People often speak of the beginner's mind,
人们经常说起初学者的思维,
this wonderful ability of people, when they come new to a subject, to have an idea,
当人们刚接触某个领域时,他们有一种奇妙的能力,会有想法,
to see something that's novel, that everybody else has missed that leads to a breakthrough.
会看到新颖的东西,其他人都错过了这些,而这会带来突破。
And this is a thing of beauty. I've experienced it myself, which I am very fortunate to say.
这是一件美事。我自己也经历过,很幸运。
And I have observed it a few times in my career in other people's work.
在我的职业生涯中,我已经在其他人的工作中观察到了几次。
But here is the thing that I think is not true. What's not true is that it's tied, necessarily, to age so that you only get one shot.
但是我认为有些东西不是这样的。例如,这不一定与年龄相关、只有一次机会。
There is a thing that physicists often say. You see, all these great discoveries,
物理学家经常说一件事。你会发现,伟大的发现,
like Newton, Newton was 22, and then 24.
例如牛顿的发现,他取得杰出成就的年龄分别是22和24岁。
Einstein was 26, Heisenberg was 23, Bohr was 28, et cetera.
爱因斯坦是26岁,海森堡是23岁,玻尔是28岁,等等。
So there is this tendency to say, you've got to have not only a fresh mind, but a young mind.
所以可以说,你不仅要有新鲜的经历,还要有年轻的头脑。
And let me tell you what Chandrasekhar,
让我告诉你钱德拉塞卡是怎么说的,
who was one of the great astrophysicists of the 20th century-- indeed, of every time-- said to me when he was in his late 70s.
他是20世纪(也可以说是历史上)最伟大的天体物理学家之一,当时他和我说这些时快80岁了。
He said, most people say that you only get one chance, and then you-- then you get in the way.
他说,大多数人都认为只有一次机会,然后你就按部就班了,
Then you're useless. But he didn't think that was true, and it wasn't true in his own life.
那么你就没用了,但他认为不是这样的,他的一生也不是这样的。
You just had to change your subject every 10 years.
你只需要每十年更换一个领域即可。
So every 10 years, Chandra took the last 10 years of work, wrote a textbook, put all the calculations and all his notes in a box,
因此每十年,钱德拉就将过去十年的工作总结成一本教科书,将所有计算和所有笔记放在一个盒子里,
put them on a shelf, and walked out and looked for something else to study.
放在架子上,然后出去寻找其他可以研究的东西。
Somebody else in the domain of physics and astronomy and so forth, because that's what he was interested in.
他学习物理学和天文学领域的其他东西,因为这是他感兴趣的。
But something completely different. And then 10 years later, he was the master of a field.
但是有些东西完全不同。所以十年后,他成为该领域的大师。
He put-- he wrote the book, he put it in a box, He put it on the shelf.
他写成一本书,放进一个盒子,他把盒子放在架子上。
And he was still doing this when he was in his late 70s, and indeed, into his 80s.
当他接近80岁,甚至80多岁时仍在这样做。
And so I think it's very important to take Chandrasekhar seriously and change.
因此,我认为应该认真对待钱德拉塞卡的行为并进行改变,这一点非常重要。
In my own life, I have always wanted to work on quantum gravity, and I've always wanted to work on quantum foundations.
在我自己的生活中,我一直想研究量子引力,也一直想研究量子基础。
And I even have some themes that go through most of my thinking, most of my work. But I change direction. I change point of view.
我甚至在我大部分的想法和工作里都涉及一些主题。但是我改变了方向,改变了观点。
I change approach. That's why I'm not-- unlike Chandrasekhar who is my dear, dear, close friend, I don't stay on the same subject.
我改变了方法。这就是为什么我没有像我亲密的朋友钱德拉塞卡那样,我没有停留在同一领域。