Thinking In Images In The Development Of Physics

Science research can not go without creativity. People, as cognitive subjects with the visual sense., can not always avoid the influence of the visual image from their experiences. The association and imagination based on visualization is one main form of creativity.This paper, beginning from the perspective of scientific history, combining with the characteristics of thinking in images, with the characteristics of human senses as well as the characteristics of science language, discusses the manifesting form and evolving process of thinking images in the development of physics science. This paper also specifically analyzes and describes the thinking through typical examples. This paper includes four parts:1. the role of thinking in mage in the development of classic physics2. the process from relative theory in narrow sense to relative theory in broad sense3. the building of quantum mechanics from quantum theory4. the exploration from electrons to quarksThe creative side of this paper lies in putting the thinking in image in the process of physics science development, systematically discoursing upon and analyzing the evolutional and developmental process of this type of creative thinking mode, and contrasting and analyzing in comparative detail the revealing common points and different points of creative thinking mode in different scientific stages and different scientists, so as to get a deep understanding of the internal mechanism of thinking in image; hence provides people, with some useful reference from the perspective of epistemology and methodology.