The first invention in the new and middle centuries. Scientists of the Middle Ages and their discoveries: facts and videos. Features and characteristics of Medieval science
Mechanical watches
Even in ancient times, people created various instruments for measuring time. For example, water clocks, which became the predecessors of mechanical clocks. Many people mention different designs of water clocks. medieval chronicles. But the technical thought of the masters did not stand still. Mechanical wheel clocks appeared.
Tower wheel clocks were first mentioned at the turn of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The mechanism was driven by the energy of the descending load. At first, the weight on a hemp rope wound on a smooth wooden shaft was made of stone, then it was made of metal. The gravity force of the weight unwinds the rope and rotates the shaft. A large gear wheel was mounted on the shaft, meshed with smaller gear wheels of the transmission unit. So the rotation of the shaft transmitted movement to the clock mechanism. And since the load, falling freely, moves with acceleration, the clock did not show the exact time. And then the idea of a regulator appeared. In the first mechanisms, the regulator was a rocker - a bilyanets. The oscillation of the billet was provided by a device called a descent, or distributor. Later, a pendulum was used as a regulator.
Compass
The compass was invented by the ancient Chinese, as everyone already knows. These were quite primitive devices. But in the eleventh century, a floating needle appeared in the compass, made of an artificial magnet and shaped like a fish. In a vessel with water, the fish's head pointed to the south. In the same century, the Chinese Shen Gua came up with the following: if an ordinary sewing needle is magnetized with a natural magnet and attached with wax to a hanging silk thread in the center of the body, the compass will work more accurately than a floating one, since it experiences less resistance when moving.
Floating compasses were borrowed from the Chinese by the Arabs in the twelfth century, and by Europeans in the thirteenth century. In the nineteenth century, they began to place a magnetic needle mounted on a tip on a paper circle (card). The Italian inventor Flavio Giulio divided the card into twelve parts (points of reference) - four for all cardinal directions. Even later, the circle began to be divided into 32 sectors. He continued to improve. Needless to say, the compass revolutionized sailing and navigation.
Powder
Gunpowder was also invented by the Chinese. The main component of gunpowder is saltpeter. In China, it occurred naturally as a white snow-like substance in alkaline-rich soil. In the sixth century, Tao-Hung-ching, a Chinese physician, first described the properties of saltpeter, which began to be used as an ingredient in some medicines. In the twelfth century, the alchemist Sun Si-miao added sulfur and locus tree powder to saltpeter during an experiment. After heating the mixture, he received a strong flash of flame. He described this experiment in his work “Dan Jing”. This was the first example of gunpowder that did not yet have sufficient explosive effect to be used as a weapon. Later, other alchemists improved the composition of gunpowder and established that it should have three main components: sulfur, coal and potassium nitrate.
Blast furnace
The demand for iron began to increase. Low-melting ores, which were used in cheese-blowing furnaces, were replaced by refractory ores. And for such ores other furnaces were needed. In the thirteenth century, a new smelting furnace was invented - the stukofen. This invention was the first step towards the blast furnace. They were first built in Styria, rich in iron, then in the Czech Republic and other industrial areas. In the stukofens, the melting temperature of the ore was higher, and the smelting proceeded more slowly, more evenly and more completely. Smelters received all three products of production: pig iron, malleable iron and steel. Blauofen - blower furnaces - were the next step in this direction. Later, the Blauofen evolved into a blast furnace. Cast iron was obtained there, and iron was obtained from secondary smelting of cast iron. This method was called two-stage.
Other inventions
Medieval inventions include the caravel, which became a symbol of the era of geographical discoveries, and printing, which provided a broad path to the development of science and culture.
Sailors in the 11th century, because This device was used until the 14th century only on ships to keep track of time. The clock complemented the magnetic compass and helped in navigating the ship. But the only sources talking about this are magazines. And only in 1328 an hourglass materialized on the canvases of Ambrosio Lorenzetti. Since the 15th century, this device has gained great popularity and began to be used literally everywhere on land. This was the first accurate time meter. There were even special people on the ships who were responsible for turning over the clocks in a timely manner.
