The Rise of Modern Science as a Fundamental Pre-Condition for the Industrial Revolution

Abstract

No viable account of the rise of the modern world in 19th century Europe can do without an account of the emergence of modern science in 17th century Europe. The indispensability of the latter event for the former has often been ignored, or denied, or maintained on needlessy shaky grounds. In this paper the author seeks to ground the historical conception of ‘no Industrial Revolution without a preceding Scientific Revolution’ in rigorous argument. It takes its starting point in the engine that James Watt was in due time to transform into the steam engine, namely, Thomas Newcomen’s fire engine. The author demonstrates that at the very heart of his machine Newcomen employed, and could not but employ, revolutionary knowledge of the void and of air pressure. He also shows how sophisticated knowledge of this novel, modern scientific type stood squarely athwart such more commonsensical notions as used to mark rival efforts, be it earlier in Europe or in China or elsewhere, to come to grips with the phenomena of nature. The Newcomen engine further serves to show how the 18th century provided something like an ‘incubation period’, in course of which mostly British artisans of a wholly novel type learned by trial and error to bridge the vast gap between the theoretical solution to some practical problem and a truly viable, truly practicable solution.