It was an incredible surprise to me to find out that there was actually an organization that cared about both parts of my life. Because, basically, I work as a theoretical physicist. I develop and test models of the Big Bang, using observational data. And I've been moonlighting for the last five years helping with a project in Africa. And, I get a lot of flak for this at Cambridge. People wonder, you know, "How do you have time to do this?" And so on. And so it was simply astonishing to me to find an organization that actually appreciated both those sides.
我很驚訝地發現, 有一個組織同時關注在我人生的二個面向上。 我是一個 理論物理學家, 我用觀察得到的資料,針對宇宙生成的大爆炸理論 設計模型並加以測試, 最近五年來,我也參與了 某個援助非洲的計畫。 為此,我在劍橋遭受不少攻擊, 人們總是問我:「你哪兒來的時間做這個?」 所以當我發現有一個組織 同時在關懷這二方面時,我真的很驚訝。
So I thought I'd start off by just telling you a little bit about myself and why I lead this schizophrenic life. Well, I was born in South Africa and my parents were imprisoned for resisting the racist regime. When they were released, we left and we went as refugees to Kenya and Tanzania. Both were very young countries then, and full of hope for the future.
我想我應該先告訴各位一些我的事情, 好讓你們瞭解我這種人格分裂是怎麼來的。 嗯,我在南非出生,我的父母因為反抗種族主義政權 而被捕入獄。 他們出獄之後,我們就離開南非去到肯亞和坦尚尼亞的難民營, 肯亞和坦尚尼亞那時都還是剛獨立的國家, 人民對未來充滿了希望。
We had an amazing childhood. We didn't have any money, but we were outdoors most of the time. We had fantastic friends and we saw the wonders of the world, like Kilimanjaro, Serengeti and the Olduvai Gorge. Well, then we moved to London for high school. And after that -- there's nothing much to say about that. It was rather dull. But I came back to Africa at the age of 17, as a volunteer teacher to Lesotho, which is a tiny country, surrounded at that time by apartheid South Africa.
我的童年很精彩,雖然沒有錢, 但我大部分時間都在戶外玩, 我的朋友都很棒,我們一起探索了這個神奇的世界, 像是吉力馬札羅山、塞倫蓋蒂國家公園和奧度瓦伊狹谷。 我在高中的時候搬到了倫敦, 在那之後就沒什麼好說的了, 很無聊,但我在17歲的時候, 回到了非洲,我志願到賴索托 擔任老師,賴索托很小, 幾乎被那時還採種族隔離政策的南非包圍住。
Well, 80 percent of the men in Lesotho worked in the mines over the border, in brutal conditions. Nevertheless, I -- as I'm sure -- as a rather irritating young, white man coming into their village, I was welcomed with incredible hospitality and warmth. But the kids were the best part. The kids were amazing: extremely eager and often very bright. And I'm just going to tell you one story, which got through to me.
在賴索托,有80%的男人 在邊境附近的礦場工作, 環境很惡劣。 不管怎樣,我很確定,當我這個憤世嫉俗的年輕白人 來到他們的村子裡時,他們是以無以倫比的熱忱來歡迎我的。 小孩子們更棒, 那些小孩都很棒,非常願意學習,也很機靈。 我要告訴各位 一個發生在我身上的故事,
I used to try to take the kids outside as often as possible, to try to connect the academic stuff with the real world. And they weren't used to that. But I took them outside one day and I said, "I want you to estimate the height of the building." And I expected them to put a ruler next to the wall, size it up with a finger, and make an estimate of the height. But there was one little boy, very small for his age. He was the son of one of the poorest families in the village. And he wasn't doing that. He was scribbling with chalk on the pavement. And so, I said -- I was annoyed -- I said, "What are you doing? I want you to estimate the height of the building." He said, "OK. I measured the height of a brick. I counted the number of bricks and now I'm multiplying." Well -- (Laughter) -- I hadn't thought of that one.
