博文
感人的博士论文致谢辞
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感人的博士论文致谢辞
2010.02.19
这几天心血来潮对磁现象的非线性光学有点兴趣，就去找荷兰Theo Rasing研究组的论文和博士论文来看。结果在浏览该组2006年毕业的Valev博士的博士论文时竟然被Valev博士所写的致谢辞所感动。觉得应该在博客上与大家，尤其是研究生们，分享一下。
Valev的博士论文电子版可以在他自己的网页上找到，他的网页也很值得一看。根据Valev博士的网页，他还是一个是诗人与文学爱好者。他在网页上写道：
According to some poets, science removes the mystery from life and makes our existence rather dull. I always found that a bit silly. Quite often, science simply replaces conseptions that appear mysterious in our everyday life with much deeper and more marvelous mysteries. In the process it reveals the undelaying beauty of the world and invites us to contemplate a more subtle reality.
My poems adress all the aspects of science that I face: the science itself, the scientists, the relations between science and society, the dangers and new possibilities that arise, etc.
I sign my published texts with the pseudonym: V. van Valen.
Valev个人网页链接：http://www.valev.org/
Valev博士写的诗是法文的，我搞不懂。显然，对Valev博士来讲，痛苦地攻读了好几年Ph.D.并没有使他变得永久脑残（Permanant Head Damaged）。
言归正传，既然他会写诗，我被他的博士论文致谢辞感动也就不奇怪。其中尤为让我感动的是Valev在对自己的两个指导教授的致谢中，叙述了他自己和指导教授的关系变化过程以及自己在攻读博士学位期间经历的转变（transition）。另外，他致谢自己太太的那一段也很感人。我在下面把这几段用斜体标出。
废话我就不多说了，大家自己去读一读，然后看看自己在攻读博士期间是不是也经历了类似的transition和心路历程吧。
需要说明的是，我把这段Acknowledgment抄在这里，并没有征求作者的允许，但愿他不会有太多意见。
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From Dr.V.K.Valev's Ph.D. thesis: http://www.valev.org/
Acknowledgements
Fifteen years ago, I decided to become a doctor in physics. This was the time when I first arrived in France and started struggling with the French school system. It wasn't easy since I knew very little of French history, geography, literature, etc. However, there were a few things that I knew as well as the local kids and sometimes even better: the sciences. Mathematics quickly became the easiest discipline for me because I didn't have to learn a list of new French words in addition to every lesson. Physics and chemistry followed closely. Among these, physics had a very special place in my heart for it was the science of starships, teleportation, lasers, time travel and of course... lightsabers!
Science fiction has been a constant companion of my love for physics and has followed me throughout my studies in Brest (France), Cardiff (UK), Nijmegen (the Netherlands) and now Leuven (Belgium). In all these places, physics has allowed me to explore strange new things, to seek out new people and new civilizations, and in a few privileged moments... to boldly go where no one has ever been before.
Of course, this journey would not have been possible without the help of some persons, which I would like to thank here.
First of all, I am grateful to Prof. John Inglesfield who directed me towards Nijmegen. Dear John, your contagious enthusiasm for physics has been an inspiration for me since our very first encounter.
Upon my arrival in Nijmegen, I was greatly helped by our secretaries Riki and Marilou. I am especially thankful to Marilou for all the discussions we had together, her friendship and of course... for her help in the lab.
Many of my colleagues who were present in the beginning of my Ph.D. are now gone and others have arrived since then. To all of them, Markus, Sergiy, Florian, Daniel, Marina, Stephanie, Toyo, Christelle, Erich, Grzegorz, Oleg, Roman, Gabriela, Sasha, Lucian, etc. I wish to express my appreciation. Thanks also to Dr. Kimel who taught me the basics of Faraday rotation and provided a challenging environment for my studies. Special thanks to Thomas Gerrits, Kursat Bal and Arata Tsukamoto who are among the most thought provoking people I ever met.
I am indebted to Albert van Etteger for teaching me how to operate the lasers as well as to Wiesiek Szweryn who taught me everything I know about UHV and showed a great deal ofpatience in doing so. Additionally, I am grateful to Tonnie Toonen for all his help and for the wonderful person that he is.
Furthermore, I wish to thank Yelle Wouters from K. U. Leuven for helping me with the Dutch translation of this thesis’ summary.
None of the work presented in this thesis would have been possible without the help of my collaborators. I wish to start with Dr. Markus Gruyters who has provided me with carefully prepared samples, very helpful scientific expertise and whose encouragements have kept me going in times of doubt. Next, I wish to acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Jurgen Kohlhepp and Prof. Bert Koopmans for their samples and their insightful comments and suggestions. Last but not least of the collaborators, I wish to thank Prof. Igor Lybchanskii for our discussions on MSHG. I especially cherish his friendship and our conversations in Russian.
This thesis has been prepared under the supervision of Dr. Andrei Kirilyuk. Dear Andrei, some lessons are easier to learn than others and our relation hasn't always been very simple. In the beginning of my Ph.D., I found your constant criticism irritating and confusing. I spent quite some time complaining about what I called "lack of supervision" and about how unfair it all was. During this period I was getting on the nerves of a lot of people and for that I wish to apologize. I guess that most Ph.D. students go through a similar phase. It is a moment of darkness and pain when one has to learn to trust oneself and grow up to become an independent scientist. When finally, I made the transition, I started to appreciate your criticism and our discussions are one of the things which I will miss the most. Thank you for your patience and all your help!
Doubtlessly, the most important person for the completion of my thesis was Prof. Theo Rasing. Dear Theo, I am grateful to you for giving me the opportunity to work and study in your wonderfu1 group. Coming from a rather theoretical background, I had some difficulties starting an experimental Ph.D. Soon after, I had some problems with the UHV that no one really knew how to operate, then there was some bad luck when the construction workers outside the university cut a power cable and the UHV filaments all burned out, and finally I made some mistakes in my interaction with most of the group members. Starting a new research project and overcoming all this has been a great challenge for me. However, of all my personal achievements during the last five years, having earned your trust and your friendship has been the highest point for me. I am indebted to you for your guidance and for something else which is more difficult to explain. Up until the beginning of my Ph.D., I loved what I thought was "physics" and "science", but I didn't really understand these words. What I knew was text book physics and the popularized Legend of Science. The real physics is a complexes social activity that, in addition to spending sleepless nights making experiments and studying, involves giving talks, presenting posters, a lot of writing (proposals, articles) and even more re¬writing, interacting with other scientists at conferences, grants, referee reports, setting up networks of collaboration, etc. It was through you, Theo, that I saw the "big picture" and since then my love for science has become even stronger. So most of all, I thank you Dear professor for your example!I believe that many Ph. D. students experience a time when their long experiments appears to be going nowhere and when they have the distinct feeling that they are wasting their lives.
Throughout these moments, the love of my parents Amelia Veleva and Kolyo Valev, as well as that of my good friends Dr. Zlatka Zasheva and Capt. Patrice Fath have been of great comfort to me.
Finally, I wish to thank my wife Bilyana for her unfailing support. Ever since that distant past, fifteen years ago, when I was first trying to impress her with my knowledge and dreams of science, to the present days, when she never ceases to impress me. While pursuing her own studies of business and administration, Bilyana has often assisted me in the lab, aligning optical components, handling the liquid helium equipment and keeping me company throughout entire nights to prevent me from falling asleep during the experiments.
Ventsislav K. Valev
Leuven, September 2006
Belgium
https://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-176-296067.html
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