A Brief History of Humanity: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century

Chapter 20 New Inventions
Much of the progress made in the natural sciences and inventions during the revival of classical literature was largely due to the fact that they were not hindered by the Renaissance.For example, the miraculous discoveries and explorations in Asia, Africa and America have greatly increased the understanding of European peoples about some peoples and regions, and provided a lot of factual basis for future scientific research and investigation.But these discoveries and explorations, and the attendant increase in knowledge, were driven not by the advance of the Classical Renaissance, but by the economic ambitions of merchants and the zeal of Christian missionaries.

As we shall see, the printing press was invented during this period and was of considerable scientific value.Printing was not inspired by the classical Renaissance, since printing did not exist for the ancient Greeks or Romans.

Francis Bacon and Descartes It was not until the 17th century, when the classical Renaissance gradually declined, that the scientific method advocated by Roger Bacon in the 13th century was adopted by two outstanding scholars, Francis Bacon and Descartes. Karl brought it up again, and it worked.

Francis Bacon, known as Lord Bacon, was a well-known English jurist and judge, author of many short but brilliant treatises and longer works on philosophy and science, such as The Progress of Learning ( 1604) and The New Organism (1620).He insisted that one should not conclude that something is true just because someone else has said it, but only because one has observed it with one's own eyes.

René Descartes was a Frenchman who traveled all over Europe, served in the army in the Netherlands, Germany, and Hungary, lived for a while in Holland, and died in Sweden.His mind, like his body, never rests.He was sometimes interested in mathematics, sometimes in philosophy, sometimes devoted himself to physics or chemistry, or to proofs of human existence.He has always believed that science does not rely on the authority of ancient books, but on observed facts.Pointing to a basket of rabbits waiting to be dissected, he once said to a visitor, "This is my book."

[-]. Copernicus and Galileo
In the 16th century, Copernicus made astronomy greatly developed, which is largely due to the role of the classical Renaissance.

Ptolemy's theory Ptolemy, the Greek astronomer in ancient Egypt, once taught that the earth belongs to the core of the universe, and that the sun, moon and all the stars revolve around the earth, etc.He used to do a lot of weird calculations.Everything Ptolemy taught about the celestial bodies is called the "Ptolemaic system".It fits well with popular belief and was widely accepted without question until the Classical Renaissance.At that time, the theories of some ancient Greek astronomers who were somewhat different from the Ptolemaic system were rediscovered.Copernicus took one of these theories, experimented with it, and wrote it down in a very famous book.Today, this theory is called the Copernican theory, replacing the long-accepted Ptolemaic theory.

Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) was a Polish national who studied canon law, medicine, astronomy, and other subjects at several Italian universities.Then came back to Poland to take up a ministry in the Catholic Church.While in Italy, he had questioned Ptolemy's theories.He is still researching, thinking and creating.Ptolemy's theory was not only universally accepted, but even sacred, so Copernicus dared not attack it.He produced a large book on the celestial bodies, but it was not published until his death in 1543.This book was revolutionary in that it claimed that the center of the planetary system was the Sun, not the Earth.He asserted that the earth, like other planets, revolves around the sun.This was once the theory of Aristarchus of Samos.

To people in the 16th century, this theory seemed absurd.Had Copernicus been alive, he might have been in danger of being persecuted.

But in the early 17th century, two great astronomers, the German Johann Kepler and the Italian Galileo, endorsed Copernican's theory.Kepler (1571-1630) modified Copernicus' theory to show that the planets do not travel in circular orbits, but in elliptical orbits around the sun.

Galileo Galileo (1564-1642) generalized Copernicus' theory.His lectures at the University of Padua aroused so much interest that a classroom for 2000 people had to be prepared for him.He made a telescope in 1609, and although it looks weak and crude today, it was a wonderful thing in its day.Both nobles and elders used it to observe the sky.Using this telescope, Galileo was able to see many strange things in the starry sky.

Galileo believed in his own conclusions, but the Inquisition could not see the possibility that his claims were not inconsistent with the Bible, so he was forbidden to teach his own theories.He had to obey, but if he lived another hundred years, he would be very happy to see that most of the learned people agreed with him.

