宇宙时空之旅：未知世界（2020）

Cosmos: Possible Worlds S01E10

Part 2 Aug. 24, 2022, 10:55 a.m.

rocks, rich in uranium, possess these strange
这激起了玛丽的科学好奇心
properties inspired Marie on her scientific quest.
深棕色的矿石还混杂着松叶
The dull brown ore, still mixed with pine needles,
来自今日捷克所在的东欧地区
came from the part of Eastern Europe that is now the Czech Republic.
但是这项原料非常稀有
But this material was very rare.
即便只是提取一丁点数量
And even to distill a tiny amount of it required
都要耗费极长的时间和劳力
the most lengthy and labor intensive efforts.
居里夫人后来写道
She was later to write,
我们像做梦一样，活在工作中
"we lived in our single occupation, as in a dream."
他们在最糟糕的环境下工作
They worked under the worst possible conditions to
从矿石中提炼出沥青铀矿
purify the ore into a mineral called pitchblende,
其中有50%到80%的铀
which was 50 to 80% uranium.
这是一项了不起的成就
This was quite an achievement,
但是玛丽和皮耶在寻找更稀有的东西
but Marie and Pierre were hunting for something far more rare.
他们耗费三年处理大型矿石
It took them three years to process tons of ore.
分离出了仅仅0.1克她命名为镭的物质
To isolate a mere tenth of a gram of a substance she named radium.
玛丽和皮埃尔发现了一种全新的元素
Marie and Pierre had discovered a completely new element.
居里夫妇证明了
The Curies showed that the radium was entirely
镭完全不受极端温度影响
unaffected by extreme temperatures.
这很奇怪
That was strange.
多数物质遇到极端高温
Most things subjected to such intense heat would
都会剧烈变化
change drastically.
而且不止如此
And, there was something else.
它还会自发地释放能量
It spontaneously emitted energy.
并不是通过化学反应
Not through chemical reactions,
而是通过某种未知的机制
but through some unknown mechanism.
玛丽·居里称这种新现象为放射性
Marie Curie called this new phenomenon radioactivity.
她和皮埃尔计算了
She and Pierre calculated the energy that spontaneously
一团镭自然释放出的能量
flowed from a lump of radium would be much greater than
比燃烧等量的煤还大得多
burning the same amount of coal.
放射性的能量让他们瞠目结舌
Radioactivity, to their astonishment,
竟然比化学能强大数百万倍
was millions of times more potent than chemical energy.
这就是分子间释放出的能量
The difference between liberating the energy that resides in molecules
和深埋在地底的能量的差异
and the far greater power stored deeper down.
玛丽皮埃尔小伊雷娜
Between Marie, Pierre, little Irene and the man
以及伊雷娜日后的丈夫
she would later marry,
一家共获得5个诺贝尔科学类奖项
the family would win five Nobel prizes in science.
他们提炼沥青铀矿使用过的瓶子试管和烧瓶
The bottles, tubes and flasks of pitchblende that
留有残余的少量镭
they had refined, left a residue of radium particles.
其能量之大点亮了夜里的实验室
They were so potent, that they lit up the lab at night.
玛丽在几年后写道简陋小屋里的闪闪光亮
As Marie wrote years later, "they were like Earthly stars,
犹如人世间的星星
these glowing tubes in that poor rough shack."
玛丽的结论是正确的
Marie leapt to the correct conclusion that the
发光是源自
luminescence was due to something happening inside
放射性原子核内的活动
the nuclei of radioactive atoms.
几千年来人们一直认为原子
For thousands of years, it had been thought that atoms were
是物质的最小单位
the smallest unit of matter.
居里的人造星星证明了
Curie's earthly stars were evidence that within the atom
原子内还存在着另一个世界
was a possible world where even smaller
有更小的粒子在里面活动
particles were interacting.
在这个神奇的夜晚过后100年
100 years after this magical night,
玛丽居里的食谱依旧闪烁着她发现的
Marie Curie's cookbooks still glowed with the exquisite
强烈放射线
radioactivity she had discovered.
但是在多年后此番对自然的深入认识
But it took a little time for the darker implications of
让一个幻想家灵光乍现引申出其背后的黑暗隐喻
this deeper understanding of nature to dawn in the mind of
他就是赫伯特·乔治·威尔斯
a visionary named H.G. Wells.
这个天才作家把科学新发现
A writer, who was a genius at turning the
编写成引人入胜的故事
new revelations of science into stories
并且预见了众人未见之事
that captivated the world.
它们带来了重大影响
And foreseeing as no one else, their gravest consequences.
作家赫伯特·乔治·威尔斯
The writer H.G. Wells,
创作了跟时光机与外星人入侵有关的内容
who first imagined time machines and alien invasions
他曾做过一个噩梦
had a nightmare of a future world where atoms
梦到在未来原子被制成武器
were weaponized.
他于1913年创作了《获得自♥由♥的世界》一书
