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“大学里为什么要有学生？”
“那是因为老师有不懂的东西，需要学生来帮助解答。”约翰·惠勒说。
这位师从尼尔斯·玻尔，曾与爱因斯坦共事，充满激情与理性的物理学家，于今年4月13日辞世。他参与了首颗原子弹研制，他让“黑洞”、“虫洞”等词进入了通俗文化。他留给世人的，不仅仅是科学的概念，他的众多门生更让他的生命力得到了无尽的延伸。
Physicist John Wheeler died this week at the age of 96. First up Wheeler’s student and friend, Kenneth Ford, will talk about him. He studied with John Wheeler in the early 1950s, and from 1987 to 1993 he was the Executive Director of The American Institute of Physics.
Interviewer: Dr. Ford, it’s great to talk to you, and thanks so much. I know that you lost a friend this week so I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.
Dr. Ford: It’s great for me too. Hi, Steve.
Interviewer: You knew John Wheeler for 60 years, tell us about what it was like to work with him, because…I’ll tell you a quick story. I went to a talk he gave at Cornell in 1984, and nobody could have presented himself more differently from Einstein. He wore a suit. His hair was short. He looked very conservative in his presentation, but his thinking was as 2)revolutionary as Einstein’s, in some ways.
Dr. Ford: Anything but conservative, right?
Interviewer: Right. And you were close enough where you were the co-author, if you will, of his3)autobiography.
Dr. Ford: Yes, that was many years later, of course. John Wheeler approached me and said, “Do you have any idea who might work with me?” I thought it over and went back to John Wheeler and said, “Well, if you’re willing, I’m willing to try it.”
It’s called 4)Geons, Black Holes, and 5)Quantum Foam. We chose as a title three terms that John Wheeler himself coined.
Interviewer: Now, Wheeler worked on everything…well, everything there was to work on from the smallest particles in particle physics, to what’s inside of dead stars. I mean, he really went from A to Q,6)astrophysicsto quantum7)mechanics.
Dr. Ford:Absolutely. He started in the 1930s working on quantum physics and nuclear physics. But, of course, the most famous paper of that period being the paper he wrote with Neils Bohr, explaining the nuclear 8)fission process.
Interviewer: He, himself, became a name to 9)drop. He’s Neils Bohr’s student. He’s a co-author with Einstein and Oppenheimer. He was the last of that generation and he lasted a long time.
Dr. Ford:Yes, indeed, in a certain sense Wheeler was the last great 20th century 10)theorist left standing.
Interviewer: It seems like he was looking for the big answers.
Dr. Ford:Yes, one of his favorite questions was, “How come existence?” That sounds like a 11)theological or philosophical question, but in Wheeler’s mind it was a physics question. He imagined that one day we will have enough understanding of the laws of nature that we will be able to answer that question, “How come existence?”
Interviewer: A lot of people think that, ah, perhaps his biggest contribution to physics was actually the physicists he created. People like Kip Thorne and Richard Feynman were his students.
Dr. Ford:You can certainly make that case. Wheeler supervised more than 50 doctoral 12)dissertations. He had a very direct, personal, one-to-one impact on well over a hundred other people, Not counting all those less directly influenced through his teaching in classes.
Interviewer: There’s a line from one of the 13)obits that I read that’s supposed to be a quote from John Wheeler, “If you haven’t found something strange during the day, it hasn’t been much of a day.”
Dr. Ford:Ha. Ha. That sounds like Wheeler, all right.
