你能看见我吗 Can you see me?
你能听见我吗 Can you hear me?
这是如何做到的 How?
我可能在数千千米之外 I could be thousands of miles away,
但是只要你随便打开一部 and yet, when you turn on whatever device
能把我的声音和图像传送过去的设备 is bringing my image and voice to you,
我就在那儿了 I'm there.
只需一瞬间 Instantaneously.
这是如何实现的 How is that possible?
对我们的祖先而言 To our ancestors,
这看起来像是巫术 it would've seemed like sorcery.
对他们来说 信息传递的速度 For them, speed of communication
不可能超过当时最快的马 was only as fast as the swiftest horse
或是船 or sailing ships.
我们的信息以光速无形地传播 Our messages travel invisibly at the speed of light.
我们是如何得到这神奇能力的 How did we attain such mythic powers?
一切都起始于一个人 It all began in the mind of one person.
一个身无分文的小孩 A child of poverty
人们对他本没有任何期待 of whom nothing was expected.
然而 如果没有这个人... In fact, if this man had not lived...
我们的世界可能就不会是现在这样 the world we know might not exist today.
本字幕由iMuZu原创翻译 最新下载请登录 www.ZiMuZu.tv
翻译 CogitoErgoSum
翻译 scarletteren
时间轴 雨之
后期 吉吉
校对/总监 OBAFGKM
宇宙 时空之旅
或早或晚 Sooner or later,
也许有人能想出 someone would've likely figured out
他的一些发现 some of his discoveries.
但是如果没有迈克尔·法拉第 But if Michael Faraday had never lived,
我们很可能仍像 we might still be living
我们17世纪的祖先一样生活着 as our ancestors did in the 17th century.
尚未意识到 Unaware
无形的仆人们正列队等待我们发号施令 of armies of invisible servants awaiting our commands.
这是一个我们如何学会 This is the story of how we learned
驱使电子为我们服务的故事 to make electrons do our bidding.
某种意义上 这起始于 In a way, it begins
历史上最伟大的天才 with the greatest genius who ever lived--
艾萨克·牛顿 Isaac Newton.
这里是乌尔索浦 牛顿的故乡 This is Woolsthorpe, Newton's ancestral home.
他曾走过这些草地 在此冥思苦想 He walked these fields, tormented by mystery.
牛顿 这个想出了公式 Newton, the man who figured out the formula
解释行星如何围绕太阳运行的人 for the motions of the planets around the Sun,
想要知道 wanted to know
太阳是如何不用直接接触 how does the Sun make the planets act that way
而使行星那样运行的 without touching them?
苹果为什么都要下落 How do all the apples know how to fall?
另一位天才为这个难题的 Another genius was puzzled by another aspect
另一方面困惑着 of the same mystery.
瞧 儿子 You see, son?
不管我如何旋转指南针 No matter how I turn the compass,
指针总是指向同一个方向 the needle always points the same way.
除非... Except...
这是怎么回事 But how?
它们并没有接触 They do not touch.
你还没说"谢谢"呢 阿尔伯特 I didn't hear a "Thank you," Albert.
我至今仍记得这一幕 I can still remember this.
它给我留下了深刻而 The experience made a deep
持久的印象 and lasting impression on me.
有些东西必深藏于 Something deeply hidden
事物之间 had to be behind things.
在牛顿和爱因斯坦生活的时代之间 Between the lifetimes of Einstein and Newton,
还出现了另一位 there lived another genius,
可与他们比肩的天才 one of equal stature.
他解决了困扰牛顿的难题 The man who solved the mystery that stumped Newton,
并为爱因斯坦革命性的思想奠定了基础 also laid the foundation for Einstein's revolutionary insights.
也促成了我们现代生活方式的形成 And for the way we live now.
1791年 在伦敦郊外 In 1791, in a squalid slum
一个肮脏的贫民窟里 in the suburbs of London,
迈克尔·法拉第出生了 -- Michael Faraday was born.
他在学校成绩平平 He showed little promise at school.
请告诉我们一个 Pray tell us a word that begins
以R开头的单词 with the letter R.
哪个呢 Well?
屋[兔]子 Wabbit?
这个词读作"兔子" The word is "Rabbit."
重复一遍 这次要说对 Once again, and correctly this time.
屋子 Wabbit?
你在嘲笑我吗 Do you mock me?
我没告诉过你 Have I not told you how
如何发字母R的音吗 to pronounce the letter R?
你至少能正确说出自己的名字吧 Surely you can at least tell us your name?
迈克尔 "法瓦第" 女士 Michael "Fawaday," Ma'am.
拿这半便士 Take this ha'penny,
去给我买根教鞭 and buy me a cane,
我要好好鞭挞一下 so that I may give your insolent brother
你这个粗鲁无礼的弟弟 a proper flogging.
