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宇宙
时空之旅
宇宙的年龄与体积 The age and size of the cosmos
书写在光中 are written in light.
美的本质与构成恒星的物质 The nature of beauty and the substance of the stars,
空间与时间的法则 the laws of space and time...
一直存在于此 they were there all along,
但过去的我们却看不见 but we never saw them...
直到我们发明了更强大的观测方法 until we devised a more powerful way of seeing.
关于这一觉醒的故事有许多开端 The story of this awakening has many beginnings
却从未终结 and no ending.
故事的主人公来自不同时代与地域 Its heroes come from many times and places--
有一位来自古代中国的哲人 an Ancient Chinese philosopher,
一位让十一世纪的伊拉克哈里发们 a wizard who amazed the caliphs
也叹为惊止的奇才 of 11th-century Iraq,
还有一位来自德国饱经严苛主人奴役的可怜孤儿 a poor German orphan enslaved to a harsh master.
他们每一位都将带领我们 Each one brought us a little closer
更进一步揭开光的秘密 to unlocking the secrets hidden in light.
他们中大部分人的名字都已被遗忘 Most of their names are forever lost to us,
但就在久远之前的某地 偶然抬头间 but somewhere, long ago, someone glanced up
有人目睹了一次光的魔法秀 to see light perform one of its magic tricks.
谁知道呢 Who knows?
也许这次与光的巧遇 Maybe that quirk of light
激发了第一位艺术家的灵感 inspired the very first artist.
这一切从何而来 Where did all this come from?
我们是如何从一群生活在星空下 How did we evolve from small wandering bands of
以狩猎和采集为生的流浪者 hunters and gatherers living beneath the stars
演变为全球文明的缔造者呢 to become the builders of a global civilization?
我们是如何从那里走到这里的呢 How did we get from there to here?
答案肯定不止一个 There's no one answer.
气候的变迁 火的使用 Climate change, the domestication of fire,
工具的发明 语言 农耕 the invention of tools, language, agriculture
都起到了作用 all played a role.
也许还有别的原因 Maybe there was something else, too.
在两千多年前的中国 In China, more than 2,000 years ago,
有一位名叫墨子的哲人 a philosopher named Mo Tze is said to have observed
据说他观察到可以用光 that light could be made to paint a picture
在一间密闭的珍宝室内作画 inside a locked treasure room.
这是关于最初的相机的描述 This was the description of the first camera...
照相暗盒 the camera obscura,
所有成像相机的原型 the prototype of all image-forming cameras,
包括正为你呈现这幅图像的相机 including the one that's bringing you this picture.
这个利用光完成的小把戏 Taking advantage of this funny thing that light does
最终衍生出第一部电影 resulted in what could be called the first movie.
墨子 深谙光的大师 Mo Tze, master of light,
与各种形式的黑暗为敌 worked against all forms of darkness.
作为军事天才 A military genius
墨子却只用其天赋来防止暴力 who only used his talents to prevent violence,
据传他曾走遍 he was legendary for traveling
战国时期各诸侯国 among the kingdoms of the warring states,
巧妙运用策略 employing ingenious strategies
说服诸王退出战争 to talk kings out of going to war.
他是最早追求"兼爱" He was one of the first to dream of universal love
消除贫困及一切不平等现象 and an end to poverty and other forms of inequality;
坚持执政为民 of government for the people...
以及反对盲目服从 and to argue against blind obedience
一切礼俗权威的先哲之一 to ritual and authority.
在其论著中 In his writings, you can find
已有科学辨证的萌芽 early stirrings of the scientific approach.
中国人将自己的思想记录在书中 By Mo Tze's time, the Chinese had already been recording
到墨子时代已经记录了一千多年 their thoughts in books for at least a thousand years.
然而我们对墨子的认识还非常有限 Still, our knowledge of him is only fragmentary.
关于其思想的论著 It consists largely of the collection of essays
大部分来自他及其弟子们的编纂 attributed to him and his disciples.
在其中一篇名为《非命》的文章中 In one of them, entitled "Against Fate,"
三表法
他提出了判断言谈是非的三条标准 a three-pronged test for every doctrine is proposed.
于何本之
有何依据 Question its basis--
是否与一般人的 ask if it can be verified
于何原之
经验与感觉相符 by the sights and senses of common people--
将如何运用于实际 ask how it is to be applied
于何用之
能否让大众受益 and if it will benefit the greatest number.
墨子
墨子的学说广受欢迎 Mo Tze was extremely popular,
但在他去世几百年后 but a few hundred years after his death,
秦始皇 Qin Shi Huang,
第一位统一中国的皇帝掌权 the first emperor, and unifier of China, took power.
他将华夏大一统为一个国家 He took a continent and turned it into a nation
现在仍深受其影响的国家 中国 that now bears his name... China.
大部分人知道秦始皇是因为 Most of us know Emperor Qin
守卫他陵墓的七千兵马俑 for the army of 7,000 terra cotta warriors that guard his tomb.
秦始皇为了统治 In Emperor Qin's drive
幅员辽阔的帝国 to consolidate his far-flung empire,
他实行了强硬的手段 he took drastic measures to
来标准化一切事物 standardize everything within it.
其中包括规定了货币式样 This included mandating a single coinage,
统一度量衡 making uniform all weights and measures,
统一马车和道路的宽度 the widths of carts and roads,
以及书写语言的方式 as well as the precise way the Chinese language was to be written,
甚至包括你书写和思考的内容 including what you were allowed to write and think.
