G. E. Uhlenbeck on Paul Ehrenfest

摘要

In conclusion I would like to say a few words about what Ehrenfest did about perhaps the basic educational problem, namely the problem how to make a student do independent research. He worked essentially always only with one student, and that practically every afternoon during the week. He discussed with him either the problem on which he was working or recent papers in the literature which he wanted to understand in detail. It went fast, and one worked on the blackboards. When they were full, the main points were copied in little note books. I can personally testify that in the beginning, since one understood things so to say only with the tips of one's fingers, at the end of the afternoon one was dead tired. Especially because one had to follow in detail; the greatest sin was to say that one had understood the point if it was not the case. And it was always found out! The wonder was that after a while the tiredness disappeared and after a year one worked almost as equals. In fact, as a student you often had the sneaking suspicion that you really knew the things much better. At that point one stood on one's own legs and one had become a physicist!