Theoretical versus Experimental Physics: 勞心者治人, 勞力者治于人

This post is prompted by reading Professor Samuel C.C. Ting’s (丁肇中) Nobel Banquet speech in 1976.  In emphasizing the importance of experimental over theoretical physics, he criticized the concept of “勞心者治人, 勞力者治于人” (He who labors with his mind rules over he who labors with his hand).  He said “this kind of backward idea is very harmful to youngsters from developing countries. Partly because of this type of concept, many students from these countries are inclined towards theoretical studies and avoid experimental work.”

I beg to disagree with his interpretation of “勞心者治人, 勞力者治于人”.  My translation would be “He who labors with his mind rules over he who does manual labor with body/hands”.  Doing the experimental physics with hands is hardly a manual labor (勞力), it is still mostly a labor of mind.

Max Delbrück

Max Delbrück (a physicist turned biologist and is universally considered the father of molecular biology) wouldn’t go along with what Professor Ting said.  Delbrück locked his Caltech Lab barring his students/scientists to enter on each Friday; he wanted them to stop the experiments and to think and to theorize.  The biography of Max Delbrück is fittingly named “Thinking about Science”—the book (see photo) I read twenty some years ago.

The truth of the matter is that experimental and theoretical physics complement each other; their union often leads to great discovery.  The discovery of the DNA structure by James Watson and Francis Crick was purely theoretical biology work.  Sidney Brenner once quipped Crick was the only one that he knew could make a living by being a theoretical biologist.

Samuel C.C. Ting

Professor Ting was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1936 while his father, a professor of engineering, was visiting the United States.  He said “by accident of birth [he was born prematurely] I became an American citizen.  Two months after my birth we returned to China.”  He grew up in China until 1956 when he was 20 years of age and went to University of Michigan where he had his undergraduate and graduate studies.

So Chinese is Professor Ting’s native tongue.  The following is the Chinese version of his Nobel Banquet speech on December 10, 1976.  It is a combination of traditional and simplified characters.