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{{For-multi|the book series|History of Technology (book series){{!}}''History of Technology'' (book series)|the academic discipline|History of science and technology}}
[[File:Ur_chariot.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|The wheel, invented sometime before the 4th millennium BC, is one of the most ubiquitous and important technologies. This detail of the "[[Standard of Ur]]", c. 2500 BCE., displays a Sumerian [[chariot]].]]
{{History of technology sidebar}}

The '''history of technology''' is the history of the invention of tools and techniques by humans. Technology includes methods ranging from simple [[stone tools]] to the complex [[genetic engineering]] and information technology that has emerged since the 1980s. The term ''technology'' comes from the Greek word ''techne'', meaning art and craft, and the word ''logos'', meaning word and speech. It was first used to describe [[applied arts]], but it is now used to describe advancements and changes that affect the environment around us.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/history-of-technology |title=history of technology – Summary & Facts|access-date=22 January 2018}}</ref>

New knowledge has enabled people to create new tools, and conversely, many scientific endeavors are made possible by new [[technologies]], for example [[scientific instrument]]s which allow us to study nature in more detail than our natural senses.

Since much of technology is [[applied science]], technical history is connected to the [[history of science]]. Since technology uses resources, technical history is tightly connected to [[economic history]]. From those resources, technology produces other resources, including ''technological artifacts'' used in everyday life. [[Technological change]] affects, and is affected by, a society's cultural traditions. It is a force for economic growth and a means to develop and project economic, political, military power and wealth.

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== Measuring technological progress ==
Many [[sociologists]] and [[anthropologists]] have created [[social theories]] dealing with [[Sociocultural evolution|social]] and [[cultural evolution]]. Some, like [[Lewis H. Morgan]], [[Leslie White]], and [[Gerhard Lenski]] have declared technological progress to be the primary factor driving the development of human civilization. Morgan's concept of three major stages of social evolution (savagery, [[Primitive culture|barbarism]], and [[civilization]]) can be divided by technological milestones, such as fire. White argued the measure by which to judge the evolution of culture is energy.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Knight|first1=Elliot|last2=Smith|first2=Karen|title=American Materialism|url=http://anthropology.ua.edu/cultures/cultures.php?culture=American%20Materialism|website=The University of Alabama – Department of Anthropology|access-date=9 April 2015|archive-date=2 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002120827/http://anthropology.ua.edu/cultures/cultures.php?culture=American%20Materialism|url-status=dead}}</ref>

For White, "the primary function of culture" is to "harness and control energy." White differentiates between five stages of [[Human development (humanity)|human development]]: In the first, people use the energy of their own muscles. In the second, they use the energy of [[domestication of animals|domesticated animals]]. In the third, they use the energy of plants ([[Neolithic Revolution|agricultural revolution]]). In the fourth, they learn to use the energy of [[natural resource]]s: coal, oil, gas. In the fifth, they harness [[Nuclear power|nuclear energy]]. White introduced the formula P=E/T, where P is the development index, E is a measure of energy consumed, and T is the measure of the efficiency of technical factors using the energy. In his own words, "culture evolves as the amount of energy harnessed per capita per year is increased, or as the efficiency of the instrumental means of putting the energy to work is increased". [[Nikolai Kardashev]] extrapolated his theory, creating the [[Kardashev scale]], which categorizes the energy use of advanced civilizations.

Lenski's approach focuses on information. The more information and knowledge (especially allowing the shaping of [[natural environment]]) a given society has, the more advanced it is. He identifies four stages of human development, based on advances in the [[history of communication]]. In the first stage, information is passed by [[gene]]s. In the second, when humans gain [[sentience]], they can learn and pass information through experience. In the third, the humans start using signs and develop [[logic]]. In the fourth, they can create symbols, develop language and writing. Advancements in [[communications technology]] translate into advancements in the [[economic system]] and [[political system]], [[distribution of wealth]], [[social inequality]] and other spheres of social life. He also differentiates societies based on their level of technology, communication, and economy:[[File:Farming-on-Indonesia.jpg|thumb|Agriculture preceded writing in the history of technology.]]

* [[hunter-gatherer]],
* simple agricultural,
* advanced agricultural,
* [[Industrial society|industrial]],
* special (such as fishing societies).

In economics, productivity is a measure of technological progress. Productivity increases when fewer inputs (classically labor and capital but some measures include energy and materials) are used in the production of a unit of output. Another indicator of technological progress is the development of new products and services, which is necessary to offset unemployment that would otherwise result as labor inputs are reduced. In developed countries productivity growth has been slowing since the late 1970s; however, productivity growth was higher in some economic sectors, such as manufacturing.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Way It Worked and Why It Won't: Structural Change and the Slowdown of U.S. Economic Growth |last=Bjork |first=Gordon J. |year=1999 |publisher=Praeger |location=Westport, CT; London |isbn=978-0-275-96532-7 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/wayitworkedwhyit0000bjor/page/2 2, 67] |url=https://archive.org/details/wayitworkedwhyit0000bjor/page/2 }}</ref> For example, employment in manufacturing in the United States declined from over 30% in the 1940s to just over 10% 70 years later. Similar changes occurred in other developed countries. This stage is referred to as ''post-industrial''.

In the late 1970s sociologists and anthropologists like [[Alvin Toffler]] (author of ''[[Future Shock]]''), [[Daniel Bell]] and [[John Naisbitt]] have approached the theories of [[post-industrial society|post-industrial societies]], arguing that the current era of [[industrial society]] is coming to an end, and [[Service (economics)|services]] and information are becoming more important than industry and goods. Some extreme visions of the post-industrial society, especially in [[Fictional technology|fiction]], are strikingly similar to the visions of near and post-[[Technological singularity|singularity]] societies.<ref>Daniele Archibugi, and Mario Planta. "Measuring technological change through patents and innovation surveys." ''Technovation'' 16.9 (1996): 451–519.</ref>

== By period and geography ==

The following is a summary of the history of technology by time period and geography:
{{Div col |colwidth=27em}}
* [[Lomekwi]] [[stone technology]], 3.3 million years ago
* [[Olduvai Gorge|Olduvai]] stone technology ([[Oldowan]]), 2.5&nbsp;million years ago (scrapers; to butcher dead animals)
* Huts, 2 million years ago.
* [[Acheulean]] stone technology 1.6&nbsp;million years ago (hand axe)
* Fire creation and manipulation, used since the [[Paleolithic]], possibly by [[Homo erectus]] as early as [[1 E13 s|1.5 Million years ago]]
* Cooking, 500,000 years ago.
* [[Javelin]]s, 400,000 years ago.
* ([[Homo sapiens sapiens]] – modern human anatomy arises, around 100,000 years ago.)
* [[adhesive|Glue]], 200,000 years ago.
* Clothing possibly 170,000 years ago.
* [[Stone tool]]s used by [[Homo floresiensis]], possibly [[1 E12 s|100,000&nbsp;years ago]].
* [[Harpoon]]s, 90,000 years ago.
* [[Bow and arrow]]s, 70,000–60,000 years ago.
* [[Sewing needle]]s, 60,000 – 50,000 BC
* Flutes, 43,000 years ago.
* [[Fishing net]]s, 43,000 years ago.
* Ropes, 40,000 years ago.
* [[Microlith]]s c. 35,000 – 23,000 years ago
* [[Ceramic]]s c. 25,000&nbsp;BC
* [[Fish hook|Fishing hook]]s, C. 23,000 years ago.
* [[Domestication]] of animals, c. 15,000&nbsp;BC
* [[Sling (weapon)]] c. 9th millennium&nbsp;BC
* Boats, 8,000 years ago.
* Brick used for construction in the Middle East c. 6000&nbsp;BC
* Agriculture and [[plough]] c. 4000&nbsp;BC
* Wheel c. 4000&nbsp;BC
* [[Gnomon]] c. 4000&nbsp;BC
* [[Writing system]]s c. 3500&nbsp;BC
* Copper c. 3200 BC
* [[Bronze]] c. 2500&nbsp;BC
* Salt c. 2500&nbsp;BC
* [[Chariot]] c. 2000&nbsp;BC
* Iron c. 1500&nbsp;BC
* [[Sundial]] c. 800&nbsp;BC
* Glass ca. 500&nbsp;BC
* [[Catapult]] c. 400&nbsp;BC
* [[Cast iron]] c. 400&nbsp;BC
* [[Horseshoe]] c. 300&nbsp;BC
* [[Stirrup]] first few centuries&nbsp;AD

{{Div col end}}

=== Prehistory ===
{{Human timeline}}
{{Main|Prehistoric technology}}

==== Stone Age ====
{{Main|Stone Age}}
[[File:Prehistoric Tools - Les Combarelles - Les Eyzies de Tayac - MNP.jpg|thumb|left|A variety of stone tools]]
{{clear}}
During most of the '''[[Paleolithic]]''' – the bulk of the Stone Age – all humans had a lifestyle which involved limited tools and few permanent settlements. The first major technologies were tied to survival, hunting, and food preparation. Stone tools and weapons, [[control of fire by early humans|fire]], and [[History of clothing and textiles|clothing]] were technological developments of major importance during this period.

Human ancestors have been using stone and other tools since long before the emergence of ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' approximately 300,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/ha/sap.htm |title=Human Ancestors Hall: Homo sapiens |access-date=8 December 2007 |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501101148/http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/ha/sap.htm |archive-date=1 May 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The earliest direct evidence of tool usage was found in [[Ethiopia]] within the [[Great Rift Valley, Kenya|Great Rift Valley]], dating back to 2.5&nbsp;million years ago.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Environment and Behavior of 2.5-Million-Year-Old Bouri Hominids | last1=Heinzelin | first1=Jean de | journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |date=April 1999 | volume=284 | issue=5414 | pages=625–629 | doi= 10.1126/science.284.5414.625 | pmid=10213682 | last2=Clark | first2=JD | last3=White | first3=T | last4=Hart | first4=W | last5=Renne | first5=P | last6=Woldegabriel | first6=G | last7=Beyene | first7=Y | last8=Vrba | first8=E| bibcode=1999Sci...284..625D }}</ref> The earliest methods of [[stone tool]] making, known as the [[Oldowan]] "industry", date back to at least 2.3&nbsp;million years ago.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/336555.stm | title=Ancient 'tool factory' uncovered | access-date=18 February 2007 | work=BBC News | date=6 May 1999}}</ref> This era of stone tool use is called the ''[[Paleolithic]]'', or "Old stone age", and spans all of human history up to the development of agriculture approximately 12,000 years ago.

