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宇宙
时空之旅
我们生来就遇见一道迷 We were born into a mystery,
从我们成为人类那天 one that has haunted us
这谜题就困扰着我们 since at least as long as we've been human.
我们在这小小世界中醒来 We awakened on this tiny world
以星辰为衾 beneath a blanket of stars,
像是被遗弃在门外的婴儿 like an abandoned baby left on a doorstep
没有字条解释 without a note to explain
我们是谁 从何处来 where we came from, who we are,
宇宙是如何形成的 how our universe came to be.
如何终结我们在宇宙中的孤立状态 And with no idea how to end our cosmic isolation.
这一切必须由我们自己解答 We've had to figure it all out for ourselves.
我们拥有的最美好的事物 Best thing we had going for us
就是我们的智慧 was our intelligence,
尤其是模式识别的天赋 especially our gift for pattern recognition,
在千万年的进化历程中越发敏锐 sharpened over eons of evolution.
那些擅长区分猎物与狩猎者 The ones who were good at spotting prey and predator,
有毒植物和可食用植物的人 telling poisonous plants from the nourishing ones,
他们更可能活下来繁衍后代 they had a better chance to live and reproduce.
他们存活下来 并传递了模式识别 They survived and passed on those genes for pattern recognition
这一优势明显的基因 with its obvious advantages.
整个世界的不同文明 Cultures all over the planet
仰望着同一片星空 looked up at the same stars
却描绘出了不同的图像 and found different pictures there.
我们在自然中运用模式识别 We used this gift for recognizing patterns in nature
解读星辰中的历法 to read the calendar in the sky.
星空中蕴藏着的信息 The messages written in the stars
告诉我们的祖先 told our forefathers and mothers
何时扎营何时出发 when to camp and when to move on.
迁徙动物何时到来 When the migratory herds
雨水和寒冷何时来袭 and when the rains and the cold would come.
以及它们何时停止 And when they would cease for a time.
当他们观察到 When they observed the direct connection
星辰的运转 between the motions of the stars
与地球上季节轮回之间的联系时 and the seasonal cycles of life on Earth,
他们自然会得出结论 they concluded, naturally,
天之变 that what happens up there
致地之变 must be directed at us down here.
言之有理 对吗 It makes sense, right?
如果天空是一本日历 If the sky was a calendar
有人在上面贴了张即时贴 and somebody stuck a post-it note on top of it,
这不是信息能是什么 what else could it be but a message?
因此 当宁静的星空突然被 And so, when the heavenly order was suddenly violated
灵异的彗星所打破时 by the apparition of a comet in the sky...
他们归咎于自己 they took it personally.
我们能责怪他们吗 Can we really blame them?
那时候 他们对发生的事情 Back then, they had no other logical explanation
无法作出合理的解释 for what was happening.
很久以后 人类才能够想象 This was long before anyone had yet to imagine
地球是一个绕倾斜地轴旋转 Earth as a spinning planet with a tilted axis,
并绕太阳公转的行星 revolving around the Sun.
历代人类文明都犯了同样的错误 Every ancient human culture made the same mistake,
以为彗星是一种 a comet must be a message,
由众神或某位神祗传达的旨意 sent by the gods... or one particular god.
祖先们几乎不约而同地得出结论 And almost invariably, our ancestors concluded
这旨意代表着厄运 the news was not good.
不管是古阿兹特克人 It didn't matter if you were an ancient Aztec,
盎格鲁-撒克逊人 巴比伦人 印度人 Anglo-Saxon, Babylonian, Hindu.
都认为彗星是厄运的前兆 Comets were portents of doom.
它们之间唯一的不同 The only difference among them
在于灾难的确切种类 was the precise nature of the coming disaster.
灾难 在希腊语中意为 坏星星 "Dis-aster," As in the Greek word for "Bad star."
对于东非的马塞族来说 To the Masai of East Africa,
彗星意味着饥荒 a comet meant famine.
对于南非的祖鲁人来说 To the Zulu in the south,
彗星则意味着战争 it meant war.
对于西边的伊哥哈普人来说 To the Eghap people of the west,
彗星意味着疾病 it meant disease.
对于扎伊尔国的贾伽人来说 To the Djaga of Zaire,
彗星特指天花 specifically "Smallpox."
对于他们的邻居卢巴人来说 To their neighbors, the Luba,
彗星预示着领袖的死亡 a comet foretold the death of a leader.
中国古人则将其进行了系统分类 The ancient Chinese were remarkably systematic.
大约从公元前1400年起 Starting in roughly 1400 BC,
他们开始记录分类出现的彗星 they began recording and cataloguing the apparitions of comets.
三条尾巴的彗星 A three-tailed comet
意味着国之灾难 meant calamity for the state.
四条尾巴的彗星 A four-tailed comet
预示着瘟疫将至 signified an epidemic was coming.
人类模式识别的天资 The human talent for pattern recognition
是把双刃剑 is a two-edged sword.
我们特别善于寻找模式 We're especially good at finding patterns,
即使根本就没有模式存在 even when they aren't really there--
人们称之为"错误模式识别" something known as "False pattern recognition."
我们渴求真谛 We hunger for significance,
寻求我们个体的存在 for signs that our personal existence
对于宇宙的特殊意义 is of special meaning to the universe.
为了这个目的 To that end,
我们太过热切以致欺人欺己 we're all too eager to deceive ourselves and others,
试图看出烤芝士三明治上的神迹 to discern a sacred image in a grilled cheese sandwich
或是从彗星上找到神谕 or find a divine warning in a comet.
现今 我们确切地知道彗星从何而来 Today, we know exactly where comets come from
由什么构成 and what they're made of.
我们的想象号飞船 Our Ship of the Imagination,
由科学和奇迹供给能量 fueled by equal parts of science and wonder,
让我们到达时空中的任意位置 can take us anywhere in space and time.
可以超越光速 It can travel faster than light
让不可见事物显形 and render visible those things that cannot be seen.
它带着我们前往一处 It's carrying us to a mysterious realm
距太阳一光年的神秘国度 that lies one light-year from the Sun.
这些数不清的天体是什么 What is this swarm of worlds?
是由外星生物布置的吗 Was it organized by alien beings?
不是 No.
仅仅是因为引力 Just gravity.
