Personal Data of Sun Zhengfan in Scientific Astronomy

Sun Wei, a popular science writer, tells readers about "Random Talk on Astronomy 88 Constellations". This edition of the picture was taken by our reporter Fu Jian.

Changjiang Business Daily reported that he didn't like the "bench" in the laboratory, and Sun, a doctor of astrophysics, would rather be a "half-way monk" writer.

Sun Zhengfan, called Lao Sun, was once called "monkey" by his classmates because he was skinny. Now living in Shanghai, he is already a "fat squirrel". The university studied in the Astrophysics Center of China University of Science and Technology, with master's degree and master's degree. After graduation, "abandon reason and follow literature". Now he is a science column editor of a publishing house in Shanghai and a senior member of the Science Squirrel Society.

The day before yesterday afternoon, "Fat Squirrel" appeared in the multifunctional lecture hall on the second floor of Wuhan Library, telling the Wuhan audience about the historical legends and scientific understanding of 88 constellations, 3 walls, 4 elephants and 28 stars in the sky. Brand culture, selling popular science knowledge, and promoting the sixth edition of "100,000 Why" which I participated in writing.

■ Our reporter Qian Wei

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"You can believe in fox spirits, but there is no reason to give up science."

Sun has many labels: standard science man, North drift, Shandong immortal, and technology boring man. Obviously, he is a doctor of astrophysics, but "his words must be called Greece", claiming that "science is also a kind of culture".

In the question-and-answer session of the lecture, a fourth-grade pupil asked him, "What do you mean by' the word must be called Greece'?" Sun said that the Greeks had a rational spirit, and it was this spirit of constant questioning that made ancient Greece mention "What would the ancient Greeks think?" When it comes to culture and understanding in modern disciplines. China people, on the other hand, lack the spirit of "asking the truth in a casserole".

China has had the concept of "a place with a round sky" since ancient times. In ancient mythology, Pangu opened heaven and earth, and those who were clear ascended to heaven, while those who were turbid descended to earth. "The heaven is round and the place is round" is an intuitive measure of the world by the ancients, not a rational explanation. As early as in Tian Wen, Qu Yuan questioned "which is more in the southeast and northwest? North-South Geometry? "

"It was not until Matteo Ricci entered China that China knew that we were stepping on the earth, and the concept of the earth was put forward by the west in Socrates' time. "

This concept was put forward by Pythagoras, an ancient Greek mathematician who was almost contemporary with Confucius. He found that the earth where we live is not a Ma Pingchuan, but an arc. For example, the farther north you go, the higher the Polaris above your head; To the south, it will become lower. When the ancient Greeks traveled by boat, they didn't see the hull first, then the mast. So Pythagoras thinks that the land under our feet is round, or at least an irregular sphere. Later, an ancient Greek living in Alexandria, Egypt, even measured the size of the earth.

Sun said that in fact, people in ancient China could fully realize that the earth was round. Zhang Heng, an ancient astronomer, even suggested that the moon is a luster reflecting the sun, and recorded the positions and changes of 1464 stars in the sky, but the concept of the earth, like a piece of paper, has not been punctured.

Sun said that China's scientific consciousness was enlightened only after the late Qing Dynasty, while the West began to advocate science and rationality as early as the ancient Greek era. Therefore, popular science work still needs to be done vigorously in China.

"You can believe in fox spirits, but there is no reason to give up science," Dr. Sun said humorously at the end of the lecture.

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Astrophysics is closely related to life.

As a doctor of astrophysics, Sun believes that although astrophysics seems to have nothing to do with ordinary people, it is closely related to people's lives all the time.

The first is time. How did the ancients record the time before the present clock appeared? Obviously, what China people see is the shadow of the sun, which is "immediate". The sundial of the Forbidden City in Beijing shows the time of day through the projection of the sun. In order to further determine the accurate time, modern people rely on science and technology to observe the rotation and revolution of the earth and accurately determine the time in minutes.

Sun said that another important celestial body that influenced the ancients to master time was the moon. "The lunar calendar we are still using is calculated according to the moon's profit and loss." In order to determine the order of farming in a year more accurately, the ancients introduced the sun, determined the 24 solar terms, and added the concept of leap month.

So in the eyes of ancient people in China, the sun and the moon were for people to see. When the moon turns to where and when to sow and harvest, the sun will naturally remind farmers living on the earth. The idea of "harmony between man and nature" is natural. Sun said that this idea originated from inland farming civilization and lasted for thousands of years.

In contrast, in the west, this is not the case. Being close to the ocean, two Dutch astronomers saw astrology completely different from the northern hemisphere where they lived when they bypassed the Cape of Good Hope at the southernmost tip of Africa on a ship loaded with spices during their voyage to the east. They excitedly named these stars that had never been seen in the northern hemisphere with birds of paradise found on the African continent. Later, in the era of geographical discovery, westerners recorded the stars by boat near the South Pole and invented telescopes to observe the stars in the sky.

Galileo, the earliest astronomer who made telescopes, even saw the mountains around the moon and several moons of Jupiter with his own rough telescope. At that time, China people insisted that the shadow on the moon was a osmanthus tree, and WU GANG kept trying to cut down the holy tree with his huge axe.

In the subsequent Renaissance, western astronomers began to use microscopes, compasses and clocks representing scientific progress to name the newly discovered constellations in the sky, while people in China still prohibited people from observing and speculating on the stars. Ordinary people should never talk nonsense.

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A group of "scientific people" make science interesting.

Another purpose of Sun's trip is to create momentum for the book "100,000 Why" which he co-wrote. This book has been published in six editions, and it can be said that it has always been the first enlightenment book for children to contact science in China. Sun is responsible for compiling astronomy and astrophysics in this series.

Sun said that throughout the history of ancient astronomy in China and the West, China's contribution to world astronomy surpassed that of the West in some aspects.

For example, China people marked three walls, four elephants and 28 stars in the sky, and * * * recorded 1, 464 stars in the northern sky, while the west only recorded 1, 200 stars. Moreover, since the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, our people have noticed the sight of Halley's Comet appearing in the sky at a specific time, and detailed records can be found in the accounts of astronomers in past dynasties.

"If modern scientists want to study some comets, they will look for data in China's ancient books," Sun Zhengfan said. "There is no shortage of stargazers in China." Kuafu, the prototype of the myth of "Kuafu chasing the sun", is probably an astronomer who observes the sun. Because standing in the sun for a long time, it was interpreted by later generations as "chasing the sun." However, people who lack rational understanding in China have not made in-depth thinking and research on this phenomenon after careful recording.

Therefore, the current popular science education for young children is so important.

Sun admits that the current domestic science popularization environment is not very good. Good popular science works need to be imported from abroad, and the Science Squirrel Society established in Beijing is committed to promoting popular science education in China.

"Make science interesting" is the label of the scientific squirrel club and the fruit shell net. This group of popular science writers, known as "scientific men", want to make science as popular as literature, movies and music.

In 2007, Sun, who received his doctor's degree in astrophysics, joined the Scientific Squirrel Club because he didn't like sitting on the "cold bench" in the laboratory. However, this group of "half-way monks" writers, whether sitting in the research room or sitting in front of a huge astronomical telescope, seem to be unrecognized by their scientific peers. Sun said that many colleagues in the scientific community called them "flies".

Sun zhengfan

Doctor of Astrophysics, Senior Member of Science Squirrel Society, Spreader of Popular Science Knowledge. Participated in the compilation of the astronomy and astrophysics part of the sixth edition of 100,000 Why.