Blast furnace - XII century
The Middle Ages are the real age of iron. Knightly armor, weapons, household tools - a lot began to be made from metal. Low-melting ores no longer met the requirements of medieval civilization. They were replaced by refractory metals. And they needed completely different ovens. Demand creates supply. And then there was a shtofen - a prototype of a blast furnace. The first were built in Stria and the Czech Republic. The temperature in them was higher, melting proceeded more slowly and. The output was three types of metal - cast iron, steel, malleable iron. The next step was the blauofen - a blower furnace, which was later improved to a blast furnace.
Glasses - XIII century
Eyeglasses, without which it is impossible to imagine modern civilization, were invented in the middle of the century. The earliest documented mention of them dates back to 1268 and belongs to Roger Bacon. The first, in which a man with glasses appears, is a work by the Italian monk Tommaso da Modena from 1352, depicting Hugh of Provens copying manuscripts. The man is wearing round glasses.
Mechanical watches (XIII century)
Presumably, mechanical clocks were invented at the monastery to accurately determine the time of the service, to which the monastery bell called all the monks. The first mechanical clocks were huge and were placed in a tower. They only had an hour hand. The oldest, surviving to this day, are in Salisbury Cathedral (UK). They were created in 1386. The Rouen clock of 1389 still has a well-functioning mechanism and works.
Quarantine - XIV century
In the 14th century, as maritime trade increased, plague epidemics also increased. The realization that this terrible disease was being imported by ships from the Levant led to the introduction of precautionary measures in Venice, which were called quarantine from the Italian word "quaranta" - forty. Arriving ships were isolated for a period of 40 days, during which it could be determined whether the disease was present on the ship or not. The choice of exactly 40 days was determined by the choice of the Gospel parable about the forty-day solitude of Christ in the desert.
In 1423, the first quarantine station, the lazaretto, was opened on an island near Venice. This excluded the transfer of the disease and its spread in the city. Other European countries have also adopted the quarantine system.
Guttenberg's printing press - 15th century
Paper and printing are a Chinese invention. But Europeans in the 15th century figured out how to create books quickly by inventing mechanical printing. The first mention of such a mechanism refers to trial in Strasbourg, which took place in 1439. The invention of the printing press is attributed, according to some sources, to Johannes Gutenberg, according to others, more meager, to Lawrence Janson Coster. The printing press was designed based on the paper press. This mechanism could print up to 250 pages per hour.
1. Development of practical knowledge. Astrology and alchemy flourished in the Middle Ages. Astrologers claimed that the future could be determined by the stars. Kings, generals and travelers consulted them. Alchemists were busy searching for the “philosopher’s stone”, with which they could turn any metal into gold. Observations and experiments of astrologers and alchemists contributed to the accumulation of knowledge in astronomy and chemistry. Alchemists, for example, discovered and improved methods for producing metal alloys, paints, medicinal substances, and created many chemical instruments and devices for conducting experiments. Astrologers studied the location of stars and luminaries, their movement and the laws of physics.
She accumulated useful knowledge and medicine. Hospitals were first created by bishops and monasteries, and then by city councils. Hospitals (hospitals) not only treated the sick and delivered babies, but also provided shelter for pilgrims and beggars. Gentlemen and townspeople could invite a paid, trained doctor to visit them. Wounds and fractures were often treated not by doctors, but by barbers (hairdressers), who also pulled out teeth. To make a diagnosis, doctors measured the patient's pulse and looked at the color of his tongue and urine. It had already become clear that it was necessary to observe the rules of personal hygiene, and doctors advised washing and brushing your teeth in the morning, not overusing hot baths, not indulging in gluttony, physical exercise and take walks in nature.
2. Improvement of the water engine. In the XIV-XV centuries, water mills began to be actively used in mining and crafts. The water wheel has long been the basis of mills, which were built on rivers and lakes to grind grain.
But later they invented a more powerful wheel, which was driven by the force of water falling on it. The river was blocked by a dam and narrow channels - gutters - were diverted from it. The water rushed into the gutter and fell from above onto the wheel blades, accelerating its rotation. When processing metal, such a wheel was used to set in motion a hammer weighing up to one ton. The energy of the mill was also used in cloth making, for washing (“enrichment”) and smelting metal ores, lifting weights, etc. The mill and mechanical watches were the first mechanisms of the Middle Ages.
