Monday, October 19, 2009

History of Technology

ICOHTEC was founded in Paris 1968 when bitterness divided the nations in the Eastern and Western worlds. The intent was to provide a forum of scholars for the history of technology from both sides of the ‚iron curtain‘. It was constituted as a Scientific Section within the Division of the History of Science and Technology of the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science (IUHPS/DHST). The first President was E. Olszewski (Poland), with Vice-Presidents S. V. Schuchardine (USSR) and Melvin Kranzberg (USA). The first Secretary-General was Maurice Daumas (France), through whose ini­tia­tive the French government hosted the first inde­pendent symposium at Pont-a-Mousson (1970). Symposia have been held almost every year, and the proceedings of many meetings have been published, although in a variety of forms.
Whereas national organisations have their membership bases in their re­spective countries, ICOHTEC has its membership base mainly in Europe, but also in the Americas, Japan, India and Australia. Research activities, in which ICOHTEC members cooperate, reflect this special interest. The issues are investigated on a comparative national basis, stressing aspects of cooperation between various nations, regions or institutions. The first statutes of ICOHTEC were approved in Paris in 1968; they were then amended in 1974, 1985, and 1993.

the development over time of systematic techniques for making and doing things. The term technology, a combination of the Greek technē, “art, craft,” with logos, “word, speech,” meant in Greece a discourse on the arts, both fine and applied. When it first appeared in English in the 17th century, it was used to mean a discussion of the applied arts only, and gradually these “arts” themselves came to be the object of the designation. By the early 20th century, the term embraced a growing range of means, processes, and ideas in addition to tools and machines. By mid-century, technology was defined by such phrases as “the means or activity by which man seeks to change or manipulate his environment.” Even such broad definitions have been criticized by observers who point out the increasing difficulty of distinguishing between scientific inquiry and technological activity.

On this day...

125 -BC- Origin of Era of Tyre
615 St Deusdedit I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1298 Rindfleish-140 Jews of Heilbron Germany are murdered
1765 Stamp Act Congress met in NY, wrote decl of rights & liberties
1781 Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown at 2 PM; Revolutionary War ends
1812 Napoleon begins his retreat from Moscow
1818 US & Chicasaw Indians sign a treaty
1845 Wagner's opera Tannh„user performed for 1st time
1849 Elizabeth Blackwell became 1st woman in US to receive medical degree
1853 1st flour mill in Hawaii begins operations
1856 James Kelly & Jack Smith fight bareknuckle for 6h15m in Melbourne
1859 Wilhelm Tempel discovers diffuse nebula around Pleid star Merope
1864 Approx 25 Confederates make surprise attack on St Albans, Vermont
1864 Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia, Union beats back Conf attackers
1870 1st (4) blacks elected to House of Reps
1872 World's largest gold nugget (215 kg) found in New South Wales
1888 Moshav Gederah is attacked by the Arabs
1901 Santos-Dumont proves airship maneuverable by circling Eiffel Tower
1912 Tripoli (Libya) passes from Turkish to Italian control
1919 1st Distinguished Service Medal awarded to a woman
1919 Reds beat White Sox, 5 games to 3 in 16th World Series. This series is known as the black sox scandal as 7 White Sox throw the series
1933 Berlin Olympic Committee vote to introduce basketball in 1936
1936 HR Ekins of "NY World-Telegram" beats 2 other reporters in a race around the world on commercial flights, by 18« days
1941 1st woman jockey in North America, Anna Lee Wiley in Mexico
1943 Theater Guild presentation of "Othello" opens at Shubert
1943 Yankee 2nd baseman Joe Gordon announces retirement (hates NY)
1944 US forces land in Philipines
1949 Yanks trade Joe Gordon to Cleveland for Allie Reynolds
1950 UN forces entered Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea
1951 Pres Harry S Truman formally ends state of war with Germany
1953 1st jet transcontinental nonstop scheduled service
1953 Singer Julius LaRosa is fired on TV by Arthur Godfrey
1957 Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Mont, became 1st NHLer to score 500 goals
1959 Florence Henderson joins the Today Show panel
1960 France grants Mauritania independence
1960 Martin Luther King Jr arrested in Atlanta sit-in
1960 The US imposes an embargo on exports to Cuba
1963 Beatles record "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
1967 Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of USSR, sets then long jump record at 27' 4 3/4"
1967 Mariner 5 makes fly-by of Venus
1968 Golden Gate Bridge charges tolls only for southbound cars
1969 Oakland Darryle Lamonica passes for 6 touchdowns vs Buffalo (50-21)
1970 John Frazier kills Ohta's declares WW 3 has begun
1973 Ringo releases "Photograph"
1974 Det Red Wing Mickey Redmond scores the 1st hat trick against Wash Caps
1974 Detroit Pistons beat Trailblazers in Portland (next win 6-1-90)
1977 Supersonic Concorde jet's 1st landing in NYC
1980 Steve McPeak rides 101'9" unicycle
1981 LA Dodgers beat Montreal Expos for NL pennant
1982 Automaker John DeLorean arrested on cocaine charges (Not guilty)
1983 Columbia moves to Orbiter Processing Facility
1986 USSR expells 5 US diplomats
1987 "Black Monday"-Dow Jones down 508.32, 4« times previous record
1987 Billy Martin hired as manager of NY Yankees for 5th time
1987 US warships destroy 2 Iranian oil platforms in Persian Gulf
1988 3 Americans win Nobel in physics; 3 W Germans win chemistry Nobel
1988 Britain bans broadcast interviews with IRA members
1988 Car bomb kills 7 Israelis, wounds 11 near Lebanon border
1988 Roxette releases "Roxette Look Sharp!" album
1988 S Afr anti-apartheid leader Sisulu wins $100,000 Human Rights prize
1988 Senate passes bill curbing ads during children`s TV shows