To make a stone tool, a "[[lithic core|core]]" of hard stone with specific flaking properties (such as [[flint]]) was struck with a [[hammerstone]]. This flaking produced sharp edges which could be used as tools, primarily in the form of [[chopper (archaeology)|choppers]] or [[scraper (archaeology)|scrapers]].<ref name="ea_archaeology">{{cite web|access-date=17 May 2008|url=http://ea.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=0019880-04|title=Archaeology|publisher=[[Encyclopedia Americana]]|author=Burke, Ariane |archive-url = https://archive.today/20080521022936/http://ea.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=0019880-04 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 21 May 2008}}</ref> These tools greatly aided the early humans in their [[hunter-gatherer]] lifestyle to perform a variety of tasks including butchering carcasses (and breaking bones to get at the [[Bone marrow|marrow]]); chopping wood; cracking open nuts; skinning an animal for its hide, and even forming other tools out of softer materials such as bone and wood.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Flaked Stones and Old Bones: Biological and Cultural Evolution at the Dawn of Technology|author= Plummer, Thomas|journal= American Journal of Physical Anthropology|publisher=[[Yearbook of Physical Anthropology]]|year=2004|volume= Suppl 39|issue=47|pages= 118–64|doi= 10.1002/ajpa.20157|pmid= 15605391|doi-access= free}}</ref>

The earliest stone tools were irrelevant, being little more than a fractured rock. In the [[Acheulian]] era, beginning approximately 1.65&nbsp;million years ago, methods of working these stones into specific shapes, such as [[hand axe]]s emerged. This early Stone Age is described as the [[Lower Paleolithic]].

The [[Middle Paleolithic]], approximately 300,000 years ago, saw the introduction of the [[prepared-core technique]], where multiple blades could be rapidly formed from a single core stone.<ref name="ea_archaeology" /> The [[Upper Paleolithic]], beginning approximately 40,000 years ago, saw the introduction of [[pressure flaking]], where a wood, bone, or antler [[punch (engineering)|punch]] could be used to shape a stone very finely.<ref>{{cite book|title=Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge|author= Haviland, William A.|publisher=[[The Thomson Corporation]]|year=2004|isbn=978-0-534-62487-3|page=77}}</ref>

The end of the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago is taken as the end point of the [[Upper Paleolithic]] and the beginning of the [[Epipaleolithic]] / [[Mesolithic]]. The Mesolithic technology included the use of [[microliths]] as composite stone tools, along with wood, bone, and antler tools.

The later Stone Age, during which the rudiments of agricultural technology were developed, is called the [[Neolithic]] period. During this period, polished stone tools were made from a variety of hard rocks such as [[flint]], [[jade]], [[jadeite]], and [[Greenschist|greenstone]], largely by working exposures as quarries, but later the valuable rocks were pursued by tunneling underground, the first steps in mining technology. The polished axes were used for forest clearance and the establishment of crop farming and were so effective as to remain in use when bronze and iron appeared. These stone axes were used alongside a continued use of stone tools such as a range of [[Projectile point|projectiles]], knives, and [[Scraper (archaeology)|scrapers]], as well as tools, made from organic materials such as wood, bone, and antler.<ref>{{Cite book|first1=Zsuzsanna|last1=Tóth | editor1-first=Alexandra |editor1-last=Anders | editor2-first=Zsuzsanna |editor2-last=Siklósi | year=2012 | title=Bone, Antler, and Tusk tools of the Early Neolithic Körös Culture | contribution=The First Neolithic Sites in Central/South-East European Transect, Volume III: The Körös Culture in Eastern Hungary | location=Oxford | publisher=BAR International Series 2334 }}</ref>

Stone Age cultures developed [[Prehistoric music|music]] and engaged in organized [[Prehistoric warfare|warfare]]. Stone Age humans developed ocean-worthy [[outrigger canoe]] technology, leading to [[History of Papua New Guinea|migration]] across the [[Malay Archipelago]], across the Indian Ocean to [[Madagascar]] and also across the Pacific Ocean, which required knowledge of the ocean currents, weather patterns, sailing, and [[celestial navigation]].

Although Paleolithic cultures left no written records, the shift from nomadic life to settlement and agriculture can be inferred from a range of archaeological evidence. Such evidence includes ancient tools,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lovgren|first1=Stefan|title=Ancient Tools Unearthed in Siberian Arctic|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0114_040114_siberianhumans.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040116062107/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0114_040114_siberianhumans.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 16, 2004|website=National Geographic News|publisher=National Geographic|access-date=7 April 2015}}</ref> [[cave painting]]s, and other [[prehistoric art]], such as the [[Venus of Willendorf]]. Human remains also provide direct evidence, both through the examination of bones, and the study of [[mummy|mummies]]. Scientists and historians have been able to form significant inferences about the lifestyle and culture of various prehistoric peoples, and especially their technology.

=== Ancient ===
{{Main|Ancient technology}}

==== Copper and Bronze Ages ====
{{Main|Bronze Age}}

[[File:Sword bronze age (2nd version).jpg|thumb|upright|A late [[Bronze Age sword]] or dagger blade]]

Metallic copper occurs on the surface of weathered copper ore deposits and copper was used before copper [[smelting]] was known. Copper smelting is believed to have originated when the technology of pottery [[kiln]]s allowed sufficiently high temperatures.<ref name="Tylecote_1992"/> The concentration of various elements such as arsenic increase with depth in copper ore deposits and smelting of these ores yields [[arsenical bronze]], which can be sufficiently [[work hardening|work hardened]] to be suitable for making tools.<ref name="Tylecote_1992"/>

[[Bronze]] is an alloy of copper with tin; the latter being found in relatively few deposits globally caused a long time to elapse before true tin bronze became widespread. (See: [[Tin sources and trade in ancient times]]) Bronze was a major advancement over stone as a material for making tools, both because of its mechanical properties like strength and ductility and because it could be cast in molds to make intricately shaped objects. Bronze significantly advanced shipbuilding technology with better tools and bronze nails. Bronze nails replaced the old method of attaching boards of the hull with cord woven through drilled holes.<ref>{{cite book
|title=The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World |last=Paine |first= Lincoln |year= 2013 |publisher =Random House, LLC|location= New York}}</ref> Better ships enabled long-distance trade and the advance of civilization. 
   
This technological trend apparently began in the [[Fertile Crescent]] and spread outward over time.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} These developments were not, and still are not, universal. The [[three-age system]] does not accurately describe the technology history of groups outside of [[Eurasia]], and does not apply at all in the case of some isolated populations, such as the [[Spinifex People]], the [[Sentinelese people|Sentinelese]], and various Amazonian tribes, which still make use of Stone Age technology, and have not developed agricultural or metal technology. These villages preserve traditional customs in the face of global modernity, exhibiting a remarkable resistance to the rapid advancement of technology.

==== Iron Age ====
{{Main|Iron Age}}
[[File:Axe of iron from Swedish Iron Age, found at Gotland, Sweden.jpg|thumb|upright|An [[axe]]head made of iron, dating from the Swedish [[Iron Age]]]]
Before iron smelting was developed the only iron was obtained from meteorites and is usually identified by having nickel content. [[Meteoric iron]] was rare and valuable, but was sometimes used to make tools and other implements, such as fish hooks.

The '''[[Iron Age]]''' involved the adoption of  [[bloomery|iron smelting]] technology. It generally replaced bronze and made it possible to produce tools which were stronger, lighter and cheaper to make than bronze equivalents. The raw materials to make iron, such as ore and limestone, are far more abundant than copper and especially tin ores. Consequently, iron was produced in many areas.

It was not possible to mass manufacture steel or pure iron because of the high temperatures required. Furnaces could reach melting temperature but the crucibles and molds needed for melting and casting had not been developed. Steel could be produced by [[forging]] bloomery iron to reduce the carbon content in a somewhat controllable way, but steel produced by this method was not homogeneous.

In many Eurasian cultures, the Iron Age was the last major step before the development of written language, though again this was not universally the case.

In Europe, large [[hill fort]]s were built either as a refuge in time of war or sometimes as permanent settlements. In some cases, existing forts from the Bronze Age were expanded and enlarged. The pace of land clearance using the more effective iron axes increased, providing more farmland to support the growing population.

==== Mesopotamia ====
[[Mesopotamia]] (modern Iraq) and its peoples ([[Sumer]]ians, [[Akkad (city)|Akkadians]], [[Assyria]]ns and [[Babylonia]]ns) lived in cities from c. 4000&nbsp;BC,<ref>JN Postgate, ''Early Mesopotamia'', Routledge (1992)</ref> and developed a sophisticated architecture in mud-brick and stone,<ref>See entries under [[Nineveh]] and [[Babylon]]</ref> including the use of the [[true arch]]. The walls of Babylon were so massive they were quoted as a [[Wonder of the World]]. They developed extensive water systems; canals for transport and irrigation in the alluvial south, and catchment systems stretching for tens of kilometers in the hilly north. Their palaces had sophisticated drainage systems.<ref name=Dalley2013>S Dalley, ''The Mystery of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon'', Oxford University Press(2013)</ref>

Writing was invented in Mesopotamia, using the [[cuneiform]] script. Many records on clay tablets and stone inscriptions have survived. These civilizations were early adopters of bronze technologies which they used for tools, weapons and monumental statuary. By 1200&nbsp;BC they could cast objects 5 m long in a single piece.

Several of the six classic [[simple machines]] were invented in Mesopotamia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moorey |first1=Peter Roger Stuart |title=Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological Evidence |date=1999 |publisher=[[Eisenbrauns]] |isbn=9781575060422}}</ref> Mesopotamians have been credited with the invention of the wheel. The [[wheel and axle]] mechanism first appeared with the [[potter's wheel]], invented in [[Mesopotamia]] (modern Iraq) during the 5th millennium BC.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East|author=D.T. Potts|year=2012|page=285}}</ref> This led to the invention of the [[wheeled vehicle]] in Mesopotamia during the early 4th millennium BC. Depictions of wheeled [[wagon]]s found on [[clay tablet]] [[pictographs]] at the [[Uruk#Eanna District|Eanna district]] of [[Uruk]] are dated between 3700 and 3500 BC.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Attema |first1=P. A. J. |last2=Los-Weijns |first2=Ma |last3=Pers |first3=N. D. Maring-Van der |title=Bronocice, Flintbek, Uruk, JEbel Aruda and Arslantepe: The Earliest Evidence Of Wheeled Vehicles In Europe And The Near East |journal=Palaeohistoria |date=December 2006 |volume=47/48 |publisher=[[University of Groningen]] |pages=10–28 (11)}}</ref> The [[lever]] was used in the [[shadoof]] water-lifting device, the first [[Crane (machine)|crane]] machine, which appeared in Mesopotamia circa 3000 BC,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Paipetis |first1=S. A. |last2=Ceccarelli |first2=Marco |title=The Genius of Archimedes – 23 Centuries of Influence on Mathematics, Science and Engineering: Proceedings of an International Conference held at Syracuse, Italy, June 8–10, 2010 |date=2010 |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=9789048190911 |page=416}}</ref> and then in [[ancient Egyptian technology]] circa 2000 BC.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Faiella |first1=Graham |title=The Technology of Mesopotamia |date=2006 |publisher=[[The Rosen Publishing Group]] |isbn=9781404205604 |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bGMyBTS0-v0C&pg=PA27}}</ref> The earliest evidence of [[pulley]]s date back to Mesopotamia in the early 2nd millennium BC.<ref name="Eisenbrauns">{{cite book |last1=Moorey |first1=Peter Roger Stuart |title=Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological Evidence |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientmesopotam00moor |url-access=limited |date=1999 |publisher=[[Eisenbrauns]] |isbn=9781575060422 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ancientmesopotam00moor/page/n12 4]}}</ref>

