10-11 诺贝尔大师自传：艾伦·黑格

Autobiography¹ of Nobel Prize Winner: Alan J.Heeger

 

I was born on a bitter cold morning in Sioux City (Iowa) on January 22, 1936. My early years were spent in Akron (Iowa), a small midwestern town of 1000 people, approximately 35 miles from Sioux City. I went to elementary school in Akron. My father died when I was nine years old.

 

After my father’s death, we moved to Omaha, so my mother could be closer to her family. She raised us as a single parent in a house that we shared with her sister and her sister’s children.

 

One of my earliest memories is of my mother telling me of the importance of getting a university education. When she graduated from high school, she received a scholarship to go on to university but went to work instead; she was needed by her parents to help support the family. It was always clear to me that it was my responsibility to go to university; prior to¹ my generation no one on either side of my family had an education that went beyond high school. I and my brother were the first in our family to receive the PhD degree.

 

My high school years were fun and frustrating², typical of the teen years. The most important accomplishment³ was meeting my wife, Ruth. I have loved her for nearly fifty years, and she remains⁴ my best friend.

 

My undergraduate years at the University of Nebraska were a special time in my life. I went to the University with the goal of becoming an engineer; I had no concept that one could pursue science as a career. After one semester, I was convinced that engineering was not for me, and I completed my undergraduate studies with a dual⁵ major in Physics and Mathematics. The highlight was a course in Modern Physics taught by Theodore Jorgensen. Professor Jorgensen introduced me to quantum² physics and twentieth century science.

 

When I started at Berkeley, my goal was to do a theoretical thesis under Charles Kittel. Thus, when the decision was made to go for my degree on a full-time⁶ basis, I went first to Kittel and asked if I could work for him. He recommended instead that I consider working with someone who does experimental work in close interaction with theory. This was perhaps the best advice that anyone ever gave me-and I followed his advice. I joined the research group of Alan Portis.

 

I remember with clarity my first day in the laboratory. I was doing “original research”; at last I was involved with real physics. After only one day of carrying out magnetic measurements on an insulating³ antiferromagnet⁴, KMnF3, I wrote a theory of antiferroelectric antiferromagnets and presented it to Portis with great pride. He was patient with me then and again a few days later when I apologized and told him my theory was nonsense. Through my interactions with Portis, I learned how to think about physics; more important, I began to learn about good taste in the choice of problems.

 

In 1975, the first papers on the novel metallic⁷ polymer, poly (sulfur-nitride), (SN)x appeared in the literature. I was intrigued⁵ by this unusual quasi-1d metal and wanted to get into the game. I learned that Alan MacDiarmid, a professor in the Chemistry Department at PENN, had a background in sulfur-nitride chemistry, and I made an appointment to see him with the goal of convincing him to collaborate⁹ with me and to synthesize⁶ (SN) x.

 

He agreed and a true collaboration¹⁰ began. We realized that it was a long reach across the Chemistry-Physics boundary, and we were determined¹¹ to learn from one another. Although we collaborated¹² during the week, we typically met on Saturday mornings with no agenda; just to try to learn from one another. At that time, I was fascinated with the metal-insulator¹³ transition as envisioned⁷ by Mott. The initial discovery of the remarkable¹⁴ increase in electrical conductivity of (CH)x and the identification of that increase as resulting from a transition from insulator (semiconductor) to metal followed in a very short time.

 

I have enjoyed the life of a scientist while sharing both the exciting days and the disappointments with Ruth. She has filled my life with love and surrounded me with beauty. She has also gallantly¹⁵⁸ put up with my eccentricities⁹ for more than forty years. We have succeeded in starting an academic dynasty; our two sons, Peter and David are both academics. Peter is a professor and medical doctor who is doing research on immunology¹⁰ at Case Western Reserve University. David is a professor and neuroscientist¹¹ at Stanford University where he studies human vision. Of all the congratulations that I have received as a result of the Nobel Prize, I took greatest pleasure from the pride of my grandchildren in their grandfather.

 

注释：

1. prior to 在……以前，先于

2. quantum [5kwCntEm] n. [物]量子

3. insulate [5insjuleit] v. 使绝缘

4. antiferromagnet [7Anti7ferEu5mA^nit] n. [物]反铁磁质，反铁磁体

5. intrigue⁸ [in5tri:^] vt. 激起……的好奇心（或兴趣）, 迷住

6. synthesize [5sinWisaiz] vt. [化] 使合成

7. envision [in5viVEn] vt. 想像，展望

8. gallantly [5^AlEntli] ad. 骑士风度地，豪侠地

9. eccentricity¹⁶ [eksen5trisiti] n. 古怪，怪僻

10. immunology [7imju5nClEdVi] n. [生] 免疫学

11. neuroscientist [7njuErEu5saiEntist] n. 神经系统科学家

 

 

诺贝尔大师自传：艾伦·黑格

 

1936年1月22日严寒的早晨，我出生在艾奥瓦州苏城。我的童年是在艾奥瓦州的阿克伦度过的，那是一个只有1000人的中西部小城，离苏城大约35英里。我在阿克伦上的小学。我9岁时，父亲便去世了。

