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Steven Weinberg
9 N$ a! m8 H/ P, C. v% N! q7 u8 j- @; a3 j) S
Steven Weinberg is in the Department of Physics,5 ^$ n; o i- O" Y8 p8 C9 K- G
the University of Texas at Austin, Texas 78712,6 s4 k8 X1 G' I* F. ^8 _
USA. This essay is based on a commencement talk# H9 h1 J+ f3 W; u* C4 k8 O
given by the author at the Science Convocation at' }5 k4 W2 ~# T7 i& Y
McGill University in June 2003.$ V; v8 A( H' S+ \* a7 y; D* H/ ?" V. [
2 r- m' J! ]: `; {) r' cWhen I received my undergraduate degree — about a hundred years
6 ~$ D( f2 V1 ], L- q" mago — the physics literature seemed to me a vast, unexplored ocean,* M5 c* c# w6 q i
every part of which I had to chart before beginning any research of my own. How+ i: |( O6 @9 N; ~! c: c h' X
could I do anything without knowing everything that had already been done?
! E/ |# ^* Q$ N- w+ {' rFortunately, in my first year of graduate school, I had the good luck to fall into the
6 j7 s; z6 Z `0 X# q8 Qhands of senior physicists who insisted, over my anxious objections, that I must start" B8 y% x {- w* a
doing research, and pick up what I needed to know as I went along. It was sink or
. r, Z# X! N8 a8 B) ]swim. To my surprise, I found that thisworks. I managed to get a quick PhD —
1 I: R! x3 i9 ^ E$ {9 o' z' Othough when I got it I knew almost nothing about physics. But I did learn one big
7 N+ [% g9 B- V0 rthing: that no one knows everything, and you don’t have to .
7 J) N+ C6 N o3 B' ]8 i/ t% K; m! r9 d! ~3 c0 ^! P8 m ?
Another lesson to be learned, to continue1 q' Z) @; k: C$ ?8 c. T5 d" J: x
using my oceanographic metaphor, is that
; _/ d& K& [7 _+ y# k) p$ bwhile you are swimming and not sinking you. X, h4 R+ H. |1 n, Z
should aim for rough water. When I was
6 A6 [. P7 A! t( lteaching at the Massachusetts Institute of( m9 ], T; V7 x1 D8 s4 M9 X: X$ K
Technology in the late 1960s, a student told6 g5 y7 M& F) W5 G
me that he wanted to go into general
0 O$ w$ U4 R+ [relativity rather than the area I was working
% w, Q# |- O6 u! ron, elementary particle physics, because
/ ^# ]1 j9 O- D0 D, s& Pthe principles of the former were well, \% L& I6 K+ m' i3 B3 c( v$ Q
known, while the latter seemed like a mess
, e* h4 }/ `1 e6 O( sto him. It struck me that he had just given
- j( t: |: b% Q; r* }$ v1 O" Va perfectly good reason for doing the opposite.
% ~* E: v# b7 |8 Y* m6 NParticle physics was an area where; `0 V9 [& a5 n# ?+ n6 P
creative work could still be done. It really was0 E* x: x- P$ q3 J2 s/ ?- z
a mess in the 1960s, but since that time the4 R9 j% s- |" Y
work of many theoretical and experimental
- v1 e) f/ k3 }physicists has been able to sort it out, and) D, W0 { F N
put everything (well, almost everything)
W0 ^5 z' B: g, ptogether in a beautiful theory known as
7 L0 l4 h8 x4 V5 B& Vthe standard model.My advice is to go for the
. C& M. z$ e# K$ h" U/ }messes — that’s where the action is.
( X" ?+ F) c5 }3 F
: \. O! h2 |' u. a% |My third piece of advice is probably the. ^2 Y% [9 L" E7 W7 [% `) y2 w3 e
hardest to take. It is to forgive yourself for
: l/ X7 y% ~8 d2 q' i, g' cwasting time. Students are only asked to1 k% F( E, X4 y$ D# x9 Z& k
solve problems that their professors (unless
& G" T* v' {) o9 _& t4 qunusually cruel) know to be solvable. In
8 |6 e: I ^$ [0 H v" iaddition,it doesn’t matter if the problems are5 F2 B* c4 f1 |' ^4 h
scientifically important — they have to be
: H! ^( b/ P( Z% A" r, s }+ Vsolved to pass the course. But in the real& j2 J' I s) ]9 V2 q0 C8 C
world, it’s very hard to know which problems
! g3 c' s3 m" p7 E V9 f# oare important, and you never know whether* g$ L# ]6 S2 Z5 W2 {
at a given moment in history a problem is" V) B, X# q' M5 F, A* z7 `& \
solvable. At the beginning of the twentieth
0 _5 U( W9 U/ X0 ecentury, several leading physicists, including0 ?, l3 K, C( d6 U& o" T% D. g
Lorentz and Abraham, were trying to work- p# c5 u; q- w
out a theory of the electron. This was partly
0 r+ z" i9 Q4 Y( u, xin order to understand why all attempts to
8 D& U ]# X) J( ~% L0 rdetect effects of Earth’s motion through the
2 U. z- T5 b3 }# [( a) P4 Xether had failed. We now know that, B D' J) Y8 T( j, B& W3 b' c6 X7 }
they were working on the wrong problem.
