从“科学救国”到“科学建国”的践行者——中国科学社对中国近代科学发展的三大贡献

From ‘Saving the Nation by Science' to ‘Building the Nation by Science':Three Major Contributions of the Science Society of China to the Development of Modern Science in China

中国科学社是近代中国延续时间最长、影响最为深远的综合性学术社团,它团聚了数千名学术精英,参与并促成了中国近代科学的发生与发展。综括起来,它对中国近代科学的发展有三大贡献:第一,不仅率先揭橥"赛先生"和"德先生",成为新文化运动的先导,而且致力于宣扬什么是科学、科学方法、科学研究与科学精神,区分科学与技术的差别,填补了自鸦片战争后引进西方科学以来中国科学发展的空白,丰富了国人对科学的全面认知。第二,在学术社团组织的创设发展、科研机构的创建、学术评议与奖励机制的创立、名词术语的审定与学术交流系统的建设及科学家社会角色的形成等科学体制化方面有垂范和引领作用。第三,自觉地将自身发展与国家、民族命运紧密相连,积极发挥自身的知识积累优势,介入具体的国家建设事业,并在"科学建国"的讨论中,促成了国家科学战略的初现。

The Science Society of China with thousands of academic elite was the earliest comprehensive science association in modern China that also had the longest lifecycle and the most profound influence. It experienced and contributed to the birth and growth of modern science in China with three major contributions. Firstly, it not only uncovered the terms ＇Mr. Science＇ and ＇Mr. Democracy＇, as the pioneer of the New Culture Movement, but was also dedicated to promote the idea of science, scientific methodology, scientific research and the spirit of science, which helped the Chinese to build up a thorough cognition of science, and thus filled the void left since the Opium War started to introduce western science. Secondly, it had demonstration and guidance effects upon scientific institutionalization, i.e., the founding and development of an association, the setup of a scientific institution, the formulation of academic senate and reward mechanism, the approval of terminology, the construction of academic communication system, and the formation of the social roles of the scientists. Thirdly, it volunteered to bond its own development closely to the fate of the state and the nation, by actively taking part in the discussion of the ＇Building the Nation by Science＇ plan and the specific construction works, which promoted the debut of national scientific strategy.