这些是古老的雪 These are the snows of yesteryear,
漂移的冰块和石头 drifting mountains of ice and rock,
是太阳系诞生时遗留下来的遗骸 the preserved remnants of the birth of the Solar System.
它被称为奥尔特云 It's called the Oort Cloud,
以荷兰天文学家扬·奥尔特命名 after Jan Oort, the Dutch astronomer
他在1950年预言了它的存在 who foretold its existence back in 1950.
他本来是想解决一个悖论 He was trying to solve a paradox.
彗星有很多种死亡的方法 There's so many ways for comets to die.
因为它们穿过行星的轨道 Because they cross the orbits of planets,
常常与行星相撞 comets frequently collide with them.
彗星的主要成分是冰 Comets are largely made of ice,
因此每当它们靠近太阳时 so every time they come near the Sun,
会因为蒸发而损失一部分 they lose a part of themselves through evaporation.
几千次飞过太阳后 And after several thousand trips,
冰全部蒸发 their ice is all gone,
剩下的部分成为了小行星 and what remains of the comet is now an asteroid.
彗星可以被引力从太阳系里弹射出去 Comets can be gravitationally ejected from the Solar System
放逐于太空中 and exiled into space.
然而 And yet, somehow,
这些彗星仍会不断出现 the comets keep coming.
奥尔特和其他天文学家想知道 Oort and other astronomers wondered,
这些彗星都从哪来 "Where do all the comets come from?"
奥尔特计算了新彗星出现的几率 Oort calculated the rate at which new comets appear
他推断一定有球状的大彗星云团 and concluded that there must be a vast, spherical swarm of them,
环绕在太阳周围 a few light-years across,
在几光年之外 surrounding the Sun.
即使在其后的几十年 Oort's logic still holds up,
我们对太阳系和彗星有了新的发现 even after all the discoveries we've made about comets
奥尔特的逻辑依然成立 and the Solar System in the many decades since.
但奥尔特云至今 And yet, the Oort Cloud is a sight
依然没有被观测到过 that no one has ever seen.
我们也不能观测 Nor could we.
这里一片漆黑 It's dark out here.
每两颗彗星之间最近的距离 And each comet is about as far from its closest neighbor
都相当于地球离土星的距离 as the Earth is from Saturn.
但科学赋予了每个人特殊的能力 But science gives us special powers of our own.
它赋予扬·奥尔特 It gave Jan Oort
预言的能力 the gift of prophecy.
奥尔特同时也是第一个正确估计 Oort was also the first to correctly estimate
太阳到 the distance between the Sun
银河系中心距离的人 and the center of our galaxy.
这非同小可 That's a big deal--
定位了我们在银河系中的位置 finding out where we are in the Milky Way.
我们的太阳距离银河系中心3万光年 Our star is about 30,000 light-years from the center.
奥尔特同时也是第一个使用射电望远镜 Oort was also the first guy to use a radio telescope
描绘银河系螺旋结构的人 to map the galaxy's spiral structure.
而且他发现我们银河系的中心 And he discovered that the center of our galaxy
是爆炸频发的地方 was a place of titanic explosions,
这是银河系中心 the first indication
有超大质量黑洞存在的第一个证据 that there might have been a supermassive black hole lurking there.
我们大多数人从未听过扬·奥尔特 Does the fact that most of us know the names of mass murderers,
却知道很多连环杀手 but never heard of Jan Oort,
很奇怪吧 say anything about us?
奥尔特云是如此巨大 The Oort Cloud is so enormous
其中的彗星如果要绕太阳一圈 that it takes one of its comets about a million years
需要花费大约一百万年的时间 to complete a single trip around the Sun.
在这遥远的太阳系边际 Out here, at the far edge of the Solar System,
就算是被掠过恒星的引力拽一小下 even a little tug from the gravity of a passing star
这些彗星都有可能 can liberate some of these comets
挣脱太阳的引力束缚 from their gravitational bondage to the Sun.
有一些彗星被弹出了太阳系 Some comets are flung out of the Solar System
从此开始漫游于星际间 to wander interstellar space.
但对于另一些来说 命运却非常不同 But for others, there's a different fate.
这颗彗星正在猛冲向太阳 This one is plunging towards the Sun,
在持续的自由落体运动中不断加速 gaining speed in an unbroken free fall
而这一过程将会持续数十万年 that lasts hundreds of thousands of years.
当海王星的引力再拽它一次 When Neptune's gravity gives it another tug,
它的轨道会略微发生变化 there's a small change in course.
伟岸的木星 Mighty Jupiter,
太阳系之内除了太阳之外最大的天体 the most massive object in our Solar System-- other than the Sun
会用它巨大的引力 吸引这颗彗星 attracts the comet with its powerful gravitational pull,
弯曲它的轨道 bending its path.
当彗星到达内太阳系的时候 When our comet reaches the inner Solar System...
太阳发出的热量会烘烤它 heat from the Sun bakes it.
华丽的蜕变即将开始 A beautiful transformation begins.
贫瘠灰黑色的冰球 The barren, sooty iceberg
现在有了绚丽的彗发 now sports a glowing halo...
和彗尾 and a tail.
这些岩层可以告诉我们大约四十亿年前 These layers tell the story of how the comet was made,
这颗彗星是如何形成的 some four billion years ago.
在四万代人的时间里 During the 40,000 generations of humanity,
明亮的彗星差不多出现过十万次 there must have been roughly 100,000 apparitions of a bright comet.
而在这段时间内 For all that time,
我们能做的 只有仰望星空时无助的疑惑 the best we could do was look up in helpless wonder,
被限制在地球上 除了我们的自责和恐惧 prisoners of Earth with nowhere to turn for an explanation
无从寻找解释 beyond our guilt and our fears.
但是两个人之间的友谊 But then a friendship began between two men
永久地改变了人类的认知 that led to a permanent revolution in human thought.
艾萨克·牛顿和埃德蒙多·哈雷不会知道 Isaac Newton and Edmond Halley could not know it,
他们的无间合作将最终把人类 but their collaboration would ultimately set us free
从地球这个狭小的世界解放出来 from our long confinement on this tiny world.
