Major breakthroughs in science have historically been the province of individuals, not institutes. Galileo and Copernicus, Edison and Einstein, toiling away in lonely labs or pondering the cosmos in private studies.

歷史上科學重大突破向來是個人而非研究組織的天下。伽利略、哥白尼、愛迪生和愛因斯坦，都在實驗室孤軍奮戰多年或獨自思索宇宙的奧妙。

But in recent decades the trend has been to create massive institutions that foster more collaboration and garner big chunks of funding.

但是最近幾十年來，趨勢已變成成立龐大的研究機構加強各方合作，並獲得龐大贊助金。

And it is harder now to achieve scientific greatness. A study of Nobel Prize winners in 2005 found that the accumulation of knowledge over time has forced great minds to toil longer before they can make breakthroughs. The age at which thinkers produce significant innovations increased about six years during the 20th century.

現在要達成科學重大成就變得更難了。一份針對2005年諾貝爾獎得主的研究發現，長時間的知識累積已迫使大天才們得鑽研更久才能有新突破。20世紀思想家提出創新成果的年紀增加約6年。

Don’t count the individual genius out just yet, however.

不過，還不要把個人天才排除在外。

A balance between individual and institutional approaches is the best idea, according to a new theory by a Duke University engineer Adrian Bejan.

杜克大學工程師貝強的新理論是，最好的方式就是在個人和組織研究間取得平衡。

The next Einstein?

那下一個愛因斯坦在哪？

A 35-year study in 2006, which looked at mathematically gifted children to see what they ended up doing with their lives, revealed he or she might be a baby now, or perhaps is yet to be born.

2006年發表的一份追蹤數學天才兒童了解其最終成就的35年研究指出，他或她現在或許還在襁褓中，甚至還沒出生。

Dictionary 新聞辭典

toil away ：片語，長時間辛苦研究、工作。例句：She has been toiling away on her science project for months. （她為她的科學作業已經辛苦研究好幾個月了。）

ponder：動詞，思索。例句：He pondered every single word before answer the prosicutor’s question. （他回答檢察官問話前，每個字都經過仔細思量。）

count someone in/out：片語，把某人算在內／排除在外。例句：Count me in , I wanna be part of this project too. （算我一份，我也想參與這項計畫。）

文/管淑平

自由時報-971215

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