这篇文章够牛,是华盛顿大学一名物理学教授写的,句句大实话。翻译过来给大家共赏。
Don’t Become a Scientist!
Jonathan I. Katz
Professor of Physics
Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.
[my last name]@wuphys.wustl.edu
千万别成为科学家!
约拿单 I. 卡茨,物理学教授,华盛顿大学
Are you thinking of becoming a scientist? Do you want to uncover the mysteries of nature, perform experiments or carry out calculations to learn how the world works? Forget it!
Science is fun and exciting. The thrill of discovery is unique. If you are smart, ambitious and hard working you should major in science as an undergraduate. But that is as far as you should take it. After graduation, you will have to deal with the real world. That means that you should not even consider going to graduate school in science. Do something else instead: medical school, law school, computers or engineering, or something else which appeals to you.
你在打算成为科学家吗?你想揭开自然的奥秘、用做实验或计算的方式来研究整个世界是怎么运作的?把这个想法忘了吧!
的确,科学很有趣,也很刺激。由发现而产生的强烈快感是独一无二的。如果你很聪明、有野心,并且也很刻苦努力的话,你的确应该在读本科的时候选择科学。但这就够了,到此为止。本科毕业之后,你将必须面对这个真实的世界。这意味着,你不应该哪怕是考虑去读科学方面的研究生。做点其他的行当吧:医学、法律、计算机、工程,或者其他随便什么你能想到的。
Why am I (a tenured professor of physics) trying to discourage you from following a career path which was successful for me? Because times have changed (I received my Ph.D. in 1973, and tenure in 1976). American science no longer offers a reasonable career path. If you go to graduate school in science it is in the expectation of spending your working life doing scientific research, using your ingenuity and curiosity to solve important and interesting problems. You will almost certainly be disappointed, probably when it is too late to choose another career.
American universities train roughly twice as many Ph.D.s as there are jobs for them. When something, or someone, is a glut on the market, the price drops. In the case of Ph.D. scientists, the reduction in price takes the form of many years spent in “holding pattern” postdoctoral jobs. Permanent jobs don’t pay much less than they used to, but instead of obtaining a real job two years after the Ph.D. (as was typical 25 years ago) most young scientists spend five, ten, or more years as postdocs. They have no prospect of permanent employment and often must obtain a new postdoctoral position and move every two years. For many more details consult the Young Scientists’ Network or read the account in the May, 2001 issue of the Washington Monthly.
为什么我,一个有终身职位的物理学教授,一个在科学事业上很成功的人,要来试图打击你们将科学作为毕生事业的勇气和信心呢?因为世道变了。我1973年拿到我的博士学位,1976年就拿到了终身教职。美国的科学界现在已经不能提供一条合理的事业生涯的途径了。如果你去读科学的研究生,你大概一定会期望着用你毕生的工作精力去做科学研究,用你的智慧和好奇心去解决那些重要而又有趣的问题。实话讲,你基本上一定会失望,而失望的时候,你大概已经错过了选择其他任何职业的机会。
美国的大学制造了两倍于其工作职位数量的博士。当随便一个什么东西,或一种人,满大街随便捡的时候,他就不值钱了。对于博士科学家来说,掉价的形式是他们不得不用许多年做一期又一期的博士后,等待着一个工作机会的到来。永久职位不会比以往给的薪水少多少,但25年前一个博士毕业后大约2年后就能找到一个真正的工作,而现在绝大多数的年轻科学家都得当5年,10年,甚至更久的博士后。他们没什么拿到永久职位的盼头,常常必须每两年找一个新的博士后工作,然后搬家。欲知更多详情,请咨询“青年科学家协会”或读一读华盛顿大学月报2001年5月的文章。
As examples, consider two of the leading candidates for a recent Assistant Professorship in my department. One was 37, ten years out of graduate school (he didn’t get the job). The leading candidate, whom everyone thinks is brilliant, was 35, seven years out of graduate school. Only then was he offered his first permanent job (that’s not tenure, just the possibility of it six years later, and a step off the treadmill of looking for a new job every two years). The latest example is a 39 year old candidate for another Assistant Professorship; he has published 35 papers. In contrast, a doctor typically enters private practice at 29, a lawyer at 25 and makes partner at 31, and a computer scientist with a Ph.D. has a very good job at 27 (computer science and engineering are the few fields in which industrial demand makes it sensible to get a Ph.D.). Anyone with the intelligence, ambition and willingness to work hard to succeed in science can also succeed in any of these other professions.
Typical postdoctoral salaries begin at ?,000 annually in the biological sciences and about ?,000 in the physical sciences (graduate student stipends are less than half these figures). Can you support a family on that income? It suffices for a young couple in a small apartment, though I know of one physicist whose wife left him because she was tired of repeatedly moving with little prospect of settling down. When you are in your thirties you will need more: a house in a good school district and all the other necessities of ordinary middle class life. Science is a profession, not a religious vocation, and does not justify an oath of poverty or celibacy.
就拿我们系里最牛的两个准备竞争一个讲师职位的人来作例子。一个家伙37岁,博士毕业已经10年了,一直没找到工作。另一个最牛的家伙,35岁,人人都认为他很聪明,博士毕业7年了才找到一个“永久工作”(其实不是永久教职,只是6年后有希望获得永久教职而已,不过这已经让他稍稍远离那种每两年就要找新博士后工作搬家的驴拉磨死循环了)。还有一个例子,一个39岁的家伙,想竞聘另一个讲师职位。他发了35篇文章。与之形成鲜明对比的是,一个典型的医生29岁就进入了实习阶段,一个典型的律师25岁就开始实习,31岁正式进事务所,一个计算机博士科学家在27岁时已经能得到很好的工作了。计算机科学和工程科学是工业界需要人才的仅有的两个领域,因此这两个行当还是值得去读个博士出来的。任何一个人,如果他有智慧和野心,能刻苦工作,如果他能在科学上成功的话,他也能在其他任何行当上成功。
典型的博士后薪水是每年27000美元(生物科学)或35000美元(物理科学)。博士生的奖学金比这个一半还少。用这么点收入你能支持一个家庭吗?嗯,够年轻的小两口住一个很小的房子。不过我认识一个物理学家,他的妻子把他踹了,因为她是在厌倦了跟他不停地搬家却一点定居的希望都看不到。当你三十多岁的时候你就会需要更多的东西:一个大房子,附近有好的学校,以及其他中产阶级生活所必需的设施。科学是一个职业,而不是一个宗教的呼召,也不是一个贫穷或独身的判决或者宣誓。