3. New in metallurgy and metal processing. The emergence of firearms. Previously, metal was melted in small forges, forcing air into them with hand-held bellows. Since the 14th century, they began to build blast furnaces - smelting furnaces up to 3-4 m in height. The water wheel was connected to large bellows, which forcefully blew air into the furnace. Thanks to this, a very high temperature was reached in the blast furnace: the iron ore melted, and liquid cast iron was formed. Various products were cast from cast iron, and iron and steel were obtained by melting it down. Much more metal was now smelted than before.
For smelting metal in blast furnaces, they began to use not only charcoal, but also coal, if there were deposits of it nearby. Metal, wood or glass were processed on special machines: lathes, grinders, screw-cutters. Many turning and metalworking tools were used, which made it possible to achieve great precision in the manufacture of a product (for example, a ball or lenses).
A lot of cast iron and iron were needed to produce firearms: heavy cannons for besieging fortresses and light guns for field battles.
The proliferation of cannons marked the beginning of a revolution in military affairs. Knightly armor ceased to be a reliable defense, and castle walls lost their inaccessibility.
4. Development of navigation and shipbuilding. For a long time, few Europeans dared to embark on long voyages on the open sea. Without correct maps and marine instruments, ships sailed “coastally” (along the coast) along the seas surrounding Europe and along North Africa.
Going out to the open sea became safer after sailors had a compass. Astrolabes were invented - devices for determining the location of a ship.
In the 15th century appeared fast easy sailing ship - caravel (“boat with a sail”), mobile and roomy. It had three masts with straight and oblique sails and could move in the desired direction not only with a tailwind, but also with a side and even headwind. It was possible to go on long sea voyages on caravels. In 1492, the Genoese navigator Christofbre Columbus, who was in the service of the Spanish kings, reached the shores of America in the area Caribbean Sea. Since he aspired to a rich India, he decided that new land and there is India, and called the local inhabitants “Indians”. Columbus's discovery became known throughout Europe. But later it turned out that this was how the New World was opened to Europeans - America, separated by an ocean from the Old World already known to Europeans - Europe, Africa and Asia.
The discovery of America by Europeans was of world historical significance. It marked the beginning in the coming centuries of new Great geographical discoveries, the comprehension and exploration of the entire globe by Europeans. This marked the beginning of world history and one of the important milestones of the end of the Middle Ages.
5. The invention of printing. With the development of the state and cities, science and navigation, the volume of knowledge increased and, at the same time, the need for educated people, for the expansion of education and for books, including textbooks.
At first, the monks were busy copying books. Many book copying workshops and even entire libraries arose in cities. There were now libraries not only in cathedrals and monasteries, but also in universities (where textbooks could be borrowed at home), kings and rich people.
In the 14th century, cheaper writing material - paper - began to be produced in Europe, but there were still not enough books. To reproduce the text, impressions were made from a wooden or copper board with letters carved on it, but this method was very imperfect and required a lot of labor.
In the mid-15th century, the German Johann Guttenberg (c. 1399-1468) invented printing. After long and persistent work and searches, he began to cast individual characters (letters) from metal; From these, the inventor composed lines and pages of type, from which he made an impression on paper. Using a collapsible font, you could type as many pages of any text as you wanted. Gutenberg also invented the printing press.
In 1456, Gutenberg published the first printed book, the Bible, which was artistically equal to the best handwritten books. Since then, printing began to spread rapidly in Europe. Until the end of the 15th century, 40 thousand books were published, totaling up to 20 million copies. The library shelves were filled with books on various branches of knowledge in all European languages. There were more books, and they were no longer as expensive as handwritten ones.
The invention of printing is one of the greatest discoveries in human history. It contributed to the development of education, science and literature. Thanks to the printed book, the knowledge accumulated by people, all the necessary information, began to spread faster. They were more fully preserved and passed on to subsequent generations of People. Successes in the dissemination of information, an important part of the development of culture and all sectors of society, took their next important step in the late Middle Ages - a step towards the New Age.
Related information.
