著者

和泉 ちえ

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.30, no.178, pp.97-106, 1991-07-03

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The Mechanica reveals to us some of Aristotle's basic attitudes towards mathematica and physica. In Aristotle's division of knowledge, there seems to be a clear distinction between mathematica and physica, but in fact, these two kinds of knowledge have the common basis on Plato's five mathemata described in the Republic. Mechanical problems have something in common with both mathematica and physica, for the method is demonstrated by mathematica and its objects belong to physica. Furthermore, mechanica relates closely to stereometria which Plato himself introduced in addition to the Pythagorean four mathemata, intending the reconstruction of those traditional 'quadrivium' in his Republic. In the system of Aristotle's demonstrative science, mechanica connected with stereometria treats its object as a 'stereon' in motion. But in his ontology, the 'stereon' means 'mathematical solid' which must be capable of perception. 'Moving stereon' means 'moving mathematical solid' and if this is restricted to the natural world, the objects of mechanica are metamorphosed into those of physica. Considering mechanica in this division of Aristotle's system, we can see the gradual transition from mathematica to physica. We recognize mechanica as the soil from which physica comes into existence.

著者

今井 正浩

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.46, no.244, pp.268-269, 2007-12-26

著者

金山 浩司

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.45, no.239, pp.145-156, 2006-09-26

被引用文献数

2

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In this paper, I examine the reason for the subsidence of Soviet dispute over philosophical legitimation of modern physics in the late 1930s. The battle of scientists against party ideologues or their sympathizers was politically adventurous in the period of the Great Terror. In fact, established scientists such as Nikolai Vavilov were severely accused by opponents and were led even to be imprisoned. However, in spite of the heated attack to some leading physicists in the dispute over modern physics in philosophical journals, the worst tragedy was avoided in general. I maintain that Sergei Vavilov, one of the most influential physicists of this period, acted as a crucial negotiator in this process. By learning the Marxist terminology or a politically correct attitude in the discourse, Vavilov succeeded in soothing the party ideologues and at the same time guarding modern physics or physicists. In some respect he made a compromise, but it was a very valuable one.

著者

中根 美知代

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.34, no.193, pp.44-46, 1995-04-07

著者

有賀 暢迪

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.51, no.263, pp.160-169, 2012-09-26

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In his classical article "Eighteenth-century attempts to resolve the vis viva controversy" (1965), T. L. Hankins gave a reassessment of the vis viva controversy, dispute about the Cartesian (mv) and Leibnizian (mv^2) measures of "force." Contrary to traditional views, Hankins's and others' works have established that it was not d'Alembert's Traite de dynamique (1743) which put an end to the controversy. But then, when and how did it end? The present article argues that in the middle of the eighteenth-century, some philosophers or mathematicians tried to dissolve the controversy by rejecting its very premise: the concept of "force of bodies in motion." After briefly discussing the popularity of this concept in the vis viva controversy, I will examine claims and thoughts of three personae. D'Alembert's ambition to build the system of mechanics with highest certainty led him to abandon the idea of force in bodies, because it was too "obscure" and too "metaphysical" to serve as the basis. In a similar manner Maupertuis complained about the obscurity of that idea, and with his original principle he aimed at substituting "conservation" of force for "least" action. With regard to Euler, he insisted that force could not be attributed to individual bodies but to their relations, and that force was derived from the nature of bodies such as inertia or impenetrability. Thus it was by rejecting "force of bodies in motion" that the vis viva controversy began to end; not by, as is often said, realizing that both measures were valid.

著者

有賀 暢迪

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.50, no.259, pp.150-153, 2011-09-27

著者

池上 俊三

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.47, no.247, pp.129-139, 2008-09-25

被引用文献数

2

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The Japanese optical industry started with the outbreak of World War One when the import of the optical weapons was suspended. The Imperial Japanese Navy made a decision to produce them domestically. The optical factory of the Naval Arsenal in Tsukiji succeeded in making an original rangefinder for preproduction purposes. In this paper, I would like to discuss the technology transformation process of the Japanese optical industry by verifying the technological progress of Japanese rangefinders. The database of the Industrial Property Digital Library is used. The early composition of the Japanese optical industry was the Naval Arsenal factory and two private companies closely associated with the government (i.e. Nippon Kogaku K.K. and Tokyo Gasu Denki K.K.). The new optical design technology (ray tracing method) was introduced to the Naval Arsenal by Kogoro Yamada from England independently from the German engineers whom Nippon Kogaku K.K. invited. However, due to the disarmament by the Washington Naval Treaty, the Naval Arsenal was closed and the optical factory of Tokyo Gasu Denki K.K. was also shut down despite its high technological level. As a result rangefinder and optical glass manufacturing technology was transferred to Nippon Kogaku K.K. from the Naval Arsenal which became a single powerful optical company. It was made clear in this paper that the technological level of the Japanese optical industry was self-reliant by early the Showa era through close cooperation between military, industry and academic.

