Inventions of New Technologies - Term Paper Example

Three Course-changing Events in the History of Western Technology The present superiority of the western world crucially pivots on the excellence of the technological development which mainly starts in the first half of the 18th century. Inventions of new technologies and gradual shift from manual labor to machine for nationwide internal production gradually begin to make the warring nations of the European continent outbound in search of newer supplies of raw materials to feed their gigantic machine-based industries and at the same time newer markets in order to sell the surplus commodities and goods after meeting their national demands. Consequently, Europe-controlled trade and commerce began to expand rapidly all over the world. Therefore, an economically strong militarily superior and Europe began to emerge in world politics. Indeed the West did not achieve this excellence overnight. Rather the west has a long tradition of science and technology and a great deal of course-changing inventions of technology. Among these course-changing events in technology, the inventions of print-machine, dry compass and the birth of Leonardo de Vinci are the most mentionable three. Indeed the chronology of the two inventions is such that the following had been benefitted by the preceding one. Gutenberg’s Invention of Printing Machine in 1436 It will not be an exaggeration to say that an enlightened Europe had been possible to a great extent because of Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of printing technology in 1436. While before of the invention of Gutenberg’s printing technology, education was essentially the luxury of upper class people because of the high price of the materials of education, after the invention education began to spread over the countries in the continent. During the late medieval period in Europe the rapid economic and socio-cultural development prepared the plot for the invention of the print machine. During those years, the favorable technological and intellectual conditions, the capitalist spirit of the rising business class increasingly sought to reach the mass middle class people with reading materials. Indeed this invention contributed to the sharp rise in the medieval learning and literacy rate, while leading to an explosion of printing activities in the following decades. According to a study, by the end of the fifteenth century, there were about 236 cities, all over Europe, that established printing machines (Febvre 36). But by the end of the 16th Century the printing presses in the European countries had produced about 200 millions of books. In the 1600s, the printing presses in Europe were “capable of producing 3,600 impressions per workday” (Wolf 213). Indeed, it is almost impossible to sum up the effects and the aftermaths of the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press. To a great extent, the invention of printing press was one of the direct catalysts of the Reformation. The catholic versus protestant conflict during the Reformation was able to achieve a popular dimension amongst the common people with the blessings of the printing presses. About 750000 pieces of Erasmus’s work, one of the leading figures of the Reformation, were sold in print-format during his lifetime. Again 300000 printed copies of Luther’s tracts were distributed among the common people. Apart from the Reformation as the direct consequence of the invention of Gutenberg printing press, there are numerous events in the history of western world that can be linked with this invention. The Renaissance, the Enlightenment of Europe, the Age of Exploration and the Industrial Revolution were some of the remote mega events that were engendered by the invention of printing press since it led to the democratization of knowledge while establishing numerous groups of scholars and communities of scientists. Effects of the Invention of Dry-Compass and the Development of Maritime Technology Contemporary to the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press, the invention of dry compass along with the developments of other maritime technologies such as pintle-and-gudgeon rudders, lateen sails, and the astrolabe greatly contributed to the following Age of Exploration. In 1269 Petrus Peregrinus of Maricourt first discussed about the possibility of a dry compass in his well-known book, “Epistola de magnete”. This invention was great and crucial to the Age of Exploration. Due the limitations of earlier versions of navigational compasses, voyages in the sea were sluggish and time-consuming. But the invention of dry compass contributes greatly to make the voyages in the sea more error-free. One of the great utilities of dry compass was that it was more error-free than a liquid compass since it was free off internal-fluidity current unlike a liquid compass. Indeed during this age, the Europeans were enriched with the knowledge of the world outside of Europe. Following by the industrial revolution in Europe, the Age of Exploration was essentially an age of growing trade and commerce. In later half of the 15th century, the growing strife between Europe and the Ottoman Empire began to narrow the scope of trading silk and spice including incense, medicinal herbs, drugs and opium, etc through the silk route and the spice trade routes. As a response to this shrinking scope of trading along the eastward land and sea route, the Portuguese and the Spanish were motivated to opt for another two alternatives: first they were searching for an alternative root to east and Southeast Asian Markets; second, they were trying to find out markets of cheap slave-labors, other valuable goods like gold, silver, ivory, etc in the African region. Consequently, in 1418 the Portuguese began exploration along the African coast of the Atlantic. But being geared up by the Ottoman blockade on the Silk route and on other eastward sea-routes Christopher Columbus, funded by the Spanish monarch, traveled westward with a view to reach India in 1492. Columbus speculated that since the Earth is round, he would be able to reach India traveling westward along the Atlantic. Thus the New World was discovered and the discovery provided the European with further scope of exploration into the inland of America. Besides these commercial and political motivations, there were other reasons that inspired the explorers such as the religious motives, technological advances, knowledge about geography, etc. Influence of Leonardo de Vinci In the history of Western technology, the birth of Leonardo de Vinci, the famous artist was a fortuitous event because of his contributions to technology. Though he did not contribute directly, his ideas and art works about the mechanics of nature helped the scholars and scientists in the following decades. Though he is well-known as an artist, his contributions to science and technology are not less important than other contributions. He was the first to conceptualize the models of flying machines, bicycles, folding furniture and automaton. Though he did not invent any technological device practically, his systematic way of researching the mechanics of nature inspired many other renaissance scholars. In fact, his innovation of using art and scientific research together was vehemently appraised by scholars. Works Cited Arnold, David. The Age of Discovery, 1400–1600, Lancaster pamphlets: Routledge. 2002 Available at Febvre, Lucien, The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing 1450-1800, London: New Left Books, 1976 Schmidl, Petra G. “Two Early Arabic Sources On The Magnetic Compass". Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies, (1997) 1: 81–132  http://www.uib.no/jais/v001ht/01-081 132schmidl1.htm#_ftn4 Wolf, Hans-Jürgen, Geschichte der Druckpressen (1st ed.), Frankfurt/Main: Interprint, 1974 Read More