发现脉冲星的两只“眼睛”——科学与技术因素分析

Two Eyes for the Discovery of Pulsars:An Analysis of Scientific and Technological Factors

脉冲星是天文学史上的重大发现,开启了射电天文学的新纪元。从科学与技术相互关系的角度,考察其发现过程。本文认为有两方面因素在起作用,一是科学的传统,即20世纪30年代以来天体物理学思想和理论的传统;一是新的观测技术,即射电天文观测方法与仪器的发展。这两个因素犹如发现脉冲星的两只"眼睛"。就科学传统而言,脉冲星的发现与行星际闪烁的测量、类星体的发现、恒星演化理论的中子星假说等一系列天体物理学理论一脉相承。就观测技术来说,脉冲星的发现与射电望远镜行星际闪烁阵列的观测方法和技术创新密不可分,新技术为天文学带来了新发现。脉冲星的发现,见证了近现代天文学是如何在科学与技术的相互交织中不断向前发展的。

Pulsars are important discoveries in the history of astronomy,which opened a new era of radio astronomy. This paper reviews the discovery process from the perspective of mutual relationships between science and technology and finds that there are two factors playing role in their discovery process. One is the scientific tradition,which is about thoughts and theories in astrophysics since the 1930 s. The other is a new observational technology,namely the development of observation instrumentation in radio astronomy. Both factors functioned like two eyes for the discovery of pulsars. In terms of the scientific tradition,the discovery of pulsars was consistent with a series of theories in astrophysics like the measurement of interplanetary scintillation,the discovery of quasars and the development of neutron star hypothesis of stellar evolution. In terms of the observational technology,the discovery of pulsars went hand in hand with observation methods and technology innovation of interplanetary scintillation array. New technology brought new discovery of pulsars in astronomy. The discovery of pulsars witnessed how modern astronomy made constant progress with interactions between science and technology.