10-11 诺贝尔大师自传：艾伦·黑格（在线收听）

Autobiography of Nobel Prize Winner: Alan J.Heeger

I was born on a bitter cold morning in Sioux City (Iowa) on January 22, 1936. My early years were spent in Akron (Iowa), a small midwestern town of 1000 people, approximately 35 miles from Sioux City. I went to elementary school in Akron. My father died when I was nine years old.

After my father’s death, we moved to Omaha, so my mother could be closer to her family. She raised us as a single parent in a house that we shared with her sister and her sister’s children.

One of my earliest memories is of my mother telling me of the importance of getting a university education. When she graduated from high school, she received a scholarship to go on to university but went to work instead; she was needed by her parents to help support the family. It was always clear to me that it was my responsibility to go to university; prior to¹ my generation no one on either side of my family had an education that went beyond high school. I and my brother were the first in our family to receive the PhD degree.

My high school years were fun and frustrating, typical of the teen years. The most important accomplishment was meeting my wife, Ruth. I have loved her for nearly fifty years, and she remains my best friend.

My undergraduate years at the University of Nebraska were a special time in my life. I went to the University with the goal of becoming an engineer; I had no concept that one could pursue science as a career. After one semester, I was convinced that engineering was not for me, and I completed my undergraduate studies with a dual major in Physics and Mathematics. The highlight was a course in Modern Physics taught by Theodore Jorgensen. Professor Jorgensen introduced me to quantum² physics and twentieth century science.

When I started at Berkeley, my goal was to do a theoretical thesis under Charles Kittel. Thus, when the decision was made to go for my degree on a full-time basis, I went first to Kittel and asked if I could work for him. He recommended instead that I consider working with someone who does experimental work in close interaction with theory. This was perhaps the best advice that anyone ever gave me-and I followed his advice. I joined the research group of Alan Portis.

I remember with clarity my first day in the laboratory. I was doing “original research”; at last I was involved with real physics. After only one day of carrying out magnetic measurements on an insulating³ antiferromagnet⁴, KMnF3, I wrote a theory of antiferroelectric antiferromagnets and presented it to Portis with great pride. He was patient with me then and again a few days later when I apologized and told him my theory was nonsense. Through my interactions with Portis, I learned how to think about physics; more important, I began to learn about good taste in the choice of problems.

In 1975, the first papers on the novel metallic polymer, poly (sulfur-nitride), (SN)x appeared in the literature. I was intrigued⁵ by this unusual quasi-1d metal and wanted to get into the game. I learned that Alan MacDiarmid, a professor in the Chemistry Department at PENN, had a background in sulfur-nitride chemistry, and I made an appointment to see him with the goal of convincing him to collaborate with me and to synthesize⁶ (SN) x.

He agreed and a true collaboration began. We realized that it was a long reach across the Chemistry-Physics boundary, and we were determined to learn from one another. Although we collaborated during the week, we typically met on Saturday mornings with no agenda; just to try to learn from one another. At that time, I was fascinated with the metal-insulator transition as envisioned⁷ by Mott. The initial discovery of the remarkable increase in electrical conductivity of (CH)x and the identification of that increase as resulting from a transition from insulator (semiconductor) to metal followed in a very short time.

I have enjoyed the life of a scientist while sharing both the exciting days and the disappointments with Ruth. She has filled my life with love and surrounded me with beauty. She has also gallantly⁸ put up with my eccentricities⁹ for more than forty years. We have succeeded in starting an academic dynasty; our two sons, Peter and David are both academics. Peter is a professor and medical doctor who is doing research on immunology¹⁰ at Case Western Reserve University. David is a professor and neuroscientist¹¹ at Stanford University where he studies human vision. Of all the congratulations that I have received as a result of the Nobel Prize, I took greatest pleasure from the pride of my grandchildren in their grandfather.

