yingyinc 2014-6-22 22:47
从瓦萨学院到发现希格斯粒子---瓦萨学院2014年度毕业典礼演讲
从瓦萨学院到发现希格斯粒子---瓦萨学院2014年度毕业典礼演讲
[url]http://www.mysanco.cn/wenda/index.php?class=discuss&action=question_item&questionid=6419[/url]
吴秀兰（Sau-Lan Wu）
译者个： 丁玖
【译者按：翻译过程也是感慨的过程，这位当代吴健雄居然超过吴健雄：不生小孩。看来吴家的女子干实验物理都厉害。好像Vassar出过许多名女人：包括肯尼迪夫人杰奎琳、奥斯卡影后梅丽尔·斯特里普、著名女星安妮·海瑟薇，文化名人三毛、洪晃。】
演讲者介绍： 吴秀兰（Sau-Lan Wu），髙能实验物理学家。出生于香港，毕业于金文泰中學、Vassar学院和哈佛大学。1974年她参与了丁肇中教授领导的发现J粒子的实验。1979年她在发现胶子的实验中起了关键性的作用。1995年她和合作者因这个发现获得了欧洲物理学会髙能和粒子物理奖。 她是通过实验发现希格斯粒子的研究中发挥了相当关键的作用，率先发现希格斯粒子的存在。期间还培养了50名也是成绩斐然的物理学博士。吴秀兰是威斯康辛大学的费米和维拉斯教授，同时也是美国文理学院院士。
Hill校长、Feroe教授、校董们、杰出的教员们、自豪的父母和祖父母们及2014年瓦萨的毕业生们：
Feroe教授告诉我，我是瓦萨学院23年来第一个在毕业典礼上演讲的研究型科学家，也是第一位演讲的物理学家。
我希望你会发现，我从瓦萨到希格斯粒子的发现之旅既有趣且有启发性。这个发现之旅始于瓦萨教育，再通过坚毅而绽开花蕾。
我曾给自己定下一个目标：一生中至少贡献三个主要的物理学发现。到目前为止，我已经参与J粒子、胶子和希格斯粒子的发现之举。
我一遍又一遍地告诉我的研究生：在我们也称为粒子物理的高能物理领域，因为我们的使命是科学发现，纳税人支持我们的科学研究。我的第三个突出参与是希格斯粒子的发现。2012年7月4日，希格斯粒子的发现被公布了;我相信你已经在《纽约时报》和CNN中获知这个新闻。在这个发现中，我的威斯康辛大学研究小组成员和我发挥了突出的作用。这个项目如此巨大，以至于两个各有3000名物理学家的独立团队ATLAS和CMS，在位于瑞士日内瓦欧洲核子研究中心实验室的大型强子对撞机上合作研究。这一发现是来自世界各地56个国家约200个机构6000多的科学家经由20年的艰苦努力得到的最终成果。
产生希格斯粒子最有效的方法是通过碰撞两个胶子。由于胶子在质子中，我们在欧洲核子研究中心通过碰撞两个非常高能的质子，以产生希格斯粒子。为了找到一个希格斯粒子，它就像在一个足球场大小的干草堆里捞针。
那些修了科学课程的人可能会问，为什么电子、质子、中子及我们宇宙中的其他粒子大量存在。这是一个简单但深度难以回答的问题。发现希格斯粒子让我们更近一步能回答这个问题。
让我简单介绍一下什么是希格斯粒子。它也被称为上帝的粒子。
希格斯粒子是用于解释基本粒子如何获得它们的群体而需要的一个粒子。基本粒子是宇宙的基石。希格斯粒子对从电子到人类及星系
所有的群体负责。如果没有这种粒子，就没有原子，没有分子，没有细胞，当然也没有人。
这个粒子在1964年由三个理论物理学家弗朗索瓦·恩格勒特(Francis Englert)、罗伯特·布劳特(Robert Brout)和彼得·希格斯(Peter Higgs)提出。去年恩格勒特和希格斯被授予诺贝尔物理学奖；布劳特不幸在两年前去世。
现在让我与你分享发现的快乐。2012年6月25日的午夜，在希格斯的发现公布前九天，我的威斯康辛大学研究小组成员，在许多个不眠之夜后，获得了希格斯粒子存在的明显证据。6月25日2012年6月25日同一天的下午3时，在欧洲核子研究中心32号大厦一楼的威斯康星走廊里出现了一阵骚动。我们听到了我的研究生王海晨(Haichen Wang)说：“浩爽(Haoshuang)即将宣布希格斯粒子的发现！”