1664年的那颗彗星 The Comet of 1664
将恐惧弥漫于整个欧洲 sent shivers of dread throughout Europe,
而当瘟疫和伦敦的大火接踵而至的时候 and the terror seemed justified when the Plague
这种恐惧又似乎是理所应当的 and the Great Fire of London followed soon after.
那儿 拖着血色的长发 There, with long bloody hair,
一颗闪亮的星裹挟着饥荒 瘟疫和战争 a blazing star threatens the world
威胁着整个世界 with famine, plague and war.
对于君王 意味着死亡 To princes, it spells death...
对于王国 坟茔累累 to kingdoms, many crosses...
对于民众 家破人亡 to all estates, inevitable losses...
对于牧人 腐烂破败 to herdsmen, rot,
对于农夫 颗粒无收 to plowmen, hapless seasons,
对于水手 暴风骤雨 to sailors, it brings storms,
对于城市 人民叛乱 to cities, civil treasons.
但对于一个孩子来说 But for one child,
这颗彗星却一点也不吓人 the comet was not the least bit frightening.
对于他来说 这是自然的奇迹 For him, it was a thing of wonder.
跟我们一样 埃德蒙多·哈雷生性好奇 Like all of us, Edmond Halley was born curious.
我的天 Hell's bells!
他很幸运 他的父亲 He was lucky to have a father
鼓励并培养他的好奇心 who encouraged and nurtured his curiosity,
他给哈雷买了当时最好的科学仪器 buying him the best scientific instruments
并且还资助他远征探险 and even funding his expedition
制作出了第一张准确的南天星图 to make the first accurate star map of the Southern Hemisphere.
哈雷在20岁时从牛津大学辍学 Halley dropped out of Oxford when he was 20,
然后航行到了赤道之南 and sailed to St. Helena,
靠近非洲西海岸的圣赫勒纳岛 an island below the equator, off the west coast of Africa.
我的天 Hell's bells.
但问题是 从没有人告诉过哈雷 The problem was, nobody told Halley
圣赫勒拿岛上的天气 that the weather on St. Helena
基本都很差 哈雷花了长达12个月 was generally lousy; it took him 12 frustrating months
才观测了足够多的南天恒星来制作完整的星图 to observe enough southern stars to make a complete map.
古希腊的神明和英雄中 The gods and heroes of ancient Greece
又加入了新时代的神奇形象 were now joined by the mythic figures of a new world and age,
杜鹃座 圆规座 天燕座
一只巨嘴鸟 一个圆规 一只极乐鸟 a toucan, a compass, a bird of paradise.
当哈雷带着另一半星空回到家乡 When Halley came home with the other half of the sky,
他的星图引起了轰动 his map created a sensation.
现在商人和探险家无论在地球上何处 Now merchants and explorers could navigate by the stars
都可以利用恒星来导航 visible anywhere on Earth.
在那时 伦敦皇家学会 At the time, the World Society of London
是世界上所有科学发现的信息交换中心 was the world's clearinghouse of scientific discovery.
它的格言"Nullius in verba" Its motto, "Nullius in verba,"
总结出了科学方法的核心 sums up the heart of the scientific method.
这是拉丁文 意为"勿轻信人言" It's Latin for "See for yourself."
换句话说就是"质疑权威" In other words, "Question authority."
哈雷的星图吸引了 Halley's star maps caught the attention
学会实验总管的注意 of the Society's Curator of Experiments.
我本想给你们看下他的样子 I'd show him to you if I could,
但现在已没有罗伯特·胡克的画像了 but no portrait of Robert Hooke exists from his time,
只有他同时代人的口头描述 only the verbal descriptions of his contemporaries.
他们说他"瘦骨嶙峋弯腰驼背丑得要命" They called him "Lean, bent, ugly."
胡克可能是人类历史上最有创造力的人了 He was possibly the most inventive person who ever lived.
尽管他外表很差 And despite his appearance,
但是他确是整个伦敦最受欢迎的宾客 he was the most sought-after party guest in all of London.
为什么 Why?
因为胡克对所有的事物 Hooke's insatiable curiosity
都有着永不满足的好奇心 encompassed absolutely everything.
胡克发现了一个小宇宙 Hooke discovered a little cosmos,
直到今天我们都以他的方式称呼它 and we still call it by the name he gave it,
细胞 the cell.
胡克用自己发明的复式显微镜 Hooke discovered the cell by looking at a piece of cork
仔细观察了一块软木 with one of his own inventions,
发现了细胞 the compound microscope.
他比达尔文早了近200年预测出 He anticipated aspects of Darwin's theory of evolution
进化论的某些部分 by almost 200 years.
胡克还改进了望远镜 Hooke also improved the telescope.
他描绘了观测过的天体 The drawings he made of the astronomical bodies he observed
证明了他不可思议的精准度 attest to his uncanny precision.
1666年的大火毁掉了伦敦市中心之后 After the Great Fire destroyed central London in 1666,
胡克和建筑设计师克里斯多佛·雷恩合作 Hooke partnered with the architect Christopher Wren
重新设计并重建了这座城市 to redesign and rebuild the city.
胡克是当时最先进的实验主义者 Hooke was the foremost experimentalist of his age.
利用螺旋弹簧 Using coiled springs,
他推导出了"弹性定律" he derived the "Law of elasticity,"
也就是今天的"胡克定律" known today as Hooke's Law.
他完善了空气泵 He perfected the air pump,
在当时是尖端技术 the height of technology in its time,
并且用它对呼吸和声音做了实验 and used it to experiment on respiration and sound.
他还用大麻做了实验 And he experimented with cannabis.
他向皇家学会汇报 He reported to a meeting of the Royal Society
他有一个船长朋友 that a sea captain friend of his
"经常用印度大麻做实验 quote "Had so often experimented with it,
不会产生任何恐惧 that there is no cause of fear,
只有可能让人大笑" though possibly there may be of laughter."
咖啡在17世纪成为英国最时髦的饮品 But coffee was the drug of choice for England in the 17th century.
伦敦的咖啡屋像雨后春笋一样冒出来 Coffeehouses sprang up all over London.
人们从这里打探消息 This is where people came to get news,
开启新的冒险 思维碰撞 to launch new ventures, and to debate ideas.
在阶级森严的社会中 The coffeehouse was an oasis of equality
咖啡屋是平等思想的绿洲 in a class-obsessed society.