A highly compressed account of the history of technology such as this one must adopt a rigorous methodological pattern if it is to do justice to the subject without grossly distorting it one way or another. The plan followed in the present article is primarily chronological, tracing the development of technology through phases that succeed each other in time. Obviously, the division between phases is to a large extent arbitrary. One factor in the weighting has been the enormous acceleration of Western technological development in recent centuries; Eastern technology is considered in this article in the main only as it relates to the development of modern technology.

Within each chronological phase a standard method has been adopted for surveying the technological experience and innovations. This begins with a brief review of the general social conditions of the period under discussion, and then goes on to consider the dominant materials and sources of power of the period, and their application to food production, manufacturing industry, building construction, transport and communications, military technology, and medical technology. In a final section the sociocultural consequences of technological change in the period are examined. This framework is modified according to the particular requirements of every period— discussions of new materials, for instance, occupy a substantial place in the accounts of earlier phases when new metals were being introduced but are comparatively unimportant in descriptions of some of the later phases—but the general pattern is retained throughout. One key factor that does not fit easily into this pattern is that of the development of tools. It has seemed most convenient to relate these to the study of materials, rather than to any particular application, but it has not been possible to be completely consistent in this treatment. For further discussion of specific areas of technological development, see such articles as electronics; exploration; information processing

Essentially, techniques are methods of creating new tools and products of tools, and the capacity for constructing such artifacts is a determining characteristic of manlike species. Other species make artifacts: bees build elaborate hives to deposit their honey, birds make nests, and beavers build dams. But these attributes are the result of patterns of instinctive behaviour and cannot be varied to suit rapidly changing circumstances. Man, in contrast with other species, does not possess highly developed instinctive reactions but does have the capacity to think systematically and creatively about techniques. He can thus innovate and consciously modify his environment in a way no other species has achieved. An ape may on occasion use a stick to beat bananas from a tree: a man can fashion the stick into a cutting tool and remove a whole bunch of bananas. Somewhere in the transition between the two, the hominid, or the first manlike species, emerges. By virtue of his nature as a toolmaker, man is therefore a technologist from the beginning, and the history of technology encompasses the whole evolution of man.

In using his rational faculties to devise techniques and modify his environment, man has attacked problems other than those of survival and the production of wealth with which the term technology is usually associated today. The technique of language, for example, involves the manipulation of sounds and symbols in a meaningful way, and similarly the techniques of artistic and ritual creativity represent other aspects of the technological incentive. This article does not deal with these cultural and religious techniques, but it is valuable to establish their relationship at the outset because the history of technology reveals a profound interaction between the incentives and opportunities of technological innovation on the one hand and the sociocultural conditions of the human group within which they occur on the other.



TDP: Technology development board

The Government of India constituted the Technology Development Board (TDB) in September 1996, under the Technology Development Board Act, 1995, as a statutory body, to promote development and commercialization of indigenous technology and adaptation of imported technology for wider application. The board consists of 11 Board members. The Government reconstituted the Board in March 2000.

