Lesson 4 Science and Technology and Nation Building

INTRODUCTION

When were Science and Technology known in the Philippines? Did our ancestors have their own
technologies? When did the Filipinos start learning about science?

The science and technology history in the Philippines started way back before the country gained its
independence from its colonizers. In history, these were the three eras of Science and Technology in the
Philippines. The Pre Spanish, Spanish, and American Era.

OBJECTIVES

After studying this module, you should be able to:

1. Identify the science and technology that the early inhabitants in the Philippines have;

2. Identify the contributions in Science and Technology of the Spaniards in the Philippines;

Title of the lesson: Development of Science and Technology in the Philippines

The science and technology history in the Philippines started way back before the country gained its
independence from our colonizers. The early inhabitants had their own culture, the practice of faith, and
indigenous science and technology.

Pre-Spanish Era

● Scientific knowledge is practiced in the way they plant their crops.

● They are taking care of animals to help them in their daily tasks of food production.

● Climate interpretation

● The concept of a month is composed of days. Technology

● building houses

● irrigations

● the instrument for planting, hunting, cooking, and fishing

● weapons as a defense for war

● the use of soil for planting purpose

● medicinal uses of plants

● Waterways transportation

● Land transportation Spanish Era During the Spanish Era, Spanish colonizers pushed their culture and
practices to the early Filipino people.
You can also notice some Filipino families, and even Filipino dishes have Spanish sounding names. Can
you name some of it?

Here is the list of developments of science and technology in the Philippines during the Spanish era:

● It was during the Spanish era; it started the formal learning in Science and Technology in the
Philippines.

● There were schools for boys and girls created.

● The Spaniards introduced the idea of subjects.

● Most of the school then focuses on understanding different concepts related to the: Human body,
Plants, Animals, and Heavenly bodies

● The Catholic Orders introduced formal colleges and universities through Medicine and advanced
science. ● Catholic Religion teachings.

● The trading system during the Spanish era has brought additional technology and development in the
Philippines. Ideas, crops, tools, cultural practices, and Technology.

● Some Filipino students who were able to study in Europe lead to the advancement of Medicine,
Engineering, Arts, Music, and literature.

American Era

The Americans have more influence in the development of Science and Technology in the Philippines
compared to the Spaniards.

Here are some of them:

 The Americans pioneered the discovery of minerals in the country.

After World War II

World War II, in spite of the physical destruction, it created an opportunity for progress in the field of
Science and Technology in the Philippines. The newly formed government then focused limited
resources for improving Science and Technology and used the fund from the Overseas Development
Allocations (ODA), an organization of different countries vowed to the less developed countries for
scientific productivity and technological capability. Producing more professions in Engineering,
Technology, Medicine, and others is the main goal in terms of human resources at that time. Think
About This #1 American era What are the observable influences of Americans to Science and Technology
in the Philippines?
DISCUSSION

Below is a list of Filipino Scientist and their contributions.

Clare R. Balthazar

Clare R. Baltazar is known for her works on insects. She made an impact on how to control insect pests.
Some of Baltazar's scientific contributions include eight species and one subgenus of the insect
Hymenoptera as well as new discoveries with Philippine parasitic wasps that have 108 named as new
species.

Filomena Campos

Born on March 30, 1930, Dr. Filomena Campos was well-known for her contribution to the Philippine
cotton research. Her research has led to the enhancement of a set of proficiency in cotton fabrication.
All of these she achieved in just three years. She is also involved in the research on Sunflowers as a
possible source of edible oil and livestock feed.

Luz Oliveros-Belardo

Filipino chemist and researcher Luz Oliveros-Belardo examined Philippine flora where essential oils can
be collected from. The uses such oils are for flavoring, fragrance, medicine, and energy sources. She was
able to collect 33 new essences from Philippine essential oils, including the study of its chemistry.

Eduardo A. Quisimbing

Eduardo A. Quisumbing specializes in plants and is one of the first researchers to study Philippine
medicinal plants and orchids. He wrote the book Medicinal Plants of the Philippines, which is considered
as one of the first books in this area of specialty. He has also written 129 scientific articles in this field.
He studied the characteristics of grains and proteins, and how these affect the quality of rice. He showed
that the amount of a substance called amylose determines the quality of rice grains in Asia. The less of
this the substance that rice has, the less sticky it will be.

Melecio S. Magno As a physicist, Melecio S. Magno has conducted studies in the Fluorescence
Spectroscopy of rare-earth crystals, as well as the effects of typhoons on the Earth’s atmospheric ozone
and Sky Luminosity.

Emil Q. Javier Emil Q. Javier is known for his practical solutions to agricultural problems because he
knows that many farmers have very limited resources.

Alfredo C. Santos

Alfredo C. Santos researched the chemical composition of the medicinal properties of Philippine plants.
His vision for poor Filipinos who cannot afford expensive drugs inspired him to conduct studies on local
materials for drug development.

Gregorio T. Velasquez
Gregorio T. Velasquez is a phycologist where he specializes in algae. He devoted 30 years of his life
studying algae called Myxophyceae. Velasquez was able to produce 47 basic and 77 valuable scientific
papers on the subject.

Gregorio Y. Zara

Noted for his contributions in engineering, Gregorio Y. Zara has invented the video phone, the alcohol-
fueled airplane, a solar energy absorber, an aircraft a propeller that is made up entirely of wood, the
wooden microscope, and a semi-automatic propeller-making Machine.

Ramon Barba

Famous Genius Ramon Barba specializes in mango propagation, where he developed a method that will
allow mangoes to produce harvests three times in a year. This has greatly benefited the mango
production industry of the Philippines.