史料中再也没有迈克尔·法拉第 History does not record that Michael Faraday
去学校念书的记载 ever attended school again.
和他的家人一样 法拉第笃信基督教思想 Faraday took his family's fundamentalist Christian faith to heart.
这始终是给予他力量 It would always remain a source of strength,
慰藉和谦逊的源泉 comfort and humility for him.
13岁时他被送到一个装订厂工作 He was sent to work at a bookbindery at the age of 13.
白天 他装订书籍 By day, he bound the books,
夜里 and by night,
他阅读书籍 he read them.
他对电的一生痴迷 It was the beginning of a lifelong fascination
就是从此时开始的 with electricity.
在装订厂工作数年后 After years of working in the bookbindery,
21岁的法拉第 Faraday, now 21,
向往更广阔的世界 yearned to escape to a larger world.
他的机会来了 His big break came
一位客户给他了一张门票 when a customer gave him a ticket
去参观一种新奇刺激的娱乐 to a sensational new kind of entertainment--
大众科学 science for the public.
一切正是从这里开始 And it started right here
伦敦的英国皇家研究院 at London's Royal Institution.
汉弗里·戴维不仅是当时 Humphry Davy was not only
首屈一指的科学家之一 one of the leading scientists of his day,
他发现了好几种化学元素 he discovered several the chemical elements,
其中包括钙和钠 including calcium and sodium.
他也是一位技艺精湛的表演家 He was also a consummate showman.
电现象的真实展示 And primitive demonstrations of electricity
总是能取悦观众 never failed as a crowd pleaser.
请把灯光 May we have
调暗一点 the lights lowered, please?
我将要释放出 I am about to unleash the might
置于我们脚下地下室中的 of the 2,000 massive chemical batteries
2000个大型化学电池的威力 stored in the cellar beneath our feet.
看吧 这蕴藏着神奇力量的电流 And now, behold the power of the mysterious force
将照亮我们的未来 of electrical fluid to illuminate our future.
法拉第忙于记录而忘了鼓掌 Faraday was too busy taking notes to applaud.
法拉第把戴维的讲座做了笔录 Faraday created a transcript of Davy's lecture.
利用他在装订厂学到的技术 Using the skills he had learned as an apprentice,
把它们装订成这本书 he bound them into this book.
或许这份礼物能为他获得 Perhaps such a gift would bring him to the attention
这位大人物的注意 of the great man.
或许这会是他进入一片广阔天地的 Maybe this gesture could be his means of escape
敲门砖 to a much larger universe.
你好 先生 Good day, sir.
希望您能把这个包裹交给汉弗里爵士 I wish you to deliver this parcel to Sir Humphry.
尽管希望渺茫 It was a long shot, anyway.
法拉第还是相信能有所收获 But Faraday hoped something would come of it.
他确实等到了 And it did.
实验已经准备好了 先生 Uh, the experiment is ready for you now, sir.
安培:安德烈-马里·安培 法国化学家 物理学家 数学家 杜隆:皮埃尔·路易·杜隆 法国化学家
安培告诉我可怜的杜隆为做这个实验 Ampere tells me that poor Dulong lost an eye
事实上是两根 原文有误
失去了一只眼睛三根手指 and three fingers working with this.
我的眼睛 My eyes!
这位世界著名的科学家汉弗里·戴维 When a chemical experiment blew up in the face
在一次化学实验时炸伤了面部 of the world-renowned scientist Humphry Davy,
他想到了迈克尔·法拉第 he remembered Michael Faraday,
这个曾不辞辛劳将自己的讲座 the lad who had gone through such lengths
记录下来并装订成书的年轻人 to copy down and bind the transcript of his lecture.
你的记忆力是一流的 年轻人 You have a first-rate memory, young man.
我现在需要一个临时秘书 And I shall have temporary need of a secretary.
先生 为科学服务是我的梦想 Sir, I dream of a life in service to science.
我倒是劝你好好做书籍装订就行了 I would advise you to stick to the bookbinding.
科学是一位苛刻的情人 Science is a harsh mistress.
毫无疑问 仅凭你的地位和能力 Surely, a person of your station and modest means
只能去经商了 must have a trade.
经商是险恶和自私的 Trade is vicious and selfish.
为科学献身的人才是可敬的 Men of science are amiable
道德崇高的 and morally superior.
我想我是你遇到的第一个 I take it I'm the first man of science
为科学献身的人吧 you've ever met.
法拉第成了戴维不可或缺的助手 Faraday made himself indispensable to Davy.
临时工作成了固定的职业 The temporary job became a permanent one,
皇家研究院成了他一生的家 and the Royal Institution became his lifelong home.
白天 他是戴维的实验室助手 By day, he assisted Davy in the lab,
下班后 他爬上楼梯 at day's end, he climbed the stairs
回到自己的小屋 to the little apartment
心爱的新娘撒拉在家等着他 where his beloved bride Sarah was waiting.
