Yoshikatsu Sugiura's Contribution to the Development of Quantum Physics in Japan

Previous research in the history of physics has led us to believe that Yoshio Nishina (1890–1951) virtually single‐handedly imported quantum physics into Japan. However, there are first‐hand accounts that Yoshikatsu Sugiura (1895–1960) also played an important role. Sugiura made his name in quantum chemistry with his contribution to the Heitler‐London theory of the chemical bond. Yet, historians of physics have paid scant attention to him. This paper brings forward information on Sugiura from his letters, his scientific papers, and his own recollections until ca. 1930. By examining this material, the present paper studies Sugiura's accomplishments in Europe and his contributions to the development of quantum physics in Japan. We conclude that Sugiura was one of the most important physicists when it comes to the arrival of quantum physics in Japan. In addition, we assess why he has been under‐appreciated in the history of physics in Japan. Our historical study on Sugiura suggests that, in addition to the position Nishina and his students rightfully occupy, there still are important unexplored aspects in the history of Japanese quantum physics.     

Music and Physics: A Cultural,Interdisciplinary History

This essay investigates the triangular exchange among physicists, musicians, and instrument makers in nineteenth‐century Germany by proffering a material, cultural, and interdisciplinary history. It does so by analyzing four concrete examples of such exchanges: the relationship between musical automata and virtuosi, the reed pipe as an object of music and scientific measurement, the history of standardizing performance pitch, and the attempts to measure musical virtuosity. The goal of the essay is to suggest ways in which interdisciplinary cultural histories, which take the scientific content seriously, can be an improvement upon purely disciplinary histories.     

谈对智力的培养与物理知识教学的结合

物理学是一门基础科学,它研究力、热、电、磁、光等方面的规律。从分子、原子到原子内部,从日月星辰到整个宇宙,物理学研究的对象无所不及。因此,物理知识的范围很广。智力以知识为基础,是知识的运用。因此,对智力的培养应同物理知识教学结合起来。     

Convergence in Cold War Physics: Coinventing the Maser in the Postwar Soviet Union

At the height of the Cold War, in the 1950s, the process of parallel invention of masers and lasers took place on the opposing sides of the Iron Curtain. While the American part of the story has been investigated by historians in much penetrating detail, comparable Soviet developments were described more superficially. This study aims at, to some extent, repairing this discrepancy by analyzing the Soviet path towards the maser from a comparative angle. It identifies, on the one hand, significant differences between the two projects regarding their heuristics, the relationship between theory and experiment, grounding in different academic cultures, and the resulting conceptualization of the maser principle. At the same time, the case also illustrates more fundamental transformations in the practices of postwar research that can be characterized as a convergence between the Soviet and the American science of the period.     

南怀仁《穷理学》的主体内容与基本结构

南怀仁的《穷理学》是明末清初中西会通的集成之作 ,但毁失严重。本文通过对南怀仁的“穷理学”概念、《穷理学》一书的编撰背景和编撰方式 ,以及现存的《进呈〈穷理学〉书奏》和 1 4卷《穷理学》残本的内容等三个方面的分析 ,认为《穷理学》包括逻辑学与方法论及形而上学、数学、天文学、测量、力学与机械、生物学与医学等六个方面的内容 ,并按照 5卷为一端的形式共形成 60卷。该书的显著特点是剔除亚里士多德哲学中的自然神论 ,并融合中国传统格致知识 ,以演绎推理构成全书内容。该书反映了明末清初“格物穷理之学”的总体概况。