赞美民间科学家

2007.09.05

前天下午和饶毅一起在哥伦比亚大学的书店买了一本理论物理学家和数学家Freeman Dyson最近的新书《Scientist as Rebel》（《作为反叛者的科学家》）。书中收录了Dyson过去多年中写的书评及评论。

Freeman Dyson居然没有获得过博士学位。有关Dyson的基本介绍，请见美国普林斯顿高等研究院Dyson的网页：http://www.sns.ias.edu/~dyson/

Amazon上关于《Scientist as Rebel》一书的信息和评论：http://www.amazon.com/Scientist-Rebel-Review-Books-Collection/dp/1590172167

今天在从纽约到洛杉矶的飞机上读这本书，越读越喜欢，一口气就读了差不多一半。要不是航班奇怪地提前50分钟到达目的地，我还会多看一到两章。

《作为反叛者的科学家》

本书的第一章即是《The Scientist as Rebel》。Dyson在本书的前言开头第一句话说：

"Benjamin Franklin combined better than anyone else the qualities of a great scientist and a great rebel. As a scientist, without formal education or inherited wealth, he beat the learned aristocrats of Europe at their own game. His victory encouraged him to believe that he and his fellow citizens in America, without much training in military strategy or international politics, could beat the aristocrats of Europe at warfare and diplomacy."

后面又讲到：

"As a rebel he remained a conservative, aiming not to destroy but to preserve as much as possible of the established order of society."

Dyson认为科学家的rebel，同时是建设性的和保守性的。Dyson认为Einstein也正是这样的典范。

要了解更多内容，最好就读这本书或相关的文章。

《赞美民间科学家》

本书的另一章是《赞美民间科学家》。这篇文章的英文全文可以在以下网页找到。

《In Praise of Amatuers》（《赞美民间科学家》）英文全文链接：http://www.sas.org/E-Bulletin/2002-11-29/features/features.html

Dyson在这篇文章中以民间（业余）天文学家为例，讨论了他们和专职的天文学家之间的不同之处和互补特性。在这篇文章的结尾，Dyson写道：

"When we look at the wider society outside the domain of science, we see amateurs playing essential roles in almost every field of human activity. Amateur musicians create the culture in which professional musicians can flourish. Amateur athletes, amateur actors, and amateur environmentalists improve the quality of life for themselves and others. Amateur writers such as Jane Austen and Samuel Pepys do as much as the professionals Charles Dickens and Fyodor Dostoevsky to plumb the heights and depths of human experience."

当然，Dyson赞美的民间科学家，是那些进行实验和观测的民间科学家，而不是那些没有实验和数据的空想家。

Dyson的这本书有很多精彩的内容，这里就不多啰唆。不过他对民间科学家的分析和赞美，非常恰当的。

民间科学家和反叛者富兰克林

Benjamin Franklin既是反叛者的典范，也是民间科学家的典范。

昨天晚上我和我的博士导师一起晚餐。Ken在谈到Franklin时，对Franklin的崇敬溢于言表。

我当年在Franklin创建的University of Pennsylvania做了两年多的博士后，对于Franklin的崇敬就不用讲了。

正如Dyson所说：

"Franklin achieved great things as a rebel because he was aiming to build a new society rather than to destroy an old one.  Franklin built institutions to last."

创建有永久价值的东西，才是Franklin得到广泛崇敬的真正原因。

Image from www.amazon.com