Science & Technology


[Chapter 1 Objectives]

 BHS -> Mr. Stanbrough -> Physics -> About Science -> this page


People often confuse science and technology. Briefly, scientists (science) discover new aspects of Nature. Engineers and inventors (technology) use scientific discoveries to design and build new things.

So, is technology dependent on science? Yes - without new scientific discoveries, the river of new, amazing products would soon dry up. But science is also dependent on technology - without new instruments and devices, the tide of new scientific discovery would soon disappear. Science and technology are interdependent.

People, particularly politicians looking for media attention it seems (editorial...), often wonder why scientists don't work on more useful topics - things that would be more immediately useful to society. An answer is that curiosity is the nature of a scientist - scientists have a drive to understand what is going on. It is not the job of science to build useful devices, that is the job of technology. Historically, the bit of science that triggers some amazing technological advance has often come from an apparently unrelated discovery.

Professor Hewitt makes a point (p. 5) to the effect that science has no direct effect on society - that technology does. One could infer from this that scientists are completely innocent of the sometimes horrible uses to which their discoveries are put. I think that this is a bit of editorializing that many people would certainly agree with this, but not everyone does. What do you think?


[Chapter 1 Objectives]

 BHS -> Mr. Stanbrough -> Physics -> About Science -> this page


last update September 25, 2005 by JL Stanbrough