不可“言传”的科学史:科学绘画的本质与功能

History of Science beyond Words:The Essence and Function of Scientific Illustration

科学绘画是对科学发现的描绘,常作为辅助说明文字的插图出现在书籍中。早在公元前4世纪或更早,描绘草药植物的彩色插图就已经出现。到16世纪,欧洲出版了第一部配有生物插图的动物志,奠定了现代自然科学的基础。科学绘画与科学研究相生相伴,它具有记录和保存科学信息、传播科学知识等重要功能。随着时代发展,科学绘画在艺术水平上大大提高,在印刷技术上也有了巨大的进步。但由于人们对科学绘画存在许多误解,它的艺术价值常被低估。

Scientific illustrations,a way of portraying scientific discoveries,are often used in books as supplementary explanations.Back in the 4th century BC or earlier,there were colored illustrations that described different herbal plants.It was not until 16 th century that the first zoography with the illustrations of living beings was published in Europe,which laid the foundation for modern natural science.Scientific illustrations have important functions like recording and preserving scientific information and spreading scientific knowledge.With the development of times,scientific illustrations are promoted greatly in painting art and printing techniques.However,the value of scientific illustration is often underestimated as people have misunderstanding about them.