By Kwan Shu Tse
謝鈞澍
Passion
, curiosity and perseverance
are only a few of the key qualities possessed
by Prof. Steven Balbus, 2013 Shaw Laureate of
Astronomy and Savilian Professor of Astronomy
at the University of Oxford. Prof. Balbus jointly
won the 2013 Shaw Prize with Prof. John F Hawley
for their outstanding research on astrophysical
accretion disks providing a viable mechanism
named magneto-rotational instability (MRI), which
leads to accretion disk turbulence. The Shaw Prize,
established in 2002 by the late media mogul,
Sir Run Run Shaw, honors individuals who have
made outstanding contributions in academic
and scientif ic research. We were for tunate
enough to obtain an e-mail interview with him in
late October 2013, shortly after being awarded
the Shaw Prize. His sincerity and enthusiasm
overflowed through his words in an e-mail reply to
our questions.
Prof. Balbus’ exposure to astrophysics began
early. As a young child, his supportive, physician
father regularly took him to museums and star-
gazing excursions. In high school, he derived
inspiration from his geometr y teacher, Bruce
Hartman, who demonstrated creativity within
mathemat i ca l thought. P rof. Ba l bus’ own
fascination and curiosity with reading physics
texts of famous physicist, Richard Feyman, further
fueled his thirst for knowledge and honed his skills
in devising simple physical models. These factors
helped transform his interest in “outer space”
as a child to a fascination with black holes and
neutron stars as a teenager. He went on to obtain
double degrees in Physics and Mathematics
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) in 1975 and finished his PhD in Theoretical
Astrophysics from the University of California,
拜爾巴斯教授
-
研究天文學之路
The
Astronomical
Journey of
Research
Berkeley in 1981. In 2012, he was named Savilian
Professor of Astronomy at Oxford and his current
research deals with the Sun’s internal rotation.
As a student myself, I often wonder if the field
of research is long and arduous. When posed
with this concern, Prof. Balbus readily admits that
research can be frustrating at times. He doesn’t,
however, feel that his research is ever ‘unfruitful’.
Difficulties are inevitable during research, yet
he regards these challenges as motivation that
drives him to strive for results. He believes that one
will find more joy in research if one truly enjoys
their field of interest. “Even if the results are not
what one hopes for, it is so much fun to see how
it all works out… Even failures are surprising in an
interesting way”.
When it comes to the accompanying math,
students are often discouraged if they were
initially interested in astronomy. Fortunately, the
wide discipline of astronomy means that not all
aspects are interlocked with heavy and difficult
mathematics. That being said, while interest is
important to becoming a successful researcher
and scientist, Prof. Balbus stresses that “there is a
limit to where undisciplined enthusiasm alone can
take you”; wise words to heed, and undoubtedly
applicable to more than being successful in
scientific research alone.
Perhaps the most impor tant qualities one
should possess, besides interest and discipline,
are curiosity and perseverance. Curiosity fuels the
need to obtain knowledge and answers, while
perseverance allows one to plough through the
difficult times when the answers might take years
to derive. Prof. Balbus believes that “You have to
love the subject and allow it to dominate most of
your waking hours... you do it because you can’t
help it and can’t imagine doing anything else”.
Finally, after having mastered the fundamentals
of the subject, one has to open up one’s mind
and start thinking outside of the box for new and
innovative ideas. Do you have what it takes?
