Leonard Susskind: My friend Richard Feynman

翻译人员: Lily Yichen Shi 校对人员: Xiaoqiao Xie

我被邀请来演讲的时候就决定了

I decided when I was asked to do this

我真正想在这儿谈谈的

that what I really wanted to talk about was my friend, Richard Feynman.

是我的好友理查德·费曼。

I was one of the fortunate few that really did get to know him

我是为数不多的认识他

并欣赏他的

and enjoyed his presence.

幸运者之一。

And I'm going to tell you about the Richard Feynman that I knew.

我想描述给你们听的是我眼中的理查德·费曼

I'm sure there are people here who could tell you

在座的各位之中 一定还有人

能说说他们眼中的理查德·费曼

about the Richard Feynman they knew,

and it would probably be a different Richard Feynman.

那也很有可能是个很不同的理查德·费曼

理查德·费曼是个很复杂的人

Richard Feynman was a very complex man.

He was a man of many, many parts.

他是个由许多部分组成的人

He was, of course, foremost, a very, very, very great scientist.

当然，首先要提的自然是

他是个非常非常伟大的科学家。

他是个演员。你们看过他的演出。

He was an actor. You saw him act.

I also had the good fortune to be in those lectures,

我也有幸听过他讲课，

up in the balcony.

就在阳台上。

They were fantastic.

它们太棒了。

他是个哲学家，

He was a philosopher.

He was a drum player.

他是个鼓手，

He was a teacher par excellence.

他是个超群的教师,

Richard Feynman was also a showman,

理查德·费曼也是个善于引起人们注意的人物,

是个极其引人注目的人物。

an enormous showman.

他性情急躁，无礼--

He was brash, irreverent.

He was full of macho, a kind of macho one-upmanship.

他极其好斗，

总能超越他的竞争者。

He loved intellectual battle.

他钟爱智斗。

He had a gargantuan ego.

他极为自负。

But the man had, somehow,

但怎么说呢，他

a lot of room at the bottom.

还留下了不少空间。

我的意思是

And what I mean by that is a lot of room, in my case --

在我看来，还有很大的空间 --

我不能说别人也这样看--

I can't speak for anybody else, but in my case --

但我认为，

a lot of room for another big ego.

指的是容纳更多自负的空间。

Well, not as big as his,

比他已经拥有的少些

but fairly big.

但绝对够多

狄克·费曼总让我感觉不错 （注：狄克是理查德的昵称）

I always felt good with Dick Feynman.

It was always fun to be with him.

和他在一起总是很有意思

He always made me feel smart.

他总让我觉得自己才智非凡

像他那么聪明的人怎么还会让你觉得自己聪明呢？

How can somebody like that make you feel smart?

但他做到了

Somehow he did.

He made me feel smart. He made me feel he was smart.

他让我感到自己很聪明 也让我感到他很聪明

He made me feel we were both smart,

他让我觉得我们俩都很聪明

and the two of us could solve any problem whatever.

只要有我们俩 任何难题都能被解决

有时候我们的确一起讨论物理问题

And in fact, we did sometimes do physics together.

我们从来没有共同发表过论文

We never published a paper together,

但我们讨论的很开心

but we did have a lot of fun.

在我们有时候玩的

He loved to win,

win these little macho games we would sometimes play.

那些男人的斗智游戏中 他总喜欢赢

And he didn't only play them with me, but with all sorts of people.

不只是和我 他和各种各样的人玩这些游戏

He would almost always win.

他几乎总能获胜

But when he didn't win, when he lost,

但当他没赢 当他输了的时候

he would laugh and seem to have just as much fun

他会大笑 并表现出和他赢了的时候

as if he had won.

玩的一样畅快的心情

I remember once he told me a story

我记得有一次他告诉我一件事

about a joke the students played on him.

那是他的学生们戏弄他的一个小故事

I think it was for his birthday --

好像是为了庆祝他的生日吧

they took him for lunch

他的学生们带他去吃午饭

to a sandwich place in Pasadena.

他们把他带到帕萨迪纳市

一个吃三明治的地方

It may still exist; I don't know.

也许那地方现在都还在呢

Celebrity sandwiches was their thing.

“明星三明治”是他们的特色

You could get a Marilyn Monroe sandwich.

你能点玛丽莲·梦露三明治

You could get a Humphrey Bogart sandwich.

也能点亨弗莱·鲍嘉三明治

The students went there in advance,

那些学生们事先去了那里

and arranged that they'd all order Feynman sandwiches.

