How super glue was invented | Moments of Vision 8 - Jessica Oreck

翻译人员: Tong Tong 校对人员: Feiting Long

In a Moment of Vision...

茅塞顿开的一瞬间

1940s的纽约洲洛彻斯特 此时正值第二次世界大战

It's the 1940s, the height of World War II, Rochester, New York.

化学家哈里·库弗正为柯达公司开展一项研究

A chemist by the name of Harry Coover is conducting research for Eastman Kodak.

他和他的团队正在寻找一种透明塑料

He and his team are looking for a clear plastic

to produce precision gunsights for the military.

用来制造军用的精密瞄准仪

They begin working with a family of chemicals called cyanoacrylates,

他们开始着手研究氰基丙烯酸酯类化合物

but find, to their extreme annoyance,

却发现一件令他们特别恼火的事

that the chemicals stick to everything permanently.

这种化学物质会和任何东西永久地粘在一起

The cyanoacrylates are discarded.

于是便不再使用该类化合物

After the war, Coover is working at Kodak's chemical plant in Tennessee.

战后 库弗就职于田纳西州的柯达化学工厂

This time, he and his team are researching

这一次 他和他的团队为喷气式飞机座舱

heat-resistant polymers for jet airplane canopies.

研发一种耐热高分子聚合物

They try cyanoacrylates, but find, to their great frustration,

他们尝试用氰基丙烯酸酯类化合物 但结果仍然令他们感到失望

that the chemicals stick to everything permanently.

这类化合物还是会和任何东西永久粘在一起

Again, the cyanoacrylates are discarded.

于是再一次放弃使用它

Coover, however, in a moment of vision,

但是库弗却茅塞顿开

realizes that the quality that makes these chemicals so infuriating to work with

意识到正是该类化合物这一让人懊恼的特性

is exactly what makes them valuable.

使得它们变得有价值

He takes out a patent and begins marketing a super glue.

于是他申请了专利并对强力胶进行市场推广

Years later during the Vietnam War,

多年以后 在越南战争期间

field medics find that using super glue on an open wound

现场医护人员发现 使用强力胶敷在伤口上

instantly stops the bleeding,

有止血的效果

saving countless lives.

这一发现拯救了无数条生命

Today, medical grade super glue is still used in surgery,

如今 医用强力胶仍使用于各类手术中

but it's also a nearly indispensable household item.

同时也成为一个必不可少的生活用品