Interesting celebrity classic story 1 tycho brahe, 1546 12 14 was born in Skarne, Denmark, and 14 was born in Copenhagen University. Tycho was obsessed with astronomical observation since childhood and devoted his life to astronomical instrument manufacturing and astronomical research. The observation data and materials accumulated in his life are of great help to the famous astronomer Kepler later.
1576 In February, the King of Denmark presented Wenfeng Island in the Danish Strait to Tycho, and allocated huge sums of money for Tycho to build a large observatory on the island. Known as "Tianbao", this observatory is large in scale and well-equipped, and almost all astronomical instruments used are designed and manufactured by Tycho. One of the most famous is Tycho Quadrant. The Observatory also has supporting instrument repair shops, printing houses, libraries, studios and living facilities. Tycho worked here for 2 1 year and re-measured a series of important astronomical data. His measurement results are very close to modern values.
Tycho constantly improved the observation instrument, such as introducing an additional collimator on the peephole, and finding a delicate and convenient horizontal division method, which improved the accuracy of the instrument. He measured the atmospheric refraction correction table, which provided a good reference for future generations' observation activities. By repositioning the stars, Tycho compiled a more accurate catalogue, including 1000 stars.
1588 After the death of the king, the funds of the Observatory were very difficult. Tycho struggled for 10 years, and was forced to close the Observatory in March 1597. 160 1 year1year1October 24th, Tycho died.
The telescope that tycho brahe once used.
Interesting celebrity classic story 2 Galileo came to the Leaning Tower of Pisa with two balls of different weights. There are already many people watching under the tower. In an exclamation, they stared at Galileo closely, and two balls in his hand fell from the top of the tower at the same time. "They landed together." People shouted loudly.
This story was told by my teacher in class when I was in primary school. Now, I know that the story mentioned by Vianne, a student in Galileo's later years, is just a lie.
The course of science has opened a real historical process of science for us. For this matter, the book "The Course of Science" talked about it. According to the research of historians of science, there is no reason to show that Galileo did this experiment, and Galileo himself never mentioned this experiment. Before Galileo, someone had done such an experiment. 1856, Stevin, a Dutch physicist, made two shot puts with different sizes and a weight ratio of 1 ratio 10 fall from a height of 30 feet. As a result, two balls landed on the board on the ground almost at the same time. Galileo may have heard of this experiment, or he may have done it himself, but the result can be imagined.
In fact, in order to refute Galileo, an Aristotelian physicist really did an experiment at the Leaning Tower of Pisa in 16 12. As a result, objects with the same material but different weights will not reach the ground at the same time. Galileo defended this, which means that two objects weighing 1 are only a small distance from each other when they fall, but Aristotle said that the difference is 10 times. Why ignore Aristotle's big mistake and stare at my small one? This defense can also show that Galileo did not do the famous decisive experiment of the leaning tower of Pisa. If he does this experiment, he is asking for it.
But why did Galileo's students make up this lie? After reading the introduction of modern scientific methodology in chapter 18 of the book, I suddenly realized. Galileo and Newton truly represent the spirit of modern scientific methodology. Galileo first advocated and practiced the method of "experiment plus teaching". However, Galileo's experiment is not an observation experiment in Bacon's sense, but an idealized experiment. It is impossible to avoid the influence of friction in any mechanical experiment on the earth, but to understand the basic laws of mechanics, we must first exclude friction conceptually. Only this idealized experiment can be worthy of teaching treatment.
It turns out that this experiment is just an "ideal experiment" in the mind. As far as an ideal experiment is concerned, it is of course true. This is the so-called "true lie".
"Reading history makes people wise." This is an important purpose of Wu Guosheng, the author of this book. He said that science stories may arouse children's yearning for the magical world of science, but they are of little help to formal science learning. On the contrary, some legendary stories that spread false information are harmful to the in-depth understanding of scientific theories. So he wants to write a serious popular book on the history of science, which is helpful to science teaching, understanding the development of science, and understanding the social role and humanistic significance of science. But I think, once we really understand the history of science, it means more than that.
Richthofen is a German geographer and geologist, and an expert in modern geoscience research in China. 1833 was born in Karlsruhe, Upper Silesia, Prussia (now Poland). 1856 graduated from Berlin university. He used to be president of Berlin International Geographical Society, president of Berlin University, professor of geology at Bonn University and professor of geography at Leipzig University. 1905 10 died in Berlin on 10.
Richthofen studied the geology of Tyrol and Alps in his early years and successfully established the Triassic sequence in South Tyrol. His research on the regional geology of Carpathian, Dolomiti and Transylvania is also very fruitful. 1860, as a geologist, he was invited to accompany the German economic mission to the Far East, visited Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Japan, Taiwan Province Province, Celebes, Java and the Philippines, and went from Bangkok to Mahlman, Myanmar. 1863 to 1868 carried out geological survey in California, USA, and found gold deposits.
Richthofen visited China from September 1868 to May 1872, and visited more than half of China (14 provinces) in the past four years. After returning to China, from 1877, I wrote and published five volumes of China-Personal Travel Achievements and the research based on it. This magnum opus is the crystallization of rich practical materials he studied for four years, which has an important influence on geoscience at that time and later.
In China (1 volume), he discussed the loess in China with a special chapter, and put forward the "weathering theory" of loess in China for the first time. He also collected a large number of various types of fossils and a large number of stratigraphic data of various eras. German paleontologists Fleischer, Yeshaayahu Schwager, kessel and other research papers on fossils collected in Richthofen are also published in various volumes in China. Richthofen has established three systematic profiles in Liaoning, Shandong, Shaanxi and northern Hebei. He first put forward stratigraphic terms such as "Wutai System" and "Sinian System".