汉弗里·戴维和化学家威廉·沃勒斯顿 Humphry Davy and the chemist William Wollaston
正在研究一种神秘的现象 were experimenting with a mysterious phenomenon,
一种可能有着深远意义的现象 one with potentially far-reaching implications.
汉斯·奥斯特 丹麦物理学家 化学家和文学家
这就是和奥斯特一样的实验设置 This is the identical setup to Orsted's.
现在闭合开关 戴维 仔细观察 Now close the circuit, Davy, and watch closely.
是什么使指针偏离电线的呢 What could be driving the needle away from the wire?
如果我知道就好了 Damned if I know.
似乎是电流 But it's as if the electric current
使电线变得像磁铁一样 makes the wire behave like some kind of magnet.
电和磁一定有着某种关系 Electricity must have something to do with magnetism.
如果我们能让它持续不断转动的话 Now if we could only get it to turn continuously,
如果我们能用这些力来工作的话 imagine what might be accomplished
将是多么伟大的成就 if we could put these forces to work.
先收拾一下吧 法拉第 After you've tidied up, Faraday,
然后看看你能用它做点什么 you might see what you can make of it.
听起来戴维只是在跟自己 Davy may have been having a bit of fun
年轻的助手开玩笑 at the expense of his young assistant,
但是法拉第却当真了 but Faraday was on fire.
到现在为止 电还只不过是用来 Up to now, electricity had been nothing more
供人娱乐的新奇玩具而已 than an entertaining novelty toy.
它能一瞬间发出闪光 It could make a light flash for an instant
或是使指南针暂时发生偏转 or turn a compass needle briefly,
但却没有任何实际应用 but it had no practical application.
法拉第立即着手设计实验 Faraday immediately set about designing the experiment,
把自己的空余时间都花在了这个问题上 devoting every moment of his spare time to the problem.
如果法拉第成功了 If Faraday succeeded,
他就能使这只由数不胜数的 不可见的 he would be putting an infinitely large, invisible,
尚未被发现的电子所组成的军队 and as-yet-undiscovered army of electrons
为人类所驱使 at the command of human whim.
这样一场革命是如何开始的呢 How does a revolution begin?
有时你并不需要大动干戈 Sometimes it doesn't take much.
只需一块金属 一碗水银 A piece of metal, a bowl of mercury,
一些软木塞 a bit of cork.
亲爱的撒拉 快叫你弟弟下来 Sarah dear, send your little brother down.
我要实验些新东西了 I'm about to try something new,
我想让他看看 and I want him to see it.
你来开吧 乔第 Why don't you do the honors, Georgie.
动起来啦 There she goes.
动起来啦 There she goes!
这就是第一台电动机 This was the first motor
把电流转化成连续的机械运动 converting electric current into continuous mechanical motion.
看起来很简陋 对吧 Looks pretty feeble, right?
但这根转动的轴 But that turning spindle
却是一场革命的开始 is the beginning of a revolution,
这场革命 one that dwarfs all the shots fired
对于人类文明影响之大 and bombs ever detonated
远超所有技术革新的之总和 in the sheer magnitude of its effect on our civilization.
试想一下 所有的商业 Try to imagine all the businesses,
工业 技术 industries, technologies,
以及我们生活方式的变革 transformations of the way we live
都起始于迈克尔·法拉第 that have their beginnings in that ecstatic moment
在实验室中那令人陶醉的一刻 in Michael Faraday's laboratory.
法拉第的发明很快传开了 News of Faraday's invention spread quickly,
突然之间 戴维的助手成了伦敦的大红人 and suddenly, Davy's assistant was the toast of London.
戴维心里很不是滋味 Davy didn't take it well.
毕竟他发现了那许多的化学元素 He had, after all, discovered all those elements.
而现在人们却说 他最大的发现 Now people were saying that his greatest discovery
是迈克尔·法拉第 was Michael Faraday.
戴维不想让法拉第 Davy made sure that Faraday
再抢去他的风头 wouldn't be making any more headlines anytime soon.
您叫我吗 先生 You sent for me, sir?
我给你一项新的挑战 I have a new challenge for you.
我想让你去接管 I want you to take over our efforts
改进英国光学玻璃质量的任务 to improve the quality of British optical glass.
那些可恶的巴伐利亚人 Those damned Bavarians
正在向我们炫耀呢 are running circles around us.
玻璃 Glass?
恕我直言 先生 With all due respect, sir,
我对玻璃制造一窍不通啊 I know nothing at all of glass-making.
那你从头学起吧 法拉第 Then you will learn, Faraday.
我们都知道你可是学得很快的 We all know what a quick study you are.
只需分析一下他们玻璃的化学成分 Just analyze the chemical composition of their glass
反过来就知道他们是如何制造玻璃的了 and work backwards to see how they made it.
应该不会花费你太多时间的 It shouldn't take you long.