秦始皇唯一允许传播的哲学思想 Emperor Qin's philosophy-- the only one permitted--
叫做"法家" was called "Legalism,"
正如其名所述 which is just what it sounded like,
依法办事 否则 do as the law says... or else.
这一哲学理论并不怎么鼓励 It's a philosophy that's not highly conducive
质疑权威 to questioning authority.
任何记录诸子百家之言的书籍 that all the books of the hundred schools of thought
皆需焚毁 shall be burned,
任何借古讽今之人 that anyone who uses history to criticize the present
连坐其家 shall have his family executed.
墨子 孔子和其他 The works of MoTze and Confucius
哲人的论著皆被摧毁 and other philosophers were destroyed
这是世上首次焚书之举 in the world's first book burning.
数百位勇敢反抗的学者 Hundreds of scholars bravely resisted
偷偷藏起被禁的书籍 by trying to preserve the forbidden books.
但他们都被活埋在首都咸阳 They were buried alive in the capitol.
科学需要自由表达的空间才能蓬勃发展 Science needs the light of free expression to flourish.
科学的进步取决于对权威的无畏质疑 It depends on the fearless questioning of authority,
取决于理念的自由交流 the open exchange of ideas.
墨子及其弟子们的著作中对科学的好奇之光 Sparks of curiosity in the writings of Mo Tze and his disciples
被迅速踩灭 were effectively stomped out.
需要另一千年时间 我们的影片才能继续 It would be another thousand years before the next movie.
幸运的是 我们想象号飞船 Luckily, our Ship of the Imagination
能任意畅游于时空之间 can take us anywhere in space... and time.
古代中国人和希腊人发现 The ancient Chinese and Greeks observed
光有着奇妙的作用 that light could be made to do wonderful things
但没有人问出那个问题 -- but no one asked that question
那个孩子和天才们最爱问的问题 favored by small children and geniuses alike.
为什么 Why?
直到一千年前 Until a thousand years ago...
在伊拉克巴士拉 In the city of Basra, Iraq,
生活着另一位深谙光的大师 there lived another master of light.
本·哈桑热切希望了解自然 Ibn al-Hazen had a passionate desire to understand nature.
他质疑一切 He questioned everything,
特别是那些 especially those things
所有人都认为理所当然的事 that everyone else took for granted.
"我们是怎么看见的" 他问 "How do we see?" He asked.
在他之前的一些伟大权威认为 Some of the great authorities who came before him
我们的眼睛会放射出光线 had taught that rays come out of our eyes
照射到我们看见的物体上 and travel to the objects we see
然后反射回我们的眼睛 before returning to our eyes.
但哈桑认为 星星离我们如此之远 But al-Hazen reasoned that the stars were too far distant
从我们眼睛射出的光线根本无法在一眨眼之间 for something in our eyes to travel all the way to them
穿越那么远的距离 and back in the blink of an eye.
完美的推论 但哈桑并没有止步于此 Excellent reasoning, but al-Hazen didn't stop there.
他一直在找寻可以迫使自然 He searched for ways to compel nature
吐露其秘密的方法 to divulge her secrets.
当时他的文化善于接受一切新的思想和质疑 His culture was open to new ideas and questioning.
这是伊斯兰世界的 It was the golden age of science
科学黄金期 in the Islamic world.
当时的伊斯兰世界从西班牙的科尔多瓦 One that stretched from Cordoba in Spain
科尔瓦多
拜占庭帝国
埃及
阿拉伯
一直蔓延到中亚的撒马尔罕 all the way to Samarkand in Central Asia.
波斯
印度
亚洲
撒马尔罕
基督教和犹太教的学者们是 Christian and Jewish scholars were honored guests
巴格达 开罗及其他伊斯兰首都城市 at the research institutes of Baghdad, Cairo,
科研机构里的座上宾 and other Islamic capitols.
没有焚书 哈里发们反而派遣使者 Instead of burning books, the caliphs sent emissaries
到全世界各地搜寻书籍 around the world in search of books.
为了子孙后代 哈里发们慷慨解囊 The caliphs lavishly funded projects to translate, study,
支持一切翻译 研究和保存这些书籍的项目 and preserve them for future generations.
如果没有他们的努力 Much of the light of Ancient Greek science
大部分古希腊科学家的发现 would have been permanently extinguished
都无法存留延续 without their efforts.
科学的再次觉醒 The reawakening to science
发生在数百年之后的欧洲 that took place in Europe hundreds of years later,
由伊斯兰学者和科学家们 was kindled by a flame
精心保存的知识之火唤醒 that had been long tended by Islamic scholars and scientists.
阿拉伯人从印度吸收想法再传播到西方 The Arabs also imported ideas from India to the West,
包括我们仍在使用的 including the so-called Arabic numerals
所谓的阿拉伯数字 that we all use today,
以及零的概念 and the concept of zero...
这一概念在你想要 which comes in handy
表述"数十亿"时特别方便 when you want to write "Billions and billions."
阿拉伯天文学的影响非常深远 Arabic astronomy was so influential,
现在大部分的亮星 that we still call most of the bright stars
依然使用的是阿拉伯名字 by their Arabic names.
还有英语单词 代数 运算法则 And the "Al's" in algebra, algorithm,
炼金术 酒精中出现的前缀"al" alchemy, and alcohol
都是阿拉伯语还称霸科学界时 are just some of the traces left from the time when Arabic
留下的点点痕迹 was the language of science.
十一世纪 本·哈桑开始验证 In the 11th century, Ibn al-Hazen set about
他对光的猜测 以及我们是如何看见的 trying to test his ideas about light and how we see.