在这里 穷人不必给富人让座 Here, a poor man needn't give up his seat to a rich man,
也不必屈从于富人的想法 nor submit to his opinion.
这就像是民主的实验室 It was a kind of laboratory of democracy.
在这充满了咖啡因的氛围下 In this highly caffeinated atmosphere,
哈雷和胡克 与克里斯多佛·雷恩一起 Halley and Hooke met Christopher Wren
讨论了一个难解的谜团 to discuss a deep mystery.
为什么行星会这样运动 Why do the planets move as they do?
大约在80年之前 The astronomer Johannes Kepler had demonstrated,
天文学家约翰内斯·开普勒 some 80 years before,
证明了行星绕太阳运行的轨道 that the orbits of the planets around the Sun
并不是正圆 而是椭圆 were not perfect circles, but actually ellipses,
而且行星越靠近太阳 and that the closer a planet was to the Sun,
它转得越快 the faster it moved.
为什么 Why?
有没有可能是来自太阳的某种隐形力 Could some invisible force from the Sun
造成了行星运行的改变 be responsible for this change in motion?
如果正是如此 那么原理何在 If so, how did it work?
有没有简单的数学法则可以解释这一切 Could there be a simple mathematical law to describe it?
就像胡克的弹性定律那样 Maybe something like Hooke's Law of Elasticity?
或许吧 Perhaps.
尽管做了许多尝试 But try as he might,
克里斯多佛·雷恩还是没弄明白 Christopher Wren couldn't figure it out.
不亲自试试我是不会甘心的 Damned if I haven't tried.
但我已经技穷了 It's beyond me.
我愿意和解出这个谜题的人 I'll wager a book worth 40 shillings
赌一本价值40先令的书 to the man who can solve it!
看来那本书是我的啦 雷恩先生 That book is mine, Mr. Wren.
我已经计算出来了 I've already done the calculation.
哈雷很高兴 Halley was delighted.
请演算给我们看 胡克先生 Show us, Mr. Hooke.
可是数月之后 胡克也没拿出结果 But months passed, and Hooke failed to deliver.
他给不出数学证明 He couldn't do the math.
谁也解不出来 None of them could.
最终 哈雷受够了胡克的各种理由 Finally, Halley had enough of Hooke's excuses.
但他知道某处的某人可以接受这一挑战 Halley knew there must be someone, somewhere, up to the challenge.
不知道那位剑桥的数学家怎么样 What about that mathematician at Cambridge?
聪明的家伙 Clever fellow.
多年前他就解决了关于光本质的问题 He had solved central questions about the nature of light years before,
那时他才只有22岁 when he was still only 22.
他还发明了反射式望远镜 And he invented the reflecting telescope.
那个怪才 Odd bird.
后来淡出了人们的视野 Dropped out of sight a while back.
因为胡克和他对于光的发现产生了争论 Some squabble over Hooke and his discovery about light.
他被伤害得体无完肤 Went completely to pieces over it
从那以后就躲回了剑桥 and has been hiding out in Cambridge ever since.
哈雷想知道这个据说既奇怪又偏执的男人 Halley wondered if this strange, and by all accounts,
是否有可能成功解决这个 exceedingly difficult man, might succeed
胡克和其他人都没能解决的问题 where Hooke and others had failed.
他不知道的是 What he couldn't know,
那时的人们根本没有想到 what no one could possibly imagine at the time,
1684年8月的这次会面 were the countless ways the world would be forever changed
创造出了无限可能 永远改变了这个世界 by this meeting on an August day in 1684.
艾萨克·牛顿于1642年圣诞节 Isaac Newton was born in England
出生于英格兰 on Christmas Day in 1642.
他的父亲在他出生前就已去世了 Before he even opened his eyes, his father was already dead.
母亲在他3岁的时候离开了他 His mother left him when he was only three
直到11岁时才回到他身边 and did not return until he was 11.
回来时已有了一个新的家庭和新的丈夫 When she did, it was with a new family and husband,
艾萨克·牛顿看不起这个继父 a stepfather who Isaac Newton despised.
牛顿在痛苦家庭生活中唯一的解脱 Newton's refuge from his miserable family life
就是他对于万物运作规律的热情 was his passion to understand how things worked,
尤其是自然运作的规律 especially nature itself.
1661年 天赋异禀的艾萨克考入了 In 1661, the talented young Isaac entered Trinity College
剑桥大学三一学院 at Cambridge University
在那里 他成了一个问题学生 where he was a consistently lousy student,
没有朋友 也没有挚爱的家人 one without friends or a loving family
能给予他任何温暖和鼓励 to provide any warmth or encouragement.
牛顿常常一个人躲在房间里 Newton mostly kept to himself, sequestered in his room,
学习古希腊先哲的思想结晶 studying ancient Greek philosophers,
还有几何学和各种语言 geometry and languages,
他默默地思考着 and pondering deep questions
物质 空间 时间和运动的本质 on the nature of matter, space, time, and motion.
这位崭露头角的科学家 This budding scientist
还是一位热忱的神秘主义者 was also a passionate mystic.
牛顿深信一种叫做炼金术的秘术 Newton believed that a secret knowledge called alchemy,
这种秘术只为少数古代先哲们所知晓 known only to a small group of ancient philosophers,
他坚信这一秘术将重现光芒 was waiting to be rediscovered.
他想要学会怎样将一般金属 He hoped to learn how to change ordinary metals
变成金银 into silver and gold,
甚至炼出仙丹 and maybe even cook up the elixir of life,
找到长生不老的秘诀 the key to to immortality.
他同样痴迷于 He was also obsessed
从《圣经》的文字中发现隐藏的奥义 with finding hidden messages in the words of the Bible.
他钻研了几种不同语言的译本 He combed through translations in several different languages,
想要破译上帝隐含其中的旨意 hoping to decipher coded instructions from God.
他煞费苦心地做了许多工作 He made elaborate calculations in an effort
想要计算出耶稣复临的具体日期 to discover the date of the Second Coming.
他穷其一生所研究的炼金术 His lifelong research in alchemy
和圣经年表并未取得任何成就 and biblical chronology never led anywhere.
在哈雷找到牛顿的命运之日 When Halley found Newton that fateful day,
他还在过着隐士般的生活 he was living as a virtual recluse.
