你開了幾雙眼？

MIT 有位怪怪的物理老師叫 Walter Lewin，他常拿自己做實驗，把教學的影片放到網上去，吸引了很多人看（http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=7Zc9Nuoe2Ow）。前幾天跟Roy 說起，他馬上說：「你說那個蕩秋千的傢伙嗎？」原來很多人都認識他。

本來不認識他的，學妹介紹了他去年出版的書《For the Love of Physics》（中文翻譯為《在MIT 燃燒物理魂》），就買來看。裡面有一章講彩虹的，講到各種各樣的彩虹，很漂亮。又講到各種彩虹的成因，還加上他拍的各種彩虹照片作為例子。章末他寫了兩段很激動人心的話：

“We don’t need to understand why a rainbow or fogbow or glassbow is formed in order to appreciate its beauty, of course, but understanding the physics of rainbows does give us a new set of eyes (I call this the beauty of knowledge). We become more alert to the little wonders we might just be able to spot on a foggy morning, or in the shower, or when walking by a fountain, or peeking out of an airplane window when everyone else is watching movies.  I hope you will find yourself turning your back to the Sun the next time you feel a rainbow coming on, looking about 42 degrees away from the imaginary line and spotting the red upper rim of a glorious window across the sky.” 「我們不用知道形成原因就能欣賞美麗的彩虹，但懂了彩虹的物理就如開了一雙眼睛。讓我們在晨霧裡、洗澡、經過噴泉或當大家都在看機上電影時你會探頭看外面 試著找出彩虹。我希望下次你覺得有機會有彩虹時會背著太陽，向42度的夾角看去，試著找出那有紅色外沿的彩虹。」

“Here’s my prediction. The next time you see a rainbow, you’ll check to make sure that red is on the outside, blue is on the inside; you’ll try to find the secondary bow and will confirm that the colors are reversed; you’ll see that the sky is bright inside the primary bow and much darker outside of it; and if you carry a linear polarizer on you (as you always should), you will confirm that both bows are strongly polarized. You won’t be able to resist it. It’s a disease that will haunt you for the rest of life. It’s my fault, but I will not be able to cure you, and I’m not even sorry for that, not at all!” 「我預言，下次你看到彩虹，你會看看是否紅色在外沿、藍色在內沿。你會試著找出在旁邊的第二條而顏色順序是相反的。如果手邊有偏光鏡的話，你會試著看這兩 條彩虹是否偏光的。你無法抵擋，跟病毒一樣跟你一輩子。這是我的錯，但我幫不了你，而且我不會感到抱歉，絕不！」

來，我們來回憶一下大學唸過什麼科目。還記得嗎？也許記得一些，也許全部都記得。那每一個你「過了」的科目到底教了你什麼？或者說，這些學分開了你什麼樣的眼睛？不記得了？不知道？太可惜了。

我運氣很好，早就明白分數不重要，重要的是入寶山不能空手而回；所以進大學後盡所能打開各種各樣眼睛。也許在剛開眼的時候不知道其重要性，不過的確讓我有不一樣的視角。

開了心理學眼，就能回答我們家CS 問的為什麼男生會有制服控，也能回答為何一堆男生去大陸一定會找小姐。開了社會學眼，就會知道為什麼有些人的錢多到八輩子都花不完還要繼續認真工作。開了經濟學眼就不會容易受第二件半價的誘惑。開了政治學眼就不會把民主跟自由搞混而被政客欺騙。開了政治哲學眼就知道什麼樣的制度比較公平。開了宗教哲學眼就 知道為何政教必需分離（達賴喇嘛正在德蘭薩拉做政教分離）。

當打開了一雙又一雙的眼睛，你的世界就充滿色彩，而且真的回不去了。

同學，你開了幾雙眼？

 

補白：Walter Lewin 在他的video 裡說他上課的目的：
“My goal is not so much to cover a lot and to make them chew on a lot of equations.  But my goal is to uncover several very basic things that they will remember for the rest of their lives.  Even if they never used physics any more, I want them to see the beauty of physics; I want them to love physics.” 很熱血！