Abstract

Peter Galison is one of the leading and most influential American scholars in the field of contemporary history of science.His research has attained an active influence over the international community of history of science.From the perspective of“practice”，his research on the history of microphysics in 20th century has revealed the unique function of“equipment”，as a carrier of material culture，in the development process of science.He has also defined the multi－dimensional，and nonlinear interrelations among experiment，theory，and instrument across the actual process of science development.Galison’s original“trading zone”theory has become an influential interpretation model in the field of history of science and other related areas and has described an entirely different development mode for modern science.After Kuhn’s Science Revolutions theory，the trading zone theory has introduced another whole new prospect of how science develops.In addition，Galison expanded his research to the fields of history of technology，history of art，history of architecture，and nuclear policy.Although he has broad interests and abundant achievements in various fields，two main lines have run through his researches - trading zone theory and image－related research.These two lines interlace，and evolve together，and influence and promote each other，forming Galison’s threads of thought.

Focusing on Galison’s research on the history of science，this book studies the historiography of science with some inferences of history and philosophy of science.There are six chapters in the book.Chapters 1 and 2 summarize the key points of this thesis and introduce Galison’s life and work.Chapters 3 and 4 discuss Galison’s work in terms of the two main lines of trading zone and image.Chapter 3 reviews the trading zone theory from its background，introduction，for-mation，development，application，and how it extended and faded after becoming mature，in order to discover the role of this concept in Galison’s series of researches.Chapter 4 focuses on Galison’s work on image.This chapter reveals how the “Golden Events”in Galison’s early physical experiments drew his attention to image，and how he highlighted and interpreted the issue of image－based thinking vs.logical thinking by setting them on opposition.From his early days’taking new perspective on reconsidering the role of experiments in the history of physics till his recent zooming into images，he has brought a breakthrough in the research of objectivity.Comparing Galison with other historians of science and scholars in other related fields，Chapter 5 examines his view of science and history of science，uniqueness of his methodology，and the significance of his work to the development and research of history of science.Finally，Chapter 6 summarizes the characteristics，essential points，and creativity of Galison’s research，based on which，the author evaluates the significance and rationality of Galison’s work.