The Egyptian “book of the two ways”

Abstract

Science and cartography have had an intimate history which has not been simply the creation of ever more accurate scientific maps but one in which science, cartography and the state have co‐produced the knowledge space that provides the conditions for the possibility of modern science and cartography. The central cartographic process is the assemblage of local knowledges and, as such, is a particular form of the assembly processes fundamental to science. The first attempts by the state to create a space within which to assemble cartographic knowledge were at the Casa da Mina and the Casa de la Contratación, and hence they can be described as the first scientific institutions in Europe. Their failure to create a knowledge space can be attributed to the nature of the portolan charts. The triangulation of France and the linking of the Greenwich and Paris Observatories established the kind of knowledge space that now constitutes the dominant form within which modem science and cartography are produced. However, resistance to the hegemony of modern scientific knowledge space remains possible through finding alternative ways of assembling local knowledge.     

Science, text and space: thoughts on the geography of reading

The idea of a 'geography of reading' provides a potential point of conversation between the cultural and scientific wings of our profession. Here I explore some dimensions of the geography of reading scientific texts. Drawing on a number of theoretical pronouncements – Gadamer's 'fusion of horizons', Said's 'travelling theory', Secord's 'geographies of reading', Beer's 'miscegenation of texts', Fish's 'interpretive communities' and Rupke's 'geographies of reception'– I focus on the spaces where scientific theories are encountered. The argument is that where scientific texts are read has an important bearing on how they are read. This realization points to a fundamental instability in scientific meaning and to the crucial significance of what might be called located hermeneutics. As a case study in the development of a cartographics of scientific meaning, I explore the different ways in which Darwin's fundamentally biogeographical theory of evolution by natural selection was construed in a number of different settings. The sites I have chosen to illustrate this are the scientific communities which congregated around the Charleston Museum of Natural History in South Carolina, the Wellington Philosophical Society and New Zealand Institute, and the St Petersburg Society of Naturalists in Russia during the second half of the nineteenth century. In each case the encounter with evolution theory, and the ways it was interpreted, are shown to have been shaped by local cultural politics, thereby disclosing the critical role that space plays in the production of scientific meaning.     

领导者应树立的新领导观

领导者应树立以科学发展观、正确政绩观和科学人才观为内容的新领导观.牢固树立这样的新领导观,是实现全面建设小康社会和构建社会主义和谐社会战略目标的迫切需要,是不断完善党的领导方式和执政方式、提高各级领导干部执政能力和领导水平的必然要求.     

中苏科学技术合作中的技术转移

20世纪40年代到60年代初,苏联的技术援华推动了现代技术向中国的大规模转 移。50年代初,为更好地协调、管理中苏在科技合作中的各项事宜,成立了中苏科技合作委员会, 推动了双方在研究机构、产品的研究开发和技术科学的学科建设等方面的合作,培养提高了我国科 研院所、设计机构和企业的技术能力。1956年,在苏联专家的建议和帮助下,我国制订了十二年 科技发展远景规划,确定了中国科技的发展方向、目标和基本政策,此举对我国科技的发展产生了 深远的影响。60年代初,随着两国关系的破裂,中苏科技合作中断,因而打乱了我国科技远景规 划的正常实施,造成了中方大量人力物力的浪费和损失。     

Wissenschaftswachstum in wichtigen naturwissenschaftlichen Disziplinen vom 17. bis zum 21. Jahrhundert

The Growth of Science within Important Scientific Disciplines from 17th to 21st century. – In this paper the growth of knowledge is investigated for the disciplines of Astrophysics / Astronomy, of Physics and of Chemistry in the last centuries. In this context the main emphasis is devoted to the discussion of the growth of literature. Besides, this is also illustrated by the growth of indicators like for example important books, new discoveries in science, the chemical elements, the known chemical compounds and the number of known inorganic chemical structures. Compared to numerous earlier studies a systematic evaluation of all presently available data sources is carried out. The data are fitted by different mathematical growth models (linear, quadratic, exponential, hyperbolic). These are discussed and compared. As far as the exponential growth model is applied the doubling periods obtained have values between 11 and 32 years for the cumulative total of publications, between 24 and 98 years for that of important books, between 79 and 163 years for that of new discoveries and between 10 and 14 years for that of chemical substances. From an order of magnitude point of view this is in agreement with the results of other authors. It is however also demonstrated that the exponential growth model which is normally used is not necessarily the best to describe the growth of the data. Other models are often better suitable to explain the growth. It is shown that linear growth of the yearly publications describes the data better than exponential growth in certain epochs. In this latter case it is demonstrated that the parameter (linear slope) for the rate of increase has a constant values in certain epochs, but rises in steps from epoch to epoch by a factor of 3 to 40. After the second world war the linear growth model for the yearly publications or the quadratic growth model for the cumulative total of publications respectively delivers the best results. This is therefore used for forecasting the future.     

„On employera les meilleurs Graveurs pour les Figures”︁. Zeichner und Stecher der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1700–1806

“We will employ the best engravers for the figures” – Draughtsmen and Engravers of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, 1700–1809. – Although barely mentioned in accounts of its history of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, draughtsmen and engravers were, from the very inception, essential collaborators. Based on previously overlooked archival sources, this paper investigates the strategies that scientists used to select the most appropriate candidates during the first hundred years of the academy's existence. These included: (1) the engaging of artists already known to the scientists or those who had been recommendaded to them; (2) maintaining long‐term relationships with a number of artists, and later with their offspring (who had frequently been trained by their fathers); in 1768 this strategy culminated in the creation of a permanent position for one academic draughtsman; and (3) hiring draughtsmen who specialised in the subject matter in question, which entailed, for example, employing different people to carry out anatomical and botanical illustrations.     

改革开放是当代中国强国富民之路

党的十一届三中全会开创的新的历史时期是以改革开放为标志的。改革开放三十年的历程,表明改革开放不仅是中国特色社会主义道路的鲜明特色,也是决定当代中国前途和命运的关键抉择。只有坚持改革开放,才能保证党和国家发展进步的活力源泉,实现中华民族强国富民的伟大复兴。     

“古蜀文明保护传承暨纪念桂圆桥遗址发现十周年”学术研讨会综述

2019年11月4日至11月5日,由四川省文物考古研究院、什邡市博物馆等单位联合举办的"古蜀文明保护传承暨纪念桂圆桥遗址发现十周年"学术研讨会在四川什邡市召开。近百位专家学者齐聚一堂,以纪念桂圆桥遗址发现十周年为主题,并就古蜀文明的保护传承展开全方位深入讨论,议题涉及桂圆桥遗址及相关古蜀文明遗址的发现、发掘与重要意义、古蜀文明与周边区域的文化交流、聚落考古工作与研究以及科技考古研究等几个方面,成果丰硕。为开展桂圆桥遗址今后的考古工作、研究、保护以及实施"古蜀文明保护传承工程"提供了诸多有益思路和中肯建议。     

江泽民科学发展思想的历史考察

江泽民的科学发展思想历经四个阶段的演进,包含经济发展与全面发展、加快发展与协调发展、可持续发展与以人为本的发展等思想,为科学发展观阐述全面发展、协调发展、可持续发展、以人为本的发展等思想内涵作了理论准备。胡锦涛的科学发展观与和谐社会建构理论是在江泽民科学发展思想基础上对中国特色社会主义建设规律认识的新飞跃。