The [[Screw (simple machine)|screw]], the last of the simple machines to be invented,<ref name="Woods">{{cite book  | last =  Woods| first = Michael 
|author2=Mary B. Woods| title = Ancient Machines: From Wedges to Waterwheels| publisher = Twenty-First Century Books| year = 2000| location = US| pages = 58| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=E1tzW_aDnxsC&pg=PA58| isbn = 0-8225-2994-7}}</ref> first appeared in Mesopotamia during the [[Neo-Assyrian]] period (911–609) BC.<ref name="Eisenbrauns"/> The Assyrian King [[Sennacherib]] (704–681&nbsp;BC) claims to have invented automatic sluices and to have been the first to use water [[screw pump]]s, of up to 30 tons weight, which were cast using two-part clay molds rather than by the '[[Lost-wax casting|lost wax]]' process.<ref name=Dalley2013/> The Jerwan Aqueduct (c. 688&nbsp;BC) is made with stone arches and lined with waterproof concrete.<ref>T Jacobsen and S Lloyd, ''Sennacherib's Aqueduct at Jerwan'', Chicago University Press, (1935)</ref>

The [[Babylonian astronomical diaries]] spanned 800 years. They enabled meticulous astronomers to plot the motions of the planets and to predict eclipses.<ref>CBF Walker, ''Astronomy before the telescope,'' British Museum Press, (1996)</ref>

[[File:Overshot water wheel schematic.svg|thumb|right|The compartmented [[water wheel]], here its overshot version]]

The earliest evidence of [[water wheel]]s and [[watermill]]s date back to the [[ancient Near East]] in the 4th century BC,<ref>Terry S. Reynolds, ''Stronger than a Hundred Men: A History of the Vertical Water Wheel'', JHU Press, 2002 {{ISBN|0-8018-7248-0}}, p. 14</ref> specifically in the [[Persian Empire]] before 350&nbsp;BC, in the regions of Mesopotamia (Iraq) and [[Persia]] (Iran).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Selin |first1=Helaine |title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Westen Cultures |date=2013 |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=9789401714167 |page=282 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GzjpCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA282}}</ref> This pioneering use of [[water power]] constituted the first human-devised motive force not to rely on muscle power (besides the [[sail]]).

==== Egypt ====
The [[Egyptians]], known for building pyramids centuries before the creation of modern tools, invented and used many simple machines, such as the [[inclined plane|ramp]] to aid construction processes. Historians and archaeologists have found evidence that the [[pyramid]]s were built using three of what is called the [[Simple machine|Six Simple Machines]], from which all machines are based. These machines are the [[inclined plane]], the [[wedge]], and the [[lever]], which allowed the ancient Egyptians to move millions of limestone blocks which weighed approximately 3.5 tons (7,000 lbs.) each into place to create structures like the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]], which is {{convert|481|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} high.<ref>{{cite book|title=Ancient Machines: From Grunts to Graffiti|last=Wood|first=Michael|publisher=Runestone Press|year=2000|isbn=0-8225-2996-3|location=Minneapolis, MN|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ancientcommunica00wood/page/35 35, 36]|url=https://archive.org/details/ancientcommunica00wood/page/35}}</ref>

They also made writing medium similar to paper from [[papyrus]], which Joshua Mark states is the foundation for modern paper. Papyrus is a plant (cyperus papyrus) which grew in plentiful amounts in the Egyptian Delta and throughout the Nile River Valley during ancient times. The papyrus was harvested by field workers and brought to processing centers where it was cut into thin strips. The strips were then laid-out side by side and covered in plant resin. The second layer of strips was laid on perpendicularly, then both pressed together until the sheet was dry. The sheets were then joined to form a roll and later used for writing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Egyptian_Papyrus/|title=Egyptian Papyrus|last=Mark|first=Joshua J.|date=8 November 2016|website=[[World History Encyclopedia]]|access-date=2019-07-29}}</ref>

Egyptian society made several significant advances during dynastic periods in many areas of technology. According to Hossam Elanzeery, they were the first civilization to use timekeeping devices such as sundials, shadow clocks, and obelisks and successfully leveraged their knowledge of astronomy to create a calendar model that society still uses today. They developed shipbuilding technology that saw them progress from papyrus reed vessels to cedar wood ships while also pioneering the use of rope trusses and stem-mounted rudders. The Egyptians also used their knowledge of anatomy to lay the foundation for many modern medical techniques and practiced the earliest known version of neuroscience. Elanzeery also states that they used and furthered mathematical science, as evidenced in the building of the pyramids.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lindau-nobel.org/science-in-ancient-egypt-today-connecting-eras/|title=Science in Ancient Egypt & Today: Connecting Eras|last=Elanzeery|first=Hossam|website=The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings|date=13 June 2016|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-29}}</ref>

Ancient Egyptians also invented and pioneered many food technologies that have become the basis of modern food technology processes. Based on paintings and reliefs found in tombs, as well as archaeological artifacts, scholars like Paul T Nicholson believe that the Ancient Egyptians established systematic farming practices, engaged in cereal processing, brewed beer and baked bread, processed meat, practiced viticulture and created the basis for modern wine production, and created condiments to complement, preserve and mask the flavors of their food.<ref>{{cite book|title= Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology|last= Nicholson |first= Paul T. |year= 2000|publisher =Cambridge University Press|location= Cambridge, UK |isbn=0-521-45257-0 |pages=505–650}}</ref>

==== Indus Valley ====
The [[Indus Valley Civilization]], situated in a resource-rich area (in modern [[Pakistan]] and northwestern India), is notable for its early application of city planning, [[Sanitation of the Indus Valley Civilisation|sanitation technologies]], and plumbing.<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Teresi| first1 = Dick| author-link = Dick Teresi| title = Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science—from the Babylonians to the Maya| publisher = Simon & Schuster| year = 2002| location = New York| pages = [https://archive.org/details/lostdiscoveriesa00tere/page/351 351–352]| isbn = 0-684-83718-8| url = https://archive.org/details/lostdiscoveriesa00tere/page/351}}</ref> Indus Valley construction and architecture, called '[[Vaastu Shastra]]', suggests a thorough understanding of materials engineering, hydrology, and sanitation.

==== China ====
The Chinese made many first-known discoveries and developments. Major [[History of science and technology in China|technological contributions from China]] include the earliest known form of the  [[binary code]] and epigenetic sequencing,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schönberger |first=Martin |title=I Ching and the Genetic Code: The Hidden Key to Life |publisher=Aurora Press |year=1992 |isbn=094335837X |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Compton |first=John |title=The Secret Computer of the Ancient Gods |publisher=Compton/Kowanz Publications |year=2022 |isbn=9780955448256 |language=English}}</ref> early [[Seismometer|seismological detectors]], [[match]]es, paper, [[Helicopter rotor]], [[Raised-relief map]], the double-action piston pump, [[cast iron]], water powered blast furnace [[bellows]], the iron [[plough]], the multi-tube [[seed drill]], the wheelbarrow, the parachute, the [[compass]], the [[rudder]], the [[crossbow]], the [[South Pointing Chariot]] and gunpowder. China also developed deep well drilling, which they used to extract brine for making salt. Some of these wells, which were as deep as 900 meters, produced natural gas which was used for evaporating brine.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Genius of China: 3000 years of science, discovery and invention |last1=Temple |first1=Robert |first2=Joseph |last2=Needham |year= 1986|publisher = Simon and Schuster|location=New York }} Based on the works of Joseph Needham</ref>

Other Chinese discoveries and inventions from the medieval period include [[block printing]], [[movable type|movable type printing]], phosphorescent paint, endless power [[chain drive]] and the clock escapement mechanism. The solid-fuel [[rocket]] was invented in China about 1150, nearly 200 years after the invention of [[gunpowder]] (which acted as the rocket's fuel). Decades before the West's age of exploration, the Chinese emperors of the [[Ming Dynasty]] also sent [[Treasure voyages|large fleets]] on maritime voyages, some reaching Africa.

==== Hellenistic Mediterranean ====
The [[Hellenistic period]] of [[History of the Mediterranean region|Mediterranean history]] began in the 4th century BC with [[Alexander's conquests]], which led to the emergence of a [[Hellenistic civilization]] representing a synthesis of [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Near-East]]ern cultures in the [[Eastern Mediterranean]] region, including the [[Balkans]], [[Levant]] and [[Egypt]].<ref name="Green">Green, Peter. ''Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.</ref> With [[Ptolemaic Egypt]] as its intellectual center and Greek as the lingua franca, the Hellenistic civilization included [[Greeks in Egypt|Greek]], [[Egyptians|Egyptian]], Jewish, [[Persian people|Persian]] and [[Phoenicia]]n scholars and engineers who wrote in Greek.<ref>George G. Joseph (2000). ''The Crest of the Peacock'', p. 7-8. [[Princeton University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-691-00659-8}}.</ref>

Hellenistic engineers of the Eastern Mediterranean were responsible for a number of [[Ancient Greek technology|inventions and improvements]] to existing technology. The [[Hellenistic period]] saw a sharp increase in technological advancement, fostered by a climate of openness to new ideas, the blossoming of a mechanistic philosophy, and the establishment of the [[Library of Alexandria]] in [[Ptolemaic Egypt]] and its close association with the adjacent [[museion]]. In contrast to the typically anonymous inventors of earlier ages, ingenious minds such as [[Archimedes]], [[Philo of Byzantium]], [[Hero of Alexandria|Heron]], [[Ctesibius]], and [[Archytas]] remain known by name to posterity.

Ancient agriculture, as in any period prior to the modern age the primary mode of production and subsistence, and its irrigation methods, were considerably advanced by the invention and widespread application of a number of previously unknown water-lifting devices, such as the vertical [[water-wheel]], the compartmented wheel, the water [[turbine]], [[Archimedes' screw]], the bucket-chain and pot-garland, the [[force pump]], the [[suction pump]], the double-action [[piston pump]] and quite possibly the [[chain pump]].<ref name="Lewis 2000 356f.">{{Cite book
 | last = Oleson
 | first = John Peter Oleson
 | author-link = John Peter Oleson
 | year = 2000
 | contribution = Water-Lifting
 | editor-last = Wikander
 | editor-first = Örjan
 | editor-link = Örjan Wikander
 | title = Handbook of Ancient Water Technology
 | series = Technology and Change in History
 | location = Leiden
 | volume = 2
 | pages = 217–302
 | isbn = 978-90-04-11123-3
}}</ref>

In music, the [[water organ]], invented by Ctesibius and subsequently improved, constituted the earliest instance of a keyboard instrument. In time-keeping, the introduction of the inflow [[Water clock|clepsydra]] and its mechanization by the dial and pointer, the application of a [[feedback|feedback system]] and the [[escapement]] mechanism far superseded the earlier outflow clepsydra.

Innovations in mechanical technology included the newly devised right-angled [[gear]], which would become particularly important to the operation of mechanical devices. Hellenistic engineers also devised [[automata]] such as suspended ink pots, automatic [[washstand]]s, and doors, primarily as toys, which however featured new useful mechanisms such as the [[Cam (mechanism)|cam]] and [[gimbal]]s.

The [[Antikythera mechanism]], a kind of [[analog computer|analogous computer]] working with a [[differential gear]], and the [[astrolabe]] both show great refinement in astronomical science.

