Science is the ladder of human progress.The history of the development of human civilization for thousands of years is also the history of the development and evolution of science and technology and its increasing power: the improvement of people's production tools, the cracking of natural mysteries, and the improvement of living standards...all are the crystallization of the development of science and technology .Especially when human society is about to enter the 21st century, the promotion and application of high-tech achievements is becoming the most active factor to promote the development of modern productive forces, greatly changing the appearance of the world and human life, and profoundly affecting human society. future direction.The level of development of science and technology has become one of the main factors that determine a country's comprehensive national strength and international status.

In the 50 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially in the 20 years of reform and opening up, the party and the government have always attached importance to the development of science and technology.Comrade Deng Xiaoping put forward the famous thesis that "science and technology are the primary productive forces" in 1988.Since the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Jiang Zemin at the core has put forward the strategy of "rejuvenating the country through science and education".A new upsurge in science and education of unprecedented scale and far-reaching significance is coming.

To implement the strategy of "rejuvenating the country through science and education", efforts must be made to accelerate scientific and technological progress and improve the quality of the people, especially the youth.Popularization of science and technology is an important part of scientific and technological work. It is important to publicize and popularize scientific knowledge, scientific spirit, scientific thinking, and scientific methods to the people, to eradicate ignorance and superstition, and to refute all kinds of pseudoscience and anti-scientific fallacies. Meaningless pseudo-proposition.Proceeding from this, it is concluded that traditional philosophy plays an extremely important role in improving the scientific and technological awareness and scientific and cultural quality of the whole nation.Therefore, while implementing the strategy of "rejuvenating the country through science and education", the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued "Several Opinions on Strengthening the Popularization of Science and Technology" in a timely manner.The Press and Publication Administration regards the creation, introduction, translation and publication of excellent popular science books as an important measure to implement the spirit of the central government, and specially set up a sub-plan for the publication of popular science books when formulating the national "Ninth Five-Year Plan" key book plan. The publication of the "Selected Works of Popular Science in China" series is one of the results of this plan, and it is a gift presented by publishers to the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Scientists and popular science writers in our country have worked hard in the field of popular science for a long time, devoted a lot of energy and effort, and created many popular science books. The works included in "Selected Works of Popular Science in China" are exactly the dumpling messengers.The common features of these masterpieces are that first, they are not limited to the exposition of scientific knowledge, but focus on carrying forward the scientific spirit, publicizing scientific ideas and scientific methods; second, they are easy to understand, fascinating, and scientific, readable, and interesting. unity.The eloquent and eloquent narrations of the writers vividly reflect the scientists' spirit of exploration in pursuit of truth and their meticulous scientific attitude, giving readers profound inspiration.Just like the spring rain that "moistens things silently", it nourishes the hearts of readers who are thirsty for knowledge.

It should be noted that the publication of popular science books in our country is still not suitable for the important tasks it shoulders, no matter in terms of quantity or quality, and there is a long way to go.It is hoped that the publication of "Selected Works of Popular Science in China" will make due contributions to the prosperity of popular science books in my country. August 2, 1999 Zhou Guoxing