Comparison of the development process of science and technology
First, the development of science and technology in ancient Greece and Rome was leading.
The centers of scientific and technological development from ancient times to the 3rd century BC were in ancient Greece and Rome.
Since Beijingers learned to make and use simple labor tools and natural fire, China began the primitive scientific and technological inventions of our ancestors. After entering the slave society, China developed science and technology. During the pre-Qin, Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties in China, the advantages of science and technology mainly lie in systematic astronomical observation, the invention of branches and branches and the highly developed bronze smelting. For example, the record of 37 solar eclipses in the Spring and Autumn Period, the determination of winter solstice and summer solstice, the observation of Halley's comet, and the Shigan Star Classic written by Gander and Shi Shen in the Warring States Period; Medical Neijing, Bian Que's Four Diagnosis Methods, Bronze Art: Si Muwu Dafang Ding in Shang Dynasty, Fang Zun in Siyang, a complete set of bronze pots and musical bells for reward and banquet in Warring States Period; Dujiangyan and Zheng Guoqu in water conservancy construction had a place in the world at that time, but their overall level was not as good as that of ancient western countries. Ancient Greek and Roman calendars, budding geometry and carry system, bronze, iron, majestic boulders and mud brick buildings dominated, and their science and technology reached the peak of western classical times.
Second, China's ancient science and technology developed ahead.
The center of scientific and technological development from 3rd century BC to13rd century BC was in China.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the main fields of science and technology began to form an independent system. China and the West have their own strengths and weaknesses in science. Cai Lun, Zhang Heng's armillary sphere and seismograph, Zhang Zhongjing's treatise on febrile diseases and Huatuo's leprosy powder were all outstanding inventions. Especially the Terracotta Warriors and Horses in the Qin Mausoleum, reflect the exquisite level of scientific and technological development in China. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, China's science and technology and western science and technology had their own characteristics. In mathematics, China formed an algorithm system based on nine chapters of arithmetic and characterized by practicality. In the west, a pure logical system has been formed, which is based on the elements of geometry and centered on the derivation of abstract spatial shape relations. In astronomy, China has formed a tradition of meticulous observation, astronomical calendar and personnel comparison.
Western countries devoted themselves to the theoretical discussion of constructing the model of the universe, which eventually led to the establishment of Ptolemy's geocentric system, which was more complete and reasonable than China's three theories of covering the sky, muddy the sky and announcing the night. In physics, Mozi has made great achievements in optics and Archimedes in mechanics, but the latter is superior to the former in budding experiments, quantitative treatment and theoretical height. In comprehensive science, Mo Jing is slightly inferior to Aristotle's series of works. So generally speaking, the level of western science at this time is higher. But the technical comparison is another case: China's agricultural technology based on large-scale water conservancy projects, farm manure, green manure and improved farm tools is comparable to that of Rome; The metal smelting industry has completed the transformation from block ironmaking to steel frying in one fell swoop, and many technologies are hundreds or thousands of years earlier than those in the West. In medicine, Hippocrates and Galen are inferior to Bian Que, Zhang Zhongjing and Hua Tuo in profound theoretical and practical effects. In manufacturing technology, regardless of farm tools, metallurgy and machinery, China's Sina, seismograph, jacquard machine and papermaking are the first in the world. As far as the comprehensive level of science and technology is concerned, China's scientific and technological development level has been in the forefront of the world since the Han Dynasty.
During the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties (about the 3rd to 6th centuries), Zu Chongzhi in the Southern Dynasty calculated the value of pi to seven decimal places, which was more than 1 100 years earlier than Otto in Germany and Antoine in the Netherlands. During this period, China surpassed the West in geoscience (water classics), agronomy (qi Shu), medical skill, smelting (steel casting) and mechanical technology.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties (6th to10th century), Arabic astronomy obtained more accurate precession and declination data, and Ptolemy's geocentric theory was questioned. Mathematics began to standardize algebra and trigonometry; Geographically, the determination of meridian is more accurate than that of monks and their followers in Tang Dynasty. The budding chemistry formed in alchemy. These achievements, together with its work of absorbing, retaining and spreading eastern and western science, make its contribution roughly equal to or exceed ours. But there is no doubt that the technology of Sui and Tang Dynasties-making porcelain (white porcelain, celadon and "three colors in Tang Dynasty"), printing (block printing), medicine (herbs and prescriptions in Tang Dynasty), architecture (Zhao Zhouqiao, Chang 'an), water conservancy, gunpowder, machinery, textiles, etc. are far superior to the Arabs with weak foundation, and the overall strength of science and technology in China.
