1. The significance of scientific beauty
Scientific aesthetic feeling refers to that something with scientific beauty acts on the aesthete. Arouse special psychological feelings such as joy and pleasure in his inner world.
It is self-evident for scientists that scientific beauty can be aroused in scientific understanding and discussion. French mathematician Poincare said: "Scientists study nature not because it is useful. He studies it because he can get pleasure from it. He can have fun because it is beautiful. " Einstein said in analyzing his own scientific feelings: "Illuminate my way, constantly give me new courage, and let me face up to the ideal of life happily, that is, truth, goodness and beauty."
There is no doubt about the objective existence of scientific beauty, and most scientists have aesthetic feelings of scientific beauty. Therefore, scientific learning is not only a scientific cognitive activity, but also an aesthetic perception process. If knowledge and aesthetics can be combined in scientific learning, aesthetics will stimulate learning interest, reduce learning burden, increase talents and improve learning efficiency.
2. The connotation of scientific beauty
The beauty of science is also called the beauty of scientific theory, including the beauty of scientific experiments. Natural science studies the objective laws of nature, and scientific theory reflects and summarizes the objective laws of material movement. Therefore, to understand the beauty of science, we should understand it from two aspects: the relationship between the beauty of science and the aesthetic feeling that people produce in scientific cognitive activities.
Scientific theory is the reflection of scientists' minds on the beauty of natural content. The discovery process of scientific theory is the process of scientists' aesthetic feeling of the beauty of natural content. Scientific beauty exists objectively, as the modern physicist Professor Yang Zhenning said: "There is beauty in science, and all scientists feel this way." Once scientists creatively discover the inherent laws of nature and understand the amazing order, unity and harmony of the internal structure of nature, this organic and unified natural picture will produce the beauty of science when it blends with the aesthetic's love for nature and science. As scientist Pasteur said, "When you finally understand something, the happiness you feel is the greatest happiness that human beings can feel." This kind of happiness refers to scientific aesthetic feeling. In this sense, through hard study and practice, a student can master scientific knowledge and laws, improve his interest in learning, and embody the beauty of science.
Scientific beauty exists widely in all kinds of natural sciences. As the object of scientific research, nature is complex, colorful and harmonious. For thousands of years, various natural sciences have revealed the inherent order and mystery of nature from different aspects and formed their own scientific theories. It not only tells people the truth, but also shows the brilliance of beauty. The following is just a simple explanation of the scientific beauty of middle school mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and other disciplines:
① Mathematics. Mathematics is a science that studies the spatial form and quantitative relationship of the objective world. Mathematics is a "kingdom of beauty". The beauty in mathematics is not only manifested in the beauty of number, shape and proportion, but also in the beauty of precision, abstraction, logic, simplicity, symbol, harmony, symmetry, order and unity. As Russell, a British mathematical scientist, said, "If we treat mathematics correctly, it not only has truth, but also has supreme beauty." Throughout all axioms, formulas and theorems in the field of mathematics, all of them reflect the beauty of order, symmetry, harmony and unity in the objective world. It is precisely because of this pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty that mathematicians have promoted the development of mathematics itself, from counting to summarizing algorithms; From the inverse operation of addition and multiplication to subtraction and division; From concrete numbers to the establishment of algebraic equations; The concept of number has also developed from positive number to negative number, from positive rational number to negative rational number, from real number to complex number and imaginary number, all of which are the pursuit of order, symmetry and harmony in the kingdom of numbers.
Various formulas, theorems and laws in mathematics show the logical relationship between known and unknown, quantitative and variable, quantity and quality, space and time in a concise and beautiful form, which makes people feel a kind of logical power. The success of mathematical research has enabled all natural sciences to establish their own theories with mathematical methods and languages and become accurate sciences. Beauty in mathematics is respected not only by mathematicians, but also by scientists in other fields. Known as the queen of scientific beauty.
② Physics. Physics is a science that studies the most basic forms of material motion, such as mechanical motion, molecular motion, electromagnetic motion, atoms and nuclei. As far as middle school is concerned, we can be exposed to the physical contents of various branches such as force, heat, sound, light, electricity, magnetism and nuclear. It is the research results of physics that have been transformed into a generation of science and technology, which has made amazing changes in the world today. Turn the dream of ancient the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon into the reality of Apollo landing on the moon. Understanding the laws of sound, light, electricity and magnetism has created modern production and enriched modern life.
