转载和翻译费曼写给年轻学者的信，“勿以善小而不为”。
What Problems to Solve – By Richard Feynman
A former student, who was also once a student of Tomonaga’s, wrote to extend his congratulations. Feynman responded, asking Mr. Mano what he was now doing. The response: “studying the Coherence theory with some applications to the propagation of electromagnetic waves through turbulent atmosphere… a humble and down-to-earth type of problem.”
Dear Koichi,
I was very happy to hear from you, and that you have such a position in the Research Laboratories. Unfortunately your letter made me unhappy for you seem to be truly sad. It seems that the influence of your teacher has been to give you a false idea of what are worthwhile problems. The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. A problem is grand in science if it lies before us unsolved and we see some way for us to make some headway into it. I would advise you to take even simpler, or as you say, humbler, problems until you find some you can really solve easily, no matter how trivial. You will get the pleasure of success, and of helping your fellow man, even if it is only to answer a question in the mind of a colleague less able than you. You must not take away from yourself these pleasures because you have some erroneous idea of what is worthwhile.
You met me at the peak of my career when I seemed to you to be concerned with problems close to the gods. But at the same time I had another Ph.D. Student (Albert Hibbs) was on how it is that the winds build up waves blowing over water in the sea. I accepted him as a student because he came to me with the problem he wanted to solve. With you I made a mistake, I gave you the problem instead of letting you find your own; and left you with a wrong idea of what is interesting or pleasant or important to work on (namely those problems you see you may do something about). I am sorry, excuse me. I hope by this letter to correct it a little.
I have worked on innumerable problems that you would call humble, but which I enjoyed and felt very good about because I sometimes could partially succeed. For example, experiments on the coefficient of friction on highly polished surfaces, to try to learn something about how friction worked (failure). Or, how elastic properties of crystals depends on the forces between the atoms in them, or how to make electroplated metal stick to plastic objects (like radio knobs). Or, how neutrons diffuse out of Uranium. Or, the reflection of electromagnetic waves from films coating glass. The development of shock waves in explosions. The design of a neutron counter. Why some elements capture electrons from the L-orbits, but not the K-orbits. General theory of how to fold paper to make a certain type of child’s toy (called flexagons). The energy levels in the light nuclei. The theory of turbulence (I have spent several years on it without success). Plus all the “grander” problems of quantum theory.
No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.
You say you are a nameless man. You are not to your wife and to your child. You will not long remain so to your immediate colleagues if you can answer their simple questions when they come into your office. You are not nameless to me. Do not remain nameless to yourself – it is too sad a way to be. Know your place in the world and evaluate yourself fairly, not in terms of your naïve ideals of your own youth, nor in terms of what you erroneously imagine your teacher’s ideals are.
Best of luck and happiness.
Sincerely,
Richard P. Feynman.
《何为值得解决的问题》——理查德·费曼
一位昔日的学生——也曾是朝永振一郎先生的门生——写信来祝贺我。我回信问他近况如何。他答道：“正在研究相干理论及其在电磁波穿过湍流大气传播中的若干应用……一个谦卑而脚踏实地的问题。”
亲爱的光一：
收到你的来信，我由衷欣喜，得知你在研究所中已有一席之地，更是令人欣慰。然而，你的信却也让我为你感到难过——你似乎真的有些忧郁。看来，你老师的影响让你对“何为值得研究的问题”产生了误解。
真正值得研究的问题，是你能够切实解决、或至少有所贡献的问题。科学中所谓“宏大”的问题，并非因其高不可攀，而是因为它摆在我们面前尚未解决，而我们又能看到一丝可以推进的路径。我建议你不妨去尝试更简单些、或者如你所说，更“谦卑”些的问题，哪怕看起来微不足道，只要你真能轻松地解决它。你会从中获得成功的喜悦，也能帮助他人——哪怕只是解答一位不如你聪慧的同事心中的小小疑问。切莫因自己对“价值”的错误理解，剥夺了这些本属于你的快乐。
你见到我时，正值我学术生涯的巅峰，那时在我眼中，似乎只关心那些近乎神明的问题。但与此同时，我还有另一位博士生（阿尔伯特·希布斯），他的课题却是：风如何在海面上吹起波浪。我之所以收他为徒，是因为他带着自己真正想解决的问题来找我。而对你，我犯了一个错误——是我给了你问题，而非让你自己去发现；这让你误以为只有那些看似高深的问题才值得去做（其实真正有趣、愉快、重要的，恰恰是你觉得自己能有所作为的问题）。对此，我深感抱歉，请原谅我。希望借这封信，多少能纠正这一误解。
我曾研究过无数在你看来或许“微不足道”的问题，但我乐在其中，并为此深感满足——因为有时我能取得些许进展。比如：高度抛光表面的摩擦系数实验（虽以失败告终）；晶体弹性性质如何取决于原子间作用力；如何让电镀金属牢固附着于塑料制品（比如收音机旋钮）；中子如何从铀中扩散出来；电磁波在玻璃镀膜上的反射特性；爆炸中激波的形成机制；中子计数器的设计；为何某些元素会从L轨道俘获电子，却不会从K轨道俘获；折纸制作儿童玩具（称为“翻转多面体”，flexagons）的一般理论；轻原子核的能级结构；还有湍流理论（我曾耗费数年却未竟其功）——当然，也包括那些你眼中的“宏大”问题，比如量子理论。
只要我们真能有所作为，就没有什么问题太小、太琐碎。
你说自己是个无名之辈。但在你妻子和孩子眼中，你绝非如此。只要你能在同事走进办公室、向你请教简单问题时给出答案，你在他们心中也将很快不再“无名”。在我眼里，你更非无名之人。请不要让自己在自己心中也变得无名——那实在太可悲了。认清自己在这个世界的位置，公正地评价自己：既不要用年少时天真的理想来苛责自己，也不要凭空臆想你老师的标准来否定自己。
祝你幸运与幸福。
诚挚地，
理查德·P·费曼