Ancient and Anonymous Scientific Breakthroughs
In the pursuit of knowledge and ease of living human beings from the time immemorial continued come with new devices and substances that gradually would contribute to the progress of human being as a race and make modern civilization possible. Many of these ancient inventions and discoveries remained anonymous till date in spite of playing a crucial role in the progress of our civilization. You cannot think of any voyage without compass which prior to the onset of GPS technology was the only means of knowing your direction. Similarly, Chinese invention of paper ultimately made the prospering of knowledge, education and academics possible. Here we would introduce 5 such ancient and anonymous scientific breakthroughs that continued to make our life easier or make us prosper for thousands of years.
Compass
Based on various historical accounts it is believed that the magnetic compass was invented and developed by people at ancient Han dynasty in China but, the exact inventor’s name still remained unknown. Magnetic compass which functions with a magnetic needle that responds to the earth’s magnetic field and shows the relative location direction had been the soul important instrument for ancient to early modern era people for determining direction and location and measuring distance in any voyage. It is not until the very recent development of GPS technology in the last quarter of the twentieth century, that we could not replace our dependence on compass for determining orientation, location and direction. For thousands of years, compass enjoyed a central place of importance in transportation, voyages, mining, construction and other scientific research subjects like astronomy.
Paper
Even after so widespread invasion of digital gadget in every sphere of life we still live in a more or less paper dominated world. Without paper, the civilization is pretty unthinkable but the identity of the inventor still remained arguable and largely shrouded in mystery. The closest resembling precursor to modern paper was invented and put to use by people at Han dynasty (2nd century AD) and a certain court eunuch named Cai Lun is credited for beginning the process of making paper pulp though there are contradictory historical accounts against this claim as well. Paper ever since its invention continued to become the biggest alley in man’s pursuit of knowledge and played a crucial role in the progress of our civilization.
Alarm Clock
We all understand the irreplaceable role an alarm clock plays in making us awake or alert in the precise hour of need. Ever since this one of the most import scientific breakthroughs, people in every age tried to make an alarming system to their preference, though those were far different from the typical ringing alarm we experience in modern alarm clocks. It is said that Greek thinker Plato devised a typical alarm attached to a large water clock sounding more like water organ. From the time immemorial, many notable people experimented with alarming system in the precise hour of their choice but the first successful among such efforts still remained unknown. Around the 12th century, Chinese could device an alarm clock that could summon the monks at the precise hour of prayer.
[adinserter block=”7″]
