### Prior to 1859 #### Early uses of petroleum #### [In the USA]? ##### [Salt Drilling]? ##### [Early Coal Oil]? ### 1859 to 1913 ### 1914 to 1941 ### 1941 to 1973 ### 1973 to 1998
The history of science and technology (HST) is a field of history which examines how humankind's understanding of the natural world has changed over the millenia, and how this understanding has allowed us to generate technologies which have often modified that world. Discoveries such as those of natural selection, the structure of gene?s and DNA, and within psychology have radically altered how we as humans see ourselves, often apparently conflicting with religious opinions. New technologies have allowed us visit other planets, travel faster than sound, and kill each other with greater efficiency. HST aims to understand how science and technology progress and how theories are formed by studying the lessons of the past, while simultaneously considering the socio-political and cultural mileau within which scientists and technologists work.