祖冲之对计量科学的贡献祖冲贡献科学对.doc

祖冲之对计量科学的贡献
关增建* 关增建,男,上海交通大学科学史与科学哲学系教授、博士生导师。
(上海交通大学科学史与科学哲学系,上海 200030)
摘要:祖冲之是南北朝时期的著名科学家,对计量科学做出了很大贡献。他重视测量中的精度问题,重视对计量基准的搜集和保存。他对前代度量衡标准器的研究取得了引人注目的成绩。在时间计量方面,他对基本计时单位回归年、朔望月和时刻制度都做过探讨,他的探讨促进了传统历法的进步。对计量问题的关注是他在科学研究上取得重大成就的重要原因。他的个别工作也有欠严谨之处。
关键词:祖冲之计量史嘉量栗氏量
〔中图分类号〕 〔文献标识码〕A 〔文章编号〕1000-0763(2004)01-0000-07
ZU Chongzhi’s Contributions to Metrology Science
GUAN Zengjian
(Department for the History and Philosophy of Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030)
Abstract:ZU Chongzhi is a famous scientist of the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420~589). He had made great contributions to metrology science then. He paid attention to the problem of precision of measurement and made great effort to collect and preserve the metrological standard apparatus. He gained remarkable achievements in the studying of the standard apparatus of weights and measures of former dynasties. In the field of time measurement, he explored basic time units such as tropical year, lunar month and the system of Shi (one of the 12 two-hour periods into which the day was formerly divided before the introduction of western chronology) and Ke (a time unit in ancient China, which equals minutes). His explorations advanced the development of Chinese traditional calendar. Paying special attention to metrological problems is an important factor for him to obtain fruitful resul