Essay on Science and Civilization:
The modern age has rightly been described as the age of science. We are living in a highly advanced scientific age. Numerous inventions and discoveries of modern science have immensely added to the comforts and conveniences of our life. The wonder of science, which far excels the wonders of Nature, has revolutionized our life, and we look with awe at the triumphs and marvels of science. There is hardly any aspect of life where science has not exhibited its wonders. With its manifold discoveries and inventions, science has changed this world into a fairyland where wonderful things are happening every day.
“Science surpasses the old miracles of mythology,” says Emerson. The most magnificent wonder of science is the discovery of steam power by James Watt. History was made when this power was first discovered. The discovery of this great servant of humanity has revolutionized our life. Steam power is used in the running of railways, steamships, mills, and factories. We cannot think of the modern mills and railways without this great triumph of science. Industrial life will have no meaning without this astonishing power.
Another great triumph and marvel of science is the invention of electricity by Michael Faraday. Electricity is the brightest feather in the cap of science. It has revolutionized the modern age. We depend on electricity at every stage in life. We cannot think of human life without electricity. It is used in multifarious activities of human life. It has been used for digging deep canals, constructing dams, bridges, running ships, motors, aeroplanes, and numerous other instruments of human service. It has become a household servant. We use it in cooking, lighting our houses, and heating or cooling our rooms.
The triumph of science is as well marked in the sky as on the earth. In the sky above, on the earth below, and down into the ocean has gone the triumphal car of science. The sky has been swept by a telescope and a photographic camera. Neptune and Uranus have been discovered. The mighty sun has been thoroughly examined, and the sunspots have been detected. The sky, hitherto the home of the gods, is now a vast area of all-pervading ether, the mighty medium through which not only light but electro-magnetic disturbances are transmitted. The discoveries and inventions of science constitute the great glories of the modern age.
The quick means of transport reveal the wonders of modern science. Railways, aeroplanes, ships, motor cars, scooters, and bicycles are the blessings of science. In the sphere of communication, the telephone, wireless telegraphy, radio, and T.V. are among the wonders of science. Messages are sent to distant places in a couple of minutes through a wireless system. We talk to people in America and England on the telephone. Children and grown-up people enjoy distant sights and scenes on the television set. Photography by itself is a wonder of science, and we are filled with all the great wonder when we view wireless photography through the television set.
Cinema is one of the greatest wonders of science. Cinegoers would have been deprived of their great joy if the famous scientist Edison had not come to their help. Films are the products of modern science, and we wonder how photos are taken and wonderfully displayed on the screen without being bodily present before the audience. That is a great marvel of life.
Science has exhibited its wonders and triumphs in the sphere of agriculture. In place of the old plough drawn by bullocks and horses, science has given us the tractor. Further, scientific research in agriculture has vastly improved the quality of seeds, cattle, manure, and plants.
The wonders of science are best visible in the sphere of medicine and surgery. Without the inventions and discoveries of science in the realm of medicine and surgery, human life would have been stunted and diseased and a large number of people would have died every year of fatal diseases. The invention of science has made life easy and safe. Vaccination and inoculation have ruled out chances of dangerous attacks of plague, cholera, and smallpox. In the sphere of surgery, science has exhibited the greatest marvel. The human body with all its complexity is thoroughly screened by the system of X-ray which presents the photograph of the inner system, and doctors perform operations on the basis of these X-ray photographs. Fractures have been joined, and the worst cases have been brought under control by modern surgery.
All these wonderful triumphs of science in the varied branches of human life have been achieved through the single-hearted devotion of the scientists. These triumphs of science have transformed human life altogether. The door is still open and people expect science to give them greater thrills and marvels in the future.
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