然而法拉第努力研究了四年 But Faraday struggled for four years
却一无所获 without any success.
这批玻璃更糟糕了 This is even worse than the last batch.
不管他如何努力尝试 No matter how hard he tried,
法拉第还是无法参透约瑟夫·夫琅和费 Faraday could not figure out what Joseph Fraunhofer
数年前的这项发明 had discovered years before.
法拉第未能领悟的是 What Faraday failed to grasp
铸造望远镜用的完美光学玻璃 was that casting perfect optical glass for telescopes
是一门科学也是一项技术 was a craft as well as a science,
巴伐利亚的工匠大师们对其秘而不宣 and the masters in Bavaria kept their secrets under lock and key.
法拉第当然无法获取他们的秘密 Faraday never did learn their secret.
他保留了一块玻璃砖 He kept a single glass brick
作为这次失败的纪念品 as a souvenir of this failure.
数年之后 它会改变法拉第的人生轨迹 Years later, it would change the course of his life...
以及我们的 and ours.
戴维的离世为这项毫无建树的工作划上了句号 Davy's death finally brought an end to this fruitless project,
法拉第 这个来自贫民窟的小男孩 and Faraday, the boy from the slums,
成为了继任的实验室主管 succeeded him as Director of the Laboratory.
法拉第利用他的新权威 Faraday used his new authority
开办了一系列史无前例的 to do something unprecedented--
专为青少年举办的年度圣诞科学讲座 a series of annual Christmas lectures on science for the young...
从1825年开始 beginning in 1825
延续至今 and continuing to this day.
1855年 迈克尔·法拉第 《常见金属的独特性质》
1900年 罗伯特·斯德威尔·鲍尔 《自然之书的伟大篇章》
1937年 朱利安·赫胥黎 《稀有动物和野生动物的消失》
1964年 德斯蒙德·莫利斯 《动物行为》
1973年 大卫·阿滕伯勒 《动物语言》
1977年 卡尔·萨根 《行星》
1991年 理查德·道金斯 《在宇宙中成长》
1994年 苏珊·格林菲尔德 《大脑中心之旅》
在早年的一场圣诞讲座中 At one of the first Christmas lectures,
法拉第所展示的 Faraday enchanted his audience
他掌握的这种新力量 让观众们为之着迷 with displays of the new powers that were at his disposal.
假如我想引爆一堆火药 Suppose I want to fire a portion of gunpowder.
我就可以用电的力量来做 I can readily do it with the power of electricity.
如果电流从导线流经我 If I receive electricity through this conducting wire,
我就可以再把电传导给我碰到的东西 I can then give it to anything I touch.
但我必须站在绝缘的玻璃腿的凳子上 But I must stand on these insulating glass legs
以防电流传到地板中去了 to prevent the electricity from going away into the floor.
现在我带电了 Now I am electrified!
你们相信我现在只用手指碰一下 Do you think I could light this gas jet
就能点燃这盏煤气灯吗 just by touching it with my finger?
不 别这样做 不要 No, don't do it! No!
不 不要 No! Don't!
注意哦 不要在家里尝试这么做 Now, mind you, don't try this at home.
现在 孩子们 你们已经亲眼目睹了 And now, my children, you have seen for yourselves
电的无形力量 how this invisible force of electricity
可以完成一些以我们现在的能力 can be made to serve new purposes
完全无法办到的新事情 utterly unattainable by the powers we have now.
可持续工作的电动机的发明 The invention of a motor that could work continuously,
免除了人类无数小时的苦力劳役 eliminating countless human hours of drudgery,
这足以使你发一笔横财 would be more than enough to make you a fortune
并让你名垂青史 and land you in the history books.
但法拉第并没有这样做 But that's not how Michael Faraday saw it.
他对于为他的发明申请专利毫无兴趣 He had absolutely no interest in patenting his ideas
也没想过要从中大赚一笔 or personally profiting from them.
至于名垂青史 And as for the history books,
他也只为这部浩瀚长卷 he had only written the first sentence
写下了第一句 of an entry that would be many pages long.
安德生先生 能请您把灯调暗一些吗 Mr. Anderson, may I ask you to dim the lights, please?
先生们 我将要只通过移动一块磁铁 Gentlemen, I am about to induce a current of electricity
来制造出电流 merely by moving a magnet.
当我移动磁铁时 Please observe what happens
请观察两段导线的间隙处 in the gap between the wires when I do so.
你们看到了吗 Do you see how the current only flows
只有当磁铁移动时才有电流经过 when the magnet is moving?
这是把运动转化成电流 This is the conversion of motion into electricity.
这就是第一台发电机 This was the first generator.
从此 电流便可在需要时产生 From here, electricity would become available on demand.
法拉第不断地改变着这个世界 Faraday was continuing to change the world
和人们的生活 and the way people lived,
然而 突如其来地 and then, suddenly,
他那无与伦比的头脑被一种疾病侵袭 an illness attacked his incomparable mind.
