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24 novembre Labmate讲的故事据说是她的牙医在给她洗牙的时候讲的。这个牙医叫Viki，家住三藩。邻居里有个老太太，精神有点问题，唯一的儿子又因为吸毒而坐牢。她一个人孤苦伶仃的，只有两只很老的猫作伴，邻居们平日都尽可能的帮她。上个月有一天是她儿子的生日，想着儿子还在监狱里，老太太挺难过。不幸的是，就在这一天，一只猫死了。她抱着猫来找Viki，让她给看看。Viki说这猫已经死了，况且她不过是个牙医。老太太抱着死猫手足无措，于是有人建议她打电话给宠物中心。宠物中心说他们可以帮她处理猫的尸体，收费是60美元。老太太一听，觉得太贵了，决定自己找个地方把死猫扔了。第二天一早，她就把猫放在随身的提包里出了门，在街上找垃圾箱。她每走过一个垃圾箱都发现周围有人，一见有人她就不敢把死猫拿出来，于是就继续往前走。就这样走了大半天，最后她实在受不了了，决定去找警察求助。她找到一个警局，把提包放在大厅里，向一个警察说明了情况。一转身，提包竟然已经被人顺手牵羊了。 11 novembre Fetter Fest(Fetter Fest: A symposium on Quantum Fluids honoring Prof. Sandy Fetter as he becomes Emeritus on Nov 10, 2007, followed by a banquet dinner in Four Seasons Hotel, Palo Alto.)
Since I came to the Physics Dept, I've seen Sandy around-- the tall, white-haired professor who walks with steady steps, quiet and always smiling. Those who have stayed here for over a year must have heard of the gossips about Sandy and Steve Chu, and no exception for me. These are pretty much all I know about him. Early this year, as a tradition of my research group, I went to Sandy asking him to be on my thesis reading committee, which led to my only conversation with him. After listening to me patiently, he agreed and signed the form. Then he commented on something that I didn't quite catch at the moment, so I simply nodded out of intuition. Walking out of his office, I suddenly realized what he had just said: Your English is very good! ---Jeez! How embarassing and ironic!
Anyway, I felt obliged to show certain extent of enthusiasm in today's event, more specifically, in the banquet. The symposium consisted of five talks lined up from morning to afternoon, four and half I'd missed. The last half that I attended, it was given by a thick-bearded man. I noticed he was leaning to one side in a unusual way and his wool sweater was awkwardly stretched. Then I found his left arm was missing, and probably so was part of his left shoulder. And he is an experimentalist! Must be very tough to get what he was presenting...
When my labmate and I set out for the dinner, we met the speaker in the parking lot. He held his paper with his teeth and opened the door. One stanford alumnus who carpooled with me said that this guy was a Nobel laureate...On the car, I started to regret my decision to go to the banquet. Yes, it's $75 dinner and I only have to pay $25. It could easily be the fanciest one I've ever been to. But to think of being in the same room with all the big names, among whom half a dozen Nobel laureates, I was more intimidated than thrilled.
When we arrived at the hotel, about forty people had gathered in the lobby, generally with white hair and dressed up, chatting and smiling to each other, waiters shuttling with hors d'oeuvres and glasses of wines. My labmate, as a ballroom dancer, felt quite comfortable with the occasion. While the guy who is telling you this story, wearing blue jeans and a black and white sportcoat, which was once referred to as "Skunk Skin" by Liu mingguo's wife, felt completely out of place. It's not that I don't have any formal dress, but I'd stayed in the lab until dinner time. How can you expect me to do soldering with suit on?
Fortunately, no one really cared, and all the professors had been sloppy graduate students earlier. An old lady kindly came to talke with me. She didn't go to the symposium and knew litte physics (Thank God!). We had a nice chat about travelling and earthquakes, which put me at ease.
Soon the dinner room was open. There were sixteen tables around the podium. After a brief introduction, Sandy's wife gave a toast. It's really nice to know he got married again! Following that, Sandy's pictures were shown on the big screen. Actually, it started with his grandparents' faded pictures, then his parents', then a set of his: being a baby, in high school, in graduate school, becoming a professor, being with his first kid and then with his grandchildren, now being retiring.....It was amazing to see how time flies and how the generations come and go.
The expensive dinner was served, but somehow I wasn't so excited. I just began to have a feeling that it was not what I came here for. (Still, let me list the courses in the order of serving: wines, bread, wild mushroom soup, filet mignon, caramel custard, coffee.)
When coffee and tea were brought up, the fun part kicked off -- the toasts and roasts (mostly toasts, of course). I expected it to be fun mainly because of the first speaker, Bob Laughlin--"Nobody knows what he's gonna do". ( Two weeks ago, in a Zhang Shoucheng's talk, Bob interrupted him and asked, "Come on, just tell me, if you oxidize the hell out of the XXXX, are you gonna see the same effect? How much money do you want to put on it?" Zhang Shoucheng replied, like a humble student, "If I oxidize the hell out of it....)
Surprisingly, although entertaining as he always is, Bob took this occasion seriously and was very insightful. He admired Sandy as a perfectionist, who can't tolerate any error in his work, which is a rare but precious quality in our time when everything seems volatile and changes rapidly, when the corrects are constantly mixed up with the wrongs. (It's quite a complishment that granduate students nowadays are still studying sandy's papers published over 30 years ago.) Bob gave us an example: once after reading Bob's manuscipt, Sandy told Bob, "There's something wrong..." "What's that?" "You misspelled a word..." "Which word?" "THE."
Bob also told one story of his own. Once his mom accompanied him to an international conference. On the flight back, she suddenly said, "Now I know why you guys are going to all the conferences." Bob looked at his mom, "really? Then tell me why?" His mom said, "your work is too lonely, so you guys need to remind each other that you're important."
After Bob, there were two more planned speeches and a open-microphone session. Here are some memorable quotes:
On Stanford's three Physics department: Physics, Applied Physics, SLAC
1. That might confuse a lot of visiting scholars, but it also shows how much we love physics.
2. The students in EE are coming for a training, the students in Applied Physics are coming for eduation, while the students in Physics are coming for a religious experience.
From Sandy's old friends who are not physicists
1. I've known Sandy for half a century. So, although I may not know much about the subject today, but I do know the object.
2. I went to college with Sandy. He was why I gave up physics.
On Sandy being an amiable gentleman
1. He might be one of the few men in the world who know everything, but he never makes you think he thinks he does. He is such a gentleman, but he never makes you think he thinks he is. He simply is.
2. I have to remind all of you that not all the physicists are as nice as Sandy. Some guys out there are aggressive and mean to students. (As I laughed and applauded, ATP's adviser Mark Kaselvich gazed at me with his oversized chilling eyes...) On Sandy's attitude on life
1. He looks at his life not as a problem to solve, but as a mystery to enjoy.
Sandy Fetter was sitting with his wife at the center of the room, listening to his long-time friends and colleagues talking about what a nice person he has been and how he has made their lives more meaningful. I couldn't stop wondering what was going though his mind. Happiness, gratitude, a touch of satisfaction and sadness, perhaps. A fullfilled life so far. Still promising days ahead. I turned to Rosanna, one of the staffs in our department, and said, " you know, I really wanna retire." She almost laughed, " Come on, you're the youngest at this table."
At the end of the day, I think I'm a little moved. It's the passion, the dedication, the sincerity and the friendship offered by an individual but also shared and held by a community. It's the things that one doesn't need to know any physics to identify with.
To sum it up, it was a religious experience tonight, and life is a mystery to enjoy. |
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