K: To be honest, there are not many books on the history of science in China, let alone instructional books on this subject. Sometimes, I really envy people who like art history or architectural history. There are many good books on the shelf for reference.
A: That's ... What should I do?
K: OK, I'll be very generous. I still remember some wonderful fragments of the history of science. I will provide you with a solution to your drug addiction. See if the history of science is richer and more exciting than the history textbook says. Perhaps, we can see how people view the history of science from these breakthroughs.
In fact, according to researchers' specific interests and questioning methods, the history of science usually appears in the following forms, such as: the history of scientific problems (biological evolution, Manhattan's atomic bomb research project), the history of discipline development (physics history, chemistry history, earth science history), the history of scientific concepts (evolution of biological "species" concept), the history of scientists (Newton, lavoisier, Darwin) and the history of scientific research institutions.
Aristotle and biology
I believe many people have read Sophie's World! If you persist for a while, I'm sure she/he will read Aristotle in chapter 1 1. However, why should the Greek philosopher Aristotle be mentioned here in the history of science? In fact, as we all know, many natural philosophers in the Greek period were no longer satisfied with the power of the gods as the final explanation of all phenomena when faced with various mysteries of nature; They try to think rationally and explore colorful nature. In these numerous explorations, many ideas and practices can be regarded as the driving force of what we now call "science". In Aristotle's case, we can say that this is because almost all modern forms of scientific research can be developed through his ideological foundation.
A natural researcher who emphasizes observation experience
Compared with Plato, his teacher, who used the "rational world" to understand natural phenomena, Aristotle particularly emphasized the role of "sensory perception" in the cognitive process. He once said, "We must give observation more trust than logos".
According to this view, the study of zoology and botany has added a lot of experience. For example, in practical research, Aristotle always observes what appears in front of him first. Secondly, the knowledge he gained from chatting with hunters and fishermen was compared and recorded in detail with his own observations. For example, he once heard of deer hunting from the countryside. According to hunters, they use "singing on the flute" to lure wild deer, so that they can easily catch them when they are "intoxicated" with beautiful music and gradually fall asleep. At the same time, Aristotle also mentioned a male deer with a hexagonal horn. Today, we call this kind of deer "Aristotle Deer" in the name of recorder. In addition, there is a catfish named after Aristotle (Parasilurus aristotelis), because Aristotle clearly recorded the special behavior of this catfish:
"Compared with other freshwater fish, male catfish are more committed to taking care of their young fish. The male catfish will first occupy a place where many eggs can be gathered and wait for the female catfish to lay eggs. After laying eggs, female catfish will release their eggs. On the contrary, male catfish will guard the eggs and newly hatched young fish like these eggs to prevent them from becoming food for other small fish. In this way, the male catfish must wait for 40 to 50 days until all the young fish grow up and can avoid other fish by themselves. Fishermen can know where catfish lay their eggs, as long as they guard their children. Because the male catfish will breathe quickly to scare away other fish trying to steal fish eggs, thus making a rumbling sound. Male catfish is so considerate in protecting fish eggs that as long as fishermen can pull the roots with fish eggs in deep water into shallow water, they can lure male catfish. But even so, the male catfish will not leave the eggs. He will think that other fish are stealing eggs and try to catch the fish swimming nearby. Because of this, the male catfish can easily mistake the bait for a small fish that steals eggs, thus becoming a fisherman's catch. However, once the male catfish knows that he has bitten the hook, he will not give up the eggs he cares for, but will crush the line with sharp teeth. 」
It was not until the 19th century that biologists discovered that Aristotle was not making up stories, but recording real observations. 1906, biologists began to name this catfish after Aristotle, namely, Paecilomyces.
An attempt at biological classification
In the book Historia animalum, which is similar to an encyclopedia of zoology, Aristotle recorded about 500 kinds of animals. He described in detail the morphology, external and internal organs, lifestyle, reproduction, habitat and behavior patterns of these animals. At the same time, the methods of biological naming and classification are also discussed. For example, he divided animals into "blood animals" (quadrupeds, barefoot, birds, fish and monsters) and "bloodless animals" (crustaceans, software and insects).
Although Aristotle has no intention of establishing a complete classification system, some of his thoughts have influenced the development of taxonomy in later generations. He first clearly distinguished "essential characteristics" from "accidental characteristics" and advocated attaching importance to the former in classification. In fact, this proposition is very consistent with his attitude of attaching importance to observation experience. Because Aristotle has always believed that universal knowledge should be based on the knowledge of many single events. In other words, in addition to the traditional deductive method, he also attaches great importance to induction.
