你看到了我 Can you see me?
你也听到了我 Can you hear me?
这是怎么发生的？ How?
我与你之间可能隔着千山万水 I could be thousands of miles away,
可是,只要你打开你的设备 and yet, when you turn on whatever device
我的声音和图像就会传到你那里 is bringing my image and voice to you,
我,就在这里 I'm there.
不会有任何的间断 Instantaneously.
这一切是如何变成现实的？ How is that possible?
对于我们的祖先来说 To our ancestors,
这一切看起来就像是魔法 it would've seemed like sorcery.
对他们来说,信息传播的速度 For them, speed of communication
取决于快马的速度 was only as fast as the swiftest horse
或是航船的速度 or sailing ships.
现代社会的信息以肉眼不可见的光速进行传播 Our messages travel invisibly at the speed of light.
我们是如何获得如此不可思议的力量？ How did we attain such mythic powers?
这一切都来源于一个人的头脑 It all began in the mind of one person.
一个贫民家的小孩 A child of poverty
听起来没什么可期待的 of whom nothing was expected.
可要是没有这个人 In fact, if this man had not lived...
我们现在的世界也许就不会是这个样子 the world we know might not exist today.
也许迟早有那么一天 Sooner or later,
总有人能作出 someone would've likely figured out
他的某些发现 some of his discoveries.
但如果迈克尔·法拉第没有在这世界上出现过 But if Michael Faraday had never lived,
我们现在可能还活在 we might still be living
和十七世纪的人们一样的世界里 as our ancestors did in the 17th century.
根本不会意识到 Unaware
我们的身边有着看不见的力量等待着我们的使唤 of armies of invisible servants awaiting our commands.
这是关于我们如何掌握了 This is the story of how we learned
电的力量的故事 to make electrons do our bidding.
从某个方面来说，这一切始于 In a way, it begins
一位伟大的天才人物 with the greatest genius who ever lived--
艾萨克·牛顿 Isaac Newton.
这里是牛顿的故居，伍尔斯索普 This is Woolsthorpe, Newton's ancestral home.
他曾苦苦思索着，从这条小路上经过 He walked these fields, tormented by mystery.
牛顿，正是他发现了 Newton, the man who figured out the formula
行星绕日运动的规律 for the motions of the planets around the Sun,
他还想知道 wanted to know
太阳是如何让行星围绕着它旋转 how does the Sun make the planets act that way
而又不用互相接触？ without touching them?
树上的苹果怎么知道何时该掉落？ How do all the apples know how to fall?
另一位天才同样从另一个方面 Another genius was puzzled by another aspect
被这个问题所困扰 of the same mystery.
儿子，看哪 You see, son?
无论我怎样转动这个指南针 No matter how I turn the compass,
针头总会指向相同的方向 the needle always points the same way.
除非... Except...
怎么会呢？ But how?
他们根本就没碰到 They do not touch.
阿尔伯特，我可没听到你说“谢谢”！ I didn't hear a "Thank you," Albert.
我依然记得这个故事 I can still remember this.
它们给了我深深的 The experience made a deep
连绵不绝的感动 and lasting impression on me.
肯定有某些东西深深地隐藏在 Something deeply hidden
这一切的背后 had to be behind things.
在爱因斯坦与牛顿之间 Between the lifetimes of Einstein and Newton,
还出现了另一位天才 there lived another genius,
与他们同样伟大 one of equal stature.
这位天才解决了困扰牛顿的问题 The man who solved the mystery that stumped Newton,
也奠定了 also laid the foundation
爱因斯坦的革命性发现的基础 for Einstein's revolutionary insights.
以及人类今天生存的方式 And for the way we live now.
1791年，在一个脏兮兮的贫民窟里 In 1791, in a squalid slum
在这个伦敦的郊区里 in the suburbs of London,
迈克尔·法拉第出生了 Michael Faraday was born.
在学校里，他显示不出一丁点的天分 He showed little promise at school.
请告诉我们一个 Pray tell us a word that begins
以字母R开头的单词 with the letter R.
嗯 Well?
肚子？ Wabbit?
应该是“兔子” The word is "Rabbit."
再来一次，这次发音要准啊 Once again, and correctly this time.
肚子？ Wabbit?
你在嘲弄我吗？ Do you mock me?
难道我没有告诉你 Have I not told you how
怎么去念R这个字母的发音吗？ to pronounce the letter R?
起码你能告诉我们你的名字吧？ Surely you can at least tell us your name?
迈克尔·法老地，老师 Michael "Fawaday," ma'am.
拿这半个便士 Take this ha'penny,
买根鞭回来 and buy me a cane,
看我怎么给你那无礼的弟弟 so that I may give your insolent brother
一顿好抽 a proper flogging.
史书上再也没有任何法拉弟 History does not record that Michael Faraday
去学校读书的记载 ever attended school again.
