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フランスでの学会に参加
研究指導教授に勧められて、5月の初め、雅子さんはフランスの小さな村で開かれた学会に出かけました。雅子さんは、ヨーロッパ旅行は今回が初めて。NATO 加盟各国から研究者が集まった学会はどうだったのでしょうか?
Trip To Les Houches
By MASAKO YAMADA
Toward the end of April, my advisor suggested that I attend a "conference" sponsored by NATO. It was held in a small town in the French Alps called Les Houches. The topic was "Hydration in Biological Processes."
Researchers in biology, chemistry and physics got together from May 4 to 15 to discuss the various methods used in the different fields to study the properties of water in biological systems. Some of the researchers conduct experiments, others take a pure theoretical approach, yet others focus on computer simulations. The researchers were from many different countries and spanned a wide range of ages as well, so the total group of about 70 participants was extremely interesting.
The reason conference is in quotation marks is because the coordinator of the event emphasized that it wasn't really a conference at all. At conferences, researchers announce the results of their latest work to a group of peers. This event, however, was called a school, because people from different fields came to learn from each other. Rather than simply announcing theories and results, the lecturers made an active effort to give broad background information on the procedures used to get those results. There was also a great deal of social interaction during off hours. It was called Advanced Study Institute on paper, but it was more like a combination of school, conference, summer camp and resort vacation.
I had never been to such a school before — and I had never been to Europe. At my advisor's suggestion I immediately said that I wanted to go. Although I had a busy week of finals planned during the conference, I made arrangements with the professors so that I could take them early. My colleague Francis and I made numerous phone calls to the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C., to ask them to fund us for the trip. Those last few days were hectic, but I managed to leave Boston on schedule.
I had a pleasant trip to Paris, but, of course, sitting inside a plane is not too difficult. I knew I was on my own after I got to Paris. I had to find my way from Paris to the village of Les Houches without knowing anything about the French train system — and without knowing any French. I knew that the trip would involve changing trains about five times.
Fortunately, I found my way around the train stations fairly easily. I was able to guess many French words, and pointing to things helped greatly. Since France is an industrialized Western country, I didn't feel much culture shock. As a matter of fact, I felt pretty comfortable right away.
After I got to the airport, I took a few subways to one of the main train stations in Paris. From there, I boarded a high-speed TGV train to Annecy. A handsome guy sat in the seat beside me and he spoke to me in French. I avoided answering him by smiling and pretending to fall asleep. I actually ended up falling asleep for a couple of hours. When I woke up, I noticed that he was reading a paper on water. I slowly asked him in English, "Are you going to the water conference?"
To my surprise, he said, "Yes." To my further surprise, it turned out that he was American — an American in Paris. We started talking and continued to chat through two more train changes.
The countryside rolled by outside the train window, and I was fascinated by what I saw. Since I have grown up near cities, I hardly had any opportunity as a child to see sheep or cattle grazing, or wild birds of prey gliding through valleys. I was able to see these things on the train, though. What was more breathtaking, however, was the location of the actual Ecole de Physique. The lecture halls and cabins were located on a hill overlooking Mont Blanc. There were sheep grazing (and bleating and ringing the bells around their necks) all day in front of the buildings.
The ambience was wonderful, but the main reason I went to this school was to learn new things from other researchers, and, indeed, that was what I found most interesting about my trip. The two-week schedule was packed with lectures, workshops and tutorials. I really did learn a lot about the different ways to look at water in complex systems. However, I also learned a lot from the others during off hours, and I'd like to write of these things in more detail next week.
Toward the end of April, my advisor suggested that I attend a "conference" sponsored by NATO. It was held in a small town in the French Alps called Les Houches. The topic was "Hydration in Biological Processes."
Researchers in biology, chemistry and physics got together from May 4 to 15 to discuss the various methods used in the different fields to study the properties of water in biological systems. Some of the researchers conduct experiments, others take a pure theoretical approach, yet others focus on computer simulations. The researchers were from many different countries and spanned a wide range of ages as well, so the total group of about 70 participants was extremely interesting.
The reason conference is in quotation marks is because the coordinator of the event emphasized that it wasn't really a conference at all. At conferences, researchers announce the results of their latest work to a group of peers. This event, however, was called a school, because people from different fields came to learn from each other. Rather than simply announcing theories and results, the lecturers made an active effort to give broad background information on the procedures used to get those results. There was also a great deal of social interaction during off hours. It was called Advanced Study Institute on paper, but it was more like a combination of school, conference, summer camp and resort vacation.