In biological classification, Aristotle used five basic concepts, namely:
"genos", which is universal, is similar to the concept of "genus" that we use today.
"edios" has its particularity, similar to today's "species".
"different", different
"inherent", characteristic
Accidental, accidental
From the five classification concepts used by Aristotle and his classification system, we can see that a scientist sometimes has blind spots or limitations that cannot be broken through. Because, as we just said, he seems to want to sum up knowledge with universal effect from the observation experience of many individuals. If so, his classification should not be "top-down" but "bottom-up".
What does this mean? Please think about it first. When you have a pile of stationery to sort out, will you/will you buy a cabinet in advance and put the stationery according to the number of drawers in the cabinet, or will you divide the stationery into several categories and buy the right cabinet? In other words, Aristotle first divided animals into two categories, namely "blood" and "no blood". Then according to the characteristics of various animals, put them in drawers such as quadruped, footless, bird, fish, monster and so on. This approach does not fully meet his own hope, that is, starting from the knowledge of a single event, and then summing up universal knowledge through comparative observation. Because, if you want to do this, you must first compare all the object studies at hand, and then divide them into several categories, and similar types belong to one category (bottom-up).
So when Aristotle talks about "species", he refers to a level under the organizational order displayed by the biological world. Aristotle's main purpose is to reveal the continuous relationship between various creatures. The concept of species used by modern biologists is to distinguish species as much as possible, that is, to find out the differences between different species. For example, as we often say today, the reproductive barrier set by nature to prevent species from mating at will (this classification method is "bottom-up", and several closely related species become a genus and several new genera become a family. I don't know how many genera or families there are in advance. In the case of sorting out stationery, we should sort out new categories and then look for drawers. Aristotle's "top-down" is to put fixed drawers in two "big cabinets with blood and no blood" to hold suitable objects. Different from modern biologists, Aristotle holds the belief that nature is continuous and tries to find out every step in this continuous ladder. "Everything in nature, from inorganic substances to animals and plants, occupies its place in this continuous ladder in an orderly manner." Aristotle's concept became the basis of the later concept of "natural scale". The concept of "ladder of nature" has been guiding people's research on nature until19th century was replaced by a more profound concept of evolution.
Aristotle's biological works
Aristotle's interest in biology is also due to the particularity of "life phenomenon". He thinks about the difference between living things and non-living things, and also thinks about the difference between people and other living things. According to the thinking of predecessors, he put forward his own "soul theory" in the book On the Soul, so as to distinguish between living things and nonliving things, as well as the differences between plants, animals and humans.
For plants, they only have a "nutritional soul" responsible for the growth rhythm; Animals not only "nourish souls", but also "feel souls", which gives animals senses and the ability to move between two places. In addition to the first two, human beings have a unique "rational soul", so human beings have the ability to think rationally.
Although this description seems unscientific on the surface, we should look at this theory from another angle. In other words, we should think about what Aristotle's theory is trying to solve. In fact, all kinds of abilities that these three kinds of souls give to creatures can be seen in several of his biological works, including the choice of topics and the more detailed discussion and observation of these issues.
For example, in addition to the above-mentioned Animal History and On the Soul, he also has a book about biological form, function and purpose, Depi Bass Animali Umm, a book about reproduction and development, and two books about analyzing sports phenomena. Including the movement and walking of heart organs and other types of movements (de motiu animalium, de incessu animalium) and the book Generation and Corruption, which discusses the occurrence and disappearance of life.
Many of Aristotle's thoughts may need to be understood by his philosophy in order to get his original meaning. However, in this rich book on biology, especially zoology, he provided us with many enlightening thoughts and detailed observation records. These are enough to occupy a place in the history of science.
History of earthquake research
Earthquake theory and philosophy of science
Erhard Oeser, a professor at the Institute of Scientific Theory and Science of the University of Vienna, believes that the real value of scientific concepts lies in their application, that is, providing guidance for actions. Under this idea, the philosophy of science should not follow the traditional philosophy of science, and try to establish a universally applicable methodology for science from the outside; But to discover the logic of scientific operation from actual scientific activities. Therefore, Professor Oszer advocates studying cases and analyzing the internal mechanism of reconstructing science, so as to understand how the information in scientific knowledge is self-organized. Simply put, the philosophy of science should be the reconstruction of the history of science.