我那時總是盡可能將孩子們帶到戶外, 讓他們將書本上的學問應用到現實世界, 但他們並不習慣這麼做。 有一天,我把他們帶到戶外說: 「我要你們估計一下這個建築的高度。」 我本來以為他們會把尺放在牆上量, 用手指大約比出有幾倍,再估計出高度。 但其中有一個小男孩,身材比同齡小孩要小, 他家是村子裡最窮的家庭之一, 他沒有這麼做,他只是用粉筆潦草地在路面上寫著東西, 我有點生氣,所以我說:「你在做什麼? 我是要你估計這棟建築的高度耶...」 他回說:「對啊!我量了一塊磚頭的高度, 然後數了有幾塊磚頭,現在把他們乘起來就是了啊!」 (笑聲)...我以前沒有想過這個方法耶...
And many experiences like this happened to me. Another one is that I met a miner. He was home on his three-month leave from the mines. Sitting next to him one day, he said, "There's only one thing that I really loved at school. And you know what it was? Shakespeare." And he recited some to me. And these and many similar experiences convinced me that there are just tons of bright kids in Africa -- inventive kids, intellectual kids -- and starved of opportunity. And if Africa is going to get fixed, it's by them, not by us. Well, after -- (Applause) -- that's the truth.
後來還有許多這一類的例子, 像是有天我去找一位礦工,他因為有三個月的休假而待在家裡, 我坐在他旁邊,他說:「我在學校裡只喜歡一樣, 你知道是什麼嗎?莎士比亞!」接著他背出了一些句子。 這些類似的經驗告訴我, 非洲有無數個聰明的孩子, 有具發明天份的孩子,也有天資聰穎的孩子, 他們只差沒有機會表現而已。 如果有天非洲能強大起來,那一定是靠非洲人,而不是我們。 (掌聲)...這是事實!
Well, after Lesotho, I traveled across Africa before returning to England -- so gray and depressing, in comparison. And I went to Cambridge. And there, I fell for theoretical physics. Well, I'm not going to explain this equation, but theoretical physics is really an amazing subject. We can write down all the laws of physics we know in one line. And, admittedly, it's in a very shorthand notation. And it contains 18 free parameters, OK, which we have to fit to the data.
在賴索托之後,我在回英國之前 又做了一趟橫越非洲之旅, 對比起來,英國是相對灰暗與壓抑許多的。 我回到劍橋,投入理論物理的研究, 我不打算講解這個方程式, 但理論物理學確實是一個很神奇的學科, 我們可以把已知的所有物理定律寫在一條方程式裡, 雖然這個方程式很簡潔, 其中包含了18個自由參數, 我們必須將資料代入。
So it's not the final story, but it's an incredibly powerful summary of everything we know about nature at the most basic level. And apart from a few very important loose ends, which you've heard about here -- like dark energy and dark matter -- this equation describes, seems to describe everything about the universe and what's in it.
這樣還不算完成, 這個方程式所代表的,是我們對自然界最基本的認識, 也是最重要的彙總, 其中有一些重要事項我們尚未有頭緒,就像各位所聽過的, 像是黑暗能量與黑暗物質這一類的。 這個方程式代表的是... 它似乎代表了宇宙的一切,以及宇宙裡所含概的一切。
But there's one big puzzle remaining, and this was most succinctly put to me by my primary school math teacher in Tanzania, who's a wonderful Scottish lady who I still stay in touch with. And she's now in her 80s. And when I try to explain my work to her, she waved away all the details, and she said, "Neil, there's only one question that really matters. What banged?" (Laughter) "Everyone talks about the Big Bang. What banged?"
但我們還有一個疑問, 一個再簡單不過的問題,那是我在坦尚尼亞中學的 數學老師問我的,她是個很棒的蘇格蘭女士, 我到現在都還持續和她聯絡, 她現在已經80多歲了, 而當我試著要對她解釋我所做的工作時,她撇開所有繁瑣的細節,直接問我: 「尼爾,真正重要的問題是: 到底什麼爆炸了?(笑聲) 「每個人都在談宇宙大爆炸,那到底是什麼爆炸了?」
And she's right. It's a question we've all been avoiding. The standard explanation is that the universe somehow sprang into existence, full of a strange kind of energy -- inflationary energy -- which blew it up. But the puzzle of why the universe emerged in that peculiar state is completely unsolved. Now, I worked on that theory for a while, with Stephen Hawking and others. But then I began to explore another alternative. The alternative is that the Big Bang wasn't the beginning. Perhaps the universe existed before the bang, and the bang was just a violent event in a pre-existing universe.