The Song and Yuan Dynasties (early period) (10 ~14th century) was the peak of ancient science and technology in China, because many scientific and technological achievements based on solid economic foundation since Sui and Tang Dynasties were systematically summarized and fully displayed in the Song and Yuan Dynasties: Bi Sheng invented movable type printing 400 years earlier than Europe; Compass was used for navigation in the Northern Song Dynasty and spread to Europe by Arabs in the Southern Song Dynasty. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, gunpowder was used in the military. It was widely used in the Northern Song Dynasty and spread to Europe by Arabs in the Yuan Dynasty. Astronomical calendar, Shen Kuo's Twelve Qi Calendars, took more than 800 years for Britain to compile a similar calendar. The time calendar in Guo Shoujing is similar to the one-year cycle of the current Gregorian calendar, but it is 300 years earlier than the establishment of the current Gregorian calendar. Qin, Yang Hui and Zhu Shijie are among the best in the world. Technically, Wang Zhen's agricultural books, series of works on traditional Chinese medicine, 32-axle water wheel spinning wheel, general introduction to water transport instrument and martial arts, architectural methods for the construction of big cities, the appearance of docks and watertight compartments, coal metallurgy and large fan blowing were all world-class achievements at that time. During this period, Arab science and technology declined except in a few areas. Although the science and technology in Western Europe is recovering, it is equivalent to that in Song and Yuan Dynasties in a few areas, but its comprehensive level still lags behind that in China.
Third, the re-emergence of western science and technology.
14 the center of scientific and technological development from the 20th century is in Europe and America. In the middle and late Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty (15 ~18th century), China entered the late feudal society, and its science and technology had fallen behind. Relying on the inertia of traditional accumulation and long-term advantages, China still has a certain position in a few projects, such as Compendium of Materia Medica, Encyclopedia of Agricultural Administration and Heavenly Creations, but it is a spent force. In the west, science began with the publication of Copernicus's Theory of the Operation of Celestial Bodies and Vesaliua's Human Structure in 1543. Eventually, through the revolutions in astronomy, anatomy, mechanics and mathematics, and the industrial revolution that began in the 1960s in 17, the first movement in the world's modern science and technology history was completed, which also declared the backwardness of China's traditional science and technology. Since then, the world science and technology center has moved to the west. At that time, the transformation from scattered world history marked by the opening of new air routes to unified world history has been completed, and the state of science and technology in different regions being fragmented and closed to each other has ended at the same time. Therefore, the outward expansion of the achievements of science and technology centers mainly appears in the form of absorbing and imitating western science and technology. Strictly speaking, the history of modern science and technology in China began with the westward migration of western missionaries in the late Ming Dynasty.
Around 1870, the world entered the second scientific and technological revolution, and the formation of Britain with "three great discoveries" and electromagnetic theory as the core reached its climax. Then, the second technological revolution, led by Germany and the United States and represented by electric power technology, was launched in the west. 19th century, the Qing dynasty was still in the enlightenment period of modern science. The translations of Li, Hua, Xu Shou and others enabled calculus and modern chemistry to be introduced, but their independent creation was far below the advanced level in the world. The technology introduced by the Westernization Movement: the first steam locomotive (1862), the first motor boat (1865) and the first steam locomotive (188 1) were also much later than those in the west. Of course, Gong Zhenlin's cast iron marksmanship at that time was more than 30 years earlier than that in the West. Zhan Tianyou's railways are designed and built, and Feng Ru's self-designed airplanes surpass the West in some aspects.
The history of science and technology in the modern world started from 19 to the turn of the 20th century. It involves fields ranging from the macroscopic universe of tens of billions of light-years to infinite elementary particles and life movements. The discussion of relativity, the transformation of mass and energy in quantum mechanics, the evolution of the universe, and the transmission of genetic information all pose problems to philosophy that cannot be satisfactorily answered so far. Technically speaking, the outstanding progress in the first 40 years of the 20th century was mainly in power, electronics and aviation. During the Republic of China, China's science and technology only had high attainments in local archaeology, geology, botany and anthropology. Although Chen's theory of function, Su's differential geometry and Hua's theory of heap primes are in the forefront of the world in mathematics, this cannot change the basic situation of lagging behind the West.
After the end of World War II, the third technological revolution, marked by the explosion of the first atomic bomb in the United States and the appearance of the first electronic computer, developed rapidly to the world, and gradually developed into high-tech including information, nuclear energy, space, materials and biological engineering. In the world competition, China, with a weak scientific and technological foundation, has had both brilliant and failed lessons under the leadership of the * * * production party. Indica hybrid rice bred by synthetic crystalline bovine insulin ranks among the top in the world, and has also entered the ranks of the world in nuclear weapons, launch vehicle technology, artificial satellites, high-energy accelerators and spacecraft. Objectively speaking, nearly half a century's struggle has greatly narrowed the gap between China and western powers in science and technology. Of course, in modern times, there is a big gap between China's first-class scientists and inventions and the developed countries in the world, which is proved by the statistics of winning the Nobel Prize in Science and Technology. By 200 1, 65438+2, 10, the Nobel Prize had passed 100 years. In the past 100 years, 475 scientists from 28 countries around the world won the Nobel Prize in Science, including 6 scientists from China, but none of them came from China.