克里斯蒂安·弗雷德日·舍恩拜因 化学家
亲爱的舍恩拜 My dear Schoenbein,
我很想知道您关于... I would be very grateful to have your opinion regarding...
关于... Regarding...
亲爱的舍恩拜因... 关于...
我亲爱的丈夫 怎么了 My dear husband, whatever is the matter?
我给舍恩拜因写信 I began a letter to Schoenbein
但是我想不起来我要写什么了 and could not remember what I meant to say.
别担心 This is no cause for alarm.
你工作太辛苦了 You work too hard.
-你累坏了 -不 - You're exhausted. - No.
撒拉 这次不一样 Sarah, this is different.
截然不同 Horribly different.
这是几天以来我第三次记不起东西了 It's the third time my memory has failed me in as many days.
我恐怕是正在逐渐失忆 I fear I'm losing my mind.
失忆的我又有什么用呢 And what would I be without that?
为什么这么想 你依然是我亲爱的丈夫 Why, my darling husband, of course.
当法拉第49岁时 When Faraday was 49,
他开始与严重失忆和抑郁症搏斗 he began to battle severe memory loss and depression.
他的事业遭遇瓶颈 His work came to a standstill.
虽然他从未痊愈 And although he never fully recovered,
但他最伟大的成就依然在前方等待他 his greatest achievements still lay ahead.
法拉第忘我地投身于 Faraday had immersed himself so deeply
电和磁的实验中 in electrical and magnetic experiments
他设想 一块磁铁周围的空间中 that he came to visualize the space around a magnet
充满了无数看不见的磁力线 as filled with invisible lines of force.
磁不仅仅是你能看到的 A magnet was not simply the magnetized bar of iron
一块磁化了的铁 that you could see.
它也是磁铁周围空间内 It was also the unseen something
看不见的一种东西 in the space around the bar.
他称之为场 And that something he called a field.
磁场 A magnetic field.
法拉第相信自然的统一性 Faraday believed in the unity of nature.
证明了电和磁的联系之后 Having demonstrated the connections between electricity and magnetism,
他猜想 这两种力是不是 he wondered, were these two forces
也与第三种现象 光 有关系 also connected to a third-- light?
如果他能展示出 If he could only show a connection
这三种看不见的现象之间的关系 among these three invisible phenomena,
那么最终 自然界最本质的秘密之一 one of nature's most intimate secrets
将被揭开 would at last be revealed.
那么 他是怎样做的呢 So, what did he do?
他设计了一个实验 He designed an experiment.
法拉第知道 光以波的形式传播 Faraday knew that light can travel as a wave.
光波随机向各个方向振动 Waves of light vibrate randomly in all directions.
但还是有办法将某种特定的光波分离出来 But there's a way to isolate a single wave of light.
这被称作偏振 It's called polarization.
当光被反射面 比如镜子 When light bounces off a reflective surface,
反射回来时 like a mirror,
它就成为偏振光 it becomes polarized.
法拉第想知道 Faraday wanted to see
一束偏振光能不能 if that single ray of light
被看不见的磁场控制 could be manipulated by the invisible magnetic field.
这种目镜中间有一块水晶 The eyepiece contained a crystal
就如同一道栅栏挡住了光线 that acted as a kind of picket fence for light.
光只有在被磁铁改变了 Light could only pass through it
才能穿过它 if it was somehow moved by the magnet.
他在镜子前放了一盏灯 He placed a lantern before a mirror,
只有在它的反射光穿过栅栏时 one that he would only see through the eyepiece
他才能从目镜中看见这盏灯 if its reflection could pass through the picket fence.
如果你觉得这很难理解 别灰心 If this is hard to understand, don't feel bad.
此后的100年里 科学家仍然无法 Scientists could not explain this phenomenon
解释这个现象 for another 100 years.
法拉第发现 磁力对于空气中传播的光 Faraday knew that magnetism had no effect on light
没有影响 that was moving through air.
但如果是在其他物质中传播的光 情况如何 But what about when it was moving through other materials?
他可以采用什么物质 So what kind of material could he use
让磁场改变光呢 to help the magnet move the light?
氨水
他尝试了数百种不同的 He tried hundreds of different
硫酸
透明的化学药品和其他物品 transparent chemicals and objects...
但目镜中仍然什么也看不到 but saw nothing through the eyepiece.
光没有被磁场扭转 The light was not twisted by the magnet.
他尝试过方解石结晶 He tried crystals of calcite,
碳酸钠 sodium carbonate,
硫酸钙 calcium sulfate,
他依然什么也没看见 and still, he saw nothing.
他也尝试过酸 He tried acids.
硫酸 Sulfuric acid,
盐酸 muriatic acid,
碳酸 carbonic acid.