In other fields, ancient Greek innovations include the [[catapult]] and the [[gastraphetes]] crossbow in warfare, hollow bronze-casting in metallurgy, the [[dioptra]] for surveying, in infrastructure the [[lighthouse]], [[central heating]], a [[Tunnel of Eupalinos|tunnel excavated from both ends by scientific calculations]], and the [[Diolkos|ship trackway]]. In transport, great progress resulted from the invention of the [[winch]] and the [[odometer]].

Further newly created techniques and items were [[List of ancient spiral stairs|spiral staircases]], the [[chain drive]], [[caliper|sliding calipers]] and showers.

==== Roman Empire ====
[[File:Pont du Gard BLS.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|[[Pont du Gard]] in France, a Roman aqueduct]]

The [[Roman Empire]] expanded from [[Roman Italy|Italia]] across the entire [[Mediterranean region]] between the 1st century BC and 1st century AD. Its most advanced and economically productive provinces outside of Italia were the [[Eastern Roman Empire|Eastern Roman]] provinces in the [[Balkans]], [[Asia Minor]], [[Roman Egypt|Egypt]], and the [[Levant]], with [[Roman Egypt]] in particular being the wealthiest Roman province outside of Italia.<ref>[[Angus Maddison|Maddison, Angus]] (2007), ''Contours of the World Economy, 1–2030 AD: Essays in Macro-Economic History'', p. 55, table 1.14, [[Oxford University Press]], {{ISBN|978-0-19-922721-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Herons von Alexandria Druckwerke und Automatentheater |author-last=Hero |author-link=Hero of Alexandria |others=Wilhelm Schmidt (translator) |place=Leipzig |publisher=B.G. Teubner |date=1899 |language=el, de |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/heronsvonalexandhero#page/228/mode/2up |pages=228–232 |chapter=Pneumatika, Book ΙΙ, Chapter XI}}</ref>

The Roman Empire developed an intensive and sophisticated agriculture, expanded upon existing iron working technology, created [[Roman law|laws]] providing for individual ownership, advanced stone masonry technology, advanced [[Roman road|road-building]] (exceeded only in the 19th century), military engineering, civil engineering, spinning and weaving and several different machines like the [[reaper|Gallic reaper]] that helped to increase productivity in many sectors of the Roman economy. [[Ancient Roman engineering|Roman engineers]] were the first to build monumental arches, [[List of Roman amphitheatres|amphitheatres]], [[Roman aqueduct|aqueducts]], [[Thermae|public baths]], [[Roman bridge|true arch bridges]], [[harbour]]s, reservoirs and dams, vaults and domes on a very large scale across their Empire. Notable Roman inventions include the [[Codex|book (Codex)]], [[glass blowing]] and concrete. Because Rome was located on a volcanic peninsula, with sand which contained suitable crystalline grains, the concrete which the Romans formulated was especially durable. Some of their buildings have lasted 2000 years, to the present day.

In Roman Egypt, the inventor [[Hero of Alexandria]] was the first to experiment with a [[wind-power]]ed mechanical device (see [[Hero of Alexandria|Heron]]'s windwheel) and even created the earliest [[steam-power]]ed device (the [[aeolipile]]), opening up new possibilities in harnessing natural forces. He also devised a [[vending machine]]. However, his inventions were primarily toys, rather than practical machines.

==== Inca, Maya, and Aztec ====
[[File:Walls at Sacsayhuaman.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Walls at Sacsayhuaman]]

The engineering skills of the [[Inca]] and [[Maya peoples|Maya]] were great, even by today's standards. An example of this exceptional engineering is the use of pieces weighing upwards of one ton in their stonework placed together so that not even a blade can fit into the cracks. Inca villages used irrigation canals and [[drainage]] systems, making agriculture very efficient. While some claim that the Incas were the first inventors of [[hydroponics]], their agricultural technology was still soil based, if advanced.

Though the [[Maya civilization]] did not incorporate metallurgy or wheel technology in their architectural constructions, they developed complex writing and astronomical systems, and created beautiful sculptural works in stone and flint. Like the Inca, the Maya also had command of fairly advanced agricultural and construction technology. The Maya are also responsible for creating the first pressurized water system in Mesoamerica, located in the Maya site of [[Palenque]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.livescience.com/5959-ancient-mayans-fountains-toilets.html|title=Ancient Mayans Likely Had Fountains and Toilets|date=December 23, 2009|work=Live Science}}</ref>

The main contribution of the [[Aztec]] rule was a system of communications between the conquered cities and the ubiquity of the ingenious agricultural technology of [[chinampas]]. In [[Mesoamerica]], without draft animals for transport (nor, as a result, wheeled vehicles), the roads were designed for travel on foot, just as in the Inca and Mayan civilizations. The Aztec, subsequently to the Maya, inherited many of the technologies and intellectual advancements of their predecessors: the [[Olmec]] (see [[Native American inventions and innovations]]).

=== Medieval to early modern ===
One of the most significant developments of the medieval were economies in which water and wind power were more significant than animal and human muscle power.<ref name="Stark_2005">{{cite book|title= The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism and Western Success|url= https://archive.org/details/victoryofreasonh00star|url-access= registration|last= Stark|first= Rodney |year= 2005 |publisher =Random House Trade Paperbacks|location= New York |isbn=0-8129-7233-3}}</ref>{{rp|38}} Most water and wind power was used for milling grain. Water power was also used for blowing air in [[blast furnace]], pulping rags for paper making and for felting wool. The [[Domesday Book]] recorded 5,624 water mills in Great Britain in 1086, being about one per thirty families.<ref name="Stark_2005"/>

==== East Asia ====
{{Main|History of science and technology in China|History of science and technology in Korea|Science and technology in Japan}}

{{See also|Science and technology of the Song dynasty|List of Chinese inventions|List of Japanese inventions and discoveries}}

==== Indian subcontinent ====
{{Main|History of science and technology in the Indian subcontinent}}

{{See also|List of Indian inventions and discoveries}}

==== Islamic world ====
{{Main|List of inventions in the medieval Islamic world|Arab Agricultural Revolution|Science in the medieval Islamic world}}

{{See also|Science and technology in Iran|Science and technology in the Ottoman Empire|Islamic world contributions to Medieval Europe}}

The Muslim [[caliphate]]s united in trade large areas that had previously traded little, including the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, the [[Iberian Peninsula]], and parts of the [[Indian subcontinent]]. The science and technology of previous empires in the region, including the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Persian, Hellenistic and Roman empires, were inherited by the [[Muslim world]], where Arabic replaced Syriac, Persian and Greek as the lingua franca of the region. Significant advances were made in the region during the [[Islamic Golden Age]] (8th–16th centuries).

The [[Arab Agricultural Revolution]] occurred during this period. It was a transformation in agriculture from the [[Golden Age of Islam|8th to the 13th century in the Islamic region]] of the [[Old World]]. The economy established by [[Arab]] and other [[Islamic economics in the world|Muslim traders]] across the Old World enabled the diffusion of many crops and farming techniques throughout the Islamic world, as well as the adaptation of crops and techniques from and to regions outside it.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Watson |first=Andrew M. |year=1974 |title=The Arab Agricultural Revolution and Its Diffusion, 700–1100 |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=8–35 |doi=10.1017/S0022050700079602 |jstor=2116954 |s2cid=154359726}}</ref> Advances were made in [[animal husbandry]], [[irrigation]], and farming, with the help of new technology such as the [[windmill]]. These changes made agriculture much more productive, supporting population growth, urbanisation, and increased stratification of society.

Muslim engineers in the Islamic world made wide use of [[hydropower]], along with early uses of [[tidal power]], [[wind power]],<ref>[[Ahmad Y. al-Hassan]] (1976). ''Taqi al-Din and Arabic Mechanical Engineering'', pp. 34–35. Institute for the History of Arabic Science, [[University of Aleppo]].</ref> [[fossil fuel]]s such as petroleum, and large factory complexes (''tiraz'' in Arabic).<ref>[[Maya Shatzmiller]], p. 36.</ref> A variety of industrial mills were employed in the Islamic world, including [[fulling]] mills, [[gristmill]]s, [[Rice huller|hullers]], [[sawmill]]s, [[ship mill]]s, [[stamp mill]]s, [[steel mill]]s, and [[tide mill]]s. By the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic world had these industrial mills in operation.<ref name=Lucas>Adam Robert Lucas (2005), "Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe", ''Technology and Culture'' '''46''' (1), pp. 1–30 [10].</ref> Muslim engineers also employed [[water turbine]]s and [[gear]]s in mills and water-raising machines, and pioneered the use of [[dams]] as a source of water power, used to provide additional power to [[watermill]]s and water-raising machines.<ref name=Hassan>[[Ahmad Y. al-Hassan]], [http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%2071.htm Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part II: Transmission Of Islamic Engineering] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218171021/http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%2071.htm |date=18 February 2008 }}</ref> Many of these technologies were transferred to medieval Europe.<ref>Adam Robert Lucas (2005), "Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe", ''Technology and Culture'' '''46''' (1), pp. 1–30.</ref>

[[Wind-power]]ed machines used to grind grain and pump water, the windmill and [[wind pump]], first appeared in what are now [[Iran]], [[Afghanistan]] and Pakistan by the 9th century.<ref>[[Ahmad Y Hassan]], [[Donald Routledge Hill]] (1986). ''Islamic Technology: An illustrated history'', p. 54. [[Cambridge University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-521-42239-6}}.</ref><ref>{{citation |first=Adam |last=Lucas |year=2006 |title=Wind, Water, Work: Ancient and Medieval Milling Technology |publisher=Brill Publishers |isbn=90-04-14649-0 |page=65}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Eldridge|first1=Frank|title=Wind Machines|date=1980|publisher=Litton Educational Publishing, Inc.|location=New York|isbn=0-442-26134-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/windmachines00fran/page/15 15]|edition=2nd|url=https://archive.org/details/windmachines00fran/page/15}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Shepherd|first1=William|title=Electricity Generation Using Wind Power|date=2011|publisher=World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.|location=Singapore|isbn=978-981-4304-13-9|page=4|edition=1}}</ref> They were used to grind grains and draw up water, and used in the gristmilling and sugarcane industries.<ref>Donald Routledge Hill, "Mechanical Engineering in the Medieval Near East", ''Scientific American'', May 1991, pp. 64–9 (cf. Donald Routledge Hill, [http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm Mechanical Engineering] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225091836/http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm|date=25 December 2007}})</ref> [[Sugarcane mill|Sugar mills]] first appeared in the [[Islamic Golden Age|medieval Islamic world]].<ref name=Lucas-10>Adam Robert Lucas (2005), "Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe", ''Technology and Culture'' '''46''' (1): 1–30 [10–1 & 27]</ref> They were first driven by watermills, and then windmills from the 9th and 10th centuries in what are today [[Afghanistan]], Pakistan and [[Iran]].<ref name=Lucas-65>Adam Lucas (2006), ''Wind, Water, Work: Ancient and Medieval Milling Technology'', p. 65, [[Brill Publishers]], {{ISBN|9004146490}}</ref> Crops such as [[almond]]s and [[citrus]] fruit were brought to Europe through [[Al-Andalus]], and sugar cultivation was gradually adopted across Europe. Arab merchants dominated trade in the Indian Ocean until the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century.

