Réaumur: natural historian and pioneer of applied science

This article is published to mark the tercentenary of the birth of Réaumur. Today, his work is rather little appreciated but his contemporaries called him the Pliny of the eighteenth century, and in his breadth of knowledge and interest he has been likened to Francis Bacon. He is commonly remembered for his achievements in the systematic application of science to industry but he also did important biological work, particularly in entomology.     

The 2004 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Mechanical Engineering presented to Roger Bacon

The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA, awarded the 2004 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Mechanical Engineering to Roger Bacon for his fundamental research on the production of graphite whiskers and the determination of their microstructure and properties, for his pioneering development efforts in the production of the world's first continuously processed carbon fibers and the world's first high modulus and high-strength carbon fibers, and for his contributions to the development of carbon fibers from alternative starting materials.     

Predicting the past: ancient eclipses and Airy, Newcomb, and Huxley on the authority of science

Greek historical accounts of ancient eclipses were an important, if peculiar, focus of scientific attention in the nineteenth century. Victorian-era astronomers tried to correct the classical histories using scientific methods, then used those histories as data with which to calibrate their lunar theories, then rejected the histories as having any relevance at all. The specific dating of these eclipses--apparently a simple exercise in celestial mechanics--became bound up with tensions between scientific and humanistic approaches to the past as well as with wider social debates over the power and authority of science in general. The major figures discussed here, including G. B. Airy, Simon Newcomb, and T. H. Huxley, argued that the critical question was whether science could speak authoritatively about the past. To them, the ability of science to talk about the past indicated its power to talk about the future; it was also the fulcrum of fierce boundary disputes among science, history, and religion.     

玻恩与量子革命实践

作为20世纪量子革命的拓荒人和践行者,马克斯·玻恩不仅创建了孕育这场科学革命的哥廷根物理学派,而且以自己多项具体的卓越成就贡献于量子力学的创立和发展。然而,他诸多重要科学贡献却被同行们忽视了几近30年。本文在量子力学当代发展的角度,基于科学进步的内在逻辑,重新考察玻恩在量子力学创建和发展中的历史作用,探讨其科学贡献被忽视的科学社会学问题。这里,我们通过逻辑重构历史的方式探究科学发展历史的真实,以剖析典型个案的方式,有助于我们理解学术领袖及其个人品格在学说发展、学派形成等方面的作用。     

Sherlock Holmes: scientific detective

Sherlock Holmes was intended by his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, to be a 'scientific detective'. Conan Doyle criticized his predecessor Edgar Allan Poe for giving his creation - Inspector Dupin - only the 'illusion' of scientific method. Conan Doyle believed that he had succeeded where Poe had failed; thus, he has Watson remark that Holmes has 'brought detection as near an exact science as it will ever be brought into the world.' By examining Holmes' methods, it becomes clear that Conan Doyle modelled them on certain images of science that were popular in mid- to late-19th century Britain. Contrary to a common view, it is also evident that rather than being responsible for the invention of forensic science, the creation of Holmes was influenced by the early development of it.     

Alfred Russel Wallace's North American tour: transatlantic evolutionism

Evolutionary theory aroused vigorous debate in the late-19th century, regarding both its scientific status and its sociocultural implications. Alfred Russel Wallace's lecture tour of North America, during 1886-1887, affords a striking insight into his particular interpretation of evolution and reveals the depth of his conviction that science was inseparable from ethical and political realities. Wallace's views on matters scientific and cultural were as controversial and significant in North America as they were in Great Britain and Europe.     

