Was-Einstein-a--Space-Alien原文及翻译

Was Einstein a Space Alien 1 Albert Einstein was exhausted For the third night in a row his baby son Hans crying kept the household awake until dawn When Albert finally dozed off it was time to get up and go to work He couldn t skip a day He needed the job to support his young family 1 阿尔伯特 爱因斯坦精疲力竭 他幼小的儿子汉斯连续三个晚上哭闹不停 弄 得全家人直到天亮都无法入睡 阿尔伯特总算可以打个瞌睡时 已是他起床上 班的时候了 他不能一天不上班 他需要这份工作来养活组建不久的家庭 2 Walking briskly to the Patent Office where he was a Technical Expert Third Class Albert worried about his mother She was getting older and frail and she didn t approve of his marriage to Mileva Relations were strained Albert glanced at a passing shop window His hair was a mess he had forgotten to comb it again 2 阿尔伯特是专利局三等技术专家 在快步去专利局上班的路上 他为母亲忧 心忡忡 母亲年纪越来越大 身体虚弱 她不同意儿子与迈尔娃的婚事 婆媳 关系紧张 阿尔伯特瞥了一下路过的商店的橱窗 看见自己头发凌乱 他又忘 了梳头了 3 Work Family Making ends meet Albert felt all the pressure and responsibility of any young husband and father 3 工作 家庭 维持生计 阿尔伯特感受到了一位年轻丈夫和年轻父亲所要 承担的全部压力和责任 To relax he revolutionized physics 他想放松下 却使物理学发生了突破性进展 4 In 1905 at the age of 26 and four years before he was able to get a job as a professor of physics Einstein published five of the most important papers in the history of science all written in his spare time He proved that atoms and molecules existed Before 1905 scientists weren t sure about that He argued that light came in little bits later called photons and thus laid the foundation for quantum mechanics He described his theory of special relativity space and time were threads in a common fabric he proposed which could be bent stretched and twisted 4 1905 年 在他被聘为物理学教授的前四年 26 岁的爱因斯坦发表了科学史上 最重要论文中的五篇 这些论文都是他在 业余时间 完成的 他证明了原 子和分子的存在 1905 年之前 科学家们对此没有把握 爱因斯坦论证说光以 微粒形态出现 后来被称为 光子 这为量子力学奠定了基础 他把狭义 相对论描写为 时空如同普通织物中的线 他提出 这些线可以弯曲 拉长和 交织在一起 5 Oh and by the way E mc2 5 对了 顺便提一下 E mc2 6 Before Einstein the last scientist who had such a creative outburst was Sir Isaac Newton It happened in 1666 when Newton secluded himself at his mother s farm to avoid an outbreak of plague at Cambridge With nothing better to do he developed his Theory of Universal Gravitation 6 在爱因斯坦之前 最近一位迸发出如此创造性思想的科学家当数艾萨克牛顿 爵士 事情发生在 1666 为了躲避在剑桥爆发的瘟疫 牛顿去母亲的农场隐居 由于没有什么更好的事可做 他便建立万有引力理论 7 For centuries historians called 1666 Newton s miracle year Now those words have a different meaning Einstein and 1905 The United Nations has declared 2005 The World Year of Physics to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Einstein s miracle year 7 几个世纪以来 历史学家称为 1666 牛顿的 奇迹年 现在这些话有不同的 意义 爱因斯坦和 1905 联合国已经宣布 2005 年 世界物理年 庆祝爱因斯 坦 奇迹年 的 100 周年 8 Modern pop culture paints Einstein as a bushy haired superthinker His ideas we re told were improbably far ahead of other scientists He must have come from some other planet maybe the same one Newton grew up on 8 现代流行文化把爱因斯坦绘画成一位长着蓬乱头发的超级思想家 据说他的 思想不可思议地远远超过其他科学家 他一定是从其他星球来的 也许是牛 顿长大的同一个星球 9 Einstein was no space alien laughs Harvard University physicist and science historian Peter Galison He was a man of his time All of his 1905 papers unraveled problems being worked on with mixed success by other scientists If Einstein hadn t been born those papers would have been written in some form eventually by others Galison believes 9 爱因斯坦决不是外星人 哈佛大学物理学家 科学史家彼得加里森笑着 说 他是他那个时代的人 他所有发表于 1905 年的论文解决了当时其他科 学家正多多少少在解决的问题 如果没有爱因斯坦 其他科学家最终也会以 某种形式撰写出这些论文来的 加里森相信 10 What s remarkable about 1905 is that a single person authored all five papers plus the original irreverent way Einstein came to his conclusions 10 1905 年不同寻常的是 爱因斯坦一个人撰写的五篇论文 而且他得出结论 的方法既富原创性又显得不合常规 11 For example the photoelectric effect This was a puzzle in the early 1900s When light hits a metal like zinc electrons fly off This can happen only if light comes in little packets concentrated enough to knock an electron loose A spread out wave wouldn t do the photoelectric trick 11 例如 光电效应 这在 20 世纪初期的一道难题 当光照射到金属 如锌 上时 电子飞速飞离电子表面 这种现象只有当光的粒子集聚的程度足以把电 子击撞松动的时候才会发生 漫延波不会产生光电效应 12 The solution seems simple light is particulate Indeed this is the solution Einstein proposed in 1905 and won the Nobel Prize for in 1921 Other physicists like Max Planck working