The most groundbreaking scientist you've never heard of - Addison Anderson

為科學奠基，卻無人聽聞的科學家 — 愛迪森·安德森 (Addison Anderson)

譯者: Regina Chu 審譯者: Geoff Chen

Nicolas Steno is rarely heard of

尼古拉斯·斯蒂諾這個人

outside Intro to Geology,

在地質學界外鮮為人知

but anyone hoping to understand life on Earth

但任何想了解地球上生命的人

should see how Steno expanded and connected

都應該看看斯蒂諾如何擴充及連結

those very concepts:

正是這些概念：

Earth, life, and understanding.

地球、生命及了解

Born Niels Stensen in 1638 Denmark,

他的丹麥語名為尼爾斯·斯滕森 於 1638 年在丹麥出生

son of a goldsmith,

是金匠的兒子

he was a sickly kid

他體弱多病

whose school chums died of plague.

同窗摯友死於黑死病

He survived to cut up corpses

他活了下來成為剖屍的

as an anatomist,

解剖學家

studying organs shared across species.

研究物種間共有的器官

He found a duct in animal skulls

他在動物頭骨中發現一條導管

that sends saliva to the mouth.

把唾液送到口腔

He refuted Descartes' idea

他駁斥笛卡兒的想法

that only humans had a pineal gland,

即只有人類有松果腺

proving it wasn't the seat of the soul,

並證明其並非靈魂所在

arguably, the debut of neuroscience.

可說是神經科學的開端

Most remarkable for the time was his method.

在當時最值得注意的是他的方法

Steno never let ancient texts,

斯蒂諾從不讓古代文獻

Aristotelian metaphysics,

如亞里斯多德的形上學

or Cartesian deductions

笛卡兒的演繹法

overrule empirical, experimental evidence.

影響從經驗、實驗所得的證據

His vision, uncluttered by speculation or rationalization,

他的洞察力不被臆測或理性限制

went deep.

因而深遠

Steno had seen how gallstones

斯蒂諾觀察到膽結石

form in wet organs by accretion.

如何在器官中形成

They obeyed molding principles

其形成的方式與他從金匠行業中

he knew from the goldsmith trade,

學到的造模原理相符

rules useful across disciplines

而此原理對各學科都有用

for understanding solids

因為這是以固體的結構關係

by their structural relationships.

了解固體的方法

Later, the Grand Duke of Tuscany

後來，托斯卡納大公

had him dissect a shark.

還讓他解剖一條鯊魚

Its teeth resembled tongue stones,

這條魚的牙齒與舌石相似

odd rocks seen inside other rocks

是存在於其他石頭內的奇怪石頭

in Malta and the mountains near Florence.

在馬爾他及佛羅倫斯附近的山上可見

Pliny the Elder, old Roman naturalist,

老普林尼，古羅馬自然科學家

said these fell from the sky.

說這些東西是從天上掉下來的

In the Dark Ages,

在黑暗時期

folks said they were snake tongues,

人們傳說它們是蛇的舌頭

petrified by Saint Paul.

被聖保羅變成石頭

Steno saw that tongue stones were shark teeth

斯蒂諾發現舌石其實是鯊魚的牙齒

and vice versa,

反之亦然

with the same signs of structural growth.

因為它們有相同的構造生長徵象

Figuring similar things are made in similar ways,

他認為類似事物應有類似的生成方法

he argued the ancient teeth

因而主張這些古代的牙齒

came from ancient sharks

應該是從在水中的古代鯊魚而來

in waters that formed rock around the teeth

石頭在牙齒附近形成

and became mountains.

並成為山脈

Rock layers were once layers of watery sediment,

岩層為水的沉積物演變而來

which would lay out horizontally,

應為水平展開

one atop another,

一層一層往上堆疊

oldest up to newest.

從古至今從下往上

If layers were deformed,

如果地層變形、傾斜

tilted,

cut by a fault or a canyon,

被斷層或峽谷切斷

that change came after the layer formed.

這種變化是在岩層形成後才發生

Sounds simple today;

這理論今天聽起來很簡單

back then, revolutionary.

但在其時是革命性的想法

He'd invented stratigraphy

他創立了地層學

and laid geology's ground work.

並為地質學奠下根基

By finding one origin for shark teeth from two eras

藉由發現兩個不同年代的 鯊魚牙齒有同一起源

by stating natural laws ruling the present

及陳述現行的自然法則

also ruled the past,

在過去也通用

Steno planted seeds for uniformitarianism,

斯蒂諾為均變說撒下種子

the idea that the past was shaped by processes

其中心思想是過去是由現在

observable today.

正在進行的作用形成

In the 18th and 19th centuries,

在 18 及 19 世紀

English uniformitarian geologists,

英國的均變說地質學家

James Hutton and Charles Lyell,

詹姆斯·赫頓及查爾斯·萊爾

studied current, very slow rates

研究當代、速率非常慢的

of erosion and sedimentation

侵蝕及沉積作用

and realized the Earth had to be way older

瞭解到地球的年齡應該遠久於

than the biblical guestimate, 6000 years.

聖經推測的 6000 年

Out of their work came the rock cycle,

他們的研究發現了岩石循環

which combined with plate tectonics

與板塊構造學說結合

in the mid-twentieth century

在二十世紀中期

to give us the great molten-crusting, quaking,

給我們熔岩造地殼、震動

all-encircling theory of the Earth,

循環不息的地球理論

from a gallstone to a 4.5 billion-year-old planet.

從一顆膽結石到 45 億年的星球

Now think bigger,

再往大處看

take it to biology.

來看看生物學

Say you see shark teeth in one layer

假設你看到某地層有鯊魚牙齒

and a fossil of an organism

而另一種你從未見過的

you've never seen under that.

生物化石卻埋在之下的地層

The deeper fossil's older, yes?

埋愈深的化石年代愈老，對嗎？

You now have evidence

你現在有物種起源

of the origin and extinction of species over time.

及物種隨時間滅絕的證據

Get uniformitarian.

就拿均變說

Maybe a process still active today

說不定某種作用現在仍在進行

caused changes not just in rocks but in life.

導致岩石產生變化，生命也有變化

It might also explain similarities and differences

這也可能解釋物種間的

between species

相似性及差異

found by anatomists like Steno.

由解剖學家如斯蒂諾發現

It's a lot to ponder,

有很多可以思索的地方

but Charles Darwin had the time

但查爾斯·達爾文有的是時間

on a long trip to the Galapagos,

在往加拉巴哥群島的漫長旅途中

reading a copy of his friend Charles Lyell's

閱讀其好友查爾斯·萊爾的書

"Principles of Geology,"

《地質學原理》

which Steno sort of founded.

此書可說是基於斯蒂諾的原理寫出的

Sometimes giants stand on the shoulders

有時候是巨人站在

of curious little people.

好奇的小人物的肩膀上

Nicolas Steno helped evolve evolution,

尼古拉斯·斯蒂諾幫助進化論進化

broke ground for geology,

為地質學破了土

and showed how unbiased, empirical observation

並證明無偏見、經驗的觀察

can cut across intellectual borders

可以穿越知識的疆界

to deepen our perspective.

深化我們的觀點

His finest accomplishment, though,

然而他最出色的貢獻

may be his maxim,

大概可說是他的格言

casting the search for truth

尋求真理

beyond our senses and our current understanding

超越感官及我們目前的瞭解

as the pursuit of the beauty

如同追求未知之美

of the as yet unknown.

Beautiful is what we see,

我們看見的很美

more beautiful is what we know,

我們知道的更美

most beautiful, by far, is what we don't.

最美的顯然是我們不知道的