物理学家约翰·惠勒本周逝世，享年96岁。首先，惠勒的学生兼好友肯尼思·福特将会为我们讲述其事迹。他于20世纪50年代初与约翰·惠勒一起从事研究工作，1987年至1993年间曾任美国物理协会执行主任。
采访者：福特博士，很高兴能与您进行这次访谈，非常感谢您。我知道您在本周失去了一位挚友，因此我真的非常感谢您能抽出时间来参加我们的访谈。
福特博士：我也很高兴参与你们的节目，您好，史蒂夫。
采访者：您与约翰·惠勒相识已经长达60年之久，请您向我们讲述一下与他共事的情况，因为……我先向您讲述一个简短的故事吧。1984年我去听了他在康奈尔（大学）的一次演讲，他的外表看上去和爱因斯坦相距甚远。他身穿西装，头发很短。他在演说中看起来很保守，但是，在某些方面，他的思想却像爱因斯坦一样富革命性。
福特博士：绝对不保守，对吧？
采访者：确实。你们的来往密切得你都称得上是他自传的合著人了。
福特博士：是的，当然了，那是认识他多年以后的事情了。约翰·惠勒来找我说：“你觉得谁可以跟我一起合作（写自传）？”我仔细考虑一番之后回去找约翰·惠勒说：“呃，如果您同意的话，我乐意一试。”
书名是《真子、黑洞和量子泡沫》（惠勒的自传），我们将约翰·惠勒自己创造的三个词语作为该书的标题。
采访者：呃，惠勒的研究领域涉及各个方面……嗯，所有可研究的对象，从粒子物理学中最细微的粒子，到死星的内部构造。我的意思是，他的研究领域确实无所不及，从天体物理学到量子力学均涵盖到了。
福特博士：确实如此。他从20世纪30年代开始从事量子物理学和原子物理学的研究。但是，当然，那个阶段中最为著名的论文是他与尼尔斯·玻尔合作的一文，解释了核裂变的过程。
采访者：他，他本人，成了一位人们口中的名人。他是尼尔斯·玻尔的学生，是爱因斯坦和奥本海默的合著者。他是那一代科学家中最后的一员，而且他从事研究工作的时间相当长。
福特博士：是的，确实如此，从某种意义上说，惠勒是20世纪仅存的最后一位伟大的理论家。
采访者：看起来他好像一直在寻求一些重大发现。
福特博士：是的，他最喜欢的问题之一就是：“何以会存在？”那听起来像是个神学或哲学问题，但是在惠勒看来，那是一个物理问题。他想有一天我们将会对自然法制有充分的认识，能回答“何以会存在？”这一问题。
采访者：很多人认为，啊，或许他对物理学最大的贡献，实际上是他塑造了众多物理学家，像基普·索恩和理查德·费曼都是他的学生。
福特博士：你确实可以这么说。惠勒指导了50多篇博士论文。他对另外100多个人产生了一种直接的、个人的、一对一的影响。而他在堂上授课时所产生的、不那么直接的影响更是无法估计。
采访者：我看到某一份讣告中，有一个句子可能是约翰·惠勒说过的话：“如果你在一天中没有发现任何奇怪的事情，这一天就过得没多大意义了。”
福特博士：哈哈，那听起来很像惠勒说的，没错。
翻译：沈晓纯
“那是因为老师有不懂的东西，需要学生来帮助解答。”约翰·惠勒说。
这位师从尼尔斯·玻尔，曾与爱因斯坦共事，充满激情与理性的物理学家，于今年4月13日辞世。他参与了首颗原子弹研制，他让“黑洞”、“虫洞”等词进入了通俗文化。他留给世人的，不仅仅是科学的概念，他的众多门生更让他的生命力得到了无尽的延伸。
Physicist John Wheeler died this week at the age of 96. First up Wheeler’s student and friend, Kenneth Ford, will talk about him. He studied with John Wheeler in the early 1950s, and from 1987 to 1993 he was the Executive Director of The American Institute of Physics.
Interviewer: Dr. Ford, it’s great to talk to you, and thanks so much. I know that you lost a friend this week so I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.
Dr. Ford: It’s great for me too. Hi, Steve.
Interviewer: You knew John Wheeler for 60 years, tell us about what it was like to work with him, because…I’ll tell you a quick story. I went to a talk he gave at Cornell in 1984, and nobody could have presented himself more differently from Einstein. He wore a suit. His hair was short. He looked very conservative in his presentation, but his thinking was as 2)revolutionary as Einstein’s, in some ways.
Dr. Ford: Anything but conservative, right?
Interviewer: Right. And you were close enough where you were the co-author, if you will, of his3)autobiography.
Dr. Ford: Yes, that was many years later, of course. John Wheeler approached me and said, “Do you have any idea who might work with me?” I thought it over and went back to John Wheeler and said, “Well, if you’re willing, I’m willing to try it.”
It’s called 4)Geons, Black Holes, and 5)Quantum Foam. We chose as a title three terms that John Wheeler himself coined.
Interviewer: Now, Wheeler worked on everything…well, everything there was to work on from the smallest particles in particle physics, to what’s inside of dead stars. I mean, he really went from A to Q,6)astrophysicsto quantum7)mechanics.
Dr. Ford:Absolutely. He started in the 1930s working on quantum physics and nuclear physics. But, of course, the most famous paper of that period being the paper he wrote with Neils Bohr, explaining the nuclear 8)fission process.
