Leonard Susskind: My friend Richard Feynman

譯者: K. C. Peng 審譯者: Nova Upinel Altesse

當我被要求做這演說

I decided when I was asked to do this

我立即想到要說的

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

就是我的好友費因曼

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

我是少數幾個夠幸運

能真正的認識他

and enjoyed his presence.

以及享受他的相處

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

我將告訴你們我所知道的費因曼

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

我相信這裡也有其他人

能告訴你們他們認識的費因曼

about the Richard Feynman they knew,

and it would probably be a different Richard Feynman.

也可能會不同於我說的

費因曼是個非常複雜的人

Richard Feynman was a very complex man.

He was a man of many, many parts.

他是個非常非常多樣的人

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

當然節大部分 他是

非常非常偉大的科學家

他是個演員 你們都看過他的演出

He was an actor. You saw him act.

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

我也曾聽過幾次的課堂演說

up in the balcony.

就在那閣樓

They were fantastic.

這些演講都是精采萬分

他是一個哲學家

He was a philosopher.

He was a drum player.

他是個鼓手

He was a teacher par excellence.

他是個傑出的教師

Richard Feynman was also a showman,

費因曼是個愛出風頭的人

是個非常愛出風頭

an enormous showman.

他有時傲慢 玩世不恭

He was brash, irreverent.

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

他是非常有男子氣概

一種 one-upsmanship 的男子氣概

He loved intellectual battle.

他喜歡挑戰智力

He had a gargantuan ego.

他非常的自我

But the man had, somehow,

但是 他又是

a lot of room at the bottom.

非常有肚量

我的意思是

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

肚量是... 這是以我為例

別人我就無法代言

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

所以就我而言

a lot of room for another big ego.

肚量卻是為了再放一個自我

Well, not as big as his,

不是非常大

but fairly big.

但足夠

和費因曼相處 我是愉快的

I always felt good with Dick Feynman.

It was always fun to be with him.

是非常的有趣

He always made me feel smart.

他總是讓我覺得聰明

怎麼可能像他這樣的天才能夠讓你覺得自己聰明呢?

How can somebody like that make you feel smart?

不曉得為什麼 他就是

Somehow he did.

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

他讓我覺得聰明 也讓我覺得他是聰明的

He made me feel we were both smart,

它讓我覺得我們都是聰明的

and the two of us could solve any problem whatever.

好像我們兩個可以解決所有問題

事實上, 我們也真的有時一起討論物理

And in fact, we did sometimes do physics together.

但我們從未一起發表論文

We never published a paper together,

我們還是有很多的趣事

but we did have a lot of fun.

他喜歡贏

He loved to win,

win these little macho games we would sometimes play.

從我們常玩的一斜男人遊戲

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

他不只與我玩 也與各式各樣的人玩

He would almost always win.

他幾乎總是贏

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

當他輸時

he would laugh and seem to have just as much fun

他會笑 就像是贏一樣的

as if he had won.

歡樂

I remember once he told me a story

我記得有一次 他告訴我一個故事

about a joke the students played on him.

是學生們開在他身上的玩笑

I think it was for his birthday --

我想是在他的生日上 他們帶他

they took him for lunch

去午餐

to a sandwich place in Pasadena.

午餐是去

Pasadena 的三明治餐廳

It may still exist; I don't know.

或許還在那裡 我不清楚

Celebrity sandwiches was their thing.

名人三明治 就是餐廳的特色

You could get a Marilyn Monroe sandwich.

比方說 你可以點 瑪麗蓮‧夢露 三明治

You could get a Humphrey Bogart sandwich.

或是 亨弗萊‧鮑嘉 三明治

The students went there in advance,

學生先前去過

and arranged that they'd all order Feynman sandwiches.

就商量安排 所有學生全部都點 費因曼三明治

學生一個接一個 進來都點 費因曼三明治

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

費因曼很喜歡這個故事

Feynman loved this story.

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

他是真的快樂與高興的敘說這個故事

When he finished the story, I said to him,

當他說完這故事 我跟他說

"Dick, I wonder what would be the difference

"Dick, 我好奇費因曼三明治 和 我的三明治

會有什麼不同"

between a Feynman sandwich and a Susskind sandwich."

And without skipping a beat at all,

連停都沒停

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

他就說 "嗯, 大致上會是差不多

這唯一的差異是 你的三明治會有很多的火腿"

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

火腿是差的角色

"Ham" as in bad actor.