牛顿早在13年前就与世隔绝 Newton had gone into hiding 13 years earlier,
因为罗伯特·胡克公然指责牛顿 after Robert Hooke had publicly accused Newton
窃取了他对光和色彩的开创性研究 of stealing his groundbreaking work on light and color.
但事实上 解开光谱之谜的 In fact, it was Isaac Newton
正是艾萨克·牛顿 who solved the mystery of the spectrum of light,
而并非罗伯特·胡克 not Robert Hooke.
那段经历深深地伤害了他 This wound was painful and deep,
从那以后 牛顿决心再也不让自己 and Newton resolved to never expose himself to that kind
受到那样的当众羞辱 of public humiliation ever again.
先生 您还记得我们几年前的那次会面吧 Sir, I don't suppose you recall our meeting a few years ago?
是的 哈雷先生 Yes, Mr. Halley.
很抱歉打扰您 I'm sorry to bother you.
不要在意这些礼节了 有话请直说吧 Never mind the formalities, get to your point.
我和我们的朋友雷恩和胡克先生谈过了 I've been talking with our friends, Mr. Wren and Mr. Hooke.
那个恶棍胡克才不是我的朋友 That scoundrel Hooke's no friend of mine.
我理解 先生 Yes, I understand, sir.
可是 我们一直在争论 But the thing is we've been debating
那个关于行星运动的难题 the puzzling question of planetary motion.
我们一致认为太阳凭借其某种引力 We all agree that some force of attraction
维系着行星的运动 from the Sun governs the motions of the planets.
我们猜想存在一种数学定理 We suspect there must be a mathematical law
可以描述这种力量 to describe how this force
如何随距离的改变而变化 changes with distance.
出于对您的了解 And knowing of your skill...
没错 引力的大小 Yes, yes, the attraction of gravity
与距离的平方成反比 weakens with the square of the distance.
因此行星的运动轨迹是椭圆形的 That's why the planets move in ellipses.
可是 先生 您是怎么知道的 But, sir, how can you know this?
我五年前就计算出来了 Why, I have calculated it some five years ago.
请您展示给我看吧 I beg you, show it to me.
计算结果就在这里 The calculation is here...
或是在其它地方 somewhere.
算了 这样吧 Well, no matter.
我重新计算一遍 再把结果寄给你 I shall redo it and be sure to send it on to you.
这项发现太伟大了 This is stupendous!
为什么我以前从未听您提起呢 Why have we not had word of it before?
牛顿清楚地记得 Newton remembered all too well
他上一次发表观点时 what Hooke had done to him
胡克对他所做的一切 the last time he put forth an idea.
就在哈雷开始怀疑牛顿 Just when Halley may have begun to wonder
是不是像胡克一样在糊弄自己的时候 if Newton was bluffing as Hooke had done earlier,
信使送来了牛顿的信 a messenger arrived with an envelope from Newton.
这些正是用自然包容万物的视野 Here are the opening pages of modern science
书写出的现代科学的卷首语 with its al-embracing vision of nature...
关于运动定律 万有引力定律的普世法则 universal laws of motion, gravity...
不仅适用于地球 not just for the Earth,
而且适用于整个宇宙 but for the cosmos.
哈雷匆忙赶回了剑桥 Halley raced back to Cambridge.
牛顿先生 我恳请您尽快将这一切发现 Mr. Newton, I beseech you to work all of this into a book
集结成书 as soon as possible.
我向您保证 英国皇家学会一定会将其出版 I can assure you the Royal Society will publish it.
可现在还有一个小问题 But there was one little problem.
尽管我们一致认同 We are in agreement
牛顿先生完成了一本巨著 that Mr. Newton has produced a masterpiece.
但是 由于《鱼类的历史》一书销量低迷 However, I'm afraid the Royal Society has...
恐怕英国皇家学会今年的预算 well, regrettably sales for the History of Fish...
无法达到我们的预期 have not lived up to our financial expectations.
那是一本令人印象深刻的书 It's an impressive book.
极其详细 Extremely comprehensive.
真的 Really.
里面包含了大量关于鱼类的 It's filled with lavish illustrations of...
插画 well, fish.
可那低迷的销量成了大问题 The disappointing sales led to a bigger problem.
英国皇家学会一年的预算都砸在了 The Royal Society pretty much blew its total annual budget
这本《鱼类的历史》上 on the History of Fish.
事实上 他们面临着严重的资金短缺 In fact, they were so strapped for cash,
可怜的哈雷拿到的报酬 they had to pay poor Halley's salary
就是他们的滞销书 with copies of their worst-selling book.
由于没钱印刷牛顿的《原理》 With no money to print Newton's Principia,
科学革命前途未卜 the scientific revolution hung in the balance.
要是没有哈雷的不懈努力 Without Halley's heroic efforts,
隐居的牛顿和他的巨著 the reclusive Newton's masterwork
很可能不会有诞生的那一天了 might never have seen the light of day.
但哈雷尽职尽责 But Halley was a man on a mission,
他坚决要将牛顿的才能展现于世 absolutely determined to bring Newton's genius to the world.
那是近代科学尚未出现的世界 That pre-scientific world,
人类被恐惧主导的世界 the world ruled by fear,
但是革命一触即发 was poised at the edge of a revolution.
一切都取决于埃德蒙多·哈雷 Everything depended on whether or not Edmond Halley
能否将牛顿的书广为传播 could get Newton's book out to the wider world.
哈雷下定决心 不仅要编辑校订 Halley resolved not only to edit Newton's book,
而且要自掏腰包出版牛顿的书 but to publish it at his own expense.
牛顿完成了开头两卷 Newton completed the first two volumes,
构建出物理运动的数学体系 laying the mathematical framework for the physics of motion.
而第三卷彻底解决了 The third volume would settle once and for all
谁能赢得咖啡馆的打赌 who won the coffeehouse wager.
牛顿用他的原理 Newton applied his principles
解释了地球月球和其他行星的运动 to explain all the known motions of the Earth, the Moon and the planets.
不幸的是 问题来了 Unfortunately, there was this problem.
哈雷还要兼任 Now Halley also took on the role
牛顿的心理医生 of Newton's psychotherapist.
