One day, the great philosopher Socrates taught his students. He said: Students, we are not going to talk about philosophy today. We just ask you to do a simple action, swing your hand forward 300 times, and then swing it back 300 times to see who can stick to it every day. A few days later, Socrates asked his persistent classmates to raise their hands in class. As a result, more than 90% people raised their hands. A month later, he asked the persistent students to raise their hands, and only more than 70% of them raised their hands. A year later, he made the same request. Only one person raised his hand. This man is Plato who later became a great philosopher.

John Davidson Rockefeller, an American "oil magnate", received strict family education from childhood and earned pocket money by working as an "employee" for his father. He goes to the fields early in the morning to do farm work and sometimes helps his mother milk. He has a small notebook dedicated to bookkeeping. After quantifying his work, he recorded $0.37 per hour, and then settled with his father. This is what he does seriously. He thinks it is sacred and interesting. More significantly, Rockefeller's second, third and even fourth generations strictly abide by this rule and accept regular inspections, otherwise, no one will get a penny.

Rockefeller did this not because his family was poor, nor because his parents deliberately abused their children, but because he wanted to cultivate the virtue of diligence and thrift and the character of diligence and self-improvement from an early age. What is recorded in that small account book is not only the children's daily efforts, but also the children's experiences of suffering and testing! In fact, in many developed countries, the requirements for children to go to school are also very "mean". In Japan, many students spend their spare time washing dishes in restaurants, serving dishes, selling goods in shops or taking care of the elderly, and tutoring. Earn money to pay tuition and pocket money. Americans have always taught children to stand on their own feet, and children aged seven or eight become "small businessmen", selling their own "goods" to earn pocket money. American middle school students have a slogan: "You have to spend money to earn it yourself." During the holidays, they become migrant workers and learn to stand on their own feet.

Edison (1847- 193 1)

19th century is called the century of science, and it is also a century characterized by the technicalization and socialization of science. In this century, science has become an important part of social life. The surging great innovation has become a great driving force for technical science. Some technology giants in this century continued to be active in the 20th century. Thomas Alva Edison is one of them. Among the 65,438+000 most influential people in the past 65,438+0,000 years recently selected by American Life Weekly, Edison ranked first.

Edison came from humble origins and lived in poverty. His life's "education" is only three months of primary school. Because his teacher was always tongue-tied by his strange questions, he even told his mother that he was a fool and would have no future. Mother let him drop out of school in a fit of pique, and she personally educated him. At this time, Edison's talent was fully displayed. Under the guidance of his mother, he read a lot of books and built a small laboratory at home. In order to raise the necessary expenses of the laboratory, he had to go out as a newsboy and run a newspaper. Finally, a small laboratory was built in the luggage compartment of the train with the accumulated money to continue the chemical experimental research. Later, the chemicals caught fire and almost burned the carriage. The furious porter threw all Edison's experimental equipment out of the car and slapped him several times. It is said that Edison was deaf for life.

Edison is a legend admired by the American nation-although he did not receive a good school education, he achieved great success through personal struggle and extraordinary wisdom. Self-taught, he stood up from thousands of failures with perseverance, rare enthusiasm and energy, overcame countless difficulties and became an American inventor and entrepreneur. In his early years, he developed duplex and quadruple telegraph systems and invented the automatic telegraph. 1877 ~ 1879 invented the phonograph; Experiment and improve electric lights (incandescent lamps) and telephones. Later, a lighting system was established and a lot of work was done to realize centralized power supply. He proposed and adopted the DC three-wire system. The generator with the largest capacity at that time was made, and the first large-scale power plant was built with this generator in 1882. At the same time, the railway electrification test was carried out. 1883 discovered "Edison effect", that is, thermionic emission phenomenon. There are also many famous inventions in film technology, mining, architecture and chemical industry. Only from 1869 to 190 1 year, we obtained 1328 invention patents. In his life, there was a new invention every 15 days on average, so he was called "the king of inventions".

Edison devoted himself to science and ignored fame and fortune. When developing electric light, the reporter said to him, "If you can really make electric light instead of gas light, you will definitely make a lot of money." Edison replied: "If a person works only to save money, it is difficult for him to get anything else-even money!" " "He has always been called the father of modern movies, but at the grand banquet held by people in the film industry for his 77th birthday, he said," I just made some technical contributions to the development of movies, and the rest were contributed by others. "

Edison was broad-minded and good at facing adversity. Pointing to the inconvenience caused by his deafness, he said, "Walking in the crowd on Broadway, I can be as calm as a person living in the depths of the forest." Deafness has always been my blessing, saving me a lot of interference and mental pain. "19 14 one night, Edison's film lab suddenly caught fire, which caused great losses. Edison comforted his heartbroken wife and said, "Never mind, although I am 67 years old, I am not old.

From tomorrow morning, everything will start all over again. I believe that no one is too old to start working. "The next day, Edison not only began to build a new workshop, but also began to invent a new lamp-a portable searchlight to help firefighters move forward in the dark. The fire was like an episode for Edison.

