The Adoption of Western Mathematics in Meiji Japan, 1853–1903
The Adoption of Western Mathematics in Meiji Japan, 1853–1903
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日本明治时期西方数学的采用，1853 年至 1903 年
DOI：
10.1007/978-3-0348-7521-9_12
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发表时间：
1994
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
S. Chikara
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
S. Chikara
那些参加过京都第21届国际数学家大会和1990年东京数学史研讨会的数学家和数学史学家可能会对以下问题感兴趣：正如京都会议的与会者可能已经注意到的那样，日本现在是数学大国之一。为什么日本能够如此迅速地引进西方数学？对于这个问题，我提出以下答案：日本旧秩序已经拥有一门非常复杂的传统数学，名为“和三”，而新日本急于彻底改革教育制度，将军事院校、数学学会和大学制度化，这些都促进了日本对西方数学的接受。我将讨论从1853年到1903年的半个世纪中西方数学在日本的吸收问题。1853年，美国海军准将佩里的黑色战舰抵达日本，日本震惊不已，开始向西方敞开紧闭的大门。1903年是具有重要意义的一年，因为日本著名数学家Takagi Teiji发表了一篇论文，标志着西方起源的数学在日本建立了独立的研究传统。今天，我们谈论世界历史时不能不关注非西方文明。欧洲只是世界上的一个地区，不仅在地理上，而且在文化上。因此，研究发生在19世纪后期日本的东西方关系中的插曲是很有趣的。日本的现代化进程通常可以追溯到1868年的明治维新。在此期间发生的事件引起了许多外国游客的兴趣，也引起了日本人的兴趣。他们经常留下文件，报告变革进程是如何迅速和剧烈地进行的。例如，在东京大学医学院任教超过四分之一个世纪的德国医生Erwin Bah(1849-1913)在给德国家人的信中写道：
Those mathematicians and historians of mathematics who have participated in the 21st International Congress of Mathematicians in Kyoto and the Tokyo History of Mathematics Symposium 1990 may be interested in the following problem: Japan is now one of the big powers in mathematics, as participants may have observed at the Kyoto Congress. Why was Japan able to introduce Western mathematics so rapidly? I propose the following answer to this problem: The old order of Japan already possessed a very sophisticated traditional mathematics called'wasan', and new Japan was in a great hurry to reform educational systems drastically and to institutionalize military academies, a mathematical society, and universities, which all facilitated Japan's adoption of Western mathematics. I will discuss the problem of the adoption of Western mathematics in Japan during the half century from 1853 to 1903. In 1853, Japan was shocked by the arrival of the black ships of Commodore Perry of the United States, and began to open its closed door to the West. The year 1903 is significant as the date Takagi Teiji, an eminent Japanese mathematician, published a paper which marked the establishment of an independent research tradition of Western originated mathematics in Japan.Today, we cannot talk about world history without attention to non-Western civilizations. Europe is only one area of the world, not only geographically but also culturally. For this reason, it is interesting to study episodes in East-West relations which took place in later nineteenth century Japan. The modernization process in Japan is often dated from the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Events which occured during this period interested many foreign visitors as well as the Japanese themselves. They often left documents which reported how rapidly and drastically the process of change was carried out. For instance, Erwin Bah (1849-1913), a German doctor who taught at the Medical School of the University of Tokyo for more than a quarter century, wrote to his family in Germany as follows: