The story behind your glasses - Eva Timothy

眼鏡背後的故事 - Eva Timothy

Transcriber: tom carter Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

譯者: Tien-Hsin Yang 審譯者: Allen Li

Optics, or the enhancement of our natural vision,

光學，我們自然視力的增強

has been one of the biggest catalysts for science over the past 500 years,

是 500 年來，科學最主要的 催化劑之一

Interestingly, it wasn't scientific interest, but more practical matters that led to the initial advancements in optics,

有趣的是，光學發展最初不是 為了科學，而是更實際的問題

starting around 1440 when Johannes Gutenberg invented his printing press.

1440 年古騰堡 (Johannes Gutenberg) 發明了印刷機

In short order, books, which had been a rarity,

短期內，書籍由稀有

were now becoming a widespread phenomenon.

變為普遍現象

All that new reading material meant more knowledge was circulating,

新的閱讀材料意味著更多知識流通

but it also meant that more people were straining their eyes,

但也意味著更多的人過度用眼

likely as they read by candlelight.

尤其是用燭光閱讀時

And while spectacles had been invented in Italy around 1286,

雖然眼鏡早在 1286 年 就在義大利發明

the need for reading glasses increased substantially.

到這時，眼鏡的需求才大幅增加

Now that people could use lenses to see things more clearly,

既然使用鏡片可以看得更清楚

they started wondering if vision could be enhanced to see things the human eye couldn't perceive by its own devices.

人們開始思考，能否透過儀器 讓肉眼看到本來看不見的東西

Robert Hooke pursued microscopy, and 1665 he published his findings of worlds inside worlds,

虎克 (Robert Hooke) 研究顯微鏡 1665 年公布他發現的小世界

which he called "cells" in the book "Micrographia."

他在《顯微圖譜》書中稱為「細胞」

At the other end of the spectrum,

光譜的另一端

Galileo innovated with telescopic lenses,

伽利略 (Galileo Galilei) 改良了伸縮式望遠鏡

and in 1609, he had refined a telescope until he had an instrument powerful enough to see distant objects in the sky

1609 年，他改進的望遠鏡 強大到足以看清天空遠處的物體

with an accuracy no one had before him.

精度前所未見

He found that the moon had craters and mountains,

他發現，月球上有隕石坑和山脈

that Jupiter had moons of its own, and the whole system governing the earth and space was brought into question.

木星有衛星。支配地球與 天體運行的整個系統開始被質疑

Not everyone was thrilled with all the things Galileo saw though.

不是每個人都樂見伽利略的發現

For instance, it was taught at the time that the moon was a perfectly smooth sphere.

例如當時大家認為 月亮是完全光滑的球體

Yet here was visual proof that was awfully hard to discount.

然而擺在眼前的證據卻難以忽視

Upon finding moons around Jupiter, he also verified what Johannes Kepler had surmised:

發現木星的衛星後，他也證實了 克卜勒 (Johannes Kepler) 的推測

that the earth was not the center of the universe,

就是地球並非宇宙的中心

dispelling another central dogma of Galileo's day.

他又消除了另一個當時的核心教條

Then almost exactly a year after Galileo died,

伽利略去世後一年

Isaac Newton was born.

牛頓 (Isaac Newton) 誕生了

A lot that had been unknown was visible by now,

過去的未知，如今已可觀察得到

but much of it was simply the foundation for further questions.

其中大多只是進一步問題的基礎

What was light anyway? And color, for that matter?

光是什麼？顏色是什麼？

What were the laws that governed the earth, and the heavens?

支配地球與天體的法則又是什麼？

And could we capture them through keen observation?

透過敏銳的觀察就能發現嗎？

Newton experimented extensively with optics,

牛頓做了廣泛的光學實驗

and came to understand light as something of substance,

才了解光的本質

and colors as components of light at different frequencies.

顏色則是光的組件，各有不同頻率

Before Newton, people widely believed that the color was due to different amounts of light,

在牛頓之前，人們普遍認為 顏色是因為光量不同造成的

with red being lots of light, and blue being mostly dark.

紅色的光最多，藍色則是最暗的

Newton's prism experiments showed that white light could not only be broken into its component colors with one prism,

牛頓的三稜鏡實驗顯示 不但白光可分解出各種組成顏色

but that a second lens could recompose those colors back into white light again,

第二個透鏡也可將各色重組回白光

thus showing that color was a matter of light's refraction rather than how light or dark it was.

這顯示顏色與光的折射有關 與亮度無關

Newton's studies of optics led to the development of the reflecting telescope.

牛頓的光學研究 引領了反射式望遠鏡的發展

This, together with his study of planetary motion, led to his theory of gravitation,

加上他對行星運動的研究 引發了他的萬有引力定律

one of the world's greatest examples of learning to see something invisible

這是世上最偉大的例子之一： 要了解看不見的事物

by observing its effect on things that are visible.

可觀察它對可見事物有什麼影響

So fast forward a few hundred years, and here we stand.

我們把時間快轉到幾百年後的今日

We've evolved from a single lens to optics that reveal the birth of a star in another galaxy,

光學已從單一鏡片進化到可觀察 其他星系的新星誕生、

or a child developing in the womb,

嬰兒在子宮內發育、

or an electron whirling around an atom.

電子繞著原子轉動

At a time when so much is visible, how we see the world around us matters even more than what we see.

現代太多東西可以看到了，重要的 不是看到什麼，而是怎麼看這世界 甚至比我們所看到的重要。

Will we see a world where everything important has already been discovered?

我們覺得世上所有重要的事物 都已被發現了嗎？

Or will we see one in which yesterday's discoveries are but a doorway to the breakthroughs of tomorrow?

還是覺得昨日的發現，不過是 引領我們到明日突破的入口？