我们设置了一个观察光是如何运动的实验 So we devised an experiment to determine how light moves.
在日光下搭建起一个帐篷 We erected a tent in full daylight
密封好帐篷 只有一束光线 and sealed it tightly so that only a single ray of light
可以照射进来 could pierce its inner darkness.
只靠他的大脑 With little more than his brains
和一块直木工具 尺子 and a straight piece of wood-- a ruler--
哈桑完成了科学史上的 al-Hazen had accomplished a great leap forward
一大飞跃 in the history of science.
他发现光沿直线移动 He discovered that light moves in straight lines.
但这才是开始 But he was just getting started.
哈桑发现了成像的关键 Al-Hazen figured out that the key to forming any image--
不管是眼睛还是照箱暗盒 whether you're talking about an eye or camera obscura--
暗室都有一个小开口 is a small opening to restrict the light that can enter
限制光线进入 an otherwise darkened chamber.
这个小孔隔绝了外界 That aperture excludes the chaos
环绕我们的混乱光线 of extraneous light rays that surround us.
孔越小 The smaller the aperture,
来自不同方向的光就越少 the fewer directions that light can come from.
因此图像也就越清晰 And that makes the image sharper.
我们才能不被光线蒙蔽 So instead of being blinded by the light,
看清身边的世界 we can see everything it has to show us.
哈桑自制了一个照箱暗盒 Al-Hazen made his own camera obscura
让哈里发们叹为惊止 and dazzled the caliphs.
照箱暗盒在光线充足时效果最好 A camera obscura works best in bright light.
夜晚的星光对照箱暗盒来说太过暗淡 The stars of the night sky are way too dim for this.
因此我们需要更大的开口来聚集光线 We somehow need a bigger opening to collect light,
但我们还需要保持对焦 but we also need to maintain focus.
望远镜能采集 A telescope collects light
视场内任意一点发出的光 from any spot in its field of view
通过整个透镜或镜子汇聚到一起 across the entire lens or mirror,
其开口要比照箱暗盒的小孔大得多 an opening much larger than the camera obscura hole.
这是最早的望远镜之一 This is one of the first telescopes...
1609年伽利略用它观察过星空 the one that Galileo looked through in 1609.
通过望远镜 他拉开了夜空厚重的帷幕 With it, he pulled aside the heavy curtain of night
开始其探索宇宙的征途 and began to discover the cosmos.
透镜使得望远镜能够 The lens made it possible for a telescope
扩大收集光的面积 to have a much larger light-collecting area
远大于我们的眼睛 than our eyes have.
桶越大接住的雨水越多 Big buckets catch more rain than small ones.
现代望远镜集光面积更大 Modern telescopes have larger collecting areas,
有高度敏感的探测器 highly sensitive detectors,
可以数小时不断追踪同一天体 and they track the same object for hours at a time
直到收集到足够的光线 to accumulate as much of its light as possible.
空间望远镜 比如说哈勃 Space-based telescopes such as the Hubble,
可以捕捉到来自最遥远 have captured light from the most distant
最古老星系的光线 and ancient galaxies,
为我们提供更清晰的宇宙图片 giving us vastly clearer pictures of the cosmos.
哈桑发现了图像是如何通过光形成的 Al-Hazen discovered how images are formed by light,
但这还远不是他最大的成就 but that was far from his greatest achievement.
本·哈桑是第一位 Ibn al-Hazen was the first person ever
制定出科学基本规则的人 to set down the rules of science.
他创造了一种错误纠正机制 He created an error-correcting mechanism,
可以系统无间歇地 a systematic and relentless way
筛选出所有错误的概念 to sift out misconceptions in our thinking.
寻求真理很困难 Finding truth is difficult...
拉丁文的"真理"
古希腊语的"真理" Aletheia
阿拉伯语的"真理"
这是一条充满荆棘的道路 and the road to it is rough.
希伯来语的"真理"
追求真理之人 As seekers after truth,
你应时刻保留意见 you will be wise to withhold judgment
不要轻信前人之言 and not simply put your trust in the writings of the ancients.
你应质疑并全面检验 You must question and critically examine
这些前人之言 those writings from every side.
你只应服从于论辩与实验 You must submit only to argument and experiment
而不是任何一家之言 and not to the sayings of any person.
因为人类如此脆弱 For every human being is vulnerable
困囿于各种缺陷 to all kinds of imperfection.
追求真理之人 As seekers after truth,
我们也应当质疑诘问自己的想法 we must also suspect and question our own ideas
在我们进行调查时时刻自省 as we perform our investigations,
只有这样才不会流于偏见 to avoid falling into prejudice
或毁于散漫 or careless thinking.
秉持这一信念 Take this course,
真相自现 and truth will be revealed to you.
这就是科学方法 This is the method of science.
如此强大 使得机器人探测器 So powerful that it's carried our robotic emissaries
能深入太阳系甚至更远的地方 to the edge of the solar system and beyond.
使我们的寿命增加了一倍 It has doubled our lifespan,
让消失在过去的世界重现 made the lost worlds of the past come alive.
科学让我们得以预测发生在 Science has enabled us to predict events
遥远未来的事件 in the distant future...
让我们以光的速度交流 and to communicate with each other at the speed of light,
正如此时此刻 我和你的交流 as I am with you, right at this moment.
这一思维方式给予我们的力量 This way of thinking has given us powers
连哈桑本人也不得不承认是一种魔力 that al-Hazen himself would have regarded as wizardry.