她說得很對,那個問題是我們一直試圖迴避的問題, 我們總是向大眾解釋說宇宙是突然成型的, 那時佈滿了各種奇異的能量, 會膨脹的能量,因此就爆炸成型了。 至於宇宙為什麼會成為這種特殊的狀態, 卻沒人能解。 我已經和史蒂芬.霍金和其他人一起研究這個理論一段時間了, 我開始探索其他的可能性, 也就是或許宇宙大爆炸並不是宇宙的源起, 宇宙可能在大爆炸之前就存在了, 大爆炸不過是先前那個宇宙所發生的一起劇烈變動而已。
Well, this possibility is actually suggested by the latest theories, the unified theories, which try to explain all those 18 free parameters in a single framework, which will hopefully predict all of them. And I'll just share a cartoon of this idea here. It's all I can convey. According to these theories, there are extra dimensions of space, not just the three we're familiar with, but at every point in the room there are more dimensions. And in particular, there's one rather strange one, in the most elegant unified theories we have. The strange one looks likes this: that we live in a three-dimensional world. We live in one of these worlds, and I can only show it as a sheet, but it's really three-dimensional.
最近的統一理論 已經提出這個可能性, 統一理論試圖以單一架構 來解釋這18個自由參數,並希望能加以預測。 我想用卡通畫面來解釋這個理論, 這是我能想到最好的方式。根據這些理論, 在太空裡,除了我們所熟知的三度空間外,還有其他維度, 在這個房間裡的每一個點上,也都還有更多維度存在。 最特別的是,在最美好的統一理論裡, 我們也可以觀察到一個最奇特的維度, 這個奇特的維度是像這樣的: 我們的世界是三度空間, 宇宙中還有其他類似的空間,我現在只能用紙張呈現, 但這其實是三度空間。
And a tiny distance away, there's another sheet, also three-dimensional, and they're separated by a gap. The gap is very tiny, and I've blown it up so you can see it. But it's really a tiny fraction of the size of an atomic nucleus. I won't go into the details of why we think the universe is like this, but it comes out of the math and trying to explain the physics that we know. Well, I got interested in this because it seemed to me that it was an obvious question. Which is, what happens if these two, three-dimensional worlds should actually collide? And if they collide, it would look a lot like the Big Bang. But it's slightly different than in the conventional picture. The conventional picture of the Big Bang is a point. Everything comes out of a point; you have infinite density. And all the equations break down. No hope of describing that.
而在鄰近這個空間之外,又有另一張紙, 上面也有個三度空間,他們中間有條小小的縫隙, 縫隙很小,我得把它放大你們才看得到。 這個縫隙其實只有原子核的幾分之一大而已, 我不打算詳細說明為什麼我們覺得宇宙是長這個樣子, 但這是我們以數學計算出來的,用以解釋我們所知的物理現象。 我對這個現象很感興趣,因為裡頭有一個很明顯的問題, 就是當這二個三度空間的世界碰撞在一起時, 會發生什麼事? 他們二個如果真的碰撞在一起,就會產生類似大爆炸的情形, 但和我們傳統上認知的大爆炸稍有不同, 傳統上我們認為大爆炸是在一個點上, 所有東西會從那個點上爆發出來, 產生無限大的密度,沒有方程式可以解釋這個現象, 也無法具體描述。
In this picture, you'll notice, the bang is extended. It's not a point. The density of matter is finite, and we have a chance of a consistent set of equations that can describe the whole process. So, to cut a long story short, we've explored this alternative. We've shown that it can fit all of the data that we have about the formation of galaxies, the fluctuations in the microwave background. Furthermore, there's an experimental way to tell this theory, apart from the inflationary explanation that I told you before. It involves gravitational waves.
