Technikatörténeti szemle 25. (2001-02)

Papers of the Third International Conference on the History of Chemistry and Chemical Industry (Budapest, 2–4 July, 1999) – First Part - Inczédy János: The role and responsibility of scientists influencing the wordl; past, present and future

sensory organs either directly on site, or today it can be convened by telecommunication, news-papers, books etc. In the world web communication systems today an immense store of information, which had been obtained, collected and accumulated for thousand-years of human history was established, and made available to all those, who are interested in certain areas of human activities and history. The analysis of the evolution of mankind, from its very first recognition of the natural world, its cults and stone tools, until today shows that during this period of ca. 50,000 years, the development was very rapid, permanent and irreversible, and was influenced by the following motivating factors: - sense to beauty; - desire for recognition and explanation of the phenomena and operating principles; - endeavour to construction, and creation; - moral wisdom. The sense to the arts (sense to beauty) appeared at the very beginning of the human development, i.e. in prehistoric times. According to estimations, old cave paintings dates back to 30,000 years B.C. During the history several magnificent cultural periods flourished (like Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Renaissance, Baroque etc.) following each other in Asia and Europa and similarly in America and in the far East, producing world famous masterpieces of arts. It is difficult to give similar review on the story of music, because its recording go back only to the middle age. Musical instruments, however, were used already in ancient times. Scientific development The expansion of the dimensions and ranges of the human recognition concerning the natural objects, processes and phenomena, can be clearly demonstrated since the beginning of history, i.e. from the beginning of the recording and preservation of the information obtained, in written forms. In spite of the fact that human sensory organs (eyes, ears) are excellent, there are still many objects, processes and phenomena which remain "hidden", i.e. not accessible directly. A great deal of efforts have been put from the very beginning of history to extend the accessible range of information using simple but very efficient devices. However to extend the human recognition to new dimensions peculiar, sophisticated instruments are necessary. The development of sciences follows very closely the development of accessible ranges and dimensions of information, which have been gradually extended during the centuries, by various artificial devices, and instruments. See Table I.