并安排着大伙儿都点费曼三明治

他们一个接着一个 全都点了费曼三明治

One after another, they came in and ordered Feynman sandwiches.

费曼很喜欢这个故事

Feynman loved this story.

He told me this story, and he was really happy and laughing.

他对我讲这件事时非常高兴 开怀大笑着

When he finished the story, I said to him,

他讲完这个故事后 我对他说：

"Dick, I wonder what would be the difference

“狄克 我就是在琢磨

费曼三明治和苏士侃三明治会有什么区别”

between a Feynman sandwich and a Susskind sandwich."

And without skipping a beat at all,

他不假思索的回答：

he said, "Well, they'd be about the same.

“它们大致上差不多吧

唯一的区别是苏士侃三明治里会多很多火腿 （注：火腿在英语里有笨拙演员的意思）

The only difference is a Susskind sandwich would have a lot more ham."

火腿 指的是笨拙演员

"Ham" as in bad actor.

（笑）

(Laughter)

Well, I happened to have been very quick that day,

那天我的思维特别敏捷 便说道：

“对啊 但少很多大香肠” （注：大香肠在英语里有胡扯的意思）

and I said, "Yeah, but a lot less baloney."

(Laughter)

（笑）

(Applause)

告诉大家一句实话

The truth of the matter

is that a Feynman sandwich had a load of ham,

在费曼三明治里

火腿绝不占少数

but absolutely no baloney.

而大香肠压根就没有

What Feynman hated worse than anything else

费曼平生最厌恶的

便是学问上的做作

was intellectual pretense --

虚假

phoniness,

false sophistication, jargon.

故弄玄虚 术语

我还记得在80年代发生的一些事

I remember sometime during the mid-'80s,

那是80年代中期

Dick and I and Sidney Coleman would meet a couple of times

狄克 我 还有西德尼·科尔曼

常常在旧金山

up in San Francisco -- at some very rich guy's house --

旧金山的某些富人家里

up in San Francisco for dinner.

共享晚餐

那次 某个富人在邀请我们的同时

And the last time the rich guy invited us,

he also invited a couple of philosophers.

也邀请了一些哲学家

These guys were philosophers of mind.

他们是研究大脑的哲学家

Their specialty was the philosophy of consciousness.

专长是意识哲学

And they were full of all kinds of jargon.

话语中满是术语

让我想想他们都用了哪些词汇

I'm trying to remember the words --

"monism," "dualism," categories all over the place.

“一元论” “二元论”之类的 涉及的范畴铺天盖地

我不知道这些词什么意思 狄克也不知道

I didn't know what those meant, neither did Dick or Sydney, for that matter.

西德尼对这方面也没有了解

那我们谈了什么呢？

And what did we talk about?

Well, what do you talk about when you talk about minds?

以大脑为中心我们能探讨些什么呢？

There's one obvious thing to talk about:

有一件事 明显能被讨论

Can a machine become a mind?

机器能成为大脑吗？

Can you build a machine

我们能否造出一个

that thinks like a human being that is conscious?

以人的方式思考的

有自我意识的机器？

We sat around and talked about this -- we of course never resolved it.

我们坐在那儿谈的就是这个　当然我们并没得出结论

But the trouble with the philosophers

但问题就在于 那些哲学家

is that they were philosophizing

该把问题科学化的时候

when they should have been science-ophizing.

也只知道哲学化

说到底 这是个科学上的问题

It's a scientific question, after all.

And this was a very, very dangerous thing to do

他们在狄克·费曼面前这样做

是非常非常危险的

around Dick Feynman.

(Laughter)

Feynman let them have it -- both barrels, right between the eyes.

费曼当头痛击 一股脑儿的痛斥弄得他们无言以对

It was brutal; it was funny -- ooh, it was funny.

他做的够残忍的 但也很搞笑 真的太搞笑了

But it was really brutal.

不过他的做法真的很残忍

He really popped their balloon.

他们被说得彻底泄了气

但令人惊讶的事情发生了

But the amazing thing was -- Feynman had to leave a little early;

费曼要提早离开

he wasn't feeling too well, so he left a little bit early.

他感觉不太好 所以早走了些

And Sidney and I were left there with the two philosophers.

就剩下了西德尼 我 还有那两个哲学家

And the amazing thing is these guys were flying.

令人惊讶的是 他们俩兴高采烈

They were so happy.

感觉飘飘然的

他们见到了这伟大的人物

They had met the great man;

they had been instructed by the great man;

他们被这伟大的人物指导了

they had an enormous amount of fun

虽然被弄的无话可说

having their faces shoved in the mud ...

