兵马未动，粮草先行：后勤缘何压倒战略

    相比较而言，人们越了解帕特里克•布莱克特，就越会被他的事迹所震惊。从防空火炮到反潜装备，从战略轰炸到原子弹，整个二战之中，布莱克特始终居于盟军武器装备的设计、理论以及决策的中心。这位曾在1948年角逐诺贝尔奖的物理学家曾经是英国海军的一名军官，他通过将简单的数学、实验以及数据分析进行极其精巧的跨学科综合应用，彻底改变了他所参与开发的每一件武器装备。

    经过在海军和拉瑟福德郡卡文迪什实验室的历练，布莱克特深知如何把事情搞定。他的传记作者认为，布莱克特早就应该为大众所知。“布莱克特堪称他那一代科学家中的传奇人物，因为他能将对物理学与数学的深厚功底与非凡的实践技能结合起来，”布迪安斯基写道。“当他去进行实际操作时，他还会展现出其他同事所称之为的‘卓越的深思熟虑’的天赋。”

    《布莱克特的战争》一书不仅是一本有关科学家或军事家的传记文学，它还是一本精心写就，有着详实史料的精英科学家在战争时期动向的社会历史著作。本书中讲述了希特勒崛起之后，德国的学术界开始驱逐犹太裔科学家。而当时的英国，无论从机构上还是组织上都没有做好准备，有效地利用亨利•蒂泽德和布莱克特这些由科学人才转变而来的顶尖科学家，把他们变成掌握技术的企业家。

    “传统的军事理论认为，科学家的任务就是开发‘武器和装备’然后交到部队的手上就可以了，” 布迪安斯基写道。“但是如今，科学家们却可以深度参与到曾经只有军事指挥官才能触及的项目和行动中去。”

    高大英俊、散发着领袖气质的布莱克特自然就是其中的典型。除了超高的智商和堂堂的仪表之外，布莱克特的影响力还体现在他的分析、实验以及建议可以令同事或是合作者产生醍醐灌顶感觉的天赋。他能够启发他人的智慧，激发他人的灵感。

    开发新的雷达系统或是在飞机上增加副油箱所需的分分秒秒都决定着前方成千上万名士兵和平民百姓的生死。训练技术人员或是团队成员以开发似乎不断增多的技术改进开始变成一种不受赞赏的人力资源的负担。能令对科学一窍不通的军队指挥官理解精密的统计数据分析开始成为一种科学的艺术。布莱克特所开创的“运筹学”就是后勤学作为新的新经验科学所取得的重大突破。事实上，他将军事上的作战区转化为未来战术和武器的试验场。

    By contrast, the more closely one looks at Patrick Blackett, the more impressive he appears. From anti-aircraft gunnery to anti-submarine warfare, strategic bombing and the atomic bomb, Blackett was at or near the center of Allied military design, doctrine, and decision-making throughout the war. This British naval officer turned physicist (he went on to win the Nobel Prize in 1948) transformed every military service he counseled through the clever, interdisciplinary application of simple mathematics, experimentation, and data-driven advice.

    A polished product of the Navy and Rutherford's Cavendish Lab, Blackett knew how to get things done. He richly deserves to be better known; his biographer delivers. "Blackett would become legendary among his fellow scientists for his ability to combine physical insight, mathematical insight and extraordinary practical skills," writes Budiansky. "[H]e displayed what one colleague would call 'his remarkable facility' of thinking most deeply when he was working with his hands.'"

    Far more than a scientific or military biography, Blackett's War is also a finely wrought and well-sourced social history of elite science's wartime mobilization. Hitler's rise, German academe's expulsion of its Jewish scientists, and the growing realization that Britain was institutionally and organizationally unprepared to effectively utilize its scientific talent turned elite scientists like Henry Tizard and Blackett into technocratic entrepreneurs.

    "The traditional military view was that the scientists' role was to develop 'weapons and gadgets,' hand them over, and that was that," Budiansky notes. "But now scientists were intimately involved in what previously had been the exclusive purview of military commanders, in running operations."

    Tall, handsome, and blessed with command presence, Blackett led by example. His influence derived not just from an intimidating intellect and style but a genius in making his analyses, experiments, and proposals palatable to his military colleagues and collaborators. He made others think better. He inspired insight.

    The time needed to develop a new radar system or add "drop tanks" to planes determined the fates of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians. Training technicians and crews to exploit seemingly incremental technical enhancements became a human capital imperative that was often underappreciated. The ability to make sophisticated statistical analyses persuasively accessible to innumerate commanders emerged as a new scientific art form. "Operational research" -- Blackett's baby -- broke through as a new empirical science of logistics. In effect, he turned military theaters of operations into research laboratories for future tactics and weaponry.