scientific discovery industrial age

Section 2Life in the Industrial Age

Preview

• Main Idea / Reading Focus

• New Ideas in Science

• Faces of History: Marie Curie

• Medical Breakthroughs

• New Ideas in Social Sciences

• Quick Facts: New Ideas, Advancements, and Developments in the Sciences

Scientific and Medical Achievements


Reading Focus

• What were some of the new ideas in the sciences?

• What medical breakthroughs affected the quality of life?

• What new ideas developed within the social sciences?

Main Idea

Advances in science, medicine, and the social sciences led to new theories about the natural world and human mind, an improved quality of life, and longer life spans.

Scientific and Medical Achievements


New Ideas in Science

Charles Darwin studied variations in plants, animals in 1800s

•Published theories in On the Origin of Species

•Developed concept of natural selection

– Creatures well adapted to environment have better chance of surviving, producing offspring

– Offspring will inherit features that help them survive



Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

• Over time the species will evolve to improve survival chances

• Controversial theory

– Indicated humans were descended from other animals

– Many opposed Darwin because theory differed from Biblical story of creation


Advances in Chemistry and Physics, early 1800s

• Scientists believed atoms made up chemical elements

• Also thought all elements made of same kinds of atoms

Periodic Table

• Dimitri Mendeleyev, 1871

• Arranged known chemical elements into Periodic Table

• Revealed previously unknown patterns

Modern Atomic Theory

• John Dalton, 1803

• Atoms of different elements are themselves of difference size and mass

More Elements Discovered

• Marie and Pierre Curie, 1898

• Discovered polonium, radium

• Concluded certain elements release energy when break down, called radioactivity




Others developed theories based on Curies’ work

• Ernest Rutherford, 1911

• In center of atom lay a core called a nucleus

– Nucleus made up of positively charged particles, protons

– Disproved long-held belief that atom was solid piece of matter


• Small amount of mass can be converted into huge amount of energy

• Space is curved, must include time in study of space

• Overturned Sir Isaac Newton’s and others’ theories of how universe worked

E = mc2

• Albert Einstein revolutionized physics

• Used math to show light can act like particles of energy

• Developed special theory of relativity

• No particle of matter can move faster than speed of light

• Motion can be measured only from viewpoint of observer

Einstein’s Genius



Summarize

What new theories revolutionized science?

Answer(s): evolution, radioactivity, relativity


Preventing Disease

• Breakthroughs in late 1800s as result of scientific advances earlier in century• Fundamental concepts of disease, medical care, sanitation revealed• Mysteries of what caused diseases began to be solved

Fermentation

• Bacteria in the air causes grape juice to turn to wine, milk to sour• Heating liquids, foods can kill bacteria, prevent fermentation• Process became known as pasteurization, makes foods germ-free

Microbes and Disease

• Louis Pasteur showed link between the two, 1870• Disproved spontaneous generation concept of bacteria from nonliving matter• Showed bacteria always present though unseen, can reproduce

Medical Breakthroughs


Anthrax• Deadly disease a constant threat to people, livestock

• Pasteur sought to prevent anthrax

• Injected animals with vaccine containing weakened anthrax germs

Rabies• Pasteur’s next goal

• Developed vaccine, 1885

• Saved life of young boy bitten by rabid dog

Antibodies

• Vaccine worked because body builds antibodies

• Antibodies fight weakened germs when they enter body




Improving Medical Care

• Treatment of pain

• American surgeon Crawford W. Long

– Discovered solution to pain suffered by surgery patients

– Patients breathed in ether, anesthetic to reduce pain and render patient unconscious

– Performed first painless operation, 1842



Treatment of Infections

• Many surgical patients died from infections

• English surgeon Joseph Lister, 1860s

– Began cleaning wounds and equipment with antiseptic containing carbolic acid

– Reduced post-surgery deaths in one hospital ward from 45 to 15 percent


• Caused dramatic decline in infant mortality

• Statistics from Sweden provide example

• 1800, 240 infant deaths in first year per 1,000 live births

• Nearly 100 years later, only 91 infant deaths in first year per 1,000 live births

Improved Care

• Public health improved with building of more modern hospitals

• More medical professionals trained

• Nursing schools trained large numbers of women, some trained as doctors

• By 1900, 5 percent of American doctors were women

Hospitals



Identify Cause and Effect

What medical advances allowed people to live longer?

Answer(s): pasteurization, antiseptics, and anesthetics


By studying dogs’ behavior, Pavlov concluded that human behaviors are also a series of connected conditioned reflexes.

In the late 1800s scientists expanded their focus to include the study of the mind and human societies. These new fields became known as the social sciences and include psychology, archaeology, anthropology, and sociology.

• Study of mind, human behavior became separate field in 1890s

• Observation, experiments helped psychologists explore subject

• Ivan Pavlov studied dogs to show animals could be taught certain reflex actions

Psychology

New Ideas in Social Sciences

• Pavlov rang bell each time he fed dogs

• Discovered that dogs not only salivated at sight, smell of food, but also when they heard bell

• Called this conditioned reflex

Pavlov’s Dogs



Studies of human behavior

• Austrian-Jewish physician Sigmund Freud

– Said that unconscious part of mind contains thoughts of which one is unaware

– Used hypnotism to explore patient’s unconscious mind

– Felt that repressed thoughts revealed in dreams could cause mental illness

– Developed psychoanalysis as therapy


Just as Freud studied individuals, other scientists studied people as members of groups, communities of people with a common culture.

• Study of the past based on artifacts

• Not new field of study

– Early expeditions little more than treasure hunts

– Began more scientific approach, mid-1800s

• Carefully recorded all stages of work and preserved finds for education

Archeology• Study of humanity and human

ancestors

• Physical anthropologists interested in how Homo sapiens developed

• Cultural anthropology deals with structures of societies, became separate field 1920s

• Cultural anthropologists study cultures other than their own

Anthropology




Sociology

• Closely related to anthropology

• Emerged as social science late 1800s

• Sociologists study people in groups

– Usually groups are in own societies

– Examine societies’ institutions and sub-groups

– Sub-groups organized around racial or ethnic identity, gender, or age


Draw Conclusions

How did new ideas contribute to the social sciences?

Answer(s): Ideas of human behavior and societies led to new fields of study, including psychology, archaeology, anthropology, and sociology.

scientific discovery industrial age

Education