但在這裡,你會看到, 這個爆炸是延伸出來的,並不是在一個點上, 密度是有限的,而且我們可以 用一組方程式來描述整個過程。 簡單來說,我們找到了另一種宇宙源起的可能性, 這個源起模型 與目前我們所知銀河生成的所有數據都能契合, 也能與宇宙微波背景中的起伏變動相契合。 而且,在我先前所講到的膨脹能量理論之外, 還可以用另一個實驗性質的方式來解釋這個理論, 也就是用引力波來解釋。
And in this scenario, not only was the Big Bang not the beginning, as you can see from the picture, it can happen over and over again. It may be that we live in an endless universe, both in space and in time. And there've been bangs in the past, and there will be bangs in the future. And maybe we live in an endless universe. Well, making and testing models of the universe is, for me, the best way I have of enjoying and appreciating the universe. We need to make the best mathematical models we can, the most consistent ones. And then we scrutinize them, logically and with data. And we try to convince ourselves -- we really try to convince ourselves they're wrong. That's progress: when we prove things wrong. And gradually, we hopefully move closer and closer to understanding the world.
如同你所看到的,在這個理論裡, 大爆炸不是宇宙的起源, 反而是一個週而復始的現象, 因為我們所存在的宇宙,是一個無邊無際的宇宙, 不論是時間或空間,都是無邊無際。 以前曾經發生過大爆炸,以後也會再發生, 因此這是一個無邊無際的宇宙。 對我來說,為宇宙源起建立一個模型, 再加以測試,這是我欣賞及讚嘆宇宙的最佳方式, 我們要盡全力打造出最好的數學模型, 而且是最一致的模型。 接下來我們以邏輯及數據詳加檢視, 試圖說服自己-- 我們真的試圖說服自己這個模型是錯的, 因為一旦我們證明某件事是錯的, 我們才能更加釐清這個世界。
As I pursued my career, something was always gnawing away inside me. What about Africa? What about those kids I'd left behind? Instead of developing, as we'd all hoped in the '60s, things had gotten worse. Africa was gripped by poverty, disease and war. This is very graphically shown by the Worldmapper website and project. And so the idea is to represent each country on a map, but scale the area according to some quantity.
當我在物理世界努力時,總有一件事縈繞在我心頭, 非洲現在怎麼樣了? 我曾教導過的孩子現在怎麼樣了? 我們自1960年代就希望能發展非洲,但事與願違, 非洲變得更糟糕了, 整個非洲被貧窮、疾病及戰爭拖垮了。 Worldmapper網站有一個專案可以用圖形表達這個狀況, 他們是以某些數據來衡量國家的大小, 並將每個國家畫在地圖上。
So here's just the standard area map of the world. By the way, Africa is very large. And the next map now shows Africa's GDP in 1960, around the time of independence for many African states. Now, this is 1990, and then 2002. And here's a projection for 2015. Big changes are happening in the world, but they're not helping Africa.
這一幅是標準的世界地圖, 你可以看到非洲佔了非常大的面積。 這一幅地圖則顯示了1960年代非洲的國內生產毛額GDP, 那時許多非洲國家才剛剛獨立。 接下來是1990及2002年的地點,這一幅則是2015年的預測圖。 整個世界變化很大, 但對非洲一點幫助也沒有。
What about Africa's population? The population isn't out of proportion to its area, but Africa leads the world in deaths from often preventable causes: malnutrition, simple infections and birth complications. Then there's HIV/AIDS. And then there are deaths from war. OK, currently there are 45,000 people a month dying in the Congo, as a consequence of the war there over coltan and diamonds and other things. It's still going on.
非洲的人口怎麼樣?他們的人口與土地不成比例, 因為非洲的死亡率居世界最高,但其原因在其他地區都是可以預防的: 營養不良、單純的感染與難產。 接下來則是愛滋病死亡人數,還有因戰爭而死亡的人數。 現在,剛果每個月都有4萬5千人 因戰爭而死亡, 這些戰爭都是為了爭奪鈳鉭鐵礦、鑽石和其他礦石所引發的, 現在還在打仗。
What about Africa's capacity to do something about these problems? Well, here's the number of physicians in Africa. Here's the number of people in higher education. And here -- most shocking to me -- the number of scientific research papers coming out of Africa. It just doesn't exist scientifically. And this was very eloquently argued at TED Africa: that all of the aid that's been given has completely failed to put Africa onto its own two feet.