法拉第承传了家庭的正统基督教信仰 Faraday took his family's fundamentalist Christian faith
他的虔诚 to heart.
是他强大的精神动力源泉 It would always remain a source of strength,
让他平和而谦逊 comfort and humility for him.
13岁时他被送到一个书籍装订厂工作 He was sent to work at a bookbindery at the age of 13.
白天，他在装订书籍 By day, he bound the books,
到了晚上 and by night,
他在读书 he read them.
这就是他终生 It was the beginning of a lifelong fascination
为电而痴狂的起始 with electricity.
在书籍装订厂里工作了有些年头以后 After years of working in the bookbindery,
21岁的法拉弟 Faraday, now 21,
渴望来到一个更广阔的世界 yearned to escape to a larger world.
他的机会来了 His big break came
一位顾客给了他一张门票 when a customer gave him a ticket
让他去参加一项挺受欢迎的新休闲活动 to a sensational new kind of entertainment--
公众科普讲座 science for the public.
正是在这里 And it started right here
伦敦皇家学院 at London's Royal Institution.
汉弗莱·戴维不仅仅是 Humphry Davy was not only
当时首屈一指的科学家 one of the leading scientists of his day,
他也发现了好几种化学元素 he discovered several chemical elements,
包括钙和钠 including calcium and sodium.
他同时也是一位出色的主持人 He was also a consummate showman.
对于电学原理的初步演示 And primitive demonstrations of electricity
深受公众的欢迎 never failed as a crowd pleaser.
请把 May we have
灯光调暗，好吗？ the lights lowered, please?
我现在就要释放出 I am about to unleash the might
两千块化学电池的能量 of the 2,000 massive chemical batteries
它们就在我们脚下的地下室里 stored in the cellar beneath our feet.
现在看吧，这就是神秘的力量 And now, behold the power of the mysterious force
它来自于电解液，它将照耀我们的未来 of electrical fluid to illuminate our future.
法拉第忙着做笔记，根本无暇鼓掌 Faraday was too busy taking notes to applaud.
法拉利创作了一份戴维演讲的记录 Faraday created a transcript of Davy's lecture.
他把做学徒时学得的技巧都用上了 Using the skills he had learned as an apprentice,
他把这些都放在了这本书里 he bound them into this book.
也许正是这样的才能 Perhaps such a gift would bring him to the attention
让他得到了这位伟人的注意 of the great man.
也许这一切举动是奔往 Maybe this gesture could be a means of escape
更广阔世界的方式 to a much larger universe.
早上好，先生 Good day, sir.
请帮我把这个包裹交给汉弗莱爵士 I wish you to deliver this parcel to Sir Humphry.
不管怎么说，这就像一个赌注 It was a long shot, anyway.
法拉利希望能赌中些什么 But Faraday hoped something would come of it.
结果他真的赌中了 And it did.
呃，实验已经准备好了，先生 Uh, the experiment is ready for you now, sir.
安培告诉我说可怜的杜隆 Ampere tells me that poor Dulong lost an eye
在做这个实验时，丢掉了一只眼睛和三个手指 and three fingers working with this.
我的眼睛 My eyes!
当一场化学实验 When a chemical experiment blew up in the face
把知名科学家汉弗莱戴维的脸弄伤之后 of the world-renowned scientist Humphry Davy,
他想起了法拉弟 he remembered Michael Faraday,
那个小伙子能一大段一大段地 the lad who had gone through such lengths
把他的讲座记录并整理下来 to copy down and bind the transcript of his lecture.
年轻人，你真是记忆力超群 You have a first-rate memory, young man.
我正好暂时需要一个秘书 And I shall have temporary need of a secretary.
先生，我做梦都想着为科学服务 Sir, I dream of a life in service to science.
我建议你还是继续做好你这份书籍装订的工作 I would advise you to stick to the bookbinding.
科学研究残酷而无情 Science is a harsh mistress.
对了，像你这样的地位，人又谦虚 Surely, a person of your station and modest means
应当有自己的生意吧。 must have a trade.
做生意的人狠毒而自私 Trade is vicious and selfish.
做科学研究的人和蔼而品格高尚 Men of science are amiable and morally superior.
很好，我就是你在科学界里 I take it I'm the first man of science
第一位遇到的人 you've ever met.
法拉利最终成为戴维身边不可或缺的人物 Faraday made himself indispensable to Davy.
这份临时的工作成为他终身的职业 The temporary job became a permanent one,
英国皇家学会成为他生命的归宿 and the Royal Institution became his lifelong home.
白天，他在实验室协助戴维 By day, he assisted Davy in the lab,
晚上，他就走到楼上 at day's end, he climbed the stairs
回到他那小小的蜗居 to the little apartment
他亲爱的妻子莎拉在等待着他 where his beloved bride Sarah was waiting.
