Development
of Science, Technology & Music
The Middle
Ages - Discoveries, Science and Technology
1088
The first university is
founded in Bologna, Italy
,
by its students. Universities in Paris
and in Oxford, England,
will follow and help spreading the scientific idea.
It will take centuries before the
arts, including music, become part of the curriculum and research topics
in those universities.
1100
Chemists in China invent
gunpowder.
1455
Gutenberg begins the mass
print of the Bible, satisfying the needs of the middle class for
knowledge and education. This is not the first experiment in printing:
the Chinese printed as early as the 8th century, but this was the first
time a flexible, 
simple
printing method was created, allowing books to be printed in huge numbers.
Gutenberg's invention, of the bulge printing board, left the town where
he worked, Meinz, to the entire Western world,
and created the biggest flow of information in history, and in fact caused
most of the scientific and technological achievements that came later.
The invention of the printing board will allow unprecedented
distribution of musical pieces, and will encourage the tendency of making
musicians successful professionals, that are more than servants performing
their job, but artists who gain respect and are cherished all over the
civilized world.
1492
Christopher Columbus believes
he reached India, but in fact discovers
America.
He calls the local people "Indians", and his error stuck - this
remains the name of native Americans, but he discovers the new continent
that will offer, further on in history, the exciting challenges of democracy
and equality to the whole world (and yes, Hollywood and cable television
too...)
Jazz music from America will become
part of the world's culture and Rock music would not be created without
figures like Elvis Presley
and his followers. Latin music and South American
rhythms would influence many composers in the following centuries.
The Renaissance-
Science and Technology
1517
Martin Luther fights in
Germany
against the "indulgences" (buying the pardoning from God
for money) offered by the catholic clergy to believers, and clears the
way for a new Christian church, The Protestant
church - a competitor to the Church in Rome.
And so, as a result of Luther's "miserliness" (or shall we call
it economising?), the wealthiest and most successful religious group in
the history of mankind was born.
Protestantism's influence on music
is prominent. Most, in the shift from singing the service (the mass) in
Latin to the vernacular language.
1519
When Italian
Leonardo da Vinci died, history marked
him as one of the greatest minds of all time, a genius, and the epitome
of the term of "Renaissance Man". He was an excellent painter
(one of the great masters of the High Renaissance), an architect, sculptor,
engineer, and scientist. But Leonardo was also a
remarkable musician, improviser (mostly accompanying himself on a lute
of his own invention), and composer.
The Baroque -
Science and Technology
1609
The first newspaper in history
is published in the German
city of Strassburg (nowadays France).
It included no graphics or advertisements and would have been rather boring
to the modern reader. Nevertheless, it was the first newspaper to be published
in prefixed times and obligated its readers to provide information and
opinions on a current basis.
1610
Galileo argues that earth
and Jupiter are planets orbiting around the sun. The Christian Church
considers that a serious violation of faith, stating that the universe
orbits the earth and demands that he retracts. Galileo does so, fearing
the priesthood and its inquisition, but the legend says that a moment before
his death, he said "and yet, the earth moves...".
1656
Dutch astronomer Christian Huygens
invents the pendulum clock, assisting
the precise measurement of time for scientific and technological needs.
About 200 years later, Maelzel
will register a patent on the metronome operating
on the same principle, giving the player a steady pace.
1666
Newton discovers
earth's gravity, thus revealing to the world what every child knows
today - if you let go of an object, it will fall down (unless it's a balloon
filled with a gas lighter than air, such as helium).
1674
A Dutch linen merchant (sheets,
blankets and blanket covers), studies, in his spare time, the advantages
of sanding down lenses. He finds out that this brings the magnification
of objects looked upon through the lens. He develops the
first microscope that allowed him to see microbes, for the first
time in the history of mankind!
Unfortunately, the composer Jean-Baptiste
Lully
will not be able to benefit from this discovery, when 13 years later he
would die of an infection of his foot caused by microbes. It will take
years until the discovery of microbes allows protection to be effective
enough against such infections.
The Classic Era
- Science and Technology
1769
James Watt develops the
steam engine, igniting a technological revolution
that will change the world he knew. As a result of his invention, came
the Industrial Revolution that moved millions of people from the country
to