英語(yǔ)美文名人勵(lì)志故事21:Einstein與Hil1ert各種來往交際的故事
21. Einstein and Hillert
21. 愛因斯坦與希爾伯特
In 1915 Einstein made a trip to Gottingen to give some lectures al the invitation of the mathematical physicist David Hilbert. He was particularly eager--too eager, it would turn out--to explain all the intricacies of relativity to him. The visit was a triumph, and he said to a friend excitedly, "I was able to convince Hilbert of the general theory of relativity."
愛因斯坦在1915年受數(shù)學(xué)物理學(xué)家大衛(wèi)·希爾伯特的邀請(qǐng)去訪問了哥廷根并做了多場(chǎng)演講。結(jié)果證明，他極其渴望向希爾伯特解擇相對(duì)論的所有錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜的關(guān)系。這次訪問是一個(gè)勝利，他興奮地給一位朋友說，“我能說服希爾伯特相信廣義相對(duì)論。”
Amid all of Einstein's personal turmoil(焦躁) at the time, a new scientific anxiety was about to emerge. He was struggling to find the right equations that would describe his new concept of gravity, on that would define how objects move through space and how space is curved by objects By the end of the summer, he realized the mathematical approach he had been pursuing for almost three years was flawed. And now there was a competitive pressure. Einstein discovered to his horror that Hilbert had taken what he had learned from Einstein's lectures and was racing to come up with the correct equations first.
It was an enormously complex task. Although Einstein was the better physicist, Hilbert was the better mathematician. So in October 1915 Einstein threw himself into a month-long frantic endeavor in which he returned to an earlier mathematical strategy and wrestled with equations, proofs, corrections and updates that he rushed to give as lectures to Berlin's Prussian Academy of Sciences on four successive Thursdays.
那時(shí)在愛因斯坦的所有焦躁之中，一種新的科學(xué)上的焦慮將要顯現(xiàn)出來。他試圖找到正確的方程組來解釋他的萬(wàn)有引力的新概念，這些將確定物體是如何通過空間進(jìn)行移動(dòng)的以及空間是如何被物體彎曲的。直到夏末，他意識(shí)到三年以來一直追求的數(shù)學(xué)方法有缺陷?，F(xiàn)在有了一個(gè)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)壓力。愛因斯坦發(fā)現(xiàn)令他，感到害怕的是希爾伯特采取了他從愛因斯坦的講座中學(xué)來的東西，正奮力想最先得出正確的等式。
His first lecture was delivered on Nov. 4. 1915, and it explained his new approach, though he admitted he did not yet have the precise mathematical formulation of it. Einstein also took time off from furiously revising his equations to engage in an awkward fandango (方丹戈雙人舞) with his competitor Hilbert. Worried about being scooped (搶先), he sent Hilbert a copy of his Nov. 4 lecture. "I am curious to know whether you will take kindly to this new solution," Einstein noted with a touch of defensiveness.
這是一個(gè)極其復(fù)雜的任務(wù)。雖然愛因斯坦是一位優(yōu)秀的物理學(xué)家，但希爾伯特更是一位優(yōu)秀的數(shù)學(xué)家。因此，在 1915年10月愛因斯坦投身于一個(gè)月瘋狂的奮斗中，他返回到較早的數(shù)學(xué)戰(zhàn)略并全力解決方程、證明、更正和更新中存在的問題，而且他在四個(gè)連續(xù)的星期四中急切地給柏林的普魯士科學(xué)院做了講座。
他的第一個(gè)講座是在1915年11月4日進(jìn)行的，講座闡述了他的新方法，盡管他承認(rèn)，他還沒有精確的數(shù)學(xué)公式。在近乎瘋狂的學(xué)術(shù)研究過程中，愛因斯坦還抽出一部分時(shí)間和他的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手希爾伯特扯皮。由于擔(dān)心被搶先，他給希爾伯特寄了一份他11月4日的講座。“我很好奇你是否會(huì)友好地對(duì)待這一新的解決方案，”愛因斯坦特別提到這個(gè)，帶著一點(diǎn)兒防御的意思。