对称、非对称和迷宫 从克里特文明到现代艺术与科学

古希腊术语"对称—非对称"与数学中"可公度性—不可公度性"的发现有关,它们对于西方数学与演绎科学的诞生有密切关系。这些观念很快也在美学中显示了重要性,那就是成比例的与不成比例的。"对称"的拉丁化术语由于维特鲁威的建筑比例理论得以存留于世。到了17世纪,它又获得了新的数学含义,包括镜像、旋转、平移以及更一般意义上的不变性。对称的现代观念在晶体学、立体化学和理论物理中也有特殊的重要性,它在美学中则用来表达比例、平衡、韵律等。本文也讨论了从古希腊到现代的各种迷宫。关于克里特迷宫的希腊神话有多种版本,本文强调一种可能的克里特本土的观点。在考古学中,本文突出的是多中心发展的可能性而不是简单的单中心扩散理论。作者还借助大量实例讨论迷宫的历史,从克里特岛上的建筑直到中国皇帝在北京的圆明园。最后又对迷宫的数学作了详细的介绍,指出这一题材对现代数学和计算机科学发展的贡献。总之,对称与迷宫对于在艺术与科学的不同领域建立多种多样的联系渠道大有裨益。     

希腊化数学和应用数学领域理性精神的发展

亚历山大里亚的学术活动与应用实践领域紧密结合在一起。这种希腊化特征具有促进应用实践技术领域理性意识的成长和理性推测领域的理论发明向观察一实验视界靠拢的双重意义。欧几里得思想体系对于从希腊古典时期的数学理性向近代以来科学理性的范式转换,在很大程度上起到中枢作用。托勒密对由柏拉图发起的以数学原理“拯救现象”的传统起到无可替代的中继环节作用。此外,应用数学的发展还与力学、光学等应用科学和营造技术等实践技术紧密联系在一起,从而达到了与近代科学革命相隔近千年之久的古代科学巅峰。     

浅谈阿拉伯时期的科学技术成就

中世纪,欧洲的封建社会处于愚昧和黑暗时期。随着封建制度的确立和巩固,基督教成为了西欧封建社会唯一的精神支柱,而随着西欧科学的衰落,科学逐渐为神学奴役。与此同时阿拉伯人却在吸收希腊古典和东方各国先进科学文化的过程中创造了灿烂的阿拉伯文化,创造了自己的科学文明,在阿拉伯经济的不断发展中,实用科学也得到了不断发展,为世界科学的继往开来起到了纽带作用,而且也在科学技术史上起到了承前启后、继往开来的作用,也为近代科学的产生提供了丰富的经验和理论基础,推动了世界科学文化的发展。本文主要就中世纪时期阿拉伯的科学文化成就的兴起发展以及对近代科学所产生的影响做简要的概述。     

Marcello Malpighi and the difficult birth of modern life sciences

All his life, Marcello Malpighi (1628–1694), the founder of modern microscopic anatomy, was unwillingly involved in difficult debates within a reactionary medical milieu that questioned the significance of modern science and its utility to medicine. Malpighi's responses to his detractors, included in posthumous works first published in 1697 by the Royal Society, offer an important insight into a critical phase of scientific progress in the 17th century and help to reveal the prevailing conception of science. In some ways, Malpighi's views predate important ideas in modern biology.     

"A bare outpost of learned European culture on the edge of the jungles of Java": Johan Maurits Mohr (1716-1775) and the emergence of instrumental and institutional science in Dutch colonial Indonesia

The transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769 appear to mark the starting point of instrumental science in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). This essay examines the conditions that triggered and constituted instrumental and institutional science on Indonesian soil in the late eighteenth century. In 1765 the Reverend J. M. Mohr, whose wife had received a large inheritance, undertook to build a fully equipped private observatory in Batavia (now Jakarta). There he made several major astronomical and meteorological observations. Mohr's initiative inspired other Europeans living on Java around 1770 to start a scientific movement. Because of the lack of governmental and other support, it was not until 1778 that this offspring of the Dutch-Indonesian Enlightenment became a reality. The Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen tried from the beginning to put into effect the program Mohr had outlined. The members even bought his instruments from his widow, intending to continue his measurements. For a number of reasons, however, this instrumental program was more than the society could support. Around 1790 instrumental science in the former Dutch East Indies came to a standstill, not to be resumed for several decades.     

