異類之不一樣的成功啟示錄 第63期:意圖毒害導(dǎo)師的天才

When he was nine, he once told one of his cousins, "ask me a question in Latin and I will answer you in Greek."

9歲那年，他對堂兄妹們說：“你們用拉丁文問我一個問題，我就能用希臘語回答你們。”

Oppenheimer went to Harvard and then on to Cambridge University to pursue a doctorate in physics.

奧本海默先是進入哈佛大學(xué)，然后又到劍橋大學(xué)攻讀物理學(xué)博士學(xué)位。

There, Oppenheimer, who struggled with depression in his entire life, grew despondent.

這時的奧本海默卻變得越來越沮喪，雖然他一生都在和挫折做斗爭。

His gift was for theoretical physics, and his tutor, a man named Patrick Blackett, who had won a Nobel Prize in 1948,

他的天賦本來在理論物理方面，但他的導(dǎo)師，一個叫帕特里克.布萊克特(PatrickBlakett，1948年獲得諾貝爾獎)的人，

was forcing him to attend to the minutiae of experimental physics, which he hated.

卻讓他做一些繁瑣的物理實驗，這是他最憎恨的。

He grew more and more emotionally unstable, and then, in an act so strange that to this day no one has properly made sense of it,

他的情緒越來越不穩(wěn)定，最后他做出了一個令人匪夷所思的舉動，

Oppenheimer took some chemicals from the laboratory and tried to posion his tutor.

這天，他趁著沒人注意，從實驗室?guī)С隽艘恍┗瘜W(xué)藥劑，圖謀毒死他的導(dǎo)師。

Blackett, luckily, found out that something was amiss.

幸運的是，布萊克特發(fā)現(xiàn)事情異常。

The university was informed.

學(xué)校獲悉這件事情，

Oppenheimer was called on the carpet.

把奧本海默叫到了辦公室。

And what happened next is every bit as unbelievable as the crime itself.

然而，隨后發(fā)生的一切卻像這個罪行一樣讓人難以致信。

Here is how the incident is described in American Prometheus,

下面是凱.博德和馬丁.舍溫寫的奧本海默傳記《美國的普羅米修斯》一書

Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin's biography of Oppenheimer:

對該事件的描述：

"After protracted negotiations, it was agreed that Robert would be put on probation

“經(jīng)過漫長的談判，最終同意羅伯特留校察看，

and have regular sessions with a prominent Harley Street psychiatrist in London."

并且讓倫敦哈里街最有名的精神病專家對他進行鑒定。”

Probation? Here we have two very brilliant young students who run into a problem that imperils their college careers.

留校察看?在這里我們看到了兩個才華橫溢的年輕學(xué)子，他們面臨著同樣的問題，他們的大學(xué)生涯都陷入了絕境。

Langan's mother has missed a deadline for his financial aid.

蘭根的母親錯過了為他申請經(jīng)濟資助的最后期限;

Oppenheimer has tried to poison his professor.

奧本海默圖謀毒死他的導(dǎo)師。

To continue on, they are acquired to plead their cases to authority.

如果繼續(xù)大學(xué)生涯，他們就必須向?qū)W校解釋自己的所作所為。

And what happens? Langan gets his scholarship taken away, and Oppenheimer gets sent to a psychiatrist.

最終的結(jié)果呢?蘭根的獎學(xué)金化為了泡影，而奧本海默被送到了精神病專家那里。

Oppenheimer and Langan might both be geniuses, but in other ways, they could not be more different.

奧本海默和蘭根也許都是天才，但是在很多方面，他們之間卻存在著天壤之別。

The story of Oppenheimer's appointment to be scientific director of the Manhattan Project twenty years later

20年后，奧本海默被指定為曼哈頓計劃的科學(xué)帶頭人，

is perhaps an even better example of this difference.

這也許是這種區(qū)別最為典型的例子。

The general in charge of the Manhattan Project was Leslie Groves, and he scoured the country,

負(fù)責(zé)曼哈頓計劃的是萊斯利·格羅夫斯(LeslieGroves)將軍，他尋遍了美國，

trying to find the right person to lead the atomic-bomb effort.

希望找到一位合適的人選領(lǐng)導(dǎo)原子彈研究。