但正是他带领我们踏上这条艰辛无尽的道路 But it was he who put us on this rough, endless road.
现在这条道路把我们指向一个地方 And now it has taken us to a place
那里甚至连光 where even light itself
都隐匿于黑暗中 is enshrouded in darkness.
比起人类世界的事物 Light has properties unlike anything else
光有特别的性质 in the realm of human existence.
以光的速度为例 Take the speed of light.
光的基本粒子 光子 The basic particle of light, the photon,
从原子或分子中诞生之际 is born traveling at the speed of light
就以光速运行 as it emerges from an atom or a molecule.
光子不会以其他速度运动 A photon never knows any other speed,
而我们也找不到其他任何事物 and we've not found another phenomenon that accelerates
可以瞬间从零提速至光速的 from zero to top speed instantaneously.
没有其他事物可以这么快地移动 Nothing else could move as fast.
当我们试着加速其他粒子时 When we try to accelerate other particles
当它们的速度越靠近光速 closer and closer to the speed of light,
就越难提速 they resist more and more,
就好像它们变得越来越重似的 as though they're getting heavier and heavier.
目前还未有任何实验 No experiment yet devised
让其他粒子成功达到光速 has ever made a particle move as fast as light.
那是什么 What was that?
你听到了吗 You hear something?
我说到哪儿了 对了 Where was I? Oh, yeah.
我不知道世上还有别的东西 I don't know anything else in life
像光一样 that behaves like light.
我无法将它独特的属性 I cannot reconcile its strange properties
与我感知到的光协调起来 with everything else my senses tell me.
我们渴望相信感知的冲动 Our urge to trust our senses
压倒了测量工具告诉我们的 overpowers what our measuring devices tell us about
现实真正的本质 the actual nature of reality.
当真人大小的物体以哺乳动物的速度移动时 Our senses work fine for life-size objects
我们的感知正常运作 moving at mammal speeds,
但却无法适应光速下奇妙的法则 but are ill-adapted for the wonderland laws of lightspeed.
我们甚至不知道为什么宇宙速度会有极限 We don't even know why there's a cosmic speed limit.
当你以光速运行时 Time stands still when you're traveling
时间静止不动 at the speed of light.
光到底是什么呢 What is light, anyway?
艾萨克·牛顿对光的痴迷 Isaac Newton's enduring fascination with light
始于他的孩提时代 began when he was a child...
就在这所房子里 in this very house.
当他二十多岁时 By the time he was in his 20s,
牛顿就已成为第一个破解 Newton became the first person to decipher
彩虹秘密的人 the mystery of the rainbow.
牛顿发现有一些光 或者说白光 Newton discovered that some light, or white light,
是彩虹中所有颜色光的混合 is a mixture of all the colors of the rainbow.
重大发现 Major discovery.
他将展现出的不同颜色光命名为"光谱" He named the displays of colors a "Spectrum"
词源来自拉丁语中的"幻影"或"幽灵" from the Latin for "Phantom" Or "Apparition."
很抱歉打扰您 牛顿先生 Begging your pardon, Master Newton,
但厨子担心您的晚餐就要放坏了 the cook frets that your dinner will spoil, sir.
不 艾萨克 别放下放大镜 No, Isaac, don't put the magnifying glass down!
光中还隐藏着一个更惊人的秘密 Something even more amazing is hidden in the light--
一串通向宇宙的密码和钥匙 a code, a key to the cosmos.
艾萨克·牛顿很少错过 Isaac Newton didn't miss much,
但这一个却惊人美妙 but that one was a beaut.
他径直走过一扇通向隐秘世界的大门 He just walked right past the door to a hidden universe;
一扇150年后才有机会 a door that would not swing open again
再次开启的大门 for another 150 years.
解密的任务交给了另一位科学家 It would fall on another scientist,
1800年他在工作中 working in the year 1800,
无意中发现的一份证据 to stumble on a piece of evidence
证实了我们周围存在看不见的世界 for the unseen worlds that surround us.
晚上 威廉·赫歇尔用当时 By night, William Herschel scanned the heavens
最大的望远镜观察夜空 with the largest telescope of his time.
白天 赫歇尔进行实验 By day, Herschel performed experiments.
从早期牛顿的研究中 我们得知 From Newton's earlier work, it was known that
阳光是由不同颜色的光组成的 sunlight is a blend of different colors.
沐浴着阳光的我们都能感知到 And everyone knew, just from being outside,
阳光能传递热量 that sunlight carries heat.
威廉·赫歇尔因此问道 William Herschel asked
是否某些颜色的光携带更多的热量呢 whether some colors of light carry more heat than others.
科学天才的本性 The nature of scientific genius
就是善于质疑所有人习以为常的事物 is to question what the rest of us take for granted...
然后付诸实践 and then do the experiment.
赫歇尔在光谱之外也放置了一支温度计 The thermometer that Herschel placed outside the spectrum
用作对照组 was his control.
任何实验的对照组 The control in any experiment
都缺少被测试的因素 always lacks the factor being tested.
这样我们才能知道被测试的因素 That way, you know if what you're testing is really
是否能引起观测结果 the thing responsible for the observation.
在赫歇尔的实验中 In Herschel's experiment,
测试的是不同颜色的光与温度的关系 the relationship between color and temperature was being tested,
因此他的对照组是将温度计 and so his control was a thermometer
放置在一张完全 over the part of the white sheet
没有光线照射到的白纸上 that was not illuminated by sunlight at all.
奇妙的声音再次出现 There's that sound again.
那是什么 What is that?