他们觉得有趣极了

这太特别了

And it was something special.

I realized there was something just extraordinary about Feynman,

虽说费曼就这么做了 但我意识到

他就是有些太过与众不同的地方

even when he did what he did.

Dick -- he was my friend; I did call him Dick --

狄克是我的好友 我就称呼他为狄克

Dick and I had a little bit of a rapport.

狄克和我相处的不错

我觉得我们之间的关系还挺特殊的

I think it may have been a special rapport that he and I had.

We liked each other; we liked the same kind of things.

我们喜欢对方　我们喜欢的东西也类似

I also like the intellectual macho games.

我也很喜欢男人的那些智斗游戏

Sometimes I would win, mostly he would win,

我有时会赢 但几乎都是他赢的

but we both enjoyed them.

但我们俩都玩得很尽兴

And Dick became convinced at some point

狄克渐渐开始确信

that he and I had some kind of similarity of personality.

他与我的性格有着某些共同点

我觉得他错了

I don't think he was right.

I think the only point of similarity between us

我觉得我们俩之间唯一的共同点

在于我们都喜欢谈论自己

is we both like to talk about ourselves.

But he was convinced of this.

但他很确定

他有一颗好奇心

And the man was incredibly curious.

他总是特别的好奇

And he wanted to understand what it was and why it was

他总想理解那是什么 为什么是那样的

还有这两者之间的联系

that there was this funny connection.

And one day, we were walking.

1976年的那天

We were in France, in Les Houches.

我们在法国苏世正走着

We were up in the mountains, 1976.

那时我们在山上

费曼对我说：

And Feynman said to me, "Leonardo ..."

“李奥纳特”

他称呼我为李奥纳特

The reason he called me "Leonardo" is because we were in Europe,

是因为我们在欧洲

and he was practicing his French.

他在练习他的法语

(Laughter)

他说：“李奥纳特

And he said, "Leonardo,

你小的时候和你妈妈还是爸爸

were you closer to your mother or your father when you were a kid?"

关系近些？”

I said, "Well, my real hero was my father.

我答道：“我爸爸是我心中的英雄

他是个工人

He was a working man,

只受过小学五年级的教育

had a fifth-grade education.

He was a master mechanic, and he taught me how to use tools.

他是个很棒的机械工 也正是他教会我使用工具的

He taught me all sorts of things about mechanical things.

关于机械的事情 他教了我很多很多

He even taught me the Pythagorean theorem.

他甚至教了我勾股定理

He didn't call it the hypotenuse,

他没用‘斜边’这个词

he called it the shortcut distance."

他叫它‘抄近路’的距离”

And Feynman's eyes just opened up.

费曼睁大了他的双眼

He went off like a lightbulb.

他像个灯泡一样亮了起来

他说 他和他爸爸的关系

And he said that he had had

basically exactly the same relationship with his father.

几乎和我所说的

一模一样

In fact, he had been convinced at one time

其实他从什么时候起就开始确信

that to be a good physicist,

要成为一个好的物理学家

那样的父子关系

it was very important to have had that kind of relationship

是十分必要的

with your father.

I apologize for the sexist conversation here,

抱歉 我说的内容含有性别歧视的味道

but this is the way it really happened.

但这的确是事实经过

He said he had been absolutely convinced that this was necessary,

他说他彻头彻尾的确信 这是一个小物理学家

a necessary part of the growing up of a young physicist.

成功过程中不可或缺的一部分

Being Dick, he, of course, wanted to check this.

作为狄克 当然他想要确认一下这事

他想去做个实验

He wanted to go out and do an experiment.

所以他做了

(Laughter)

Well, he did.

他去做了个实验

He went out and did an experiment.

他问了所有在他看来是好物理学家的朋友

He asked all his friends that he thought were good physicists,

“是你妈妈还是你爸爸影响的你？”

"Was it your mom or your pop that influenced you?"

They were all men,

他问的都是男人

and to a man, every single one of them said,

而每一个男人的回答都是

“我妈妈”

"My mother."

(Laughter)

（笑）

There went that theory, down the trash can of history.

所以这套理论就被扔进历史的垃圾桶里了

(Laughter)

But he was very excited that he had finally met somebody

但他的确因为终于遇到了一个

who had the same experience with his father

有着和他相似的父子关系的人

而激动不已

as he had with his father.

And for some time, he was convinced this was the reason we got along so well.

他也曾确信 这便是

我们相处的那么融洽的原因

I don't know. Maybe. Who knows?