他还尝试了各种气体 He tried gasses...
氧气 氮气 氢气 oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen...
没有成果 with no success.
磁场对于这些物质中的光 The magnetic field induced in these substances
不起作用 could not twist the light
都不能让他看到灯光 from his lamp back into view.
该死 Damn!
他陷入了绝望 决定尝试一下玻璃砖 In desperation, he decided to try the glass brick,
他年复一年地被戴维使唤所得的纪念品 the souvenir of his years of bondage to Davy.
奇迹发生了 It did the trick.
磁力使光线扭转 The force of the magnet twisted the light
使光线穿过了水晶 so that it could pass through the crystal.
那有什么大不了的 So, what's the big deal?
法拉第向我们展示了 Faraday had demonstrated the existence
物理事实就存在于我们身边 of the physical reality that surrounds us,
但前人未曾发觉 but which no one had ever been able to detect.
这真是一种戏剧性的突破 It was as dramatic a breakthrough
就像人们第一次从天文望远镜中观察宇宙 as seeing the cosmos for the very first time through a telescope.
法拉第向我们展示 By showing that an electromagnetic force
电磁力能操纵光 could manipulate light,
他发现了自然界更深层次的统一性 Faraday had discovered a deeper unity of nature.
他不仅为爱因斯坦打开了一扇门 He had opened a door for Einstein
而且影响了之后所有的物理学家 and all the physicists who came after him
能够一睹宇宙中最基本的隐秘力量 to glimpse the interplay of hidden, primal forces
之间的相互作用 in the universe.
即使在他达到智慧巅峰之时 Even as he approached the summit of his genius,
抑郁症和对记忆力的怀疑 he was plagued by depression
也深深困扰着他 and doubts about his ability
他怀疑自己能不能记住最简单的想法 to retain even the simplest thoughts.
我亲爱的朋友 我发现自己很难回复 My dear friend, I find a difficulty in answering
甚至是正确理解科学信件 or even acknowledging properly a scientific letter,
因为我现在一秒钟都记不住东西 for I cannot now hold it at once in my mind.
我的记忆日渐衰退 The memory of the parts fail me.
又及 这封短信的语气 P.S. You will be sorry to see
肯定会让你感到遗憾 the tone of this short note,
但我最亲爱的丈夫的健康不如往日 but my dearest husband is not quite so well as usual,
我希望他能有所好转 but I hope he will improve.
你最诚挚的撒·法拉第 Yours very truly, S. Faraday.
年轻时 法拉第自贫困中崛起 As a young man, Faraday had risen from poverty,
在世界上最注重等级的社会中成长 in one of the most class-conscious societies the world has ever known,
一跃成为那时最声誉卓著的科学家 to become the most celebrated scientist of his time.
在他40岁时 他发明了电动机 By age 40, he had invented the electric motor,
变压器 发电机 the transformer, the generator,
这些机器改变了家庭 machines that would change everything about the home,
农场 工厂中的一切 the farm, the factory.
现在 在这位伟大的物理学家60岁时 Now, at 60, decades after the fertile periods
他早已过了成果累累的时期 of the greatest physicists,
失忆和忧郁折磨着他 plagued by memory loss and melancholy,
但他无畏地继续深入探索 he fearlessly probed deeper
那看不见的神秘力量 into the mysterious invisible forces.
世人都以为迈克尔·法拉第已成为历史了 The world thought that Michael Faraday was a has-been.
尽管被抑郁困扰 Despite his depression,
他的好奇心依然强烈 一如从前 he remained as passionately curious as ever.
在发现了电 磁和光的统一性后 Having discovered the unity of electricity, magnetism and light,
法拉第想知道 Faraday needed to know
自然界中这三种力量是如何共同作用的 how this trinity of natural forces work together.
这就是女士们走过的路 This is the way the ladies walk...
这不是什么新鲜事儿 This was nothing new.
孩子们已经玩磁铁和铁屑 Children had been playing with magnets
玩了几个世纪了 and iron filings for centuries.
每个人都认为这些有趣的图案 Everyone had always assumed that this lovely pattern
是铁在起作用 was just something that iron did.
法拉第知道 电流能把导线变成磁铁 Faraday knew that electric current turns a wire into a magnet,
所以他希望能在通电导线周围的铁屑中 so he expected to find related patterns in iron filings
找到类似的图案 around a wire carrying electricity.
其他人只看到有趣的图案 But where others saw merely lovely shapes,
法拉第发现了更深奥的东西 Faraday saw something profound.
这些图案不是由铁屑形成的 The patterns were not simply a quirk of iron filings;
它们存在于磁铁以及电路 they existed in the space around a magnet
周围的空间 or an electric current,
即使没有铁屑 even in the absence of iron filings.
这些图案就是蛛丝马迹 脚印 The patterns were the traces, the footprints
来自看不见的力 of invisible fields of force,
存在于任何带有磁性的物体周围 that reached out into the space around anything magnetic.