红光的温度比蓝光高 Okay, red light is warmer than blue light.
有趣的发现 但还称不上颠覆 Interesting discovery, but not exactly revolutionary.
对 你的温度计没有问题 No, there's nothing wrong with your thermometer.
你只是发现了一种新的光 You've just discovered a new kind of light.
赫歇尔第一个发现在光谱红色端外 Herschel was the first to detect this unseen presence
还存在看不见的部分 lurking just below the red end of the spectrum.
它因此被称之为"红外线" That's why it came to be called "Infrared."
"Infra"是拉丁语中"以下"的意思 "Infra" is Latin for the word "Below."
它是不可见的 It's invisible.
我们的眼睛感知不到这种光 Our eyes are not sensitive to this kind of light,
但我们的皮肤能 以热量的方式感知到它 but our skin is-- we feel it as heat.
这真是一个巨大的发现 Now, that's a really big discovery.
但更大的秘密还远未曝露 But far greater secrets were still hiding
依然深藏于光中 deep inside the light.
当威廉·赫歇尔在他位于英国的起居室里 At about the same time that William Herschel was discovering infrared light
发现了红外线时 in his parlor in England,
一个名叫约瑟夫·夫琅和费的小男孩 a young boy named Joseph Fraunhofer
正受困于令人绝望的劳役中 was trapped in hopeless drudgery.
他站在盛满有毒化学物质的坩埚前 He stood over a cauldron of toxic chemicals
不停地搅拌 and endlessly stirred.
约瑟夫11岁成为孤儿 Joseph had been orphaned at the age of 11
然后成为了严苛的皇家制镜人 and given to a harsh master named Weichselberger,
魏赫塞伯格的学徒 the royal mirror-maker.
他不仅禁止约瑟夫上学 He prevented Joseph from going to school.
反而让约瑟夫白天在玻璃作坊做工 Instead, Joseph labored in the glass -making workshop by day,
晚上还得打理主人家的家务 and tended to the master's household chores by night.
快点 蠢货 Hurry up, stupid!
记住了 不准看书 And remember, no reading.
直到有一天约瑟夫终于可以好好休息 Until Joseph got his big break.
魏赫塞伯格的房子塌了 Weichselberger's house collapsed.
巴伐利亚选帝侯马克西米利安 Maximilian, the future king of Bavaria,
急忙赶到事故现场 hurried to the scene of the calamity
提供救援 to see if he could help.
马克西米利安 Maximilian was known
以关爱其臣民著名 for taking an interest in his subjects,
这一点在那个时代很不寻常 which was highly unusual for its time.
受到巴伐利亚未来国王的关注 In attracting the concern of the future king of Bavaria,
年幼的约瑟夫·夫琅和费 young Joseph Fraunhofer
得以进入一个全新的世界 found an aperture into a different universe.
不仅仅是为他一个人 And not just for himself.
马克西米利安王子向约瑟夫提供金钱支持 Prince Maximilian gave Joseph money
并让他的枢密官 and asked his privy councilor
在必要时候为这个男孩提供进一步的帮助 to provide further help to the boy, should it be needed.
魏赫塞伯格继续剥削他 Weichselberger continued to exploit him
阻止他上学 and prevent him from attending school.
但王子的枢密官介入进来 But the prince's councilor intervened,
提议让约瑟夫前往光学学院学习 offering Joseph a position at the Optical Institute.
这一小小的善意之举获得了巨大的回报 This small gesture of kindness really paid off.
当他27岁时 By the time he was 27,
约瑟夫·夫琅和费已是世界顶尖的设计师 Joseph Fraunhofer was the world's leading designer
包括高品质透镜 of high-quality lenses,
望远镜和其他光学仪器 telescopes and other optical instruments.
他的作坊就位于此处 His firm was housed here,
古老的本讷迪克特伯伊昂修道院 in the old Benediktbeuren Abbey.
在19世纪初期 In the early 19th century,
这些都是绝密的超高科技 this was top-secret, ultra-high technology.
早期的本讷迪克特修士们 The Benedictine monks of earlier times
需要发誓保密才能在此修行 had taken a vow of secrecy.
这一地方传统 This local tradition,
加上严格控制 and the ability to restrict access
进入夫琅和费实验室的权限 to Fraunhofer's laboratory,
让他可以控制贸易 allowed him to maintain control
保护国家机密 of trade and state secrets.
夫琅和费正在用棱镜做实验 Fraunhofer was experimenting with prisms
希望找到制作精准透镜的最佳玻璃材质 to find the best types of glass for precision lenses.
他想 能否用棱镜观察到 How, he wondered, could he get a better look
更清晰的光谱图呢 at the spectrum that a prism produced?
弗里德里克 请帮我拿一下经纬仪 Friedrich, bring me the theodolite, please.
趁着夫琅和费调整经纬仪 Okay, while Fraunhofer sets up his theodolite--
经纬仪是一种望远镜 it's a kind of telescope--
我想让你看看修道院另一边的一个东西 I want to show you something in another part of the abbey.
声波是如此悦耳动听 Sound waves are so beautiful to hear.
想象一下这些声波看起来将是多么美妙 Imagine how beautiful they'd be to see.
你是否好奇过为什么风琴管的长度都不一样呢 You ever wondered why organ pipes have different lengths?
我按下一个键 I press a key...
压缩的空气被传至某个风琴管中 it sends compressed air into a particular pipe,
产生了声波 producing sound waves.
如果我们把声波传递的速度放慢几百倍 If we could slow the sound waves down a few hundred times,
它们看起来将是这个样子的 they would look like this.
