Centennial Classics of Popular Science

Author: Yuan Yucai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: To truly reflect the achievements of science popularization writers over the past century, even if the volume were expanded tenfold, it would still be difficult to meet this requirement. If we select representative works from outstanding science popularization literature and compile them into a collection, with the theme focused on reflecting the era's characteristics of scientific and technological development over the past century, it seems like a good idea. For this purpose, we have compiled this collection of over 300,000 words. What were the era's characteristics of scientific and technological development in the 20th century? This requires a discussion of the sentiments of scientists a century ago. At that time, scientists proudly observed: a series of astronomical discoveries confirmed that celestial bodies moved in an orderly manner according to the law of universal gravitation; all chemical elements were arranged systematically according to the periodic table, marking the end of alchemy and the irreducibility of the material world; the sky was no longer the old sky, and the earth was merely a rotating spherical planet, with geographical exploration also largely complete; in medicine, it was discovered that most diseases were caused by bacteria; the entire biological world was structured according to the principles of heredity and evolution, use and disuse; the research findings of the conservation of energy and the inefficiency of machines (always less than 100%) ruled out the possibility of perpetual motion machines; the inventions of automobiles, trains, and steamships made transportation extremely convenient; the invention of various power equipment and production machinery dramatically increased social productivity; at the same time, the invention of electric lights, telephones, telegraphs, and wireless technology, as well as the application of other electrical appliances, greatly facilitated the lives of the public. From this, they concluded that major inventions and discoveries had largely come to an end, and future science and technology would only involve minor improvements. Humanity had become an enormous giant, the master of all things. However, a few years later, new discoveries such as X-rays by Roentgen, radium by Marie Curie, and energy quanta by Planck served as a cooling dose for these arrogant claims. To reflect the characteristics of scientific development in each historical stage over the past century, the selection criteria for compiling this book primarily focused on concise and engaging science popularization pieces, while also incorporating other types of works to cover as many years and scientific disciplines as possible. The selected works must be both scientifically rigorous and easy to understand, as well as captivating.