艾萨克 恐怕胡克先生 Isaac, I'm afraid that Mr. Hooke requires
让你在第三卷前言里向他致谢 an acknowledgment in the preface of your third volume.
但我已经致谢了啊 But I have done so.
感谢他 雷恩先生还有你 Thanking him, Mr. Wren and yourself
激励我再次思考天文学问题 for prodding me to think again on astronomical matters.
胡克先生正在伦敦到处宣扬 Mr. Hooke has been going about London saying
你的万有引力定律是从他那儿剽窃的 that you got the Law of Gravity from him.
这个好争小人 Why, that litigious little...
休想 Never!
我宁愿马上就烧了第三卷 I would sooner burn the third volume
也不愿谎言玷污了它 than deface it with such a lie.
让胡克见鬼去吧 To hell with Hooke.
他很快会被世人遗忘当 He will be long forgotten
而你的理论将受到后人传颂 when your ideas are still being celebrated.
又是那本讨人厌的书 More copies of that dreadful book?
我们把它放哪啊 Wherever shall we put them all?
我们谈过这个问题 亲爱的玛丽 We talked about this, Mary, dear.
这是科学院发给我的薪水 This is my salary from the Society.
他们没有别的东西来给我发工资了 They have nothing else with which to pay me.
要是胡克和牛顿先生也像你这样就好了 If only Mr. Hooke and Mr. Newton were more like you.
哈雷和雷恩决心一起 Halley and Wren decided to confront Hooke
对抗胡克的虚假声明 about his false claims.
我告诉你 这是我发现的定律 That law is mine, I tell you!
我先证明的 I proved it first.
那你现在就拿出证据 Then fetch your proof here at once.
让我们也开开眼 Let us see it.
我们已经等得够久的了 Surely we have waited on it long enough.
你们相信我的话就行了 You'll simply have to take my word for it.
空口白话可能在其他地方有用 Empty claims may persuade elsewhere,
但在这不行 but not here.
要么拿出证据要么闭嘴 胡克先生 Put up or shut up, Mr. Hooke.
该死的牛顿 我要让他付出代价 Blasted Newton. I'll make him pay.
《自然哲学的数学原理》
要不是埃德蒙多·哈雷 If it wasn't for Edmond Halley,
牛顿就不会构思 不会写就 Newton's great book would've never been conceived,
更别提印刷这本巨作 nor written, nor printed.
好 那又怎样 Okay. So what?
对我们有什么影响吗 What difference does that make to us?
有什么大不了的 What's the big deal?
1642年 当艾萨克·牛顿在这里出生时 When Isaac Newton was born in this house in 1642,
世界和现在非常不同 the world was very different.
所有人看着天上的星星 Everyone looked at the perfection
像钟表那样准确而完美地运行 of the clockwork motions of the planets in the sky
只能将其理解为 and could only understand it as the work
这是钟表大师的杰作 of a master clock maker.
要不然怎么解释 How else to explain it?
在他们的脑海中 There was only one way such a thing could come about
只能想出一种解释 in their imagination;
只有一个答案 only one answer for them--
上帝 God.
出于我们尚不了解的原因 For reasons beyond our understanding,
上帝就这样创造出了太阳系 God just created the Solar System that way.
但这样的解释把其他一系列问题 But this explanation is the closing of a door.
都关在了门外 It doesn't lead to other questions.
但牛顿出现了 Along came Newton,
他是一个笃信上帝的天才 a God-loving man who's also a genius.
他可以用完美的数学语言 He could write the laws of nature
写就自然的定律 in perfect mathematical sentences--
他的公式可被广泛应用于 formulas that applied universally
苹果 卫星 行星 to apples, moons, planets
还有更多事物 and so much more.
虽然仍处于中世纪时期 With one foot still in the Middle Ages,
艾萨克·牛顿已构想出整个太阳系 Isaac Newton imagined the whole Solar System.
牛顿的万有引力定律和运动定律 Newton's laws of gravity and motion
解释了太阳如何把遥远的天体束缚住 revealed how the Sun held distant worlds captive.
他的定律使人们不再需要搬出钟表大师 His laws swept away the need for a master clock maker
才能解释太阳系的精准与美丽 to explain the precision and beauty of the Solar System.
万有引力就是那个钟表大师 Gravity is the clock maker.
物质遵守我们发现的规律 Matter obeyed commandments we could discover,
那些《圣经》里未提及的定律 laws the Bible hadn't mentioned.
牛顿对太阳系如何运行的回答 Newton's answer to why the Solar System is the way it is
打开了通向无数问题的大门 opened the way to an infinite number of questions.
《原理》的内容还包括 Principia also happened to include
微积分的发明 the invention of calculus,
以及第一个使我们摆脱地球束缚 and the first sound theoretical basis
进行太空旅行的 for an end to our imprisonment on Earth--
坚实理论基础 space travel.
牛顿设想 以越来越大的推力 Newton envisioned the firing of a cannonball...
发射炮弹 with increasingly greater explosive thrust.
他做出推理 如果速度足够快 He reasoned that with enough velocity,
炮弹可以突破引力的界限 the bounds of gravity could be broken,
挣脱束缚 绕地球运行 and the cannonball could escape to orbit the Earth.
这改变了一切 This changed everything.
牛顿的《原理》以另一种方式解放了人类 Newton's Principia Mathematica set us free in another way.
找到了自然规律 By finding the natural laws
就能掌握彗星的来去行踪 governing the comings and goings of comets,
他让人类摆脱了自古以来 he decoupled the motions of the heavens
对天体运行的恐惧 from their ancient connections to our fears.
如果哈雷没有年复一年地支持牛顿 If Halley hadn't been standing next to Newton for all those years,
也许世人会更加铭记 perhaps the world would remember him
他自身的成就和发现 for his own accomplishments and discoveries.
但是一提到哈雷大家能联想到的 But the only thing that comes to mind for most people
就是彗星 is the comet,
讽刺的是 发现彗星 the irony is that discovering a comet
其实是少数哈雷未曾做过的事情 is actually one of the few things that Halley never did.
右舷发现冰山 An ice to starboard
转向 Come About..