(笑聲)

(Laughter)

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

我剛好那天反應很快

我說 "是的 但會少很多的 baloney (扯淡)"

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

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

(Applause)

實際上呢!

The truth of the matter

is that a Feynman sandwich had a load of ham,

費因曼三明治

有很多的火腿

but absolutely no baloney.

絕對沒有 baloney (扯淡)

What Feynman hated worse than anything else

費因曼最討厭的事就是

假聰明

was intellectual pretense --

做作

phoniness,

false sophistication, jargon.

世故 滿嘴名詞

我記得80年代

I remember sometime during the mid-'80s,

或是80年代中

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

Dick 與 我 以及 Sidney Coleman

三個人一起見過好幾次

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

某個舊金山有錢人家

up in San Francisco for dinner.

用晚餐

最後一次那有錢人的晚宴

And the last time the rich guy invited us,

he also invited a couple of philosophers.

也邀請了一些哲學家

These guys were philosophers of mind.

那些是腦學的哲學家

Their specialty was the philosophy of consciousness.

他們專長在人類意識的哲學探討

And they were full of all kinds of jargon.

他們用了一大堆的名詞

讓我想想這些詞兒 --

I'm trying to remember the words --

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

"一元論" "二元論" 到處是分類名詞

我不曉得這些意涵 Dick 也不知道

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

Sydney 也不清楚

那我們在講些什麼?

And what did we talk about?

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

談到腦 你們會談些什麼?

There's one obvious thing to talk about:

大概只有這件事 ---

Can a machine become a mind?

機器能像腦一樣嗎?

Can you build a machine

能夠建造一個機器

that thinks like a human being that is conscious?

能像人類一樣思考

就是一樣的有意識

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

我們坐下討論 --- 當然是無法有結論的

But the trouble with the philosophers

但是哲學家的問題是

is that they were philosophizing

他們急想要把事情哲學化

when they should have been science-ophizing.

而實際上應該先科學化

那只是個科學問題

It's a scientific question, after all.

And this was a very, very dangerous thing to do

與費因曼共室時 這樣的自以為是

是非常的危險

around Dick Feynman.

(Laughter)

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

費因曼當時就立即給他們難堪

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

相當嚴厲 也是有趣的 --- 是有趣的

But it was really brutal.

但也真的是殘酷

He really popped their balloon.

他真的戳破他們的說法

妙的事是 ---

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

費因曼 必需提前離開

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

他有些不適 所以得先離開

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

Sidney 與我只好繼續留下

And the amazing thing is these guys were flying.

妙的是 這兩位哲學家

They were so happy.

是快樂的

他們遇到一位偉人

They had met the great man;

they had been instructed by the great man;

他們讓這偉人親自指教

they had an enormous amount of fun

他們非常地享受

having their faces shoved in the mud ...

即使是當眾顏面掃地

但是個美妙的相遇

And it was something special.

I realized there was something just extraordinary about Feynman,

我才明白關於費因曼的不平凡

即使是像這樣的情況

even when he did what he did.

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

Dick 是我的朋友 我都是這麼叫他 Dick

Dick and I had a little bit of a rapport.

我們兩個是有些一致性

我想這共同性就是

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.

我們互相喜歡對方; 也會喜歡相同的事

I also like the intellectual macho games.

我也喜歡一些 男人的智力遊戲

Sometimes I would win, mostly he would win,

我有時贏 但大多數時間是他贏

but we both enjoyed them.

但我們都享受這些遊戲

And Dick became convinced at some point

Dick 有時也相信我們有著

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

類似的個性

我不這麼認為

I don't think he was right.

I think the only point of similarity between us

我以為我們唯一的相似點是

我們都喜歡談論自己

is we both like to talk about ourselves.

But he was convinced of this.

他也這麼贊同我的說法

他很好奇

And the man was incredibly curious.

他是個非常好奇的人

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

他喜歡弄明白事情的本質與緣由

是不是有有趣的關聯

that there was this funny connection.

And one day, we were walking.

有一天我們在法國散步

We were in France, in Les Houches.

那是在 La Zouche

We were up in the mountains, 1976.

那是1976年 的山上

山林中 費因曼對我說

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

他說 "Leonardo"

他叫我 "Leonardo"

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

是因為我們在歐洲

and he was practicing his French.

