The bestselling core book traces the relationship between science and technology from the dawn of civilization to the early twenty-first century. The authors argue that technology as "applied science" emerged relatively recently, as industry and governments began funding scientific research that would lead directly to new or improved technologies.
McClellan and Dorn identify two great scientific traditions: the useful sciences, which societies patronized from time immemorial, and the exploration of questions about nature itself, which the ancient Greeks originated. They examine scientific traditions that took root in China, India, and Central & South America, as well as in a series of Near Eastern empires in late antiquity and the Middle Ages. From this comparative perspective, the authors survey the rise of the West, the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century, the Industrial Revolution, and the modern marriage of science and technology. In the process they raise provocative questions about the sustainability of industrial civilization.
The core book was written as an introduction for general readers and students to provide the "big picture" that an educated person might wish to have of the history of science and technology. A bit of math and astronomy might be helpful in a few places, but the SDG requires no technical background as a prerequisite.
