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Brief History of Natural Sciences for Nature-Inspired Computing in Engineering JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT ISSN 1392-3730 / eISSN 1822-3605 2016 Volume 22(3): 287–301 10.3846/13923730.2016.1157095 Invited Review BRIEF HISTORY OF NATURAL SCIENCES FOR NATURE-INSPIRED COMPUTING IN ENGINEERING Nazmul SIDDIQUEa, Hojjat ADELIb aSchool of Computing and Intelligent Systems, Ulster University, Northland Road, Londonderry BT48 7JL, NI, UK bDepartments of Biomedical Engineering, Biomedical Informatics, Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Neuroscience and Neurology, The Ohio State University, 470 Hitchcock Hall,2070 Neil Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA Received 14 Feb 2016; accepted 17 Feb 2016 Abstract. The goal of the authors is adroit integration of three mainstream disciplines of the natural sciences, physics, chemistry and biology to create novel problem solving paradigms. This paper presents a brief history of the develop- ment of the natural sciences and highlights some milestones which subsequently influenced many branches of science, engineering and computing as a prelude to nature-inspired computing which has captured the imagination of computing researchers in the past three decades. The idea is to summarize the massive body of knowledge in a single paper suc- cinctly. The paper is organised into three main sections: developments in physics, developments in chemistry, and de- velopments in biology. Examples of recently-proposed computing approaches inspired by the three branches of natural sciences are provided. Keywords: natural science, physics, laws of motion, law of gravity, theory of relativity, big-bang, space-time, light, sound, hydrology, chemistry, chemical reaction, gravitational wave, black hole, galaxy, biology, evolution theory. Introduction The very simple question and the most unresolved prob- Behind all of the changes, adaptation, evolution and lem hitherto in the history of science is the origin of life. the ultimate motion of all the bodies in the universe, it is There are many hypotheses on the origin of life. Many the dialectics of nature that put them, be it living or non- philosophers believed that the origin of life was a result living, in a process of development. In dialectics, phe- of a supernatural event. Many scientists believed that life nomena are characterised by their abilities to change. The arose spontaneously from non-living matter in short pe- changes are initiated by contradiction. The contradiction riods of time. is the sole basis of dialectics. Dialectics has been used by In a very similar fashion, the most popular belief, two thinkers, Aristotle and Hegel (Engels 1934). The dia- even among many brilliant philosophers, is that the uni- lectics for the present-day natural sciences was introduced verse was created by a supernatural event. The question of by German philosopher Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831). In- whether the universe had a beginning in time was posed by spired by Hegel, a popular natural philosophical move- philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) in 1781 (Kant ment in the early 19th century, the concept of dialectics of 1781). Much later in the history of science, Edwin Hub- nature was first applied by Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) ble made a landmark discovery in 1929 that the distant in 1870s as a method of explaining the evolutionary pro- galaxies are moving away (Hubble 1929). This discovery cesses occurring in the nature and as a tool for analysing changed our conventional belief and made us think that the science, the science of the historical development of the universe is expanding. The Russian physicist Alex- the human thought, the society, their inter-connection in ander Friedmann made the same prediction some years general and revealing the metaphysical conceptions in before in 1922 (Friedmann 1922; see Hawking 1998). natural sciences and complex relationship among them. Extrapolating the expansion of the universe backwards in The two events, the origin of life (i.e. origin of species) time using general theory of relativity yields an infinite and the origin of the universe (i.e. big-bang singularity), density and temperature at a finite time in the past. This is and their evolution over time are related in a metaphorical known as singularity theory or big-bang singularity. way are explained with the help of the dialectics of nature. Corresponding author: Nazmul Siddique E-mail: [email protected] 287 Copyright © 2016 Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) Press www.tandfonline.com/tcem 288 N. Siddique, H. Adeli. Brief history of natural sciences for nature-inspired computing in engineering The precise motions of the planets along with their 1991). Antiquity had enlightened the human knowledge moons in their destined orbits, the