Download Life in the Industrial Age 1800-1900 Sec. 2 Scientific and Medical

Unit 4:
Impact of Industrialization
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
 Published On the Origin of the Species
 Concept of natural selection
▪ Creatures that can adapt to environment better, more apt
to survive
▪ These creature’s offspring inherit the features that
allowed their parents to survive
 Theory of evolution
▪ Over time, all creatures change (evolve) to help them
better adapt to environment and survive
Many attacked Darwin’s
theory on basis that it
hinted that Man also
evolved from earlier, more
primitive life-form
Went against traditional
Christian beliefs in Genesis
1803: John Dalton develops modern atomic
theory
 All elements consist of tiny particles – atoms
 Atoms of different elements are different sizes/mass
1871: Dmitri Mendeleyev organizes the Periodic
Table to include all known chemical elements
1898: Marie & Pierre Curie discover polonium
and radium
 Went on to discover radioactivity (energy released when
certain elements break down)
Early 1900s, Einstein develops his theory of
relativity:
1. Matter cannot move faster than speed
of light
2. Motion can only be measured from
viewpoint of particular observer; thus,
there is no absolute motion, space, or
time
In addition, Einstein’s idea of e=mc2 was
instrumental in idea that a small amount
of mass, could create an enormous
amount of energy
Disease Prevention
 1870s: Louis Pasteur
 demonstrated link between microbes and disease
 Disproved theory of spontaneous generation (life
can form from non-living matter)
 Developed process of pasteurization (killing
bacteria in liquids/foods in order to prevent bacterial
growth that leads to disease
 Finally, Pasteur created vaccines for anthrax and
rabies
Surgery & Anesthetics
 Crawford Long (surgeon) used the gas known as ether
to perform the first anesthetized operation in 1842

1860s: Joseph Lister used carbolic acid to sterilize his
surgical equipment & reduce deaths due to infection

Medical care also improved as result of the
construction of new hospitals, equipment, & more
rigorous academic standards required of future
physicians
Psychology
 1890s: Psychology (study of human mind &
behavior) is created
 Ivan Pavlov
 Studied human behavior through experimentation with
animals
 Pavlov conditioned behavior of dogs by ringing a bell
each time they were fed; eventually dogs would salivate
& become excited at just the sound of the bell –
conditioned reflex
 Pavlov suggested that humans also are/can be influenced
by conditioned reflexes
 Freud believed that much of human
behavior could be understood only
through analyzing the sub-conscious
(that part of the mind of which the
individual is unaware)
 Developed technique of psychoanalysis
to help his patients get their repressed
thoughts out in open before they caused
problems or mental illness
Sociology – study of the behavior of groups or
societies
Archaeology – study of ancient cultures/
civilizations before written record through
scientific examination of artifacts
Anthropology – study of human ancestors
(Physical) and human culture (Cultural)