51. Einstein's Inspiring Heir.
51、愛因斯坦的激勵(lì)人心的繼承人、
1. He is almost totally paralyzed, speechless and wheelchair-bound, able to move only his facial muscles and two fingers on his left hand. He cannot dress or feed himself, and he needs round-the-clock nursing care. He can communicate only through a voice synthesizer, which he operates by laboriously tapping out words on the computer attached to his motorized chair. Yet at age 50, despite these crushing adversities, Stephen Hawking has become, in the words of science writers Michael White and John Gribbin, "perhaps the greatest physicist of our time." His 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, has sold 1.7 million copies around the world.
1、他幾乎完全癱瘓，不能說話，離不開輪椅，能夠活動(dòng)的只有他面部的肌肉和他左手的兩個(gè)指頭。吃飯穿衣他不能自理，白天夜晚都需要人照顧。他只能通過一個(gè)發(fā)聲合成器同別人交流。這個(gè)計(jì)算機(jī)式的發(fā)聲合成器固定在他那裝有馬達(dá)的輪椅上；他吃力地操作鍵盤，把要說的話一個(gè)詞一個(gè)詞地打出來。盡管他遭此極度厄運(yùn)，斯蒂芬·霍金在他年已半百的時(shí)候還是成了“也許是當(dāng)代最偉大的物理學(xué)家”。(科技作家邁克·懷特和約翰·格里賓語(yǔ))他1988年出版的《時(shí)間簡(jiǎn)史》一書，在世界各地共銷售了170萬冊(cè)。
2. Hawking's choice of career was most fortunate, for himself as well as for science. Rejecting the urging of his physician father to study medicine, Hawking chose instead to concentrate on math and theoretical physics, first at Oxford and then at Cambridge. But at age 21 he developed the first symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disorder that would inevitably render him paralyzed and incapable of performing most kinds of work. Rs the authors note, theoretical physics was "one of the very few jobs for which his mind was the only real tool he needed."
2、霍金選擇了這一職業(yè)，對(duì)科學(xué)事業(yè)和他本人都是件極大的好事。他父親是個(gè)醫(yī)生，曾敦促他學(xué)醫(yī)，但他沒有從命，而是先后在牛津大學(xué)和劍橋大學(xué)專攻數(shù)學(xué)和理論物理?？墒撬?1歲的時(shí)候，出現(xiàn)了肌萎縮性(脊髓)側(cè)索硬化的征兆；這一疾病不可避免地要導(dǎo)致癱瘓，使他很多事都不能做。用本書的兩位作者的話來說，“研究理論物理是他能做的屈指可數(shù)的幾件工作之一—這些工作實(shí)際需要的工具僅是他的大腦?！?BR> 3. He has used that tool with consummate skill. While still a graduate student, Hawking became fascinated by black holes, the bizarre objects created during the death throes of large stars. Working with mathematician Roger Penrose and using Einstein's relativity equations, he developed new techniques to prove mathematically that at the heart of black/holes were singularities—infinitely dense, dimensionless points with irresistible gravity. He went on to demonstrate that the entire universe could have sprung from a singularity and, in his 1966 Ph.D. thesis, wryly noted that "there is a singularity in our past."
3、他嫻熟地使用了這一工具。還在當(dāng)研究生的時(shí)候，他就對(duì)研究黑洞現(xiàn)象—巨大星體泯滅過程中產(chǎn)生的奇怪物體—入了迷。他同數(shù)學(xué)家羅杰·潘羅斯合作，運(yùn)用愛因斯坦的相對(duì)論等式找到了新的計(jì)算方法來證明：在黑洞的中心是一堆密密麻麻的、無邊無際的、具有巨大引力的奇異小點(diǎn)。他繼而證明，整個(gè)宇宙都有可能是從某個(gè)奇點(diǎn)演變而來的。他在1966年寫的博士學(xué)位論文中略帶諷刺意味地寫道：“我們過去的歷史中就有一個(gè)奇點(diǎn)?！?BR> 4. Gathering momentum as a fellow at Cambridge, Hawking calculated that the Big Bang, which gave birth to the universe, must have created tiny black holes, each about the size of a proton but with the mass of a mountain. Then, upsetting the universal belief that nothing, not even light, can escape from a black hole, he used the quantum theory to demonstrate that these miniholes (and larger ones too) emit radiation. Other scientists eventually conceded that he was correct, and the black-hole emissions are now known as Hawking radiation.