我们的第一个反应是：这是一个笑话，所以当我们进入我的学生季浩爽(Haoshuang Ji)的办公室时，我们的脸上挂满笑容。当我们看到他电脑上画出的希格斯信号时，那些笑容突然变得更大。很快，欢呼声响遍了威斯康星走廊。王海晨用视频记录了这激动的情景。我们制作了那个希格斯信号图的大型副本，我小组的所有成员在上面签了名。它现在欧洲核子研究中心威斯康星走廊的墙上挂着。
这两个协作的其他小组也观察到相同的结果，他们有着同样的兴奋，也有自己的故事可讲。
在2012年7月4日公布发现的当天，欧洲核子研究中心的大礼堂直到上午9时都被锁住。为了鼓励我组的所有学生和博士后见证这个世纪科学活动，我答应给那些在礼堂外通宵排队的人奖励100美元。他们都进去了，在公布发现活动结束后，我和希格斯教授握了手。我告诉他：”我已经找了你20多年。“我将永远珍惜他的回答：”现在，你已经找到了我。“事实上，从1980年至2012年，它已经花了我32年。
2013年3月5日，我与其他四位物理学家的照片出现在纽约时报的头版。标题是：追逐希格斯---在寻求物理最难捉摸的粒子中斗争并最终取得胜利。
现在，我想与大家分享我从瓦萨到发现希格斯粒子的旅程。
我在日本占领期间出生于香港。我在母亲的的怀抱中不时进出防空洞。我的母亲是我父亲这个香港著名商人的第六妾。但是她不是我父亲最喜欢的太太。我的母亲和我被遗弃在外，生活在贫民窟里。我的母亲和我的弟弟住在租来的小卧室，而我在一个米店走廊有一个租来的床。我长大后有了坚强的信念：经济上绝不依赖于男人。
在每天学校结束时，我们排队和我们的老师说再见，他手里拿着一条教鞭。我就读的学校挤满了学生。每年当教育署的官员来视察时，我不得不躲起来。
在我12岁前，我很少见到我的父亲。
然后，我们搬到了一个公寓，我会每周一次看到我的父亲，每次几个小时。当我父亲发现我能在脑子里做两个3位数乘法，他感动了。我父亲认为，成功的关键在于英语和算术好。
我的母亲在中国的乡村长大，那时女孩子都不准去上学。因此，我的母亲不识字，不能写，从来没有工作过。但是在我一生中我的母亲是最鼓舞人心的人。在我童年时她就意识到教育的巨大价值。她竭尽全力将我和我的弟弟在香港贫民教会学校中换来换去。我最后转到一所著名的政府高中。
1959年当我高中毕业时，我父亲不想让我上大学。他说``你现在应该赚钱养活自己，并支持你的母亲。''我暗暗地申请了美国50所高校，要求全额奖学金。当时只有四所学院说会考虑我的，都是女子学院---佐治亚州的阿格尼斯斯科特学院、弗吉尼亚州的伦道夫-梅肯女子学院、康涅狄格学院和瓦瑟。前三所拒绝了我。所以，我正要被整个美国所拒绝！
在绝望中，1960年4月，我喜出望外地收到一份电报，通知我，我被瓦萨学院接受了，并有全额奖学金。真的，上帝决定送我来瓦萨。
我告诉我的父亲，我被瓦萨学院接受了。他碰巧正在纽约，住在一个朋友家里，那人的女儿5月即将从瓦萨学院毕业。（我真想找到这个1960届校友并与她见面。）当他1960年5月在这里参加她的毕业典礼时，我的父亲意识到，瓦瑟是一个非常有声望的学院。不过他抱怨说，在招待会上只有花生米。他对我来到瓦萨深感骄傲。他花了300美元给我买了票，从香港乘威尔逊总统号船17天到达旧金山，然后坐火车到纽约。他给了我40美元零花钱。他警告我不要去参加聚会。如果我失去奖学金，就没有其他钱给我了！
我登上船的那天是我最后一次见到我的父亲。
在从香港到旧金山的途中，我们遇到了几次台风。当时很少人在饭厅里。我看到我的苹果从船的一侧滚动到另一侧。当我在旧金山下船时，几个瓦萨校友手拿家庭烘焙的蛋糕等着我。她们非常亲切。然后我坐火车从旧金山到纽约，在5天的旅程中，她们的蛋糕是我唯一的食物。我不想花任何钱买餐点。在纽约瓦瑟校友来接我，马上把我带到宏伟的大都会博物馆。它太美妙了，但是我在长途行程后又累又饿，在博物馆里只想睡觉！她们又带我去参观位于纽约美丽的瓦萨俱乐部。