千百年来 人们对指南针的指针感到惊讶 The compass needle that people wondered at for a thousand years
其实它并不是对遥远的磁北极有所反应 was not reacting to some far away magnetic North Pole.
而是它探测到了来自磁北极的 It was detecting a continuous force field
连续不断的磁力场 that stretched all the way there.
地球本身就是一块大磁铁 Earth itself is a giant magnet.
和其他磁铁一样 And like any other magnet,
它的磁力线向四周延伸 its lines of force extend far out
深入地球周围的宇宙空间 into the space surrounding it.
它们在我们身边 无处不在 They're everywhere, all around us.
一直如此 They've always been.
但之前未曾有人注意到 But nobody had ever noticed them before.
准确来说是没有人类 Nobody human, that is.
鸟类是恐龙仅存的后裔 Birds are the last living descendants of the dinosaurs.
鸽子以及其他鸟类 Pigeons and other birds
对于寻找飞行路线极其在行 are remarkably good at finding their way around.
它们可以迁徙上千千米却不迷路 They can migrate thousands of miles without getting lost.
如何做到 一部分原因是识别沿途地标 How? Partly by recognizing familiar landmarks--
河流 山脉 星辰 rivers, mountains, stars.
候鸟甚至将某种气味 Even certain smells can serve as signposts
作为路标 for migrating birds.
但是鸟类也有内置罗盘 But birds also have an inner compass.
它们能感受到地磁场 They can actually sense the Earth's magnetic field.
它们的大脑能像我们的大脑处理视觉数据一样 Their brains process magnetic data in much the same way
处理磁数据 ours process visual data.
利用感受到的磁场方向 By sensing the direction of the field,
鸟类就能分辨南北 birds can tell north from south.
这就是为何北美鸟类 That's one way North American birds know which way to go
能够找到冬季南迁的路 when they head south for the winter.
两极的磁场强于 The field is stronger near the poles
赤道的磁场 than it is at the equator,
这就是鸟类推断纬度的办法 a fact that birds use to figure out their latitude.
磁场也有一些微小的不规则之处 There are also small irregularities in the field,
存在一些地方 locations where the field
磁场稍强或稍弱 is a little weaker or stronger.
就好像独特的山脉或河流 Just like a distinctive mountain or river,
这些磁场反常也可以作为地标 these magnetic anomalies can serve as landmarks.
千百年来 人们用信鸽 For thousands of years, humans have used carrier pigeons
向远方发送信息 to send messages to distant locations.
在二战中仍是非常重要的通讯方式 It was a crucial method of communication as recently as World War II.
当你想起时 这么长时间以来 When you think about it, we've been using
我们都一直在用磁场沟通 magnetic fields to communicate for a long time.
我们只不过没有察觉 We just didn't know it.
那么究竟是为什么地球有磁场呢 So why does our planet have a magnetic field at all?
是什么引起磁场 What causes it?
答案深埋于地球内部 The answer lies deep inside the Earth.
当地球自转时 液态铁环绕着 Liquid iron, circulating around the solid part of the core
固体的地核旋转 as Earth rotates,
就像通电导线一样 acts like a wire carrying an electric current.
正如法拉第展示给我们的 And as Faraday showed us,
电流能产生磁场 electric currents produce magnetic fields.
这对人类而言是件好事 And that's a good thing.
我们的磁场保护我们免遭宇宙射线的攻击 Our magnetic field protects us from the onslaught of cosmic rays,
宇宙射线对生物圈危害极大 which would be very damaging to our biosphere.
宇宙射线能穿透DNA Cosmic rays can rip through DNA.
如果没有磁场 生物体的变异几率 Without our magnetic field, the rate of mutation in living organisms
将大大提高 would be much higher.
幸运的是 大多数的宇宙射线 Fortunately, most of this cosmic shrapnel
都被范艾伦辐射带吸收了 gets trapped in the Van Allen belts,
磁场把带电粒子聚集在一起 donut-shaped zones of charged particles
形成了这个面包圈状的空间 corralled by our magnetic shield.
知道地球本身就是一块大磁铁之后 Knowing that the Earth itself is like a giant bar magnet
我们就可以解释天空中最美的景色之一 explains one of the most beautiful sights in the sky,
极光 the aurora.
太阳释放出的带电粒子 太阳风 Charged particles from the Sun, the solar wind,
无休止地轰击着地球 are constantly bombarding the Earth.
你可以把太阳风当成一种电流 You can think of the solar wind as a kind of electric current.
地球的磁场 Our planet's magnetic field
引导这股电流到南极和北极 channels that current towards the North and South Poles.
当它碰撞大气层时 When it hits our atmosphere,
空气中的氧气分子和氮气分子 the oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the air
就像巨大的日光灯一样发光 glow like giant fluorescent lightbulbs.
