Reflection on the history of physics 1 The history of physics is the history of human understanding of various physical phenomena in nature. It studies the laws of the occurrence and development of physics, and clarifies the dialectical process of the basic concepts, laws and theoretical systems of physics. It is a treasure house of knowledge wealth, which not only shows the cause and effect of the formation of physics theory, but also profoundly reveals the research methods of physics; It is also a treasure house of spiritual wealth. The development of physics has greatly changed people's view of nature and world, and sublimated people's understanding of man and nature, man and society. At the same time, the personality charm displayed by physicists in the process of pursuing truth, as well as the noble character of dedicating themselves to science despite difficulties and obstacles, have also added infinite example power to future generations. Physics not only greatly promotes its own development with its knowledge, methods and ideas, but also profoundly affects the process of human civilization in a wider field and becomes a part of human culture.
Studying the history of physics is to understand the way physics has gone, which will help us to understand physics more deeply and apply and develop physics more effectively. In the past, many people always said "take history as a mirror", but we think that studying the history of physics is far from meeting the requirements of the times, and we should develop and innovate on the basis of "taking history as a mirror". The history of physics and natural science tells us that some inventions in history are not simple repetitions of previous research contents, but often the reappearance of previous research methods and thinking characteristics, and they are spiraling up.
It is the basic requirement of the overall development view of quality education and the inevitable choice to implement the "three-dimensional goal" of the new curriculum standard to properly introduce the education of physics history in physics teaching, so that students can learn more about the course of scientific development and get inspiration and lessons from past experience, so as to realize the scientific method, enhance humanistic quality and cultivate innovative consciousness.
Below, the role of the history of physics is briefly described from several aspects:
First, the perception of scientific methods.
The history of physics is the history of physics methodology. In the process of development, physics not only produced valuable theoretical achievements, but also left a method of physics research worth pondering for future generations. The history of the development of physics proves that every major breakthrough in scientific theory is often accompanied by the birth of new scientific methods, which in turn promote the development of physics.
Mechanics is the earliest branch of physics, and mechanical motion is the most intuitive, simple and easy to observe, so it is also the earliest form of motion studied in mechanics. However, compared with other departments of physics, the study of mechanics has gone through a longer process. From the ancient Greek era, this process lasted for almost two thousand years. A very important reason for such a long time is that human beings lack experience and correct scientific research methods, and it is difficult to draw correct scientific conclusions. Aristotle is one of the few encyclopedic philosophers in ancient Greek human history. He tried to explain nature by observing nature and using metaphysical philosophical thinking methods, which laid the foundation for the germination of physical thought. However, due to historical limitations, Aristotle's study of nature only stayed at the level of "observation" and "thinking", which led to the mistake that "force is the reason to maintain the movement of objects, and heavy objects fall fast and light objects fall slowly" and so on.
However, Galileo did not just stay in logical thinking, but continued to do inclined plane experiments. He found that the falling body is getting faster and faster, which is a uniform acceleration movement, and the acceleration has nothing to do with the weight; He also found that the steeper the slope, the greater the acceleration, the gentler the slope and the smaller the acceleration. In the limit case, the slope is vertical, which is equivalent to free fall, and the acceleration of different objects is the same. When the inclined plane is completely horizontal, the acceleration is zero. At this time, a moving object should always move along a straight line. The inclined plane experiment shows that the maintenance of object motion does not need external force, but the change of object motion. Galileo finally used the "ideal experiment" to push from the inclined plane to free fall and horizontal motion.
Galileo's thinking mode of combining logical reasoning with experimental verification has found a correct scientific method for future generations to study physics. Since then, "a profound science has emerged", and physics has been separated from philosophy and developed rapidly. Throughout the development history of physics for more than 300 years, we can see that experiments have played an irreplaceable role in testing known theories and exploring unknown laws. As early as 1687, Newton had formally put forward the law of gravitation in his book Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, but it was not until 1798, more than a hundred years later, that the British scientist Calvin Dish measured the constant of gravitation with a sophisticated experimental device, and the law of gravitation was fully presented to the world. Maxwell studied the electromagnetic wave theory for ten years, and summed it up beautifully and symmetrically with a set of concise mathematical equations, but it was unconvincing at that time. It was not until more than twenty years later that the electromagnetic wave he predicted was confirmed by Hertz's experiments that his theory became the recognized theoretical basis of electromagnetism. 1905, Einstein summed up the long-standing debate between the theory of light particles and the theory of wave with the photoelectron hypothesis, which can well explain the experimental results of photoelectric effect. But it was not until 19 16 that Millikan fully confirmed Einstein's photoelectric equation with his rigorous experiments, and the particle nature of light was accepted by people. It can be said that experiment, only experiment, is the foundation of physics.
Introducing the history of physics into the classroom can not only make students feel immersive, but also appreciate the previous research methods, get the essence from them and learn from them.
Second, improve the humanistic quality.
The history of physics is a history of humanities. In the process of engaging in scientific activities, physicists not only reveal many truths about the basic forms of natural movement, but also set up a moral monument for future generations. Scientists' personality charm, humanistic accomplishment and persistent pursuit of science in the process of exploring nature will sublimate students' emotions and play a positive role in guiding students to establish correct outlook on life and values and realize the perfection of personality. Newton was the founder of classical physics, but he modestly called himself "standing on the shoulders of giants"; The Curies were the discoverers of radium, but they were not proud of themselves. "Radium is just an element. It belongs to the world. Science should serve the public and belong to all mankind." What she said will definitely leave a deep impression on the students.
