到国外坐着马车揣着公款找麻婆豆腐吃？！ 想得诺贝耳奖的人很多，但是 想通了如何得诺贝耳奖的人却不多。放假了，就聊点关于诺贝耳奖的事。“你看了那小小的以色列，弹簧之地，可能还比不上个大上海，最近都拿了 3 次自然科学方面的！也没啥世界一流的大学。有没有啥秘诀？”上次写了一回， 3 个全是化学奖！ （ （ 以色列问鼎诺贝耳奖有没有啥秘诀？ ） 了不得，一想，还有！这是第二章了。 4 个土博也能拿诺贝耳奖！ Hershko 他的学生同得诺奖的 Ciechanover, Shechtman, Yonath 全是土博，受的教育基本上都是在战火纷飞，条件简陋到连张书桌都难放稳的以色列。 4 个博士后来都有到外留学，又都义无返顾的回到了故土，长期在极为艰辛的情况下，在小小的以色列国内同行不多，学术相对不强的环境中，做着些“为人嘲笑”的 crazy 的课题，做出了巨大的突破！ 有没有啥秘诀？有！借鸡生蛋，学术休假（ sabbatical leave ）是一大关键！ Hershko 博士后是跟美国Ｕ CSF 的 Gordon Tomkins, 在那里他开始对 energy-dependent 蛋白质裂解感兴趣了， Hershko 回以色列后接着做，当时业内对此关注很少，属“低级趣味”，以色列国内同行可交流的更少，他早期的经典论文发在 BBRC, JBC 这类“低等”刊物上。他在这羊肠小道上走下来，有个关键人物就是 Fox Chase Cancer Center 的 Rose! Hershko 当年和 Ciechanover 常去 Rose 实验室。有多重要呢？ Rose 也跟着他同得诺奖 ! Hershko 得奖时提到 “Ernie Rose is the third person, in addition to Mager and Tomkins, who had a great influence on my scientific life. He is very different from both Mager and from Tomkins. He likes problem solving, and his attitude to science is highly analytical. I am more intuitive, so we complemented each other very well. He is so brilliant that people do not always understand his ideas and are a little afraid of him. People are also often apprehensive of him because he can be very critical, and does not hesitate to voice his criticisms. We got along very well over a period of 20 years, which included several sabbaticals and many summer visits in his laboratory at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia . Our only disputes were when he refused to be co-author of work to which he actually made significant contributions. In the case of the few papers on which he is co-author, I had to force him to agree.” ( www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2004/hershko.html ) Dan Shechtman 的故事，大家都知道的，他的发现就是在 Johns Hopkins 学术休假期间搞出来的！虽然他把组里人气得冒烟！组里的头对他说 "go back and read the textbook" and then "asked him to leave for 'bringing disgrace' on the team." 可没这学术休假，很难讲他会有这样的机遇！ Ada E. Yonath 回国时，成了建以色列的第一个生物上的晶体结构实验室。她主攻的课题 ribosome structure ，长期以来被同行看扁，不是不好，是“不自量力”！太难了，很多人都不敢沾边，觉得她太 crazy ！一路做来，明知山有虎，偏向虎山行，一道道的难关都过来了。 Yonath 也有在 Chicago 做学术休假，但效果不知有多大，传记中没提过。可她很早就有和德国的长期合作。“ she was a group leader with Heinz-Günter Wittmann at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin. She was visiting professor at the University of Chicago in 1977-78. She headed a Max-Planck Institute Research Unit at DESY in Hamburg , Germany (1986–2004) in parallel to her research activities at the Weizmann Institute.” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_E._Yonath) 这些交流想来，对她的成绩该是有很大的促进作用的。 学术休假搞得好，有借鸡生蛋之妙，可以有机会利用到上等物质和思想上的资源。。。另外，还有趣的是，这几位还都从美国拿到基金资助，尤其是对Hershko, 当时正是他实验室有点要揭不开锅之时！ 当然，有童鞋要说了：好是好，这事到中国就会变味了，有人就乘机公款旅游休假了。不见前一阵，好像就有中科院的人到巴黎坐着马车揣着公款到处找麻婆豆腐吃吗！介末办捏？
标签: 学术休假
