Inspiration

Inspiration

By Ben Bova

I stole a glance at Albert. His eyes were riveted on Kelvin, his lips parted as if he wanted to speak but could not work up the nerve. He ran a hand nervously through his thick mop of hair. Kelvin seemed perfectly at ease, smiling affably, his hands laced across his stomach just below his beard; he was the man of authority, acknowledged by the world as the leading scientific figure of his generation.

« Can it be really true? » Albert blurted at last. « Have we learned everything of physics that can be learned? »

He spoke in German, of course, the only language he knew. I immediately translated for him, exactly as he asked his question.

Once he understood what Albert was asking, Kelvin nodded his gray old head sagely. « Yes, yes. The young men in the laboratories today are putting the final dots over the i’sm the final crossing of the t’s. We’ve just about finished physics; we know at last all there is to be known. »

Albert looked crushed.

Kelvin did not need a translator to understand the youngster’s emotion. « If you are thinking of a career in physics, young man, then I heartly advise you to think again. By the time you complete your education there will be nothing left for you to do. »

« Nothing? » Wells asked as I translated, « Nothing at all? »

« Oh, add a few decimal places here and there, I suppose. Tidy up a bit, that sort of thing. »

Dark. Photo by Elena

Albert had failed his admission test to the Federal Polytechnic in Zurich. He had never been a particularly good student. My goal was to get him to apply again to the Polytechnic and pass the exams.

Visibly screweing up his courage, Albert asked, « But what about the work of Roentgen? »

Once I had translated, Kelvin knit his brow, « Roentgen? » Oh, you mean that report about mysterious rays that go through solid walls? X rays, is ité1

Albert nodded eagerly.

« Stuff and nonsense », snapped the old man. « Absolute bosh. He may impress a few medical men who know little of science, but his X rays do not exist. Impossible! German daydreaming. »

Albert loojde at me with his whole life trembling in his piteous eyes. I interpreted :

« The professor fears that X rays may be illusory, although he does not as yet have have enough evidence to decide, one way or the other. »

Albert’s face lit up. « Then there is hope! We have not discovered everything as yet! »

I was thinking about how to translate that for Kelvin when Wells ran out of patience. « Where is that blasted waitress? »

I was grateful for the interruption. « I will find her, sir.»