The Muslim world adopted [[papermaking]] from China.<ref name=Lucas/> The earliest [[paper mill]]s appeared in [[Abbasid Dynasty|Abbasid]]-era [[Baghdad]] during 794–795.<ref>{{Citation | last = Burns | first = Robert I. | editor-last = Lindgren | editor-first = Uta|editor-link= Uta Lindgren | contribution = Paper comes to the West, 800–1400 | title = Europäische Technik im Mittelalter. 800 bis 1400. Tradition und Innovation | edition = 4th | year = 1996 | publisher = Gebr. Mann Verlag | location = Berlin | isbn = 3-7861-1748-9 | pages = 413–422 (414)}}</ref> The knowledge of [[gunpowder]] was also transmitted from China via predominantly Islamic countries,<ref>Arming the Periphery. Emrys Chew, 2012. p. 1823.</ref> where formulas for pure [[potassium nitrate]] were developed.<ref>[[Ahmad Y. al-Hassan]], [http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%202.htm Potassium Nitrate in Arabic and Latin Sources] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226105129/http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%202.htm |date=26 February 2008 }}, ''History of Science and Technology in Islam''.</ref><ref name=Gunpowder>[[Ahmad Y. al-Hassan]], [http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%203.htm Gunpowder Composition for Rockets and Cannon in Arabic Military Treatises In Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226104140/http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%203.htm |date=26 February 2008 }}, ''History of Science and Technology in Islam''.</ref>

The [[spinning wheel]] was invented in the [[Islamic world]] by the early 11th century.<ref name="Pacey">{{cite book | last = Pacey | first = Arnold | title = Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-Year History | url = https://archive.org/details/technologyinworl0000pace | url-access = registration | orig-year = 1990 | edition = First MIT Press paperback | year = 1991 | publisher = The MIT Press | location = Cambridge MA | pages = [https://archive.org/details/technologyinworl0000pace/page/23 23]–24}}</ref> It was later widely adopted in Europe, where it was adapted into the [[spinning jenny]], a key device during the [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Žmolek |first1=Michael Andrew |title=Rethinking the Industrial Revolution: Five Centuries of Transition from Agrarian to Industrial Capitalism in England |date=2013 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789004251793 |page=328 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-RKaAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA328 |quote=The spinning jenny was basically an adaptation of its precursor the spinning wheel}}</ref> The [[crankshaft]] was invented by [[Al-Jazari]] in 1206,<ref name="Hill1979">{{citation|title=The book of ingenious devices (Kitāb al-ḥiyal)|author=[[Banu Musa]]|translator=[[Donald Routledge Hill]]|publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]]|year=1979|isbn=90-277-0833-9|pages=23–4}}</ref><ref name="Sally Ganchy 2009 41">{{citation|title=Islam and Science, Medicine, and Technology|last=Sally Ganchy|first=Sarah Gancher|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4358-5066-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/islamsciencemedi0000ganc/page/41 41]|url=https://archive.org/details/islamsciencemedi0000ganc/page/41}}</ref> and is central to modern machinery such as the [[steam engine]], [[internal combustion engine]] and [[automatic control]]s.<ref name=Vallely>Paul Vallely, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060311/ai_n16147544 How Islamic Inventors Changed the World], ''[[The Independent]]'', 11 March 2006.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hill |first=Donald |author-link=Donald Hill |title=Studies in Medieval Islamic Technology: From Philo to Al-Jazarī, from Alexandria to Diyār Bakr |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xxvbAAAAMAAJ |year=1998 |pages=231–232 |publisher=Ashgate |isbn=978-0-86078-606-1}}</ref> The [[camshaft]] was also first described by Al-Jazari in 1206.<ref>Georges Ifrah (2001). ''The Universal History of Computing: From the Abacus to the Quantum Computer'', p. 171, Trans. E.F. Harding, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (See [https://web.archive.org/web/20061008113946/http://www.banffcentre.ca/bnmi/programs/archives/2005/refresh/docs/conferences/Gunalan_Nadarajan.pdf])</ref>

Early [[Program (machine)|programmable machines]] were also invented in the Muslim world. The first [[music sequencer]], a programmable [[musical instrument]], was an automated flute player invented by the [[Banu Musa]] brothers, described in their ''[[Book of Ingenious Devices]]'', in the 9th century.<ref name=Koetsier>{{Citation |last1=Koetsier |first1=Teun  |year=2001 |title=On the prehistory of programmable machines: musical automata, looms, calculators |journal=Mechanism and Machine Theory |volume=36 |issue=5 |pages=589–603 |publisher=Elsevier |doi=10.1016/S0094-114X(01)00005-2 |postscript=.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kapur |first1=Ajay |last2=Carnegie |first2=Dale |last3=Murphy |first3=Jim |last4=Long |first4=Jason |title=Loudspeakers Optional: A history of non-loudspeaker-based electroacoustic music |journal=[[Organised Sound]] |date=2017 |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=195–205 |doi=10.1017/S1355771817000103 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |issn=1355-7718|doi-access=free }}</ref> In 1206, Al-Jazari invented programmable [[automata]]/[[robot]]s. He described four [[automaton]] musicians, including two drummers operated by a programmable [[drum machine]], where the drummer could be made to play different rhythms and different drum patterns.<ref name=Sharkey>Professor Noel Sharkey, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070629182810/http://www.shef.ac.uk/marcoms/eview/articles58/robot.html A 13th Century Programmable Robot (Archive)], [[University of Sheffield]].</ref> The [[castle clock]], a [[hydropower]]ed mechanical [[astronomical clock]] invented by Al-Jazari, was an early [[Computer programming|programmable]] [[analog computer]].<ref name="Ancient Discoveries">{{citation|title=Episode 11: Ancient Robots|work=[[Ancient Discoveries]]|publisher=[[History Channel]]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxjbaQl0ad8|access-date=2008-09-06}}</ref><ref>Howard R. Turner (1997), ''Science in Medieval Islam: An Illustrated Introduction'', p. 184, [[University of Texas Press]], {{ISBN|0-292-78149-0}}</ref><ref name=Hill2>[[Donald Routledge Hill]], "Mechanical Engineering in the Medieval Near East", ''Scientific American'', May 1991, pp. 64–9 ([[cf.]] [[Donald Routledge Hill]], [http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm Mechanical Engineering] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225091836/http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm |date=2007-12-25 }})</ref>

In the [[Ottoman Empire]], a practical impulse [[steam turbine]] was invented in 1551 by [[Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf]] in [[Ottoman Egypt]]. He described a method for rotating a [[Rotisserie|spit]] by means of a jet of steam playing on rotary vanes around the periphery of a wheel. Known as a [[steam jack]], a similar device for rotating a spit was also later described by [[John Wilkins]] in 1648.<ref>[http://www.history-science-technology.com/Notes/Notes%201.htm Taqi al-Din and the First Steam Turbine, 1551 A.D.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218171045/http://www.history-science-technology.com/Notes/Notes%201.htm |date=2008-02-18 }}, web page, accessed on line 23 October 2009; this web page refers to [[Ahmad Y Hassan]] (1976), ''Taqi al-Din and Arabic Mechanical Engineering'', pp. 34–5, Institute for the History of Arabic Science, [[University of Aleppo]].</ref><ref>[[Ahmad Y. Hassan]] (1976), ''Taqi al-Din and Arabic Mechanical Engineering'', p. 34-35, Institute for the History of Arabic Science, University of Aleppo</ref>

==== Medieval Europe ====
{{Main|Medieval technology}}
[[File:Salisbury Cathedral, medieval clock.JPG |thumb|upright|Clock from [[Salisbury Cathedral]], ca. 1386]]
While medieval technology has been long depicted as a step backward in the evolution of Western technology, a generation of medievalists (like the American historian of science [[Lynn White]]) stressed from the 1940s onwards the innovative character of many medieval techniques. Genuine medieval contributions include for example [[mechanical clock]]s, [[spectacles]] and vertical [[windmill]]s. Medieval ingenuity was also displayed in the invention of seemingly inconspicuous items like the [[watermark]] or the [[push button|functional button]]. In navigation, the foundation to the subsequent [[Age of Discovery]] was laid by the introduction of pintle-and-gudgeon [[rudder]]s, [[lateen sail]]s, the [[dry compass]], the horseshoe and the [[astrolabe]].

Significant advances were also made in military technology with the development of [[plate armour]], steel [[crossbow]]s and [[cannon]]. The Middle Ages are perhaps best known for their architectural heritage: While the invention of the [[rib vault]] and [[arch|pointed arch]] gave rise to the high rising [[Gothic architecture|Gothic style]], the ubiquitous medieval fortifications gave the era the almost proverbial title of the 'age of castles'.

[[Papermaking]], a 2nd-century Chinese technology, was carried to the Middle East when a group of Chinese papermakers were captured in the 8th century.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Timeline: 8th century|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191735516.timeline.0001|website=Oxford reference|publisher=HistoryWorld|access-date=9 April 2015}}</ref> Papermaking technology was spread to Europe by the [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=de Safita|first1=Neathery|title=A Brief History Of Paper.|url=http://users.stlcc.edu/nfuller/paper/|access-date=9 April 2015|date=July 2002|archive-date=22 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822144311/http://users.stlcc.edu/nfuller/paper/|url-status=dead}}</ref> A paper mill was established in Sicily in the 12th century. In Europe the fiber to make pulp for making paper was obtained from linen and cotton rags. [[Lynn Townsend White Jr.]] credited the spinning wheel with increasing the supply of rags, which led to cheap paper, which was a factor in the development of printing.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Marchetti |first1=Cesare |title=A postmortem technology assessment of the spinning wheel: The last thousand years |url=http://www.cesaremarchetti.org/archive/scan/MARCHETTI-079.pdf |journal=Technological Forecasting and Social Change |date=January 1979 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=91–93 |doi=10.1016/0040-1625(79)90008-8 |s2cid=154202306 |access-date=2010-10-23 |archive-date=2016-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502152013/http://www.cesaremarchetti.org/archive/scan/MARCHETTI-079.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==== Renaissance technology ====
{{Main|Renaissance technology}}
[[File:Agricola1.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A water-powered [[mine hoist]] used for raising ore, ca. 1556]]
Before the development of modern engineering, mathematics was used by artisans and craftsmen, such as [[millwright]]s, clock makers, instrument makers and surveyors. Aside from these professions, universities were not believed to have had much practical significance to technology.<ref name=Robinson-Munson/>{{rp|32}}

A standard reference for the state of mechanical arts during the Renaissance is given in the mining engineering treatise ''[[De re metallica]]'' (1556), which also contains sections on geology, mining and chemistry. ''De re metallica'' was the standard chemistry reference for the next 180 years.<ref name=Robinson-Munson>{{cite book
|title=Science and Technology in the Industrial Revolution
|url=https://archive.org/details/sciencetechnolog00aemu
|url-access=registration
|last1=Musson 
|last2=Robinson
|year=1969 |publisher =University of Toronto Press
|page=[https://archive.org/details/sciencetechnolog00aemu/page/506 506]|isbn=9780802016379
}}
</ref> Among the water powered mechanical devices in use were [[Stamp mill|ore stamping mills]], forge hammers, blast bellows, and suction pumps.

