论麦克斯韦在卡文迪什实验室发展中的历史地位

On the Historic Position of Maxwell in the Development of the Cavendish Experimental Laboratory

卡文迪什实验室在近现代物理学史上的地位是举世公认的.麦克斯韦作为第一届卡文迪什实验物理学教授兼实验室主任,他在建室初期所做的重要贡献,对实验室的发展产生了深刻影响.他确立的建室宗旨,为实验室长期发展指明方向.他提出的建室方针政策,不仅奠定了英国实验物理的研究传统与学风基础,而且对近现代实验物理的发展产生了重要的影响.他编辑出版的卡文迪什的科学论文集,为研究卡文迪什的科学思想提供了依据.他培养出的第一代实验物理人才,为英国物理学的振兴构筑起了平台.

It is generally accepted that the Cavendish Experimental Laboratory holds an important position in the history of modern physics. As one of the first professors in the Cavendish Laboratory, Maxwell contributed a lot to its establishment at the early stage and exerted a great influence in its development. The aim laid down by him when he built the laboratory showed a way out to the long- term development of the lab. The policies concerning the construction of the laboratory put forward by him not only laid a foundation to the research tradition of the British experimental physics and the .academic disciplines, but also had an essential impact on the development of modern experimental physics. The collection of scientific articles of Cavendish compiled and published by him provides grounds for the research of Maxwell＇s scientific ideas. The first group of talents in scientific physics cultivated by him contributed a lot to the rejuvenation of British physics.