汉弗莱·戴维与化学家威廉·瓦尔森 Humphry Davy and the chemist William Wollaston
在实验中遇到了一个神奇的现象 were experimenting with a mysterious phenomenon,
和两个保持距离的物品相关 one with potentially far-reaching implications.
这个装置和丹麦科学家奥斯特的试验相似 This is the identical setup to Orsted's.
现在把线圈闭合，戴维，仔细盯着 Now close the circuit, Davy, and watch closely.
是什么东西让针偏离了电线？ What could be driving the needle away from the wire?
我知道就好了 Damned if I know.
不过看上去似乎是通电的线圈 But it's as if the electric current
让电线有了类似磁铁的力量 makes the wire behave like some kind of magnet.
电流一定具有某种磁力 Electricity must have something to do with magnetism.
如果我们能让它不断地运转就好了 Now if we could only get it to turn continuously,
想象一下，世界会有怎样变化 imagine what might be accomplished
如果我们能掌握了这些力量 if we could put these forces to work.
把东西整理好后，法拉弟 After you tidy up, Faraday,
也许你可以试试你能做点什么 you might see what you can make of it.
戴维也许只是开个小玩笑 Davy may have been having a bit of fun
嘲弄一下他的年轻助手 at the expense of his young assistant,
但法拉弟的心中燃起了激情 but Faraday was on fire.
当时，电还只能被用做 Up to now, electricity had been nothing more
用来娱乐大众的新奇玩意 than an entertaining novelty toy.
它被用来创造闪光 It could make a light flash for an instant
或是让指南针转个弯 or turn a compass needle briefly,
但没有什么实际的用途 but it had no practical application.
法拉弟立即着手设计实验 Faraday immediately set about designing the experiment,
把他闲暇的每一刻都用在解决这个问题上 devoting every moment of his spare time to the problem.
如果法拉弟成功了 If Faraday succeeded,
他就能把无尽的、隐秘的 he would be putting an infinitely large, invisible,
不为人知的电子的力量 and as-yet-undiscovered army of electrons
化为人类所用 at the command of human whim.
这个革命是如果何开始的？ How does a revolution begin?
其实也不用花费太多 Sometimes it doesn't take much.
一块金属，一碗水银 A piece of metal, a bowl of mercury,
一点黄柏 a bit of cork.
亲爱的莎拉，把你的小弟叫下来 Sarah dear, send your little brother down.
我就要做个新实验 I'm about to try something knew,
我想让他看看 and I want him to see it.
乔治，由你来开启这光荣时刻吧 Why don't you do the honors, Georgie.
它动起来了 There she goes.
它动起来了 There she goes!
这就是人类的第一台马达 This was the first motor
它能把电流转化为无间断的机械运动 converting electric current into continuous mechanical motion.
看上去弱爆了，是不是？ Looks pretty feeble, right?
可就是这转动中的小纺锤 But that turning spindle
开启了一场革命 is the beginning of a revolution,
一件微小的发明引爆了 one that dwarfs all the shots fired
一连串的连锁反应 and bombs ever detonated
对人类文明产生了庞大的影响 in the sheer magnitude of its effect on our civilization.
想象一下，我们现在的商业 Try to imagine all the businesses,
工业，科技 industries, technologies,
我们生活中的种种变化 transformations of the way we live
都源于这欢乐的一刻 that have their beginnings in that ecstatic moment
源于法拉弟的实验室 in Michael Faraday's laboratory.
法拉弟的新发明的新闻很快传了出去 News of Faraday's invention spread quickly,
一夜之间，戴维的助手成为伦敦的热门人物 and suddenly, Davy's assistant was the toast of London.
戴维很不爽 Davy didn't take it well.
毕竟，他曾发现了好些个元素 He had, after all, discovered all those elements.
可现在人们都在说，他最大的发现 Now people were saying that his greatest discovery
就是发现了法拉弟 was Michael Faraday.
戴维要确保法拉弟 Davy made sure that Faraday
很快不再成为新闻 wouldn't be making any more headlines anytime soon.
您找我吗？先生 You sent for me, sir?
我有个新任务要交给你 I have a new challenge for you.
我想要你去接下 I want you to take over our efforts
改进英国光学镜片质量的任务 to improve the quality of British optical glass.
那些该死的巴伐利亚人 Those damned Bavarians
把我们的市场都占领了 are running circles around us.
镜片？ Glass?
请恕我冒味，先生 With all due respect, sir,
我对镜片制造一无所知啊 I know nothing at all of glass-making.
那就好好学吧，法拉弟 Then you will learn, Faraday.
反正你学什么都是很快的 We all know what a quick study you are.
你只需要分析那些镜片的化学成分 Just analyze the chemical composition of their glass
再逆向找出它的制造过程 and work backwards to see how they made it.