非洲有沒有能力自行處理這些問題呢? 這是非洲醫生的總人數, 還有非洲受過高等教育的人數, 還有...這真的很令人驚訝... 非洲發表的科學研究論文數量, 就科學上來說,這個數量可以說是零。 在TED針對非洲的演講中,各位早已聽過這種論調: 世界各國對非洲所提供的各式援助, 都無法使非洲振作,自食其力。
Well, the transition to democracy in South Africa in 1994 was literally a dream come true for many of us. My parents were both elected to the first parliament, alongside Nelson and Winnie Mandela. They were the only other couple. And in 2001, I took a research leave to visit them. And while I was busy working -- I was working on these colliding worlds, in the day. But I learned that there was a desperate shortage of skills, especially mathematical skills, in industry, in government, in education.
南非1994年的民主轉變, 對我們許多人來說可算是美夢成真, 我的雙親都獲選擔任第一屆的國會議員, 和曼德拉夫婦一樣,他們是唯二的夫妻檔。 2001年時,我趁研究之便去拜訪他們, 那時我在研究這些互相碰撞的世界,而當我埋首研究之時, 我突然發現非洲人民所欠缺的是技巧, 尤其是數學演算的技巧,不管是在工業界、政界或是教育界都一樣。
The ability to make and test models has become essential, not only to every single area of science today, but also to modern society itself. And if you don't have math, you're not going to enter the modern age. So I had an idea. And the idea was very simple. The idea was to set up an African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, or AIMS. And let's recruit students from the whole of Africa, bring them together with lecturers from all over the world, and we'll try to give them a fantastic education.
建立及測試模型的能力是最基本的, 不只科學領域重視這個能力, 就連現代社會也重視這個能力。 如果不懂數學,就無法邁進現代社會。 所以我有一個想法,非常簡單的想法, 就是設立非洲數學科學研究院,簡稱AIMS。 我打算對全非洲進行招生, 再從世界各地邀請老師來這裡教學, 我希望能給他們一流的教育。
Well, as a Cambridge professor, I had many contacts. And to my astonishment, they backed me 100 percent. They said, "Go and do it, and we'll come and lecture." And I knew it would be amazing fun to bring brilliant students from these countries -- where they don't have any opportunities -- together with the best lecturers in the world -- who I knew would come, because of the interest in Africa -- and put them together and just let the sparks fly. So we bought a derelict hotel near Cape Town. It's an 80-room Art Deco hotel from the 1920s. The area was kind of seedy, so we got an 80-room hotel for 100,000 dollars. It's a beautiful building. We decided we would refurbish it and then put out the word: we're going to start the best math institute in Africa in this hotel.
我本身是劍橋的教授,我認識很多人, 但出乎我意料之外,每一個人都很支持這個計畫, 大家都說:「你就去做吧! 我們會去非洲教課的!」 我知道這一切會很有趣,把各國最聰明的學生聚集起來, 他們原來是沒有機會受教育的, 再把世界上最好的老師 也邀請到這裡,他們都是為了非洲的發展而來。 把他們集合在一起,自然就會有火花激盪出來。 我們買下開普敦附近一家廢棄的旅館, 那是一間1920年代興建的裝飾藝術旅館,有80個房間, 旅館所在地區發展得並不是很好,所以我們只花了10萬美金就買到了, 那是一棟漂亮的建築物,我們打算重新整修一番, 對外公告: 我們打算在這間旅館裡開設全非洲最好的 數學研究院。
Well, the new South Africa is a very exciting country. And those of you who haven't been there, you should go. It's very, very interesting what's happening. And we recruited wonderful staff, highly motivated staff. The other thing that's happened, which was good for us, is the Internet. Even though the Internet is very expensive all over Africa, there are Internet cafes everywhere. And bright young Africans are desperate to join the global community, to be successful -- and they're very ambitious. They want to be the next Einstein.