Interviewer: He, himself, became a name to 9)drop. He’s Neils Bohr’s student. He’s a co-author with Einstein and Oppenheimer. He was the last of that generation and he lasted a long time.
Dr. Ford:Yes, indeed, in a certain sense Wheeler was the last great 20th century 10)theorist left standing.
Interviewer: It seems like he was looking for the big answers.
Dr. Ford:Yes, one of his favorite questions was, “How come existence?” That sounds like a 11)theological or philosophical question, but in Wheeler’s mind it was a physics question. He imagined that one day we will have enough understanding of the laws of nature that we will be able to answer that question, “How come existence?”
Interviewer: A lot of people think that, ah, perhaps his biggest contribution to physics was actually the physicists he created. People like Kip Thorne and Richard Feynman were his students.
Dr. Ford:You can certainly make that case. Wheeler supervised more than 50 doctoral 12)dissertations. He had a very direct, personal, one-to-one impact on well over a hundred other people, Not counting all those less directly influenced through his teaching in classes.
Interviewer: There’s a line from one of the 13)obits that I read that’s supposed to be a quote from John Wheeler, “If you haven’t found something strange during the day, it hasn’t been much of a day.”
Dr. Ford:Ha. Ha. That sounds like Wheeler, all right.
物理学家约翰·惠勒本周逝世，享年96岁。首先，惠勒的学生兼好友肯尼思·福特将会为我们讲述其事迹。他于20世纪50年代初与约翰·惠勒一起从事研究工作，1987年至1993年间曾任美国物理协会执行主任。
采访者：福特博士，很高兴能与您进行这次访谈，非常感谢您。我知道您在本周失去了一位挚友，因此我真的非常感谢您能抽出时间来参加我们的访谈。
福特博士：我也很高兴参与你们的节目，您好，史蒂夫。
采访者：您与约翰·惠勒相识已经长达60年之久，请您向我们讲述一下与他共事的情况，因为……我先向您讲述一个简短的故事吧。1984年我去听了他在康奈尔（大学）的一次演讲，他的外表看上去和爱因斯坦相距甚远。他身穿西装，头发很短。他在演说中看起来很保守，但是，在某些方面，他的思想却像爱因斯坦一样富革命性。
福特博士：绝对不保守，对吧？
采访者：确实。你们的来往密切得你都称得上是他自传的合著人了。
福特博士：是的，当然了，那是认识他多年以后的事情了。约翰·惠勒来找我说：“你觉得谁可以跟我一起合作（写自传）？”我仔细考虑一番之后回去找约翰·惠勒说：“呃，如果您同意的话，我乐意一试。”
书名是《真子、黑洞和量子泡沫》（惠勒的自传），我们将约翰·惠勒自己创造的三个词语作为该书的标题。
采访者：呃，惠勒的研究领域涉及各个方面……嗯，所有可研究的对象，从粒子物理学中最细微的粒子，到死星的内部构造。我的意思是，他的研究领域确实无所不及，从天体物理学到量子力学均涵盖到了。
福特博士：确实如此。他从20世纪30年代开始从事量子物理学和原子物理学的研究。但是，当然，那个阶段中最为著名的论文是他与尼尔斯·玻尔合作的一文，解释了核裂变的过程。
采访者：他，他本人，成了一位人们口中的名人。他是尼尔斯·玻尔的学生，是爱因斯坦和奥本海默的合著者。他是那一代科学家中最后的一员，而且他从事研究工作的时间相当长。
福特博士：是的，确实如此，从某种意义上说，惠勒是20世纪仅存的最后一位伟大的理论家。
采访者：看起来他好像一直在寻求一些重大发现。
福特博士：是的，他最喜欢的问题之一就是：“何以会存在？”那听起来像是个神学或哲学问题，但是在惠勒看来，那是一个物理问题。他想有一天我们将会对自然法制有充分的认识，能回答“何以会存在？”这一问题。
采访者：很多人认为，啊，或许他对物理学最大的贡献，实际上是他塑造了众多物理学家，像基普·索恩和理查德·费曼都是他的学生。
福特博士：你确实可以这么说。惠勒指导了50多篇博士论文。他对另外100多个人产生了一种直接的、个人的、一对一的影响。而他在堂上授课时所产生的、不那么直接的影响更是无法估计。
采访者：我看到某一份讣告中，有一个句子可能是约翰·惠勒说过的话：“如果你在一天中没有发现任何奇怪的事情，这一天就过得没多大意义了。”
福特博士：哈哈，那听起来很像惠勒说的，没错。
翻译：沈晓纯