Historical Antecedents of Science and Technology

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering historical developments in science and technology from early humanity through the Medieval and Modern eras, including specific Philippine inventions and historical periods.

Historical Antecedents

Focuses on the development of science and scientific ideas in society and the dynamic interactions between societal factors and science and technology.

Homo habilis

Early humans who made sharp cutting edges from stone, signaling the birth of technology.

Homo neanderthals

Commonly known as cave men, these ancestors of Homo sapiens used tools and weapons.

Agricultural economics

A factor that helped civilizations develop gradually through the invention of tools and increased production.

Medieval / Middle Ages

A period beginning around $500\,AD$ between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance.

Dark Ages

Another name for the Medieval period, often characterized by wars and population decline.

Printing Press

A mechanized machine invented by Johann Guternberg that presses paper against inked, movable metal type.

Johann Guternberg

The inventor of the printing press around $1440$ in Europe.

Movable metal type

The mechanized system used in the printing press to produce books and printed materials faster than hand-copying.

Microscope

An instrument using lenses to magnify tiny objects, enabling investigation of diseases and microscopic structures.

Zacharias Janssen

The individual who developed the first compound microscope between $1590-1609$.

Telescope

An optical instrument developed by Dutch lens makers to observe distant objects, particularly for sea navigation.

Holland (Netherlands)

The place where the telescope was invented in the late $16th-early\,17th$ century.

War Weapons (Medieval)

Offensive and defensive equipment including bows, crossbows, spears, swords, armor, chainmail, and fortresses.

Industrial Revolution

The catalyst for the modern era where science and industry worked together to improve production.

Pasteurization

The process of heating dairy products to kill harmful bacteria introduced by Louise Pasture.

Louise Pasture

The individual who discovered a way to prevent manufactured dairy goods from spoiling faster.

Petroleum Refinery

The process developed by Samuel M. Kier to refine petroleum into koresene.

Samuel M. Kier

The inventor who created koresene by refining petroleum.

Koresene

A substance used for lighting, heating, and powering various machines, invented through petroleum refining.

Telephone

A telecommunications device invented by Alexander Graham Bell that converts sound into electronic signals.

Alexander Graham Bell

The inventor credited with creating the telephone.

Calculator

A device or software used to perform mathematical calculations, with mechanical origins dating to $1645$.

Blaise Pascal

The French mathematician who invented the first mechanical calculator.

Pascaline

The name of the first mechanical calculator invented by Blaise Pascal.

Alessandro Volta

The inventor of the Voltaic Pile, the world's first practical electric battery.

Voltaic Pile

The first practical electric battery capable of producing a continuous flow of electric current.

Tim Berners-Lee

The inventor of the World Wide Web.

World Wide Web

A system of interconnected web pages that made information easily accessible via the Internet.

Guglielmo Marconi

The inventor of the wireless telegraph for radio communication.

Wireless Telegraph

A device that transmits messages using radio waves without the need for wires.

Palawan and Batangas

The areas where the first inhabitants of the Philippine archipelago settled around $40,000$ years ago.

Pre-colonial Era (Philippines)

A period where inhabitants made stone tools, practiced smelting, weaving, and built boats for trade.

Spanish Era (Philippines)

The beginning of modern science and technology in the country, marked by the establishment of schools and hospitals.

American Period (Philippines)

A time of rapid growth in science and technology due to the extensive public education system.

Commonwealth Period (Philippines)

A period where Filipinos acknowledged the vital role of science and technology for economic reliance.

Japanese Occupation (Philippines)

A period beginning in $1941$ that made developments in science and technology practically impossible.

Institute of Science

The body that replaced the Bureau of Science in $1946$, placed under the Office of the President.

National Science Development Board (NSDB)

Established during President Carlos P. Garcia's regime following the Science Act of $1958$.

1973 Philippine Constitution

Declares in Section $9(1)$ that the advancement of science and technology shall have priority in national development.

Filipino Inventors Society

An organization supported by the DOST that invents useful machines for everyday living.

Sing-along system

The system patented by Roberto del Rosario in $1975$ that evolved into the videoke.

Videoke

A portmanteau of video and karaoke, an interactive entertainment where users sing to instrumental tracks.

Roberto del Rosario

The inventor who patented the Sing-along system in $1975$.

Salamander Amphibious Tricycle

A vehicle created by Atoy Llave that can drive on both land and water.

Atoy Llave

The creator of the Salamander, an amphibious tricycle used for flooded streets and regular roads.

Salt Lamp

A lamp designed by Aisa Mijeno using pink rock salt and an incandescent bulb as a safe alternative to kerosene lamps.

Aisa Mijeno

The designer of the Salt Lamp after living with the Butbut tribe in Kalinga.

