Honor Harger: A history of the universe in sound

翻译人员: Felix Chen 校对人员: Angelia King

Space,

太空，

we all know what it looks like.

我们都知道它是什么样子。

We've been surrounded by images of space

太空的景象围绕着

our whole lives,

我们整个生活，

from the speculative images

从科幻小说中

of science fiction

推测的景象

to the inspirational visions of artists

到艺术家充满灵感的想象

to the increasingly beautiful pictures

再到可能由复杂科技制作出来的

made possible by complex technologies.

越来越多的美丽图片。

But whilst we have

但我们对太空

an overwhelmingly vivid

有一个无法抗拒的美丽的

visual understanding of space,

视觉理解的同时，

we have no sense of what space sounds like.

我们对太空听起来是什么样的却一无所知。

And indeed, most people associate space with silence.

实际上，多数人都认为太空是寂静的。

But the story of how

但我们

we came to understand the universe

对宇宙的认识过程中

is just as much a story of listening

倾听和察看所占的比重

as it is by looking.

是同样多的。

And yet despite this,

然而尽管如此，

hardly any of us have ever heard space.

我们却几乎没人聆听过太空的声音。

How many of you here

各位中有多少人

could describe the sound

能描绘一下

of a single planet or star?

一个行星或恒星的声音？

Well in case you've ever wondered,

如果你们想知道的话，

this is what the Sun sounds like.

这是太阳的声音。

(Static)

（静电声）

(Crackling)

（噼啪声）

(Static)

（静电声）

(Crackling)

（噼啪声）

This is the planet Jupiter.

这是木星的声音。

(Soft crackling)

（轻轻的噼啪声）

And this is the space probe Cassini

这是航天探测器卡西尼号

pirouetting through the ice rings of Saturn.

旋转着通过土星冰环时收到的声音。

(Crackling)

（噼啪声）

This is a a highly condensed clump

这是中子物质高度压缩

of neutral matter,

的重击声，

spinning in the distant universe.

在遥远的宇宙中不停地旋转回放。

(Tapping)

（敲打声）

So my artistic practice

因此我的艺术实践

is all about listening

就是到处倾听

to the weird and wonderful noises

这些组成我们宇宙的

emitted by the magnificent celestial objects

由这些壮丽的天体所发出的

that make up our universe.

神秘的神奇的噪声。

And you may wonder,

各位也许想知道，

how do we know what these sounds are?

我们是怎么知道这些声音的呢？

How can we tell the difference

我们如何区分

between the sound of the Sun

太阳的声音

and the sound of a pulsar?

和脉冲星的声音？

Well the answer

答案是

is the science of radio astronomy.

射电天文学。

Radio astronomers

射电天文学家们

study radio waves from space

用灵敏的天线和接收器

using sensitive antennas and receivers,

研究来自太空的无线电波，

which give them precise information

这能给他们准确信息，

about what an astronomical object is

了解一个天体是什么

and where it is in our night sky.

在夜空中的何处。

And just like the signals

正如那些我们在地球上

that we send and receive here on Earth,

发送和接收的信号一样，

we can convert these transmissions into sound

我们使用简单的模拟技术

using simple analog techniques.

就能把这些电波转换为声音。

And therefore, it's through listening

因此，通过倾听

that we've come to uncover

我们揭开了

some of the universe's most important secrets --

一些宇宙中最终要的秘密 --

its scale, what it's made of

它的规模，它由什么组成

and even how old it is.

甚至是它的年龄。

So today, I'm going to tell you a short story

因此今天，我要通过聆听向各位讲述

of the history of the universe through listening.

一个关于宇宙历史的小故事。

It's punctuated

其穿插的

by three quick anecdotes,

三段轶事

which show how accidental encounters

展示了与奇怪声音的偶然相遇

with strange noises

是怎样给我们

gave us some of the most important information

带来了关于太空的一些

we have about space.

最重要的信息的。

Now this story doesn't start

这一故事并不以

with vast telescopes

天文望远镜

or futuristic spacecraft,

或是宇宙飞船开始，

but a rather more humble technology --

而是以一种更不起眼的方式 --

and in fact, the very medium

实际上，这种方式

which gave us the telecommunications revolution

带来了我们正置身其中的

that we're all part of today:

远距离通信的革命：

the telephone.

