Thursday, October 7, 2010
WHO IS THE MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR THAT INSPIRED ME MOST?
Karl Popper is generally regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of science of the 20th century. He was also a social and political philosopher of considerable stature, a self-professed ‘critical-rationalist’, a dedicated opponent of all forms of scepticism, conventionalism, and relativism in science and in human affairs generally, a committed advocate and staunch defender of the ‘Open Society’, and an implacable critic of totalitarianism in all of its forms. One of the many remarkable features of Popper's thought is the scope of his intellectual influence. In the modern technological and highly-specialised world scientists are rarely aware of the work of philosophers; it is virtually unprecedented to find them queuing up, as they have done in Popper's case, to testify to the enormously practical beneficial impact which that philosophical work has had upon their own. But notwithstanding the fact that he wrote on even the most technical matters with consummate clarity, the scope of Popper's work is such that it is commonplace by now to find that commentators tend to deal with the epistemological, scientific and social elements of his thought as if they were quite disparate and unconnected, and thus the fundamental unity of his philosophical vision and method has to a large degree been dissipated. Here we will try to trace the threads which interconnect the various elements of his philosophy, and which give it its fundamental unity.
Falsifiability or refutability is the logical possibility that an assertion could be shown false by a particular observation or physical experiment. That something is "falsifiable" does not mean it is false; rather, it means that if the statement were false, then its falsehood could be demonstrated.For example, "no human lives forever" is not falsifiable since it does not seem possible to prove wrong. In theory, one would have to observe a human living forever to falsify that claim. In contrast, "All humans live forever" is falsifiable: the presentation of just one dead human could prove the statement wrong. Importantly, we may never find a dead human if that claim is true, but regardless that claim is falsifiable because we can at least imagine a finding that would prove it wrong. Some statements are only falsifiable in theory, while others are even falsifiable in practice (i.e. testable). For example, "it will be raining here in one billion years" is theoretically falsifiable, but not practically so.Falsifiability, particularly testability, is an important concept in science and the philosophy of science. The concept was made popular by Karl Popper in his philosophical analysis of the scientific method. Popper concluded that a hypothesis, proposition, or theory is "scientific" only if it is, among other things, falsifiable. That is, falsifiability is a necessary (but not sufficient) criterion for scientific ideas. Popper asserted that unfalsifiable statements are non-scientific, although not without relevance. For example, meta-physical or religious propositions have cultural or spiritual meaning, and the ancient metaphysical and unfalsifiable idea of the existence of atoms has led to corresponding falsifiable modern theories. A falsifiable theory that has withstood severe scientific testing is said to be corroborated by past experience, though in Popper's view this is not equivalent with confirmation and does not guarantee that the theory is true or even partially true.Popper invented the notion of metaphysical research programs to name such ideas. In contrast to positivism, which held that statements are senseless if they cannot be verified or falsified, Popper claimed that falsifiability is merely a special case of the more general notion of criticizability. Still, he admitted that tests and refutation is one of the most effective methods by which theories can be criticized.
DIFFERENCES IN STYLE AND RESEARCH
There were still striking differences among leading nations regarding the circumstances and style of research.
- In Britain, there was a marked absence of institutions providing jobs for researchers.
- In Germany, the natural sciences shared in the rise and size and prestige of the university system.
- 1856 William Henry Perkin - synthetic dyestuffs.
- Hans Christian Oersted 1819 - electric current produces a magnetic field.
- Michael Faraday 1831 - reverse effect
- Joseph Henry - built the first powerful electromagnets and invented the electric motor.
- James Prescott Joule - first law of thermodynamics
- Wilhelm Roentgen - X-ray
- Marie Curie - gave the name "radioactivity"
- Friedrich Wohler - prepared urea in a test tube from inorganic starting materials.
- Baron Justos Von Leibig - chemical fertilizers
- Gustav Robert Kirchoff and Robert Wilhelm Bunsen - spectograph
- Dmitri Mendeleev - systemic and periodic arrangement
- Sir William Herschel 1781 - Uranus did not precisely moved in its expected orbit.
- Urbair JJ. Leverrier - neptune
- Karl Ernst Von Baer - embryology
- Charles Darwin 1859 - origin of species
- Gregor Mendel 1866 - the pattern of inheritance of characteristics from one generation of sweet peas to another.
- William Morton, Charles Jackson, Crawton Lon, Sir James Simpson - Anesthetics
- Louis Pasteur - methods of immunizing people
- Joseph Lister - antiseptic surgery
- Walter Reed 1901 - yellow fever is caused by a virus carried by mosquitoes.
SCIENCE DURING RENAISSANCE
- The Academia Dei Lencei in Rome ( 1603-1630 )
- The Academia Del Cimiento in Florence ( 1657-1667 )
- The Royal society in London (1662 )
- The Academic Des Science in Paris ( 1662 )
- Journal Des Savants of Paris ( 1665 )
- Acta Ervditorium of Leipzig (1682 )
- Principia mathematica of Sir Isaac Newton ( 1687 )
- Traite De La Lumiereo of Christian huygens ( 1690 )
- Johann Gutenberg ( 1450 ) - the invention of printing press.
- German Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1402-64 ) - the latin exponent of the value of experiment.
- Nicholas Copernicus ( 1403 ) - developed the heliocentric theory using scientific method.
- Leonardo Da Vinci ( 1452-1514 ) -considered as the great artist of his time.
- Andres Versalius ( 1514-1564 ) - founder of modern human technology.
Medieval thought on the material world was essentially based on Greeks, specially Plato and Aristotle.
- Simon Stevinous - introduced the decimal fraction.