或许是这样吧　又有谁知道呢？

But let me tell you a little bit about Feynman the physicist.

好 让我来和你们说说

作为一个物理学家的费曼

Feynman's style -- no, "style" is not the right word.

费曼的风格

不对 “风格”这个词用得不好

"Style" makes you think of the bow tie he might have worn,

“风格”会让你联想到他或许戴过的领结

或是他穿过的西装

or the suit he was wearing.

我想说的是比这些远远要深的东西

It's something much deeper than that,

but I can't think of another word for it.

但我想不出第二个词来形容它

费曼在科学上的风格

Feynman's scientific style was always to look for the simplest,

永远是尽他所能

在可能中寻找最简单 最基本的解题方法

most elementary solution to a problem that was possible.

If it wasn't possible, you had to use something fancier.

如果不可能的话 那你就得用些花俏的办法了

但毫无疑问的是

No doubt, part of this was his great joy and pleasure

让大家看到他能比他们想得更简单

in showing people that he could think more simply than they could.

对费曼来说 是他的一大乐趣和满足

But he also deeply believed, he truly believed,

但他也深信着 坚信着

that if you couldn't explain something simply,

如果你无法简单地解释一样东西

you didn't understand it.

那就说明你没有真正理解它

In the 1950s, people were trying to figure out

50年代的时候 人们正研究着

how superfluid helium worked.

超流态氦是怎么回事

一位俄罗斯物理学家

There was a theory.

It was due to a Russian mathematical physicist.

有那么一套理论

复杂的理论

It was a complicated theory;

I'll tell you what it was soon enough.

我等下就告诉你们那是什么理论

It was a terribly complicated theory,

那是一套十分复杂的理论

full of very difficult integrals and formulas

里面充满了复杂的积分和方程

and mathematics and so forth.

还有各种各样的数学

And it sort of worked, but it didn't work very well.

这理论行得通 但并不那么好用

只有氦原子互相之间

The only way it worked

is when the helium atoms were very, very far apart.

距离非常远的时候 这理论才管用

And unfortunately,

氦原子之间必须要有很远的一段距离

可惜在液体氦里的氦原子

the helium atoms in liquid helium are right on top of each other.

根本就都叠在一起

Feynman decided, as a sort of amateur helium physicist,

作为一个“业余”氦物理学家

费曼决定给它一试

that he would try to figure it out.

He had an idea, a very clear idea.

他的想法十分明确

He would try to figure out

他决定去找出

what the quantum wave function of this huge number of atoms looked like.

描述那么大数量的原子的

波函数

通过仅仅几条简单的原理

He would try to visualize it,

guided by a small number of simple principles.

他要试着把它形象化

The small number of simple principles were very, very simple.

这仅仅几条简单的原理非常非常的简单

The first one was that when helium atoms touch each other,

第一条是

当两个氦原子相碰时 它们会相斥

they repel.

The implication of that is that the wave function has to go to zero,

这也就意味着波函数会归零

只要氦原子互相碰撞 波函数必须归零

it has to vanish when the helium atoms touch each other.

另一条是

The other fact is that in the ground state --

在基态 也就是一个量子系统最低能量的状态下

the lowest energy state of a quantum system --

波函数总会显得特别平滑

the wave function is always very smooth;

it has the minimum number of wiggles.

它的波动将处于最小值

So he sat down --

他就这样坐下来

and I imagine he had nothing more

我想他除了一张纸

than a simple piece of paper and a pencil --

还有一支笔 什么都没有吧

and he tried to write down, and did write down,

他试着 并成功的写下

他能想到的最简单的函数

the simplest function that he could think of,

which had the boundary conditions

也就是有着 相碰就会归零

that the wave function vanish when things touch

和除边界之外 其余完全平滑

and is smooth in between.

这两条边界条件的波函数

他简单的把它写了出来

He wrote down a simple thing -- so simple, in fact,

简单就简单到

that I suspect a really smart high-school student

让我怀疑一个连微积分

都没学过的 聪明的高中学生

who didn't even have calculus

could understand what he wrote down.

也能理解他写下来的是什么

The thing was, that simple thing that he wrote down

但也正是他写的这个如此简单的函数

explained everything that was known at the time about liquid helium,

解释了当时我们对液体氦了解的一切

甚至更多

and then some.

I've always wondered whether the professionals --

我常常怀疑

那些专业的 真正的氦物理学家

the real professional helium physicists --

were just a little bit embarrassed by this.