这不会花很长时间的 It shouldn't take you long.
可法拉弟苦苦花了4年时间 But Faraday struggled for four years
依然一无所获 without any success.
这次比上一次更糟糕 This is even worse than the last batch.
不管他如何努力 No matter how hard he tried,
法拉弟始终没能找到约瑟夫•弗劳恩霍夫 Faraday could not figure out what Joseph Fraunhofer
在数年前的发现 had discovered years before.
法拉弟没能掌握生产 What Faraday failed to grasp was that casting
完美的光学镜片的技术 perfect optical glass for telescopes was a craft
与科学原理 as well as a science, and the masters
这些技术的秘密被巴伐利亚的大师们完好的隐藏起来 in Bavaria kept their secrets under lock and key.
法拉利没能掌握这些秘密 Faraday never did learn their secret.
他把一块玻璃砖保存了下来 He kept a single glass brick
作为失败的纪念品 as a souvenir of this failure.
几年后，这块东西同样改变了他的生活 Years later, it would change the course of his life...
与我们的生活 and ours.
戴维的去世最终结束了这项无果的项目 Davy's death finally brought an end to this fruitless project,
而法拉弟，这个贫民窟的孩子 and Faraday, the boy from the slums,
成为了实验室的主管 succeeded him as Director of the Laboratory.
法拉弟利用他的权力作出了一些史无前例的事情 Faraday used his new authority to do something unprecedented--
他举办了一系列的圣诞节年度科普讲座 a series of annual Christmas lectures on science
专门为青少年而设…从1825年开始 for the young... beginning in 1825
并一直延续到了现在 and continuing to this day.
在某个首次举办的圣诞节讲座上 At one of the first Christmas lectures,
法拉利让他的听众们着迷 Faraday enchanted his audience
他展示了他所掌握的新能量 with displays of the new powers that were at his disposal.
假设我要点着这堆火药 Suppose I want to fire a portion of gunpowder.
我很轻松的就可以，通过 I can readily do it with the power
电的力量 of electricity.
如果我通过这根电缆让电流经过我的身体 If I receive electricity through this conducting wire,
那我就能把电导到我接触的作任何物体上 I can then give it to anything I touch.
不过我得先站到这张有玻璃绝缘腿的凳子上 But I must stand on these insulating glass leg
不然电流就会跑到地板上 to prevent the electricity from going away into the floor.
现在，我通电了！ Now I am electrified!
哇 Whoa!
我能点着这盏汽灯么？ Do you think I could light this gas jet
就靠我这根手指 just by touching it with my finger?
不，不要啊 No, don't do it! No!
不，不要 No! Don't!
小朋友在家里不要学，叔叔有练过的 Now, mind you, don't try this at home.
现在，孩子们，用你们的眼睛看吧 And now, my children, you have seen for yourselves
这就是看不见的电的力量 how this invisible force of electricity
它能为我们做更多的事 can be made to serve new purposes
但以我们目前的力量还不能完全做到 utterly unattainable by the powers we have now.
不间断电机的发明 The invention of a motor that could work continuously,
能让人类从劳苦的工作中释放出来 eliminating countless human hours of drudgery,
能让人类更加富裕 would be more than enough to make you a fortune
也能让人永载史册 and land you in the history books.
但法拉弟没有看到这些 But that's not how Michael Faraday saw it.
他从来没有申请专利的念头 He had absolutely no interest in patenting his ideas
也没想过从中获私利 or personally profiting from them.
至于史书 And as for the history books,
他仅仅写下第一行字 he had only written the first sentence
后面的许多篇章都来不及了 of an entry that would be many pages long.
安德森先生，请把灯光调暗吧 Mr. Anderson, may I ask you to dim the lights, please?
先生们，我准备制造出电流 Gentlemen, I am about to induce a current of electricity
只需动一动这块磁铁 merely by moving a magnet.
请好好观察吧 Please observe what happens
在我这样做的时候，请好好看着线圈的间隙 in the gap between the wires when I do so.
你们看到了磁铁在运行时电流是如何流动的吗？ Do you see how the current only flows when the magnet is moving?
这就是将 This is the conversion
动能转为化为电能 of motion into electricity.
这就是人类第一台发电机 This was the first generator.
从此，电能被人类掌控 From here, electricity would become available on demand.
法拉弟在不断地改变着世界 Faraday was continuing to change the world
以及人类的生活 and the way people lived,
然后，突然之间 and then, suddenly,
病魔侵袭了他那举世无双的大脑 an illness attacked his incomparable mind.
亲爱的舍恩拜 My dear Schoenbein,
我很高兴看到你的观点，我认为… I would be very grateful to have your opinion regarding...
我认为… Regarding...
亲爱的舍恩拜…我认为… Dear Schoenbein... Regarding...
老公，怎么了？ My dear husband, whatever is the matter?