在瓦萨，我有全额奖学金，包吃包住，美国女孩将衣服捐给外国学生，所以我不必外出购物。因为我的英语差到过不了关，第一个夏天瓦瑟甚至把我送到位于弗吉尼亚州里士满的一个暑期学校补习英文。瓦瑟真的想确保我会成功和毕业。他们培养我要有恒心和毅力，如果你有的话，你基本上不会失败。
在瓦萨1960年至1963年的三年内，学校放假期间我感觉自己就像公主般地住在一个豪华的校友会之家。我清楚地记得瓦萨校友沃什伯恩太太邀请我到她位于曼哈顿高档区的美丽家里做客。在第一年的复活节假期，我和其他八个外国学生被邀请到白宫与51届校友杰奎琳·布维尔·肯尼迪见了面。我穿着中国服装，我的朋友们对其两侧的高开衩感到有点不安，并不断提醒我把它掩盖起来。我们会见了许多国会议员和参议员的太太们。我问自己，这能否被看成我们未来之路的一种激励？
我埋头在图书馆里攻读，一直避免碰上周末公共汽车上那些重载的耶鲁人。
适应美国生活对我是个难题。有九年之久我无法看到我的家人。我想邀请我的父亲参加我哈佛大学的博士毕业典礼，但他在之前一年去世了。此外，在最初的那几年，美国文化的某些方面还令人不安。我和其他两个中国女孩参观了位于弗吉尼亚州的最高法院，当我们找一个洗手间时，面临的是决定推标有白人''或有色人种''的门中的哪一个。当我们上一辆种族隔离的公交车时。我们再次面临这个抉择，这是我对种族歧视的初次体验。当然，美国自那时以来，已经取得了巨大的进步！
我永远无法报答瓦萨的慷慨：从让学校书店付我书费的院长到给我衣服穿的瓦萨女孩。生理学教授露丝·康克林给了我一份工作，所以我可以赚一些钱。我烫她的套装时烧了一个大洞。我自我解雇，新工作是将她花园里的泥土从一边搬到到另一边。
因为我在校园里从不必担心个人经济状况，我可以完全集中在我的学习当中，连续几个小时把自己深藏在图书馆的地下室里。瓦瑟这样地厚待我，令我受宠若惊。所有的支持---情感上的和经济上的---为我提供了成功学者所需的巨大鼓舞。
我修了一些艺术课程，在那里我用水彩和中国水墨在宣纸上绘画。我没有钱买一个画框，但物理教授莫妮卡·西莉亚买了一个美丽的画框，将这幅画挂在她家。
我曾想成为一个艺术家，但当读了居里夫人的传记后，我决定将一生献给科学。在瓦萨期间，1962年和1963年我作为暑期学生在位于长岛的布鲁克海文国家实验室工作，被粒子物理的研究迷住了。那些都是激动人心的时刻，充满了发现。在那里，我第一次见到我未来的夫君。
1963年当我以最优等生和优等生荣誉学会成员从瓦萨毕业后，我接受了哈佛的奖学金，同时接受我的还有伯克利、哥伦比亚大学和耶鲁大学。普林斯顿大学写道，他们只接受本校教授的太太。加州理工学院写道，他们没有女生宿舍，因而不会接受女性，除非她们是``例外的''！
我在哈佛的第一年极端困难：男孩在男生宿舍一起做功课；妇女不得去那里。我是物理课上唯一的女性。在第一年（1963年至1964年）年底，我被授予硕士学位---这是女性被允许从哈佛拿到研究生学位的第一年。以前只有拉德克利夫学院可以颁发这样的学位给女性。
1964年5月，在我拿到硕士学位的毕业那天，我和一些同学在哈佛广场加入了提供给毕业生的一次免费午餐。一名警卫要我离开，我被踢出了哈佛广场。有人告诉我，100年来没有女人被允许参加这个毕业典礼午餐；我眼中含泪离开了我的朋友。
在哈佛，琼·贝兹的``我们将克服''是我最喜欢的一首歌。
1970年，获得哈佛博士学位的我成了麻省理工学院的一个副研究员，并参与1974年在布鲁克海文国家实验室发现了粲夸克。我的导师丁肇中教授1976年由于这一发现与斯坦福大学的伯顿·里克特教授一起被授予诺贝尔物理奖。
1977年，我成为威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的助理教授。另一个女物理学家和我是这所那时已超过一百年历史的大学最早的物理女教授。