- Galileo Galilei - made the telescope ( 1564- 1642 )
- Johannes Kepler - theorized about the movement of the planet ( 1591-1630 )
- Rene Descartes - inventor of the graph who believed in the God Existence.
- Paracelsus - alchemist and physician of the renaissance.
- Francis Bacon - improved scientific method.
- Sir Isaac Newton - discovered the gravity.
Owes its past success and its special characteristic, its sharing, in the metaphysics and method.
The basic features european society were aggressive individualism tempered by principle of cooperation for a common good.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
An industrial revolution began that transform Europe from Agrarian to an Urban society towards the end of the 18th century.
CHINESE SCIENCE
BRIEF HISTORY
There has been more or less continuous contact between Europe and China since classical Greek times in spite of the distances between them and their totally different language.
Usually the connection was indirect and restricted to trade in luxury goods.
But even in the classical times there were curious synchronism in philosophical movements in Europe and China
Silk road- an ancient trade routine linking China with Rome.
Important Persons
- Marco Polo- whose account of his travels and experiences offered European a firsthand view of Asian lands and Stimulated interests in Asian trade.
- Zu Chongzhi- mathematician who calculated "pi" to the 7th digit.
- Liu Ju-hsieh- mathematician who discovered "Pascal's Triangle"
- Tao Ch'ien- famous poet and philosopher who influenced the ideaof "elixir of life".
Great Inventions
- magnetic compass
- printing press
- gun powder
- paper making
Stellar explosion that took place in the "Crab Nebula" in 1054.
Mathematics - Asian abacus, "pi" was calculated to the seventh digit, decimal system, Pascal's
Triangle
Triangle
Military - Crossbows, poison gases, Bamboo-made cannons, Rockets
Medicine - "Elixir of life" potion, acupuncture, autopsy 
While doing the ELIXIR OF LIFE...
Indian science
The Indian Civilization is about the oldest still alive, and it achieved the high level of technology at an early stage.
The history of science and technology in India begins with the prehistoric human activity in Mehrgarh or Pakistan and continues through the Indus Valley Civilization also known as the Bronze Age Civilization to the early state and empires.
The Science And Technology in India has something to do with the following field:
Agriculture
Indian Astrology
Zinc Metallurgy
Mathematics
AGRICULTURE
The Irrigation was developed in the Indus Valley Civilization by around 4500 B.C. The size and prosperity of Indus Civilization grew as a result of this innovation, which eventually led to more planned settlements making use of drainage and sewers.
INDIAN ASTROLOGY
Indian Astronomical text named Vedanga Jyotisa dates back around 1200 B.C. It detailed several astronomical attributes generally applied for timing social and religious events.
In India there is a long established widespread beliefs in Astrology and it is commonly used for daily life.
Examples: With regards to marriage
With regards to career
With regards to election process
ZINC METALLURGY (refining metals)
- Zinc mines of Zawar were active during 400 B. C.
- Another important Indian contribution was in the Isolation, Distillation and use of Zinc. A major breakthrough in the history of metallurgy was India’s discovery of Zinc Distillation whereby the metal was vaporized and then condensed back into pure metal.
- Early Iron objects found in India can be dated to 1400 B. C. Some scholars believed that by the early 13th century B.C. iron smelting was practiced on a bigger scale in India.
- Rust free steel was an Indian inventions and remained an Indian skill for centuries.
MATHEMATICS
- The use of Negative numbers was known in early India and their role insituation like mathematical problems of debt was understood.
- The Decimal number system originated in India. Other cultures discovered a few features of this number system which was compiled in India where it attained coherence and completion.
List of Indian Inventions and Discoveries
1. ATOMISM
The earliest reference to the concept of atoms date back to India in the 6th century B.C.
According to Democritus:
The term “atomos” meaning uncuttable or the smallest indivisible particle of matter.
Dharmakirti and Dignaga
Indian philosophers and founder of Vaishehika School of atomism.
They considered atom to be:
1. point sized
2. dirationless
3. made of energy
2. CHANDRASEKHAR LIMIT AND NUMBERS
Discovered by the named after Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who received the novel prize in Physics for his work on stellar structure and stellar evolution.
3. UNIVERSE
The earliest known philosophical models of the universe are found in VEDAS, the earliest text on Indian philosophy dating back to the late 2nd millennium B.C. They described COSMOLOGY in which the universe goes through repeated cycle of creation, destruction and rebirth.
4. INDIGO
Indigo was used as a dye in India, which was also a major center for its production and processing.
5. FIREARMS
By the 16th century Indians were manufacturing a diverse variety of firearms: large guns in particular.
The Indian war rockets were formidable weapons before such rockets were used in Europe.
ISLAMIC SCIENCE
GREEK-----ARABIC-----LATIN-----HEBREW
The Arabic culture and language spread afar: to Portugal in the west and to the frontiers of China in the East and over many degrees of latitude.
The most characteristic Arabic Scientific developments were in:
ALCHEMY
- Medieval chemical art whose principles objectives where to find the panacea and to transmute base metals into gold.
- Makes the earliest known suggestions for furnishing a chemical laboratory.
- Arabic numerals - an Indian system of numerical notation during the 19th century. It was invented in India passed through Persian to the Arabs, and was introduced in the Europe in the 10th century.
- Persian Mohammed IBN Alkhwarismi is the Persian Mohammed where from. He developed the process of vectification.
- Constant preoccupation in the Islamic world. It was developed in Spain.
- Cordova- located in Southern Spain.
- Toledo- located in Central Spain.
- Toledan- tables of proposition were drawn up in 1080
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