我想写封信给舍恩拜 I began a letter to Schoenbein
可就是记不得我想要写什么了 and could not remember what I meant to say.
别担心 This is no cause for alarm.
你工作太累了 You work too hard.
-没有精力了。-不是的 - You're exhausted. - No.
莎拉，这次不一样 Sarah, this is different.
太糟糕了 Horribly different.
我的大脑出现这样的问题很多天了，这是第三次了 It's the third time my memory has failed me in as many days.
只怕我要失去我的记忆力了 I fear I'm losing my mind.
我该如何是好？ And what would I be without that?
老公，别担心，会好的 Why, my darling husband, of course.
法拉弟49岁时 When Faraday was 49,
他开始面临失忆与抑郁症的困扰 he began to battle severe memory loss and depression.
他的工作陷入了停顿 His work came to a standstill.
虽然他从此没有完全康复过 And although he never fully recovered,
但他更大的发现还在后头 his greatest achievements still lay ahead.
法拉弟 Faraday
完全地沉浸在 had immersed himself so deeply
电力与磁力的实验中 in electrical and magnetic experiments
他观察到磁铁的周围 that he came to visualize the space around a magnet
有看不见的力场线 as filled with invisible lines of force.
磁铁不仅仅是一块磁化的小铁块 A magnet was not simply the magnetized bar of iron
不仅仅是肉眼所见的一切 that you could see.
还有某些我们看不见的东西 It was also the unseen something
围绕着磁铁四周的空间 in the space around the bar.
他称之为场 And that something he called a field.
这就是磁场 A magnetic field.
法拉弟认为在自然界这个统一的整体中 Faraday believed in the unity of nature.
无处不在展示着 Having demonstrated the connections
电场与磁场的关连，他思索着 between electricity and magnetism, he wondered,
这两者会不会与第三种能量——光相关连？ were these two forces also connected to a third-- light?
如果他能展示出 If he could only show a connection
这三种不可见现象之间的关连 among these three invisible phenomena,
那么自然界最隐秘的奥秘之一 one of nature's most intimate secrets
就会被人类揭开 would at last be revealed.
最终，他是怎么做的？ So, what did he do?
他设计了一项试验 He designed an experiment.
法拉弟知道光能像波一样传播 Faraday knew that light can travel as a wave.
光波在各个方向随机振动 Waves of light vibrate randomly in all directions.
但有个方法可以固定某个特定的光波 But there's a way to isolate a single wave of light.
这个方法就是偏振 It's called polarization.
当光从反射面反弹回来时 When light bounces off a reflective surface,
比如一面镜子 like a mirror,
就会出现偏振 it becomes polarized.
法拉弟想知道 Faraday wanted to see
一条单束的光线是否能被 if that single ray of light could be manipulated
不可见的磁场所控制 by the invisible magnetic field.
这块目镜含有水晶 The eyepiece contained a crystal
它就如同一道栅栏挡住了光线 that acted as a kind of picket fence for light.
如果光线想要穿过它 Light could only pass through it
就必须受磁场的影响而偏移 if it was somehow moved by the magnet.
他在镜子前面放了一盏灯 He placed a lantern before a mirror,
如果他能通过目镜看到灯光 one that he would only see through the eyepiece
那说明反射光穿过了栅栏 if its reflection could pass through the picket fence.
如果你觉得很难理解，这很正常 If this is hard to understand, don't feel bad.
科学家们也不能解释这种现象 Scientists could not explain this phenomenon
在这之后的100年里 for another 100 years.
法拉利知道磁场 Faraday knew that magnetism had no effect
对空气中移动的光线没有任何影响 on light that was moving through air.
可要是光线在其他物体中移动呢 But what about when it was moving through other materials?
他又能使用那种物体 So what kind of material could he use
来帮助磁场移动光线？ to help the magnet move the light?
他测试了好几百种 He tried hundreds of different
透明的化学物质与物品 transparent chemicals and objects...
可还是什么也看不到 but saw nothing through the eyepiece.
光线没有因磁场发生扭曲 The light was not twisted by the magnet.
他测试了方解石晶体 He tried crystals of calcite,
碳酸钠 sodium carbonate,
硫酸钙 calcium sulfate,
可还是什么都看不见 and still, he saw nothing.
他测试了好几种酸 He tried acids.
硫酸 Sulfuric acid,
盐酸 muriatic acid,
碳酸 carbonic acid.
还有气体… He tried gasses...
氧气，氮气，氢气… oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen...
均以失败告终 with no success.
受这些物质所感应的磁场 The magnetic field induced
都不能使光线产生扭曲 in these substances could not twist the light
让他看见油灯的灯光 from his lamp back into view.
见鬼了 Damn!
无奈之下，他决定要试一试 In desperation, he decided to try...
