What innovations could a 21st century time traveler bring to the 10th century world

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Assume a run of the mill, reasonably smart (ie well read, college educated) but not brilliant person went back in time to the 10th century. This person wasn’t a genius, but had a grasp on most of the sciences that most of us civilians learn throughout our schooling years.

What all scientific revolutions could this civilian bring to the world of 1000 years ago just with their regular civilian education and their moderately above average intellect? Assume there was no language barrier, they wouldn’t be treated as a witch and their advice would be taken seriously.

Offhand I can think of

germ theory - the fact that microscopic life forms cause infectious disease. The fact that some antibiotics come from either bacteriophages or fungi, the idea that sanitation and quarintines helped stop the spread of disease, and an understanding of how weakened or dead versions of an infectious agent could cause immunity

Genetics - we have DNA that contains 3 billion base pairs code for amino acids which make proteins

nutrition - there are a variety of vitamins and minerals and deficiencies can cause alot of health problems (beri beri, pellagra, anemia, etc), what calories are, that food consists of fats, carbohydrates and proteins

A brief explanation of internal combustion engines

Atomic structure - the idea of a periodic table, the fact that atoms consist of protons, neutrons & electrons, the idea of an 8 shell valence electron, the idea of subatomic particles. They could explain how chemicals and molecules make up everything

The ideas of electricity, the big bang, how alloys are stronger than single metals, etc.

Remaking the map of the world to show most everything

I didn’t include that the earth revovles around the sun because i’m pretty sure people knew that in the 10th century, and the idea that they didn’t is a myth. I’m sure you could talk about other things we have in the 21st century, but I don’t know if a regular person could explain how they work well enough for it to actually matter (ie how to make a computer or a car or how to use modern metalurgy). I’m sure this person could start alot of other scientific revolutions but I am not sure in what areas they could do it. Maybe in cultural areas too with ideas of democracy or feminism, but who knows.

2

Information on hygeine and germs and completing the map would have the greatest immediate impact out of the things you listed. Most of the other things wouldn’t have immediate effect because there wouldn’t be technology in place to let them exploit the knowledge.

3

Germ theory, printing press and how to make a really good lathe to machine consistent sized parts. Then work on building a steam engine.

At that point start work on the Theory of Evolution monument and…

4

Scumpup is right, the immediate innovations (and by “immediate” I mean the ones that occur within the remaining lifespan of our time traveler friend) are those that are brought about using 10th century technology, hygiene and nutrition being foremost among those. Beyond that, the time traveler could and most certainly should lay the groundwork that science has today developed, and perhaps more importantly, the ideas of representative government assisting in the distribution of resources.

This depends on where our time traveler ended up. If he’s in Europe, you’re right. If he landed just about anywhere else, he’s not going to have much luck convincing them that the Sun is the center of the universe, much less just the solar system.

5

How to make soap, shampoo, running water and sewage systems… etc. Proper hygiene is the most important thing, I think.

After that? The printing press would be next on the list, probably.

6

You’re wrong. Though in medieval Europe, it was known that the earth wans’t flat, it was actually believed that it was at the center of the universe and that the sun revolved around it.

By the time of Galileo, this concept was well develloped and a theory called the “epicycles” allowed to explain in a relatively accurate (if unduly complicated) way the apparent movement of the celestial bodies. The model didn’t perfectly fit the observations, but neither did the Galilean system until it was discovered latter that the planet’s orbits were elliptic, not circular.

7

When this has come up before, I’ve recommended L. Sprague de Camp’s novel Lest Darkness Fall (Even though it’s set in the 400s). His hero tries unsuccessfully to introduce gunpowder and “telegraphy” (actually mechanical telegraphy, as was used until the early 19th century). He has greater success with double-entry bookkeeping, distilling of brandy, paper manufacture, and the printing press.

I’d recommend his ideas, and add Arabic numerals, gunpowder (just because Martin Padway could do it…), and optics. Claudius Ptolemy had discovered the law of refraction, although neither he nor his contemporariers pursued it, and they were already making glass. There was a market there first for correctuive eyeglasses, then, once you have factories set up for that, you could make telescopes, binoculars, and microscopes.

They had soap already.
You could re-introduce the mechanical engineering (especially with metals) that was starting to fall by this time.

Better plumbing – without lead as much as possible. And teach them how to properly meter the flow (even the Romans did it wrong)
The Stirrup
The Horsecollar

Engineering of water wheels, dams, and canals (and canal locks)
The Lateen sail.
The compass.

That’s probably more than enough for a lifetime.

8

First, we go for water purity. Make sure the runoff doesn’t mix with the intake, a little filtering and perhaps boiling.

Then basic hygiene, followed by first aid.

A few basics of agriculture to bring about better nutrition – crop rotation, basic fertilizer and some ways to reduce soil erosion.

The compass and sextant.

9

:smack: I’d completely forgotten about the stirrup. One of the most important and underrated inventions of our history. Definitely a must for our time traveler. I’m still thinking that social reforms might be better/easier for him/her to focus on than introducing every little technical idea ever.

10

True, I was thinking about the fact that knowledge that the earth was flat was not unknown back then, not the idea that the earth revolved around the sun.

11

The average college-educated person today has a lot of general knowledge but very little specific knowledge. I assume that a random person from our sample sent back to the 10th century could talk about genetics, atomic theory, magnetism, electricity, et cetera, with some degree of knowledge, but how could that be put to use in the era? Would a blacksmith hammer out a particle accelerator in his forge? This falls in line with Scumpup’s comment about needing a certain level of technology in place.

Most of the fiction I’ve read in this genre involves a person with some degree of engineering aptitude, such as Leo Frankowski’s Cross-Time Engineer series. Sure, you may know what a steam engine is, but can you sketch one out? I’d wager that only a few people here can.

