（注：这篇博文是5月份读《Thread of the Silkworm》之后的一些笔记。如今钱先生已离去。。。常看到有人拿道听途说的旧闻说事；说的人之中，论治学功底、为国贡献，能及钱的一半的，能有几个？）

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张纯如的钱学森传--《Thread of the Silkworm》
（转自MSN space：http://xinyuzhang.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!D94B9A4CB50503EE!1785.entry）

读了《Thread of the Silkworm》。这是张纯如写的一本关于钱学森的传记，着重于他从出生（1911）到1955年归国之间的事。一个人的40多年，压缩成200多页的文字之后，凸现的是棱角分明的个性和跌宕起伏的人生。

在 这本书中，钱学森是一个性格古板孤僻、不尽人情的科学家形象。在Caltech读博士期间，极少和别人说话。直到当了Caltech的教授，还是如此。他 讲课时先说一句"Let's start with..."，然后便一言不发开始在黑板上推公式。中间如果有人提问但深度不够他也拒绝回答。在讨论班，如果主讲人出错，他会毫不客气直截了当地批评 一通。他在办公室考虑问题的时候，不管谁敲门，都直接赶走：“Go away!”。

这样的教授，如果放在现在，估计隔几天就会被骂到学校bbs的十大。但是在钱的学术成就面前，这些问题就不值一提了--牛人就是应该有点个性嘛。

书 中多次突出了钱学森超强的数学功底 --- 比如有一门数学课给分很低，一帮学生要找老师加分；但是他们看到钱的试卷之后傻眼了---几乎满分的试卷，用钢笔写的，没有丝毫涂改痕迹。对于导师冯.卡 曼提出的问题，他总是能很快建立模型，给出解法。书中引用了冯.卡曼对他的评价：
...in Karman's autobiography, The Wind and Beyond, Tsien was the only student he devoted an entire chapter. As Karman wrote: He worked with me on many mathematical problems. I found him to be imaginative, with a mathematical aptitude to which he combined successfully with the great ability to visualize accurately the physical picture of natural. Even as a young student he helped dear up some of my own ideas on difficult topics. These are gifts which I had not often encountered and we became close colleagues

这样的功底是怎样练成的呢？他的同学的评价，或许只是冰山一角：
Chang remembered: Tsien and I were very close friends, He was a very quiet man, very conservative He never showed emotions about politics... Sometimes we worked so hard that after dinner we just went back to the office. And sometimes I left a little earlier left before midnight. He wouldn't stop, however. Even after midnight his room was still bright...

还有一个流传很广的故事：放假期间，某学生以为周围没人，就在实验室放音乐；结果隔壁传来重重的敲墙壁的声音---原来钱学森一直在实验室。

还有他在Caltech的同事的回忆：
Edelman also wrote: I recall going to see him one day ...Tsien answered, "I get up each morning and do the best work I can do that day no matter what the subject matter is, and when I put my head on my pillow and I feel that I have done a good day's work, that's an end in itself. I am happy"。 Although fifty years has passed, I will always remember Tsien for that. Perhaps no teacher ever taught a more valuable lesson than that. 


读这本书的一大感慨就是作者能把一个做理论的人的研究课题讲的非常清晰，对于他的思考方法也理解得相当透彻---尽管作者无法采访钱本人。仅举两个小例子：
Though Tsien lacked Karman's charisma, he made a concerted effort to imitate the elderly professors style of mentorship. ... They would discuss a problem and Karman would say, well, its very complicated, but why don't we emphasize this or emphasize that and see if we can simplify the thing. That's exactly the way that Tsien would then work with his students. Take a very complicated thing and try to reduce it to the basic elements."

...In his speeches, Tsien urged young engineering students to think of themselves as scientists rather than high-paid technicians. He advised them to take courses not only in engineering but also in mathematics, chemistry, and physics. "The training of a competent engineering scientist. Tsien said, is a long process that takes seven or eight years of education after high school:...The unhurried academic atmosphere in an educational institution is certainly conducive to thinking, which is, after all, the only way to gain wisdom."...his words to young Chinese scholars seemed to be those of a mentor looking back on all that had been given to him. Clearly Tsien was ready to give something back, but it was only in his return to China that he thought he had found worthy recipients.

对于钱学森的个人成就，作者认为时代与环境的作用不可忽视，正如她在序言中写的：
Many believe that as talented as Tsien was as a theoretician, he would be remembered primarily for his leadership in China rather than for his scientific work in the United States, "He didn't see as far-anywhere near as far-as von Karman did, or Einstein did, or Teller did, or any of those other people who are greats," said Tsien's friend Martm Summerfield, a former aeronautics professor at Princeton University "He didn't see in the same sense as they did, He would carry out their calculations. be their arms and legs, but not be the mastermind, I think what he took with him was this ability to reproduce, To reproduce what they have produced."

Guyford Stever, Tsien's former colleague at MIT, echoed the same belief: "His contribution to the United States was good but not overwhelming, His contribution to the People's Republic of Chma sounds like it was amazingly great.".


写到这里，发现这个帖子不是读后感，而变书摘了。那么就顺其自然，再摘录钱1947年回国访问期间的一个小故事。这个故事告诉我们：对于投paper、交proposal等等之类由别人来做最终评判的事，一定要有耐心，切不可因为几次被拒就丧失勇气。:P
Unfortunately, the art of courtship did not come easily for Tsien. In his usual blunt manner, he said to Ying: "How about it? Will you go with me?" Ying, hoping for something more romantic and also reluctant to be again separated from her family, rejected him. A few days later, Tsien made a second attempt, as direct as the first: "How about it? Have you thought it over? Let's get married.  Will you go?“ 

Tsien had already made up his mind that it would be Ying or nobody-if she spurned him, he would remain single for the rest of his life. Ying recognized his earnestness to this matter and finally accepted his proposal...


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