那块玻璃砖 the glass brick,
那个纪念品 the souvenir
来自于他被戴维所束缚的那段岁月 of his years of bondage to Davy.
见效了 It did the trick.
磁场的能量 The force of the magnet
使光线产生了扭曲 twisted the light
从而穿越了水晶 so that it could pass through the crystal.
那么，这当中有什么重大意义呢？ So, what's the big deal?
法拉第揭示了 Faraday had demonstrated the existence
我们身边存在的物理现实 of the physical reality that surrounds us,
那是前人所不知道的 but which no one had ever been able to detect.
这是一个激动人心的时刻 It was as dramatic a breakthrough
犹如人类第一次 as seeing the cosmos for the very first time
通过望远镜看到宇宙 through a telescope.
通过展示电磁力 By showing that an electromagnetic force
可以操纵光线 could manipulate light,
法拉弟发现了自然界深层存在的一种力的联结 Faraday had discovered a deeper unity of nature.
他为爱因斯坦打开了一道大门 He had opened a door for Einstein
也为后世的物理学家开创了新的天地 and all the physicists who came after him
让人类可以窥见 to glimpse the interplay
宇宙深处中最基本的隐秘力量 of hidden, primal forces in the universe.
即使是在达到他的天才的顶峰之时 Even as he approached the summit of his genius,
他还在为抑郁症所困扰 he was plagued by depression
一直在怀疑自己的能力 and doubts about his ability
能不能记住最简单的问题 to retain even the simplest thoughts.
朋友们，我发现很难回答 My dear friend, I find a difficulty in answering
或是正确地了解科学论文的内容 or even acknowledging properly a scientific letter,
因为我记不住东西 for I cannot now hold it at once in my mind.
我有一部分记忆力不行了 The memory of the parts fail me.
还有，很遗憾你会看到 P.S. You will be sorry to see
后面这段提示的话 the tone of this short note,
我亲爱的老公已经和平时不一样了 but my dearest husband is not quite so well as usual,
希望他能变好吧 but I hope he will improve.
你真诚的莎拉·法拉弟 Yours very truly, S. Faraday.
年轻时，法拉弟自贫困中崛起 As a young man, Faraday had risen from poverty,
在一个对出身阶级非常注重的社会中成长 in one of the most class-conscious societies
这是当时世界上阶级划分最严格的社会 the world has ever known,
并成为当时最负盛名的科学家 to become the most celebrated scientist of his time.
40岁的时候，他发明了电动马达 By age 40, he had invented the electric motor,
变压器，发电机 the transformer, the generator,
这些设备改变了家庭 machines that would change everything about the home,
农场、工厂里的一切 the farm, the factory.
现在，在60岁的时候，在这位伟大的物理学家 Now, at 60, decades after the fertile periods
作出一系列巨大发现后的几十年 of the greatest physicists,
他被失忆和抑郁所困扰 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.
在世人认为法拉弟已经过时的时候 The world thought that Michael Faraday was a has-been.
他无视忧郁症 Despite his depression,
一如既往地充满好奇心 he remained as passionately curious as ever.
在发现了 Having discovered the unity
电，磁，光三者的有机联系之后 of electricity, magnetism and light,
法拉弟想要知道自然界中这三者的能量 Faraday needed to know
是如何合而为一，共同发挥作用的 how this trinity of natural forces work together.
歌词：这就是小姐走过的路 ♪ this is the way the ladies walk... ♪
其实也没有什么新鲜的 This was nothing new.
孩子们早已 Children had been playing with magnets
把磁铁与铁屑混在一起玩了好几个世纪了 and iron filings for centuries.
人们一直都认为那些好玩的图案 Everyone had always assumed that this lovely pattern
是铁的作用 was just something that iron did.
法拉弟已经知道通电后的电线具有磁性 Faraday knew that electric current turns a wire into a magnet,
因此，他希望也能发现类似的图案 so he expected to find related patterns
在电线外的铁屑中 in iron filings around a wire carrying electricity.
当其他人看到的只是好玩的图案时 But where others saw merely lovely shapes,
法拉弟则看得更为深远 Faraday saw something profound.
这些图案不仅是铁屑的变化那么简单 The patterns were not simply a quirk of iron filings;
它们在磁铁的四周存在 they existed in the space around a magnet
也在电流四周出现 or an electric current,
不管有没有铁屑出现 even in the absence of iron filings.
这些图案就是轨迹、足迹 The patterns were the traces, the footprints
来自那看不见的能量 of invisible fields of force,
在任何一个磁性物体外都同样存在 that reached out into the space around anything magnetic.
指南针的原理 The compass needle that people wondered at
曾让人类困扰了千年之久 for a thousand years was not reacting
其实并不是因为遥远的北极那里有块磁铁 to some far away magnetic North Pole.
而是因为连续不断的磁力场 It was detecting a continuous force field
无处不在 that stretched all the way there.