4、在劍橋當(dāng)研究員時(shí)，他再接再勵(lì)，并推測(cè)出：可能是產(chǎn)生宇宙的大爆炸同時(shí)也產(chǎn)生了那些小黑洞，其大小同質(zhì)子差不多，但質(zhì)量卻重如一座大山。后來，他用量子理論證明這些小洞(還有大一些的)能發(fā)出射線，從而*了認(rèn)為任何東西(包括光在內(nèi))都不能逃脫黑洞的普遍看法。其他科學(xué)家最終還是承認(rèn)他是正確的，而且現(xiàn)在人們還把黑洞射線稱為霍金射線。
5. Engrossed as Hawking is with his work, the authors say, "ALS is simply not that important to him." He certainly does not dwell on his handicap. His succinct, synthesized voice comments are often laced with humor, he enjoys socializing with his students and colleagues, attends rock concerts and Sometimes takes to the dance floor at discos, wheeling his chair in circles. But he can be stubborn, abrasive and quick to anger, terminating a conversation by spinning around and rolling off, sometimes running one of his wheels over the toes of an offender.
5、由于霍金一心撲在工作上，本書的兩位作者說：“癱瘓對(duì)他顯得并不那么重要?！彼隙]有老是想著自己的殘疾。他那通過發(fā)聲合作器說出來的簡(jiǎn)單話語(yǔ)，時(shí)不時(shí)還帶著點(diǎn)幽默的味道。他喜歡和學(xué)生、同事們一起參加社交活動(dòng)，參加搖滾音樂會(huì)，有時(shí)還到迪斯科舞廳去，坐在輪椅上轉(zhuǎn)圈子?？伤袝r(shí)也很執(zhí)拗，對(duì)別人有些生硬粗暴，愛發(fā)脾氣，有時(shí)他突然中斷同別人的談話，坐著輪椅轉(zhuǎn)個(gè)圈，然后悻悻地離去。他甚至還會(huì)用輪椅的一個(gè)輪子軋冒犯者的腳趾。
51、愛因斯坦的激勵(lì)人心的繼承人、
1. He is almost totally paralyzed, speechless and wheelchair-bound, able to move only his facial muscles and two fingers on his left hand. He cannot dress or feed himself, and he needs round-the-clock nursing care. He can communicate only through a voice synthesizer, which he operates by laboriously tapping out words on the computer attached to his motorized chair. Yet at age 50, despite these crushing adversities, Stephen Hawking has become, in the words of science writers Michael White and John Gribbin, "perhaps the greatest physicist of our time." His 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, has sold 1.7 million copies around the world.
1、他幾乎完全癱瘓，不能說話，離不開輪椅，能夠活動(dòng)的只有他面部的肌肉和他左手的兩個(gè)指頭。吃飯穿衣他不能自理，白天夜晚都需要人照顧。他只能通過一個(gè)發(fā)聲合成器同別人交流。這個(gè)計(jì)算機(jī)式的發(fā)聲合成器固定在他那裝有馬達(dá)的輪椅上；他吃力地操作鍵盤，把要說的話一個(gè)詞一個(gè)詞地打出來。盡管他遭此極度厄運(yùn)，斯蒂芬·霍金在他年已半百的時(shí)候還是成了“也許是當(dāng)代最偉大的物理學(xué)家”。(科技作家邁克·懷特和約翰·格里賓語(yǔ))他1988年出版的《時(shí)間簡(jiǎn)史》一書，在世界各地共銷售了170萬冊(cè)。
2. Hawking's choice of career was most fortunate, for himself as well as for science. Rejecting the urging of his physician father to study medicine, Hawking chose instead to concentrate on math and theoretical physics, first at Oxford and then at Cambridge. But at age 21 he developed the first symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disorder that would inevitably render him paralyzed and incapable of performing most kinds of work. Rs the authors note, theoretical physics was "one of the very few jobs for which his mind was the only real tool he needed."
