The Foundation And The Fundamental Pillar Of World Technological Civilization And Economic Development

ABSTRACT

The Stone Age, The Gold Age, The Silver Age, The Bronze Age, The Iron Age, etc. Some of these periods in history lasted centuries but in recent times both the rate of major materials breakthroughs and their improvements are increasing ever faster. Materials are constituents of the earth and the earth is materials. In Genesis 2:1, it reads: “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth”. So the earth was either created simultaneously with the heaven or it was created second, sequentially. And in Psalm 24:1, it reads: The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof”---. The fullness of the earth, are the materials, (plus water and air) that God had put therein from the beginning for mankind to Public Lecture Series Volume 17. 25th October, 2007 process and use for their needs. It is not, therefore, by accident, that materials have constituted the greatest physical gifts of God, in addition to air and water that the Lord God has given to man kind to cope with life and sustain their existence (on earth) in the world. In the Book of Exodus, Chapters 31-39, the Lord Himself commanded Moses to use gold, brass, silver, stones and wood all materials, for the wares and part of construction and decoration for the Great Tabernacles. God also commissioned Be-zal eel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah and filled him with His Spirit in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in casting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship (Exodus 31:1-5). Lastly in Rev. 21:18-23, the beauty and the construction of New Jerusalem was described in various assorted materials. It is therefore correct to say that materials have both spiritual and physical connotations, dimensions and/or perspectives. Hence any nation that can study materials scientifically, process them technologically and apply them to use, are blessed with technological and economic prosperity. All things in life that one can see, handle/touch and use are all Public Lecture Series Volume 17. 25th October, 2007 made of materials derived/extracted from the earth: cars, air planes, computers, refrigerators, televisions, microwave ovens, dishes, silverwares, athletic equipment of all types, medical and biomedical devices such as replacement joints and limbs, all machines and machineries, industrial plants and all manners of very highly sophisticated analytical instrumentations and equipment just to mention a few, are all made of materials as we shall see subsequently in this lecture. Without materials and their uses, the world will not know any civilization and one can imagine how things would have been by now. With regard to the above, one can now ask, `what are materials'?(MSE). The answer is simple. Just look around. What do you see? Materials are everywhere! Nearly all that you see are either materials or made of materials. The clothes we wear are made from a variety of materials. Our home is made of materials and so also where we are now. Everything inside this building is made of materials. By definition material is something that consists of matter. It is the substance of which a thing is made or composed. It is the constituent element of a thing. It is anything that serves as crude or original matter to be used or Public Lecture Series Volume 17. 25th October, 2007 developed.