当法拉第致力于 When Faraday pursued
他最后也是影响最为深远的发现时 his last and most profound discovery,
他儿时的贫困 the poverty of his childhood
前所未有地阻碍着他 stymied him as it never had before.
他急需帮助 He needed help
一个与他出身截然不同的人帮助了他 and found it in one who had come from another world.
迈克尔·法拉第解决了 Michael Faraday had solved the mystery
困扰艾萨克·牛顿的谜团 that baffled Isaac Newton.
这就是太阳如何不与行星接触 This was how the Sun told the planets how to move
而使之移动 without touching them.
太阳的确以它的引力场 The Sun does touch the planets
接触到行星 with its gravitational field,
地球的引力场 and Earth's gravitational field
告诉苹果如何落地 tells the apples how to fall.
一切都是一场梦 All this is a dream.
不幸的是 这是他的科学家同事 Unfortunately, that was the prevailing view
普遍认同的观点 among his fellow scientists.
法拉第痴人说梦 Faraday was dreaming.
他们对他的创造力崇敬有加 They admired his inventiveness
也十分敬佩他在实验领域的才华 and his genius for experimentation,
但是他们认为 看不见的"力线" but they regarded his invisible "Lines of force"
以及他关于光和引力的想法纯属臆造 and his ideas about light and gravity as hand-waving,
没有任何事实可以支持他的想法 meaning there was nothing solid to back it up.
有人公开嘲笑他的理论 Some openly ridiculed his theories.
他们需要看到他的理论 They needed to see his ideas expressed
以现代物理学的语言解释 in the language of modern physics,
即精确的数学方程 precise equations.
这个领域 This was the one area
法拉第因童年贫困 where Faraday's childhood poverty
缺少正式教育 and lack of formal education
阻碍他继续前进 actually held him back.
他给不出数学方程 He couldn't do the math.
法拉第最终遇到了他无法跨越的障碍 Faraday had finally hit a wall that he could not overcome.
这时 19世纪最伟大的 And then, the greatest theoretical physicist
理论物理学家出现了 of the 19th century came along.
詹姆斯·克拉克·麦克斯韦 James Clerk Maxwell
出生于富有而显赫的家族 was born into a world of wealth and privilege,
人到中年的父母对这个独生子溺爱有加 an only child of doting middle-aged parents.
在他20岁出头时 他身为数学家 By his early 20s, he had made a name for himself
已经名声斐然 as a mathematician.
其他科学家一想到法拉第 While other scientists had come to think of Faraday
都觉得他是一个过时的历史遗老 as old-fashioned; a great figure of the past
跟物理学的未来没什么联系 but no part of the future of physics,
詹姆斯·克拉克·麦克斯韦知道 并非如此 James Clerk Maxwell knew better.
他开始阅读 He began by reading everything
法拉第在电学领域的所有著作 Faraday had written on electricity.
他坚信 法拉第所说的力场 He became convinced that Faraday's fields of force
是真实存在的 他开始赋予它们 were real, and he set out to give them
精确的数学公式 a precise mathematical formulation.
《论法拉第力线》 詹姆斯·克拉克·麦克斯韦
物理学中的数学方程是 An equation in physics is just a shorthand description
空间和时间中物理现象的精炼表述 of something that can be represented in space and time.
例如 描述摆线的方程 For instance, the equation that describes the arc of a pendulum
说明它不可能摆动得比起始点高 shows that it can never swing higher than its initial height.
当麦克斯韦将法拉第的电磁学实验现象 When Maxwell translated Faraday's experimental observation
转换为数学方程时 on electromagnetic fields into equations,
他发现了非对称性 he discovered an asymmetry.
看到下方的那行了吗 See that bottom one?
它急切需要某些东西 It cries out for something else.
麦克斯韦是一位伟大的数学家 Great mathematician that he was,
他在其后加了一个单项用来平衡方程式 Maxwell added a single term to balance it.
方程式的这一调整将法拉第的静态磁场 This tweaking of the equation changed Faraday's static field
变为能以光速向外传播的波 into waves that spread outward at the speed of light.
没过多久 人类就发现了用这些波 It wasn't long before we found a way to turn those waves...
传递信息的方法 into couriers for our messages.
你能看见我吗 Can you see me?
你能听见我吗 Can you hear me?
这就是根源 This is how.
这项技术改写了人类的文明 This technology has transformed human civilization
把世界从一个个拼接起来的城市 from a patchwork of cities,
小镇和村庄 towns and villages
变成一个信息互通的社会组织 into an intercommunicating organism...
信息以光速进行传播 linking us at light speed...
连接地球上的每一个人 to each other...
甚至宇宙 and to the cosmos.
"世界上的一切都有可能如此美好 "Nothing is too wonderful to be true,
"只要它符合自然规律" 法拉第 "if it be consistent with the laws of nature."