on his own (independently), then (after that), another (one more), commonly (usually), to be referred to as (to be called), to consider (to examine), as (while), to be designed for (to be intended for), current, not at all
|
A SCIENTIFIC GENIUS |
Born |
10 July 1856 |
Place of Birth Serbia |
|
Died |
January 7, 1943 |
Field Physics, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering Known for Inventions, alternating current, induction motor, rotat-
ing magnetic field, and wireless technology
A “MAD” SCIENTIST
FYI
1.a neuron is a cell that is a part of the nervous system and that conducts messages to and from the brain.
2.a retina – your retina is the part of your eye, which receives the image that you can see. It sends the image to your brain.
Study the passage. Mind the underlined grammar points.
According to legend, Tesla was born precisely at midnight during an electric storm.
He studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytec (1875). However the university says that he stopped attending lectures and according to a college roommate, he did not graduate. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. He read many scientific research works on his own, memorizing complete books. He had a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of insight. During his early life, Tesla suffered a peculiar disease in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily visualize it in realistic detail. Tesla would visualize an invention in his brain in precise form before moving to the construction stage. This technique is known as picture thinking.
− 66 −
The strangest invention ever proposed by Tesla was probably “Thought Photography Machine.” He reasoned that a thought formed in the mind created a corresponding image on the retina, and the electrical data of this neural transmission could be read and recorded in a machine. The stored information could then be processed through an artificial optic nerve and played back as visual patterns on a view screen.
Another of Tesla’s theorized inventions is commonly referred to as
Tesla’s Flying Machine, which resembles an ion-propelled aircraft. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without an airplane engine, wings, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla considered the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by ground based stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that such an aircraft could run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would have the shape of a cigar or a saucer.
Tesla is also known for the invention of the Teslascope, a radio transmitter designed for communicating with extraterrestrial life on other planets.
Vocabulary Notes
1.precise – accurate
2.peculiar – strange
3.a vision – a mental picture – a hallucination
4.an item – a thing
5.to visualize – to imagine what something is like forming a mental picture
6.to record something – to put it onto tape
7.to store – to keep information in a computer
8.to process information – to put it through a computer system in order to deal with it
9.a pattern – (here) – a picture
10.to resemble – to look like
11.to propel something – to cause it to move – to drive
12.to claim – when you claim, you say that something is true, although you might not be able to prove it
13.your appearance is the way you look
14.a saucer – a UFO – an unidentified flying object
−67 −
POST-READING TASK
(To be done at home in writing)
I. Give facts of Nicola Tesla’s biography using the pre-text information.
Model: Nikola Tesla was born on the tenth of July, 1856.
II. Put in the prepositions.
1.… legend, Tesla was born precisely … midnight … an electric storm.
2.He studied electrical engineering … the Austrian Polytec.
3.… a college roommate, he did not graduate.
4.He experienced detailed moment … insight.
5.The visions were linked … a word or idea.
6.This technique is known … picture thinking.
III. Formulate simple sentences with the below expressions: Model:
1.Tesla proposed a Thought Photography Machine.
2.A thought is formed in the mind and creates an image on the retina.
1.to propose an invention
2.to form a thought
3.to create an image
4.to read data
5.to record data
6.to store information
7.to process information
8.to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft
9.to create a flying machine
10.to consider an idea
IV. Look for the information in the Internet concerning Tesla and add some more facts.
CLASS EXERCISES
COMMENT
INTERVIEW WITH CHITIN, AMERICAN MATHEMATICIAN
Study one of the points discussed in the interview. Mind the underlined grammar. Do the exercise that follows.
− 68 −
‘Bridge the Gap’ is a series of discussions and exchanges of opinions on science, art and humanity organized by the Center for Contemporary Art in Japan. This interview took place in a café at the airport, Paris, and continued late into the night.
----Can you tell me your thoughts on a scientific genius?
----In my opinion, there is an element of madness in the sciences as much as in the arts. Look at Wittgenstein, for example. He was a philosopher, not a scientist. He is a great philosopher, isn’t he? But he was a lunatic. But there are lots of lunatics in uninteresting way, aren’t there? My feeling is that to create a new theory of science, you have to be mad. You have to be crazy to think up something at a time when there is almost no evidence for it and go off in the direction from the rest of scientific community. And the scientific community usually fights against you. You have to be convinced that all the current theories are wrong and that the physical universe is completely different. It happens if you have a mind that goes beyond the framework of generally accepted ideas; the mind that is needed at the moment to take the next quantum jump. In fact, you have to have an encyclopedic mind.
--- What about Einstein?
When Einstein did his theories he had the right psychology for relativity, but he hated quantum mechanics. And he had no interest in high energy physics. He wanted to understand just the electron. He wanted fundamental knowledge. He was only interested in the most basic ideas. Murray Gell-Mann, who is at the Santa Fe Institute, is not at all like Einstein. He is interested in everything. He knows dozens of languages, he is interested in birds, and he has a tremendous memory. He has an encyclopedic mind, the kind of mind to deal with high energy physics, with the particle zoo. It is really a zoo and you need a mind that could take this enormous number of facts and organize it.
Exercise 1
I. What scientist does the author consider ‘mad’?
Finish up the sentences
1.The scientist is ‘mad’ if he ………..
2.The scientist is ‘mad’ if he ………….
3.The scientist is ‘mad’ if he ………….
− 69 −
II. What mind does a ‘mad’ scientist have?
1.
2.
3.
III. What are the synonyms of the word ‘mad’?
IV. What is the best Russian correspondence of a ‘mad scientist’?
UNIT 5
COMPLEMENTARITY OF THINKING
“The main point of complementary ideas is that one way of looking at things, be it the scientific one, be it the religious one, be that the artistic one, is not enough, and deprives you of understanding your environment; but even more, it is very dangerous because if you have only one approach, it is open for abuse.”
Victor Weisskopf, theoretical physicist at MIT
PRE-READING TASK Study some grammar points.
I. There is used as the subject of the verb ‘be’. It is used when you want to say that something exists.
Study the sentences.
1.There are books to be read and thrown away; there are books to be read and put on the shelf; and there are some few to be read and digested. (Seneca)
2.There is no rule without an exception.
II. S + seems + to V = Russian – По-видимому; Создаётся впе-
чатление, что + S Study the sentence.
1.There seem to be two possible explanations.
2.When I was a graduate student, there seemed to be no-one who took singularities seriously.
III. Ving – a verbal noun
Infinitives are neutral, impersonal and not visualized. They are just names of actions.
−70 −