1979年，我是发现胶子的领军人物，成为1995年欧洲物理学会高能物理奖的共同获得者。胶子是一种新的粒子，是强作用力的载体。它负责将夸克结合在一起以形成质子和中子。这项研究是在汉堡的德国国家实验室(DESY)进行的。
在接下来的1996年，我被当选为美国艺术和科学院的院士。
正如你可以想象的那样，在60年代、70年代甚至80年代，女人要在科学领域工作并不总是那么容易的。我记得在《生活》杂志上读到，如果你是一个男人，人们假设你强，直到你被证明不强为止。如果你是一个女人，人们假设你没有竞争性，直到你证明你有为止。早期我许多次碰到那种思路。如果你是一个女人，有些事不是很公平，如你说出来，就让人心烦意乱。当我成功时，人们会指着我说我是个好斗的人。有人把我叫做龙女。我不是这样的，但有些人给你勾勒出这种形象。最后，你必须能免疫于这种批评。你必须接受一个事实，即有些人会认为你是能力不足。他们没有看到，如果你成功了，那是因为你拼命工作，并为之努力。我已经完全将自己的生命投入于科学。即使是今天，由于种族和性别歧视，我仍然不时遇到问题。
在1970年末，当我还是威斯康辛大学的助理教授时，在那个年龄，我必须决定我是否应该有小孩。我丈夫和我谈论了这个问题，意识到如果我这样做，我可能不会获得终身职位，我将失去我所有的科研经费。现在的今天，你绝不会想到这一点，但在那些日子里它是一个现实。我不得不做这个决定。
然后我转向将科学发现和青年学者的教育作为我的主要任务。超过50个研究生已在我的指导下获得博士学位。许多人继续到著名的地方获得博士后的职位---哈佛大学、麻省理工学院、普林斯顿大学和斯坦福大学等。他们中有些人现在身居大学中非常引人注目的教职。33个我以前的学生和博士后现在已经是美国和世界各地的教授。另外一个有11个拥有研究实验室的永久职位。其他在政府或在世界各地的行业工作。我很为他们感到骄傲，并把他们视为我的家庭成员。通过他们，我的灵感已经到达了全美国和世界其他地区。
我的研究生怎样受益于与我一起工作呢？我的学生和我一起在欧洲核子研究中心的国际环境中工作，他们有机会参与并见证物理学的重大发现。他们学会了承受巨大时间压力必须解决问题的能力，这对他们来说是非常好的训练。他们得到训练的另一部分是竞争力。它们不能是缓慢前进的。他们与其他许多国家的年轻物理学家不断地友好竞争。这种类型的训练在国际化、全球化的舞台上极为重要。
是的，我曾被警告，亚洲女性在由白人男性主导的领域中有一个职业生涯，这将是很难的事；但是瓦瑟和哈佛的学位为我提供了面对这一挑战所必备的自信心和资质。特别是，瓦瑟学院给了我独一无二的机会来美国。瓦瑟已经在我的生命中发挥了举足轻重的作用，并铺平了我成功职业生涯的道路。
在我的职业生涯，我要感谢很多。感谢榜上的第一个当然非瓦瑟莫属；我希格斯粒子发现的份额中很大一部分属于瓦萨学院。
这个演讲也献给我的94岁高龄的母亲来英：她因是一个中国村庄的女孩而不让上学，但她一直视教育对她的孩子们极端重要；献给我的弟弟余明伦和他的妻子琳恩，他们的友谊及竭诚奉献我的母亲对我有永恒的影响；也献给我的丈夫吴大峻，他极大地支持了我的事业。
我心怀感激之情地重申我对威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校和美国能源部对我研究巨大支持的衷心谢意。
1963年，我像你一样在这里的日落湖畔，喜出望外。就是在这里，我做出决定，将我的一生为科学和人类做出大贡献。从那时起，我在生活和科学中经历过发现的喜悦。搜索可能长时，伴有困难。很多时候，它是漫长而艰难的。当被障碍物撞击后，你跌倒了，但你又回到更高之处。在我们世界的每一个方面，从科学、社会、艺术到它们之间的一切东西，我们都需要你。你相信自己。你抱着忠于你的决心。你会做出一些伟大的事情。
在过去的四年中，瓦瑟已经武装起你的友谊、创造力和坚韧性，离开这个地方，你要实现伟大的事业。今天，你领取你的学位。这将是你在未来的征程上最有价值的决心。
别人怀疑的你必须相信；别人害怕的你必须尝试。要敢为人先！你不需要等待别人来请你！