注释：

1. prior to 在……以前，先于

2. quantum [5kwCntEm] n. [物]量子

3. insulate [5insjuleit] v. 使绝缘

4. antiferromagnet [7Anti7ferEu5mA^nit] n. [物]反铁磁质，反铁磁体

5. intrigue [in5tri:^] vt. 激起……的好奇心（或兴趣）, 迷住

6. synthesize [5sinWisaiz] vt. [化] 使合成

7. envision [in5viVEn] vt. 想像，展望

8. gallantly [5^AlEntli] ad. 骑士风度地，豪侠地

9. eccentricity [eksen5trisiti] n. 古怪，怪僻

10. immunology [7imju5nClEdVi] n. [生] 免疫学

11. neuroscientist [7njuErEu5saiEntist] n. 神经系统科学家

诺贝尔大师自传：艾伦·黑格

1936年1月22日严寒的早晨，我出生在艾奥瓦州苏城。我的童年是在艾奥瓦州的阿克伦度过的，那是一个只有1000人的中西部小城，离苏城大约35英里。我在阿克伦上的小学。我9岁时，父亲便去世了。

父亲死后，我们搬到了奥马哈，这样我母亲就可以离她的娘家近一些。她单身一人抚养我们，我们与她姐姐及其孩子们住在一所房子里。

我最早的记忆之一是母亲告诉我接受大学教育的重要性。我母亲高中毕业的时候，获得了上大学的奖学金，但是她父母需要她帮助养家糊口，她不得不去工作。在我这一辈之前，我父母两家都没有人接受过超过高中程度的教育，所以我一直十分清楚上大学是我的责任。我和我弟弟是我们这个家族里最先获得博士学位的人。

我的高中生活充满乐趣和挫折，是典型的十来岁孩子的生活。高中时代最大的收获就是遇到了我的妻子鲁思，我爱她快50年了，她一直是我最好的朋友。

我在内布拉斯加大学的那些年月，是我一生中一段特殊的日子。我刚上大学时的目标是当一名工程师，我没有想到一个人可以把科学探索当作一种职业。但是一个学期后，我确信我不适合做工程师。大学毕业时我完成了物理和数学两门专业的学习。在大学里最精彩的课是西奥多·乔根森教的现代物理学。他把我引进了量子物理学和20世纪科学的世界。

在伯克利，我的初始目标是跟查尔斯·基特尔做纯理论的论文。因此，我决定全职去获得我的学位，我首先去找了基特尔，问他我是否可以为他工作。他却建议我考虑同从事与理论有紧密关联的实验工作的人一起工作。这也许是别人给过我的最好的建议。我听从了他的建议，加入了艾伦·波蒂斯的研究小组。

我清楚地记得我第一天在实验室的情景。我在做“原始研究”，终于涉及了真正的物理学。关于绝缘反铁磁体KMnF3的磁性测量，我只做了一天，就写了一个反铁电的反铁磁体理论，并且非常骄傲地拿给波蒂斯看。他对我很耐心，几天后，我向他道歉，告诉他我的理论毫无意义，他仍然对我很耐心。通过与波蒂斯的交往，我学会了如何思考物理学；更重要的是，我开始学习选择题目的良好鉴别能力。

1975年，有关新金属聚合物——硫氮聚合物(SN)x的第一批文章出现在文献上。这一非同寻常的准一维金属激发了我的兴趣，我想要加入这一游戏。我得知，宾夕法尼亚大学化学系的艾伦·麦克迪尔米德教授有硫氮聚合物的化学研究背景，我就约了他见面，目的是说服他与我合作合成(SN)x。

他同意了，一次真正的合作开始了。我们认识到，那是一个横跨化学和物理两个学科的长期研究，于是决定互相学习。尽管我们在每周的工作时间合作，但通常我们在没有其他安排的星期六早晨会面，只是为了能尽量相互学习。那时，我对莫特设想的金属－绝缘体的过渡理论着迷。很快，我们首次发现(CH)x的导电性能有了显著提高，而且证实了导电性的提高是由绝缘体（半导体）向金属过渡导致的。

我热爱科学家的生活，热爱与鲁思一起分享激动和失望的日子。她使我的生活充满了爱和美，40多年来，她也大度地容忍着我的古怪。我们夫妻二人成功地建立了一个学术王国，我们的两个儿子，彼得和戴维都从事学术研究。彼得是一位教授、医学博士，在凯斯西储大学从事免疫学研究。戴维是斯坦福大学的教授和神经学家，他在那里研究人类的视觉。获得诺贝尔奖后，在我接受的所有祝贺当中，使我最为高兴的是我的孙辈们从他们的爷爷那里获得的骄傲。