Galileo's achievements in physics are greater than in astronomy.A swinging lamp in the Pisa Cathedral allowed him to discover the law of the pendulum; throwing several heavy objects from the Leaning Tower of Pisa allowed him to discover that the falling speed of the object is not determined by its weight rather than by it. Depends on how far you fall.

[-]. Printing machine
Printing in China China was the first country to invent printing, and printing was used in both Japan and Korea. There is no doubt that European travelers and merchants who came to the Far East in the 14th century had seen or heard of printed books.But there is no evidence that printing in Europe was learned from Asia.We are talking here about the invention of printing in Europe.

Early Books in Europe About 500 years ago, every book in Europe was painstakingly written by hand.Despite the incredible speed and skill of the scribes when copying books, each large book took a lot of time and labor, so the price was very expensive.Only rich people or rich institutions have large collections of books.

European printing was invented in the 15th century AD, that is, the Renaissance period, which happened to be the transition period from the Middle Ages to modern times.Printing today is an extremely complex process, with each step taking centuries to perfect.But the most important part is the movable font that can print characters many times.Another important factor is a paper that is easy to print on, easy to handle, durable, and inexpensive.

Improvements to paper The ancient Greeks and Romans wrote on papyrus.Papyrus was a fiber made from tough reeds that grew in the Nile; but papyrus was heavy and expensive, and not suitable for printing.Parchment (tanned animal hides, especially sheepskin) was durable as the standard material for medieval handwritten documents.But parchment, like papyrus, is expensive and heavy, and not suitable for printing.Paper is the most suitable for use, but in Europe, paper appeared very late.

Better paper The earliest paper was silk paper made by the Chinese in the 2nd century A.D. from silk.Afterwards, Muslims seem to have learned papermaking from the Chinese, and replaced silk with cotton.Regardless, Muslims created tissue paper in Damascus in the 8th century.This so-called Damascus paper then spread to Greece, southern Italy and Spain.In Spain, locally grown hemp and flax replaced cotton.The resulting linen paper was widely used in Castile in the 13th century and spread to France and throughout Western Europe.It was not until the 15th century, when printing was just emerging, that paper suitable for printing was needed, and linen paper really defeated papyrus and parchment.

The method of inventing movable fonts evolved from ancient practice.The ancient method is to engrave the whole word or the whole sentence on the wooden board, smear the ink and print it on a suitable surface, and then it can leave a clear mark.Kings and princes in the Middle Ages usually engraved their signatures on wood or metal plates for easy use when signing and sealing, sealing imperial edicts or charters.Engravings similar to this one were used to reproduce pictures and scripts as early as the 12th century.

It is a natural and slow process from imprinting woodblocks, to engraving letters on many small wooden or metal blocks of equal height, and then to arrange them in a prescribed order for printing.The biggest advantage of movable type over engraving is that as long as the type is rearranged, infinitely changing printing jobs can be completed.

Inventor of printing The true history of the real invention of printing from woodblock to movable type is unknown.It is said that the first European who made and used movable type was Lawrence Koster from the town of Haarlem in the Netherlands.But we do know that around 1450 Johann Gutenberg used movable type in a print shop in Mainz, Germany.The earliest products of this new technology were the Pope's "Letter of Absolution" and a translation of the Bible.They were both printed by Gutenberg in Mainz in 1454.

The Rapid Development of Printing Although the printing technology developed slowly, it spread quite fast. After 1454, printing was adopted in Germany, Italy, France, and England, covering the whole of Western Europe.Scholars welcomed it, churches praised it.Rome installed many printing presses in 1466.Publishing books soon became a glorious and profitable business in every great city.In the early 16th century, a wealthy and well-known scholar, Aldus Manutius, founded a well-known Aldinian printing house in Venice, which printed exquisite editions of Greek and Latin classics that are still considered to be It is an excellent work in print art.

Format of Movable Type Early printers made models of the typefaces that scribes used to copy books.Different calligraphy produces fonts with different formats."Gothic" with a large black font is popular in Germany.Clear and neat several Roman fonts are more advanced in Central and Western Europe.The condensed "italics" style devised by Aldin Printing in Venice was designed to help printers fit a few more words on a page.