是不是会因为这个而感到羞愧

They had their super-powerful technique,

他们虽然有着他们超级强大的方法

但没能取得费曼那样的成功

and they couldn't do as well.

Incidentally, I'll tell you what that super-powerful technique was.

让我顺便告诉你们那超级强大的方法是什么吧

是费曼图解法

It was the technique of Feynman diagrams.

(Laughter)

（笑）

He did it again in 1968.

1968年 他又这么做了一次

In 1968, in my own university -- I wasn't there at the time --

1968年 在我的大学里

我当时不在那里 但就在1968年

they were exploring the structure of the proton.

人们正在研究质子的结构

The proton is obviously made of a whole bunch of little particles;

显然 质子是由

许多小粒子组成的

this was more or less known.

那时大家对此多少有些了解

And the way to analyze it was, of course, Feynman diagrams.

要分析这些 我们自然少不了费曼图解法

费曼图解法就是为了这个才被绘制出来的

That's what Feynman diagrams were constructed for --

to understand particles.

为了了解粒子

The experiments that were going on were very simple:

当时的实验非常简单

你只要将质子

you simply take the proton,

and you hit it really sharply with an electron.

猛烈的撞向电子即可

费曼图解法就是派这个用场的

This was the thing the Feynman diagrams were for.

唯一的问题在于

The only problem was that Feynman diagrams are complicated.

费曼图解法很复杂

他们是复杂的积分

They're difficult integrals.

If you could do all of them, you would have a very precise theory,

如果都能被算出来的话 我们便有了一套精确的理论

但如果算不出的话 那它们就太复杂了

but you couldn't -- they were just too complicated.

人们试着去计算

People were trying to do them.

你可以画一圈图　一圈图不是问题

You could do a one-loop diagram. Don't worry about one loop.

一圈图 二圈图 也许你能画得出三圈图

One loop, two loops -- maybe you could do a three-loop diagram,

但还想再画就不可能了

but beyond that, you couldn't do anything.

费曼说：“别管这些了

Feynman said, "Forget all of that.

Just think of the proton

就直接把质子

as an assemblage, a swarm, of little particles."

想成小粒子的集合体

想成一群小粒子

He called them "partons."

就叫它们部分子”　他把它们称为部分子

He said, "Just think of it as a swarm of partons moving real fast."

他说：“就把它想成一群

迅速移动着的小粒子”

因为它们的移动速度极快

Because they're moving real fast,

relativity says the internal motions go very slow.

相对论告诉我们 它们的内部运动非常缓慢

电子突然撞了上来

The electron hits it suddenly --

it's like taking a very sudden snapshot of the proton.

就像是突然之间给质子来了张快照一样

你能看见什么？

What do you see?

你看到的是一堆一动不动的部分子

You see a frozen bunch of partons.

They don't move,

它们没有在动　也正因为它们没在动

and because they don't move during the course of the experiment,

在整个实验过程中

you don't have to worry about how they're moving.

你不用管它们是怎么运动的

你不用考虑它们之间的力

You don't have to worry about the forces between them.

你只要去想

You just get to think of it as a population of frozen partons."

一大群

一动不动的部分子

This was the key to analyzing these experiments.

这便是分析这些实验最关键的部分

太有效了　它其实——

Extremely effective.

有些人说“改革”是个不好的词

Somebody said the word "revolution" is a bad word.

我想是吧 那我就不用“改革”

I suppose it is, so I won't say "revolution,"

but it certainly evolved very, very deeply our understanding of the proton,

但它绝对从很深的程度上

推进了我们对质子

and of particles beyond that.

以及更多粒子的了解

Well, I had some more that I was going to tell you

我本来准备告诉你们的

还有不少关于我和费曼的事情

about my connection with Feynman,

what he was like,

想说说他是怎样个人

but I see I have exactly half a minute.

但看来我只剩下半分钟了

So I think I'll just finish up by saying:

我最后想说的是

我其实并不觉得费曼会喜欢这活动

I actually don't think Feynman would have liked this event.

我想他会说：

I think he would have said, "I don't need this."

“我不需要这个”

But ...

那我们该怎样给予费曼荣誉呢？

(Laughter)

How should we honor Feynman?

How should we really honor Feynman?

该怎样真正给予费曼荣誉呢？

I think the answer is we should honor Feynman

我认为答案是 我们应该尽全力扔掉

by getting as much baloney out of our own sandwiches

自己三明治里的大香肠

并以此给予费曼荣誉

as we can.

谢谢

Thank you.

(Applause)

（掌声）