地球本身就是一块巨大的磁铁 Earth itself is a giant magnet.
与其他磁铁类似 And like any other magnet,
它的磁力线延展到 its lines of force extend far out
地球四周的空间 into the space surrounding it.
它围绕着我们，无处不在 They're everywhere, all around us.
它们一直存在着 They've always been.
但从没有人注意过它们 But nobody had ever noticed them before.
或者说，没有人类注意过 Nobody human, that is.
鸟类是恐龙的后裔 Birds are the last living descendants of the dinosaurs.
鸽子与其他的鸟类同样具有出色的 Pigeons and other birds are remarkably good
识别路途的能力 at finding their way around.
它们能迁徙千里而不迷路 They can migrate thousands of miles without getting lost.
这是怎么做到的？部分是由于可识别的地标 How? Partly by recognizing familiar landmarks--
河流、山脉、星辰 rivers, mountains, stars.
甚至是某种气味 Even certain smells can serve
都能成为迁徙鸟类的路标 as signposts for migrating birds.
鸟类的体内还有天然的罗盘。 But birds also have an inner compass.
它们能感应到地球的磁场 They can actually sense the Earth's magnetic field.
它们的大脑处理磁场数据的方式 Their brains process magnetic data in much the same way
和人类处理视觉的方式很相似 ours process visual data.
依靠感应磁场方位 By sensing the direction of the field,
鸟类能分辨南北 birds can tell north from south.
这就是为何北美洲的鸟类能够 That's one way North American birds know which way to go
在冬天找到去往南方的路 when they head south for the winter.
地球磁场在两极 The field is stronger near the poles
比赤道的要强 than it is at the equator,
鸟类据此可以推断出它们所在的纬度 a fact that birds use to figure out their latitude.
地球磁场中还存在着许多微小的不规则的地方 There are also small irregularities in the field,
在这些不规则的地方 locations where the field
磁场会有强弱不同的变化 is a little weaker or stronger.
就像是独特的山脉和河流一样 Just like a distinctive mountain or river,
这些不一样的磁场也能作为地标 these magnetic anomalies can serve as landmarks.
几千年来人们一直在使用信鸽 For thousands of years, humans have used carrier pigeons
在长距离传递信件 to send messages to distant locations.
这是一种非常重要的信息传递方式 It was a crucial method of communication
到了二战时也是如此 as recently as World War II.
因此，人类实际上也已经 When you think about it, we've been using
利用磁场来进行通讯有很长一段时间了 magnetic fields to communicate for a long time.
只是我们不知道而已 We just didn't know it.
那地球为什么会有磁场呢？ So why does our planet have a magnetic field at all?
它是如何产生的？ What causes it?
答案就在地球的深处 The answer lies deep inside the Earth.
液态的铁，绕着实心的地核旋转 Liquid iron, circulating around the solid part of the core
在地球自转的同时 as Earth rotates,
就好像是电流绕着线圈运行 acts like a wire carrying an electric current.
就像法拉弟展示的那样 And as Faraday showed us,
电流产生了磁场 electric currents produce magnetic fields.
这对人类而言是件好事 And that's a good thing.
磁场让我们避免宇宙射线的猛烈攻击 Our magnetic field protects us from the onslaught
否则生物圈就会遭到巨大伤害 of cosmic rays, which would be very damaging to our biosphere.
宇宙射线可以穿透DNA Cosmic rays can rip through DNA.
没有磁场的保护 Without our magnetic field, the rate of mutation
生物有机体的变异率会变高 in living organisms would be much higher.
幸好，大部分的射线粒子 Fortunately, most of this cosmic shrapnel gets trapped
会被范艾伦幅射带所困住，它看上去就像个甜甜圈 in the Van Allen belts, donut-shaped zones
带电的粒子会被地球磁场的防护层所拦下 of charged particles corralled by our magnetic shield.
明白了地球自身就是一个大磁棒 Knowing that the Earth itself is like a giant bar magnet
我们就可以解释天空中最美丽景观之一的形成 explains one of the most beautiful sights in the sky,
这就是极光 the aurora.
来自太阳的带电粒子，也就是太阳风 Charged particles from the Sun, the solar wind,
在不断地轰击地球 are constantly bombarding the Earth.
我们可以反把太阳风想象为某种电流 You can think of the solar wind as a kind of electric current.
地球的磁场 Our planet's magnetic field
在把这股电流导向南极与北极，并在这之间形成了电流渠道 channels that current towards the North and South Poles.
当它与大气碰撞时 When it hits our atmosphere,
空气中氧分子与氮分子 the oxygen and nitrogen molecules
就会像巨大的荧光灯一样发出光芒 in the air glow like giant fluorescent lightbulbs.
