Brian Cox: What went wrong at the Large Hadron Collider

翻译人员: Zoe Chen 校对人员: Tony Yet

Last year at TED I gave an introduction to the LHC.

在去年的TED发言上我介绍了LHC

And I promised to come back and give you an update

而且我说过一定回来给大家实况更新

on how that machine worked.

说说机器的运转情况

So this is it. And for those of you that weren't there,

这就是它，如果你去年没来的话

the LHC is the largest scientific experiment ever attempted --

LHC是史上最大规模的科学实验

27 kilometers in circumference.

周长27公里

Its job is to recreate the conditions

用来重塑宇宙形成

that were present less than a billionth of a second after the universe began,

十亿分之一秒时的状态

up to 600 million times a second.

每秒制造6亿次（这一状态）

It's nothing if not ambitious.

非常具有野心

This is the machine below Geneva.

这就是在日内瓦地下的机械

We take the pictures of those mini-Big Bangs inside detectors.

我们用这些探测器给迷你大爆炸照相

This is the one I work on. It's called the ATLAS detector --

这个是我就职的那台，ATLAS探测器

44 meters wide, 22 meters in diameter.

44米长，直径22米

Spectacular picture here of ATLAS under construction

这是ATLAS建造过程中的壮观景象

so you can see the scale.

可以看出规模巨大

On the 10th of September last year we turned the machine on for the first time.

去年9月10日我们第一次启动这一机器

And this picture was taken by ATLAS.

这是一张ATLAS照下的照片

It caused immense celebration in the control room.

当时控制室里欢呼雀跃

It's a picture of the first beam particle

这是第一簇粒子的照片

going all the way around the LHC,

一路沿着LHC转圈

colliding with a piece of the LHC deliberately,

如我们所计划地与LHC的一部分相撞

and showering particles into the detector.

大量粒子在探测器内辐散

In other words, when we saw that picture on September 10th

换句话说，当我们在9月10号看到这一景象时

we knew the machine worked,

我们知道这机器起作用了

which is a great triumph.

这是个巨大的成功

I don't know whether this got the biggest cheer,

我不知道是这个获得了满堂喝彩

or this, when someone went onto Google

还是这个——当人们登陆谷歌

and saw the front page was like that.

看见首页图标是这样的时候

It means we made cultural impact

这表明我们的工作造成了文化冲击

as well as scientific impact.

这与它的科研冲击同样意义重大

About a week later we had a problem with the machine,

但是大概一周之后我们的机器出了点故障

related actually to these bits of wire here -- these gold wires.

主要跟这些导线有关——这些金色的导线

Those wires carry 13 thousand amps

这些导线传导1万3千安培电流

when the machine is working in full power.

当机器全部启动

Now the engineers amongst you will look at them and say,

现在你们之中的一些工程师可能会说

"No they don't. They're small wires."

“不可能，这些电线太细了”

They can do that because

它们能做到

when they are very cold they are what's called superconducting wire.

因为当温度极低它们就成了超导导线

So at minus 271 degrees,

所以在零下271摄氏度

colder than the space between the stars,

低于星球间宇宙空间的温度的情况下

those wires can take that current.

这些导线可以传导如此强的电流

In one of the joints between over 9,000 magnets in LHC,

在LHC中九千多个电磁铁里的一个接点上

there was a manufacturing defect.

有一个安装技术失误

So the wire heated up slightly,

于是导线温度微微升高了一点

and its 13,000 amps suddenly encountered electrical resistance.

导致它传导的1万3千安培电流忽然受到电阻

This was the result.

这就是结果

Now that's more impressive

非常令人震惊

when you consider those magnets weigh over 20 tons,

因为那些磁铁重达20吨

and they moved about a foot.

它们移动了大约一英尺

So we damaged about 50 of the magnets.

一共大概有50个磁铁受损

We had to take them out, which we did.

必须得把它们卸下来，这些工作已经完成

We reconditioned them all, fixed them.

我们给它们排除故障，修理好

They're all on their way back underground now.

现在就等着它们重新回到地下了

By the end of March the LHC will be intact again.

在三月底左右LHC被重新接通

We will switch it on,

我们将会启动它

and we expect to take data in June or July,

并且希望在六七月的时候得到数据

and continue with our quest to find out

然后继续我们的使命

what the building blocks of the universe are.

找出宇宙形成的最基本单位

Now of course, in a way

很明显现在，一方面

those accidents reignite the debate

这些事故重新激化了关于

about the value of science and engineering at the edge. It's easy to refute.

前沿科学和工程学的辩论，但这些很容易被反驳

I think that the fact that it's so difficult,

我认为这任务过于艰难却仍令

the fact that we're overreaching, is the value of things like the LHC.

我们执着追求的事实本身，就是LHC的价值所在

I will leave the final word to an English scientist, Humphrey Davy,

最后我愿复述一位英国科学家戴维翰弗瑞的话

who, I suspect,

我记得他

when defending his protege's useless experiments --

在为自己学徒无意义的实验辩护时

his protege was Michael Faraday --

——他的学徒是迈克尔法拉第——

said this, "Nothing is so dangerous

说过：对于人类头脑发展来说

to the progress of the human mind

没有什么比这想法更为危险：

than to assume that our views of science are ultimate,

认为我们已经理解了科学之所有

that there are no mysteries in nature,

一切谜团尽已揭开

that our triumphs are complete, and that

人类已经大获全胜

there are no new worlds to conquer."

而停止对新知的探索

Thank you.

谢谢

(Applause)

（鼓掌）