宇宙时空之旅（2014）

Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey S01E03

Part 5 April 25, 2021, 12:39 p.m.

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