瓦萨2014届！正直地生活，让你的良心引导你前进。成为先驱，跟随你的心愿，贡献于未来的人类。带着瓦萨的教育，以及坚毅与决心，成功将在你的面前和你的命运中出现。
有信心，运气就会跟着你。
再次感谢给予我深厚的荣幸。祝贺瓦萨2014届！
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英文原稿：
From Vassar to the Discovery of the Higgs Particle
President Hill, Professor Feroe, the Board of Trustees, the eminent faculty, proud parents and grandparents and Vassar graduates of the class of 2014:
Thank you for giving me this great honor and wonderful opportunity to address to-day’s 150 commencement ceremony.
Professor Feroe tells me that I am the first research scientist in 23 years and the first physicist ever to deliver a Vassar commencement address.
I hope that you will find the story of my journey from Vassar to the discovery of the Higgs Particle inspiring and interesting.
I set myself a goal of contributing to at least three major physics discoveries in my lifetime. So far I have participated in the discoveries of the charm quark, the gluon, and the Higgs particle. My third eminent participation is in the discovery of the Higgs particle. On July 4, 2012, the discovery of the Higgs particle was announced; I am sure you have read about it in New York Times or CNN. This is a discovery in which my Wisconsin group members and I played a prominent role. This project is so gigantic that two independent teams of 3000 physicists each, the ATLAS and CMS collaborations, worked at the Large Hadron Collider at the laboratory CERN – the European Center for Nuclear Research in Geneva, Switzerland. The discovery was a culmination of two decades of hard work by more than 6000 scientists from 56 nations and about 200 institutions from all over the world.
