6.Specialisation

Specialisation专业化 can be seen as a response to the problem of an increasing不断 accumulation积累 of scientific knowledge. By splitting up分割 the subject matter主题 into smaller units, one man could continue to handle the information and use it as the basis for further 进一步research. But specialisation was only one of a series of related相关 developments in science affecting影响 the process过程 of communication. Another was the growing日益 professionalisation专业化 of scientific activity.

No clear-cut明确 distinction区别 can be drawn抽取 between professionals and amateurs业余爱好者 in science: exceptions例外 can be found to any rule规则. Nevertheless然而, the word“amateur业余”does carry a connotation含义 that the person concerned关心 is not fully integrated into融合到 the scientific community社区 and, in particular特别是, may not fully充分 share its values. The growth of specialisation in the nineteenth century, with its consequent随之而来的 requirement要求 of a longer, more complex training训练, implied意味着 greater更大的 problems for amateur participation参与 in science. The trend was naturally自然 most obvious明显 in those areas of science based especially on a mathematical数学 or laboratory实验室 training训练, and can be illustrated说明 in terms of就什么什么来说 the development of geology地质学 in the United Kingdom.

A comparison比较 of British geological地质学 publications出版物 over the last century and a half reveals半世纪 not simply不仅 an increasing更加 emphasis强调 on the primacy地位 of research, but also a changing definition定义 of what constitutes构成 an acceptable可接受的 research paper研究论文. Thus因此, in the nineteenth century, local geological studies represented代表 worthwhile值得 research in their own right;but, in the twentieth century, local studies have increasingly日益 become acceptable接受 to professionals only if they incorporate合并, and reflect on反映, the wider广泛 geological picture. Amateurs, on the other hand, have continued to pursue追求 local studies in the old way. The overall整体 result has been to make entrance入口 to professional geological journals期刊 harder for amateurs, a result that has been reinforced增强 by the widespread广泛 introduction介绍 of refereeing裁判, first by national journals in the nineteenth century and then by several local geological journals in the
twentieth century. As a logical consequence必然结果 of this development, separate独立 journals have now appeared aimed瞄准 mainly towards面向 either professional or amateur readership读者. A rather颇为 similar process of differentiation分化 has led to导致 professional geologists coming together nationally全国性 within one or two specific societies, whereas the amateurs have tended倾向于 either to remain保留 in local societies or to come together组合成 nationally全国性机构 in a different way.

Although the process of professionalisation职业化 and specialisation专业化 was already well under way开始了 in British geology during the nineteenth century, its full consequences结果 were thus因此 delayed until the twentieth century. In science generally一般的, however, the nineteenth century must be reckoned as被视为 the crucial至关重要的 period时期 for this change in the structure结构 of science.

专业化可以被看作是对科学知识不断积累这一问题的回应。通过将主题分割成更小的单元，一个人可以继续处理信息，并将其作为进一步研究的基础。但专业化只是影响交流过程的一系列相关科学发展之一。另一个原因是科学活动的日益专业化。

在科学领域，专业人士和业余爱好者之间没有明确的区别：任何规则都有例外。然而，“业余”一词确实有一种含义，即有关人员没有充分融入科学界，特别是可能没有充分分享其价值观。19世纪专业化的发展，以及随之而来的对更长、更复杂的训练的要求，意味着业余爱好者参与科学面临更大的问题。很自然，这种趋势会在尤以数学或实验室训练为基础的自然学科领域表现最为明显，并且可以英国的地质学发展作例证来说明。

对过去一个半世纪英国地质学出版物的比较显示，不仅越来越强调研究的首要地位，而且对什么是可接受的研究论文的定义也发生了变化。因此，在19世纪，地方地质研究本身就是有价值的研究。但是，在二十世纪，地方研究只有在纳入并反映更广泛的地质图景的情况下，才会越来越被专业人士所接受。另一方面，业余爱好者继续以旧的方式从事地方研究。总的结果是使业余爱好者更难进入专业地质期刊，这一结果因广泛引入评审而得到加强，首先是19世纪的国家期刊，然后是20世纪的几个地方地质期刊。作为这一发展的必然结果，现在出现了主要面向专业或业余读者的独立期刊。一个颇为相似的分化过程已经导致专业的地质学家走到一起组成一到两个全国性的专科学术社团，而业余地质爱好者们倾向于要么仍留在地方社团，要么也以另一种方式组成全国性机构。

尽管英国地质学的职业化和专业化进程在十九世纪就已经开始了，但其全部后果却因此被推迟到了二十世纪。然而，在一般的科学中，十九世纪必须被认为是科学结构发生这种变化的关键时期。