NOBEL THOUGHTS: Nicolaas Bloembergen
Profound Insights of the Laureates
Nicolaas
Bloembergen is Professor of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona.
In 1981 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his “contribution
to the development of laser spectroscopy.” He has made major contributions
in the field of nonlinear optics and in the development of the maser. This
interview was conducted in 1993.
When was the last time you were in a fistfight?
A. Oh, that was very long ago, so long ago that I cannot remember it. Probably when I was in grade school. I always tried to change fights from fists to words. I said, "Let's talk about it while we are at odds." As I say, I haven't had fistfights since I was at school.
Has there been any time during the last forty years when you came close?
A. Oh! I remember! I remember! I had a fistfight when I was a student. I mean, several. But they were always drunken brawls.
Did you ever have a reputation as a bully?
A. No.
In the supermarket, what are your preferred techniques for choosing the right line to wait in?
A. I usually go to the line for fewer than 12 items.
Even when you have more than 12 items?
A. Er, yes.
Are you pulling rank because you are a Nobel Prizewinner?
A.Oh, that would not — it would have the opposite effect.
A different subject: When you are driving a car in the downtown section of a city, what's the best strategy for finding a parking space?
A. To listen to my wife.
Do you have any advice for young people who are entering the field?
A. The
field of physics? Choose another field! I think that physics will enter
a period of retrenchment.
More important — this is my personal philosophy — I grew in the time
of string and sealing wax. You did experiments on a small table top, like
this. I have always tried to avoid being involved with very large groups
and very big institutes. But this becomes harder and harder, although it's
still possible here and there. But I would think that in fields like biophysics
and biochemistry you can still do things on a smaller scale.
That's what my advice would be. But I should say this — I grew up and became a student in the time of the Depression. In my country, the Netherlands, maybe the Depression wasn't quite as severe as in this country, but there was nevertheless a world-wide depression. People were discouraged from entering science. There would be no jobs. The best you could hope for was to be a high school teacher. And then if you came back, they would say the same story: "Don't do it." And then if you said a third time, "I absolutely want to do this, because I can't help myself," and — oh! if you don't care that you won't get rich -- then by all means enter the field.
And if a student came to me today and said, "In spite of all you have told me and all the discouragement you have given me, I still want to go into physics," then I would say, "Hooray!"
Each year we present Ig Nobel Prizes to people whose achievements cannot or should not be reproduced. Who would you nominate to win an Ig Nobel Prize?
A. That's a tough question. The problem is that there are so many. Of course there are very famous cases of results that are wrong. One thing that is still debated, but it is always completely irreproducible because every group who attempts that topic finds different things — that's the field of cold fusion.
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