风琴管的长度决定了 The length of the pipe determines the length
其能产生的声波的长度 of the sound wave that can fit inside it.
一根短风琴管发出的声波短 A short pipe gives you a short sound wave.
短声波的音调更高 或者说频率更高 Short sounds waves have high pitch, or frequency.
让我们暂停一下好好看看这些声波 Let's stop the waves for a better look.
波与波之间的距离 The distance between adjacent waves
称之为波长 is called the wavelength.
较长的风琴管发出的声波更长 A long pipe gives you a long sound wave
音调更低 或者说频率更低 with a low pitch, or low frequency.
这段音乐的中世纪手稿 《布兰诗歌》 The medieval manuscript of this music, "Carmina Burana,"
正是在这座修道院里被发现的 was discovered in this very abbey.
声波无法在真空中传播 Sound waves can't travel through a vacuum.
它们需要物质作为介质 They need matter to ride on,
比如说空气 水或岩石中的分子 like molecules of air, or water, or rock.
但光波却可以独行 But light waves fly solo.
它们可以在真空里移动 They can move through empty space.
且速度极快 And fast--
比在空气中传递的声波快了百万倍 a million times faster than sound waves in air.
而我们观察到的光的波长 And the wavelengths of the light we see
远远短于声波 are so much shorter than sound waves.
其波长的五万倍 About 50,000 light waves
才能填满这个缝隙 would fit right in here.
言归正传 Oh, yeah.
夫琅和费 Fraunhofer.
时间刚刚好 Just in time.
我们没有错过好戏 We didn't miss it.
正如声音的波长 Just as the wavelength of sound
决定了我们听到的音调的高低 determines the pitch that we hear,
光的波长 the wavelength of light
决定了我们看到的光的颜色 determines the color that we see.
但一块棱镜是如何把隐藏在 But how does a prism spread out the colors
一束阳光中的色彩分解出来呢 concealed in a beam of sunlight?
当光在空气或真空中移动时 When light travels through air or space,
所有颜色的光移动的速度都是一致的 all its colors move at the same speed.
但当它以某个角度射入玻璃时 But when it hits glass at an angle,
光的速度减缓并改变了方向 the light slows down and changes direction.
在棱镜里 Inside the prism,
每种颜色的光以不同的速度移动 each color moves at a different speed.
在玻璃中 紫光 In glass, violet light,
由我们可见的最短的光波传递 which is carried by the shortest waves we see,
比红光减速更多 slows down more than red light,
红光是波长最长的光 which has the longest waves.
速度的改变 These changes in speed
使不同的光分开 pry the colors apart,
让各种颜色的光波 sending their waves off
朝着些微不同的方向前进 in slightly different directions.
这就是棱镜的工作原理 That's how a prism works.
如果我看起来不同寻常的激动 If I seem unduly emotional about this,
那是因为约瑟夫·夫琅和费将要完成 it's because Joseph Fraunhofer is about to do
艾萨克·牛顿本可以却没能完成的事 what Isaac Newton could've done, but didn't.
这一发现将极大地 And it'll have a powerful effect
影响我人生前进的方向 on the course of my own life.
你正要见证的是 You are witnessing the marriage
物理和天文学的结合 of physics and astronomy,
诞生了我致力于研究的科学领域 the birth of my own field of science,
天体物理学 astrophysics.
由光线谱写 Written in the light,
那些垂直黑线 in those vertical black lines...
就是密码 is secret code.
夫琅和费看着它们 倍感疑惑 Fraunhofer looked at them, and wondered...
为什么 Why?
一个从陌生世界 A code that comes to us
来到我们面前的密码 from an alien universe.
这些垂直黑线 What is the message written
到底隐藏着什么讯息 in these dark, vertical lines?
经过数百年的思索 It took a hundred years of thinking,
质疑和探寻才最终解开这个谜团 questioning, searching to decipher it.
很漂亮 不是吗 Lovely, isn't it?
为什么呢 Why?
美的精细结构有许多层次 There are many layers to the fine structure of beauty...
地球的化学结构 大气构成 the chemistry of the Earth and its atmosphere...
生命的进化 the evolution of life...
许多显而易见的线索 Many distinct threads.
让我们检视其中最表面的一点 Let's just examine one, at the surface...
让我们目眩神迷的自然的颜色 the colors of nature that dazzle us.
这是怎么发生的呢 What's really happening?
这些红色 蓝色 How does the red, the blue...
自然让人惊叹的五彩斑斓 the astonishing palette of nature's colors...
这些颜色是如何形成的呢 how do they happen?
来自太阳的不同长度的光波 Light waves of different lengths from the Sun
照射到地球上 strike the Earth.
这些花朵的花瓣 The petals of these particular flowers
只吸收了阳光中 absorb all the low-energy,
低能量的红色长波 long red wavelengths of light.
但这些花瓣反射了 But the petals reflect
高能量的蓝色短波 the shorter, high-energy blue wavelengths.
恒星光与花瓣之间的交流 That interaction between starlight and petal--
或与水 与梵高之间的互动 or water, or Van Gogh--
让我们知道什么是蓝 is what makes blue.
那些最长的光波 The longest waves,
我们看到的红色光波 the ones we see as red,
携带的能量最低 have the lowest energy.
颜色是我们的眼睛感知 Color is the way our eyes perceive
光波能量的方式 how energetic light waves are.
一次日落 A sunset...
一面旗帜 a flag...
爱人的瞳色 the eyes of your beloved...