I think the best knowledge that a random person could bring back with them is summed up in one phrase: don’t get involved in a land war in Asia. :wink:

12

Excellent point – the guy who started this concept, Mark Twain, had his hero being an engineer who could, self admittedly, make a lot of things with his hands. Ultimately, the book pokes fun at him as much as at the 5th century.

This is one reason that de Camp’s book is so good – His hero, Martin Padway, isn’t a brilliant engineer. He has to rediscover how to make paper. But he already knows that it exists, and that helps him eventually figure it out. Similarly, he can’t get gunpowder to work properly, although he doesn’t spend a lot of time on that.

I frequently ask myself what I could rebuild, given enough time and latitude. You ain’t gonna make light bulbs – not without a vacuum pump, which you’re not going to build with the state of mechanical engineering what it was then. But you could build a lot of the other things I list.

I know I could build a Hero-like steam engine. Given time, I could probably work out a more complex one. But I’m not sure i could ever get it built.

13

Aside from the other excellent suggestions already in place…

Mechanical Semaphore stations.
At one point, detailed messages could be sent hundreds of miles in minutes by mechanical semaphore. Excellent communications allows the effective administration of larger nations, and allows better defense of said nations. Reasonably large, stable nations will have more success in applying the other advances suggested. Once you reach a certain critical level of stability, the whole thing takes off on its own, whether or not you’re there to seed ideas or not.

Modern-style police forces.
Instituting effective police forces reduces resource-draining criminal activity, encourages growth of cities, and begins to cutting into corruption. If nothing else, this will increase the economy.

Universal literacy:
Not a technological advance per se, but an attitudinal one. An educated population will come up with their own bright ideas faster than you can seed your own, from the future.

14

The presmise of Frankowski’s series is that Conrad Stargard, a civil engineer from modern Poland, is sent back to Poland in 1231, ten years before the Mongol invasion. He attempts to develop Poland into enough of an industrial powerhouse to field an army strong enough and equipped enough to defeat the Mongol hordes. If you can get past the rampant sexism and misogyny, they’re pretty enjoyable books.

A good deal of the books detail his attempts to introduce technology and modern methods, and overcoming the difficulties inherent in the time. (For example, he bemoans not having something as simple as a screw available to him. And if only had a lathe, he could turn out screws by the thousands - but he needs a screw to make a lathe!)

Same here. Reading those books caused me to ask myself that same question, and ultimately it came down to “not much”.

Perhaps some of the most immediately-useful knowledge would be where untapped natural resources exist. For example, a modern person sent back to 1847 California could quietly start collecting land around Sutter’s Mill…

15

The Condom. Seriously, the impact would be huge. Of course this would also involve an introduction into latex technology. But the downfall to this would likely mean that none of us would have ever existed.

The Roman Catholics would have loved that!

16

I think it more likely that they would consider the individual a lunatic or a witch/warlock and either do the madhouse or the burn-at-the-stake thing.

I remember a story (maybe it was a radio show) about the guy who wound up in a country where everyone was just like him except without eyes. They had exquisite other senses and got along quite will without sight.

He felt sorry that they couldn’t see and started describing the wonders that would be available if only they could see. The natives thought he was nuts, confined him then gave him a complete physical. During the physical they discovered some “strange, protubrant areas on either side of his nose.” They theorized that those protubrances were tumors and were causing his madness.

It was an ironic twist on the aphorism “In the country of the blind, the one eyed man is king.”

17

I thought the stirrup was in use in Europe since about the 8th century. If so, it probably wouldn’t do much good re-introducing it in the 10th.

I think faster and better methods of communication would be one of the best inventions anyone could bring. A lot would change, that’s for sure. Just the influence in languages from the printing press would have been huge.

18

H.G. Wells, short story “The Country Of The Blind”.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, I also remember seeing a low-budget SF movie on TV. It was otherwise unremarkable, but I do remember one scene where our young protagonists are trying to explain to a smart Victorian guy how computers work. They are completely unequal to the challenge. They keep saying things like “Software is what you put on the computer to make it go.”

Myself, I wouldn’t worry about what ideas our time traveller could bring back; I worry about whether or not he’d be believed. He could preach hygenics until he got blue in the face, but why would anyone listen to him?

19

That was addressed in the OP - assume that there are no language barriers, that s/he’s not burned as a witch, and that the advice given is taken seriously. The interesting part about such historical fiction, though, is that most (all?) of it does not assume that the time traveler has such guaranteed benefits.

20

It seems to depend on who you talk to, and who you’re talking about. James Burke (Not the most trustworthy source, I’ll grant) claimed that there was indirect evidence of its use among the Normans in the form of the kite-shaped shields depicted on the Bayeau tapestry, which implied the use of lances, which implied the use of stirrups. But the Saxons had no such device. That was in 1066.

Only you couldn’t use rubber condoms, since latex was native to South America. IIRC, the earliest condoms were made of fine cloth (silk, linen), which obviously wouldn’t have been close to 100% effective. You could probably introduce condoms made of sheep intestines (actually, IIRC, sheep duodenums), if you could persuade people to actually use them.

**Ino ** – I’ve read Frankowski.

Tranquilis – I’ve mentioned mechanical semaphore stations. What’s interesting is that , in de Camp’s book, the locals really didn’t see the use of them, and they were effectively abandoned. In a similar way (although it’s not a time travel story) the Indians in M.M. Kaye’s The Far Pavilions didn’t see the need for the elaborate helioscope telegraph the hero uses. Helioscope telegraphs would be a pretty good idea, too, with naval semaphore-type shuttered systems for night time communication. Both of these would be helped immensely by your burgeoning telescope factories, if you set them up as i suggested in my first post.