整理电子书时,发现一本标题有趣的FAUST IN COPENHAGEN: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics(抱歉,我只有正文,没有封面和版权页,作者都不知道;不过网上一定能找到,留给感兴趣的同学做作业
)。
本书谈的是量子力学的浪漫时代(20~30年代)的故事,特别是7个人,他们1932年4月在哥本哈根开了一个小会——有人缺席,玩儿去了,但魂儿来了,他是Wolfgang Pauli, 泡利。
其他六个人是Niels Bohr, Paul Dirac, Werner Heisenberg, Lise Meitner, Max Delbruck, Paul Ehrenfest。前三个,大家都熟悉;第四个是女代表,而且是20世纪最重要的实验家之一;第五个后来改行做了生物学,据说是现代分子生物学的创始人之一;最后一位,是他们的最伟大的老师,那个年代的物理学故事里,常有他的身影。【那年,欧洲到处都在纪念歌德逝世100周年,物理学家们也以自己的方式纪念他。他们编了一段《浮士德》的小戏,玻尔演上帝,泡利演梅菲斯特。那年也是物理学实验的“奇迹年”……】
在这些人中,玻尔的物理学功绩似乎不是最大的,但他对那一代人的影响超过了任何人,“even than that of Einstein”(海森堡说的)。人们对玻尔的感情,不仅是尊重和敬慕,还有爱:
Yes, loved. Respect and admiration were feelings young physicists had for all of these greats, but love is something different. Yet it is a term that appears again and again in memoirs when physicists spoke of Bohr.
玻尔赢得大家热爱的原因,作者概括了几点:
1) 低姿态(lack of pretension or pomp)
2) 不功利(no trace of personal ambition or aggrandizement in him)
3) 善解人意(a sense of who was in need, when and how to intervene and how to make a difference)
为玻尔立传的Abraham Pais(他也为老爱写过一部标准传记,Subtle is the Lord…)说过,“being conjoined”几乎是玻尔天生的品格(a necessity)——这个被动形式很妙,有甘心情愿做绿叶的意思。下面一段话说的更具体:
Bohr’s need for others, for conjointness, was displayed in his relaxation as well, be that skiing, sailing, simply walking, playing a game or going to the movies. He made others feel needed because he did need them. Bohr was certainly a great man and without guile, but his constant engaging of those he was involved with was a major factor in creating the love they felt for him.
没工夫读那本书,不过从玻尔的这些品格,可以想到一个好老师、好导师应该怎么做。我们难有玻尔的贡献,但学他做一个好老师,大概还有机会。