The history of physics is also an aesthetic history, and aesthetic elements such as symmetry, harmony and unity play a very important cultural guiding role in the development of physics. When people are still full of mystery and unknowns about the movement of celestial bodies, they can intuitively' feel that its orbit should be a circle, because' the circle is beautiful'. The beauty of physics is intuitive. For example, the rainbow is a very beautiful superficial phenomenon that everyone can see. The beauty of physics is also profound. The attraction between charges and objects follows the inverse square, and the model of electron motion around the nucleus is similar to that between stars, which shows the profound beauty of unity in physics.
Physics is a science that has the most extensive connection with nature, life, technological progress and social development. It can reveal the mystery of the world and make students have lofty aspirations and a vision for the future. It should have been a course that students like. However, sometimes it is the most headache and fear course for students. This is the bitter fruit of single curriculum goal and rigid teaching mode. We have reason to believe that paying full attention to the humanistic quality resources in physics curriculum and adhering to the three-dimensional curriculum objectives will surely glow the charm of physics curriculum.
Reflections on the History of Physics 2 Recently, I casually looked through a History of Physics that my brother gave me. Because of its profound content, I didn't learn much knowledge and skills from it, but I was deeply impressed by the attitudes of the ancient and modern world towards science.
The starting point of science is religion. Religion has long been a symbol of authority. But during the Renaissance, some people dared to question authority, such as Copernicus and Galileo. But the ethos of religious science at that time was unquestionable-taking Galileo as an example. He was summoned by the Roman inquisition for bravely preaching Copernicus. The theory of ground motion was condemned by the Inquisition, and Galileo's leaders should keep silent. But later, he couldn't help but publish a dialogue in support of Copernicus's theory, which led to "the 70-year-old man being insulted, imprisoned and threatened." He was forced to kneel in public to express' openly giving up, cursing and hating mistakes and heresies'. At first, he was isolated from his relatives and friends, but only after he was blind and terminally ill was he allowed a little more freedom. "
The main theme of the current scientific atmosphere is positivity and freedom. Anyone can express his views on anything without worrying about being "criticized". This is the progress of human thought, and it is this progress of thought that has promoted the progress of human science.
Generally speaking, the long river of human history is constantly advancing. Therefore, as contemporary "people", we can't stop, we must make progress, because only in this way can we keep up with the rhythm and pursue greater progress!
Reflections on the History of Physics The three books mainly introduce the development of physics, the basic science of natural science, which is divided into ancient physics, classical physics and modern physics, and also briefly introduce two basic fields of modern physics: astrophysics and particle physics. This book highlights China's achievements in ancient science and technology and its contribution to the world's scientific progress. In addition, there are reading materials behind some chapters, which mainly introduce the representative figures and major events in the development of physics.
Hundreds of years ago, physics was called natural science and regarded as a part of philosophy. One of Newton's classic physics works is called Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, which is the birthplace of Newton's three laws and the law of universal gravitation. Studying the history of physics will tell us that many new discoveries in physics are related to philosophical thoughts. The discovery of the law of conservation of energy and the law of transformation was influenced by Kant's philosophy, which in turn became one of the important foundations of dialectical materialism. The progress of physics often provides vivid examples for the progress of philosophy, and philosophy often points out the direction for natural science.
As a science, physics means that it can create more material wealth that people need and play a positive role in social development.
In my opinion, in order to fully express the requirements of the history of physics for our study, we should do the following.
1, through the study of physics history, stimulate students' interest in learning.
There is a saying that interest is the best teacher. When you learn something with interest, you can get twice the result with half the effort. The history of physics records the mysterious and exciting exploration process of human beings. Whether they like history or not, most people like to listen to stories, because children's earliest cognition is learned and formed from stories. It is more acceptable for students to tell history in the form of stories.
2, through the study of the history of physics, cultivate the ability to observe and analyze problems.
Physics is a science based on experiments. Observation and experiment are the basic methods to study physics and learn physics. In the history of physics, many scientists are good at observing and thinking carefully from some ordinary phenomena that are not noticed by people. For example, Roentgen has done a lot of experimental research in the field of physics all his life. In an experiment, he accidentally discovered that a negative wrapped in black paper was exposed, but he never gave up a small phenomenon. It was from this observation and analysis that he discovered X-rays and won the Nobel Prize. In the process of understanding the history of physics, students can realize that paying attention to observation and carrying out experiments seriously are the key to learning physics well. Therefore, in the future study, we should consciously observe, do experiments by ourselves, and gradually cultivate the habit of observing and thinking frequently. The cultivation of this ability will benefit a lot in the future work.
3, through the study of the history of physics, cultivate the spirit of questioning and the ability to ask scientific questions.
The ability of independent thinking and independent judgment is first manifested in the spirit of doubt and criticism. Many examples in the history of science show that it is the ideological premise of scientific creation not to be confined to traditional theories and concepts, but to be superstitious about authority and books. As we all know, Lorenz and Poincare both reached the door of relativity before Einstein, but they didn't finally reach the threshold of relativity because they couldn't get rid of the shackles of absolute space-time view. It is precisely because Einstein abandoned the concepts of "absolute motion" and "static ether" and deeply investigated the physical basis of the concept of "simultaneity" that he founded the special theory of relativity, which caused great changes in human space-time view.