Edison benefited the public and was not afraid of hardship. In order to find the filament, he tested thousands of materials; He failed to try the new battery 8000 times. So Edison often said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent diligence." At the age of 80, he still maintained the spirit of an inventor and persevered in his invention and creation activities. 1927, he founded Edison Plant Research Company and devoted himself to a brand-new research field, looking for new chemical materials. Edison, 8 1 year-old, successfully extracted rubber from weeds and was highly praised by people.

1931018 At 3: 24 in the morning, Edison closed his eyes with a relieved smile at the age of 84. On his deathbed, he said frankly: "I did my best for the happiness of mankind;" There is nothing to regret. "

On the day of the funeral, the lights in the United States were turned off for one minute to show their condolences. This is the most solemn way for people to express their infinite memory of Edison, and it is also a silent hymn dedicated to this great inventor.

1879 March 14 A baby was born in a small town called Ulm in Germany. His parents gave him a promising name: Albert Einstein. Looking at his lovely appearance, his parents pinned all their hopes on him. However, it didn't take long for parents to be disappointed: other children began to learn to speak, and three-year-old Einstein only learned English by "babbling". Later, Einstein's sister Maga, two years younger than him, was able to talk to her neighbors. Einstein still faltered when he spoke, and his preface didn't match the latter ... Looking at Einstein, who was slow to move, her parents began to worry. They are worried that his intelligence will be less than that of ordinary people. It was not until 10 that his parents sent him to school. However, at school, Einstein was laughed at by teachers and classmates, and everyone called him a "stupid guy". The school requires students to attend classes according to military orders. Einstein was often reprimanded and punished by his teacher because of his slow response. A teacher even pointed at his nose and scolded, "This damn thing is so stupid that I can't keep up with any class!" " In a craft class, the teacher picked out a badly made wooden stool from the students' works and said to everyone, "I think there may be no worse stool in the world!" " "In the roar of laughter, Einstein blushed and stood up and said," I think this kind of stool exists! " As he spoke, he took out two stools from his desk, and said, "I've done it twice before, and I'll give it to you for the third time. Although not good enough, it is much better than these two! " Einstein himself was surprised to say so many words in one breath. The teacher was even more dumbfounded, sitting there and not knowing what to say.

With irony and insult, Einstein grew up and entered the Louis Polder Middle School in Munich. In middle school, he fell in love with math classes, but he was not interested in other classes that were divorced from reality and life. Lonely, he began to look for sustenance in books and spiritual strength. In this way, Einstein met Archimedes, Newton, Descartes, Goethe and Mozart in the book ... Books and knowledge opened up a broader space for him. The field of vision was broadened, and Einstein had more problems to think about in his mind. One day, he said to his uncle who often tutored him in mathematics, "If I run forward at the speed of light in a vacuum, can I see electromagnetic waves vibrating in space?" My uncle stared at him with strange eyes for a long time, with both approval and concern in his eyes. Because he knew Einstein's question was unusual and would cause unexpected shock. Since then, Einstein has been plagued by this problem. 1In the autumn of 895, Einstein decided to apply to the University of Zurich, Switzerland after careful consideration. However, he failed. He failed in foreign languages. After failing in the exam, he didn't get discouraged and took part in a middle school tutorial. A year later, he got a certificate of middle school tuition and was admitted to Zurich University of Technology. By this time, he was already preparing for his future. He devoted all his energy to extracurricular reading and laboratory. The professors were very dissatisfied and angry when they saw him reading books that had nothing to do with his studies and doing experiments that had nothing to do with his exam results. They think he has nothing to do.

When Einstein graduated from university, he was caught in the economic crisis. Because he is of Jewish descent, it doesn't matter, he has no money, so he has to be unemployed at home. In order to make a living, he had to post advertisements everywhere and earn 3 francs an hour by teaching physics. This period of unemployment has greatly helped Stan's love. In the process of teaching, he reflected on traditional physics, which contributed to his violent impact on traditional academic views. After five weeks of intense and exciting struggle, Einstein wrote a 9000-word paper on electrodynamics of moving objects, and the special theory of relativity was born. It can be said that this is a decisive great declaration in the history of physics and another milestone in physics.

Although there are still many people who object to this, and even some people publish critical articles in newspapers, Einstein has gained the attention of society and academia after all. In a short time, 15 universities awarded him a doctorate certificate, and famous universities in France, Germany, the United States, Poland and many other countries also wanted to hire him as a professor. Einstein, who was called a "fool" and a "fool" and thought that he could not become a talent, eventually became the most outstanding intellectual recognized by the whole world. From "Ugly Goose" to "White Swan", what does this mean? I think Einstein's words are the best answer. When many young people pestered him to tell him the secret of success, he wrote a formula: A=x+y+z, and explained: "A stands for success, X stands for diligence, Y stands for correct method, and then Z stands for you to talk less." For many years, Einstein's magical success equation has been praised by people. From the course of Einstein's struggle, it is not difficult to see that it is diligence, correct methods and less empty talk that have turned Einstein from a clumsy brain into a giant.