Recognizing the First
Generation Inventors
Let me start with utopian scenario; imagine a land
or situation whereby all your wishes are met effortless courtesy of
technological facilities, available and accessible to you. Imagine a driverless
car, you enter with your wish of travelling to a choice destination in your
mind, the car simply drives you and stop at exact point you had in your mind
without making any effort. On the other hand, let us imagine another scenario,
opposite to first one; the present technological facilities making our lives
easier and happier cease to function. No telephone to speak with others few
kilometers away from us, no plane to crisscross the continents, no car to
travel long distances, no weapon of mass destruction, and many other things
making our lives comfortable, enjoyable and sometimes fearful. With these two
scenarios, one cannot but doff his hat for the inventors of the various
technologies worldwide for their ingenuity and creativity. What
is the history of invention and what was the first invention done by mankind? A
difficult question to precisely answer as invention predated the Paleolithic period. The inventions then, before
Stone Age were those of fire control, cooking, fabrication of stone and bone
tools, weaving, cave painting and few others. These inventions were found
through evidences recorded by archaeologists in various historical places.
Then, came to Neolithic period, more inventions were witnessed with relative
superiority and complexity over inventions made in earlier years. Such period
witnessed the invention of wheel, ship for sailing, needle; the earliest
needles were invented in 4400 BC in Naqada Egypt as reported by Wikipedia. Those
needles were made of bone and wood different from the modern ones manufactured
from high carbon steel wire.
Then, came the first millenniums BC, which witnessed
advancement of inventions; lenses, watermill and cranes in Ancient Greece,
mirror, glass blowing and warship in Lebanon, gears, paper and blast furnace in
Ancient China. The Ancient engineers in
the Roman Empire invented segmental arch dam, bridge and some hydraulic
structures for water flows and controls. These and many similar inventions were
made between 8th and first century BC. In
that Era of the first millenniums; 8th to 1st century BC,
there were many inventors scattered globally but the most renown and famous was
Archimedes. He was a Greek mathematician,
physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. He was and is still regarded as
one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. He was generally
considered as the greatest mathematician of all time. Archimedes was genius
enough to anticipate the upcoming of modern calculus and algebra. This, he
demonstrated by applying the concept of infinitesimals and the method of
exhaustion to derive and rigorously prove a range of geometrical theorems such
as area and circumference of a circle, the surface area and volume of a sphere,
and the area under a parabola. Among other important things he developed that
is still being applied by many of us is “pi”, a constant parameter with a value
of 22 over 7. This magic “pi” is used for computations of many trigonometric,
cycles and volumes of structures. He also developed the Archimedes screw for
lifting up water from mines or wells. The famous exclamation of 'Eureka!' was
credited to this ancient Greek scholar Archimedes. He was reportedly proclaimed
"Eureka! Eureka!" (Twice) after he had stepped into a bath and
noticed that the water level rose, equivalent to the volume of water displaced by
part of his submerged body. He then intuitively understood that the volume of
irregular objects could be measured with relative precision, a hitherto an intractable
problem to human race. He was said to have been so eager to share his discovery
with public that he leapt out of his bathtub and ran through the streets of
Syracuse naked. This was how the word “Eureka” became a so famous that every
scientist worth his/her salt knows it. Another important discovery made by Archimedes
was his famous principle code named “Archimedes’ principle”. It states that the
upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in a fluid, fully or
partially submerged, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body
displaces and acts in the upward direction at the center of mass of the
displaced fluid. This means that an object, wholly or partially immersed in a
fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by
the object. This is a fundamental law of physics applicable in fluid mechanics,
whose practical application led to the design of ships, complicated hydraulic
structures and similar practical applications very useful to mankind. Archimedes
lived for 75 years between the year 287 BC and 212 BC. His life was full of
useful discoveries that are being used to date. He was killed in 212 BC during
the siege of Syracuse by a Roman soldier despite orders that he should not be
harmed. Cicero, one of the Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists, visited
Archimedes tomb decorated it with a sphere and a cylinder as symbols of his
mathematical discoveries. This was done to fulfill the Archimedes request
before his death.
Another notable inventor of the first millenniums BC
was Cai Lun. He was a Chinese inventor of paper. He was a Chinese political
administrator credited with inventing modern paper. His invention included the
use of raw materials such as bark, hemp, silk and fishing net. The sheets of
fibre were suspended in water before removing for drying. In ancient times writings
and inscriptions were generally made on tablets of bamboo or on pieces of silk.
But silk being costly and bamboo heavy, they were not convenient to use. Tshai
Lun [Cai Lun] then initiated the idea of making paper from the bark of trees,
remnants of hemp, rags of cloth, and fishing nets. He submitted the process to the
then Chinese emperor “Yuan-Hsing” and received commendation for his noble
invention. That invention revolutionized the art of writing and record keeping,
which up to date is very useful to mankind. This is why there are more records
of inventions in the first millennium AD after that discovery as many people
were able to record the inventions in writing.
The first millenniums AD marked the boom of
discoveries as many groundbreaking inventions were witnessed. From 1000 AD to
date, there were 100s of notable inventors whose impacts have made significant
positive changes to human race. Among these important and noble men was
Leonardo Da Vinci, an Italian artist, scientist and polymath. Da Vinci invented
a sundry machines and structures. These included prototype parachutes, tanks,
flying machines and single-span bridges. He was also credited with the
inventions of optical lens, grinder and various hydraulic machines that were
fully adopted and used by various communities globally. Vinci was a famous Italian
Renaissance polymath whose areas of interests cut-across invention, painting,
sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature,
anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. He has
been variously called the father of palaeontology, ichnology, and architecture,
and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Wikipedia
reported that many historians and scholars regard Vinci as the prime exemplar
of the "Universal Genius" or "Renaissance Man", an
individual of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive
imagination". According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and
depth of Vinci interests were without precedent in recorded history, and
"his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, while the man himself as mysterious
and remote”. That famous man lived his life between the year 1452 and 1519 AD.
The next was Sir Isaac Newton. Newton was another
famous inventor who lived his life between the year 1642 and 1726 AD. To date,
the humanity uses the invention of this great achiever. He was an English
scientist. Newton invented the reflecting telescope. This single invention greatly
improved the capacity of telescopes and reduced optical distortion. (To be
continued next week)
