Theories of creativity appear to focus on four P's: Process, Product, Person, and Place. There appears to be few common definitions of creativity, but general agreement seems to involve producing something that is both original and worthwhile. This lecture will examine whether creativity can be taught or fostered. If so, how is this accomplished?
Much of the thinking done in formal education emphasizes analysis skills. Students are taught how to understand claims, how to follow or create a logical argument, how to figure out the answer to a problem, how to eliminate incorrect paths, etc. Another kind of thinking exists, one that focuses on exploring ideas, generating possibilities, looking for wild connections, etc. We seem to have no test for creativity but many tests for knowledge. Several arresting quotations about creativity are attributed to Albert Einstein, one of the most creative people who ever lived:
"If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it."
"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
We must consider the proposition that creativity is actually an attitude: a willingness to play, the ability to accept change and failure, a flexibility of outlook, the recognition of good but the desire to find better, etc. In that sense, perhaps, creativity can actually be taught, if not learned!
創造力的理論似乎焦聚在四個P字：Process（過程）、Product（產品）、Person（個人）以及Place（環境）。創造力似乎少見有共同的定義，但一般同意創造力涉及能產生具有原創性和價值性的東西。本演講將檢驗創造力是否可被教導或培養？如果可以的話，那如何實現呢？
在正規教育所做的有關創造力的的思考大多著重在分析技巧。學生被教導如何去理解一項聲明或主張，如何遵循或創造邏輯辯證，如何得出問題的解答，如何避免走上錯誤之路等等。另一種思考方式是，著重在探索新想法，創生可能性，尋找別出心栽的連結等等。看起來我們似乎無法測試創造力，但卻有許多方法來測試知識能力。有幾句針對創造力的雋永名句皆來自於愛因斯坦─史上最有創造力的偉人之一：
"如果一個想法在一開始時不是荒謬的，那它將沒有什麼希望。"
"邏輯會把你從A帶到B，但想像力則使你處處去得。"
"想像力遠比知識重要，知識有其侷限性，但想像力可繞行全世界。"
我們必須設想「創造力其實是一種態度」：願意嘗試、接受改變和失敗的能力、對展望有變通性、認同好的但更熱望尋求更好等等。基於這樣的論點，如果創造力不是可以學會的，也許是可以被教導的！
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The history of modern chemistry starts with the ability to make careful, accurate weight measurements. In 1772, the French chemist, Antoine Lavoisier, showed that nonmetals burned in air gained surprisingly large amounts of weight. For example, phosphorus increased its weight by a factor of about 2.3. Such a large change convinced Lavoisier that phosphorus combines with something in air when it burns. Consistent with this hypothesis was his observation that when phosphorus burns in a small amount of air, the air's volume decreases by about 20 percent. We all know that something in air is molecular oxygen, O2. Lavoisier's work stimulated more careful measurement and experiments in which care was taken to weigh everything that might take part in a chemical reaction. One way to do this was to study the chemical reaction in a closed, sealed container. When this was done, all the mass changes that had been the subject of so much confusion for nearly 100 years before simply disappeared! The theory that phlogiston was a material substance was dead by the 1780s. Modern chemistry was born with the conservation of mass and the concept of balanced chemical equations. Imagine how chemistry might have evolved differently and so much faster if researchers had available to them a device called a mass spectrometer, a tool that measures the ratio of the mass to charge (m/z) of positive or negative ions. This lecture will explore how a mass spectrometer works and what it is enabling chemists to explore. In particular, I will draw upon some of our own recent work in capturing by mass spectrometry the intermediates in complex liquid-phase reactions.
近代化學的歷史從有能力做出仔細、準確的重量測量開始。 1772年，法國化學家拉瓦節展示了非金屬在空氣中燃燒後增加了驚人的重量。例如，磷燃燒後重量增為2.3倍。這樣大的變化說服拉瓦錫，磷燃燒時和空氣中的某物質結合。與這一假說相符的是他的另一項觀察，磷在少量的空氣中燃燒時，空氣的體積會減少約20％。現在我們都知道，「空氣中的某物質」就是氧氣分子O2。拉瓦節的工作引發了更仔細的測量與實驗，把可能參與化學反應的每一項東西都做了仔細的秤重。方法之一是在一個封閉的、密封的容器中研究化學反應。這樣做了以後，百年來化學反應中質量變化的困惑就簡單地解開了。燃素理論，在1780年代被推翻了。近代化學隨著質量守恆與化學方程式平衡的概念而誕生。想像一下，如果當時的研究人員有一種工具，一個叫做質譜儀的設備， 它能測量正離子或負離子的質量對電荷的比值(m/z)，化學可能有多麼不一樣且迅速的發展。此演講將探討質譜儀是如何運作的以及它能提供甚麼讓化學家來探索，特別是在我們最近的研究中，以質譜法在複雜的液相反應中所捕獲的反應中間體。
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