The World in Dark Tones: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and Black Holes

摘要

The differentiation of various divisions of physics and astrophysics intensified throughout the 20th century. Unfortunately, the narrow specialization of researchers, which is inevitable in modern science, narrows their horizons and limits their capabilities for generalizations, which are absolutely necessary for creative work. The leading universities are familiar with this problem and attempt, as they can, to inculcate in future researchers an interest in interdisciplinary areas of knowledge. Of course, success depends both on the talent of teachers and on their own horizons. In universities, a possible solution could be a special course that must give a future researcher a general overview of the modern scientific picture of the world, a concise, but not vulgar course. In some of the US universities, such courses have been given by highly skilled lecturers for many years. Such is the course given by Prof. T. Gehrels at the Department of Physics of the University of Arizona in Tucson. He not only tells students about the key experiments in recent years in physics and astronomy. Setting out the logic of development of scientific research in physics, Gehrels tries to demonstrate the philosophy of researchers and to recreate their paths. Basically, this is the popularization of science, the popularization that many scientists in our country deemed their honorable duty. The "Znanie" Society for the Dissemination of Scientific Achievements united the best popularizers that delivered their lectures in the remotest corners of the country. Humorists said that only two services worked flawlessly in the USSR: the Moscow subway and the "Znanie" Society. Now the times are different, and the authority of scientists has been replaced with religion. Nevertheless, even now scientists are ready to share their achievements gratis, if only they were needed to someone. Quite a lot of well-educated scientists that seek to impart the breadth of their views to colleagues or to inculcate them in students can be encountered among researchers at the institutes of the Academy of Sciences and professors at universities even today.