{|  class=floatright style="border:1px solid darkgrey; background:#f9f9f9;"
|-
| <gallery mode="packed" heights="165px">
Image:Filippo Brunelleschi, cutaway of the Dome of Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore).JPG|Dome of [[Florence Cathedral]]
File:Leonardo da vinci, Drawing of a flying machine.jpg|Design for a flying machine (c.1488) by [[da Vinci]]
</gallery>
|}

Due to the casting of cannon, the [[blast furnace]] came into widespread use in France in the mid 15th century. The blast furnace had been used in China since the 4th century BC.<ref name="Tylecote_1992"/><ref>{{cite book|title=The Genius That Was China: East and West in the Making of the Modern World|url=https://archive.org/details/geniusthatwaschi0000mers|url-access=registration|last1=Merson |first1= John|year= 1990|publisher = The Overlook Press|location=Woodstock, NY |isbn= 978-0-87951-397-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/geniusthatwaschi0000mers/page/69 69]}} A companion to the PBS Series "The Genius That Was China"</ref>

The invention of the movable cast metal type [[printing press]], whose pressing mechanism was adapted from an olive screw press, (c. 1441) lead to a tremendous increase in the number of books and the number of titles published. Movable ceramic type had been used in China for a few centuries and woodblock printing dated back even further.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Genius of China: 3000 years of science, discovery and invention |last1=Temple|first1= Robert|year= 1986|publisher = Simon and Schuster|location=New York }}Based on the works of Joseph Needham</ref>

The era is marked by such profound technical advancements like [[Perspective (graphical)|linear perceptivity]], [[Santa Maria del Fiore|double shell domes]] or [[Bastion fortress]]es. Note books of the Renaissance artist-engineers such as [[Taccola]] and [[Leonardo da Vinci]] give a deep insight into the mechanical technology then known and applied. Architects and engineers were inspired by the structures of [[Ancient Rome]], and men like [[Filippo Brunelleschi|Brunelleschi]] created the large dome of [[Florence Cathedral]] as a result. He was awarded one of the first patents ever issued to protect an ingenious [[crane (machine)|crane]] he designed to raise the large masonry stones to the top of the structure. Military technology developed rapidly with the widespread use of the [[cross-bow]] and ever more powerful [[artillery]], as the city-states of Italy were usually in conflict with one another. Powerful families like the [[Medici]] were strong patrons of the arts and sciences. [[History of science in the Renaissance|Renaissance science]] spawned the [[Scientific Revolution]]; science and technology began a cycle of mutual advancement.

==== Age of Exploration ====
{{Main|Age of Exploration}}

An improved sailing ship, the nau or [[carrack]], enabled the [[Age of Exploration]] with the [[European colonization of the Americas]], epitomized by [[Francis Bacon (philosopher)|Francis Bacon]]'s ''[[New Atlantis]]''. Pioneers like [[Vasco da Gama]], [[Pedro Álvares Cabral|Cabral]], [[Ferdinand Magellan|Magellan]] and [[Christopher Columbus]] explored the world in search of new trade routes for their goods and contacts with Africa, India and China to shorten the journey compared with traditional routes overland. They produced new maps and charts which enabled following mariners to explore further with greater confidence. Navigation was generally difficult, however, owing to the [[History of longitude|problem of longitude]] and the absence of accurate [[Marine chronometer|chronometers]]. European powers rediscovered the idea of the [[civil code]], lost since the time of the Ancient Greeks.

==== Pre–Industrial Revolution ====
[[File:Newcomen Figuier.jpg|thumb|right|Newcomen steam engine for pumping mines]]

The [[stocking frame]], which was invented in 1598, increased a knitter's number of knots per minute from 100 to 1000.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry and Invention|last1=Rosen|first1= William|year= 2012 |publisher = University Of Chicago Press|isbn= 978-0-226-72634-2 |page=237}}</ref>

Mines were becoming increasingly deep and were expensive to drain with horse powered bucket and chain pumps and wooden piston pumps. Some mines used as many as 500 horses. Horse-powered pumps were replaced by the [[Thomas Savery#First steam engine mechanism|Savery steam pump]] (1698) and the [[Newcomen atmospheric engine|Newcomen steam engine]] (1712).<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of Industrial Power in the United States, 1730–1930, Vol. 2: Steam Power |last1=Hunter |first1= Louis C.|year=1985 | publisher =University Press of Virginia|location= Charlottesville}}</ref>

===Industrial Revolution (1760–1830s)===
{{Main|Industrial Revolution}}

The revolution was driven by cheap energy in the form of coal, produced in ever-increasing amounts from the abundant resources of [[Great Britain|Britain]]. The British [[Industrial Revolution]] is characterized by developments in the areas of textile machinery, mining, [[metallurgy]], transport and the invention of [[machine tool]]s.

[[Image:Maquina vapor Watt ETSIIM.jpg|thumb|A [[Watt steam engine]]]]
Before invention of machinery to spin yarn and weave cloth, spinning was done using the spinning wheel and weaving was done on a hand-and-foot-operated loom. It took from three to five spinners to supply one weaver.<ref name="Landes_1969">{{cite book|title=The Unbound Prometheus: Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe from 1750 to the Present |last=Landes |first= David. S.|year= 1969|publisher =Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge|location= Cambridge, NY|isbn=  978-0-521-09418-4}}</ref><ref name="Ayres_1989">{{Cite journal | last = Ayres| first = Robert | title =Technological Transformations and Long Waves| year = 1989 | url = https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/3225/1/RR-89-001.pdf |journal=IIASA Research Report |publisher=IIASA |location=Laxenburg, Austria |id=RR-89-001 }}</ref> The invention of the [[flying shuttle]] in 1733 doubled the output of a weaver, creating a shortage of spinners. The [[spinning frame]] for wool was invented in 1738. The [[spinning jenny]], invented in 1764, was a machine that used multiple spinning wheels; however, it produced low quality thread. The [[water frame]] patented by Richard Arkwright in 1767, produced a better quality thread than the spinning jenny. The [[spinning mule]], patented in 1779 by [[Samuel Crompton]], produced a high quality thread.<ref name="Landes_1969"/><ref name="Ayres_1989"/> The [[power loom]] was invented by Edmund Cartwright in 1787.<ref name="Landes_1969"/>

[[Image:Iron Bridge.JPG|thumb|left|The Iron Bridge]]
In the mid-1750s, the [[steam engine]] was applied to the water power-constrained iron, copper and lead industries for powering blast bellows. These industries were located near the mines, some of which were using steam engines for mine pumping. Steam engines were too powerful for leather bellows, so cast iron blowing cylinders were developed in 1768. Steam powered blast furnaces achieved higher temperatures, allowing the use of more lime in iron blast furnace feed. (Lime rich slag was not free-flowing at the previously used temperatures.) With a sufficient lime ratio, sulfur from coal or coke fuel reacts with the slag so that the sulfur does not contaminate the iron. Coal and coke were cheaper and more abundant fuel. As a result, iron production rose significantly during the last decades of the 18th century.<ref name="Tylecote_1992">{{cite book|title=A History of Metallurgy, Second Edition |last=Tylecote |first=R. F. |year=  1992|publisher =Maney Publishing, for the Institute of Materials |location= London|isbn=978-0-901462-88-6}}</ref> Coal converted to [[Coke (fuel)|coke]] fueled higher temperature [[blast furnace]]s and produced cast iron in much larger amounts than before, allowing the creation of a range of structures such as [[The Iron Bridge]]. Cheap coal meant that industry was no longer constrained by water resources driving the mills, although it continued as a valuable source of power.

[[File:Stephenson's Rocket.jpg|thumb|right|The preserved ''Rocket'']]
The steam engine helped drain the mines, so more coal reserves could be accessed, and the output of coal increased. The development of the high-pressure steam engine made locomotives possible, and a transport revolution followed.<ref>{{cite web|last=Griffin|first=Emma|title='The Mechanical Age': technology, innovation and industrialisation|url=https://eastanglia.academia.edu/EmmaGriffin/Books|work=Short History of the British Industrial Revolution|publisher=Palgrave|access-date=6 February 2013}}</ref> The steam engine which had existed since the early 18th century, was practically applied to both [[steamboat]] and railway transportation. The [[Liverpool and Manchester Railway]], the first purpose-built railway line, opened in 1830, the [[Rocket locomotive]] of [[Robert Stephenson]] being one of its first working [[steam locomotive|locomotives]] used.

Manufacture of ships' pulley [[Block and tackle|blocks]] by all-metal machines at the [[Portsmouth Block Mills]] in 1803 instigated the age of sustained [[mass production]]. [[Machine tools]] used by engineers to manufacture parts began in the first decade of the century, notably by [[Richard Roberts (engineer)|Richard Roberts]] and [[Joseph Whitworth]]. The development of [[interchangeable parts]] through what is now called the [[American system of manufacturing]] began in the firearms industry at the U.S. Federal arsenals in the early 19th century, and became widely used by the end of the century.

Until the [[Enlightenment era]], little progress was made in [[History of water supply and sanitation|water supply and sanitation]] and the engineering skills of the Romans were largely neglected throughout Europe. The first documented use of [[sand filter]]s to purify the water supply dates to 1804, when the owner of a bleachery in [[Paisley, Scotland]], John Gibb, installed an experimental filter, selling his unwanted surplus to the public. The first treated public water supply in the world was installed by engineer [[James Simpson (engineer)|James Simpson]] for the [[Chelsea Waterworks Company]] in London in 1829.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/1859map/chelsea_waterworks_a2.html |title=History of the Chelsea Waterworks |access-date=9 January 2014 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230604/http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/1859map/chelsea_waterworks_a2.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The first screw-down [[Tap (valve)|water tap]] was patented in 1845 by Guest and Chrimes, a brass foundry in [[Rotherham]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://plumber.whangarei.biz/a-little-about-tap-history/ |title=A Little About Tap History |access-date=17 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109195319/http://plumber.whangarei.biz/a-little-about-tap-history/ |archive-date=9 January 2014 }}</ref> The practice of water treatment soon became mainstream, and the virtues of the system were made starkly apparent after the investigations of the physician [[John Snow (physician)|John Snow]] during the [[1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak]] demonstrated the role of the water supply in spreading the cholera epidemic.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=t1exE1cfKXIC&dq=%22institut+de+france%22+and+%22john+snow%22&pg=PA87 ''Concepts and practice of humanitarian medicine'' (2008) Par S. William Gunn, M. Masellis] {{ISBN|0-387-72263-7}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=NSHXLkgFBBQC&dq=%22institut+de+france%22+and+snow&pg=PA290]</ref>

=== Second Industrial Revolution (1860s–1914) ===
{{main|Second Industrial Revolution}}
[[File:Thomas_Edison_Lightbulbs_1879-1880.jpg|thumb|right|upright| Edison electric light bulbs 1879–80]]

The 19th century saw astonishing developments in transportation, construction, manufacturing and communication technologies originating in Europe. After a recession at the end of the 1830s and a general slowdown in major inventions, the [[Second Industrial Revolution]] was a period of rapid innovation and industrialization that began in the 1860s or around 1870 and lasted until [[World War I]]. It included rapid development of chemical, electrical, petroleum, and steel technologies connected with highly structured technology research.

