SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN MID-19TH CENTURY

The last half of the nineteenth century was a period which experienced rapid progress in science and technology.

There were important breakthroughs in:

• iron and steel technology,

• electricity,

• weapons,

• physics and chemistry

• sociology, psychology and biology

There were numerous applications such as:

• ocean liners with steel hulls,

• skyscrapers, suspension bridges,

• electric trolley cars, the first subway, central power stations

In the study of physics, there was a much improved understanding of the
nature of matter :

Dalton, an English schoolmaster, postulated a theory in which the atom was conceived as being a tiny billiard ball. Material of the same atom were elements. Material combining different elements were compounds. Dalton theorized that elements always combined in fixed ratios into compounds, as for example, in water, two atoms of hydrogen
always combined with one atom of oxygen. Atoms were the smallest indestructible parts of matter.

Mendeleev began to develop the table of elements which helped in the discovery of new elements.

In the last decade of the century, the discovery of radium by Marie and Pierre Curie, and the electron by Becquerel as well as observation of radioactivity in the laboratory, challenged Dalton's theory.

Einstein produced the theory of the conversion of mass into energy, E=mC(2), which was confirmed by laboratory observations.

A new theory of the atom was devised by the English physicist Rutherford in 1913. He conceived of the atom as consisting of a hard nucleus surrounded by a cloud of electrons.

The theoretical foundations for a whole host of new inventions in electronics and nuclear power was laid.

In the field of social sciences, the study of Sociology was conceived by Auguste Comte, who wrote of a heirarchy of knowledge:

1. Theological (fictitious)
2. Abstract (metaphysical)
3. Scientific (positivist)

Each level of knowledge was said to be more sophisticated than the preceding level.

In Psychology, Sigmund Freud looked for explanations for individual human behavior beyond the rational level. He understood people to be motivated by a superego (a conscience), an ego (the rational mind), and an id (subconscious motivation).

In Biology, Charles Darwin developed his Theory of evolution. Traveling on a long voyage on the Beagle, he had the opportunity to observe great varieties of different species of life, some of which did not exist in England. He kept voluminous records which he later used to develop his theory.