The most effective way to produce a Higgs particle is by colliding two very energetic protons. To find a Higgs particle, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack, the size of a football stadium.
You may ask why do electrons, protons, neutrons and the other particles in our universe have the masses they do. Discovering the Higgs particle takes us a step closer to answering this question.
The Higgs Particle is also called the God Particle. It is responsible for all masses, from electrons to humans to galaxies. Without this particle, there would be no atoms, no molecules, no cells and of course no humans.
This particle was proposed in 1964 by three theoretical physicists François Englert, Robert Brout and Peter Higgs. Englert and Higgs were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics last year; Brout unfortunately died two years ago.
Let me now share with you the joy of discovery. At midnight June 25, 2012, nine days before the announcement of the Higgs discovery, members in my Wisconsin group, after a number of sleepless nights, obtained a clear evidence of the Higgs particle. At 3pm on the same day, there was a commotion in the Wisconsin corridor in the ground floor of Building 32 at CERN. We heard my graduate student Haichen Wang saying, "Haoshuang is going to announce the discovery of the Higgs!" Our first reaction was to consider it as a joke, so when we entered my student Haoshuang Ji's office, we had smiles on our faces. Those smiles suddenly became much bigger as we looked at his computer printout of a Higgs signal plot. Pretty soon, cheers were ringing down the Wisconsin corridor. Haichen Wang was video recording the excitement. We made a large copy of this Higgs signal plot and all my group members signed on it. This signed document is now displayed on the wall of the Wisconsin corridor at CERN.
Other groups in the two collaborations observed the same result, with the same excitement. They also have their own stories to tell.
On the day of the announcement of the discovery on July 4, 2012, the auditorium at CERN was locked until 9am. In order to encourage all the students and postdocs of my group to witness the scientific event of the century, I promised a reward of $100 to whoever would line up outside the auditorium overnight. They all got in. At the end of the announcement of the discovery, I went to shake hands with Prof. Higgs. I told him "I have been looking for you for over 20 years". And I will always cherish his reply: "Now, you have found me”. In fact, it had taken me thirty two years, from 1980 to 2012.
On March 5, 2013 my photo with four other physicists appeared on the front page of New York Times. The heading: Chasing the Higgs – Struggle, and finally triumph, in the search for physics’ most elusive particle. This article was written by Dennis Overbye.
Now, I would like to share with you my journey from Vassar to the Higgs discovery.
I was born in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation. My mother, with me in her arms, ran in and out of bomb shelters. My mother was the sixth concubine of my father who was a well-known businessman in Hong Kong. However she was not the favorite of my father's wives. My mother and I were cast out and we were put to live in a slum. My mother and my younger brother lived in a rented small bedroom and I had a rented bed in a corridor in a rice shop. I grew up with a strong determination to be financially independent of men.
At the end of each school day, we lined up to say good bye to our teacher with a whip in his hand. I was in a school overcrowded with students. Every time when an officer from the Education Department came for inspection, I had to hide.
Until I was 12 years old, I rarely saw my father.
We then moved to an apartment and I would see my father once a week for a couple of hours. I impressed my father when he found out that I was able to multiply a 3 digit number by another 3 digit number in my head. My father believed that the key to success is to be good in English and arithmetic.
My mother grew up in a farm in China and girls were not allowed to go to school. Hence my mother cannot read and cannot write and has never worked. However my mother is the most inspiring person in my life. She realized early on in my childhood the tremendous value of education. She did everything in her power to move me and my younger brother from schools in the slum to missionary schools in Hong Kong.
