本帖最后由 艾羽暄 于 2010-7-23 18:22 编辑
The first test of a truly man is what he does. And the greatness of individuals, which means the attainment of eminence or favor, needs to be recognized by others. In some cases, greatness can be identified by the contemporaries. In other areas, however, it may take a long time, sometimes even longer than one's lifetime, for greatness to be tested and confirmed.
There is no denying the fact that the greatness of some individuals is identified only by those who live after them. After all, it takes time for the touchstone of greatness to tell. In the realm of science, it is usually difficult and sometimes even impossible to identify greatness without the benefit of historical perspective. The reason for this is simple: theory must be tested in practice and reinforced by eloquent evidence, and the ultimate objective of science is to be accepted by ordinary people, which takes time to tell. A case in point is Alfred Wegener, a German scientist and geophysicist most notable for his theory of continental drift, was at first laughed at by his contemporaries for his "foolish" idea about floating continents. Though having mostly circumstantial evidence, Wegener was unable to demonstrate a mechanism for continental drift, which meant that his hypothesis was not accepted until the 1950s, when numerous discoveries provided mass evidence of continental drift; and his greatness was finally recognized 20 years after his death. This clearly illustrate the point that some discoveries and achievements made by individuals in science and other areas may not be well judged and understood by their contemporaries--perhaps only by those who come after them.
While the greatness of individuals can be evaluated objectively by people who live beyond their time and their society, these evaluations unfortunately lag behind the time and contribute almost nothing to the development of the society at that time, thus may be lack of significance to some extent.
In some cases, however, greatness can be recognizable in no time. When it comes to achievements closely related to daily life or have a significant influence on the society, the greatness of individuals, of which the judgment can be accomplished by the contemporaries, will be decided immediately. Marie Curie's contemporaries would never need a rear-view mirror to confirm her discovery of two new elements, polonium and radium, and her contributions to the field of radioactivity as well. And the two Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry, which were awarded to Marie Curie, showed the complete recognition of her greatness by her contemporaries. Marie Curie's success fully demonstrates that the greatness of some individuals can be identified immediately, so long as there is almost nothing to be later tested or confirmed about the achievement, and it has a great influence on the development of the society.
In final analysis, while some great achievements of individuals, as with scientific discoveries, are to be testified and identified by later generations, there are other successful individuals whose attainments are widely recognized as great during their own time. What's more, it's the achievements of individuals, rather than the evaluations from others, that make the society to develop and flourish. And that is what greatness is all about.
| 
发表于 2010-7-23 17:59:29
0
转发
签到领寄托币
GO