《原理》出版后 After the publication of the Principia
哈雷奉国王之命 领导了三次出海航行 Halley was commanded by his king to lead three ocean voyages,
进行科学考察 scientific expeditions
为英国海军解决导航问题 to solve navigational problems for the British navy.
哈雷利用这次机会 Halley used this opportunity
做出了第一张地球磁场图 to make the first map of the Earth's magnetic field
同时 他也是个商人 And he was also a businessman.
哈雷改进了潜水钟 Halley perfected the diving bell...
并且运用这项发明 ...and used his invention
开始经营收入颇丰的打捞业务 to start a flourishing commercial salvage operation.
哈雷博士这回真的玩完了 Mmm, ah, Dr. Halley's gone and done it this time.
我看他在下面至少有三个小时了 I reckon he's been down there at least three hours.
他不拿别人的生命去冒险 Not one to risk the lives of others,
哈雷亲自测试他的发明 Halley personally tested his own invention.
下潜后我坚持了整整四个小时 I make it exactly four hours since our descent.
对于18米多的水深来说已经很不错了 Not at all bad for ten fathoms.
他发明了气象图 He invented the weather map.
他设计的表示盛行风的符号 And the symbols he devised for indicating prevailing winds
今天仍在使用 are still in use today.
世界气象 周一天气预报
哈雷为人口统计学 Halley laid the groundwork
打下了坚实基础 for the science of population statistics.
他是如何做到的呢 How?
他比较了伦敦和巴黎的 He compared the birth, marriage, death,
出生 结婚 死亡率以及人口密度 and population densities of London and Paris.
实际上他不得不用脚步 He actually had to pace off
丈量巴黎的周长 the entire perimeter of Paris, on foot,
以此来获得准确的面积 to learn its true dimensions.
他得出结论 He came to the conclusion
既然约有一半的成年人不能生育 that since roughly half of all adults fail to reproduce children,
要想延续香火 who themselves survive to reproduce,
每对夫妇都必须生四个孩子 every married couple must have four children
以此来维持人口数量 in order to maintain the population.
是埃德蒙多·哈雷告诉我们 And it was Edmond Halley who gave us
太阳系的尺度 the actual scale of the Solar System.
他想出了一个机智的办法 He figured out a clever way
测量出日地距离 to find the distance from Earth to the Sun.
这个方法必须精确测定 It involved precisely measuring the time it took
金星穿过太阳表面的时间 for the planet Venus to cross the Sun's disc.
哈雷去世27年后 27 years after Halley's death,
詹姆斯·库克船长第一次前往塔希提 Captain James Cook made his first voyage to Tahiti
专为检验哈雷的方法 for the express purpose of testing Halley's method
当时正值金星凌日 during a transit of Venus across the Sun.
他用一种特殊的滤镜片保护视力 Using a special filter to protect his vision
这样在直视太阳时眼睛不会受损 from being destroyed by looking directly at the Sun,
库克和他的下属让我们知道 Cook and his men made it possible for us to know
日地距离约为1.5亿公里 that the Sun is 93 million miles from Earth.
哈雷也是第一个认识到 And Halley was the first to realize
所谓"恒星"并非在固定位置不动 that the so-called "Fixed" Stars were not fixed at all.
他是怎么做到的呢 How'd he do it?
他仔细研究了古希腊天文学家们 He pored over the observations made by the ancient Greek astronomers
对最明亮恒星的观测结果 of the brightest stars.
并且把1800年后他对同样的恒星的 And he compared their observations with the ones he himself made
观测结果与之相比较 of the same stars 1,800 years later.
为什么之前没有人注意到 Why hadn't anyone noticed this before?
哈雷发现 只有两次观测的间隔足够长 Halley figured out that it would only become apparent
这个结论才会很明显 if you waited long enough between observations.
远距离物体的移动 是非常难以察觉的 It's hard to perceive the motions of things that are far away.
恒星是如此遥远 And the stars are so very far away,
你需要监测它们几个世纪 that you would need to track them for many centuries
才能发现它们到底有没有移动 before you could detect that they moved at all.
哈雷发现了通向重要事实的第一条线索 Halley discovered the first clue to a magnificent reality,
所有的恒星都在移动 掠过彼此 all the stars are in motion, streaming past each other,
像旋转木马一样上下起伏 rising and falling like merry-go-round horses
按牛顿定律围绕银河的中心翩翩起舞 in their Newtonian dance around the center of our galaxy.
还有关于彗星 And, oh, yes, there was that thing about the comet.
这些非凡的一次次毫无预兆出现的 What were those strange and beautiful celestial visitors
美丽而奇异的天外访客究竟是什么 that appeared without warning from time to time?
哈雷开始像侦探一样 Halley set out to solve this mystery as a detective would,
收集所有可靠的目击证据来解决谜题 by gathering all credible eyewitness testimony.
他能找到的最早的目击记录 The earliest precise observations of a comet that Halley could find
是在君士坦丁堡 were made in Constantinople
由尼基弗鲁斯·格雷戈拉斯 by Nikephoros Gregoras,
拜占庭天文学家兼僧侣 a Byzantine astronomer and monk
在1337年六月作出的 in June 1337.
哈雷搜集了自1472至1698年的 Halley hunted down every astronomical observation of a comet
欧洲所有的彗星观测记录 recorded in Europe between 1472 and 1698.
要知道 在当时 And remember, there was no such thing
是没有搜索引擎或计算机的 as a search engine or a computer.
哈雷只能检索他的书和大脑 All Halley had were his books and his mind.
现在最困难的部分出现了 Now here comes the hard part,
哈雷必须依照这些观测结果 Halley had to take the observations made for each comet
找出它们穿越宇宙空间的路线 and find the shape of its actual path through space.
那时除牛顿以外还没有人 No one else but Newton had yet attempted
尝试将他的定律应用于解决天文学问题 to apply his new set of laws to an astronomical question.
这次艰巨的运算证明了数学的强大 In an arduous tour de force of mathematical brilliance,
哈雷发现彗星被太阳束缚在 Halley discovered that comets were bound to the Sun
长椭圆形轨道中 in long elliptical orbits.
他也是第一个发现1531年的彗星 And he was the first to know that the comets seen in 1531,
与1607年和1682年的 1607, and 1682...
其实是同一颗 were one and the same
是一颗每76年就回归一次的彗星 a single comet that returned every 76 years.
