化学老师为什么都这么武断？

2010.05.09

最近在看The Age of Wonder：How the Romantic generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science这本新书。

Amazon上The Age of Wonder信息链接：http://www.amazon.com/Age-Wonder-Romantic-Generation-Discovered/dp/0375422226

作者Richard Holmes在本书的第一段就讲了一个自己上学时被化学老师冤枉的故事。

In my first chemistry class, at the age of fourteen, I successfully precipitated a single crystal of mineral salts. This elementary experiment was done by heating a solution of copper sulphate (I think) over a Bensen burner, and leaving it to cool overnight. The next morning there it lay at the bottom of my carefully labelled test tube: a single beautiful crystal, the size of a flattened Fox's Galcier mint, a miniature ziggurat with a faint blue opalescence, propped up against the inside of the glass (too big to lie flat), monumental and mysterious to my eyes. No one else's test tube held anything but a few feeble grains. I was triumphant, my scientific future assured.

But it turned out that the chemistry master did not believe me. The crystal was too big to be true. he said (not at all unkindly) that I had obviously faked it, and slipped a piece of coloured glass into the test tube instead. It was quite a good joke. I implored him, 'Oh, test it, sir; just test it!" but he refused, and moved on to other matters. In that moment of helpless dissappointment I think I first glimpsed exactly what real science should be. To add to it, years later I learned the motto of the Royal Society: Nullius in Verba-'Nothing upon Another's Word'. i have never forgotten this incident, and have often related it to scientific friends. The nod sympathetically, though they tend to add that I did not (as a matter of chemical fact) precipitate a crystal at all- what i did was to seed one, a rather different process. No doubt this is so. But the eventful consequence, after many years of cooling, has certainly been to precipitate this book.

记得以前读汤佩松先生的回忆录《为接朝霞顾夕阳》中，也有他被化学老师冤枉的故事。

也有不是那么好的个别老师，对我起了另一方面的影响。在清华书到“高二”（相当于现在的高中二年级）时，我的生物学（当时只有“农学”这门课，实际上是“应用生物学入门”）和化学的课程学习都不错。我那时想选择化学为以后的专业方向。但是由于一个老师的偏见，改变了我的志愿。在化学实验课上，在做完几堂极简单的识别性联系实验后，做了一堂比较正规的实验，大概是一次定性实验。我对化学实验开始发生了兴趣。不但认真完成了操作，还花了相当多的功夫仔细地写了一个简短而全面的实验报告。当然在如何写作上是请教了高班同学的。我自己感到很满意，我想一定会得个“E”（优）。谁知下次实验课上，全本同学的报告本子都发回了，惟独没有我的。那个负责实验课的老师（似乎是姓梁）下课时把我留下。他以严厉的脸色问我：“你这个报告是抄谁的？”这使我感到既突然，又冤枉，又气愤！我如实地回答说：“全是我自己写的，是我用了三个钟头思考后写的。”他将本子扔到桌上说：“这不可能！你是抄高班同学的旧作业！”我无法辩解，忍气吞声地离开了教室。后来别的同学告诉我，“梁老师认定你的报告是抄别人的，理由是：一个在球场上出色的运动员，不可能是一个功课好的学生！”他的这个逻辑，转变了我的科学命运，我下决心选了生物学（农学）作为我在美国大学初步专攻的方向。

豆瓣读书上汤佩松《为接朝霞顾夕阳－一个生理学科学家的回忆录》信息链接：http://book.douban.com/subject/3266660/

互动百科汤佩松信息链接：http://www.hudong.com/wiki/%E6%B1%A4%E4%BD%A9%E6%9D%BE

如果大家努力寻找的话，武断的化学老师的名单肯定会是罄竹难书。

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