Beauty in physics includes the beauty of physical phenomena, such as the beauty that sunlight is decomposed into different colors under a prism, and more importantly, the beauty expressed by physical laws. The laws of science are beautiful. The development or understanding of scientific laws will inevitably arouse people's joy. This kind of joy, different from simple knowledge, occurs because it needs to change in order. There is only one theorem, which can contain endless examples. People have this kind of beauty when they study nature and know some important principles or universal laws. For example, Galileo discovered that the law of inertia unified uniform linear motion and static state; Newtonian mechanics is called a model of scientific beauty by later generations. Starting from the four laws, the eight original definitions and the three laws, he obtained a perfect mechanical system by deduction, which perfectly unified the mechanical movements of heaven and earth. When we study Newtonian mechanics, we can feel the beauty of theory, formula, mathematics, logic and experiment. In electromagnetism, Faraday realized the idea that electricity can produce magnetism and magnetism can also produce electricity from symmetrical beauty, started his exquisite experiments, finally confirmed his conjecture on beauty and discovered Faraday's law of electromagnetic unity. On this basis, Maxwell established the famous Maxwell equation, revealed the existence of electromagnetic waves, and identified light as electromagnetic waves, completing the unification of three physical phenomena: electricity, magnetism and light. This equation was predicted and later confirmed by Hertz experiment. The equation is concise and symmetrical, giving people a harmonious, orderly, unified and novel aesthetic feeling. The accuracy of theoretical prediction makes people feel the power of theory. Einstein said, "When I was a student, the subject that fascinated me most was Maxwell's theory."
③ chemistry. Chemistry is a science that studies the composition, structure, properties and changing laws of matter. Learning chemistry can not only make people understand the changing law of material combination and decomposition, but also help people master the skills of chemical experiments. Chemical changes mainly involve molecular and atomic levels. Molecules and atoms constitute 67 million forms of matter in nature. The beauty in chemistry includes not only the factor beauty of material structure under high magnification microscope, but also the beauty of chemical experiment and the beauty of harmony and unity embodied in chemical theory.
Since Boyle put forward the concept of scientific chemical elements in17th century, thus establishing chemistry as an independent discipline, lavoisier's oxidation theory unified the combustion phenomenon in18th century, and Dalton's atomism and later molecular theory in19th century gave a perfect explanation to the known laws of chemical experience. The discovery of the periodic law of elements further unified the inherent regularity of all chemical elements in nature. In the periodic table, people can not only see the truth of science, but also see amazing beauty. There is order, harmony, quantitative change, qualitative change, rhythm, periodicity and circulation, which is full of the sense of rhythm of music. It not only deepened people's understanding of the essence of elements, but also left a blank for the undiscovered elements at that time and predicted their properties, thus promoting the chemical research of cyclic elements and presenting their creative beauty. The periodic table of elements has become a wonderful example of chemical beauty.
Since German chemist Willer made urea and other organic substances from inorganic substances, it has been proved that organic substances and inorganic substances are harmonious and unified. 1965, crystalline insulin with biological activity was synthesized for the first time in China, which further confirmed the harmony and unity of nonliving substances and living substances. Chemists are obsessed with the pursuit of wonderful harmony and symmetry in the chemical world, which promotes the development of chemistry itself and creates a happy future for mankind.
4 biology. Biology is a science that studies the laws of life movement. Self-completion of metabolism and self-reproduction are the main characteristics of biological life activities. On the earth, there are about 2 million known creatures, which can be divided into three categories: animals, plants and microorganisms. The biological world is colorful and full of vitality, and the biology itself is beautiful, but the beauty of biology cannot be separated from the beauty of biological science theory.
⑤ Cytology. The emergence of cell theory has found a unified foundation of beauty for the biological world. Both the flowers of plants and the songs and dances of animals are the result of intracellular differentiation and development. The scientific evolution theory established by Darwin has found a beautiful way for the development of beauty in the biological world. The colorful and wonderful adaptation in the biological world can be explained by natural selection, and there is no need to look for reasons from the nonexistent God. "One mother has two daughters, even three kinds of mothers" is a genetic problem, and the formula of genetic law behind complex genetic phenomena is very simple and beautiful. The revelation of DNA molecules, the gene carrier, has found a deeper material basis for the unified beauty of the biological world. The double helix structure of DNA is beautiful and intoxicating; The principle of base complementarity gives people a sense of beauty of complementary symmetry, and the genetic code is recorded according to the order of base arrangement. Biological survival and development, genetic variation. Are controlled by this "life blueprint". Once people reveal all its secrets, they can "follow the map" to change the genes of organisms to change them. What a beautiful vision! It is this ideal of beauty that leads people to pursue tirelessly on the road of biological science. Biological form is beautiful, and biological theory is more beautiful.
3. The characteristics of scientific beauty
In front of us, we have discussed the contents of scientific beauty in various disciplines and the experience and discussion of modern scientists on scientific beauty. The basic characteristics of scientific beauty can be summarized into four aspects, namely, harmony, simplicity, symmetry and novelty.