电话。

It's 1876, it's in Boston,

1876年，在波士顿，

and this is Alexander Graham Bell

这是亚历山大·格拉汉姆·贝尔，

who was working with Thomas Watson

他与托马斯·沃森一起

on the invention of the telephone.

发明了电话。

A key part of their technical set up

他们技术的关键部分是

was a half-mile long length of wire,

一条半英里长的电线，

which was thrown across the rooftops

它穿越了波士顿中

of several houses in Boston.

数座房屋的屋顶。

The line carried the telephone signals

这条传输电话信号的电线

that would later make Bell a household name.

后来让贝尔家喻户晓。

But like any long length of charged wire,

但如同任何长度的带电导线一样，

it also inadvertently became

它也意外地成为了

an antenna.

天线。

Thomas Watson

托马斯·沃森

spent hours listening

花费许多时间来倾听

to the strange crackles and hisses

奇怪的爆裂声、嘶嘶声

and chirps and whistles

唧唧声和哨声

that his accidental antenna detected.

这些都是由他的天线检测到的。

Now you have to remember,

现在请各位注意，

this is 10 years before

这是在海因里希·赫兹

Heinrich Hertz proved the existence of radio waves --

证实无线电波存在之前十年 --

15 years before Nikola Tesla's four-tuned circuit --

在尼古拉·特斯拉发明四调谐电路前十五年 --

nearly 20 years before Marconi's first broadcast.

在马尔科尼的第一次发明电报之前要近二十年。

So Thomas Watson wasn't listening to us.

因此托马斯·沃森不是在听人为的声音。

We didn't have the technology

我们还没有发射这种信号的

to transmit.

技术。

So what were these strange noises?

那这些奇怪的噪声是什么呢？

Watson was in fact listening

沃森实际上在听的是

to very low-frequency radio emissions

由自然界发出的极低频的

caused by nature.

无线电信号。

Some of the crackles and pops were lightning,

有些爆裂声和砰砰声是闪电，

but the eerie whistles

但是奇异的哨声

and curiously melodious chirps

和旋律美妙的唧唧声

had a rather more exotic origin.

则更多的是来自外层空间。

Using the very first telephone,

其实沃森使用

Watson was in fact

最早的电话

dialed into the heavens.

拨通了通往天际的电话。

As he correctly guessed,

正如他所猜中的那样，

some of these sounds were caused

其中一些声音是由

by activity on the surface of the Sun.

太阳表面的活动产生的。

It was a solar wind

他聆听的是

interacting with our ionosphere

太阳风和地球电离层的

that he was listening to --

交互作用 --

a phenomena which we can see

这是个神奇的现象

at the extreme northern and southern latitudes of our planet

就像我们能在地球的南极和北极所看到的

as the aurora.

极光一样。

So whilst inventing the technology

因此在发明了这项

that would usher in the telecommunications revolution,

引发了远距离通信革命的技术的同时，

Watson had discovered

沃森发现了

that the star at the center of our solar system

我们太阳系中心的恒星

emitted powerful radio waves.

发射出强大的无线电波。

He had accidentally been the first person

他意外地成为了

to tune in to them.

第一个收听到它们的人。

Fast-forward 50 years,

快进五十年，

and Bell and Watson's technology

贝尔和沃森的技术

has completely transformed

完全改变了

global communications.

全球通信。

But going from slinging some wire

但从在波士顿

across rooftops in Boston

跨越数个屋顶的电线

to laying thousands and thousands of miles of cable

到铺设于大西洋海底

on the Atlantic Ocean seabed

数千英里长的线缆

is no easy matter.

这不是件容易的事。

And so before long,

因此不久后，

Bell were looking to new technologies

贝尔就在寻找新的技术

to optimize their revolution.

以优化他们的这次重大变革。

Radio could carry sound without wires.

无线电波不需电线就能携带声音。

But the medium is lossy --

但载体会有损耗 --

it's subject to a lot of noise and interference.

由于许多噪音和干扰。

So Bell employed an engineer

因此贝尔雇佣了一名工程师

to study those noises,

来研究这些噪音，

to try and find out where they came from,

尝试弄清楚它们从何而来，

with a view towards building

朝着建立完美硬件解码的前景努力，

the perfect hardware codec, which would get rid of them

这将摆脱掉这些噪音，

so they could think about using radio

这样他们就能考虑把无线电波

for the purposes of telephony.

