows faster over the top of its
a box attached to a cord, wings and slower underneath.
at high speed back and
forth across the warp. Bernoulli published
his principle in a book,
Bornite, an ore 1735 Hydrodynamica
containing cobalt
Bobbin Shuttle Goblin ore
(spindle)
Georg Brandt, a Swedish
of yarn mineralogist, identified the element
Rollers reduced friction
cobalt, which is present in Earth’s
for greater speed. crust in combination with other
minerals. The name cobalt comes
from the German word kobold,
meaning “goblin ore.”
Pitot tubes, invented in 1732 to
measure how fast rivers flow, are still
98 used to measure airspeed on aircraft.
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