innumerable suns and and civilisation with Euclidean geometry, Archimedes’ solar systems bounded by outermost stellar rings of the lever and hydrostatic principles, and Apollonius’ con- Milky Way, motion of the stars and galaxies, supernova ics and Ptolemaic solar system. The 12th century Persian phenomena, creation of new stars, gravitational collapse mathematician, astronomer, and geographer, al-Khwariz- of stars, black holes in the deep space of the universe, the mi (Latinized as Algoritmi) introduced the decimal point interplay of gravitational, magnetic and electrical forces number system and first systematic solution of linear and are among many examples of the nature that evolved over quadratic equations and is considered the original inven- billions of years. Today’s natural sciences owe much to tor of algebra. The word algorithm originates from his Copernicus who on his death bed in essence emancipated Latin name, Algoritmi. the natural sciences from ecclesiastical superstition in the In Europe, the most fundamental natural science, the 16th century. Since then the natural sciences made giant mechanics of terrestrial and heavenly bodies was devel- strides in the fields of mathematics, mechanics, astron- oped in the 15th century. The basic features of many fun- omy and dynamics. Much of the advancements owe to damental mathematical methods were developed in the Kepler and Galileo followed by Newton. 16th and 17th century such as logarithms by John Napier Phlogiston theory in chemistry dominated the 18th (1550–1617) (Hobson 1914; see Napier 1969), analyti- century. Antoine Laurent Lavoisier freed chemistry from cal geometry by Rene Descartes (1596–1650) (Forbes alchemy by discovering the law of conservation of mass 1777; see Descartes 1954), differential and integral calcu- that states that the mass can neither be created nor be de- lus by Pierre de Fermat1 (1601–1665) (Anderson 1983), stroyed. It changes from one form to another. John Dalton Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) (Cohen 1971; see New- introduced atomic theory in chemistry and postulated that ton 1972) and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz (1646–1716) atoms are regrouped to form different substances during (Child 1920; see Leibnitz 1975). The eighteenth century chemical reactions. That was the beginning of modern Europe saw a number mathematical prodigies like Le- chemistry. onhard Euler (1707–1783) with significant contribution Biology arrived at the second half of the 18th cen- to the development of mathematics (Grattan-Guinness tury through collection of vast botanical and zoological 1971), Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736–1813) with tremen- samples, naming and classifying them mainly owing to dous contribution to development of analytical mechan- Carl Linnaeus. Scientists conducted the essential inves- ics, calculus of variations and celestial mechanics (Fraser tigation and comparison of various forms of life, geo- 1983; see Lagrange 1901), Pierre Simon Laplace (1749– graphical distribution and condition of existence. It took 1827) contributed to celestial mechanics (see Laplace the scientists another century investigating the species by 1966), Adrien-Marie Legendre (1752–1833) contributed putting them one after another and analysing the histor- to geometry, differential equation, theories of functions ic development that led Charles Darwin to conclude his and numbers (Boyer 1991) and Jean Baptiste Joseph evolution theory of the origin of species in the 19th cen- Fourier (1768–1830) contributed to mathematical phys- tury. He established that all species of life have evolved ics (Grattan-Guinness 1972; Jourdian 1912). over time from common ancestors of simple organisms Nicholas Copernicus (1473–1543) accomplished toward higher complexity. the first consistent theory of the heliocentric solar system This paper presents a brief history of the develop- placing the Sun in the centre (Hallyn 1993). Johannes Ke- ment of the natural sciences and highlights some mile- pler’s (1571–1630) described the laws of planetary mo- stones, which subsequently influenced many branches tions without reference to governing forces (Brasch 1931; of science, engineering and computing as a prelude to Hallyn 1993). Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), well-known nature-inspired computing which has captured the imagi- for his observations, introduced the concepts of modern nation of computing researchers in the past three decades. dynamics (Drake 1973; see Galilei 1960) and Isaac New- The final goal of the authors is adroit integration of three ton formulated the general laws of motion and the relation mainstream disciplines of the natural sciences, physics, between the forces acting on a body and the motion of the chemistry and biology, to create novel problem solving body. Galileo also made major progress in understand-
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