新的南非是一個很棒的國家, 還沒有去過南非的人,應該去一趟, 那裡真的很有趣。 我們招募了很棒的員工, 全都自動自發。 另一件很不錯的事,就是網路, 雖然在非洲使用網路很昂貴, 但網咖還是在街頭林立。 聰明的非洲年輕人迫不及待想要加入全球社群, 他們非常想出人頭地,每一個人都很有野心, 他們想成為下一個愛因斯坦。
And so when word came out that AIMS was opening, it spread very quickly via e-mail and our website. And we got lots of applicants. Well, we designed AIMS as a 24-hour learning environment, and it was fantastic to start a university from the beginning. You have to rethink, what is the university for? And that's really exciting. So we designed it to have interactive teaching. No droning on at the chalkboard. We emphasize problem-solving, working in groups, every student discovering and maximizing their own potential and not chasing grades.
當AIMS對外宣佈開始招生時, 很快就透過電子郵件及我們的網站傳開了, 我們收到許多申請表。 我們把AIMS打造成一個24小時的學習環境, 從頭開始成立一間大學真是很棒的經驗, 你得要思考這間大學成立的目的是什麼? 那真的很棒! 所以我們把它設計成互動式的教學環境, 而不是在黑板上寫下密密麻麻的算式, 我們的重點是解決問題、團隊合作, 每一個學生都可以發掘出自己的潛能,並將之發揮到極致, 而不單單只追求分數的高低。
Everyone lives together in this hotel -- lecturers and students -- and it's not surprising at all to find an impromptu tutorial at 1 a.m. The students don't usually leave the computer lab till 2 or 3 a.m. And then they're up again at eight in the morning. Lectures, problem-solving and so on. It's an extraordinary place. We especially emphasize areas of great relevance to Africa's development, because, in those areas, scientists working in Africa will have a competitive advantage. They'll publish, be invited to conferences. They'll do well. They'll have successful careers.
不管是學生還是講師,都住在這間旅館裡, 你甚至可以在凌晨1:00臨時找到個別指導你的老師。 學生們通常在電腦室裡待到凌晨2:00或3:00, 早上8:00又起床開始新的一天, 聽課、解決問題等,這是一個很特別的地方。 我們特別重視和非洲發展息息相關的學科領域, 因為在這個領域研究的人,在非洲將具有極佳的競爭優勢。 他們的作品將被出版,並應邀發表演講; 他們會表現得很好,在這一行領先群倫。
And AIMS has done extremely well. Here is a list of last year's graduates, graduated in June, and what they're currently doing -- 48 of them. And where they are is indicated over here. And where they've gone. So these are all postgraduate students. And they've all gone on to master's and Ph.D. degrees in excellent places. Five students can be educated at AIMS for the cost of educating one in the U.S. or Europe. But more important, the pan-African student body is a continual source of strength, pride and commitment to Africa. We illustrate AIMS' progress by coloring in the countries of Africa.
AIMS很成功, 這是去年的畢業生名單,他們在六月畢業, 這是他們現在從事的工作,總共有48個人, 他們現在所在的位置標註在這裡, 還有他們去過的地方,這些都是畢業後的學生, 他們全都在很棒的學校繼續攻讀碩士和博士。 教育美國或歐洲的一個大學生的經費, 在AIMS可以教育五個大學生, 更重要的是,非洲自己教育出來的學生, 將為非洲持續帶來一股力量,讓非洲自豪,並全心奉獻給非洲。 我們依照AIMS的進程,將非洲各個國家以不同顏色標註,
So here you can see behind this list. When a county is colored yellow, we've received an application; orange, we've accepted an application; and green, a student has graduated. So here is where we were after the first graduation in 2004. And we set ourselves a goal of turning the continent green. So there's 2005, -6, -7, -8. (Applause) We're well on the way to achieving our initial goal.
所以在這張表的後面, 你會看到某些國家是標成黃色,因為我們收到一張申請表; 橘色就表示我們核准一張申請表; 綠色就表示有學生畢業了。 這是我們在2004年首屆畢業生離校後的狀況, 我們希望能把整個非洲都變成綠色的, 接下來是2005、6、7、8。 (掌聲) 我們正朝最初設定的目標前進,
We had some of the students filmed at home before they came to AIMS. And I'll just show you one. Tendai Mugwagwa: My name is Tendai Mugwagwa. I have a Bachelor of Science with an education degree. I will be attending AIMS. My understanding of the course is that it covers quite a lot. You know, from physics to medicine, in particular, epidemiology and also mathematical modeling. Neil Turok: So Tendai came to AIMS and did very well. And I'll let her take it from there.