Over the past few centuries, we have made countless discoveries that have helped to significantly improve the quality of our Everyday life and understand how the world around us works. Assessing the full importance of these discoveries is very difficult, if not almost impossible. But one thing is for sure - some of them literally changed our lives once and for all. From penicillin and the screw pump to x-rays and electricity, here is a list of 25 of mankind's greatest discoveries and inventions.
25. Penicillin
If Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming had not discovered penicillin, the first antibiotic, in 1928, we would still be dying from diseases such as stomach ulcers, abscesses, streptococcal infections, scarlet fever, leptospirosis, Lyme disease and many others.
24. Mechanical watch
Photo: pixabay
There are conflicting theories about what the first mechanical watch actually looked like, but most often researchers adhere to the version that they were created in 723 AD by the Chinese monk and mathematician Ai Xing (I-Hsing). It was this seminal invention that allowed us to measure time.
23. Copernican heliocentrism
Photo: WP/wikimedia
In 1543, almost on his deathbed, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus unveiled his landmark theory. According to the works of Copernicus, it became known that the Sun is our planetary system, and all its planets revolve around our star, each in its own orbit. Until 1543, astronomers believed that the Earth was the center of the Universe.
22. Blood circulation
Photo: Bryan Brandenburg
One of the most important discoveries in medicine was the discovery of the circulatory system, which was announced in 1628 by the English physician William Harvey. He became the first person to describe the entire circulatory system and properties of the blood that the heart pumps throughout our body from the brain to the tips of the fingers.
21. Screw pump
Photo: David Hawgood / geographic.org.uk
One of the most famous ancient Greek scientists, Archimedes, is considered the author of one of the world's first water pumps. His device was a rotating corkscrew that pushed water up a pipe. This invention took irrigation systems to the next level and is still used in many wastewater treatment plants today.
20. Gravity
Photo: wikimedia
Everyone knows this story - Isaac Newton, the famous English mathematician and physicist, discovered gravity after an apple fell on his head in 1664. Thanks to this event, we learned for the first time why objects fall down and why planets revolve around the Sun.
19. Pasteurization
Photo: wikimedia
Pasteurization was discovered in the 1860s by French scientist Louis Pasteur. It is a heat treatment process during which pathogenic microorganisms are destroyed in certain foods and drinks (wine, milk, beer). This discovery had a significant impact on public health and the development of the food industry around the world.
18. Steam engine
Photo: pixabay
Everyone knows that modern civilization was forged in factories built during the Industrial Revolution, and that it all happened using steam engines. The steam engine was created a long time ago, but over the last century it has been significantly improved by three British inventors: Thomas Savery, Thomas Newcomen and the most famous of them, James Watt.
17. Air conditioning
Photo: Ildar Sagdejev / wikimedia
Primitive climate control systems have existed since ancient times, but they changed significantly when the first modern electric air conditioner was introduced in 1902. It was invented by a young engineer named Willis Carrier, a native of Buffalo, New York.
16. Electricity
Photo: pixabay
The fateful discovery of electricity is attributed to the English scientist Michael Faraday. Among his key discoveries, it is worth noting the principles of electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis. Faraday's experiments also led to the creation of the first generator, which became the forerunner of the huge generators that today produce the electricity we are familiar with in everyday life.
15. DNA
Photo: pixabay
Many believe that it was the American biologist James Watson and the English physicist Francis Crick who discovered it in the 1950s, but in fact this macromolecule was first identified in the late 1860s by the Swiss chemist Friedrich Maischer Miescher). Then, several decades after Maischer's discovery, other scientists conducted a series of studies that finally helped us clarify how an organism passes its genes to the next generation and how the work of its cells is coordinated.
14. Anesthesia
Photo: Wikimedia
Simple forms of anesthesia, such as opium, mandrake and alcohol, have been used by people for a long time, and the first mention of them dates back to 70 AD. But pain management moved to a new level in 1847, when American surgeon Henry Bigelow first introduced ether and chloroform into his practice, making extremely painful invasive procedures much more tolerable.
13. Theory of relativity
Photo: Wikimedia
Comprising two related theories of Albert Einstein, special and general relativity, the theory of relativity, published in 1905, transformed all of 20th century theoretical physics and astronomy and eclipsed Newton's 200-year-old theory of mechanics. Einstein's theory of relativity has become the basis for much of the scientific work of our time.
