Chapter 297 Textbooks
After the Opium War, a large number of Western scientific books began to be introduced into China. According to statistics, during the 73 years of the late Qing Dynasty (1838-1911), as many as 2,100 Western scientific books were introduced into China, including many physics books, such as "Electrical Standards", "Optical Theory", "New Edition of Natural History", "Gravity", "Electricity", "Acoustics", "Optics", "Talking", "Introduction to the Study of Things", "Measurement of the Study of Things", "Optical Essentials", "The Essentials of Thermodynamics", etc.
Due to the complex identities of the translators, the translations of physics terms in these books are extremely confusing. For example, the word friction is translated as "resistance", "surface resistance", "resistance force", "surface resistance", "friction resistance", "adhesion", etc.
The word magnetism can be translated as "magnetic gas", "Antarctic gas", "Arctic gas", "iron-magnetic gas", "magnetic gas", etc.
The word X-ray is translated as "natural light", "X-ray", "electric light", "light beam", "radioactive light", "X-ray", etc.
The inconsistency in the translation of special terms has caused great trouble to students studying physics, so it is imperative to unify physics terms.
Originally, this work was done by Western missionaries. Ten years ago, they established an educational book club at St. John's University in Shanghai to discuss the translation of scientific terms and assigned the task of reviewing terms in various subjects. Among them, terms such as optics, heat, electricity, and astronomy that belonged to physics or were closely related to physics were the responsibility of American missionary John DeCowan.
Although De Cowan came to China in 1863 and lived in China for decades and had a good understanding of Chinese culture, his books had to be proofread by Chinese people. His scientific knowledge and Chinese proficiency could not meet the requirements for reviewing physics terms.
Many translations failed to reflect the original essence of the word, so Zhang Xingjiu took over the job while he was free and directly compiled a "Chinese Physics Dictionary".
In the preface, he also explained his own translation principles, for example, those that have been used for a long time will not be translated separately; those that violate the principles will be translated into new names; foreign names, place names and other proper nouns, except those that have been published, will be temporarily used in the original language; common nouns will be translated mainly based on their meanings, and occasionally based on their pronunciations; nouns should use fewer words, and avoid single words and homophones; unit nouns that are transformed from proper nouns will be translated phonetically, etc.
These are principles that were gradually established in later generations. Now Zhang Xingjiu can directly implement them in one step, saving a lot of time for other translators.
Ma Xiangbo and others were very happy to see the "Chinese Physics Dictionary". They all agreed that the translation of foreign monographs on other subjects could also follow similar principles to form a unified translation method, so that these scientific knowledge could be accepted by more people as soon as possible.
While compiling the dictionary, Zhang Xingjiu's first child was born, a boy. Zhang Xingjiu gave him a simple name, Zhang Guoqiang, which expressed his hope for the country's prosperity.
Shortly after Zhang Guoqiang was born, Aurora University bought a piece of land near Xujiahui and began to build school buildings. At the same time, it published an announcement in the newspaper, announcing that Aurora University would conduct entrance examinations in the first half of next year and officially start school in September. Students who were interested in applying could come to the organizing office to register.
The article also lists the teaching staff of Aurora University. Ma Xiangbo is undoubtedly ranked first. His influence in the education field is not comparable to that of Zhang Xingjiu today. Many people come to the organization for consultation just for this name.
Zhang Xingjiu's name is second only to senior educators such as Ma Xiangbo. Many people hear this name for the first time, but when they see his resume, they are immediately shocked. He is a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne University in France and a visiting professor of the Department of Physics. He has traveled to many countries in Europe and the United States and gave lectures at famous universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, and Göttingen. He is deeply respected by European and American scholars.
How could China have such talent? How could it be that it was ahead of European and American scholars in the field of Western learning? This greatly excited them, and many more students wanted to study in the Department of Physics.
Taking this opportunity, Zhang Xingjiu cooperated with a publishing house to publish his own "Chinese Physics Dictionary". The Educational Society, which was originally responsible for the translation of various nouns, was a little unhappy at first, thinking that this was stealing their project.
But when they found out that the person who did this was Zhang Xingjiu, they all kept silent, because the missionaries who were engaged in the translation of physics terms all knew the name of Zhang Xingjiu. His status in the physics world was much higher than theirs, and his understanding of physics knowledge was far more profound than theirs.
What else can we say about such a person personally compiling the Chinese Physics Dictionary? They quickly bought a few sample books and found that the level of his work was far higher than theirs, so there was even less to say.
Ma Xiangbo sent these sample books to Beijing, Tianjin and other cities where new-style schools had been opened, and gave them to their friends. After taking a look at them, these people also thought that Zhang Xingjiu's translation was very good, so they quickly arranged for physics teachers to revise the textbooks based on this dictionary.
When these people saw the three words "Zhang Xingjiu" in the author column, they immediately expressed their approval. Since they taught physics, they had heard of Zhang Xingjiu's name to some extent and knew that he was the most powerful physicist in China and even in Asia. If they felt that the word was not right, it must be that they did not understand it well, not that there was a problem with Zhang Xingjiu's translation.
This dictionary soon became a must-read book for physics teachers in all schools. Zhang Xingjiu originally thought that he would promote the book even if it meant losing money, but now it seems that he might even be able to make a little money.
But when Aurora University opens in the future, just having a dictionary will not be enough, so Zhang Xingjiu quickly got to work and began compiling textbooks for the Department of Physics. This time he also referred to the writing styles of many sets of physics textbooks in later generations, not only domestic ones, but also foreign ones. He must achieve one goal: even if students study on their own with textbooks, they can actually learn something.
This type of textbook was very common in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. However, after 2000, the newly revised textbooks became more and more confusing, as if they were afraid that students would not learn them.
He can't make this kind of mistake. Nowadays, the country is very backward in all aspects, the teachers' level is not high, and many students cannot afford to go to school. At this time, teaching materials that can be used for self-study are very important.
If the textbooks are easy to understand, students can learn useful knowledge even if the teacher's level is not high. Students can understand more in-depth physics knowledge just by relying on this set of textbooks.
If the textbooks were compiled the same way as they were after 2000, then I'm afraid only a few colleges would be able to teach students, let alone self-study.
Before we knew it, it was already 1901. This year, Zhang Xingjiu had two very important tasks.
(End of this chapter)
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