论文部分内容阅读
William Paul Thurston是低维拓扑学的开拓者之一,1982年因其在叶状结构、几何化猜想等方面的纲领式工作荣获菲尔兹奖.同年另外两位获奖者是Alain Connes和丘成桐.菲尔兹奖得主中有些以博学多才闻名,有些因其非同寻常的刻苦执著而为人称道,Thurston先生却是公认为“天才”的.同Gowers和Tao一样,为数不多的几个天才却出人意料的关心教育.他们关心的不仅是精英的小小天地,而且对普罗大众的学习投入了更大的热情和关切.或许并非巧合,nature or nurture,世人眼中的天才们不约而同地选择了后者.本文作于1990年,作者时年44岁,发表于同年的《美国数学会通告》第37期.本文文字犀利,饱含热情,似乎是一挥而就,没有藻饰润色.使用了大量俚语,译者竭尽所能向读者传达Thurston的智慧和见识.文中谈到的当然都是美国的情况,细节上同我国略有出入,大体也颇类似.需要注意的是,作者看来并不熟悉初等教育,教育专家们可能不觉得他在谈什么实际的问题;作者是从一个职业数学家的立场来谈的,也有过大学数学教育改革的成功尝试,记住这一点我们就能不去求全责备,而是如Thurston所说,多多沟通,不要各说各话.有些意见尽管路人皆知,但期望能借天才数学家之口引起应有的重视.
One of the pioneers of low-dimensional topology, William Paul Thurston won the Fields Medal for his programmatic work on leaf-like structures, geometrical conjectures, etc. In 1982, the other two winners were Alain Connes and Yau Shiu-tong. Some of the Fields winners are well-known for their knowledgeable abilities and some are praised for their extraordinary perseverance, and Mr. Thurston is generally recognized as “genius.” Like Gowers and Tao, a few Genius is unexpectedly concerned about education, they are not only concerned about the small world of elite, but also for the general public to invest more enthusiasm and concern may not coincidentally, the world’s geniuses spontaneously chose after This article was written in 1990, the author was 44 years old, published in the same year, “American Mathematical Society circular,” No. 37. This text sharp, full of passion, it seems to be a wave, no algae decoration polish using a large number Slang, the translator makes every effort to convey Thurston’s wisdom and knowledge to the readers, of course, the situation in the United States is the United States, the details of a slight discrepancy with our country, generally quite similar .It should be noted that the author To be unfamiliar with elementary education, education experts may not think he is talking about any practical problems; the author talks from a professional mathematician’s point of view, and has also had a successful attempt to reform the university’s math education. Remember that Instead of asking for all blame, Thurston said, do not talk too much, and some of them, despite the knowledge of passersby, are expected to draw the attention of genius mathematicians.