宇宙时空之旅（2014）

Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey S01E07

Part 3 April 25, 2021, 12:40 p.m.

Patterson realized he would have to boil his containers
把工具浸泡在酸里再提纯所需的化学物质
and tools in acid and purify all his chemicals
以减少实验室中的铅含量
to further reduce the lead in his lab.
-你好 -不
- Hey, you... Oh, I... - No!
我是新来的
I'm new here.
-请问卫生间在哪儿 -真该死
- Uh, where's the men's room? - Ugh, damn it.
加州理工学院
帕特森疯狂的清洗和消毒工作
All of Patterson's obsessive scouring and sterilizing
并没有帮助他解决这一问题
had still not solved the problem.
他得重新设计自己的实验室重头来过
He would need to design his own lab and build it from scratch.
哈里斯·布朗来到帕萨迪纳市加州理工学院后
The opportunity arose when Harrison Brown moved
邀请了帕特森参与他的工作
to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena
事情似乎有了转机
and invited Patterson to join him.
闲人免进
警告小心
限制区域闲人免进
好了汤姆够了
Okay, Tom, that's enough.
我们可以穿过这扇联锁门了
We can move through the interlock, now.
帕特森花了6年的时间
Patterson had now been at it for six years,
锲而不舍地净化
doggedly tracking down and eliminating
他的仪器中含有的
the many sources of lead
一切可能的铅来源
that were compromising his instruments.
他建造出了世界上第一间超净室
He had built the world's first ultra-clean room.
并最终掌握了测量岩石中
He was finally able to measure how much lead
铅含量的方法
was actually in the rock.
这样就知道岩石的年龄了
One whose age had already been established.
现在帕特森把研究目光
Now, at last, Patterson was ready
转向了陨铁
to tackle the iron meteorite,
以揭开地球的真实年龄
to find the true age of the Earth.
他把陨石样本
He brought his meteorite specimen
带去了阿贡国家实验室
back to the Argonne National Laboratory...
世界上最精确的质谱仪
Where the world's most accurate mass spectrometer
刚刚在那里投入使用
had just become operational.
博士可以明天再做吗
Doc, this can't wait till tomorrow?
好了小家伙我必须得把你汽化
Okay, little buddy, we're gonna have to vaporize you.
质谱仪在磁作用下
A mass spectrometer uses magnets
使样本中的元素分离
to separate the elements contained in a sample,
以测量其中每一种元素的含量
so that the amounts of each element can be quantified.
有关地球年龄之谜的最后一层面纱
This would provide the last missing piece
就要被揭开了
in the puzzle of the Earth's true age.
现在我要把你电离
Now I'm gonna ionize you, yeah.
听起来有点可怕
Sounds worse than it is.
朋友之间有什么电子呢
What's an electron between friends?
将样本隔离防止受到外界的铅污染
Having isolated the sample from any outside lead contamination,
帕特森最终测出了样本中的
Patterson was, at last, ready to measure the amount of lead
铅含量和铀含量
and uranium in the sample
并计算出了样本的形成时间
and calculate how many years before it had formed.
地球的真实年龄
The true age of the Earth.
感谢之前的各位科学家
Thank you to all the scientists who came before.
感谢各位地质学家
Thank you, geologists.
感谢查尔斯·莱伊尔
Thank you, Charles Lyell.
感谢迈克尔·法拉第
Thank you, Michael Faraday.
约瑟夫·约翰·汤姆森
J.J. Thomson.
厄恩斯特·卢瑟福
Ernest Rutherford.
感谢哈里森·布朗
Thank you, Harrison Brown.
地球形成至今已经有四十五亿年了
The world is four and a half billion years old.
铅含量地质年代图
我们做到了
We did it.
妈妈
Mom?
妈妈
Mom.
帕特森希望他的母亲
Patterson wanted his mother to be
成为第一个知道
the first person to know
他努力多年终于取得了成功
what he had struggled for so many years to discover.
得到了地球年龄
The true age of the Earth.
这一发现为他带来了什么呢
His reward for this discovery?
只有无尽的麻烦
A world of trouble.
他当时并不知情他的发现
He didn't know it, but he was on a collision course
和当时一些非常有影响力的人物产生了冲突
with some of the most powerful people on the planet.
对古罗马人来说
To the ancient Romans,
带着光环的土星不是一个真实的星球
the majestic ringed planet Saturn was not a real place,
