Industrial Scientists require outstanding observational, quantitative and analytical skills. The ability to work well with others and strong written and verbal communication skills are also essential to a successful Industrial Scientist's career. Creative thinking and problem solving skills help Industrial Scientists to make the breakthroughs needed to create advancements in their field.
SCIENTIST, INDUSTRIAL R&D
Job description
The purpose of scientific research is to gather information and generate knowledge using both theoretical and experimental means. This work is often divided into pure research (often referred to as basic research, where as yet there is no intended application) and applied research and development, which has a set purpose.
Industrial research and development (R&D) bridges the gap between science and business and starts with applied research directed toward solving some general problem. Development then improves the technologies or processes of applied research into immediately usable products. Most development is done by private industry and is generally oriented toward manufacturing. Nearly everything consumers use, from antibiotics to zoom lenses, is a product of applied research and development.
Important areas of research and development in the physical, engineering and life sciences fields include biotechnology, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical, chemical and materials science, electronics, aerospace and automotive.
Work activities
Discovering new materials
Designing and creating new devices with useful properties
Creating new vehicles and systems that are more efficient, powerful and reliable
Developing more efficient passenger aircraft
Understanding and using the fundamental processes of cellular life to develop more effective consumer products and industrial processes
Planning, designing and conducting experiments to investigate and analyze scientific phenomena
Extrapolating data to develop theories which aim to explain these phenomena
Keeping up to date by reading specialist literature
Managing a research team.
Unit IV
TECHNOLOGY
Text A
TECHNOLOGY
I. Read the text and find answers to the following questions:
1. How is technology defined?
2. What did the use of technology begin with?
3. What technological developments allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale?
4. What are the negative effects of technology in the modern world?
Technology (from Greek techne, art, skill, cunning of hand; and -logia) is the collection of tools, including machinery, modifications, arrangements and procedures used by humans. Engineering is the discipline that seeks to study and design new technologies. Technologies significantly affect human as well as other animal species ability to control and adapt to their natural environments. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include construction technology, medical technology and information technology.
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The human species use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistoric discovery of how to control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.
Technology has affected society in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more advanced economies (including todays global economy) and has allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of Earths environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of traditional norms.
Philosophical debates have arisen over the present and future use of technology in society, with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it. Neo-Luddism, anarcho-primitivism, and similar movements criticise the spread of technology in the modern world, because it harms the environment and alienates people; proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and techno-progressivism view continued technological progress as beneficial to society and the human condition.
Text B
DEFINITION AND USAGE OF THE TERM TECHNOLOGY
I. Read the text and find answers to the following questions:
1. When did the term technologyrise to prominence?
2. What did the term technology refer to by the 1930s?
3. How did the American sociologist Read Bain define technology?
4. What are the modern definitions of the term technology?
The invention of the printing press made it possible for scientists and politicians to communicate their ideas with ease, leading to the Age of Enlightenment; an example of technology as a cultural force. The use of the term technology has changed significantly over the last 200 years. Before the 20th century, the term was uncommon in English, and usually referred to the description or study of the useful arts. The term technology rose to prominence in the 20th century in connection with the Second Industrial Revolution. The terms meanings changed in the early 20th century when American social scientists, beginning with Thorstein Veblen, translated ideas from the German concept of Technik into technology. In German and other European languages, a distinction exists between technik and technologie that is absent in English, which usually translates both terms as technology. By the 1930s, technology referred not only to the study of the industrial arts but to the industrial arts themselves.
In 1937, the American sociologist Read Bain wrote that technology includes all tools, machines, weapons, instruments, housing, clothing, communicating and transporting devices and the skills by which we produce and use them. Bains definition remains common among scholars today, especially social scientists. But equally prominent is the definition of technology as applied science, especially among scientists and engineers.
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Dictionaries and scholars have offered a variety of definitions. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary offers a definition of the term: the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area and a capability given by the practical application of knowledge. The term is often used to imply a specific field of technology, or to refer to high technology or just consumer electronics, rather than technology as a whole. Technology can be most broadly defined as the entities, both material and immaterial, created by the application of mental and physical effort in order to achieve some value. In this usage, technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems. It is a far-reaching term that may include simple tools, such as a crowbar or wooden spoon, or more complex machines, such as a space station or particle accelerator. Tools and machines need not be material; virtual technology, such as computer software and business methods, fall under this definition of technology.
The word technology can also be used to refer to a collection of techniques. In this context, it is the current state of humanitys knowledge of how to combine resources to produce desired products, to solve problems, fulfill needs, or satisfy wants; it includes technical methods, skills, processes, techniques, tools and raw materials.
Technology can be viewed as an activity that forms or changes culture.. Additionally, technology is the application of math, science, and the arts for the benefit of life as it is known. A modern example is the rise of communication technology, which has lessened barriers to human interaction and, as a result, has given rise to new subcultures; the rise of cyberculture has, at its basis, the development of the Internet and the computer. Not all technology enhances culture in a creative way; technology can also help facilitate political oppression and war via tools such as guns.
Text C