When I graduated from high school in 1959, my father did not want me to go to college. "You should now earn your living, and support your mother." I secretly applied to 50 colleges and universities in USA, asking for a full scholarship. There were only four colleges that said they would consider me, all women colleges – Agnes Scott College in Georgia, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Virginia, Connecticut College and Vassar. I was rejected by the first three. So I was about to be rejected by the whole United States! While in despair, in April 1960, I was overjoyed to receive a telegram informing me that I was accepted by Vassar with a full scholarship. Truly, God decided to send me to Vassar.
I told my father I was accepted by Vassar. He happened to be in New York at the time, staying with a friend whose daughter was about to graduate from Vassar in May, class of 1960 (I would like to find and meet with this alumna of class 1960.). When he attended her commencement ceremony right here in May 1960, my father realized that Vassar is a very prestigious college. However he complained that during the reception only peanuts were served. He was proud of my coming to Vassar. With 300 dollars, he bought me tickets to go from Hong Kong to San Francisco by ship, President Wilson line, which took 17 days and then to New York by train. He gave me $40 for pocket money. He warned me not to go to parties. If I were to lose my scholarship, that would be it!
The day I boarded the ship was the last time I saw my father.
During my trip from Hong Kong to San Francisco, we encountered several typhoons. Few people were in the dining room. I saw my apple rolling from one side of the ship to the other. When the ship disembarked in San Francisco, several Vassar alumnae were waiting for me with home baked cakes. I then took the train from San Francisco to New York on a 5 days journey with their cakes as my only food. I did not want to spend any money on meals. At New York, I was again picked up by several Vassar alumnae.
At Vassar, I had a full scholarship with room and board, and the American girls donated clothes for foreign students, so I didn't have to go shopping. Vassar even sent me to a summer school in Richmond, Virginia the first summer I was here because my English was so poor that I couldn't pass my requirement.
In my first year, I, together with eight other foreign students, were invited to the White House during Easter vacation to meet Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy ’51. I wore a Chinese dress, and my friends were uneasy about the high slits on the sides and kept reminding me to conceal it. We met many wives of congressmen and senators. I was asking myself whether this was intended as an aspiration for our future path.
I buried myself in the library, forever avoiding weekend busloads of Yale men.
My adjustment to the United States was a difficult one. I was unable to see my family for nine long years. I wanted to invite my father to my Ph.D. graduation at Harvard but he died a year earlier.
I can never repay Vassar’s generosity, from the dean who allowed me to charge all my books to the college store and to the Vassar girls who gave me clothes to wear. Professor [of physiology] Ruth Conklin created a job for me so I could earn some money. I ironed her suits and burned a big hole in one. My new job was to move piles of mud from one side of her garden to the other.
Because I never had to worry about my finances on campus, I could focus completely on my studies, hiding myself in the library’s basement for hours on end. I was thrilled with how well Vassar treated me. All of the support — emotional and financial — provided me with great inspiration to be a successful scholar.
I wanted to be an artist until I read Marie Curie’s biography and decided to devote my life to science. During my stay at Vassar, I worked as a summer student in 1962 and 1963 at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island where I became captivated by the study of particle physics. Those were exciting times, full of discoveries. There I first met my future husband.
After graduating from Vassar in 1963 with summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, I was accepted by Harvard with a fellowship, and also offers from Berkeley, Columbia and Yale. Princeton wrote that they only accepted women if they were wives of faculty members. Caltech wrote that they did not have a women's dormitory, and would not accept women unless they were 'exceptional'!
My first year at Harvard was extremely difficult: boys did homework together in the men's dormitories; women were not allowed to go there. I was the only woman in physics in my class. At the end of first year (1963-1964), I was awarded a Master’s Degree – it was the first year when women were allowed to get a graduate degree from Harvard.
In May 1964, on graduation day for my Master degree, I joined some of my classmates for a free lunch offered to new graduates in the Harvard Yard. A guard asked me to leave and I was kicked out of the Harvard Yard. I was told that no woman had been allowed to this commencement lunch in 100 years; I left my friends with tears in my eyes.
At Harvard, “we shall overcome” by Joan Baez was my favourite song.