他在練習法文

(Laughter)

他說 "Leonardo

And he said, "Leonardo,

你是比較親近妳的母親還是你的父親

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

當你還是個孩子時?"

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

我說: "我心中真正的英雄是我父親

他是個勞工

He was a working man,

只有小學五年級的教育

had a fifth-grade education.

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

他是個機械專家 他教我如何使用工具

He taught me all sorts of things about mechanical things.

他教我所有關於機械的事

He even taught me the Pythagorean theorem.

他還教我畢氏定理

He didn't call it the hypotenuse,

他不是稱那為 直角的斜邊

he called it the shortcut distance."

他說是 捷徑距離"

And Feynman's eyes just opened up.

費因曼的眼睛亮了起來

He went off like a lightbulb.

就像個電燈泡

他說他也有

And he said that he had had

basically exactly the same relationship with his father.

與他的父親

像是這樣的關係

In fact, he had been convinced at one time

事實上 他也曾認為

that to be a good physicist,

要成為一個好的物理學家

是非常需要有

it was very important to have had that kind of relationship

與父親這樣的關係

with your father.

I apologize for the sexist conversation here,

抱歉 這裡的性別論點

but this is the way it really happened.

但這是曾經發生的

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

他說 他是完全的相信

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

一個年輕的物理學家成長 是需要這樣的關係

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

Dick 當然想驗證這點

他曾想做個實驗

He wanted to go out and do an experiment.

他也真的做

(Laughter)

Well, he did.

這個實驗

He went out and did an experiment.

他跑去問所有他以為是好物理學家的人

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

"是你的母親或是父親影響你?"

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

They were all men,

每個人 都是男性

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

每個人都這麼回答

"我的母親"

"My mother."

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

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

所以這假說只好扔進歷史的垃圾桶

(Laughter)

But he was very excited that he had finally met somebody

但他是十分興奮 總算找到個

who had the same experience with his father

有著類似父子關係

的人

as he had with his father.

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

有時候 他也認為

這就是為什麼我們是合得來的

I don't know. Maybe. Who knows?

我不曉得 又或許是 誰知道?

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

讓我再多告訴你們一些

這位物理學家 費因曼

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

費因曼的風格

不 風格用得不對

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

風格會讓你想到的是 他繫的領帶

或是他的西裝

or the suit he was wearing.

有更深沉的東西

It's something much deeper than that,

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

但我卻想不出更好的說法

費因曼的科學風格

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

就是總是找出最簡單的

最簡單的解答 可能性才高

most elementary solution to a problem that was possible.

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

若不對 就得再找複雜的

毫無疑問

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

他做學問的樂趣

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

就是表現他能想出比別人更簡單的解答

But he also deeply believed, he truly believed,

他也深深相信

that if you couldn't explain something simply,

如果你無法將事物解釋的夠簡單

you didn't understand it.

那表示你不明白它

In the 1950s, people were trying to figure out

在1950年代 大家試圖理解

how superfluid helium worked.

超流體氦 的原理

有一個理論

There was a theory.

It was due to a Russian mathematical physicist.

由蘇俄物理數學家提出的

但是個極複雜的理論

It was a complicated theory;

I'll tell you what it was soon enough.

很快的告訴大家

It was a terribly complicated theory,

那是個遭透了的複雜理論

full of very difficult integrals and formulas

一大堆複雜的積分, 程式

and mathematics and so forth.

以及數學等等

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

它似乎能解釋 但並不完善

只有當

The only way it worked

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

兩個氦原子相隔很遠時

And unfortunately,

只有那時該理論是可用

不幸的是 氦在液態時

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

氦原子是緊緊相連

Feynman decided, as a sort of amateur helium physicist,

費因曼決定 以一業餘的氦物理學家

來解解看

that he would try to figure it out.

He had an idea, a very clear idea.

他有了個清楚的點子

He would try to figure out

他試著發展

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

如此龐大數目原子

的量子波動函數

也試著 能視覺化

He would try to visualize it,

guided by a small number of simple principles.

用的就只是少數量的簡單原理

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

這些就都是非常簡單的

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

第一個是

當氦原子碰到另一個氦原子時 會排斥

they repel.

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

意味著波函數會降到零

波函數會消失當兩個氦原子相連

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

另一個證據是

The other fact is that in the ground state --

基態 也就是量子系統的最小能階

the lowest energy state of a quantum system --

波函數是非常平滑的

the wave function is always very smooth;

it has the minimum number of wiggles.