In his book called "The World Set Free" written in 1913,
他在书中发明了原♥子♥弹♥一词
he coined the phrase atomic bombs.
并将其投向手无寸铁的平民大众
And loosed them on helpless civilian populations.
他想象在不久后的1950年代
He set his vision of a nuclear war between England and
英国和德国之间会发生核战争
Germany in the impossibly distant future of the 1950's.
1933年匈牙利物理学家
In 1933, the Hungarian physicist,
利奥·西拉德正在考虑转行当生物学家
Leo Szilard, was contemplating becoming a biologist.
西拉德博士？
MAID: Dr. Szilard?
你在里面还好吗？
Are you quite all right in there?
他读了威尔斯的小说这促使他思考
He read Wells' novel and it started him thinking.
西拉德知道原子内部
Szilard knew that atoms are made of protons and
有中子和质子
neutrons on the inside.
外面被高速运动的电子包围着
And a skittering veil of electrons on the outside.
在伦敦的十字路口等待过马路时
Suddenly, awaiting for the light to change at this
他突然茅塞顿开
intersection in London, he was struck by the thought,
如果他能找到足够多的一种元素
if he could find a sufficiently large amount of
撞击其原子核后释放出两个中子
an element that would emit two neutrons when it absorbed one,
如此就能形成核子连锁反应
it would sustain a nuclear chain reaction.
二生四四生八
Two would produce four, four would produce eight
以此类推
and so forth.
直到原子核本身的巨大能量
Until enormous amounts of energy in the nucleus itself
被释放出来
could be liberated.
这不是化学反应而是核反应
Not a chemical reaction, but a nuclear one.
我们的世界就在此刻改变了
This was the moment our world changed.
利奥·西拉德明白指数倍增的力量
Leo Szilard also knew the power of exponentials and
如果在原子核心的世界里
if a neutron chain reaction could be triggered down there
能够诱发中子连锁反应
in world of the atom's nucleus,
那么威尔斯想象的原♥子♥弹♥
then something like Wells' imaginary atomic bomb
就有可能成真
might be possible.
想到其摧毁力他就不寒而栗
He shuddered at the thought of this destructive capability.
但暴♥力♥武器的升级其实早已存在
It was just the latest development on a continuum
这只是更进一步的发展
of violence that began long long before.
5万年前
50,000 years ago,
所有人类都是居无定所的狩猎采集者
all humans were roving bands of hunter-gatherers.
他们在有限范围内沟通必须靠叫唤
They communicated over limited areas by calling to one another.
传播速度是音速
That is, at the speed of sound.
大约每小时750英里
Around 750 miles per hour.
但如果是较远的距离
But over longer distances, they could communicate only
他们就要跑快一点儿才传得到
as fast as they could run.
大约12000年前差不多是农业刚发明的时期
Around 12,000 years ago, about the same time as the invention of agriculture
他们发明了远距离射杀
they developed the power to kill at a longer distance.
射杀半径拉长到
The kill radius expanded to the arc of an arrow
弓箭射出的弧线
launched by a bow.
他们可以用一支箭杀死一个人
And they could kill one person with a single arrow.
我们的祖先不是特别好战
Our ancestors were not particularly warlike because
因为当时人太少而空间很大
there was so few people and so much room back then that
比起武装冲突他们宁可迁徙
moving on was preferable to armed conflict.
他们的武器几乎只用于打猎
Their weapons were used almost entirely for hunting.
他们的认同层很小
Their identification horizon was likely small.
只有同一团体的50到100人
Only with the other members of their band of 50 or 100 people.
但是他们的时间跨度很长
But their time horizon took a giant leap.
他们在这里花时间辛苦栽种作物
They worked long and hard planting crops in the here and
几个月后就可以收成
now, so several months later, they could harvest them.
他们把现在的喜悦延后享受
They postponed present gratification for later advantage.
他们开始规划未来
They began to plan for the future.
大约2500年前出现了一种新的战争形态
By about 2,500 years ago, there was a new kind of war.
亚历山大拓展其疆域
The conquered territories of Alexander stretched from
从马其顿延伸到印度河流域
Macedonia to the Indus Valley.
地球上多数人分属于
There were now many on planet Earth who owed allegiance to
几个包含数百万民众的团体
groups composed of millions.
就长距离奔袭来说
Over long distances,
当时最快的通讯和交通
maximum speed of both communication and transportation
只能依靠船只和马匹
was the speed of the sail and the horse.
斯巴达的国王阿希达穆斯三世
Archidamus III, King of Sparta,
以英勇无畏闻名
was famed for his unflinching courage.
他喜欢与敌人近身肉搏
He relished taking part in hand to hand combat with the enemy.
据说当他第一次看见大炮射出炮弹