[[Telegraphy]] developed into a practical technology in the 19th century to help run the railways safely.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Visible Hand: The Management Revolution in American Business |last=Chandler |first=Alfred D. Jr. |year=1993 |publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-94052-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/visiblehandmanag00chan }}</ref> Along with the development of telegraphy was the patenting of the first telephone. March 1876 marks the date that Alexander Graham Bell officially patented his version of an "electric telegraph". Although Bell is noted with the creation of the telephone, it is still debated about who actually developed the first working model.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-greatest-inventions-of-the-19th-century.php|title=Top 10 Greatest Inventions of the 19th Century |date=2010-08-09|work=Toptenz.net|access-date=2017-10-04|language=en-US}}</ref>

Building on improvements in vacuum pumps and materials research, [[incandescent light bulb]]s became practical for general use in the late 1870s. Edison Electric Illuminating Company, a company founded by Thomas Edison with financial backing from [[Spencer Trask]], built and managed the first electricity network. Electrification was rated the most important technical development of the 20th century as the foundational infrastructure for modern civilization.<ref>{{Cite web|date=March 3, 2000|title=National Academy Of Engineering Reveals Top Engineering Impacts Of The 20th Century: Electrification Cited As Most Important|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/03/000303075501.htm}}</ref> This invention had a profound effect on the workplace because factories could now have second and third shift workers.<ref>{{cite book |title= Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology|last=Nye |first=David E.|year=1990 |publisher= The MIT Press |location=Cambridge, MA, US and London, England }}</ref>

Shoe production was mechanized during the mid 19th century.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Path to Mechanized Shoe Production in the United States |last=Thomson |first=Ross |year=1989 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-1867-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/pathtomechanized00thom }}</ref> Mass production of [[sewing machine]]s and [[agricultural machinery]] such as reapers occurred in the mid to late 19th century.<ref name="hounshell-1984">{{Hounshell1984}}</ref> Bicycles were mass-produced beginning in the 1880s.<ref name="hounshell-1984"/>
[[File:Edison and phonograph edit1.jpg|thumb|right|[[Thomas Edison]] with his second [[phonograph]], photographed by [[Levin Corbin Handy]] in Washington, April 1878]]
Steam-powered factories became widespread, although the conversion from water power to steam occurred in England earlier than in the U.S.<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of Industrial Power in the United States, 1730–1930, Vol. 2: Steam Power |last1=Hunter |first1= Louis C.|year=1985 | publisher =University Press of Virginia|location= Charlottesville}}</ref> [[Ironclad warship]]s were found in battle starting in the 1860s, and played a role in the opening of Japan and China to trade with the West.

Between 1825 and 1840, the technology of [[photography]] was introduced. For much of the rest of the century, many engineers and inventors tried to combine it and the much older technique of [[projector|projection]] to create a complete illusion or a complete documentation of reality. Colour photography was usually included in these ambitions and the introduction of the [[phonograph]] in 1877 seemed to promise the addition of [[sound film|synchronized sound recordings]]. Between 1887 and 1894, the first successful short [[cinematography|cinematographic]] presentations  were established.

=== 20th century ===
[[File:Ford assembly line - 1913.jpg|right|thumb|Ford assembly line, 1913. The [[Ignition magneto|magneto]] assembly line was the first.{{clarify|date=June 2019}}<!-- The first subassembly line in the building? It was not the first in the world according to [[assembly line]].--><ref name=swan>{{cite web|url= http://www.caranddriver.com/features/fords-assembly-line-turns-100-how-it-really-put-the-world-on-wheels-feature |title=Ford's Assembly Line Turns 100: How It Really Put the World on Wheels |first=Tony |last=Swan|work=[[Car and Driver]] |date=April 2013|access-date=26 March 2017}}</ref>]]

[[Mass production]] brought [[automobile]]s and other high-tech goods to masses of consumers. [[Military research]] and development sped advances including electronic [[computing]] and [[jet engine]]s. Radio and [[telephony]] greatly improved and spread to larger populations of users, though near-universal access would not be possible until [[mobile phones]] became affordable to [[developing world]] residents in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Energy and engine technology improvements included [[nuclear power]], developed after the [[Manhattan Project]] which heralded the new [[Atomic Age]]. [[Rocket]] development led to long range missiles and the first [[space age]] that lasted from the 1950s with the launch of Sputnik to the mid-1980s.

[[Electrification]] spread rapidly in the 20th century. At the beginning of the century electric power was for the most part only available to wealthy people in a few major cities. By 2019, an estimated 87 percent of the world's population had access to electricity.<ref>{{Cite web|date=January 7, 2019|title=Statista Electricity Access Keeps Climbing Globally.|url=https://www.statista.com/chart/16552/electricity-access-worldwide/|website=OECD}}</ref>

[[Birth control]] also became widespread during the 20th century. [[Electron microscopes]] were very powerful by the late 1970s and genetic theory and knowledge were expanding, leading to developments in [[genetic engineering]].

The first "[[test tube baby]]" [[Louise Brown]] was born in 1978, which led to the first successful [[gestational surrogacy]] pregnancy in 1985 and the first pregnancy by [[Intracytoplasmic sperm injection|ICSI]] in 1991, which is the implanting of a single sperm into an egg. [[Preimplantation genetic diagnosis]] was first performed in late 1989 and led to successful births in July 1990. These procedures have become relatively common.

Computers were connected by means of local area, [[Telecommunications engineering|telecom]] and [[Fiber-optic network|fiber optic networks]], powered by the [[optical amplifier]] that ushered in the [[Information Age]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Gilder|first=George|date=May 16, 1997|title=Fiber Keeps its Promise|work=Forbes|url=http://www.panix.com/~clp/risks/telecom/fiber-future.html}}</ref><ref>Sudo, Shoichi. “Optical Fiber Amplifiers: Materials, Devices and Applications.” Artech House 1997. P 601</ref> This [[optical networking]] technology exploded the capacity of the Internet beginning in 1996 with the launch of the first high-capacity [[Wavelength-division multiplexing|wave division multiplexing]] (WDM) system by [[Ciena|Ciena Corp]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Markoff|first=John|date=March 3, 1997|title=Fiber-Optic Technology Draws Record Stock Value|work=The New York Times}}</ref> WDM, as the common basis for telecom backbone networks,<ref>Grobe, Klaus and Eiselt, Michael. "Wavelength Division Multiplexing: A Practical Engineering Guide.” John T Wiley & Sons. p. 2. October 2013.</ref> increased transmission capacity by orders of magnitude, thus enabling the mass commercialization and popularization of the Internet and its widespread impact on culture, economics, business, and society.

The commercial availability of the first portable cell phone in 1981 and the first pocket-sized phone in 1985,<ref>Agar, Jon. Constant Touch: a Global History of the Mobile Phone. Totem Books. December 2004.</ref> both developed by Comvik in Sweden, coupled with the first transmission of data over a cellular network by [[Vodafone]] (formerly [[Racal-Millicom]]) in 1992 were the breakthroughs that led directly to the form and function of smartphones today. By 2014, there were more cell phones in use than people on Earth<ref>{{Cite web|title=United Nations International Telecommunication Union Statistics|url=https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/stat/default.aspx|website=ITU}}</ref> and The Supreme Court  of the United States of America has ruled that a mobile phone was a private part of a person.<ref>Carpenter v. United States. No. 16–402. Argued November 29, 2017—Decided June 22, 2018  (Supreme Court of the United States). October term, 2017. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-402_h315.pdf</ref> Providing consumers wireless access to each other and to the Internet, the mobile phone stimulated one of the most important technology revolutions in human history.<ref>Cooper, Martin and Harris, Arleen. Human Behavior & Emerging Technologies. Wiley Online. February 18, 2019.</ref>

The Human Genome Project sequenced and identified all three billion chemical units in human DNA with a goal of finding the genetic roots of disease and developing treatments. The project became feasible due to two technical advances made during the late 1970s: gene mapping by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers and DNA sequencing. Sequencing was invented by Frederick Sanger and, separately, by Dr. Walter Gilbert. Gilbert also conceived of the Human Genome Project on May 27, 1985, and first publicly advocated it in August 1985 at the first International Conference on Genes and Computers in August 1985.<ref name="Cook-Deegan, Robert M 1994">Cook-Deegan, Robert M. The Gene Wars: Science, Politics, and the Human Genome. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994.</ref> The U.S. Federal Government sponsored Human Genome Project began October 1, 1990, and was declared complete in 2003.<ref name="Cook-Deegan, Robert M 1994"/>

The massive data analysis resources necessary for running transatlantic research programs such as the [[Human Genome Project]] and the [[Large Electron–Positron Collider]] led to a necessity for distributed communications, causing Internet protocols to be more widely adopted by researchers and also creating a justification for [[Tim Berners-Lee]] to create the [[World Wide Web]].

[[Vaccination]] spread rapidly to the developing world from the 1980s onward due to many successful humanitarian initiatives, greatly reducing childhood mortality in many poor countries with limited medical resources.

The US [[National Academy of Engineering]], by expert vote, established the following ranking of the most important technological developments of the 20th century:<ref>{{cite web|title=Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century|url=http://www.greatachievements.org/|website=greatachievements.org|access-date=7 April 2015}}</ref>

{{Div col |colwidth=27em}}

# [[Electrification]]
# [[Automobile]]
# Airplane
# [[Water supply]] and Distribution
# [[Electronics]]
# Radio and television
# [[Mechanized agriculture]]
# Computers
# Telephone
# [[Air Conditioning]] and [[Refrigeration]]
# [[Highways]]
# [[Spacecraft]]
# Internet
# [[Imaging technology]]
# [[Household appliances]]
# [[Health technology]]
# Petroleum and [[Petrochemical]] technologies
# [[Laser]] and [[Fiber Optics]]
# [[Nuclear technology]]
# [[Materials science]]

{{Div col end}}

=== 21st century ===

[[file:NASA Mars Rover.jpg|thumb|The [[Mars Exploration Rover]]s provided huge amounts of information by functioning well beyond NASA's original lifespan estimates.]]

{{main|2000s in science and technology}}

In the early 21st century, research is ongoing into [[quantum computers]], [[gene therapy]] (introduced 1990), [[3D printing]] (introduced 1981), [[nanotechnology]] (introduced 1985), [[bioengineering]]/[[biotechnology]], [[nuclear technology]], [[Materials science|advanced materials]] (e.g., graphene), the [[scramjet]] and [[Unmanned combat air vehicle|drones]] (along with [[railgun]]s and high-energy laser beams for military uses), [[superconductivity]], the [[memristor]], and green technologies such as [[alternative fuel]]s (e.g., [[fuel cells]], self-driving electric and [[plug-in hybrid]] cars), [[augmented reality]] devices and [[wearable electronics]], [[artificial intelligence]], and more efficient and powerful [[LEDs]], [[solar cells]], [[integrated circuits]], [[wireless power]] devices, engines, and [[Battery (electricity)|batteries]].

