TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREAMBLE
I. GENESIS ACCORDING TO SCIENCE
II. MESOPOTAMIA
III. ANCIENT EGYPT
IV. ANCIENT INDIA
V. ANCIENT CHINA
VI. PRE-SOCRATIC SCIENCE
VII. POST-SOCRATIC SCIENCE
VIII. ROMAN SCIENCE
VIII. ARAB & PERSIAN SCIENCE
IX. MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN SCIENCE
XI. EMERGENCE OF MODERN SCIENCE
XII. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY SCIENCE
XIII. NINETEENTH CENTURY SCIENCE
XIV. TWENTIETH CENTURY PHYSICS
The History of Science is great and long
Here you’ll read it, not as song,
But as facts in unmetered rhymes.
From very ancient to modern times.
Sample lines from first few pages
I. GENESIS ACCORDING TO SCIENCE
Hydrogen, helium, interstellar dust,
Rarefied matter was what came first.
They all were of the Big Bang born,
Or from supernovae rudely shorn.
Particles, charges, atoms, ions,
Drawn closer and closer during endless eons;
Were brought within huge confinements
By gravitational enticements
Celestial globules, large and small,
Drops and droplets of the Cosmic Ball:
Massive ones grew hot and more,
Caused nuclear fusion at their core.
So it was that stars were made,
To shine for long, and then to fade.
Of these billions there was one
That slowly became our shining sun.
In its realm and under its sway
Lesser bodies came to play:
Planets, satellites near and far,
Moving for ever around their star.
Sun’s family is itself bound
To the spiral galaxy it whirls around.
Here a speck we call the earth
Is where we all have had our birth.
In this our home in the cosmos vast
All life we know has had its past.
Life evolved on the temporal span
From molecules to the mind of Man.
Lands were barren, arid, waste,
Landscape not quite to our taste.
Volcanic fumes spread far and near,
While ocean waters were pure and clear.
Ammonia, methane, hydrogen there
In what was then the planet’s air.
Gigantic clouds rose and fell,
Abundant rains caused rivers to swell.
Flowing waters brought salts to sea,
Affecting the ocean’s purity.
Elements from every chemical group
Made the sea a primordial soup.
Kindled by light, heat, and lightning,
And by factors that could be fright’ning,
Turbulent chemistry did eons take
The first organic units to make.
From inert matter in simpler states
Came amino acids, carbohydrates.
Further reactions now gave rise
To complex systems of greater size.
Self-replicating systems came
To launch life on its random game.
Once the spark of life was lit,
Its range and kind had no limit.
Some trapped energy from heat and light,
Though possessing neither touch nor sight.
Evolving patters of molecules
Brought to life animalcules.
All these were like children’s stories
Compared to the planet’s future glories.
Still no hint of all the creatures
Yet to emerge with stranger features.
Fish and freak of all forms and shapes,
Plants and trees and worms and apes:
All sorts of life now could arise:
Germs and birds and humans wise.
Nucleic acids held the code,
Slipped and strayed and changed their mode.
By mistakes and unforeseen means
Were mutations made of the genes.
Genetic twists set in motion
Meandering paths of evolution.
As fossil evidence makes one see
All sorts of creatures came to be.
They answered ev’ry chance and change
That occurred in the planet’s range,
In air and water, and on the land,
In polar realms and desert sand.
Insects, reptiles, also mammals,
Frogs and flies and snakes and camels,
With plethora of trees and plants,
Various as squirrels and ants
Formed like a Master’s work of art:
Many mind-boggling from the start.
After beings like mare and bear,
One emerged, became self-aware.
It could love and mate, kill and hate;
With hands and mind, great things create.
To itself it could questions ask,
With joy complete a chosen task.
It could be noble, could be mean,
And it could be much in between.
This bundle with intelligence
Named itself Homo sapiens.
Earth this spot on the cosmic slate
Is where are drawn things small and great.
A Doodler sans reason or rhyme
Just scribbles away to pass the Time?
Is all of this a Divine Plan?
Or just chemistry causing Man?
Those who on this do firmly swear
Of many things are unaware.
With all our knowledge, no one can
Precisely date the birth of Man.
Dryopithecus, Ramapithecus
Followed by Australopithecus.
Apes their problems on trees did solve.
From them, some think did Man evolve.
Others feel that it’ is a shame
If Man from monkeys truly came.
Science tells us how we came about.
On this, of curse, there is some doubt,
It’s not for science to just suggest
What to humans may seem the best.
As a witty man reminded us
Let’s look upon the question thus:
If Creation’s ex-ape is you and me,
We also happen its apex to be.
Mystics and science both do claim
That all life is of the family same.
Four million years or maybe three
Have passed since the biped’s arms were free.
It roamed the land in search of foods,
Ate and slept, explored the woods.
It mated, it procreated,
No arts or craft, it yet created.
Lice and mice, Man ate them well,
Frogs and worms, he liked their smell.
Every creature that moved in sight
Was fit for catch, then for bite.
‘Twas perhaps of a deer or ass,
Man stumbled on its raw carcass.
Might have been old, might have been fresh,
Man formed a taste for massive flesh.
And it became, to say the least,
A thrill to slay or tame a beast.
In the new age that we enter
Man becomes an expert hunter.
Hunting, wild though it seems,
Calls for plans and secret schemes.
In plans and schemes to engage
Man required a language
Spoken words were great and mighty
They sowed the seeds for society.
Not too harsh are Man’s teeth and jaws,
Not to piercing are his claws.
And so his games to fully kill
Man had to use some other skill.
After trying many a trick
He forged his tools with stone and stick.
Technology thus came to fore,
Its first goal was just to gore.
A lightning flash that caused much fright
Did perhaps a forest light.
Or the scorching sun on a summer day
Burnt perhaps a leaf away.
Or random strokes of rocks in dark
Did produce a fiery spark.
Through such events did Man acquire
His knowledge of insubstantial fire.
That, in truth, was a great event,
Alas, it unrecorded went.
So we know not how or when or where
Man first of fire became aware.
Subtle fire was ever so helpful,
Strange sometimes, but also hurtful.
Warmth it gave in wintry weather,
At night humans moved hither and thither.
It protected him from beasts of prey
Which by fire were turned away.
It fell not down, and defied touch,
‘Twas not feared, for it did so much.
When cities, temples, and prayers came,
Humans began to worship flame.
Seeking food, every month of the year,
Humans hunted foxes, yaks and deer.
Humans were restless, nomadic
The food they found was sporadic.
Then ten thousand years ago
Humans began some grains to grow.
They had learnt to sow and reap
And harness beasts like cow and sheep.
When humans grew greens and grains
And learned the role of falling rains,
They knew there was no further need
To move and search, themselves to feed.
Now they started settling down,
Building roads from town to town.
The great Agro-Revolution
Slowed and stopped constant motion.
More creatures were domesticated,
Life became more complicated.
But while they sat and they did wait
For seeds to sprout and germinate
They’d watch the sky or tell a star
“How I wonder what you are!”
They’d sing and dance or take a ride
On their mind fertile, so far and wide.
Unchained thoughts, when free to rise,
Often tend to civilize.
When society tries to curb free thought
Civilization begins to rot.
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