I had never been to such a school before — and I had never been to Europe. At my advisor's suggestion I immediately said that I wanted to go. Although I had a busy week of finals planned during the conference, I made arrangements with the professors so that I could take them early. My colleague Francis and I made numerous phone calls to the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C., to ask them to fund us for the trip. Those last few days were hectic, but I managed to leave Boston on schedule.
I had a pleasant trip to Paris, but, of course, sitting inside a plane is not too difficult. I knew I was on my own after I got to Paris. I had to find my way from Paris to the village of Les Houches without knowing anything about the French train system — and without knowing any French. I knew that the trip would involve changing trains about five times.
Fortunately, I found my way around the train stations fairly easily. I was able to guess many French words, and pointing to things helped greatly. Since France is an industrialized Western country, I didn't feel much culture shock. As a matter of fact, I felt pretty comfortable right away.
After I got to the airport, I took a few subways to one of the main train stations in Paris. From there, I boarded a high-speed TGV train to Annecy. A handsome guy sat in the seat beside me and he spoke to me in French. I avoided answering him by smiling and pretending to fall asleep. I actually ended up falling asleep for a couple of hours. When I woke up, I noticed that he was reading a paper on water. I slowly asked him in English, "Are you going to the water conference?"
To my surprise, he said, "Yes." To my further surprise, it turned out that he was American — an American in Paris. We started talking and continued to chat through two more train changes.
The countryside rolled by outside the train window, and I was fascinated by what I saw. Since I have grown up near cities, I hardly had any opportunity as a child to see sheep or cattle grazing, or wild birds of prey gliding through valleys. I was able to see these things on the train, though. What was more breathtaking, however, was the location of the actual Ecole de Physique. The lecture halls and cabins were located on a hill overlooking Mont Blanc. There were sheep grazing (and bleating and ringing the bells around their necks) all day in front of the buildings.
The ambience was wonderful, but the main reason I went to this school was to learn new things from other researchers, and, indeed, that was what I found most interesting about my trip. The two-week schedule was packed with lectures, workshops and tutorials. I really did learn a lot about the different ways to look at water in complex systems. However, I also learned a lot from the others during off hours, and I'd like to write of these things in more detail next week.
Shukan ST: June 5, 1998
(C) All rights reserved
- advisor
- 研究指導教授
- conference
- 学会
- NATO(=North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
- 北大西洋条約機構
- Alps
- アルプス山脈
- Hydration
- 水和作用
- Biological
- 生物学的
- chemistry
- 化学
- physics
- 物理学
- various methods
- さまざまな方法
- properties
- 特性
- conduct experiments
- 実験する
- take a pure theoretical approach
- 純粋に理論的なアプローチをする
- spanned a wide range of ages
- さまざまな年齢層にわたった
- participants
- 参加者
- coordinator
- 企画者
- emphasized
- 強調した
- peers
- 研究仲間
- lecturers
- 発表者
- procedures
- (実験の)過程
- There was also a great deal of social interaction during off hours
- 休憩時間には盛んに交流がなされた
- Institute
- 学会
- immediately
- すぐに
- finals
- 期末試験
- made arrangements
- 調整した
- colleague
- 研究仲間
- numerous
- たくさんの
- National Science Foundation
- 全米科学財団
- fund
- 資金を提供する
- hectic
- 大忙しの
- managed to 〜
- なんとか 〜 した
- on schedule
- 予定どおりに
- was on my own
- ひとりでしっかりする
- Fortunately
- 運よく
- boarded
- 乗車した
- TGV train
- フランス国鉄の超高速列車
- Annecy
- アヌシ(ジュネーブの南に位置するフランスの町)
- avoided 〜 by 〜
- 〜 を 〜 で避けた
- pretending to 〜
- 〜 したふりをする
- chat
- おしゃべりする
- rolled by outside the train window
- 窓の外を流れた
- was fascinated by 〜
- 〜 に感動した
- hardly had any opportunity(to 〜 )
- 〜 する機会がほとんどなかった
- grazing
- 草を食べている
- wild birds of prey
- (ワシ・タカなどの)猛禽
- gliding
- 飛んでいる
- valleys
- 渓谷
- breathtaking
- はっとするような
- Ecole de Physique
- 「物理学の学校」
- overlooking 〜
- 〜 を見渡す
- Mont Blanc
- モンブラン(アルプス山脈の最高峰)
- bleating
- メーメー鳴いている
- ambience
- 環境
- tutorials
- 個人指導
- in more detail
- より詳細に