THE ADVANCEMENT

OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
DURING THE
RENAISSANCE
STS Lesson 1
Finals
Learning
Outcomes:
◦ The students will be able to:
1. Describe the development of Science and
Technology during Renaissance period;
2. Explicate and recognize the significance of the
technology invented during the Renaissance period;
3. Recognize and appreciate the works of the different
proponents of the Renaissance period/
Introduction
◦ The Renaissance was centered in Italy during the 1300s,
before spreading throughout Europe in the 1500 and 1600s.
Great advances occurred in arts, astronomy, chemistry,
physics, mathematics, manufacturing, anatomy and
engineering.
Science and Technology
Development
Michaelangelo Buonarroti
◦ Michelangelo Buonarroti was a painter, sculptor, architect and poet
widely considered one of the most brilliant artists of the Italian
Renaissance. Michelangelo was an apprentice to a painter before
studying in the sculpture gardens of the powerful Medici family. 
◦ Famous works: Pieta, David’s statute and ceiling paintings of
Rome’s Sistine Chapel.
Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel Pieta David’s Statue
Science and Technology Development
Printing Press
◦ The printing press is one of the most important inventions of all time. Its development would
destroy the hegemonic control of information in Europe and change the course of history forever. 
◦ The quick, cheap and easy distribution of information would ultimately lead to the Protestant
Reformation (more on this later), the Renaissance, the Scientific Enlightenment, and Industrial
Revolution. 
◦ Despite the progress of printing press development in China, it didn't catch on as quickly as it did
in Europe. This is thought to be a consequence of the complexities of Asian writing systems when
compared to the more concise, alphabetical script used in Western languages. 
◦ It should be noted that relatively primitive forms of the printing press did exist in Europe in
the late 14th and early 15th Centuries. These were ostensibly the same as Chinese woodblock
printing, known as xylography, and were used in much the same way as those techniques used
for The Diamond Sutra. 
Science and Technology Development
Printing Press
◦ Around the late 1430s, a German man named Johann Gutenberg was quite desperate to find a way
to make money. At the time, there was a trend in attaching small mirrors to one’s hat or clothes in
order to soak up healing powers when visiting holy places or icons. The mirrors themselves were
not significant, but Gutenberg quietly noted how lucrative it was to create mass amounts of a cheap
product. During the 1300s to 1400s, people had developed a very basic form of printing. It involved
letters or images cut on blocks of wood. The block would be dipped in ink and then stamped onto
paper. Gutenberg already had previous experience working at a mint, and he realized that if he
could use cut blocks within a machine, he could make the printing process a lot faster. Even better,
he would be able to reproduce texts in great numbers
Science and Technology
Development
Newspaper: an offspring of the printing press
from which the press derives its name. The 16 th
century sees a rising demand for up-to-date
information which cannot be covered effectively
by the circulating hand-written newssheets. For
gaining time from the slow copying process,
Johann Carolus of Strasbourg, a German
publisher, is the first to publish his German-
language Relation by using a printing press
(1605).
Science and Technology
Development
Alchemy
◦ Alchemy is the study of the transmutation of materials through
obscure processes. It is sometimes described as an early form of
Chemistry.
◦ Paracelsus was an alchemist and physician of the Renaissance.
He added a third element– salt, to make trinity of alchemical
elements.

Paracelsus Alchemy
Science and Technology
Development
Astronomy
◦ Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish astronomer known as the father of
modern astronomy. He was the first modern European scientist to propose
that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun, or the Heliocentric
Theory of the universe. Prior to the publication of his major astronomical
work, “Six Books Concerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs,” in
1543, European astronomers argued that Earth lay at the center of the
universe, the view also held by most ancient philosophers and biblical
writers. In addition to correctly postulating the order of the known planets,
including Earth, from the sun, and estimating their orbital periods
relatively accurately, Copernicus argued that Earth turned daily on its axis
and that gradual shifts of this axis accounted for the changing seasons.
◦ A comparison of his work with the Almagest shows that Copernicus was
in many ways a Renaissance scientist rather than a revolutionary.
 Science and Technology
Development
Medicine
◦ With the Renaissance came an increase in experimental investigation, principally in the field of
dissection and body examination, thus advancing our knowledge of human anatomy.
◦ The development of modern neurology began in the 16 th century with Andreas Vesalius (1514-
1564), who described the anatomy of the brain and other organs; In 1543, he published one of
the most famous publications in natural philosophy, his anatomical book De fabrica (On the
fabric of the Human Body). It was arguably the most important anatomical texts of the century,
at once criticizing the work of the ancients, principally Galen, offering new illustrations based
on first-hand observation and fresh dissections.
◦ Also, few effective drugs existed, beyond opium and quinine.
◦ William Harvey provided a refined and complete description of the circulatory system. The
most useful tomes of medicine, used by both students and expert physicians, were materiae
medicae and pharmacopeiae.
◦ Otto Brunfels (1530-1536) published Portraits of Living Plants, a botanical work that employed
freshly drawn illustrations from living plants, undermining the practice of copying drawings
from existing accounts.
 Otto Brunfels William Harvey
Andreas Vesalius
 Renaissance Man
◦ Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was a painter, architect,
inventor, and student of all things scientific. His natural
genius crossed so many disciplines that he epitomized the
term “Renaissance man.” Today he remains best known for
his art, including two paintings that remain among the world’s
most famous and admired, Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.
Art, da Vinci believed, was indisputably connected with
science and nature.
Science and Technology
Development
Some important Renaissance technologies include both innovations and
improvements on existing techniques such as:
 Mining and Metallurgy: blast furnace, finery forge, slitting mill, arquebus and
musket
 Firearms, and the nautical compass: these inventions allowed modern people to
communicate, exercise power, and finally travel at distances unimaginable in
earlier times.
 Parachute: Veranzio’s 1595 parachute design titled “Flying Man”
Veranzio’s
Flying Man
 Mariner’s astrolabe: The earliest recorded uses of the astrolabe for navigational
purposes.
 Dry dock: main purpose of a Dry Dock is to expose the underwater parts for
inspection, repair and maintenance. The ship to be repaired is hence maneuvered
into the lock and the gates are sealed post which all the sea water accumulated in
the vessel is drained for better inspection and repairs.
 Air-gun: an air gun equipped with powerful spiral ring
References:
◦ https://interestingengineering.com/the-invention-and-history-of-the-printing-press
◦ https://www.history.com/news/printing-press-renaissance
◦ https://www.psprint.com/resources/printing-press/
◦ https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/nicolaus-copernicus
◦ https://www.shmgroup.com/blog/dry-dock-history-types-advantages-and-innovation/
◦ https://time.graphics/period/560245
◦ https://www.history.com/topics/renaissance/leonardo-da-vinci