Do you know much about physics? I mean, you're the President of the United States: a country

你對物理學瞭解多少？我是說，你是美國總統，一個國家的總統

with five thousand nuclear weapons, birthplace of the world's computing and telecommunications

擁有五千枚核武器，是世界計算機和電信的發源地。

industry, home of the first atomic clock and creator of the global positioning system.

工業，第一個原子鐘的故鄉，全球定位系統的創造者。

But chances are, if you just took regular American high school physics, you don't know

但有可能，如果你只是上了普通的美國高中物理課，你不知道';。

one iota about the science behind these things (No offense). That's because high school physics

關於這些東西背後的科學的一絲一毫（沒有違法）。那是因為高中的物理學

students across most of America are not required to learn about pretty much any physical phenomena

美國大部分地區的學生都不需要學習任何物理現象

discovered or explained more recently than 1865. Yes, 1865. That's the year the civil

發現或解釋比1865年更晚。是的，1865年。這一年的民事

war ended and well over a decade before Albert Einstein was even born!

戰爭結束後，在愛因斯坦出生前的十多年裡，就已經結束了!

You know what can happen in 150 years, Mr. President? A lot. Velcro, for one. But let

你知道150年後會發生什麼嗎，總統先生？很多事情魔術貼，其中之一。但讓

me list some useful and important ideas of the last 150 years of physics that aren't

我列出了一些有用的和重要的思想的過去150年的物理學，是不是'。

a required part of most standard US high school physics courses:

是美國大多數標準高中物理課程的必修課。

Photons. The structure of atoms. The existence of Antimatter. GPS. Lasers. Transistors. Diodes

光子。原子的結構。反物質的存在。全球定位系統。激光器。半導體。二極管

and LEDs. Quarks. Chaos Theory. Electron Microscopy. MRI scanning. The Big Bang. Black Holes. Star

和LED。夸克。混沌理論。電子顯微鏡。核磁共振掃描。宇宙大爆炸。黑洞。恆星

formation. The fact that gravity bends light. The fact that the universe is expanding. The

形成。引力使光彎曲的事實。宇宙正在膨脹的事實。宇宙正在膨脹的事實。

Higgs Boson and the weak and strong nuclear forces and all the rest of quantum mechanics

希格斯玻色子和弱核力和強核力，以及所有其他量子力學的內容

and relativity and the topic of every single Nobel Prize in Physics since… always. Basically,

和相對論的主題 每一個諾貝爾物理學獎，因為... 總是。基本上是這樣的

most of the important stuff.

大多數重要的東西。

I mean, Mr. President, imagine if history classes didn't talk about the abolition of

我的意思是，總統先生，想象一下，如果歷史課沒有談論廢除

slavery, world wars I or II, the great depression, the rise of the US as a global superpower,

奴隸制，第一次或第二次世界大戰，大蕭條，美國作為全球超級大國的崛起。

the cold war or the civil rights movement or heaven forbid the first African American

冷戰或民權運動或上天賜予的第一個非裔美國人。

President. Or imagine if biology classes didn't talk about DNA, or hormones, or cell reproduction

總統。"或者想象一下，如果生物課上不講DNA、不講荷爾蒙、不講細胞繁殖。或者想象一下，如果生物課沒有談論DNA，或激素，或細胞繁殖。

or the modern germ theory of disease or ecology. Or if geologists didn't talk about plate tectonics.

或現代病菌理論或生態學。或者如果地質學家沒有談論板塊構造學。

And computer scientists… well… in 1865 a computer was a person who computed your

而計算機科學家... 1865年，計算機是一個計算你的...

taxes.

稅收；

Now, if you were lucky enough to have an ambitious teacher or take Advanced Placement Physics,

現在，如果你足夠幸運，有一個雄心勃勃的老師，或者參加聯考物理。

then you might have learned about some of Einstein's discoveries of 1905! Yes! Current

那麼你可能已經瞭解了一些愛因斯坦'1905年的發現!是的!當前

events! But learning about how Einstein's work helped set the stage for a century of

事件!但瞭解愛因斯坦的工作如何幫助奠定了一個世紀的基礎。

amazing developments in our understanding of the universe is not a part of the standard

在我們對宇宙的理解中，驚人的發展並不是標準的一部分。

curriculum.

課程；

So why, Mr. President, am I addressing this letter to you? Well, you appoint the Secretary

那麼，總統先生，我為什麼要給你寫這封信？嗯，你任命了部長

of Education, for one - and I do believe that high school physics is somewhat related to

education.

教育；

Now, maybe your education secretary says, "ancient physics is already hard to teach

現在，也許你的教育祕書說，"古代物理已經很難教了。

to high schoolers. And you want us to teach them modern physics which is even harder?!

對高中生來說，你想讓我們教他們更難的現代物理？你想讓我們教他們現代物理學，這更難嗎？

Students can't really appreciate the beauty of modern physics without fancy college level

學生如果沒有花哨的大學水準，是無法真正領略到現代物理學的美感的

mathematics." RUBBISH. Ever heard of Carl Sagan? Richard Feynman? Or Neil deGrasse Tyson?

數學." RUBBISH。聽說過卡爾-薩根嗎？理查德-費曼？或者尼爾-德格拉斯-泰森？

These great men have been 100% committed to the appreciation and dissemination of the

這些偉人一直百分百致力於欣賞和傳播。

awesomeness of the universe. And we should be too. How else are we supposed to foster

宇宙的可怕之處。我們也應該如此。否則，我們應該如何培養

and find our future brilliant innovators, inventors, and explorers? How can we expect

並找到我們未來優秀的創新者、發明者和探索者？我們怎麼能指望

to educate our citizens for the next century if we don't teach about the last?

來教育我們的公民為下一個世紀，如果我們不教關於上一個？

And that's not to say that we should ignore math, either - on the contrary, math is one

這也並不是說我們應該忽略數學--相反，數學是一個。

of the most beautiful and awesome things in the universe, especially because it allows

宇宙中最美最棒的東西，特別是因為它可以讓

us to understand the universe.

我們要了解宇宙。

In particular, the last 150 years have borne fruit to perhaps the most drastic changes

特別是，過去150年的成果可能是最劇烈的變化。

in our understanding of the universe, ever, and these new ways of thinking and solving

在我們對宇宙的理解中，有史以來，這些新的思維方式和解決方式

problems should be the centerpiece of an education in physics.

問題應該是物理學教育的核心。

Between you and me, Mr. President, I think we'd better start making physics education

你和我之間，總統先生，我認為我們最好開始讓物理教育

more awesome here in the US, otherwise the next Carl Sagan or Richard Feynman will come

在美國這裡更厲害，否則下一個卡爾-薩根或理查德-費曼就會來。

from somewhere with more educational foresight - maybe even, the Internet.

來自更有教育遠見的地方--甚至可能是，互聯網。

Sincerely,

真誠的，

A collection of atoms known as Henry

被稱為亨利的原子集合

ps you're probably super busy, but if you'd like to hear about physics education across

ps你'可能超級忙，但如果你'想聽聽物理教育的跨越。

the Atlantic, I highly recommend heading over to Brady's channel, Sixty Symbols, for a perspective

大西洋，我強烈建議前往布拉迪'的頻道，60符號，為一個觀點

from the UK. I bet you'll enjoy it.

來自英國的。我敢打賭，你'會喜歡它。