① Harmonious aspects of scientific beauty. Most aestheticians hold that beauty is harmonious. The beauty of scientific theory is the reflection of the harmony of nature in people's consciousness. It is the organic unity of theoretical internal harmonious structure and external harmonious function. The former means that the logical structure of the theory is reasonable and symmetrical, making the concept clear, concise and beautiful; The latter can correctly reflect the objective world and conform to the test of correct theories such as observing experimental facts. Such as the law of conservation of matter, the law of conservation of energy and so on. These theories are consistent in themselves and have extensive connections with various disciplines. The wider the general adaptability of any theory, the higher its aesthetic coordinates.
The long-term evolution of nature shows that it is optimal, harmonious, balanced and unified in nature. All theories that can express the inherent characteristics of nature have harmonious beauty. For example, the aesthetic value of analytic geometry lies in the organic unity of algebra, geometry and logic; The aesthetic value of Newtonian mechanics is that it is the unity of macro-motion; The periodic law of elements unifies the elements of the material world in an orderly way; The theory of biological evolution unifies the origin of millions of species.
Harmony means that all parts of things are harmonious, balanced and comfortable, and diversity is unified. Whether a scientific theory can reflect the harmony of nature is one of the important criteria of its aesthetic value.
② Simple aspects of scientific beauty. Einstein believed that the criterion for evaluating the beauty of a theory is simplicity in principle. Simplicity here refers to the unity of simple forms and profound connotations of scientific theories, theorems and formulas. These two aspects must be understood together, that is, starting from as few assumptions or axioms as possible and summarizing as many empirical facts as possible through logical deduction. Because, "the simpler the premise of the theory, the more kinds of things involved, the wider the scope of application and the deeper the aesthetic feeling." It should be noted that the simplicity here does not mean that learning this theory is the least difficult, but that the theory is based on the least independent assumptions or formulas. For example, Einstein's mass-energy relationship E = mc2 profoundly reveals the changing laws of countless mass-energy relationships in micro, macro and cosmology of nature, but its form is very concise and has strong aesthetic value. This simple formula, printed on the stamps commemorating Einstein published in China, represents the essence of this great scientist's contribution to mankind.
③ Symmetry of scientific beauty. The symmetry of scientific theory comes from the extensive symmetry of natural material form and its moving picture. Kekule's theory of benzene molecular structure is beautiful, not only because it is consistent with the experimental facts, but also because it adopts the geometric figures with double axisymmetry, which gives people beautiful charm. Atoms, molecules and biological structures in nature all have this symmetrical beauty. This balance and stability give people a sense of beauty. Therefore, all theories that can reflect this feature of nature are also beautiful, such as balance theory, symmetry theory, duality theory and stability theory, which have high aesthetic value. In scientific theory, the aesthetic concept of symmetry has aroused the interest of many scientists. Such as space symmetry, time symmetry, personality symmetry and conservation symmetry (various conservation laws), once discovered, scientists will often be excited to see the strange and beautiful interior of nature. Biological inheritance and variation, assimilation and alienation; Chemical synthesis and decomposition, oxidation and reduction; Physical electric and magnetic fields, wave-particle duality, negative electrons and positrons are all appreciated for their beautiful symmetrical forms. Mathematically, the necessary and sufficient condition of a perfect proposition is its symmetrical beauty. For the development of mathematics, many mathematicians have exhausted the energy of graduate students in pursuit of the symmetrical beauty of propositions.
(4) the novelty of scientific beauty. Bacon said: "Nothing is extremely beautiful that has nothing to do with some singularity in symmetry." The novelty of the beauty of scientific theory comes from the originality of scientific thought and the novelty of scientific method. Originality is the vitality and aesthetic value of scientific theory. Novelty and harmony are the unity of opposites, and the novelty content must have harmony in order to show the novelty beauty of scientific theory.
In principle, scientific theories provide people with new knowledge about nature. If scientific theories clarify the knowledge that is not available in the background of human knowledge, put forward unexpected scientific hypotheses, and make novel achievements on the basis of reliable scientific achievements of predecessors, this major novel theory will trigger a scientific revolution and promote the development of science to a higher level, and its aesthetic value will be even greater. Einstein's theory of relativity is a typical example of this novel beauty.
Novelty is considered as an important feature of scientific beauty, because it embodies the artistic factors in the discovery of scientific theories. Novel scientific ideas can be inspired and germinated through observation or experiment, but they are essentially the crystallization of creative thinking. No matter how much data is accumulated in simple observation and experiment, it is impossible to directly and inevitably derive original opinions. For example, in the history of biology, Linnai, a biologist in the18th century, devoted his life to the investigation and classification of organisms and accumulated a lot of materials about biological characteristics, but he came to the conclusion that a species is unchangeable. /kloc-in the 9th century, Darwin investigated the relationship between different biological characters and the environment, and produced the scientific idea of biological evolution. In the history of chemistry, the same experimental study of redox reaction was used by British chemist Priest to repair the old phlogiston theory. However, lavoisier, a Frenchman, realized a new oxidation theory from the experiment.
