"Art and science always break up at the foot of the mountain, and finally meet at the top of the mountain." The "Encounter of Science and Art - Famous Articles of Science Canon Appreciation Conference", co sponsored by the National Grand Theater, Beijing Association for Science and Technology, Peking University Press, and Beijing Association of Science and Technology Journalists and Editors, was held in Beijing recently. Professor Shu Degan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and evolutionary paleontologist, Professor Ren Dingcheng, the chief editor of the "Science Canon Series", had a conversation with Professor Zhou Haihong, a musical aesthetician, which once again confirmed Flaubert's magical prediction that "science and art will finally meet at the top of the mountain".

As the first of a series of activities of "When Science and Art Meet", it is also the special plan of the 2024 National Science and Technology Week and the eighth "National Science and Technology Workers Day". The "Appreciation and Reading Meeting of Famous Articles of Science" focuses on Darwin's "Origin of Species" to explore the secret of the creation of life and the origin of ancient ancestors of human beings, as well as the wonderful relationship between all things in nature and music and art.

Academician Shudegan is the translator of the Chinese version of Origin of Species. He continued to explore the origin of life and the origin of mankind along Darwin's path, and has made recognized achievements in the international academic community. During the activity, Academician Shudegan told the story in an easy to understand way, starting from Darwin and his own personal experience of returning to Darwin's path in the Galapagos Islands and translating Origin of Species, and told the core ideas and main puzzles of Origin of Species, leading the audience into a magical journey to explore the mystery of the origin of life.

Darwin lived in the heyday of the European Industrial Revolution, and science made a series of major breakthroughs. Professor Ren Dingcheng described the great scientific achievements in the 19th century. In addition to Darwin's scientific theory of evolution, there were also the laws of genetics proposed by Austrian biologist Mendel, the cell theory proposed by German botanist Schleiden and zoologist Schwann, and the electromagnetic theory proposed by British physicist Maxwell, These great achievements have profoundly changed human understanding of nature and promoted the progress of human civilization.

In the field of art, the stage of music, painting and literature in the 19th century can also be described as brilliant. From this point of view, Professor Zhou Haihong and Professor Ren Dingcheng respectively described the art of the Romantic period and the scientific situation and social characteristics of that era from the perspective of music, culture and science.

The species experienced evolution, and musical instruments also followed the development law. Shen Fanxiu, a famous organ player and harpsichord player, introduced the development of the organ and harpsichord to the audience, played the composer Pakhber's "Chakong" on the small organ, and performed Bach's "Sonata in G Minor" (BWV1020 Allegro) for flute and harpsichord in concert with young flute player Liu Ye, pushing the touching encounter between science and art to a climax.

The series of activities of "When Science and Art Meet" will invite scientists to the highest art palace in the country. Through the re creation of scientists and artists, the wonderful contents in the scientific canon will meet science and art, discuss popular scientific topics, and form a new form of popular science. The audience said that this was a science general education course full of sincerity. It turned out that these large scientific works were not as serious as they thought.

It is reported that the "Science Canon Series" published by Peking University Press is the origin of the series of activities "When Art and Science Meet". The works selected from the "Science Canon Series" are mainly scientific classics that have been tested for a long period of time since the birth of modern science in the Renaissance. It plans to publish 100 kinds of scientific classics, which is the largest Chinese translation series of scientific classics at present. (Reporter Ying Ni)

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