19th Century Science

In the 19th Century Advances were made in many Sciences. Genetics: Gregor Mendel discovers Gene Theory Medicine Edward Jenner uses Cowpox to prevent Smallpox inventing inoculation Louis Pasteur explains inoculation using germ theory…That microbes like bacteria don’t appear but reproduce, causing illness.

Anesthesia was first used to have “painless” dentistry and surgery Medicine (continued) Anesthesia was first used to have “painless” dentistry and surgery Joseph Lister applies germ theory to reduce deaths in the hospital by sterilizing instrument and cleaning in general! Physics: Dalton introduces the Atomic Theory Roentgen discovers X-rays

Physics (continued) Marie and Pierre Curie discover radioactive substances…Radium, and show that radiation is energy (1898) Max Planck Theorizes that energy come in units called quanta (1900) Albert Einstein challenges our ideas about space, mass, energy motion and time with his “Theory of Relativity” (1905)

Social Science Psychology applies the Scientific Method to human thought and behavior (Ivan Pavlov and Sigmund Freud) Sociology attempts to find the scientific laws that explain Human Social Behavior

Evolution Evolution: Charles Darwin proposes the “Law of Natural Selection” that states the “survival of the fittest” made all creatures (including man) the way they are through “Evolution”

Social Darwinism vs. the Noble Savage Some people applied Darwin’s concepts to Human Society This resulted in “Social Darwinism” that justified the elimination or mistreatment of people or their ways (the Indians, the poor) as “natural” and good for the advancement of Human Kind Reaction: The Idea of the “Noble Savage” …that civilization has ruined mankind (remember Rousseau, Tacitus etc.)