有最小的擾動

So he sat down --

他就坐下 ---

and I imagine he had nothing more

我可以想見他沒有其他東西

than a simple piece of paper and a pencil --

只用了鉛筆和一張紙 ---

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

試著也真的寫下

他認為最簡單的函式開始

the simplest function that he could think of,

which had the boundary conditions

有著邊界條件:

that the wave function vanish when things touch

波函式會歸零當物體相碰觸

and is smooth in between.

也需要是連續平滑的發生

他寫下簡單的式子

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

是非常的簡單易懂

that I suspect a really smart high-school student

我想一個聰明的高中生

不用懂微積分

who didn't even have calculus

could understand what he wrote down.

也能懂他所寫下的式子

The thing was, that simple thing that he wrote down

那些簡單的式子

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

便能解釋那時所觀察到一切有關液態氦

的情況

and then some.

I've always wondered whether the professionals --

我常好奇

那些真的氦物理專家

the real professional helium physicists --

were just a little bit embarrassed by this.

會不會因此而感到窘困

They had their super-powerful technique,

他們也有著高超的技巧

卻沒有解好

and they couldn't do as well.

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

所以這個高超的技巧

就是 費因曼的圖形學

It was the technique of Feynman diagrams.

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

He did it again in 1968.

他在1968年又作了一次

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

1968年 在我自己的大學

我當時不在

they were exploring the structure of the proton.

他們正在探索有關質子

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

質子明顯是由一群

小粒子組成

this was more or less known.

這些是隱約明白的

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

去理解這件事 當然是用費因曼圖學

也是費因曼圖學的最初設計目的

That's what Feynman diagrams were constructed for --

to understand particles.

理解基本粒子理論

The experiments that were going on were very simple:

實驗是相當簡單

就是把質子用

you simply take the proton,

and you hit it really sharply with an electron.

高速電子撞擊

這就是費因曼圖學的設計目的

This was the thing the Feynman diagrams were for.

唯一的困擾是

The only problem was that Feynman diagrams are complicated.

費因曼圖學是複雜的

是困難的積分

They're difficult integrals.

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

如果能全解決 那就是個完整的理論

但是卻無法完成 因為太複雜了

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

大家試著解題

People were trying to do them.

可以作出一迴圈 一點都不擔心

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

一迴圈 兩迴圈 甚至可能可以解出三迴圈

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

但是超過就不太能解開

but beyond that, you couldn't do anything.

費因曼說 "忘了那些解法

Feynman said, "Forget all of that.

Just think of the proton

只要把質子想成

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

是小粒子的集合

一群小粒子的集合"

He called them "partons."

他叫它們是 部份子 (parton)

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

他說: "就想像質子是一群 部份子 組成

快速移動"

因為是快速運動

Because they're moving real fast,

relativity says the internal motions go very slow.

相對論說明內部運動實際是慢的

當電子瞬間撞上

The electron hits it suddenly --

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

就像是對質子拍一張快照

會看到什麼?

What do you see?

就會看到一群靜止的部份子

You see a frozen bunch of partons.

They don't move,

因為這樣的實驗

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

造成的靜止狀態

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

你就暫時不用操心它們是如何運動

你就不用操心他們之間的作用力

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

只需想像

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

是一群靜止

部份子的集合

This was the key to analyzing these experiments.

這就是解題的關鍵

非常有效

Extremely effective.

有些人認為"革命"是個不好的詞

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

可能吧! 所以我不會說這是革命

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

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

但它真的徹徹底底的改變

我們所理解的質子

and of particles beyond that.

以及其他未來的基本粒子

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

嗯, 我還想告訴大家一些其他事

關於我和費因曼的故事

about my connection with Feynman,

what he was like,

以及他是怎樣的人

but I see I have exactly half a minute.

但我似乎只剩半分鐘了

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

所以我最好在此作結束

我實際上相信 費因曼本人不會喜歡這整件活動

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

我想他會說:

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

"我不需要這個"

But ...

但是我們又該如何紀念費因曼呢?

(Laughter)

How should we honor Feynman?

How should we really honor Feynman?

我們真的該如何紀念費因曼呢?

I think the answer is we should honor Feynman

我想答案就是

by getting as much baloney out of our own sandwiches

在生活與研究上

不再隨便膨風吹噓

as we can.

謝謝

Thank you.

(Applause)

(掌聲)