父亲死后，我们搬到了奥马哈，这样我母亲就可以离她的娘家近一些。她单身一人抚养我们，我们与她姐姐及其孩子们住在一所房子里。

我最早的记忆之一是母亲告诉我接受大学教育的重要性。我母亲高中毕业的时候，获得了上大学的奖学金，但是她父母需要她帮助养家糊口，她不得不去工作。在我这一辈之前，我父母两家都没有人接受过超过高中程度的教育，所以我一直十分清楚上大学是我的责任。我和我弟弟是我们这个家族里最先获得博士学位的人。

我的高中生活充满乐趣和挫折，是典型的十来岁孩子的生活。高中时代最大的收获就是遇到了我的妻子鲁思，我爱她快50年了，她一直是我最好的朋友。

我在内布拉斯加大学的那些年月，是我一生中一段特殊的日子。我刚上大学时的目标是当一名工程师，我没有想到一个人可以把科学探索当作一种职业。但是一个学期后，我确信我不适合做工程师。大学毕业时我完成了物理和数学两门专业的学习。在大学里最精彩的课是西奥多·乔根森教的现代物理学。他把我引进了量子物理学和20世纪科学的世界。

在伯克利，我的初始目标是跟查尔斯·基特尔做纯理论的论文。因此，我决定全职去获得我的学位，我首先去找了基特尔，问他我是否可以为他工作。他却建议我考虑同从事与理论有紧密关联的实验工作的人一起工作。这也许是别人给过我的最好的建议。我听从了他的建议，加入了艾伦·波蒂斯的研究小组。

我清楚地记得我第一天在实验室的情景。我在做“原始研究”，终于涉及了真正的物理学。关于绝缘反铁磁体KMnF3的磁性测量，我只做了一天，就写了一个反铁电的反铁磁体理论，并且非常骄傲地拿给波蒂斯看。他对我很耐心，几天后，我向他道歉，告诉他我的理论毫无意义，他仍然对我很耐心。通过与波蒂斯的交往，我学会了如何思考物理学；更重要的是，我开始学习选择题目的良好鉴别能力。

1975年，有关新金属聚合物——硫氮聚合物(SN)x的第一批文章出现在文献上。这一非同寻常的准一维金属激发了我的兴趣，我想要加入这一游戏。我得知，宾夕法尼亚大学化学系的艾伦·麦克迪尔米德教授有硫氮聚合物的化学研究背景，我就约了他见面，目的是说服他与我合作合成(SN)x。

他同意了，一次真正的合作开始了。我们认识到，那是一个横跨化学和物理两个学科的长期研究，于是决定互相学习。尽管我们在每周的工作时间合作，但通常我们在没有其他安排的星期六早晨会面，只是为了能尽量相互学习。那时，我对莫特设想的金属－绝缘体的过渡理论着迷。很快，我们首次发现(CH)x的导电性能有了显著提高，而且证实了导电性的提高是由绝缘体（半导体）向金属过渡导致的。

我热爱科学家的生活，热爱与鲁思一起分享激动和失望的日子。她使我的生活充满了爱和美，40多年来，她也大度地容忍着我的古怪。我们夫妻二人成功地建立了一个学术王国，我们的两个儿子，彼得和戴维都从事学术研究。彼得是一位教授、医学博士，在凯斯西储大学从事免疫学研究。戴维是斯坦福大学的教授和神经学家，他在那里研究人类的视觉。获得诺贝尔奖后，在我接受的所有祝贺当中，使我最为高兴的是我的孙辈们从他们的爷爷那里获得的骄傲。

 

1 autobiography   

n.自传

参考例句：

• He published his autobiography last autumn.他去年秋天出版了自己的自传。
• His life story is recounted in two fascinating volumes of autobiography.这两卷引人入胜的自传小说详述了他的生平。

2 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 accomplishment   

n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能

参考例句：

• The series of paintings is quite an accomplishment.这一系列的绘画真是了不起的成就。
• Money will be crucial to the accomplishment of our objectives.要实现我们的目标，钱是至关重要的。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

6 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

7 metallic   

adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的

参考例句：

• A sharp metallic note coming from the outside frightened me.外面传来尖锐铿锵的声音吓了我一跳。
• He picked up a metallic ring last night.昨夜他捡了一个金属戒指。

8 intrigue   

vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋

参考例句：

• Court officials will intrigue against the royal family.法院官员将密谋反对皇室。
• The royal palace was filled with intrigue.皇宫中充满了勾心斗角。

9 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

10 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

11 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

12 collaborated   

合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• We have collaborated on many projects over the years. 这些年来我们合作搞了许多项目。
• We have collaborated closely with the university on this project. 我们与大学在这个专案上紧密合作。

13 insulator   

n.隔离者；绝缘体

参考例句：

• Few substances can equal fur as an insulator.作为绝缘体很少有其他材料能与动物皮毛相媲美。
• A loose mulch acts on the surface as an insulator.疏松的覆盖物在土壤表面起了隔热的作用。

14 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

15 gallantly   

adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地

参考例句：

• He gallantly offered to carry her cases to the car. 他殷勤地要帮她把箱子拎到车子里去。
• The new fighters behave gallantly under fire. 新战士在炮火下表现得很勇敢。

16 eccentricity   

n.古怪，反常，怪癖

参考例句：

• I can't understand the eccentricity of Henry's behavior.我不理解亨利的古怪举止。
• His eccentricity had become legendary long before he died.在他去世之前他的古怪脾气就早已闻名遐尔了。