However, what is the relationship between such scientific philosophy and earthquake theory? Since the philosophy of science is the reconstruction of the history of science, in the field of earthquake theory, it is necessary to trace back the understanding of earthquakes in various periods in history. We don't want to make a chronology of the development of earthquake theories in chronological order, but we want to analyze the research context of each theory when it was put forward, and observe how each theory explains earthquakes and the interactive relationship between earthquake theories and other fields.
A brief history of earthquake research
According to the philosophy of science in the last section. The history of seismology we will introduce below still focuses on scientific theory, but we will avoid turning it into a simple chronology or biographies of important seismologists.
Before19th century, earthquake theory still contained mythical or mysterious elements, such as attributing earthquakes to underground monsters or comparing the earth with living things; /kloc-after the 0/9th century, there was the basic content of seismological research: for example, the theory at that time often talked about the fire and water phenomenon in caves or rivers, that is, with the vibration, steam, water, magma, ash, heavy mud and rocks were ejected by explosion, and then the caves collapsed.
From Aristotle to Kant, 18 and19th century
In ancient times, most of the observation and research on the so-called natural science came from natural philosophers. There are 1 Greek natural philosophers, such as Aristotle, seneca, Thales of Mile, democritus and Anaxagoras.
The earthquake theory in the Middle Ages, like other natural science fields, was developed under the influence of Aristotle's model. For example, Albert the Great's earthquake theory is at best a synthesis of Aristotle and Anaxagoras's theory. In addition, Albert once again emphasized a traditional concept, that is, a metropolis where plague broke out after the earthquake. This may be a phenomenon that poisonous gases ejected from underground or caves during the earthquake do harm to animals and plants, which supports the miasma theory of disease. Although Aristotle explained earthquakes with natural factors, most medieval scholars tend to think that God is the primary cause of earthquakes, including the famous theologian Aquinas, who is Albert's disciple.
The earthquake theory in early modern times has changed with the development of astronomy, and there is a new view on the position of the earth in the universe and the structure inside the earth. For example, before Copernicus, Leonardo da Vinci suggested that the earth was not static, and that the ratio of water to land should be ten to one, and on this basis, he explained the movement of ocean currents and land plates. Because this explanation framework is consistent with the fluid mechanics that Leonardo da Vinci knew at that time. On the other hand, according to the Copernican system, the earth is compared to a living star, and Bruno believes that "the halo of the earth" spews out from caves, fountains or craters on the surface of the earth, causing earthquakes.
At the end of the 17th century, a new interpretation of earthquakes appeared. At first, this new direction was associated with Genesis in the Bible as the basis for explaining the evolution of the earth, but later it was divorced from the Bible. For example, Buffon thinks that the earth is a fiery fireball that comets hit the sun and fall off from it, so there should be fire in the center of the earth, as evidenced by volcanoes.
1749 London earthquake and the subsequent earthquake in Britain triggered researchers to put forward new explanations for the causes of the earthquake. William Struckley was the first to suggest that an earthquake is just an electric shock, just like the electric shock described in Franklin's experiment. Although this statement was widely circulated, it was quickly abandoned.
/kloc-there were many major earthquakes in the 0/8th century (callao and Lima 1746, London 1749, Lisbon 1755, Calabria 1783), and the casualties were extremely heavy. Therefore, discussing earthquakes at this time not only hopes to provide explanations, but also hopes to provide predictions to avoid heavy casualties caused by earthquakes.
Kant wrote three papers about earthquakes, and he refuted the statement that all earthquakes are attributed to God. In addition, Newton's gravity theory is quoted. Through his own calculation, he thinks that gravity is too small, so he opposes the statement that planetary motion or special arrangement will cause earthquakes.
Kant and earthquake research
The philosopher Kant wrote three papers about earthquakes. Kant mainly refutes the statement that all earthquakes are attributed to God, but he does not take the occurrence of earthquakes as proof that God does not exist. In addition, Kant also quoted Newton's gravity theory. After his own calculation, he thought that gravity was too small, so he opposed the idea that the movement of planets or special arrangement would cause earthquakes. As for the cause of the earthquake, in short, Kant supports that volcanic movement is caused by the chemical reaction between underground sulfur and iron to synthesize iron sulfide, and the earthquake is the phenomenon caused by this.
