The reason for science is to provide us with a clearer picture about everything within our world and the Universe. The world in which we live is perceive them/our sourroundings/the world through our five senses. Science uses the observations generated by our senses to give us a greater understanding of our world. All scientific tools can be reduced to extensions of our five senses. Microscopes help us see what our eyes unaided cannot see. Telescopes help us see farther, even towards the beginning of the Universe. Thermal probes can measure temperatures of liquid nitrogen which would be dangerous to touch. While these are only a few examples of how scientific tools are extensions of our five senses, but the most important tool is still the perceiver.

The discoveries of each discipline in science can and will be used to aid the further discoveries in other disciplines. For example, DNA fingerprinting will be used in the court systems, but its findings can help medical science in the detection of disease. Computers will make the mapping of human DNA possible, and the Internet and email will allow for the rapid research and sharing of these discoveries.

In other words, none of what’s in store for the future would be possible without the scientific advancements of the past 30 years.

1969-Man on the Moon

"Houston, Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed." Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. In the space race, America launches the Saturn V rocket which launches the Apollo 11 and the first lunar landing of Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin.

The Rocket Park at the Hall of Science will soon undergo a major renovation.

1971-At Your Fingertips

Personal computing owes its start to the first microprocessor. Intel introduces the first microprocessor with a 4-bit bus, 108-Khz 4004 chip. The first microprocessor is able to process 60,000 operations per second on a chip that measures 3x4 mm. Intel then announces the first microcomputer, a MCS-4 system which uses the 4004 microprocessor.

1974-We Love Lucy

Lucy, a 3.2 million-year old human ancestor, is found and nicknamed after the Beatles’ song, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." The discovery of Lucy, an early human ancestor that walked on two legs, shatters the assumption that big brains developed before walking upright. According to this theory, "big brains" used tools and to free up their hands, early ancestors walked upright. Lucy walked upright and had "modern hands" (capable of using tools though she didn’t) with a small brain.

1976-Move over, Lindbergh

The Concorde is the first and only supersonic passenger aircraft. It has a cruising speed of 1,336 mph at 55,000 ft. The Concorde holds the world record for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic from New York to London in 2 hours, 54 minutes and 45 seconds. The Concorde’s Rolls Royce/SNECMA Olympus 593 engines have afterburners which provide an immense surge of energy for take off and accelerate through the sound barrier.

1977-Smallpox Eradicated

Smallpox was a threat in 90 countries before its eradication. Plans were put forward in 1966 by the international community to end this disease in 10 years. The smallpox vaccine is finally administered with needles that are easier to clean and safer to use. Countries start to announce their last cases. The last naturally occurring case is reported in 1977. The 33rd World Health Assembly officially accepts the eradication of smallpox from the planet.

1977-Greetings, Earthlings

The Voyager 2 sends greetings in every language from a 12-inch copper phonograph record in Outer Space. The record is inscribed with images of a man and a woman, DNA and Earth’s location in the Solar System. The spacecraft is powered by the decay of plutonium pellets.

1978-Little Baby Test-tube

Louise Brown of England, the very first test-tube baby, is born. Dr. Edwards and Dr. Steptoe successfully conduct this fertility procedure via In Vitro Fertilization Pre-Embryo Transfer (IVF-ET), a process in which eggs are removed from the ovaries. When the eggs are ready for fertilization, sperm is introduced. The eggs develop in vitro or in a nutrient- rich petri dish (coined publicly: test tube) into pre-embryos. The pre-embryo is then implanted in the uterus at the time that it would have descended naturally from the fallopian tubes.

1980-Jurassic Park

On a geology expedition in Italy, Luis Alvarez and his son Walter find unusually high levels of iridium, a rare element on Earth, in a band of sedimentary rock. Iridium is an element rare on Earth, but common to meteorites and asteroids. The rock is dated at 65 million years old, the time at which dinosaurs became extinct. The iridium is found to extend in a very even widespread distribution. Alvarez sees this as a result of a giant asteroid hitting the Earth, sending smoke, dust and iridium into the atmosphere. The smokescreen blocked the Sun, decreasing the Earth’s temperature. Plants were killed killing off the plant-eating dinosaurs, which killed off the meat-eating dinosaurs. Roots and seeds and decaying plant life fed the mammals that soon inherited the Earth.

Early 1980s-As the Nanoworld Turns

Physicists at IBM Research in Zurich invent the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM). For the very first time, it is possible to have images of matter at the atomic scale. This discovery opens up the Nanoworld and the beginning of exploration into Nanotechnology, or technology built at the molecular level.