在學生們來到AIMS之前,我們幫一些人在家鄉拍了一些短片, 我想要給各位看其中一支影片。 天代:我的名字是天代.穆格瓦格瓦, 我有科學學士學位, 我要加入AIMS。 就我所知,那裡的課程涵蓋範圍很廣, 從物理到醫學都有, 特別還有流行病學和數學模型學。 尼爾:天代來AIMS上課後表現得很好, 接下來就由她來演說。
TM: My name is Tendai Mugwagwa and I was a student at AIMS in 2003 and 2004. After leaving AIMS, I went on to do a master's in applied mathematics at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. After that, I came to the Netherlands where I'm now doing a Ph.D. in theoretical immunology.
天代:我的名字是天代.穆格瓦格瓦, 我在2003年到2004年間在AIMS就讀。 畢業之後,我則到南非開普敦大學 繼續應用數學的碩士研究。 之後,我則到荷蘭 攻讀理論免疫學的博士學位。
Professor: Tendai is working very independently. She communicates well with the immunologists at the hospital. So all in all I have a very good Ph.D. student from South Africa. So I'm happy she's here.
教授:天代具有獨立研究的能力, 她和醫院裡的免疫學家溝通無礙, 她是一個來自南非、很棒的博士生, 我很高興她能來這裡。
NT: Another student in the first year of AIMS was Shehu. And he's shown here with his favorite high school teacher. And then entering university in northern Nigeria. And after AIMS, Shehu wanted to do high-energy physics, and he came to Cambridge. He's about to finish his Ph.D., and he was filmed recently with someone you all know.
尼爾:席胡也是AIMS的首屆畢業生, 他和他最敬愛的高中老師一起拍了這張照片, 後來他在北奈及利亞就讀大學。 在AIMS畢業之後,席胡想要研究高能量物理學, 所以他去了劍橋, 現在快要完成博士學位了, 他和一位各位都熟知的人一起拍了一段影片。
Shehu: And from there we will be able to, hopefully, make better predictions and then we compare it to the graph and also make some predictions.
席胡:從這裡我們就可以 做出更好的預測,然後我們可以和這張圖比較, 再做出另一些預測。
Stephen Hawking: That is nice.
史蒂芬.霍金:很好。
NT: Here are the current students at AIMS. There are 53 of them from 20 different countries, including 20 women. So now I'm going to get to my TED business. Well, we had a party. This is Africa -- we have good parties in Africa. And last month, they threw a surprise party for me. Here's somebody you've seen already. (Applause) I want to point out a few other exceptional people in this picture. So, we were having a party, as you can see they're completely eclipsing me at this point. This is Ezra. She's from Darfur. She's a physicist, and somehow stays smiling, in spite of everything going on back home. But she wants to continue in physics, and she's doing extremely well. This is Lydia. Lydia is the first ever woman to graduate in mathematics in the Central African Republic. And she's now at AIMS. (Applause)
尼爾:這是目前在AIMS就讀的學生,總共有53人, 他們來自20個不同的國家,包含20位女士。 現在我要來談談TED的事了, 我們舉辦了一個派對,那是在非洲, 我們有許多很棒的派對,上個月,他們為我舉辦了一個驚喜派對, 其中有一個人你們已經認識了。 (掌聲) 我要來介紹照片上的幾位傑出人士。 那時我們在派對狂歡, 你們看,他們把我完全擋住了, 這是伊茲拉,她來自蘇丹的達佛, 她是個物理學家,儘管家鄉發生了許多事, 她永遠面帶微笑, 她希望繼續攻讀物理,她的表現真的很棒! 這位是莉迪亞,莉迪亞是中非共和國 有史以來的第一位女性數學家, 她現在在AIMS就讀。(掌聲)
So now let me get to our TED wish. Well, it's not my TED wish; it's our wish, as you've already gathered. And our wish has two parts: one is a dream and the other's a plan. OK. Our TED dream is that the next Einstein will be African. (Applause) In striving for the heights of creative genius, we want to give thousands of people the motivation, the encouragement and the courage to obtain the high-level skills they need to help Africa. Among them will be not only brilliant scientists -- I'm sure of that from what we've seen at AIMS -- they'll also be the African Gates, Brins and Pages of the future.