著者

池上 俊三

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.49, no.255, pp.129-142, 2010-09-24

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of optical design technology of Japanese photographic lenses by analyzing some historical documents of optical designs, patent specifications and the correspondence between Ryozo Furukawa (an engineer of Nippon Kogaku K.K.) and Tatsuhiko Arakawa (an employee of Nippon Kogaku K.K.). The first Japanese photographic lens "Hexar" was developed by Hiroo Mouri of Rokuoh-sha with the assistance of Kogoro Yamada (an engineering officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy) in 1931. It was manufactured making use of Seidel's formulae and ray-tracing. Kakuya Sunayama (a designing manager of Nippon Kogaku K.K.) directed photographic lens technology in Nippon Kogaku K.K. from 1928 to 1937. Photographic lens technology is dual-use technology. In both cases, the demand by the military that needed aerial cameras advanced photographic lens technology. Later this outcome was transferred to civilian use. The military demanded high quality photographic lenses which met the high cost. Up until about 1935, private companies had sophisticated optical design technology and mass production facilities for photographic lenses. They also owned the data of the photographic lens designs and the technological accumulation of optical designing. It has become clear that the Japanese "original optical designs of photographic lenses" were established around 1938.

著者

水沢 光

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.52, no.266, pp.70-80, 2013-06-25

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In World War II, when Japan was under a scientific blockade, the Ministry of Education provided a science and technology information service, such as summary reports of foreign journals and translations of foreign books. The information service covered a wide area of scientific investigation. Although the Japanese government advocated an emphasis on wartime research at its August 1943 Cabinet meeting, the Ministry of Education continued to expand the information service. Previous studies give no details on how these science-promoting measures were adopted in wartime. This paper, using the Inumaru Records in Japan's National Diet Library, reveals that the information service started and expanded through a loose coalition between scientists and Ministry of Education officials. Inumaru Hideo( 1904-1990) was a Ministry of Education official who took charge of the information service. In August 1942, the Ministry started a summary reports service for German academic journals in response to scientist complaints about the blockade. The Ministry left the choice of journals up to scientists, and the reports service continued to expand until late 1944. In July 1943, the Ministry started a translation project for foreign books, addressing a decline in students' academic ability resulting from a cut in higher-education requirements. In the project, textbooks in various fields translated into Japanese, and the translation project continued after the war.

著者

平井 浩

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.40, no.218, pp.65-74, 2001-06-28

著者

菊池原 洋平

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.40, no.217, pp.24-34, 2001-03-28

参考文献数

24

被引用文献数

2

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As a physician and a natural philosopher in the Renaissance, Paracelsus discusses in his works the structure of this world and individual things as well as the human body. All things in this world consist not only of four elements which Aristotle and his followers advocated, but also of three substances (sulfur, mercury and salt) which can be regarded as the offspring from the Arabic alchemical tradition. The aim of this paper is to consider a structural relationship between four elements and three substances form the viewpoint of the "life" concept, which was prominent in the Renaissance. My paper puts emphasis on the following items : 1. Every thing is given material body by just one element, not by four elements, in which qualitative difference can be discerned; four elements do not mutually transform as they do in the Aristotelian theory. 2. Four elements are the mother's womb bearing all things, and give to each of them nourishments for its activity. 3. Three substances are vital activities in the body, not a soul as assumed in the traditional Western thought. 4. An individualization of a thing is determined by both the activity of inherent three substances as a seed and their quantitative and qualitative differences. 5. A creation of this world is a process in which four elements are so fertilized by three substances as in biological fertilization. Therefore, a structural relationship between four elements and three substances is derived from an idea of the generative function based on the "life" concept. Accordingly we can safely say that four elements and three substances are theorized by his empirical thought which has "life" concept as an indispensable ingredient. It is not until four elements and three substances are combined each other that all things become of matter and life. In regard to the organization of a thing, it is not composed of just three substances; three substances do not in turn dominate four elements; rather, both need each other.