The TDB is the first organization of its kind within the government framework with the sole objective of commercializing the fruit of indigenous research. The Board plays a pro active role by encouraging enterprises to take up technology oriented products.
OBJECTIVE: Technology development board aims at accelerating the development and commercialisation of indegenous technology or adapting imported technology to wider domestice application.

The Board provides financial assistance in the form of equity soft loans or grants.

AN OVERVIEW: The Board has signed 137 agreements - 134 with commercial; enterprises and 3 with other agencies adding up to a total project cost of Rs. 1879.82 crores on 131 agreements as 6 have since been cancelled. The Government of India constituted the Technology Development Board(TDB) in September 1996, under the provisions of the Technology Development Board Act, 1995.

The Act enables creation of a Fund for Technology Development and Application to be administered by TDB. The Fund receives grants from the Government of India out of the Cess collected by the Government from the industrial concerns under the provisions of the Research and Development Cess Act, 1986, as amended in 1995. Any income from investment of the amount of the Fund and the recoveries made of the amounts granted from the Fund are credited to the Fund. The Finance Act, 1999, enabled full deductions to donations made to the Fund for income tax purposes. Of the total of Rs. 1,279.16 crore from R&D cess collection during the year 1996-2007, the Government has made available to TDB a cumulative sum of Rs. 482.42 crore over the period of 11 years (1996-2007). This works out 37.71% of the R&D cess collections made in 11 years.The mandate of the TDB is to provide financial assistance to the industrial concerns and other agencies attempting development and commercial application of indigenous technology or adapting imported technology for wider domestic application. The financial assistance from TDB is available in the form of loan or equity; in exceptional cases, it may be grant. The loan assistance is provided up to 50 percent of the approved project cost and carries 5 percent simple rate of interest per annum. In the alternative, TDB may also subscribe by way of equity capital in a company, subject to maximum up to 25 percent of the approved project cost. The financial assistance is provided during the commencement, start-up or growth stages of an industrial concern.
TDB accepts applications for financial assistance from all sectors of economy throughout the year. TDB does not levy any administrative, processing or commitment charges. The industrial concern desirous of seeking financial assistance from TDB has to apply in the prescribed format. A copy of the Project Funding Guidelines including the format of application can be obtained free of cost from TDB or by accessing TDB website (www.tdbindia.org).

During the year 2006-07, TDB signed 15 agreements with 14 industrial concerns and 1 Venture Capital Company. For the 14 industrial concerns, TDB agreed to provide loan of Rs. 39.11 crore as against the total project cost of Rs. 113.82 crore. Further, TDB committed Rs.15 crore for one venture fund for leveraging a fund of Rs. 60 crore.

As on 31st March 2007, TDB has signed 173 agreements (since its inception in 1996) with the total project cost of Rs. 2671.09 crore involving TDB’s commitment of Rs. 780.95 crore against which TDB has disbursed Rs. 690.80 crore.

For the successful commercialisation of a technology - based product by an SSI unit

The Technology Development Board introduced, from May 2001, another cash award of Rs. 2 lakhs to be given to a SSI unit that has successfully commercialised a product based on indigenous technology.

1. Cash award of Rs. 10 lakh each to -

(a) An industrial concern which has successfully commercialised an indigenous technology,

(b) The developer / provider of such technology. In-house R&D units can also be the developer/ provider of the technology.

2. Cash award of Rs. 2 lakh to -

DONATION:

An SSI unit which has successfully commercialised a product based on indigenous technology.

The Finance Act, 1999 provides hundred percent deduction for donations made to the Fund for Technology Development and Application being operated by the Technology Development Board.

The Act enables insertion of " the Fund for Technology Development and Application set up by the Central Government" under section 80G, sub-section (2), in clause (a) sub clause (IIIHI) of the Income Tax Act, with effect from the first day of April 2000.

The donations may be sent through Demand Draft or Cheque in Favour of "The Technology Development Board".

Funding guide lines:

For the development and application of indigenous technology in a dynamic economic environment, the Government of India enabled the placing of proceeds of the Research and Development Cess on the import of technology into a fund called the Fund for Technology Development and Application.

