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

- improving health care conditions; - multiplying food productions; - extending the fields, and accessibility of several entertainments; - speeding up and extending travelling and communications; - producing new type materials, household products; and also - developing long range devastating weapons. Due to the highly accelerated technical developments, in the last two centuries the proportions of the people working in the three dominant sectors have been completely changed In the developed countries. See Fig.2. The population of the world in the same time (i.e. in the last two centuries) has increased from 1 to 6 billions! The history of the human development from the stone axe to the personal computers is tremendous: The distance between the ancient pentaton songs and the Concerto of Bartok is also similar. Today's man however, accustomed to the present conditions would have not been able to live under the conditions of ten thousand years ago. Fig.2. Percentage proportions of the population employed in the three main sectors (agriculture, industry, service) of human activity from 1800 until today. The maintenance of the continuity of the flux of information In prehistoric times, information obtained and collected were handed over to the subsequent generations by the parents, or by some other recognised persons, by direct communication, i.e. telling the experiences and showing, teaching the skills, which were necessary to the everyday life. Though many abilities are hereditable, acquired knowledge and information of mental origin are not! Organised education started only, when the collected, accumulated information was first recorded. In the early times, the education of the selected children, or young people was organised and carried out by some educated teachers, belonging or employed by the ruling classes of the communities. In the ancient Egypt or in Assyria the privilege of the teaching belonged to the priests, while in Greece, the Academia in Athens was maintained by the state and / or by recognised authorities. The courses were of different levels. Beside the basic subjects: song - dance - poetry, the disciplines in the high level courses were also mathematics, philosophy, medicine, history etc. Following the traditions of the ancient times, in the early Middle-Ages Europe the