Unit 3. The History of science and engineering

Warm-up

Computer science Applied science Computer communication science Mechanical engineering Civil engineering Sanitary engineering Software engineering environment Construction engineering The art of the soluble Simultaneous discoveries ‘Inevitability’ of discoveries A pattern of innovation The steam engine Breadth of application A novel idea Grind scores of lenses An aperture stop The concave lenses for the myopic Magnification SI

Вычислительная техника Прикладная наука Теория систем передачи данных Машиностроение Гражданское строительство Коммунальные службы Средства поддержки программирования Строительная техника Искусство решаемого Одновременные открытия «неизбежность» открытий образец нововведений паровой двигатель широта применений новая идея шлифовать множество линз апертурная диафрагма вогнутые линзы для близоруких увеличение система СИ

1. What is your attitude to science?

2. Do you prefer to conduct scientific and research tasks or practical one?

3. What do you know about the history of your branch of science? How has it developed? What do you know about its roots?

4. Can you describe the most outstanding achievement in your sphere of science?

5. What is the current situation in your branch of science?

6. What would you like to change in your sphere of science to make it more advanced and modern?

7. What do you know about interdisciplinary research in your branch of science?

8. What ways of commemorating great men of science do you know? Give your examples.

9. Which SI units are named after great scientists of the past?

10. What is the public attitude to science and scientific research in our country & in the world?

Two short texts below discuss two features which are typical of the history of science. Which are they? Can you give other examples from the history of science and engineering illustrating the features? Are there similar examples in your branch of science?

The Art of the Soluble

...Science is, in Peter Medawar's words, the art of the soluble. A good scientist knows that the trick is to choose a problem that is ripe for solution, both because the technology is there and because the concepts are in place.

This explains the abundance of examples of simultaneous discoveries in the history of science: Adams and Leverrier found Neptune at the same time and accused each other of plagiarism, contributing mightily to a mood of Anglo-French dislike. Newton and Leibnitz; Darwin and Wallace; Gallo and Montagnier: the list is long.

Scientists speak of the ‘inevitability’ of discoveries in sharp contrast to other historical events. The structure of DNA would not have remained mysterious for long if Francis Crick and James Watson had not existed. James Watt was not indispensable to progress, though the steam engine was. There is irony here.

Check your comprehension

~ If you plagiarize someone or something, you _ _ _ _ them.

~ Are inevitable events avoidable?

~ Would progress have been made without Crick, Faraday, Watson, and Watt?