崭新的汽车 that shiny new car.
如果你有所触动 The feelings they inspire
那是因为你体内的某部分 happen when something inside you
被光波中某个特定频率 is triggered by a particular variation
携带特定能量的光激发 in the frequency and energy of light waves.
而其中的秘密 And the secret message?
夫琅和费光谱中的 Those black vertical lines
那些垂直黑线吗 in Fraunhofer's spectrum?
它们是怎么回事呢 What makes them?
当某些颜色的光 They occur when the light waves
被吸收后就出现了这些黑线 of those particular colors are being absorbed.
这一现象发生在世界的另一层面 It happens on another level of reality,
一个远小于我们熟悉世界的地方 far smaller than the world we're used to operating in.
要去到那里 我们需要 To get there, we'll need to become
缩小百亿倍 ten billion times smaller than we are.
我们可以任意选择一个原子 We could pick any one of these atoms.
但我们还是以氢原子为例吧 But let's go for the hydrogen atom.
氢原子是宇宙中最多的一种原子 The hydrogen atom is the most plentiful kind of atom in the cosmos.
也是最简单的 And the simplest.
它只有一个电子 It has only one electron.
一个质子 And only one proton.
我们已经进入量子世界 We've entered the quantum realm.
这与我们平时的感觉完全不同 It doesn't correspond to ordinary human experience.
常识在这里完全没有用处 Common sense is no help here at all.
以氢原子的电子为例 Take the hydrogen atom's electron, for example.
在原子里 电子 In an atom, an electron
并不存在于轨道之间 doesn't exist between orbitals.
它从一个轨道消失 It disappears from one orbital
又出现在另一个轨道上 and reappears in another.
就好像你搭乘电梯从二楼 It's as if you took an elevator from the second floor
坐至四楼 但你却并没经过两层楼之间 to the fourth floor, but ceased to exist in between.
还有一件事 And another thing.
量子电梯只在某些楼层停留 Quantum elevators only stop at certain floors.
电子轨道的大小也有严格限制 The sizes of the electron orbits are strictly limited,
每种元素的原子都不尽相同 and different for the atoms of every element.
这就是为什么每种元素都如此特别 That's why the elements are different.
任何物质的化学性质 The chemistry of anything is determined
都由其电子轨道决定 by its electron orbits.
将电子限制在轨道中的力量 The force that holds an electron in orbit
与重力无关 has nothing to do with gravity.
而是一种电引力 It's a force of electrical attraction.
氢原子内电子围绕着原子核 The electron dances a wavy ring
做不规则旋转 around the central nucleus of a hydrogen atom.
在轨道和轨道之间做量子跃迁 And makes quantum leaps from orbit to orbit.
或上或下 Up or down.
轨道越大 The larger the orbit,
电子的能量越大 the greater the energy of an electron.
电子必须吸收能量 An electron has to get energy
才能跃迁到更大的轨道上 to leap to a larger orbit.
而跃迁回来则需释放能量 And it has to lose energy to jump back down.
每次向上的跃迁 Every upward leap is caused by...
都是由原子吸收光波造成的 an atom absorbing a light wave.
但我们尚不清楚什么原因导致了向下的跃迁 But we have no idea what causes the downward leaps.
但我们清楚的是每次跃迁 What we do know that such leaps
都能产生一条光波 always produce a light wave
光波的颜色与轨道之间 whose color matches the energy difference
能量的差距相符 between the orbitals.
太阳表面辐射出各种颜色的光波 The Sun's surface radiates light waves of all colors.
当你用棱镜观察一束太阳光时 If you look at sunlight through a prism,
你可以看见它的光谱 you'll see its spectrum.
当你用望远镜放大细看它的光谱时 When you magnify the spectrum with a telescope,
正如约瑟夫·夫琅和费所做 as Joseph Fraunhofer did,
你拉开了一扇帷幕 you raise the curtain
帷幕后是原子内起舞的电子 on the electron dance within the atom.
当电子的能量减弱时 When the energy of the electron flags,
它跃迁一个较低的轨道 and it drops to a lower orbital,
它产生的光发生散射 the light wave it emits scatters.
大部分的光无法抵达我们 Most of it doesn't reach us.
由此产生了光谱中的 That leaves a dark gap
深色阴影或者说垂直黑线 or black vertical line in the spectrum.
这些深色线条是 These dark lines
太阳大气里的氢原子 are the shadows cast by hydrogen atoms
投射出的阴影 in the atmosphere of the Sun.
钠原子投射出不同的阴影 Sodium atoms cast different shadows.
因为它们电子运行的轨道不同 Their electrons dance to a different tune.
一粒食盐由 A grain of table salt is composed
钠原子和氯原子组成 of sodium and chlorine atoms.
一粒盐里有 Ten million billion of them
一千万亿这样的原子 doing their crazy dances
疯狂起舞 in a single grain of salt.
有26个电子的铁原子里 And a single iron atom with 26 electrons
就像百老汇音乐剧场的 is like a great big production number
一场盛大演出 in a Broadway musical.
当你用摄谱仪观测一颗恒星时 When you look at a star with a spectroscope,
你将看到它大气里 you see the dark lines from all the elements
所有元素产生的黑线 in its atmosphere.
任何东西 只要看一眼它的光谱 Show me the spectrum of anything,
不管是来自地球还是任何遥远恒星 whether here on Earth or from a distant star,
我就能告诉你它的构成 and I'll tell you what it's made of.
夫琅和费线是元素在宇宙中的 Fraunhofer's lines are the atomic signatures
通用原子签名 of the elements writ large across the cosmos.