12. X-rays
Photo: Nevit Dilmen / wikimedia
German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen accidentally discovered X-rays in 1895 when he observed fluorescence produced by a cathode ray tube. For this pivotal discovery, the scientist was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1901, the first of its kind in the physical sciences.
11. Telegraph
Photo: wikipedia
Since 1753, many researchers have experimented with establishing long-distance communication using electricity, but a significant breakthrough did not come until several decades later, when Joseph Henry and Edward Davy invented the electrical relay in 1835. Using this device they created the first telegraph 2 years later.
10. Periodic table of chemical elements
Photo: sandbh/wikimedia
In 1869, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev noticed that if chemical elements are ordered by their atomic mass, they tend to form groups with similar properties. Based on this information, he created the first periodic table, one of the greatest discoveries in chemistry, which was later called the periodic table in his honor.
9. Infrared rays
Photo: AIRS/flickr
Infrared radiation was discovered by British astronomer William Herschel in 1800 when he studied the heating effect of different colors of light by using a prism to separate the light into a spectrum and measuring the changes with thermometers. Today, infrared radiation is used in many areas of our lives, including meteorology, heating systems, astronomy, tracking heat-intensive objects and many other areas.
8. Nuclear magnetic resonance
Photo: Mj-bird / wikimedia
Today, nuclear magnetic resonance is continually used as an extremely accurate and effective diagnostic tool in the medical field. This phenomenon was first described and calculated by American physicist Isidor Rabi in 1938 while observing molecular beams. In 1944, for this discovery, the American scientist was awarded Nobel Prize in physics.
7. Moldboard plow
Photo: wikimedia
Invented in the 18th century, the moldboard plow was the first plow that not only dug up the soil, but also stirred it, making it possible to cultivate even very stubborn and rocky soil for agricultural purposes. Without this weapon Agriculture, as we know it today, would not have existed in northern Europe or central America.
6. Camera obscura
Photo: wikimedia
The forerunner of modern cameras and video cameras was the camera obscura (translated as dark room), which was an optical device used by artists to create quick sketches while traveling outside their studios. A hole in one of the walls of the device served to create an inverted image of what was happening outside the chamber. The picture was displayed on the screen (on the wall of the dark box opposite the hole). These principles have been known for centuries, but in 1568 the Venetian Daniel Barbaro modified the camera obscura by adding converging lenses.
5. Paper
Photo: pixabay
The first examples of modern paper are often considered to be papyrus and amate, which were used by ancient Mediterranean peoples and pre-Columbian Americans. But it would not be entirely correct to consider them real paper. References to the first production of writing paper date back to China during the reign of the Eastern Han Empire (25-220 AD). The first paper is mentioned in chronicles dedicated to the activities of the judicial dignitary Cai Lun.
4. Teflon
Photo: pixabay
The material that keeps your pan from burning was actually invented completely by accident by American chemist Roy Plunkett when he was looking for a replacement refrigerant to make household life safer. During one of his experiments, the scientist discovered a strange, slippery resin, which later became better known as Teflon.
3. Theory of evolution and natural selection
Photo: wikimedia
Inspired by his observations during his second voyage of exploration in 1831-1836, Charles Darwin began writing his famous theory of evolution and natural selection, which, according to scientists around the world, became a key description of the mechanism of development of all life on Earth
2. Liquid crystals
Photo: William Hook / flickr
If the Austrian botanist and physiologist Friedrich Reinitzer had not discovered liquid crystals while testing the physicochemical properties of various cholesterol derivatives in 1888, today you would not know what LCD televisions or flat-panel LCD monitors are.
1. Polio vaccine
Photo: GDC Global / flickr
On March 26, 1953, American medical researcher Jonas Salk announced that he had successfully tested a vaccine against polio, a virus that causes a severe chronic disease. In 1952, an epidemic of the disease diagnosed 58,000 people in the United States and claimed 3,000 innocent lives. This spurred Salk on a quest for salvation, and now the civilized world is safe at least from this disaster.