Heroes for the past and present: a century of remembering Amundsen and Scott

In 1911-1912 Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott led rival parties in a race to the geographic South Pole. While both parties reached the Pole--Amundsen first--Scott's men died on the return journey. Amundsen became a Norwegian icon through his record-setting travels; Scott became a symbol of courage and devotion to science. The memory of each was invoked at various points during the twentieth century in the context of contemporary Antarctic events. Scott's status as a scientific figure was central to the Scott Polar Research Institute, while Amundsen's lack of scientific legacy became a way for British polar explorers to differentiate themselves from Norwegian contemporaries during the interwar years. After 1945 Scott and Amundsen were again invoked as exemplars of national polar achievement, even as the rise of large-scale science on the continent overshadowed past British and Norwegian achievements. In the present Amundsen and Scott remain wedded to particular values, focused respectively on national achievement and sacrifice in the name of science, while their race has become secondary.     

“领域—时间”视角下刘则渊科学学思想与贡献

刘则渊先生作为科学学领域极具影响力的杰出学者,多年来,他坚持致力于科学学理论、方法和应用研究,积极参与国家重大科技项目,在其中发挥了重要作用。刘则渊先生对中国科学学的发展与创新做出了巨大贡献,对科学学理论也有着独到而深刻见解,在技术哲学、科技伦理、科学计量学、创新管理等多个领域上做出了开创性成就。为了缅怀和纪念刘则渊先生,本文重点评述了他在科学学领域的杰出成就,总结了他及其团队在科学学领域的学术成果,并对其学术贡献进行梳理和归纳。从时间维度对刘则渊先生四十年来发表的代表性学术论文进行评析。根据学术论文主题,基于刘则渊先生各时期的研究方向,刻画了其科学学学术思想的演化变迁。希望科学学界能更多发展科学学理论,丰富研究方法,拓展科学学应用领域,为科学学事业谱写新的篇章。     

钱学森科学学思想的认识论意义

钱学森不仅是我国一位伟大的科学家,同时也是一位杰出的思想家。他的科学成就涉及很多领域,他的科学思想内容丰富,学术见解深刻新颖,是近一个世纪以来我国一位不可多得的科学天才。科学学思想是其博大思想体系的重要组成部分,其学术影响是深远的。钱学森是我国科学学学科建设的倡导者,其科学学思想在一定程度上丰富了认识的主体和客体,深化了认识的辩证过程,并进一步加深了人们对实践内涵的理解,具有较高的认识论意义。     

西方近代科学诞生和发展的文化因素

西方近代科学诞生于文艺复兴后的16世纪,发源地是意大利,奠基者是哥白尼、达·芬奇、培根、伽利略等人。西方近代科学的诞生及其在此后的迅猛发展有其文化方面的必然性,这些文化因素主要包括：古希腊深厚的自然哲学思想,文艺复兴运动中被弘扬的人文主义精神,西方哲学中的“主客二分”思想所导致的实验方法的诞生及其普遍运用,基督教鼓励信徒探索自然界奥秘的传统。     

普赖斯对科学计量学的贡献和影响——基于对《小科学,大科学》一书的知识可视化分析

2013年是普赖斯逝世30周年,也是其代表作《小科学,大科学》出版50周年。在过去的半个世纪里,普赖斯和《小科学,大科学》一书,深刻地影响了科学学的研究范式和脉络,尤其是催生了科学计量学这一领域的诞生和发展。本文利用科学计量学和知识可视化的方法,利用科学计量指标和科学知识图谱,分析了普赖斯的学术贡献和学术影响。结论表明,从影响的广度来看,普赖斯的著作影响着科学计量学、科学社会学、科学学,乃至经济学、心理学等诸多领域;从影响的深度来看,普赖斯在科学计量学领域各分支领域的发展中都起到了基础性的作用。     

