Page 25 - Science Focus (Issue 016)

Whose thesis/scientific work would you like to 您希望閱讀哪位科學家的論文或著作？能否介紹一下這
read? Could you please tell us more about the 位科學家及其研究？
scientist and his/her work?

曹圭鵬教授：
Prof. Gyu-Boong Jo:
因為我是一個物理學家，我通常閱讀與我領域相關的
Because I am a physicist, of course, I read papers and
theses related to my field. However, before I started my 論文。但是在我開始我的學術生涯前，我十分喜愛找一些非常
academic career, I really loved to find some very old papers 舊，或是由知名的物理學家們所寫的論文。我很難只指出一個
or those written by very famous people. I cannot point out 人，但舉例說我會試著閱讀 Einstein（愛因斯坦）與另一名研
only a single person, but, for example, I tried to read some 究量子理論的物理學家 Paul Dirac 的文章。當時，我無法完
articles written by Einstein, and Paul Dirac, a famous guy who 全地理解那些文章，因為有些論文是以德文書寫的。就算是有
developed the quantum theory in the old days. At that time, I
couldn’t fully understand those papers and especially because 英文版本，我還是無法能夠完全了解透徹，但能得知物理學家
some were written in German. Although there were English 們如何在一百年前構想出量子理論還是非常吸引的。我真的享
versions, I couldn’t fully understand the work. Nevertheless, it 受了解前人如何在當時發展出「新」概念。畢竟如果你只閱讀
was still fascinating to find out how the quantum theory was 現時的教科書，它們很多時都不會深入地闡釋一百年前在那個
conceived a hundred years ago. I really enjoy knowing how 課題上發生過的事情。
those people developed “new” concepts in the old days. If you
just read the latest textbooks, they sometimes don’t explain
that well what happened a hundred years ago about the same 劉振鈞教授：
topic.
我是一個環境微生物學家，而我對水污染的議題感興
Prof. Stanley Lau: 趣。當水被污水污染時，它便成為了病原體的載體。那些因
為飲用、游泳或進行其他休閒活動而接觸到污水的人便有機
I am an environmental microbiologist, and I am interested
in water pollution issues. When the water is polluted by 會得到一些由水傳播的疾病。
sewage, it will become a carrier of pathogens. People who 我喜歡閱讀 John Snow 的作品，因為它是研究水媒病
are in contact with the water, either by drinking, swimming,
or other recreational activities will have the chance of getting （經水傳播的疾病）流行病學的第一人。它的研究在十九世紀
waterborne diseases. 進行，甚至比在 1850 年由 Louis Pasteur 提出的「病菌說」
還要來得早。「病菌說」指出得到疾病的原因是因為受到微生
The work that I really like to read about is John
Snow’s because he was the first one who investigated the 物（細菌或病毒等）感染。而 John Snow 提出的假說是指當時
epidemiology of waterborne diseases. His research was 在倫敦爆發霍亂原因是地下水受污水污染。在當時，人們認為
conducted in the 19th century even before the germ theory 得到疾病的原因是因為呼吸到「壞的」空氣，然而他們卻甚至
of diseases was proposed in 1850 by Louis Pasteur. The germ 不知道那空氣中實際上含有什麼。他們認為那是由風傳遞的，
theory of diseases states that we got diseases by the infection
of microorganisms such as bacteria and virus. John Snow 但事實上它是藉由水來傳播的。他們沒有足夠關於疾病傳播及
came up with the hypothesis that the main culprit of a massive 細菌污染食物和水的知識，因此那種說法在當時十分普遍。因
cholera outbreak in London was the sewage contamination 此，身為一個研究水污染和與污染相關微生物學的科學家，我
of groundwater. At that time, people thought that diseases 真的喜歡閱讀他的作品。
are caused by breathing “bad air”, but they didn’t even know
what were actually in the air. They thought it was something
transmitted in the wind, but, obviously, it was something
transmitted in the water. They didn’t have the knowledge of
disease transmission and bacterial contamination of food or
water, so this kind of ideas were really common, until John
Snow’s investigation. Therefore, for a person working on
water pollution and the microbiology of pollution, I really like
to read about his work.

23
23
23