The inventions of the Middle Ages are an important technical and scientific breakthrough in the development of the human race. It was in the Middle Ages (5th-15th centuries) that many scientific discoveries without which it is impossible to imagine modernity.
Mills
7th – 15th century
The first practical windmills were built in or before the 9th century in the region spanning eastern Iran and western Afghanistan. They are described in a manuscript by Estakhri, a Persian geographer of the period, as having horizontal sails in the shape of the blades of a modern helicopter, directly connected by a vertical shaft to turning millstones. Sometimes the date of the first windmill is given as 644 AD. or earlier because a 9th century document states that the man who killed Caliph Omar in the mosque in Medina was a Persian builder windmills. But the first mention of this two centuries after the event makes it unlikely.
Windmills are first mentioned as a medieval invention in Europe in the 12th century. There is a mention of one archive in France in 1180, and a few years later of another in England. Because it's time crusades, it is likely that the idea was brought from the Middle East.
Powder
Around 1040, a document called the Compendium of Military Technology was released in China. This is the first surviving reference to a medieval invention that describes gunpowder. This black powder is formed by a mixture of saltpeter, charcoal and sulfur. This dangerous compound was developed in small chemical laboratories attached to Taoist temples, where research was carried out mainly on the secret of eternal life.
At this early stage in China, the military use of gunpowder was limited to grenades and bombs launched at the enemy from catapults. Its real destructive power will appear only when the volume where the mixture is located is limited - in the development of artillery and when it is invented.
Compass
At some point before the year 1100, it is discovered that the magnet, if allowed to move freely, will turn so that one end points north. Free movement is difficult to achieve because the natural source of magnetism is a heavy mineral (magnetite or lodestone). But a thin iron needle can become magnetized when it comes into contact with a stone, and such a needle is light enough to attach to a sliver of wood and float on water. It will then move to a position that identifies north - providing invaluable information to sailors in cloudy weather.
There has been much debate about where the compass was first invented. The earliest mention of such a device is in a Chinese manuscript from the late 11th century. Over the next 150 years, such medieval inventions are also found in Arabic and European texts. This is too short a period of time to prove Chinese priority, given the random nature of the surviving references.
The decisive fact is that this tool is available to make it possible great era maritime exploration that begins in the 15th century - although no one yet understands why the magnet points north.
Tower clock in China
After six years of work, a Buddhist monk named Su Song completes the construction of a large tower, 9 meters high, which is intended to show the movement of the stars and the hours of the day. The movement is carried out from the water wheel occupying the lower part of the tower. Su Song developed a device that stops the water wheel, except for a short period, once every quarter of an hour, when the weight of the water (accumulated in the vessels on the rim) is sufficient to disable the mechanism. The wheel, moving forward, drives the tower machine to the next fixed point in a continuous cycle.
This device is the concept of a necessary mechanical clock mechanism. In any form of machine-based clock, the power must be precisely adjusted. The true birth of the medieval invention of the mechanical clock mechanism awaits a reliable version developed in Europe in the 13th century.
Meanwhile, Su Song's tower clock, ready for inspection by the emperor in 1094, is destroyed shortly thereafter by marauding barbarians from the north.
Glasses
During the 13th century, it was discovered that a crystal with a curved surface could help older people read. Mounted in a holder, such a lens is simply a small magnifying glass. The scientific philosopher Roger Bacon refers to the use of a lens in a 1268 text. The lens was used as the first and was machined from a piece of quartz.
Soon (probably in Florence during the 1280s) the idea of placing two lenses in a frame that could be placed in front of the eyes developed. This is a natural next step in the look of modern glasses. Spectacles attached centrally to the nose appear quite often in 15th century paintings.
As the demand increases, glass is being replaced by quartz as a lens material. The craft of a lens sharpener remains one of the greatest arts and importance.
Early glasses all use convex lenses to correct long vision (difficulty seeing things that are close). By the 16th century, concave lenses were discovered to compensate for myopia (difficulty seeing distant objects).
Watches in Europe
Europe at the end of the Middle Ages was busy trying to determine time. The main goal is to reflect the astronomical movement of celestial bodies in the more mundane task of measuring time. An astronomy textbook written by an Englishman in 1271 says that watchmakers are trying to make a wheel that will make one full revolution every day, but their work is not perfect.