He made a pioneering study on the tectonic deformation caused by China orogeny. He found many folds and normal faults in Shandong, Xishan in Beijing, Daqingshan and Wutai Mountain, and overthrust structures in Tailing. In China's second volume "Structural Map of Northern China", he drew an inferred structural line, called "Xing 'an Line", from Xing 'an Mountain to Yichang via Taihang Mountain. He also pointed out that there is an ancient "Sinian Block" in the north of China, which is a geological structural unit with time relationship.
In the second and third volumes of China, he described the igneous rocks in China as a part of stratigraphic profile, such as Kugaoli granite in Liaodong, Silurian granite in Tiantai Mountain in Qinling, Nanjing Mountain granite, andesite and basalt.
Geologists who visited China in early modern times experienced a long time, collected abundant data and published great works. Richthofen is outstanding. He made a pioneering contribution to the study of geological geography in China, especially brought the ideas and methods of modern western geoscience and even the whole natural science to China at that time. He was an important pioneer of scientific communication between China and the West in modern times, and had a great influence on the emergence and development of modern geology and geography in China.
Nowadays, bicycles are flooding all over the world and entering thousands of households. But few people know that bicycles were invented by a German ranger named delaisse (1785- 185 1).
Delaisse used to be a forest ranger. He had to walk from one forest to another every day. Years of hard work on foot aroused his desire to invent a means of transportation. He thought: If people can sit on wheels, they will walk faster! In this way, delaisse began to design and manufacture bicycles. He made a unicycle with two wooden wheels, a seat and a handlebar, which is connected to the front wheel for control. People sit in cars and drive wooden wheels with their feet. In this way, the world's first bicycle came out.
18 17, delaisse rode his bike for the first time and was ridiculed all the way ... He was determined to answer this ridicule with facts. In a race, he rode for 4 hours, but the horse-drawn car took 15 hours. However, no manufacturer is willing to produce and sell this kind of bicycle.
1839, Macmillan, a native of Scotland, invented the pedal and put it on the front wheel of the bicycle, which greatly improved the bicycle technology. In the following decades, various bicycles emerged, such as windsurfing bicycles, water treadmills, ice bicycles and five-wheeled bicycles, and bicycles gradually became popular means of transportation. With the emergence of pneumatic tires and chains, the structure of bicycles is becoming more and more perfect.
Delaisse also invented the meat grinder and typewriter, which can reduce the labor intensity. At present, the trams that railway workers push by manpower on the tracks are also invented by delaisse, so they are called "delaisse".
Interesting celebrity classic stories 5 British zoologists and paleontologists. 1804 was born in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. Apprentice as a surgeon at 1820. 1824 went to Edinburgh to study medicine. 1825 to St. bartholomew's Hospital in London. He was admitted as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and was appointed as the assistant curator of the Royal College of Surgeons, responsible for managing the specimens collected by the famous anatomist J Hunt, and began to practice medicine. 183 1 year, he visited kroyewei in Paris and studied the specimens of the French Museum of Natural History. 1834 was elected as a member of the Royal Society. From 65438 to 0836, he served as Professor Hunter of the Royal College of Surgeons. 1837 Professor of Anatomy Physiology in Ren Xuehui, Professor of Comparative Anatomy Physiology in Fuller Lecture of Royal Society. 65438-0856 Director of British Natural History Department, devoted himself to the development of British Museum (Natural History Section) in south kensington, London. 1884 was called a bass when he retired. 1892 65438+February18 died in London.
Owen's early works include his annotated and illustrated catalogue (1933) based on the serial specimens of comparative anatomy and physiology collected in the Museum of London College of Surgery, which enabled him to acquire rich knowledge of comparative anatomy. His classic work Nautilus Pearls (1832) made him stand out in the field of zoology. From 65438 to the early 1940s, he devoted a lot of energy to comparing the structure of teeth, because he knew that teeth were the strongest part of the body and the most easily preserved part in the form of fossils. Besides, we can learn a lot about the eating habits and lifestyles of animals from their teeth. 1840 ——1845 published "tooth morphology", which is the main work to study tooth structure. From 65438 to 0846, he published Lectures on Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of Vertebrates, which was the crystallization of his teaching materials during Hunter's lecture and Fuller's lecture.
Owen has made great achievements in paleontology research. He was one of the first major scholars to collect and study dinosaurs, and the word "dinosaur" was coined by him in 1842. 1846, he published the fossil history of mammals and birds in Britain. From 1849 to 1854, he published the history of British fossil reptiles. 1854, he copied the first batch of primitive dinosaur models and exhibited them at the Crystal Palace in London, which popularized the knowledge of paleontology to the masses and aroused people's strong interest. He also studied the paleontology of Australia and New Zealand, and described for the first time the recently extinct giant New Zealand moa. 1866 to 1868 published the classic anatomy of vertebrates.
For most of the19th century, Owen was the true heir of Zhu Ye Wei. He also agreed with the German naturalist L Okun's "theory of vitality", that is, evolution occurs through the internal dynamics of cells. So when his colleague and friend C Darwin's Origin and Evolution of Species came out in 1859, he expressed firm opposition. He believes that the evolution of natural selection is too rational and is the product of accidental opportunity, so it is unacceptable. He even developed to write an anonymous article (Edinburgh Review, 1860) attacking Darwin, and personally instructed Bishop wilberforce to argue with T Huxley, Darwin's main defender. When Darwin's works were generally recognized in the scientific community, his attitude also changed, and he acknowledged the accuracy of Darwin's argument. But it cannot fundamentally reverse his position of denying Darwin's theory.
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