千万不做博士.doc

这篇文章够牛，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 mysterie ?s of nature, perform experiments or carry out calculations to learn how the w ?orld works? Forget it! ?Science is fun and exciting. The thrill of discovery is unique. If you are sm ?art, ambitious and hard working you should major in science as an undergradua ?te. 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 go ?ing 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 follo ?wing 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 o ?ffers 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 problem ?s. 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 fo ?r 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 ma ?ny years spent in “holding pattern” postdoctora