科學家趣事 - 費因曼第一次學術講座
(2008-09-28 15:13:06)
下一個
“撬鎖專家”費因曼(Feymann)當年本科畢業時候,本來是想接著在MIT讀研究生.
MIT的一個教授告訴他,"我們絕對不會錄取你。"
費因曼很納悶,“為什麽?我覺得MIT是世界上做科研最好的地方。”
“你是這麽認為的?”
“是的。”
“這就是我們不要你的原因.你應該到其他地方看看。”
於是費因曼就去了普林斯頓。 費因曼在普林斯頓的導師是惠勒(Wheeler)。那時候費因曼和惠勒在做量子電動力學裏的推遲勢問題。 惠勒看到費因曼的成果很高興,讓他在係裏開個講座,作為第一部分。 剩下的問題惠勒決定由自己來推導,完了自己也開個講座,作為第二部分。
講座的前幾天,係裏的頭兒很高興地告訴費因曼,他覺得的費因曼的課題很有新意,就把羅素請來了。
年輕的費因曼當時就倒抽了口冷氣,羅素(Russell, Henry Norris)那時候已經是很著名的天文學家了。赫羅圖中的羅就是羅素,赫是丹麥天文學家赫茲伯論。
費因曼還在抽冷氣的時候, 係裏的頭兒接著興高采烈地說,愛因斯坦時不常也來聽我們講座,也通知他了,他答應了要來。費因曼聽到這,小臉都發黃了。
費因曼還在發懵,係裏的頭兒接著說,真是巧得很! 泡利(PAULI)正好從瑞士過來,也就邀請他來參加你的講座。這時候,費因曼小臉是發綠了。
費因曼馬上找到惠勒, 告訴了這些人要來,並表示自己要撂挑子了。惠勒鼓勵他不要怕,讓他隻負責講,惠勒來回答問題。
學生時代的費因曼聽到泡利要來聽自己講座,會小臉發綠, 真是合情合理。
泡利是奧地利人,被稱作那個時代最聰明的科學家 (量子力學基本假設之一的“泡利不相容原理”)。泡利的聰明和尖刻並列,無人能比。流傳比較廣的故事是,泡利一次國際會議聽萬愛因斯坦演講演,站起來說:“我覺得愛因斯坦不完全是愚蠢的。”
係裏的頭兒還是很高興的樣子。告訴費因曼不用怕,不過隻要記住兩點。 第一點, “你講的時候,會發現羅素在睡覺,這不代表你講得差。羅素逢講座必睡, 這個你要知道。” 第二點,“相反,如果發現泡利連連點頭,你也不要高興而大意,他脖子有毛病,是控製不住的點頭。”
費因曼講完後, 連連點頭的泡利說 “I DON”T SINK IT IS RIGHT BECAUSE OF DIS, DIS, AND DIS。” 費因曼特愛惡作劇,不光是撬鎖,還愛學別人說話。
講座後泡利問費因曼, 下次惠勒會講什麽東西。費因曼說,不知道, 惠勒說自己要推導。泡利說,那他的講座肯定是開不成的。 結果惠勒的確沒有推導出,講座取消了。
費因曼對他第一次學術講座很滿意,他遺憾的是對泡利所提的問題沒有留神,因為他的導師負責回答問題。
so, scientists are not aliens, they are funny men too.
But, we should remember, it is not these stories make them scientists.
他的“”是俺枕邊書之一,這個永葆赤子之心的學界頑童,可愛至極!裏頭他詳細解釋了為何撬鎖,很自鳴得意的好多惡作劇!
再分享些他的精彩話語(俺仔細挑選滴,不是物理!)
1. All mass is interaction.
2. Physics isn't the most important thing. Love is.
3. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.
4. Although we humans cut nature up in different ways, and we have different courses in different departments, such compartmentalization is really artificial...
5. There are all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge of science, which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower.
6. A poet once said "The whole universe is in a glass of wine." We will probably never know in what sense he meant that, for poets do not write to be understood. But it is true that if we look at a glass closely enough we see the entire universe. There are the things of physics: the twisting liquid which evaporates depending on the wind and weather, the reflections in the glass, and our imaginations adds the atoms. The glass is a distillation of the Earth's rocks, and in its composition we see the secret of the universe's age, and the evolution of the stars. What strange array of chemicals are there in the wine? How did they come to be? There are the ferments, the enzymes, the substrates, and the products. There in wine is found the great generalization: all life is fermentation. Nobody can discover the chemistry of wine without discovering, as did Louis Pasteur, the cause of much disease. How vivid is the claret, pressing its existence into the consciousness that watches it! If our small minds, for some convenience, divide this glass of wine, this universe, into parts — physics, biology, geology, astronomy, psychology, and so on — remember that Nature does not know it! So let us put it all back together, not forgetting ultimately what it is for. Let it give us one more final pleasure: drink it and forget it all!