明末清初东传科学与薛凤祚的天道观

薛凤祚的“天道有定数”有两层含义：一是天体规律具有客观性、普遍性和可知性,表征着自然界的客观性;二是人事吉凶本于天道一定之数,表征着天人贯通的性命观的神秘性。薛氏中西科学的会通模式显示,他的天道观中自然的客观性所占比重并不少于性命观的神秘性所占的比重。因而表明他的天道观是科学天道观和儒家天道观的复合,并且两者之间存在着既相互依赖又相互制约的关系。其中,性命观的神秘性对自然客观性的制约反映了他用儒家天道观协同科学天道观的目标,自然的客观性对性命观的神秘性的制约则反映了他用科学天道观赋予儒家天道观以理性活力的愿望。就其思想的基本倾向而言,他的天道观并未超越儒家天道观,但的确对客观的天体规律有所倚重。这都说明了东传科学对薛凤祚的儒家天道观产生了影响。     

从中国学习西方天文学朝鲜王朝后期西方天文学引入新论

耶稣会士所制《时宪历》被清朝用作官方历法后，朝鲜宫廷立即发起了掌握这一体系秘密的计划。此后一个多世纪中，朝鲜宫廷派遣了一系列官方使团到北京，向耶稣会士和清朝天文学家学习天文计算。之前的历史叙述把这一过程描绘成朝鲜对“西方”科学的引进。与此相反，本文将朝鲜后期引入西方天文学的事件重置于更恰当的历史背景，即中朝科学关系之中。首先，比起朝鲜人对新奇的西方科学纯智力上的兴趣，这一计划的产生，更多是由于李朝宫廷迫切需要同新的中国朝代保持一致的计时体系。第二，领导这个计划的官员们认为他们自己是在沿袭一个重要的历史先例，即15世纪早期世宗大王引入元朝《授时历》的计划。最后，为使由西方神父制作、“野蛮的”清王朝使用的历法体系合法化，朝鲜天文学家们赋予它一个新的文化身份；他们认为它并非完全源于西方，而是来自由徐光启和梅文鼎等中国士人发起的中西综合。更重要的是，因为《授时历》最初是由明朝主持制作的，可以看成是朝鲜王朝正确地采用了中国的高贵遗产——明朝灭亡后朝鲜是中国文化唯一合法的继承者。     

Families made by science. Arnold Gesell and the technologies of modern child adoption

This essay considers the effort to transform child adoption into a modern scientific enterprise during the first half of the twentieth century via a case study of Arnold Gesell (1880-1961), a Yale developmentalist well known for his studies of child growth and the applied technologies that emerged from them: normative scales promising to measure and predict development. Scientific adoption was a central aspiration for many human scientists, helping professionals, and state regulators. They aimed to reduce the numerous hazards presumed to be inherent in adopting children, especially infants, who were not one's "own." By importing insights and techniques drawn from the world of science into the practical world of family formation, scientific adoption stood for kinship by design. This case study explores one point of intersection between the history of science and the history of social welfare and social policy, simultaneously illustrating the cultural progress and power of scientific authority and the numerous obstacles to its practical realization.     

罗杰·亚当斯的化学风格

美国化学在20世纪20年代步入其发展的黄金时期,并在此后一直引领世界化学潮流。罗杰·亚当斯见证并亲历了美国化学乃至整个科学事业登上世界科学顶峰的历史进程,他在有机化学研究及研究生教育方面硕果累累,他和他的学生极大地促进了美国学院科学与工业研究的有机结合与共同繁荣,除此之外,他作为一位科学政治家所做的工作对于美国及德、日在二战后的科技政策都产生了深远的影响。从他的学术生涯,我们不但可以看到美国化学和化学工业携手并进的一张缩影,也可以看到这样一种独特的学术风格:这种化学风格立足于有机化学研究的学术前沿,但它始终牵动着美国化学工业的创新进程,恰与霍尔顿所言"杰斐逊式的研究纲领"相一致。