这是模式识别的极好范例 In a stunning example of true pattern recognition,
他预言 在50年后的未来 he predicted it would be seen again
人们还会见到这颗彗星 more than 50 years in the future.
《彗星天文学论说》
千年以来 彗星一直是神秘主义者的道具 For millennia, comets had been props for mystics,
神秘主义者认为彗星是人间大事的预兆 who considered them to be merely omens of human events.
哈雷粉碎了他们的垄断 Halley shattered their monopoly,
在他们的行当中打败了他们 beating them at their own game,
那是一个从未有科学家参与的行当 a game that no scientist had ever played before...
预言 prophecy.
他没有闪烁其词 And he did not hedge his bet.
美国棒球运动员
就像巴比·鲁斯准确预言 Like Babe Ruth predicting
他的下一个全垒打会在哪里一样 where his next home run would land in the stands,
哈雷肯定地说 彗星将会于1758年年末 Halley stated flatly that the comet would return at the end of 1758,
从天空的特定位置 from a particular part of the sky,
按照指定路线回归 following a specific path.
几乎没有哪个神秘主义者提出的预言 There is hardly a prophecy attempted by the mystics
其准确性能与之相比 that ever even strives for comparable precision.
这就是哈雷彗星 That's Halley's Comet.
在太阳系边缘 Out here at the edge of the Solar System,
它看起来很普通 it doesn't look like much.
只不过是宇宙中一大块冰和岩石的混合物 Just a big hunk of ice and rock in space.
在海王星轨道之外 That's because beyond the orbit of Neptune,
距离太阳约五十亿千米 nearly five billion kilometers from the Sun,
彗星们过着安静的生活 comets lead very quiet lives.
在它接近轨道的远端时 As it reaches the far end of its orbit,
它会减速 直到太阳阻止它再向远处走 it'll slow down till the Sun allows it to go no farther.
然后它向太阳系内坠落 Then it will begin its long fall back to the inner Solar System.
哈雷彗星围绕太阳做自由落体 Halley's comet is in free fall around the Sun.
太阳系中的一切天体 Everything in our Solar System
地球 月球 其他行星 彗星 小行星 the Earth, the Moon, the other planets, comets, asteroids,
都围绕太阳自由落体 all of them are falling around the Sun.
万有引力将行星拉向太阳 Gravity pulls the planets towards the Sun,
但由于它们的轨道动量 but because of their orbital momentum,
它们只是围绕太阳运行 并不会冲到太阳里 they keep moving around the Sun, never falling into it.
罗伯特·胡克已于多年前去世 Robert Hooke had died years before,
每天摄入一定量的艾草 鸦片和水银 having ruined his health with some bad habits...
这样的坏习惯蚕食了他的健康 daily doses of wormwood, opium, mercury.
几个月后 牛顿接替他 A few months later, Newton was elected to replace him
当选皇家学会的主席 as president of the Royal Society.
据说胡克的画像 It is said that a portrait of Hooke
曾经挂在这墙上 once hung on these walls.
罗伯特·胡克
哈雷继续完成他更惊人的壮举 Halley lived on to accomplish many more astonishing feats.
一直到85岁去世 他都还在为工作而奋斗 He worked right up to his death at age 85.
他临终时叫了一杯红酒 His final act was to call for a glass of wine.
满怀愉悦之情 一饮而尽 He downed it with pleasure...
咽下最后一口气 and breathed his last breath.
据说 正是在这样的夜晚 Some believe that it was on a night like this
艾萨克·牛顿最终完成了 that Isaac Newton finally took his revenge
对罗伯特·胡克的报复 against Robert Hooke.
但是哈雷的预言并未被人们忘记 But Halley's prophecy was not forgotten.
50年后 50 years later,
当哈雷所预计的时间接近时 as the time of the predicted return approached,
全世界的天文学家争相 the world's astronomers vied
做第一个目击此彗星的人 to be the first to catch sight of his comet.
他们没有失望 They weren't disappointed.
从那以后 每76年人们都会迎接它的回归 It's been welcomed back every 76 years since.
当哈雷彗星重归我们的天空时 When Halley's Comet returns to our skies,
太阳会融化它表面的冰 sunlight will warm up the ice on its surface,
再次释放出 once again setting loose
其中的尘埃和气体 the dust and gases trapped within.
最近一次哈雷彗星回归是1986年 Halley's Comet most recently visited our neighborhood back in 1986.
如果你在2061年看到这番景象 And if you're seeing this in 2061,
那么你就知道它回来了 then you'll know it's back.
希望你能感受到 May you feel the wonder of all those
先人眼中的惊奇 who came before you...
毫无恐惧 and none of the fear.
牛顿的定律使埃德蒙多·哈雷 Newton's laws made it possible for Edmond Halley
能够预测50年后的事情 to see some 50 years into the future
还有一颗彗星的行踪 and predict the behavior of a single comet.
从那以后科学家们运用这些定律 Scientists have been using these laws ever since,
打开了通向月球之路 opening the way to the Moon
甚至超出太阳系 and even beyond our Solar System.
摇篮中的婴儿要学走路了 The baby in the basket is learning to walk...
他也将认识宇宙 and to know the cosmos.
还有最后一个预言 Which brings me to one last prophecy.
仅依靠牛顿的万有引力定律 Using nothing more than Newton's laws of gravitation,
天文学家可以很有把握地预言 we astronomers can confidently predict
几十亿年后 that several billion years from now,
我们的家园 银河系 our home galaxy, the Milky Way,
会与我们的邻居仙女座星系合并 will merge with our neighboring galaxy Andromeda.
因为相对于自身大小 Because the distances between the stars
恒星之间的距离要远得多 are so great compared to their sizes,
星系中只有极少数恒星真的会发生碰撞 few if any stars in either galaxy will actually collide.
在那遥远的未来 星球上的生命 Any life on the worlds of that far-off future
会是安全的 但是他们依然可以 should be safe, but they would be treated to an amazing,
欣赏持续数亿年的星光秀 billion-year-long light show...
五千亿颗恒星随音乐翩翩起舞 a dance of a half a trillion stars...
小小世界中首次听到这音乐的人 to music first heard on one little world
是一位有挚友陪伴的伟人 by a man who had but one true friend.