Impact of the invention of printing These new technologies continued to develop during the 16th century, with at least three notable outcomes:
(1) Greatly increased the supply of books.Previously, a skilled and industrious scribe could transcribe two large books a year.Today, a printing house in the 16th century could print 2.4 copies of Erasmus' works a year.

(2) The increase in the supply of books increases the demand for books.The price reduction has made books that were a dream for many people in the past, now they can be truly owned, accompanied by the dissemination of knowledge and the advancement of education.

(3) Printing further ensures the accuracy of the book content. (When books were hand-copied, two copies of each part were seldom identical.) Today, while errors in books are still inevitable and occasionally absurd, serious errors and forgeries have in fact been eliminated. was eliminated.At least, the content of all volumes of a certain edition is the same.

The Importance of Printing There is no doubt that the invention of printing is one of the greatest achievements in human history. Long-distance exploration was still going on in the 15th century, and printing was invented in Western Europe when the classical Renaissance was at its climax.This invention is a product of the Middle Ages, but its influence has been so profound that it has, more than any other factor, determined the character and quality of modern civilization.

[-]. Firearms

The manufacture of gunpowder and the use of firearms have greatly affected modern life.The most obvious effect was that the way of fighting in the fifteenth century changed and the power of kings was consolidated.

Gunpowder Gunpowder was once used by the Chinese and Arabs.In Europe, the secret of gunpowder manufacture was discovered in the 13th century. It began to be used in European countries in the 14th century.Bronze cannons were made to fire heavy stones.Bronze cannons and stone cannon balls were soon replaced by iron cannons and iron balls, and rifles or muskets were invented.

Effects on feudalism The use of guns destroyed feudalism, as feudal castles were not immune to cannonballs.The feudal knight, though clad in shining armor and carrying a spear, was no match for the ordinary man on foot with a musket.The age of chivalry and chivalry ended when the Age of Gunpowder began.

Effects on the monarchy With the use of gunpowder and firearms and the increase in state revenue, kings began to hire soldiers, maintain daily armies, and equip them with guns.Cannon were very heavy, and muskets were crude flintlocks, but they were far more effective than forks, spears, swords, and arrows.Armed with firearms, kings could conquer fractious feudal lords, suppress rioting commoners, or wage war on nearby princes.From then on he possessed an important tool of autocracy.Many kings in Europe used these weapons and armies to expand their territories and consolidate their power.

[-]. Nautical compass

Without the printing press, which facilitated the victory of the intellectual revolution, books would still be a luxury for the rich, newspapers would be unknown, and education would be impossible.Firearms caused wars and social revolutions; they replaced knights in armor with infantry armed with guns;At the same time, by expanding the power of despotic kings, it almost caused a political revolution.

The third invention, the nautical compass, triggered a huge movement in navigation, discovery, exploration, colonization and commerce, almost a revolution in navigation.

History of the compass The early history of the lodestone compass, often called the nautical compass, is not known.As early as the 5th century AD, the Chinese knew about crudely shaped compasses.However, due to the policies of the Chinese rulers and the customs of China, the Chinese do not want to engage in navigation, so the compass is not very important in the Far East.

When the magnetic needle was first used in Europe, no one knows.If, as many have speculated, the compass was brought from China by Arab sailors and traders, it was already a nautical tool when it was first brought into Europe.That is, a magnetic needle is a device used to steer a ship.

The first mention of the compass in literature is in a book written by Alexander Nekam in the 12th century.He said that it was a needle placed on a fulcrum, and when it was left to stop by itself, it pointed out the direction for the navigator.In another book, Neckam wrote: "When the voyager is at sea, in the cloudy day or in the darkness of night, when he does not know which way to turn in the world, he can use the lodestone to touch the sea. Draw a needle, and the needle will turn until it stops turning, and the tip of the needle will point north."

After Neckham's records, there were various accounts of the use of magnetic needles to aid navigation.As early as the 13th century, European navigators seem to have generally known the magnetic needle.In 1269, the deviation of the magnetic needle, that is, its distance from true north, seems to have been observed.The famous British poet Chaucer wrote in 1391 that the plane of the compass is divided into 32 degrees.

When commercial needs and religious zeal gave Europe a strong impetus to explore and trade far away, science began to provide it with tools, among which the navigator's compass played an important role.

(End of this chapter)