He won the Nobel Prize for physics. But Brian Schmidt received no special treatment from the TSA when he tried to take the 24-carat pure gold medal through airport security in Fargo, Nebraska. He was awarded the prize, made from $10,000 of gold, for co-discovering that the expansion of the universe was accelerating - a finding that has transformed our understanding of the solar system. As he tried to take it to show his grandmother, however, the revered physicist was stopped and interrogated。

　　雖然布萊恩•施密特獲得了諾貝爾物理學獎，但當他試著帶著24克的純金獎牌通過內(nèi)布拉斯加州法戈飛機場的安檢時，卻并沒有得到旅游儲蓄協(xié)會的特殊優(yōu)待。布萊恩和其他科學家共同發(fā)現(xiàn)了宇宙這加速擴大的現(xiàn)象，這一發(fā)現(xiàn)改變了人們對太陽系的一貫認知，這枚由價值一萬美金制成的獎牌正是對他的褒獎。布萊恩想讓祖母看到這枚獎牌，但這位可敬的物理學家卻被機場安檢人員欄了下來并遭到盤問。

諾貝爾獎金牌

　　"There are a couple of bizarre things that happen," Schmidt, 47, told an audience in New York last month."One of the things you get when you win a Nobel Prize is, well, a Nobel Prize. It's about that big, that thick [he mimes a disk roughly the size of an Olympic medal, weighs a half a pound, and it's made of gold。"

　　“發(fā)生了兩件奇異的事，”上周47歲的施密特對紐約觀眾這樣說道，“一件就是獲得諾貝爾獎后，哦，得了一塊又大又厚的獎牌，說著還拿著一塊奧運會獎牌大小的磁盤比量著，它有半磅重，還是金子做的。”

　　"When I won this, my grandma, who lives in Fargo, North Dakota, wanted to see it. 'I was coming around so I decided I'd bring my Nobel Prize.You would think that carrying around a Nobel Prize would be uneventful, and it was uneventful, until I tried to leave Fargo with it, and went through the X-ray machine. I could see they were puzzled. It was in my laptop bag. It's made of gold, so it absorbs all the X-rays—it's completely black. And they had never seen anything completely black."

　　當我獲得獎牌后，住在北達科塔法戈的祖母想要看一看。因為正要順便拜訪她，所以就決定帶上我的諾貝爾獎牌。也許你會認為帶著諾貝爾獎牌沒什么大不了的，這也的確沒什么大不了的，但在法戈機場當我?guī)еㄟ^X射線檢測儀時，我看到安檢人員一臉困惑。當時獎牌在我的電腦包里，由于是純金做的它吸收了所有的X射線，整塊獎牌變成了黑色。而此前，安檢人員還沒見過射線下完全變黑的東西，”施密特繼續(xù)說道。

　　"They're like, 'Sir, there's something in your bag.' "I said, "Yes, I think it's this box." They said, "What's in the box?" 'I said, "a large gold medal," as one does. 'So they opened it up and they said, "What's it made out of?" 'I said, "gold." 'And they're like, "Uhhhh. Who gave this to you?" '"The King of Sweden"。

　　“它們是...，先生有東西在你的包里？”安檢人員問道。我說，“是的，我想是這個盒子。”他們問道，“里面裝著什么？”“一塊大金牌，”我答道。“于是他們打開盒子盤問‘這是什么做的？’我回答說‘金子做的。’然后他們問‘呃.。。是誰給你的？’ 我告訴他們 ‘是瑞典國王’，”施密特微笑著說。

　　'"Why did he give this to you?"' '"Because I helped discover the expansion rate of the universe was accelerating." At which point, they were beginning to lose their sense of humor. 'I explained to them it was a Nobel Prize, and their main question was, "Why were you in Fargo?"' Schmidt, a Harvard graduate who lectures at the Australian National University, described the encounter as he joined physicians celebrating the construction of one of the largest observatories in the world, the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT)， due to open in 2020 in Chile. He also revealed he was cooking dinner when, without warning, he received a call saying he had won the prize. 'It’s not like you get advanced warning, he said. 'They just sort of call you up, in my case, in the middle of cooking dinner. "Hello? By the way, you’ve won the Nobel Prize."'

　　“他為什么要給你這個？”“因為我發(fā)現(xiàn)了宇宙擴大速度正在加快的事實。”聽到這，他們都變得嚴肅起來。“我向他們解釋這是塊諾貝爾獎牌，但他們的主要疑問是‘為什么你在法戈？’”施密特說道。施密特畢業(yè)于哈佛大學，現(xiàn)授課于澳大利亞國立大學。 施密特在物理學家為巨型麥哲倫望遠鏡的竣工歡慶會上談及了自己的這一遭遇。巨型麥哲倫望遠鏡是世界上最大的天文臺之一，2020年將在智利對外開放。他還透露當他毫無預警地接到電話得知自己獲得了諾貝爾獎時他正在做飯。“我毫不知情，他們只給我打了通電話，而我當時正忙著做午飯。‘你好，順便通知你一下，你獲得了諾貝爾獎。’就是這樣，”施密特說道。