从宋代“客星”到中国“天眼”中的脉冲星——“李约瑟难题”试答

The insight of FAST: From the identification link between the guest star of Song dynasty in China and the pulsar one thousand years ago to "the Needham Puzzle"

研究和分析了中国古代天文学的辉煌成就与当今中国＂天眼＂——500 m口径球面射电望远镜（FAST）科学目标——脉冲星的关系。针对宋朝天文学家记录的客星与FAST正在进行的脉冲星观测,详述了宋代客星记录在世界科技史上的贡献;介绍了脉冲星发现历史与基本天体物理特征,以及脉冲星作为FAST科学目标的意义。以客星到脉冲星的千年追寻为线索,探索和尝试回答＂李约瑟难题＂,认为现代科学是人类文明共同体的长期探索结晶,中国在科学早期的发育过程中播撒了创新火种,而西方在文艺复兴运动中不断完善了科学体系,其中东西方科技的交流与传播得益于蒙古帝国在丝绸之路的远征与开拓。

This paper analyzes the relationship between the achievements of the ancient astronomy and the scientific goal of the FAST（Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope） in China. The guest star, recorded firstly by the astronomers of Song dynasty in 1054, was recognized as the supernova explosion and shown as a Crab nebula, in which a pulsar was formed. Now, the FAST is making the pulsar observation, for understanding the above guest star. The pulsar and its discovery history are reviewed in this paper; furthermore, with a scientific confidence, based on the guest star recorded in 1054 and the FAST for the pulsar search, we try to answer the hard question put forward by Joseph Needham on why the modern scientific revolution did not happen in China despite the high prosperity reached in Song dynasty. It is well acknowledged that science is a common property of the mankind, while China made a great contribution to its initial development, Europe did its best in the Renaissance, and the expansion of Mongol helped the scientific and cultural exchange between the East and the West.