当法拉第在继续进行着 When Faraday pursued
最后也是最具有重大意义的发现时 his last and most profound discovery,
贫穷的童年对他的影响 the poverty of his childhood stymied him
比以往任何时刻都要明显的显现出来 as it never had before.
他需要帮助 He needed help
结果，是另一个与他出身不同的人帮助了他 and found it in one who had come from another world.
法拉利解开了 Michael Faraday had solved the mystery
困惑牛顿已久的谜团 that baffled Isaac Newton.
这就是太阳如何令行星围绕着它运转 This was how the Sun told the planets how to move
又不用接触到它们 without touching them.
太阳实际上还是接触得到行星的 The Sun does touch the planets
通过它的引力场的作用 with its gravitational field,
而地球的引力场 and Earth's gravitational field
则告诉苹果何时该掉下来 tells the apples how to fall.
所有这一切只是一个梦 All this is a dream.
不幸的是，这就是当时的流行观点 Unfortunately, that was the prevailing view
与他同时代的科学家们认为 among his fellow scientists.
法拉弟在做梦 Faraday was dreaming.
他们尊重他的创造能力 They admired his inventiveness
与他天才的实验能力 and his genius for experimentation,
但他们认为他那看不见的“力线” but they regarded his invisible "lines of force"
与他关于光和引力的观点是臆造的 and his ideas about light and gravity as hand-waving,
没有任何可靠的实证可以支持 meaning there was nothing solid to back it up.
有人公开谴责他的理论 Some openly ridiculed his theories.
他们需要看到他的理论 They needed to see his ideas expressed
能被现代物理学的语言所解释 in the language of modern physics,
也就是精确的数学方程式 precise equations.
而这个方面 This was the one area
由于法拉弟的童年很贫穷 where Faraday's childhood poverty
没有得到过正式的教育 and lack of formal education
因此成为了他的缺陷 actually held him back.
他不懂得数学运算 He couldn't do the math.
法拉弟最终遇到了他无法跨越的障碍 Faraday had finally hit a wall that he could not overcome.
而这时，另一位 And then, the greatest theoretical physicist
被公认为19世纪最伟大的理论物理学家 of the 19th century came along.
詹姆斯·克拉克·麦克斯韦，出生在一个富裕的家庭里 James Clerk Maxwell was born into a world of wealth
家里很有权力 and privilege,
他的父母中年得子，他是家里唯一的孩子，深得宠爱 an only child of doting middle-aged parents.
当他才20出头时，就已经 By his early 20s, he had made a name for himself
成为一个知名的数学家 as a mathematician.
当时其他的科学家认为法拉第 While other scientists had come to think of Faraday
已经过时了，是历史遗老 as old-fashioned; a great figure of the past
根本就不是属于未来的物理学者 but no part of the future of physics,
麦克斯韦有不同的想法 James Clerk Maxwell knew better.
他认真的阅读了 He began by reading everything
法拉弟所写的关于电学的一切著作 Faraday had written on electricity.
他坚信法拉第所提到的力场 He became convinced that Faraday's fields of force
是真实存在的，并且开始动手 were real, and he set out to give them
用精确的数学方程式来证明这一切 a precise mathematical formulation.
_
物理学中的数学方程式 An equation in physics is just a shorthand description
是对某种在特定空间和时间中出现的物理现象的描述 of something that can be represented in space and time.
例如，描述钟摆弧线的方程式 For instance, the equation that describes the arc of a pendulum
描述了它无论如何也不可能摆动得比起始点高 shows that it can never swing higher than its initial height.
当麦克斯韦把法拉利的实验现象转化为 When Maxwell translated Faraday's experimental
电磁学的方程式后 observation on electromagnetic fields into equations,
他又发现了其中的不对称性 he discovered an asymmetry.
看见底部那一条没有？ See that bottom one?
它急切的需要某些东西 It cries out for something else.
作为一位伟大的数学家 Great mathematician that he was,
麦克斯韦在其后加了一个单项以平衡方程式 Maxwell added a single term to balance it.
方程式的这一调整改变了法拉弟的静态磁场 This tweaking of the equation changed Faraday's static field
它变成了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 It wasn't long before we found a way to turn those waves...
把这些波转为 into couriers
传递信息工具的方法 for our messages.
你能看到我吗？ Can you see me?
你能听到我吗？ Can you hear me?
这就是根源 This is how.
这项技术改变了人类的文明 This technology has transformed human civilization
世界从一个个东拼西凑起来的城市 from a patchwork of cities,
小镇和乡村 towns and villages
变成了互通信息的社会组织体 into an intercommunicating organism...
信息以光速进行传播 linking us at light speed...
连接着地球上的每一个人 to each other...
甚至是宇宙空间 and to the cosmos.
世上的一切都很美好 Nothing is too wonderful to be true,
只要它能符合自然规律 if it be consistent with the laws of nature.