[[Large Hadron Collider]], the largest single machine ever built, was constructed between 1998 and 2008. The understanding of [[particle physics]] is expected to expand with better instruments including larger [[particle accelerator]]s such as the LHC<ref>{{cite web|title=World's Largest Science Experiment comes to Northern Ireland|url=https://www.stfc.ac.uk/2668.aspx|website=Science & Technology Facilities Council|access-date=9 April 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413064023/https://www.stfc.ac.uk/2668.aspx|archive-date=13 April 2015}}</ref> and better [[neutrino detector]]s. [[Dark matter]] is sought via underground detectors and observatories like [[LIGO]] have started to detect [[gravitational wave]]s.

Genetic engineering technology continues to improve, and the importance of [[epigenetics]] on development and inheritance has also become increasingly recognized.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://discovermagazine.com/2006/nov/cover|title=DNA Is Not Destiny: The New Science of Epigenetics |publisher=DiscoverMagazine.com|access-date=22 January 2018}}</ref>

New [[spaceflight]] technology and [[spacecraft]] are also being developed, like the Boeing's [[Orion (spacecraft)|Orion]] and SpaceX's [[SpaceX Dragon 2|Dragon 2]]. New, more capable [[Space observatory|space telescopes]], such as the [[James Webb Space Telescope]] which was launched to orbit in December, 2021, and the [[Extremely large telescope#Colossus Telescope|Colossus Telescope]], have been designed. The [[International Space Station]] was completed in the 2000s, and [[NASA]] and [[ESA]] plan a [[human mission to Mars]] in the 2030s. The [[Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket]] (VASIMR) is an electro-magnetic thruster for spacecraft propulsion and is expected to be tested in 2015.{{Update inline|date=May 2021}}

The [[Breakthrough Initiatives]] project plans to send [[Breakthrough Starshot|the first ever spacecraft to visit another star]], which will consist of numerous super-light chips driven by [[Electric propulsion]] in the 2030s, and receive images of the [[Proxima Centauri]] system, along with, possibly, the [[List of potentially habitable exoplanets|potentially habitable planet]] [[Proxima Centauri b]], by midcentury.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/Initiative/3|title=Breakthrough Initiatives|website=breakthroughinitiatives.org|access-date=22 January 2018}}</ref>

2004 saw the [[SpaceShipOne flight 15P|first crewed commercial spaceflight]] when [[Mike Melvill]] crossed the [[boundary of space]] on June 21, 2004.

== By type ==

=== Biotechnology ===
{{Main|History of biotechnology}}
* [[Timeline of agriculture and food technology]]
* [[Timeline of biotechnology]]

=== Civil engineering ===
{{Main|History of civil engineering|History of construction}}
* Civil engineering
* Architecture and building construction
* Bridges, [[harbor]]s, tunnels, dams
* [[Surveying]], instruments and maps, [[cartography]], urban engineering, water supply and [[sanitary sewer|sewerage]]

=== Communication ===
{{Main|History of communication}}
{{div col|colwidth=27em}}
* Communications
* [[Writing system]]s
* Telecommunications
* [[History of mobile phones]]
* [[History of animation]]
* [[History of broadcasting]]
* [[History of radar]]
* [[History of radio]]
* Printing
* Cinema
* Radio
* Television
* Internet
{{Div col end}}

=== Computing ===
{{Main|History of computing}}
{{div col|colwidth=27em}}
* [[Timeline of computing]]
* [[History of computing hardware|History of computing hardware before 1960]]
* [[History of computing hardware (1960s–present)]]
* [[History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries]]
* [[History of computer science]]
* [[History of operating systems]]
* [[History of software engineering]]
* [[History of programming languages]]
* [[History of artificial intelligence]]
* [[History of the graphical user interface]]
* [[History of the Internet]]
* [[History of the World Wide Web]]
* [[Timeline of free and open-source software]]
* [[History of video games]]
* [[Timeline of quantum computing and communication]]
{{Div col end}}
<!-- see [[Template:History of computing]] for list of main articles in the history of computing -->

=== Consumer technology ===
{{div col|colwidth=27em}}
* [[Timeline of lighting technology]]
* [[History of clothing and textiles]]
* [[History of materials science]]
* [[Family and consumer science]]
* [[History of knitting]]
* [[History of lensmaking]]
* [[History of the chair]]
* [[History of the umbrella]]
* Manufacturing

{{Div col end}}

=== Electrical engineering ===
{{Main|History of electrical engineering}}
* [[Timeline of electrical and electronic engineering]]

=== Energy ===
{{Main|History of energy}}
{{div col|colwidth=27em}}
* Energy (History, Use by humans, See also)
* [[History of coal mining]]
* [[History of perpetual motion machines]]
* [[Timeline of heat engine technology]]
* [[Timeline of steam power]]
* [[Timeline of solar cells]]
* [[Timeline of hydrogen technologies]]
* [[Timeline of alcohol fuel]]
* [[Timeline of nuclear fusion]]
{{Div col end}}

=== Materials science ===
{{Main|History of materials science}}
* [[Timeline of materials technology]]
* [[Metallurgy]]

=== Measurement ===
{{Main|History of measurement}}
* [[History of time in the United States]]
* [[History of timekeeping devices]]

=== Medicine ===
{{Main|History of medicine}}

=== Military ===
{{Main|History of military technology}}
* [[Military history#Technological evolution]]
* [[:Category:Military history]] – articles on history of specific technologies

=== Nuclear ===
{{Main|Nuclear technology#History}}
* [[Manhattan Project]]
* [[Atomic Age]]
* [[Nuclear testing]]
* [[Nuclear arms race]]

=== Science and technology ===
{{Main|History of science and technology}}
{{div col|colwidth=27em}}
* [[List of years in science]]
* [[History of the telescope]]
* [[Timeline of telescopes, observatories, and observing technology]]
* [[Timeline of microscope technology]]
* [[Timeline of particle physics technology]]
* [[Timeline of low-temperature technology]]
* [[Timeline of temperature and pressure measurement technology]]
* [[Timeline of spaceflight]]
{{Div col end}}

=== Transport ===
{{Main|History of transport|Timeline of transportation technology}}
{{div col|colwidth=27em}}
* [[History of the automobile]]
* [[History of the bicycle]]
* [[Timeline of aviation]]
* [[Timeline of jet power]]
* [[Maritime timeline]]
* [[Timeline of motor and engine technology]]
*[[Timeline of motorized bicycle history]]
* [[Timeline of photography technology]]
*[[Timeline of railway history]]
* [[Timeline of rocket and missile technology]]
*[[Timeline of spaceflight]]
* [[History of communication]]
{{div col end}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Science|Technology|World}}
===Related history===
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[History of mathematics]]
* [[History of philosophy]]
* [[History of science]]
* [[Outline of prehistoric technology]]
* [[Science tourism]]
* [[Timeline of historic inventions]]
{{Div col end}}

===Related disciplines===
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Criticism of technology]]
* [[Intellectual history]] (field of study)
* [[History of science and technology]] (field of study)
* [[List of multiple discoveries]]
* [[Philosophy of technology]]
* Technical school
* Technology
* [[Technology dynamics]] (field of study)
{{Div col end}}

===Related subjects===
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* High technology
* Deindustrialization
* [[Disruptive innovation]]
* [[List of technologies]]
* [[Simple machine]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* Archibugi, Daniele, and Mario Planta. "Measuring technological change through patents and innovation surveys." ''Technovation'' 16.9 (1996): 451–519. [http://www.academia.edu/download/48926820/0166-4972_2896_2900031-420160918-22075-p76w5u.pdf online]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
* Brush, S.G. (1988). ''The History of Modern Science: A Guide to the Second Scientific Revolution 1800–1950''. Ames: Iowa State University Press.
* Bunch, Bryan and Hellemans, Alexander, (1993) ''The Timetables of Technology'', New York, Simon & Schuster.
* Castro, J. Justin. "History of technology in nineteenth and twentieth century Latin America," ''History Compass'' 18#3 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1111/hic3.12609
* Derry, Thomas Kingston and Williams, Trevor I., (1993) ''A Short History of Technology: From the Earliest Times to A.D. 1900''  New York: Dover Publications.
* Greenwood, Jeremy (1997) [https://web.archive.org/web/20081217025009/http://www.econ.rochester.edu/Faculty/GreenwoodPapers/third.pdf ''The Third Industrial Revolution: Technology, Productivity and Income Inequality''] AEI Press.
* Kranzberg, Melvin and Pursell, Carroll W. Jr., eds. (1967) ''Technology in Western Civilization: Technology in the Twentieth Century''  New York: Oxford University Press.
* [[Manuel de Landa|Landa, Manuel de]], ''[[War in the Age of Intelligent Machines]]'', 2001.
* {{cite book |title=An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology |last=McNeil |first=Ian|year=1990 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-14792-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediaofh00mcne|url-access=registration }}
* Olby, R.C. et al., eds. (1996). ''Companion to the History of Modern Science''. New York, Routledge.
* Pacey, Arnold, (1974, 2ed 1994), ''The Maze of Ingenuity'', The MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, 
* Popplow, Marcus, [http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/backgrounds/technology/marcus-popplow-technology?set_language=en&-C= ''Technology''], [http://www.ieg-ego.eu/ EGO – European History Online], Mainz: [http://www.ieg-mainz.de/likecms/index.php Institute of European History], 2017, retrieved: March 8, 2021 ([https://d-nb.info/1149290803/34 pdf]).
* Singer, C., Holmyard, E.J., Hall, A.R. and Williams, T.I. (eds.), (1954–59 and 1978) <cite>A History of Technology</cite>, 7 vols., Oxford, Clarendon Press. (Vols 6 and 7, 1978, ed. T. I. Williams)
* {{cite book|last=Wilson|first=George|author-link=George Wilson (chemist)|title=What is Technology?: an inaugural lecture delivered in the University of Edinburgh on November 7, 1855|edition=1|year=1855|publisher=Sutherland and Knox|location=Edinburgh|title-link=s:What is Technology?}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.mpoweruk.com/history.htm ''Electropaedia on the History of Technology''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512173049/http://www.mpoweruk.com/history.htm |date=2011-05-12 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080324124256/http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Electrical-Engineering-and-Computer-Science/6-933JThe-Structure-of-Engineering-RevolutionsFall2001/CourseHome/index.htm MIT 6.933J – The Structure of Engineering Revolutions]. From [[MIT OpenCourseWare]], course materials (graduate level) for a course on the history of technology through a [[Thomas Kuhn|Thomas Kuhn-ian]] lens.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060209071757/http://www.revisedhistory.org/civilevents.htm Concept of Civilization Events]. From Jaroslaw Kessler, a chronology of "civilizing events".
* [http://www.etrusia.co.uk/city_tech_1.php Ancient and Medieval City Technology]
* [http://www.historyoftechnology.org/ Society for the History of Technology]
* [https://gigancinauki.pl/ge/ Giants of Science (website of the Institute of National Remembrance)]

{{History of technology}}
{{Inventions}}
{{Prehistoric technology}}
{{History of science}}
{{Science and technology studies}}
{{Social sciences}}
{{Population}}
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:History of technology| ]]
[[Category:History of science by discipline|Technology]]
[[Category:History of industries|Technology]]
[[Category:Engineering studies]]
[[Category:History by topic]]