To administer the Fund, the Government also constituted a Technology Development Board on 1st September, 1996, under the provisions of the Technology Development Board Act, 1995



Technology: the practical application of science


Technology is a broad concept that deals with human as well as other animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt to its environment. Technology is a term with origins in the Greek technología (τεχνολογία) — téchnē (τέχνη), 'craft' and -logía (-λογία), the study of something, or the branch of knowledge of a discipline.[1] However, a strict definition is elusive; "technology" can refer to material objects of use to humanity, such as machines, hardware or utensils, but can also encompass broader themes, including systems, methods of organization, and techniques. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include "construction technology", "medical technology", or "state-of-the-art technology".The human species' use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.
  • the practical application of science to commerce or industry
  • engineering: the discipline dealing with the art or science of applying scientific knowledge to practical problems; "he had trouble deciding which branch of engineering to study"
Technology is the first album of the Melodic death metal band Crimson Death. It was recorded in 2001, but due to financial problems of the record label it was released in 2004 by Mythic Metal Productions.
  • technological - based in scientific and industrial progress; "a technological civilization"
  • technological - technical: of or relating to a practical subject that is organized according to scientific principles; "technical college"; "technological development"
Technology is a broad concept that deals with an animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects an animal species ...The machinery, tools and materials required to produce a media text. In media literacy terms, technology greatly impacts upon the construction and connotation of a text. the application of scientific advances to benefit humanity. the application of scientific or other organized knowledge--including any tool, technique, product, process, method, organization or system--to practical tasks.

All of the biggest technological inventions created by man - the airplane, the automobile, the computer - says little about his intelligence, but speaks volumes about his laziness. ~Mark Kennedy

Inventor: A person who makes an ingenious arrangement of wheels, levers and springs, and believes it civilization. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

Modern technology
Owes ecology
An apology.
~Alan M. Eddison

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. ~Albert Einstein

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. ~Elbert Hubbard, The Roycroft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams, 1923

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. ~Richard P. Feynman

If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger. ~Frank Lloyd Wright

Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation...tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego. His anxiety subsides. His inhuman void spreads monstrously like a gray vegetation. ~Jean Arp

Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards. ~Aldous Huxley

The Government of India constituted the Technology Development Board (TDB) in September 1996, under the Technology Development Board Act, 1995, as a statutory body, to promote development and commercialization of indigenous technology and adaptation of imported technology for wider application. The board consists of 11 Board members. The Government reconstituted the Board in March 2000.

The TDB is the first organization of its kind within the government framework with the sole objective of commercializing the fruit of indigenous research. The Board plays a pro active role by encouraging enterprises to take up technology oriented products.

Technology... the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it. ~Max Frisch

Do you realize if it weren't for Edison we'd be watching TV by candlelight? ~Al Boliska

Western society has accepted as unquestionable a technological imperative that is quite as arbitrary as the most primitive taboo: not merely the duty to foster invention and constantly to create technological novelties, but equally the duty to surrender to these novelties unconditionally, just because they are offered, without respect to their human consequences. ~Lewis Mumford

God never made his work for man to mend.
~John Dryden

It is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome. ~T.S. Eliot, about radio

Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ~C.P. Snow, New York Times, 15 March 1971

Don't get smart alecksy
With the galaxy
Leave the atom alone.
~E.Y. Harburg, "Leave the Atom Alone," 1957

The drive toward complex technical achievement offers a clue to why the U.S. is good at space gadgetry and bad at slum problems. ~John Kenneth Galbraith

The system of nature, of which man is a part, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology. ~E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful, 1973

I am sorry to say that there is too much point to the wisecrack that life is extinct on other planets because their scientists were more advanced than ours. ~John F. Kennedy

The most important and urgent problems of the technology of today are no longer the satisfactions of the primary needs or of archetypal wishes, but the reparation of the evils and damages by the technology of yesterday. ~Dennis Gabor, Innovations: Scientific, Technological and Social, 1970

This is perhaps the most beautiful time in human history; it is really pregnant with all kinds of creative possibilities made possible by science and technology which now constitute the slave of man - if man is not enslaved by it. ~Jonas Salk

Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain. ~J.K. Rowling

As far as I'm concerned, progress peaked with frozen pizza. ~From the movie Die Hard 2, spoken by the character John McClane regarding technological advances, screenplay by Steven E. de Souza and Doug Richardson, based on the novel 58 Minutes by Walter Wager