In a word, the characteristics of scientific beauty are harmony, simplicity, symmetry and novelty, and harmony and simplicity are the most basic factors of scientific beauty.
Over the years, through a lot of research and practice, we have summarized the following three points in cultivating scientific aesthetic feeling:
First, strengthen the understanding of the basic concepts and principles of science. As mentioned in the previous analysis, scientific beauty exists objectively. Why do some students only see symbols and formulas, but they don't feel beauty? The reason is that scientific beauty is rational beauty based on the harmonious and orderly internal structure of things. As far as its abstraction is concerned, it is a deeper beauty than natural beauty and artistic beauty. To touch it and feel it requires a high degree of understanding and imagination. In this sense, scientific aesthetic feeling is the product of human creativity and understanding. The ancients said, "Knowing it is deep, seeing it is true." This is a fact.
Understanding refers to the process of understanding new things by revealing the internal relations between things, so that people can grasp the internal essence of things through the external phenomena of things. Understanding is an indispensable psychological factor in the process of scientific aesthetics. It plays an important role in the formation of scientific aesthetic feeling. Understanding in scientific aesthetic activities can generally be divided into two types, one is premise understanding and the other is perceptual understanding.
For example, the periodic law of chemical elements is generally recognized as beautiful, but in order to gain aesthetic feeling in learning, we must first have a necessary understanding of its background and atomic structure theory, which is a prerequisite understanding. On this basis, we can feel the beauty of the arrangement of elements in the periodic table from quantitative to qualitative, from nonmetal to metal, from the redox of their compounds, from the similarity of chemical properties of the same group of elements to the regularity of their combined acid-base properties. At the same time, the newly learned knowledge of elements and compounds can be brought into the periodic table of elements, and their possible chemical properties can also be inferred according to their positions. The application is accurate, convenient and flexible, which overcomes the difficulties of too much knowledge, too miscellaneous, too difficult to remember and too easy to confuse in chemistry learning, and realizes the beauty of order, harmony and unity in the periodic law, and enters the situation of aesthetic feeling and understanding. This is not felt by people who don't know much about scientific knowledge, skim the flowers, and dabble in it.
Second, cultivate students' strong scientific curiosity. The aesthetic feeling of science is always closely related to the "curiosity satisfaction" of scientists in scientific activities. The famous scientist Asimov said: "Science begins with curiosity." Scientific curiosity is usually manifested in exploring what he has noticed, but he has no satisfactory understanding of things or their relationships. The so-called explanation is to seek the principle behind natural phenomena that have no obvious connection. This strong desire sublimates into scientific curiosity and inspires people to carry out scientific exploration.
For example, in Copernicus' time, most people thought that the sun, moon and stars in space revolved around the earth. But astronomical observations at that time found that some stars seemed to have their own orbits. Venus, for example, sometimes appears after sunset and sometimes before sunrise; Jupiter takes 12 years as the cycle, Mars takes 2 years, and Saturn takes 30 years to complete this journey. How to explain the motion of these celestial bodies and the phenomenon of solar eclipse? Copernicus's curiosity drove him to study astronomy for 30 years, and finally established the "Heliocentrism", which opened the curtain of modern science. After reading Copernicus' theory, the German astronomer Kepler praised: "I proved that it is true from the deepest part of my soul, and I enjoyed its beauty with incredible joy."
Scientific understanding begins with question marks and suspense, and it is the existence of problems that inspires people to have scientific discussions. The solution of question marks and suspense will inevitably bring a scientific sense of satisfaction. As Madame Curie said, people who can achieve "perfection" in scientific work are often people with strong scientific curiosity. They constantly ask and solve problems in their own learning practice, understand the internal order and harmonious picture of nature, enjoy "perfection" and form a scientific aesthetic feeling.
Third, cultivate students' scientific aesthetic consciousness. The so-called aesthetic consciousness refers to a kind of consciousness formed by objective external aesthetic objects reflected in the human brain. This reflection is not passive, but a relationship full of people's subjective initiative, reflecting people's aesthetic needs. It is formed by people's long-term aesthetic practice. In the process of learning scientific knowledge, we should also adopt an aesthetic attitude, accumulate aesthetic experience in appreciating scientific theories and gradually develop aesthetic habits. Over time, this aesthetic habit can develop into aesthetic consciousness, form aesthetic sensitivity to scientific theory and improve scientific aesthetic ability.