現在我要來談談我們的TED願望, 不是我的願望,而是我們的,各位應該都明白。 我們的願望有二個部分, 一個是個夢想,另一個則是個計畫。 我們的夢想是希望下一個愛因斯坦將會是非洲人。(掌聲) 在培育有創造力的天才這條路上, 我們希望為千萬人打氣, 鼓勵他們,給他們勇氣, 讓他們培養出振興非洲所需的高水準技能。 他們不會只是優秀的科學家, AIMS裡的情形讓我確信, 他們將會是非洲未來的比爾.蓋茲、布林和佩吉。
Well, I said we also have a plan. And our plan is quite simple. AIMS is now a proven model. And what we need to do is to replicate it. We want to roll out 15 AIMS centers in the next five years, all over Africa. Each will have a pan-African student body, but specialize in a different area of science. We want to use science to overcome the national and cultural barriers, as it does at AIMS. And we want to add elements to the curriculum. We want to add entrepreneurship and policy skills.
我們還有一個計畫,這個計畫很簡單, 由於AIMS已經很成功了, 我們希望能複製這個經驗, 我們希望在未來的5年內,在非洲境內推廣15個AIMS中心, 每一個都為非洲學生而設置, 但將專注在不同的科學領域。 我們要用科學來克服國家和文化上的障礙, 就像AIMS所做的一樣。 我們還要在課程表上新增一些課程, 像是企業管理與政治學等,
The expanded AIMS will be a coherent pan-African institution, and its graduates will form a powerful network, working together for peace and progress across the continent. Over the last year, we've been visiting sites in Africa, looking at potential sites for new AIMS centers. And here are the ones we've selected. And each of these centers has a strong local team, each is in a beautiful place, an interesting place, which international lecturers will be happy to visit. And our partners across Africa are extremely enthusiastic about this. Everyone wants an AIMS center in their country.
擴張後的AIMS仍會是一個以非洲為主的學院, 畢業生將形成一個強大的人際網路, 為非洲大陸的和平與發展一同努力。 在去年一整年, 我們造訪了非洲幾個地點, 尋找適合興建新的AIMS中心的據點, 這是我們評選出來的幾個地點, 每一個中心背後都有一支堅強的當地團隊, 每一個地點都很美,也很有趣, 國際學者會很高興來造訪這些中心。 我們在非洲的友人對此都很興奮, 每一個人都希望AIMS落腳在他們的國家裡。
And last November, the conference of all the African ministers of science and technology, held in Mombasa, called for a comprehensive plan to roll out AIMS. So we have political support right across the continent. It won't be easy. At every site there will be huge challenges. Local scientists must play leading roles and governments must be persuaded to buy in. Conditions are very difficult, but we cannot afford to compromise on those principles which made AIMS work.
去年十一月, 非洲各國科學與科技官員的聚會在孟巴薩舉行, 他們希望能在非洲全面推展AIMS, 所以我們現在也有政治支援了。 這很不容易, 每一個地點都是一個艱鉅的挑戰, 當地的科學家必須扮演領導者的角色, 我們也必須說服政府配合。 每一種狀況都不容易解決, 但我們不能對我們當初設立AIMS的宗旨有任何妥協。
And we summarize them this way: the institutes have got to be relevant, innovative, cost-effective and high quality. Why? Because we want Africa to be rich. Easy to remember the basic rules we need. So, just in ending, let me say the only people who can fix Africa are talented young Africans. By unlocking and nurturing their creative potential, we can create a step change in Africa's future. Over time, they will contribute to African development and to science in ways we can only imagine. Thank you. (Applause)
這些宗旨是: 相關(R)、創新(I)、 成本效益(C)與高品質(H)。為什麼? 因為我們希望非洲富強(RICH)起來, 這是我們最基本的原則,很容易記住。 最後,我要說,唯一能拯救非洲的人 就是非洲天資聰慧的年輕人。 讓我們解放並滋養他們創造的天份, 我們可以一步一步改變非洲的未來, 最終他們將為非洲的發展做出貢獻, 他們未來在科學上的成就將令我們望塵莫及。 謝謝! (掌聲)