<一般論文>Nature を目指して : 『科学』と寄書欄

Abstract

The birth of Kagaku, Japanese second longest-lived popular scientific journal, came from the wish of J. Ishiwara and T. Terada to create a new scientific journal like Nature or Die Naturwissenschaften. Compared with many other scientific journals designed for laypeople in the 1930s, the editors of Kagaku had a strong desire to create a journal with which scientists can submit their short research results promptly and keep communications with their colleagues. For that purpose, a column named Kishoran was created and had served the function for over ten years. Submissions from U. Nakaya will be discussed in detail as an example, who chose Kishoran as his first choice for sending his article on spark investigation using Wilson chamber. The submission from Nakaya published in Kishoran is of a high academic standard. However, Kishoran disappeared from Kagaku in November 1964. Although Kishoran remained the function as a bulletin column, Kagaku was no longer a journal for scientists. Kagaku had a dual character as a bulletin for scientists and a scientific journal for laypeople at the time of foundation. However, after the war Kagaku lost the former character and became a pure scientific journal for laypeople. The reason for the disappearance of Kishoran is not that it didn't function satisfactorily, but that Kishoran for scientists is no longer appropriate for postwar Kagaku, which turned to choose laypeople as its primary audience instead of scientists.