不是另一个世界而是一位神
not a world, but a God King,
天神和地神结合之子
a son of the marriage of Heaven and Earth,
铅之神
the God of lead.
古罗马城市广场最古老的寺庙里
These columns are all that remain
只有这些柱子如今还留存至今
of this oldest temple in the Roman forum,
2500年前
first consecrated to Saturn
那里供奉着农业之神萨图尔努斯
2,500 years ago.
同时也是古罗马的国库
It also served as Rome's treasury
以及管理度量衡的部门
and its bureau of weights and measures.
今晚是农神节
Tonight is Saturnalia,
在这个属于萨图尔努斯的十二月的节日里
the wild December holiday in Saturn's honor.
人们的生活颠倒过来
And everyday life will be turned upside down.
在这一天里主人侍奉奴隶
The masters will serve the slaves,
没有战争和死刑
no wars or executions will be allowed,
人们交换礼物
and gifts will be exchanged.
以后的几百年里
A couple of hundred years from now,
早期的传教士为了吸引
when the early church fathers look for a way
更多的异教♥徒♥
to attract more pagans,
将农神节改为了圣诞节
they'll decide to turn Saturnalia into Christmas,
冬至节的目的几经改变
making it the latest in a long line
圣诞节是它最后变成的样子
of winter solstice holidays to be re-purposed.
农神节的夜晚萨图尔努斯的木质雕像
This towering wooden statue of Saturn may have looked like this
也许就像这个一样耸立着
on the night of Saturnalia.
可是在古罗马时期这位神有着阴暗的一面
But in ancient Rome, this God had another, darker side.
萨图尔努斯的另一面是阴郁呆滞的食尸鬼
That other Saturn is a cold and sullen, sluggish ghoul,
时常暴怒
given to irrational bouts of rage.
他对他的父亲犯下了令人发指的暴♥力♥罪行
He committed an unspeakable act of violence against his father,
并且吃掉了自己的孩子
and devoured his own children.
古罗马人通过肉眼观察
Of all the planets visible
发现在所有的行星当中
to the unaided eyes of the ancients,
土星的运行速度是最慢的
Saturn is the slowest,
因此它才被称之为
which could explain why it's named
铅之神
after the God of lead.
不可否认的是
But there's no denying
萨图尔努斯性格中的缺陷越多
that the more negative aspects of Saturn's personality
就越能反映出人们对于铅有毒的古老的认识
reflect the age-old knowledge of the symptoms of lead poisoning.
可罗马人真的很有意思
Funny thing about the Romans.
即使他们知道
Even though they knew
铅对人体有毒它会损害人体健康
that contact with lead inevitably poisoned people,
引发不育甚至使人失去理智
rendered them sterile and drove them mad,
可他们用什么金属建造
what metal did they use to make the pipes
那些用于送水的著名渡槽呢
that carried the water through their legendary aqueducts?
我给你们一个提示
I'll give you a hint.
"铅工业"一词来源于拉丁语中的
The word "Plumbing" Comes from the Latin word
"铅"一词
for lead, "Plumbum."
他们著名的浴池用什么金属修的呢
What metal did they use to line their famous baths?
当酒太酸的时候他们怎么使其变甜呢
And how did they sweeten their wines when they were too sour?
他们用什么镀在桶和锅内侧呢
What did they use to line their vats and cooking pots?
一些历史学家认为
There are some historians who believe
铅的大范围使用是造成
that the widespread use of lead was a major cause
古罗马帝国衰亡的重要原因
in the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.
为什么他们明知道铅有毒
Why did they continue to use lead
还是要使用铅呢
long after they knew it was toxic?
因为铅便宜且具有很好的延展性易于加工
It was cheap, very malleable, easy to work with,
那些接触到会使人致死的高铅含量的
and the ones who were exposed to it at its most lethal levels...
生产铅的矿工和工人
the miners and workers who processed the lead...
被看作可消耗品
were considered expendable.
他们的生命一文不值
Their lives didn't matter.
他们是奴隶
They were slaves.
大部分的铅都深埋在地下
Most of the Earth's lead started off at a safe distance
和地球上的生命保持了一段安全距离
from living things, down below the surface,
可大约在8500年前
but about 8,500 years ago,
人类开始学会了从地下的岩石中
humans began figuring out how to dig into the Earth