和科学史上的每次重大发现一样 As with every other major revelation in the history of science,
它开辟了一条通往更新更深处秘密的道路 it opened the way to newer and deeper mysteries.
让我们明白光里 And to the revelation that there were
还隐藏着许许多多秘密 many more secrets hiding in the light.
当约瑟夫·夫琅和费 When Joseph Fraunhofer
把棱镜和望远镜结合起来 combined a prism with a telescope
观察天空时 and turned it toward the skies,
他让我们离恒星更近了一些 he brought the stars much closer to us.
但年仅39岁 When he was only 39,
他就得了重病 he contracted a fatal illness.
也许是因为从年幼时就长期曝露在 Perhaps as a result of his early and long-term exposure
用于制作玻璃的有毒物质中 to the toxic chemicals of glassmaking.
你永远无法知道下一位天才将来自哪里 You never know where the next genius will come from.
有多少天才被我们遗忘在废墟中 How many of them do we leave in the rubble?
因为一个对孤儿的善意之举 The prince and his kingdom were immeasurably enriched
王子和他的王国得到了巨大的收益 by that act of kindness to a poor orphan.
夫琅和费的发现将巴伐利亚 Fraunhofer's discoveries transformed Bavaria
从一个闭塞的乡村变成一个科技中心 from a rural backwater to a technological powerhouse.
在他垂危之际 巴伐利亚政府迫切 As he lay dying, the government was desperate
希望保存下他关于制作高科技光学玻璃的 to preserve every shred of his precious knowledge
任何一点宝贵经验与知识 about the high technology of optical glass.
只有拥有最高安全权限的人 But it could only be divulged to a person
才有权查阅这些资料 with top security clearance--
玻璃工坊的最高管理者 the director of the mint.
巴伐利亚政府一直把夫琅和费 The government kept Fraunhofer's technology
制作完美光学玻璃的技术 for making perfect optical glass
当作国家机密 隐藏了百年之久 a State secret for another hundred years.
这将给我们的旅程中 This would prove to be a major obstacle
稍后介绍到的一人造成巨大的障碍 for someone we'll meet later in our journey.
但对于他纯粹的科学研究 But Fraunhofer would allow no such secrecy
夫琅和费不同意这样的保密措施 where his pure scientific research was concerned.
他深知科学需要公开才能繁盛 He knew that science requires openness to flourish;
我们对自然的认知属于全世界 that our understanding of nature belongs to the world.
夫琅和费一发现光谱线的存在 As soon as Fraunhofer discovered the spectral lines,
就马上发表了关于这一现象的所有认知 he published everything he knew about them.
而关于他这一重大发现所造成的影响 And the reverberations of his momentous discovery
至今仍在 echo still.
他发现的光谱线让我们知道可见的宇宙 His spectral lines revealed that the visible cosmos
都是由相同的元素组成 is all made of the same elements.
所有行星 The planets...
恒星 The stars...
星系 The galaxies...
我们自己 和各种生命形态 We, ourselves, and all of life...
都是恒星的残骸 The same star stuff.
他让我们能够推测出 He made it possible for us to know
其他世界的大气组成 what's in the atmosphere of other worlds.
即使是远在数百光年外的星系里 And in galaxies millions of light-years away.
光谱线不仅告知了我们遥远天体的组成 Spectral lines revealed not only the composition of far-off objects,
还有它们的运动 but also their motion
是靠近还是远离我们 towards or away from us.
通过光谱线 我们得知宇宙正在膨胀 Using them, we discovered that our universe is expanding.
但也许光谱学最大的发现 But perhaps the greatest revelation of spectroscopy
是告知我们一个不可见的世界 is the discovery of the thing it cannot see.
一个充满暗物质的隐匿宇宙 A hidden universe of dark matter
比我们熟知的宇宙重了六倍 six times more massive than the familiar cosmos.
它由一些神秘的物质构成 It's made of some mysterious substance
它们既不发射 也不反射 吸收任何光 that does not emit, reflect or absorb any kind of light.
我们只知道它就在那里 We only know it's there
因为它的重力 because of its gravity,
吸引了所有星系 which pulls on all the galaxies
并让星系内的可见恒星加速运转 and speeds up the visible stars within them.
有许多种光是我们的眼睛看不见的 There are many more kinds of light than our eyes can see.
我们只能感知到自然中的可见光 Confining our perception of nature to visible light
就像听一首只有 is like listening to music
一个音阶的曲子 in only one octave.
还有许多别的光 There are so many more.
它们的区别只限于波长 They differ only in wavelength,
却跨越了巨大的范围 but over a huge range.
比如说 红外光 For instance, infrared light...
威廉·赫歇尔发现的光 the kind that William Herschel discovered
还有X光 Or X-ray light.
射电光 Or radio light.
还有伽马射线光 Or in gamma-ray light.
这些不仅仅是 These are not just different ways
观察事物的不同方式 of seeing the same thing.
这些不同的光 These other kinds of light
向我们展示了宇宙中的不同事物与现象 reveal different objects and phenomena in the cosmos.
举例来说 在伽马光中 In gamma-ray light, for example,
我们能看见遥远星系里的神秘爆炸 we can see mysterious explosions in distant galaxies
这在其他情况下是发现不了的 that we would otherwise miss.
而在微波光中 我们能看到 And in microwave light, we can see all the way back
宇宙诞生之初的样子 to the birth of the universe.
我们不过刚睁开眼睛而已 We have only just opened our eyes.