著者

平岡 隆二

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.46, no.242, pp.65-77, 2007-06-26

参考文献数

42

被引用文献数

1

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This paper discusses the content and characteristics of a hitherto unexamined manuscript Tenmongata kakitome (Astronomical Note), Isahaya City Library, Nagasaki. This anonymous and undated manuscript is a compilation of 83 short passages concerning mainly Western astronomy and geography. Although almost all the passages lack information about the sources from which they are taken, textual comparison clearly reveals that a half of them (41 passages) corresponds to the text of the Nigi ryakusetsu, a typical of Nanban astronomy books which originated from Jesuit missionary activities during the 'Christian century' in Japan (1549-1650). Moreover, the other passages contain much information relating to Rangaku (Dutch studies), such as Latin and Dutch texts with Japanese translations. Textual comparison reveals that some of them obviously correspond to those seen in the Nichigetsukei wage (Translation about the sundial and moondial) of Motoki Ryoei (1735 -1794), a famous Nagasaki interpreter of Dutch. These facts show that this compilation was completed later than the Tenmei era (1781-1788), probably around Nagasaki, by extracting and combining several texts of the two books as well as the other sources. In effect, the Tenmongata kakitome is not only a rare example which illuminates the transmission of these two books, but also provides the evidence that the two lines of circulation, i.e. those of Nanban and Rangaku astronomy, which were hitherto thought un-interrelated, certainly met each other at least later than the Tenmei era.

著者

中山 茂

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.41, no.223, pp.156-162, 2002-09-25

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私はこれまで興味に任せて科学史の中でもいろんな分野に手を出してきたが,自分で評価してみて,自然科学的に見て,もっともはっきりした業績だと思うものは,ともに若い頃初出として『科学史研究』に載せた「消長法の研究」(I)1963.4-6:(66): 68-84, (II)1963.7-9:(67):128-130, (III)1964:(69):8-17と「符天暦の天文学史的位置」1964:(71):120-122の二つである.問題のかなりインターナルな性質上,これらはともに『科学史研究』に載せるべき,あるいは他では載せてくれない,典型的な仕事と思うので,これらを中心として,その後の発展や影響,将来の方向,私の感想(と自慢話)を述べてみよう.以上の二つの論文のうち,前者の方が三回に分割して掲載した大論文であり,寄書に過ぎない後者よりずっと長く,私のかけた時間も比較にならないほど長く,自分ではそれだけ大きな仕事だと評価しているのだが,影響の点から考えて,後者の方を先に取り上げよう.

著者

伊藤 憲二 中村 征樹 西山 崇 小林 学 岡本 拓司 梶 雅範

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.43, no.231, pp.165-179, 2004-09-28

著者

石川 洋

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.45, no.238, pp.132-133, 2006-06-27

著者

島原 健三

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.39, no.214, pp.118-120, 2000-06-28

被引用文献数

1

著者

夏目 賢一

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.49, no.255, pp.152-162, 2010-09-24

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Michael Faraday introduced the idea of contiguous particles in order to explain the induction phenomena of electricity in 1837, thus denying the action-at-a-distance theory. However, he could not completely eliminate the possibility of action at a distance among particles, because he did not sufficiently consider rarefied air which could transmit electricity. He therefore had to assume the action at an insensible distance to account for the electric transmission in rarefied air. When he published his theory of induction, Faraday stated to consider the criterion of contact of particles only for a sensible distance, not discussing the action at an insensible distance. This idea of insensible distance came from the discussion of insensible distance stemmed from a similar argument in British empiricism, especially from the Scottish common-sense school tradition, e.g. John Robison and Thomas Thomson. They divided the qualities of matters into primary and secondary by invoking human senses as suitable criteria. While primary qualities were measurable quantities in mechanics, the secondary qualities consisted of primary qualities. Under the strong influence of Newtonian mechanics, these primary qualities included attraction and repulsion like universal gravity. Therefore it was not problematic to assume action at an insensible distance when the matters seemed to contact each other. Therefore, assuming action at an insensible distance was acceptable in the case of bodies contacting each other. This understanding led Faraday to the idea of contiguous particle.

著者

野澤 聡

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.48, no.252, pp.193-203, 2009-12-25

被引用文献数

2

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Daniel Bernoulli (1700-1772) is known for his masterpiece Hydrodynamica (1738), which presented the original formalism of "Bernoulli's Theorem," a fundamental law of fluid mechanics. Previous historical analyses have assumed that Daniel solely used the controversial principle of "conservation of vis viva" to introduce his theorem in this work. The "vis viva controversy" began in the 1680s between Cartesians, who defended the importance of momentum, and Leibnizians, who defended vis viva, as the basis of mechanics. In the 1720s, various Newtonians entered the dispute and sided with the crucial role of momentum. Since then, historians believed that 18th century natural philosophers regarded "vis viva" as incompatible with and opposed to Newtonian mechanics. This article argues that to introduce his theorem, Bernoulli not only used the principle of the conservation of vis viva but also the acceleration law, which originated in Newton's second law of motion. By looking at how eighteenth century scholars actually solved the challenging problems of their period instead of looking only at their philosophical claims, this paper shows the practice of mechanics at that time was far more pragmatic and dynamic than previously realized.

著者

羽片 俊夫 東 慎一郎 伊藤 和行 高橋 憲一

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.42, no.228, pp.231-242, 2003-12-25

著者

松原 洋子

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.52, no.265, pp.21-23, 2013-03-26

参考文献数

10