Constructing Space for Science at the Royal Institution of Great Britain

Those who have worked in the Royal Institution of Great Britain have, since its foundation in 1799, made significant contributions to scientific knowledge, to its practical application, and to its communication to a wide variety of audiences. Such work cannot be carried out in an architectural vacuum, and in this paper we examine how the buildings of the Royal Institution, 20 and 21 Albemarle Street in central London, have shaped the work undertaken within its walls and how, on a number of occasions, the buildings have been reconfigured to take account of the evolving needs of scientific research and communication. This paper is based on the Conservation Plan of the Royal Institution that we wrote during 2003. The Conservation Plan did not examine the land owned by the Royal Institution to the north (i.e., 22 and 23 Albemarle Street; for this area see Richard Garnier, “Grafton Street, Mayfair,” Georgian Group Journal 13 (2003), 210–272), but it did discuss 18 and 19 Albemarle Street. In this paper we concentrate on the core Royal Institution buildings at 20 and 21 Albemarle Street. Other studies of the relationship of architecture,space, and science include Crosbie Smith and Jon Agar, ed., Making Space for Science: Territorial Themes in the Shaping of Knowledge (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997); Peter Galison and Emily Thompson, ed., The Architecture of Science (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999); and Sophie Forgan,“The architecture of science and the idea of a university,” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 20 (1989), 405–434. Frank A.J.L. James is Professor of the History of Science at the Royal Institution; he has written widely on the history of nineteenth-century science in its social and cultural contexts and is editor of the Correspondence of Michael Faraday. He is President of the British Society for the History of Science. Anthony Peers is an Associate of Rodney Melville and Partners where he works in the field of building conservation as an architectural historian. He is a Council member of the Ancient Monument Society.     

Notes on relativistic equations of spin motion

Grounds and applications of Bargmann-Michel-Telegdi equations for the precession of the polarization vector of relativistic particles are considered. A critical question in the discussion is the orientation of the rest frame reference vectors. Møller reference frames which keep constant the mutual orientation of the two infinitely close in time rest frames are shown to have a special role. The generally covariant form of the equations is discussed. The assertion that the principle of relativity is violated in the phenomenon of spin precession is proved to be untrue.     

SO(n,1) Wigner rotation as an SL(2,R) problem

We show that the composition of not only two SO(3,1) boosts, but also that of two SO(n,1) boosts for anyn 2, is basically an SO(2,1) problem and hence can be analysed completely using SL(2,R) matrices. By computing the expression for the Thomas/Wigner angle directly using SL(2,R) matrices we show that this approach results in considerable economy of algebra.     

从“滇案”的处理看晚清外交

1875年2月21日,云南境内发生了滇案,亦称“马嘉理案”。这本是一个偶然的案件,却由于清朝的外交处理失误,该案导致了《烟台条约》的签订,中国由此丧失了大量的利权。中外关系,尤其是中英关系打破了自1860年第二次鸦片战争结束以来相对和平合作的局面。研究此案对探讨中国在19世纪70年代的外交情形具有意义。     

从“附注”管窥贝叶斯推理

资料显示,来自Fisher的批评以及诸如皮尔森、杰弗里斯等的论证已经曲解了作为非充分性理由要求的贝叶斯论证。重新审视托马斯·贝叶斯的著名附注(注释)中他为未知概率的先验均匀分布给出的辩护理由,发现被指控的原理性缺陷,在原贝叶斯文献中是不存在的。研究认为,真正的"贝叶斯推理"与早期的批评者和评论者对之的转述相比较差异很大,在逻辑上更接近于现代意义上对该概念的理解。     

Thomas rotation and Foucault pendulum under a simple unifying geometrical point of view

In this paper we show that there is a complete parallelism between the Foucault pendulum and the Thomas rotation phenomena by using the concept of parallel transport in a surface. In the case of the Foucault pendulum the surface is the ordinary sphere corresponding to the Earth sphere, whereas in the case of the Thomas rotation the surface is the pseudosphere corresponding to the space of relativistic velocities. Moreover, in both cases we use a simple method that reduces the problem to the parallel transport in a conical surface, and so, to the plane.     

哈代诗作《“啊，是你在我坟上挖掘么？”》赏析

托马斯·哈代向以小说著称于世，但其在诗歌上的成就亦为斐然。其诗作言语简练，朴实无华然而往往含意隽永，充满对现实的冷眼相看，但又富于对生活和爱情的瑰丽幻想，是现实主义与浪漫主义的结合。他的诗歌《“啊，是你在我坟上挖掘么？”》就以对白式的设计和反复的吟咏以及出人意料的结尾向读者展现了世情淡漠,世态炎凉。     

带跳扩散的"金诚利"投资连结型保险型

在风险中性下,建立一类投资连结型保险的数学模型,利用基本解显式地给出帐户资产不带跳情形下的保单价格解析表达式;对于带跳情形,利用基本解的性质对带跳情形下的边界条件进行处理.同时运用算子分裂迭代的方法,得到帐户资产带跳情形下的保单的数值结果.