In 1970, with a Ph.D. degree from Harvard, I became a research associate at MIT, participating in the charm quark discovery in 1974 at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. My supervisor, Professor Samuel Ting, was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1976 for this discovery together with Professor Burton Richter of Stanford.
In 1977, I became an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Another woman physicist and I were the first women professors of Physics ever in this University, at that time already over a hundred years old.
In 1979, I was the leading figure in the gluon discovery and I was the co-recipient of the 1995 European Physical Society Prize for High Energy Physics. The gluon was a new particle responsible for binding quarks together to form protons and neutrons. This research was done in the German National Laboratory (DESY) in Hamburg.
The following year in 1996, I was elected to be a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
As you can imagine, it was not always easy for a woman to be in the scientific field in the 60s, 70s and even 80s. I remember reading in Life magazine that, if you are a man, people assume you are competent until you prove you are not. If you are a woman, people assume you are not competent until you prove you are. I encountered that mentality a lot early on. When I became successful, people would point to me and say that I am an aggressive person. You must be immune to this kind of criticism.
In late 1970 when I was an assistant professor in the University of Wisconsin, I was at the age when I had to decide whether I should have children or not. My husband and I realized that if I did so, I probably would not get tenure and I would lose all my research funding. Now, today, you would never think about that, but in those days it was a reality. That was the decision I had to make.
I then turned to scientific discoveries and education of young scholars as my primary missions. Over 50 graduate students have received Ph.D. degrees under my supervision. Many moved on to take positions at prestigious places – Harvard, MIT, Princeton and Stanford, for example. Thirty three of my former students and postdocs are now professors in the US and worldwide. Others work in governments or in industries all over the world. I am extremely proud of them and consider them as members of my family. Through them my inspiration has reached out all over the US and in other parts of the world.
How do my graduate students benefit from working with me? My students work with me at CERN in an international environment, and they have a chance to participate in and witness major discoveries in physics. They learn to solve problems under tremendous time pressure. They cannot be slow. They are constantly in a friendly competition with young physicists from many other countries. This type of training is especially important in the international, global arena.
Yes, I was warned that it would be hard for an Asian female to have a career in a field dominated by white males; but Vassar and Harvard degrees provided me with the self-confidence and credentials necessary for this challenge. In particular, Vassar College gave me the exclusive opportunity to come to America. Vassar has played a pivotal role in my life and has paved my way to a successful career.
In my career, I am indebted to many. The first one on the list is of course Vassar; a big part of my share of the Higgs discovery belongs to Vassar College.
This address is also dedicated to my 94 years old mother, Ying Lai: she was not allowed to attend school but she has valued education to be of the utmost importance for her children; to my younger brother Ming Lun Yu and his wife Lynne, their friendship and dedication to my mother have an eternal influence on my life, and to my husband Tai Tsun Wu, who is tremendously supportive of my career.
I would also like to extend my heart-felt thanks to the marvellous support of my research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the U.S. Department of Energy.
In 1963, I was here by the Sunset Lake, just like you. I was overjoyed. Right here, I made the resolution to devote my life to science and to make a significant contribution to humanity. Since then I have experienced the joy of discoveries, in life as in science. The search may be long or difficult. Often times, it is long and difficult. But when obstacles strike, you fall down and you get back up. We need you in every aspect of our world, from science to society to the arts and everything in between. You believe in yourself. You hold true to your determination. And you will do something great.
Over the past four years, Vassar has armed you with the friendship, and the creativity, and the tenacity to leave this place and achieve great things. Today, you are receiving your degrees. It is your determination that will be most valuable in the journey ahead.
You must believe where others do not. You must act where others cannot. You must lead where others will not. You cannot wait for someone to invite you!
Vassar Class of 2014! Live with integrity and let your conscience be your guide. Be a pioneer and follow your heart, contributing to future human kind. With a Vassar education, and with fierce perseverance and determination, success will be ahead of you and your destiny.
Have faith and luck will follow you..