: V0 J" K* d0 r, p: _7 J+ AAt that time, no one could have developed a* u; V) ]' K4 r* w6 [' t# ^
successful theory of the electron, because
0 N5 E) t" j2 l' t# f' k7 Zquantum mechanics had not yet been
6 I4 S* Z9 v) m5 U7 |/ q2 ldiscovered. It took the genius of Albert
: `; p7 R3 J" p1 L6 @5 B0 O% u( q9 x% AEinstein in 1905 to realize that the right- W. i* g/ N; f8 T0 e
problem on which to work was the effect
3 i( y: ^1 ]4 `! J( a9 c7 }of motion on measurements of space and
) {& H1 \; w/ w7 l% W- O5 d Etime. This led him to the special theory of' x8 d( x: B) T
relativity. As you will never be sure which
3 P7 d9 W8 R* bare the right problems to work on, most
8 A- s7 [- i' c$ W. Q% Iof the time that you spend in the laboratory
1 a/ V! ~, p$ }, Zor at your desk will be wasted. If you want
' \6 ~: O" T) B# {! [ T: P# o+ a, Rto be creative, then you will have to get used
& t$ r+ L4 m" |0 y1 n7 A8 H: Zto spending most of your time not being c# M) u3 i" \ B7 A
creative, to being becalmed on the ocean of
. b! v T5 e1 `3 P, pscientific knowledge.
9 p6 f G5 ~: I
$ H) B1 q) u' e+ }7 u: GFinally, learn something about the history
- a3 S1 _1 F7 e/ hof science,or at a minimum the history of your# ]9 s+ O. C/ H+ q; @
own branch of science. The least important
7 X' s$ w" m/ Q+ G: I+ \2 q' creason for this is that the history may actually! X5 r- \9 L! B" }- V D
be of some use to you in your own scientific P* N( Y7 X3 M* W2 A: ~4 u
work. For instance, now and then scientists2 s4 }% W7 e5 c- Y' ^) c& ~0 O
are hampered by believing one of the oversimplified7 }1 \' [( a, H) f# f
models of science that have
, u0 O9 s% }' Fbeen proposed by philosophers from Francis$ F2 _+ b. h8 U# R
Bacon to Thomas Kuhn and Karl Popper.% Y+ p( s* p: ]1 g" [( y9 E& B- g
The best antidote to the philosophy of science
0 t/ N" Y) E7 u0 M/ D" ^is a knowledge of the history of science. |, c! z2 l5 X8 P3 [2 |9 o1 E: S
More importantly, the history of science
' w. L/ q3 {3 N Y% K: }can make your work seem more worthwhile) U B% W- S1 x5 {* Y7 {- i; Q
to you. As a scientist, you’re probably not
`, w% L" l' H1 mgoing to get rich. Your friends and relatives# M8 t: s* r: a! h. T3 o
probably won’t understand what you’re+ f3 {# I% I" X0 U8 F# L
doing.And if you work in a field like elementary
6 f, u, t& T1 g {particle physics, you won’t even have the5 {2 K# p5 P, p2 y0 N
satisfaction of doing something that is6 Q. p/ e8 g7 C
immediately useful. But you can get great
% B. Y) t$ i( T' N1 Ksatisfaction by recognizing that your work in
E) j# x7 ] w+ x1 uscience is a part of history.
S1 K( K5 O3 f" J# ]' L3 V
. t; Y* O/ l( ?5 A- C( |, ]* Y# WLook back 100 years, to 1903. How
7 J% C2 [" ~& Ximportant is it now who was Prime Minister
6 X3 S" Y* t3 b9 W6 Hof Great Britain in 1903, or President of the
. y. C7 a$ ?+ o/ h% vUnited States? What stands out as really# R1 c: S' t. r9 {; ~
important is that at McGill University,/ w2 x- v& z9 b5 k) q0 \
Ernest Rutherford and Frederick Soddy were/ |- E( V% @8 Q3 n
working out the nature of radioactivity.. R% X f* `' ^' W* P
This work (of course!) had practical applications,. f0 B8 _8 n6 i0 `( n. M
but much more important were its
- M' x- f% D! S, D' {' a' Gcultural implications. The understanding of% \) e( c P2 s9 ?+ F9 _. x
radioactivity allowed physicists to explain
8 g* m$ [/ {9 c+ k% L' Dhow the Sun and Earth’s cores could still be
! v: p {5 t" }! y1 hhot after millions of years. In this way, it
8 b- S- h9 W1 Iremoved the last scientific objection to what+ D( Q0 N6 p; |4 C% |, l( Z B( j
many geologists and paleontologists
3 C A5 a# V& [% B- tthought was the great age of the Earth and0 i* F( E: V& T4 m' V
the Sun.After this,Christians and Jews either2 l9 {) ^# _8 ^
had to give up belief in the literal truth of/ g/ A8 W4 G0 P( x t0 n
the Bible or resign themselves to intellectual0 J2 Q9 }, o4 G z4 t
irrelevance. This was just one step in a
( c& f3 U* f: l6 d* H: Y( Zsequence of steps from Galileo through
F/ B6 f8 d F7 n! c+ x" w; R0 wNewton and Darwin to the present that,time
1 F- A0 M0 T' ^4 [, K1 `, I1 Qafter time,has weakened the hold of religious
& o3 S, o' O d, a+ l5 k+ adogmatism. Reading any newspaper nowadays
" _9 W1 { p8 x+ s8 eis enough to show you that this work
- J/ L- P0 }7 Uis not yet complete. But it is civilizing work,/ o: F; o# l2 E
of which scientists are able to feel proud. |