Butbut tribe

The community in Kalinga whose reliance on fire-prone kerosene lamps inspired the Salt Lamp.

Medical Incubator

A makeshift device designed by Dr. Fe del Mundo for rural communities without electricity.

Dr. Fe del Mundo

The designer of a medical incubator made from woven bamboo laundry baskets and hot water bottles.

Mosquito Ovicidal-Larvicidal (OL) trap

An environmentally safe system developed in $2011$ to curb Aedes aegypti populations.

Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI)

The organization under the DOST that developed the mosquito OL trap.

E-jeepney

Eco-friendly, battery-powered versions of the iconic Philippine minibus introduced in $2007$.

ICSC

The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, which led the collaborative initiative for E-jeepneys.

Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP)

The government program in which e-jeepneys play a major role.

Gregorio Y. Zara

The inventor of the two-way videophone.

Videophone

An invention by Gregorio Y. Zara allowing voice and live video communication, described as a photo signal separator network.

Photo signal separator network

The technical description used in the patent for the videophone by Gregorio Y. Zara.

Narciso Mosuela

The inventor of the Superkalan from La Union.

Superkalan

A stove that can be powered by any substance that burns, invented by Narciso Mosuela.

Heavy Plough

A Medieval invention that revolutionized agriculture by turning clay-rich northern soils.

Gunpowder

An invention from China that fundamentally changed warfare and fortress design.

Mechanical Clocks

Devices driven by weights and gears that changed how society tracked time and organized labor.

Astrolabe and Compass

Navigation instruments that allowed mariners to explore the globe and chart new trade routes.

Scientific Method

The institutionalization of empirical testing and observation driving modern physics, chemistry, and biology.

Steam Engine

An invention that replaced muscle power and fueled the Industrial Revolution.

Information Age

An era characterized by computers, the internet, and the discovery of radioactivity and relativity.

Banaue Rice Terraces

Pre-colonial engineering masterpieces created using mud, stones, and gravity-fed irrigation systems.

Balangay

A sophisticated plank-built wooden boat used for inter-island trade in the pre-colonial Philippines.

Moroporo

A star constellation (Pleiades) used by pre-colonial Filipinos to predict weather and farming seasons.

University of Santo Tomas (UST)

Founded in $1611$, it is one of the first universities to teach medicine, arithmetic, and pharmacy.

Flora de Filipinas

An early mapping of Philippine flora by Fr. Manuel Blanco during the Spanish Era.

Fr. Manuel Blanco

The author of Flora de Filipinas during the Spanish colonial era.

Bureau of Science (1901)

An institution established during the American occupation to spearhead tropical disease and agriculture research.

Department of Science and Technology (DOST)

The lead government body for the modern Philippine science and technology agenda.

Indigenous science

The localized, adaptive knowledge used by self-sufficient communities or barangays before colonization.

Barangays

Self-sufficient pre-colonial communities in the Philippines relying on folk science.

Galleon Trade

The trade route through which new plant species and livestock from the Americas were introduced to the Philippines.

Johannes Gutenberg

The individual listed in the detailed Medieval review as having refined the printing press.

20th Century physics

The field that discovered radioactivity and relativity during the Modern Era.

Aedes aegypti

The specific mosquito species targeted by the Ovicidal-Larvicidal (OL) trap.

La Union

The province of the Superkalan inventor, Narciso Mosuela.

FAO

The Food and Agricultural Organization, which awarded the Best Design award to the Superkalan in $1987$.

Incandescent bulb

The component used inside a Salt Lamp to light the pink rock salt block.

Copper wires

The material originally used to tether telephone technology before it evolved into wireless systems.

Fossil fuels

The energy source associated with the shift toward automation and globalization in the Modern Era.

Tropical diseases

One of the research focuses of the Bureau of Science established in $1901$.

Stone churches

Infrastructural developments introduced during the Spanish Era using European engineering.

Primal need to survive

The driver for primitive technology in the first inhabitants of the Philippines.

Smelting and Refining

Techniques learned by pre-colonial Filipinos to fashion tools from metals found in nature.

Secular public education

A significant feature of the American and post-colonial eras in the Philippines.

Carlos P. Garcia

The Philippine President during whose regime the National Science Development Board was established.

11th century

The century when lens technology began among European scientists and craftsmen.

1440

The approximate year the printing press was invented in Europe.

1590-1609

The timeframe for the development of the first compound microscope.

1645

The year the first mechanical calculator was traced to Blaise Pascal.

1941

The year the Pacific war broke out, leading to the Japanese occupation.

1946

The year the Bureau of Science was replaced by the Institute of Science.

1958

The year the Science Act was passed by the Philippine Congress.