on a related problem blackbody radiation more senior and experienced than Einstein were closing in on the answer but Einstein got there first Why 12 答案似乎很简单 光是粒子 事实上 这是爱因斯坦 1905 年提出的解答 并因此于 1921 年获得诺贝尔奖 其他物理学家们 比如比爱因斯坦资历更深 经验更丰富的麦克斯普兰克 从事研究相关的问题 黑体辐射 其研究正接 近该问题的答案 但爱因斯坦捷足先登 为什么 It s a question of authority 这是对权威的看法问题这是对权威的看法问题 13 In Einstein s day if you tried to say that light was made of particles you found yourself disagreeing with physicist James Clerk Maxwell Nobody wanted to do that says Galison Maxwell s equations were enormously successful unifying the physics of electricity magnetism and optics Maxwell had proved beyond any doubt that light was an electromagnetic wave Maxwell was an Authority Figure 13 在爱因斯坦的时代 如果你试图说光由粒子组成 你就会发现自己与物理 学家杰姆斯 克拉克 马克斯威尔持不同观点 没有人想那么做 加里森说道 马克斯威尔的方程式把物理学中的电学 磁学和光学统一起来 获得了巨大的 成功 麦克斯威尔毫无疑问地证明了光是电磁波 他可是权威人物 14 Einstein didn t give a fig for authority He didn t resist being told what to do not so much but he hated being told what was true Even as a child he was constantly doubting and questioning Your mere presence here undermines the class s respect for me spat his 7th grade teacher Dr Joseph Degenhart Degenhart also predicted that Einstein would never get anywhere in life This character flaw was to be a key ingredient in Einstein s discoveries 14 爱因斯坦豪不在乎权威 他不太反对别人要求他做什么 但是他不喜欢别 人告诉他什么是正确的 即使在小时候他也不停地质疑和问问题 你呆在这 里损害了全班学生对我尊敬 他第七年级的老师约瑟夫狄根哈特博士愤怒地 说 狄根哈特还预言爱因斯坦 永远不会有出息 这一性格缺陷成为日后 爱因斯坦作出种种发现的主要因素 15 In 1905 notes Galison Einstein had just received his Ph D He wasn t beholden to a thesis advisor or any other authority figure His mind was free to roam accordingly 15 在 1905 年 加里森着重指出 爱因斯坦刚刚获得博士学位 他不感 激于论文导师或任何其他权威人士 因此 他的思想在自由漫游 16 In retrospect Maxwell was right Light is a wave But Einstein was right too Light is a particle This bizarre duality baffles Physics 101 students today just as it baffled Einstein in 1905 How can light be both Einstein had no idea 16 回想起来 麦克斯威尔是正确的 光是一种波 但爱因斯坦也是对的 光 是粒子 这种异乎寻常的二象性使今天选修无力 101 课程的同学们感到困惑 就像在 1905 年使爱因斯坦感到困惑一样 光怎么可能既是波又是粒子呢 爱因 斯坦无法理解 17 That didn t slow him down Disdaining caution Einstein adopted the intuitive leap as a basic tool I believe in intuition and inspiration he wrote in 1931 At times I feel certain I am right while not knowing the reason 17 困惑并没有使爱因斯坦放慢探究的脚步 爱因斯坦不屑谨小慎微 他采用 直觉跳跃思维作为基本工具 我相信直觉和灵感 他在 1931 年写道 有 时尽管不知道原因 但是我肯定我是对的 18 Although Einstein s five papers were published in a single year he had been thinking about physics deeply since childhood Science was dinner table conversation in the Einstein household explains Galison Albert s father Hermann and uncle Jakob ran a German company making such things as dynamos arc lamps light bulbs and telephones This was high tech at the turn of the century like a Silicon Valley company would be today notes Galison Albert s interest in science and technology came naturally 18 虽说爱因斯坦在短短的一年内发表了五篇论文 其实他童年时代就一直深 入地思考物理的问题 科学是爱因斯坦在餐桌上聊天的话题 加里森解释 道 爱因斯坦的父亲赫尔曼和叔叔雅各布经营一家德国公司 制造发电机 电 弧灯 灯泡 电话等诸如此类的产品 这是 20 世纪之初属于高科技 像 今天的硅谷公司 加里森着重提到 艾伯特对科学技术与生俱来怀有兴趣 19 Einstein s parents sometimes took Albert to parties No babysitter was required Albert sat on the couch totally absorbed quietly doing math problems while others danced around him Pencil and paper were Albert s GameBoy 19 爱因斯坦的父母有时会带儿子参加聚会 她们不常请人看孩子 当其他人 在他周围跳舞时 阿尔伯特坐在沙发上 全神贯注 静静地做数学题 笔和纸 是阿尔伯特的玩具 20 He had impressive powers of concentration Einstein s sister Maja recalled even when there was a lot of noise he could lie down on the sofa pick up a pen and paper precariously balance an inkwell on the backrest and engross himself in a problem so much that the background noise stimulated rather than disturbed him 20 他有极强的集中思想的能力 爱因斯坦的妹妹玛雅 回忆说 即使周 围非常吵闹 他也能躺在沙发上 拿起纸和笔 悠悠地把墨水池放在一个靠背 上 专心致志得解题 北京声音不但没有打扰他 反而激励他 21 Einstein was clearly intelligent but not outlandishly more so than his peers I have no special talents he claimed I am only passionately curious And again The contrast between the popular assessment of my powers and the reality is simply grotesque Einstein credited his discoveries to imagination and pesky questioning more so than orthodox intelligence 21 爱因斯坦显然很聪明 但不比他