用于电话通信用途。

Most of the noises

工程师卡尔·央斯基

that the engineer, Karl Jansky, investigated

调查的多数噪音的

were fairly prosaic in origin.

来源都相当平淡无奇。

They turned out to be lightning

可能是闪电

or sources of electrical power.

或是电源。

But there was one persistent noise

但有一个央斯基无法识别的

that Jansky couldn't identify,

持续的噪音，

and it seemed to appear

这一噪音似乎

in his radio headset

在他的无线电耳机中

four minutes earlier each day.

每天早出现四分钟。

Now any astronomer will tell you,

如今任何一名天文学家都能告诉你，

this is the telltale sign

这是讯号并非源自

of something that doesn't originate from Earth.

地球的明显标识。

Jansky had made a historic discovery,

央斯基历史性地发现了

that celestial objects could emit radio waves

天体能够发出无线电波

as well as light waves.

及光波。

Fifty years on

自从

from Watson's accidental encounter with the Sun,

沃森无意中收听到太阳声音的五十年后，

Jansky's careful listening

央斯基的仔细倾听

ushered in a new age of space exploration:

开启了太空探索的新纪元：

the radio astronomy age.

射电天文学时代。

Over the next few years,

在后续数年间，

astronomers connected up their antennas to loudspeakers

天文学家把天线连到扩音器上，

and learned about our radio sky,

了解我们的无线电波的天空，

about Jupiter and the Sun,

了解木星和太阳，

by listening.

通过聆听。

Let's jump ahead again.

让我们再往前跳一段时间。

It's 1964,

这是1964年，

and we're back at Bell Labs.

我们回到贝尔实验室。

And once again,

再一次，

two scientists have got a problem with noise.

两名科学家遇到了一个与噪音有关的问题。

Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson

阿诺·彭齐亚斯和罗伯特·威尔逊

were using the horn antenna

用喇叭形天线

at Bell's Holmdel laboratory

在贝尔的霍尔姆德尔实验室

to study the Milky Way

以非凡的精度研究

with extraordinary precision.

银河系。

They were really listening

他们确实在以高保真度

to the galaxy in high fidelity.

倾听着银河系。

There was a glitch in their soundtrack.

他们的音轨上有个小故障。

A mysterious persistent noise

一个神秘的持续噪音

was disrupting their research.

干扰了他们的研究。

It was in the microwave range,

这一噪音处于微波频段，

and it appeared to be coming

它同时出现

from all directions simultaneously.

在各个方向。

Now this didn't make any sense,

这在当今没有任何意义。

and like any reasonable engineer or scientist,

如同任何明智的工程师或科学家一样，

they assumed that the problem must be the technology itself,

他们假设问题处在他们的技术上，

it must be the dish.

问题一定在蝶盘状天线上。

There were pigeons roosting in the dish.

有鸽子在碟盘状天线上安家。

And so perhaps once they cleaned up the pigeon droppings,

也许一旦他们清理了鸽子粪便，

get the disk kind of operational again,

仪器就能重新运转，

normal operations would resume.

恢复正常。

But the noise didn't disappear.

但噪音并没有消失。

The mysterious noise

彭齐亚斯和威尔逊

that Penzias and Wilson were listening to

聆听的神秘噪音

turned out to be the oldest and most significant sound

成了人们听到过的

that anyone had ever heard.

最古老最重要的声音。

It was cosmic radiation

它是宇宙诞生之时

left over from the very birth of the universe.

遗留下来的宇宙辐射。

This was the first experimental evidence

这是最初的实验证据，

that the Big Bang existed

它证实了宇宙大爆炸的存在，

and the universe was born at a precise moment

证实了宇宙诞生于147亿年前的

some 14.7 billion years ago.

某个确切时刻。

So our story ends

那么我们的故事就要在

at the beginning --

这个最开始结束了 --

the beginning of all things, the Big Bang.

一切一切的开始，宇宙大爆炸。

This is the noise that Penzias and Wilson heard --

这就是彭齐亚斯和威尔逊听到的噪音 --

the oldest sound that you're ever going to hear,

你能听到的最古老的声音，

the cosmic microwave background radiation

自宇宙大爆炸后留下的

left over from the Big Bang.

宇宙射线背景辐射。

(Fuzz)

（滋滋声）

Thanks.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）