1755 1 1 month 1 day The Lisbon earthquake in Portugal and the subsequent aftershocks in Europe prompted Kant to write several short articles about earthquakes, but mainly the following three papers 2.
The first article in the earthquake series is Von Deng Ursa Qin Derder Shi? What do you think this means? Guys, are you going west? "The Causes of Earthquakes in Western European Countries at the End of Last Year". One year before the first article was completed, Kant published Allgemeine Natur Geschichte and Die Theorie des Himmels (1755), namely "General History of Nature" and "Celestial Theory", which put forward the theory of the origin of the solar system for the first time. Therefore, Kant's works on earthquakes should also be regarded as part of his evolutionary history of the earth and solar system.
Kant's explanation of earthquake energy transfer is that there are some caves or cracks on the earth, which will move parallel to mountains or rivers during an earthquake and cause wind, fire or explosion. For example, in Lisbon, seismic energy transmission is consistent with the east-west mountains. So Kant also suggested that houses should not be built in the direction of mountains or rivers. He thinks that the Lisbon earthquake caused a great disaster because all the houses there were built along the river.
Kant was dissatisfied with Aristotle's explanation of earthquakes with elements such as wind and fire. Aristotle believes that after the moist earth is subjected to the heat from the inside of the earth and the heat from the sun, the water will form steam (wind), and the steam will escape through the earth, thus causing an earthquake. Aristotle equates the involuntary spasm or trembling caused by the wind on the earth with the wind (gas) in the human body.
Kant put forward a chemical explanation that mixing 2 parts of sulfuric acid, 8 parts of water and 2 parts of iron will produce gas and flame.
The second part of the earthquake series "Earthquake and Nature? rdigsten Vorf？ Over the years, Del has experienced the change of 1755? The historical and natural description of the most noteworthy earthquake event, which hit most parts of the earth at the end of 1755. There are many historical earthquake records with different credibility, and the movement of inland lakes during the earthquake is also explained. In addition, it is speculated that the earthquake may have an impact on atmospheric phenomena, because he mentioned that the sky was red a few hours before the earthquake, and animals would be uneasy before the earthquake, such as birds migrating in just a few hours and mice leaving the cave.
The third article in the earthquake series, Earthquake? Kant's continuous observation of recent earthquakes. Many scholars believe that earthquakes are caused by the special arrangement of stars, and cite Newton's gravity theory to support this statement. However, Kant thinks this statement is nonsense. Kant compared the gravity between the moon, Jupiter and the sun and the earth to clarify whether the gravity between the stars caused the earthquake.
After calculation, Kant thinks that Jupiter's gravity on the earth is only 130 thousand times that of the sun. If solar energy makes the sea water rise by two feet (Newton thought that solar gravity could make the sea water in the equatorial region rise by nine inches), please see Principles. The third volume, 59 1), then Jupiter makes the sea water rise only about one thirtieth of the thickness of hair. As for the moon, Kant believes that even if the gravity of the moon affects the earth, it should also affect the interior of the earth. Therefore, earthquake or volcanic activity is only a phenomenon caused by the change of activities in the earth, rather than directly causing earthquakes.
In addition, because there was another earthquake in Lisbon in 1756, Kant explained the reasons for the earth movement in the middle of the earthquake and in the two earthquakes in this article. There are two key points: first, the earthquake spreads the heat compressed in the underground cracks on the hillside to spread the movement between the two earthquakes. This is a chemical "breathing" process. Highly compressed air is ejected from the crater. Fire, originally underground, is inactive due to lack of oxygen, but it gets excited when it comes into contact with the air entering the crack. Secondly, the periodic activity of huge underground caves or cracks is compared to the breathing process of human lungs.
Jesuits and earthquake research
The history of Jesuits' communication with Chinese and Western cultures seems to touch on seismology very little. When did Jesuits begin to study earthquakes? Why are you engaged in earthquake-related research? What contribution has it made to earthquake research? Questions like this in Augustine Ud? There is a brief introduction in as and William Stauder's article. In fact, the motivation for writing this article is the simple arrangement made by the American Seismological Society to avoid historical losses, in view of the fact that many earthquake observation stations established by Jesuits have been closed one after another (because earthquake research has been supported by local governments).
