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Invention today is tied to industrial methods and production. An
invention does not come into common use, and thereby encourage
further invention, until it has been mass-produced and fitted with
standardized, interchangeable parts. Only by being made in large

quantities and by being widely distributed is it actually tested through
use. This wide use produces further improvements and changes, which
may in themselves become new inventions.

A distinguishing feature of 20th century research is the fact that it
represents systematized invention: it is largely devoted to technological
research, discovery, and innovation. In order to accomplish this, many
persons are brought together from a wide array of disciplines to form the

research team, each member contributing his own specialized
knowledge. At the same time, modern research embodies a new
methodology based on the systematic application of science to

technology. Thus the long line of inventions that started in the
prehistoric past appears to be continuing.

8. HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY

Technology refers to the ways in which people use discoveries to
satisfy needs and desires and to alter the environment to improve their

lives. From the very beginning of human life on earth, people have had
to work to obtain food, clothing, and shelter. Throughout human history,
men and women have invented tools, machines, materials, and

techniques to make their work easier. They also discovered power
sources such as water power and electricity to increase their work rate.
Technology, therefore, involves the use of tools, machines,
techniques, and sources of power to make work easier and more

productive. It is the human activity that changes the material world to
satisfy human needs. As such, technology comprises the vast body of
knowledge and devices by which humans have progressively mastered

their natural environment over the centuries.
Of course, when we speak of technology today we are looking at it
in a much narrower sense. Generally, we are referring to industrial

technology, or the technology that began about 200 years ago with the
development of power-driven machines, growth of the factory system,
and mass production of goods and that created the basis for our modem

society. Today we often say that we live in an age of technology

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