What prevents them from even starting to improve their work is the lack of a pendulum. But the practical version of this medieval invention dates back only a few years later. The working pendulum was invented around 1275. The process allows the gear to jump one tooth at a time. The speed of their oscillations is controlled by a pendulum.
Artillery
The most significant development in the history of warfare is the use of gunpowder to propel rockets. There has been much debate about where the first experiments are carried out. Unconvincing and sometimes misinterpreted references from early documents appear to give different priority to the Chinese, Indians, Arabs and Turks. Most often it is believed that this is .
It is likely that this issue cannot be resolved. The earliest conclusive evidence of artillery is a drawing of a crude form of cannon in a manuscript dated 1327 (now in Christ Church Library, Oxford). There is a mention of a cannon installed on a ship in 1336. The problem facing early artillery makers was how to build a tube strong enough to withstand the explosion that would fire a rocket from one end (in other words, how to make a gun rather than a bomb). If you're lucky, a round stone (or later a ball of cast iron) will rush from the open end of the pipe as the gunpowder behind it ignites.
The painstaking loading and firing of such weapons limits their effective use either inside a castle protecting an entrance or outside protecting heavy objects against walls. The deciding factor is the size of the rocket, not its speed. A breakthrough in this regard, at the end of the 14th century, is the discovery of how to cast gun barrels from molten iron.
Guns, over the next two centuries, became increasingly larger. There are several impressive surviving examples. Mons Meg, dating from the 15th century and now housed in Edinburgh Castle, could hurl an iron ball with a diameter of 50 centimeters 2 kilometers.
This invention requires 16 oxen and 200 men to guide it into the firing position. A stone weighing up to 250 kilograms can be brought down on large city walls.
The rate of fire is seven stones per day.
That same year, at Castillon in France, medieval inventors demonstrate yet another potential for cannon power—light artillery on the battlefield.
Portable guns
Portable cannons are developed shortly after the first cannons. When first mentioned, in the 1360s, such a cannon resembled a large gun. A leg-length metal tube is attached to the end of a man-length pole.
The gunner must apply a flaming coal or hot stone to the hole in the charged barrel, and then somehow get far enough away from the explosion. There's clearly not much scope for quick aiming here. Most of these weapons were probably used by two warriors and ignited by one of them.
Clarifications follow surprisingly quickly. During the 15th century, the barrel of such weapons lengthened, facilitating more accurate aiming. A device has been developed in the form of a curved metal lever that holds a luminous match and plunges it into the barrel when the trigger is pulled. This becomes the standard musket form until the arrival of the flintlock in the 17th century
Type of typing in Korea
At the beginning of the 13th century, more than 200 years before the invention of Gutenberg's printing in Europe, the Koreans established a foundry for casting bronze. Unlike earlier Chinese experiments with ceramics, bronze is durable enough to be reprinted, dismantled, and retyped.
Using this technology, the Koreans created the world's earliest known book printed from typed text in 1377. Known as Jikji, this is a collection of Buddhist texts compiled as a guide for students. Only the second of two published volumes has survived (currently held by the National Library of France). In the first book printed by typography, not only the date of printing is revealed, but even the names of the priests who helped in compiling the font.
Koreans use Chinese characters at this time, so they have the problem of the unwieldy number of characters. They solve this problem in 1443 by inventing their own national alphabet, known as Hangul. By one of history's strange coincidences, this is precisely the decade in which Gutenberg experiments with the movable printing press, far away in Europe, which has enjoyed the benefit of the alphabet for more than 2,000 years.
The first keyboard musical instrument
A manuscript from 1397 reports that a certain Hermann Poll invented the clavicembal or harpsichord. At the same time, he adapted the keyboard (long familiar in the organ) to play the strings. Whether or not Poll is its actual inventor, the harpsichord quickly becomes successful and widespread musical instrument. This medieval invention marks the beginning of a tradition that will eventually make keyboard music a part of everyday life.
But the harpsichord has one limitation. No matter how hard or soft the player hits the key, the note sounds the same. To play softly or loudly, further development was necessary and hence the piano was born.