Why did Jesus participate in earthquake research? I think the possible reason is: tradition. Since16th century, science has been the focus of church education. Earth science became a part of church education in the19th century.
The related research of seismology can serve the public, because the understanding of earthquakes may reduce the damage degree of earthquakes.
In earthquake research, the main contribution of Jesuits is to set up observation stations all over the world. They have set up 38 earthquake observation stations. The first one was established in 1868 in Manila, Philippines. Although most observatories were established before 1920 (including Shanghai in 1904), many observatories continued to operate until the 1960s and 1970s. Until 1996, when this paper was written, there were still eight stations in operation, some of which have become important observation stations for earthquake research all over the world.
In addition, the Jesuits' main achievements lie in organizing societies, inventing instruments and theoretical discussions, especially in studying the great crustal vibration caused by earthquakes.
Forty years of human medical experiments
In the Name of Science —— Syphilis Research in tasker
Although it is difficult to recover water, we can stop being silent and turn our heads away. Finally, we can look you in the eye and tell you on behalf of the American people that what the American government did to you in the past was shameful, and I'm sorry about it.
May 16, 1997, US President Bill Clinton.
1997 Behind the words of former US President Bill Clinton is the 40-year history of inhuman medical experiments conducted by national medical institutions in the name of science. What is this 40-year-long medical experiment studying? What is its historical background? Why did the president need to apologize later? What impact does it have on the promotion of disease prevention and treatment in the United States at this stage? What opportunities for introspection can Taiwan Province Province provide? Let's learn about this story of treating "bad feelings" in a short space!
Brief introduction to the story
1932, the American government promised to treat 399 African-American male tenant farmers living in Macon County, Alabama for their "bad blood" diseases free of charge. The medical unit told these poor African-American tenants that they received treatment because of their "bad blood." But in fact, the hospital did not provide any real treatment, nor did it tell them what to pay attention to after suffering from this disease. As for what is "bad blood"? In fact, "bad blood" was just a euphemism for the epidemic disease "syphilis" at that time. The main axis of the story seems to be that the American public health service provides long-term care for the health of the poor and vulnerable groups. In order to attract these vulnerable groups to participate in the experimental project, the government slogan of free treatment, in addition to providing free food and funeral insurance. But in fact, these people were not told that they were the so-called "experimental group" in a big plan. In their cognition, they are being treated by the national health department.
As for what this "experimental group" wants to experiment? In fact, the research unit wants to know the natural history of syphilis, that is, the spontaneous evolution of syphilis in African-American men. Simply put, these poor tenants must "not receive any treatment" during the experiment, so that the research unit can observe the development of syphilis without treatment. According to the The New York Times (July 26th 1972), this syphilis research report named tasker Ji revealed "the longest human medical experiment without actual medical action" in medical history.
However, how was this tragic story discovered 40 years later? One of the important events was a medical seminar, "Do bad things in the name of goodness?" 1994 was held in the United States. Tasker Ji Syphilis Research and Its Legacy] Participants examined the relationship between syphilis research projects in tasker and contemporary cultural differences and medical behaviors, as well as scientific research, ethics and human rights from a historical perspective. For example, one of their concerns is to understand why African Americans always distrust medical institutions through historical events. Especially on the issue of AIDS.
The study of syphilis in Taskey symbolizes medical misuse and contempt for human rights in the name of science. At that time, the doctor who participated in the "treatment" plan for syphilis was not the crazy scientist in the movie. They are all professional doctors hired by the government and enjoy a certain reputation in the medical field. Many of them even publish papers in famous international journals. However, from the beginning, these doctors did not explain the possible consequences of not treating patients. On the other hand, they provide many incentives to win the participation of poor tenants. They promised free treatment, free transportation, hot food on the day of treatment and a funeral subsidy of about $50. Therefore, the whole project showed from the beginning that this was not an open and honest experiment.
From 1932 to1972,399 poor black tenants suffering from syphilis received "treatment". They were only told that their blood was not good, but the doctor never explained the seriousness of the disease to them. For example, syphilis can be transmitted to a spouse through sexual intercourse. If a woman suffers from syphilis, it may also be transmitted to the fetus through the placenta to cause congenital syphilis. Or syphilis patients will cause syphilis cardiovascular disease, visual impairment, blindness, deafness, cerebral palsy and many other symptoms, not to mention serious words will lead to death. As a doctor involved in this project confessed, "We didn't care more until the patient died".