2、霍金選擇了這一職業(yè)，對(duì)科學(xué)事業(yè)和他本人都是件極大的好事。他父親是個(gè)醫(yī)生，曾敦促他學(xué)醫(yī)，但他沒有從命，而是先后在牛津大學(xué)和劍橋大學(xué)專攻數(shù)學(xué)和理論物理?？墒撬?1歲的時(shí)候，出現(xiàn)了肌萎縮性(脊髓)側(cè)索硬化的征兆；這一疾病不可避免地要導(dǎo)致癱瘓，使他很多事都不能做。用本書的兩位作者的話來說，“研究理論物理是他能做的屈指可數(shù)的幾件工作之一—這些工作實(shí)際需要的工具僅是他的大腦?！?BR> 3. He has used that tool with consummate skill. While still a graduate student, Hawking became fascinated by black holes, the bizarre objects created during the death throes of large stars. Working with mathematician Roger Penrose and using Einstein's relativity equations, he developed new techniques to prove mathematically that at the heart of black/holes were singularities—infinitely dense, dimensionless points with irresistible gravity. He went on to demonstrate that the entire universe could have sprung from a singularity and, in his 1966 Ph.D. thesis, wryly noted that "there is a singularity in our past."
3、他嫻熟地使用了這一工具。還在當(dāng)研究生的時(shí)候，他就對(duì)研究黑洞現(xiàn)象—巨大星體泯滅過程中產(chǎn)生的奇怪物體—入了迷。他同數(shù)學(xué)家羅杰·潘羅斯合作，運(yùn)用愛因斯坦的相對(duì)論等式找到了新的計(jì)算方法來證明：在黑洞的中心是一堆密密麻麻的、無邊無際的、具有巨大引力的奇異小點(diǎn)。他繼而證明，整個(gè)宇宙都有可能是從某個(gè)奇點(diǎn)演變而來的。他在1966年寫的博士學(xué)位論文中略帶諷刺意味地寫道：“我們過去的歷史中就有一個(gè)奇點(diǎn)?！?BR> 4. Gathering momentum as a fellow at Cambridge, Hawking calculated that the Big Bang, which gave birth to the universe, must have created tiny black holes, each about the size of a proton but with the mass of a mountain. Then, upsetting the universal belief that nothing, not even light, can escape from a black hole, he used the quantum theory to demonstrate that these miniholes (and larger ones too) emit radiation. Other scientists eventually conceded that he was correct, and the black-hole emissions are now known as Hawking radiation.
4、在劍橋當(dāng)研究員時(shí)，他再接再勵(lì)，并推測(cè)出：可能是產(chǎn)生宇宙的大爆炸同時(shí)也產(chǎn)生了那些小黑洞，其大小同質(zhì)子差不多，但質(zhì)量卻重如一座大山。后來，他用量子理論證明這些小洞(還有大一些的)能發(fā)出射線，從而*了認(rèn)為任何東西(包括光在內(nèi))都不能逃脫黑洞的普遍看法。其他科學(xué)家最終還是承認(rèn)他是正確的，而且現(xiàn)在人們還把黑洞射線稱為霍金射線。
5. Engrossed as Hawking is with his work, the authors say, "ALS is simply not that important to him." He certainly does not dwell on his handicap. His succinct, synthesized voice comments are often laced with humor, he enjoys socializing with his students and colleagues, attends rock concerts and Sometimes takes to the dance floor at discos, wheeling his chair in circles. But he can be stubborn, abrasive and quick to anger, terminating a conversation by spinning around and rolling off, sometimes running one of his wheels over the toes of an offender.
5、由于霍金一心撲在工作上，本書的兩位作者說：“癱瘓對(duì)他顯得并不那么重要?！彼隙]有老是想著自己的殘疾。他那通過發(fā)聲合作器說出來的簡(jiǎn)單話語(yǔ)，時(shí)不時(shí)還帶著點(diǎn)幽默的味道。他喜歡和學(xué)生、同事們一起參加社交活動(dòng)，參加搖滾音樂會(huì)，有時(shí)還到迪斯科舞廳去，坐在輪椅上轉(zhuǎn)圈子?？伤袝r(shí)也很執(zhí)拗，對(duì)別人有些生硬粗暴，愛發(fā)脾氣，有時(shí)他突然中斷同別人的談話，坐著輪椅轉(zhuǎn)個(gè)圈，然后悻悻地離去。他甚至還會(huì)用輪椅的一個(gè)輪子軋冒犯者的腳趾。