Anil Ananthaswamy: What it takes to do extreme astrophysics

33,744 views ・ 2011-04-26

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譯者: Lauren Huang 審譯者: Chih-Yuan Huang
00:15
I would like to talk today
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今天我要講的是
00:17
about what I think is one of the greatest adventures
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一種最棒的探險
00:19
human beings have embarked upon,
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自人類啟程去尋找以來,最重要探險活動
00:21
which is the quest to understand the universe
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那就是,了解宇宙
00:24
and our place in it.
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以及我們在宇宙中的地位
00:26
My own interest in this subject, and my passion for it,
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我自己對這個主題的興趣及熱情從何而來?
00:29
began rather accidentally.
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開始其實很偶然
00:31
I had bought a copy of this book,
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我買過ㄧ本書
00:34
"The Universe and Dr. Einstein" --
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「宇宙和愛因斯坦先生」
00:36
a used paperback from a secondhand bookstore in Seattle.
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在西雅圖的二手書店買的
00:39
A few years after that, in Bangalore,
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買了之後的幾年,在印度班加羅爾
00:42
I was finding it hard to fall asleep one night,
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有天晚上,睡不著
00:44
and I picked up this book,
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我順手拿起這本書
00:46
thinking it would put me to sleep in 10 minutes.
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以為它能幫我快速在10分鐘內進入夢鄉
00:48
And as it happened,
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結果
00:50
I read it from midnight to five in the morning in one shot.
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我從夜半讀到天色微明
00:53
And I was left with this intense feeling
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那書帶給我極大的震撼
00:56
of awe and exhilaration
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對宇宙敬畏
00:58
at the universe
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和興奮兼而有之
01:00
and our own ability to understand as much as we do.
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以及我們雖然極盡的想要了解,但了解的又那麼的有限
01:03
And that feeling hasn't left me yet.
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那種感覺迄今猶存
01:06
That feeling was the trigger for me
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並且引發我
01:08
to actually change my career --
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起了「轉行」念頭
01:10
from being a software engineer to become a science writer --
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從軟體工程師,成為一名科普文學作者
01:13
so that I could partake in the joy of science,
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使我可以參與科學帶來的喜悅
01:16
and also the joy of communicating it to others.
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以及和其他人分享科學知識的喜悅
01:19
And that feeling also led me
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也是那種感覺
01:21
to a pilgrimage of sorts,
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引領我啟動一場朝聖之旅
01:23
to go literally to the ends of the earth
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朝著地球上的天之涯,水之巔向前
01:25
to see telescopes, detectors,
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去探訪望遠鏡,探測器
01:28
instruments that people are building, or have built,
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這些人類曾經打造過,或正在興建中的科學儀器
01:31
in order to probe the cosmos
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奉宇宙之名而為之的探索
01:33
in greater and greater detail.
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一步步探入了更多細節
01:35
So it took me from places like Chile --
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所以,我去過智利
01:37
the Atacama Desert in Chile --
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智利的阿塔卡瑪沙漠
01:39
to Siberia,
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到過西伯利亞
01:41
to underground mines
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下過地底礦脈坑道
01:43
in the Japanese Alps, in Northern America,
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在日本阿爾卑斯山,北美洲
01:45
all the way to Antarctica
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一路直到南極洲
01:47
and even to the South Pole.
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甚至到了南極圈
01:49
And today I would like to share with you
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今天要和各位分享
01:51
some images, some stories of these trips.
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其中一些照片,及這些探索之旅的一些故事
01:54
I have been basically spending the last few years
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最近幾年
01:56
documenting the efforts
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我一直在記錄著這些人的努力
01:58
of some extremely intrepid men and women
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這些有著大無畏精神的男性及女性
02:01
who are putting,
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他們投入的
02:03
literally at times, their lives at stake
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有時候是冒著生命危險
02:05
working in some very remote and very hostile places
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在一些極遙遠,極惡劣下的環境工作
02:08
so that they may gather the faintest signals from the cosmos
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為了收集宇宙中最微弱的一些信號
02:12
in order for us to understand this universe.
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然後,我們才能更多一點了解宇宙
02:15
And I first begin with a pie chart --
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我要從餅形圖先開始說起
02:17
and I promise this is the only pie chart
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我保證這是唯一一張會講數字的投影片
02:19
in the whole presentation --
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整個短講中唯一的一張餅形圖
02:21
but it sets up the state of our knowledge of the cosmos.
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它用來說明我們對宇宙的粗淺認識
02:25
All the theories in physics that we have today
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今天已知的所有物理學理論
02:28
properly explain what is called normal matter --
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對正常物質都可以略做解釋
02:30
the stuff that we're all made of --
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正常物質指的是我們身體組成物的這一類東西
02:32
and that's four percent of the universe.
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這些一共只佔宇宙的4%
02:34
Astronomers and cosmologists and physicists think
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天文學家,宇宙學家和物理學者認為
02:37
that there is something called dark matter in the universe,
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宇宙裡有暗物質
02:40
which makes up 23 percent of the universe,
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構成宇宙的23%
02:42
and something called dark energy,
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然後還有暗能量
02:44
which permeates the fabric of space-time,
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是瀰漫在整個空時架構當中的
02:46
that makes up another 73 percent.
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暗能量佔了宇宙的73%
02:48
So if you look at this pie chart, 96 percent of the universe,
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看看這張大餅圖,宇宙中96%
02:51
at this point in our exploration of it,
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以當今我們對它的探索而言
02:53
is unknown or not well understood.
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都仍屬未知,或不甚了解
02:56
And most of the experiments, telescopes that I went to see
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大多數我去看過在進行中的實驗或望遠鏡設備
02:59
are in some way addressing this question,
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為的都是要解答這個奧秘
03:02
these two twin mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.
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暗物質和暗能量的雙子之謎
03:05
I will take you first to an underground mine
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首先帶各位去看一個地下坑道
03:07
in Northern Minnesota
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位在明尼蘇達北方
03:09
where people are looking
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這裡有些人在找
03:11
for something called dark matter.
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暗物質這種東西
03:13
And the idea here is that they are looking for a sign
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概念上來說,他們找一個訊號
03:16
of a dark matter particle hitting one of their detectors.
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如果有暗物質粒子撞上了它們的偵測器的話,會發出一個信號
03:19
And the reason why they have to go underground
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為什麼他們得待在地底下
03:21
is that, if you did this experiment on the surface of the Earth,
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原因,這個實驗若在地表上進行
03:24
the same experiment would be swamped by signals
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太多地面上的雜訊會把這個關鍵信號淹沒掉
03:26
that could be created by things like cosmic rays,
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譬如說宇宙射線之物
03:28
ambient radio activity,
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到處都有的無線電信號
03:30
even our own bodies. You might not believe it,
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甚至我們的身體,也許難以置信
03:33
but even our own bodies are radioactive enough to disturb this experiment.
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但是你身體發出的信號都可能引響實驗的結果
03:36
So they go deep inside mines
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所以他們得深入地底下
03:39
to find a kind of environmental silence
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找到一個沉寂之處
03:41
that will allow them to hear
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以便聽得到
03:43
the ping of a dark matter particle hitting their detector.
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暗物質粒子撞上偵測器時發出的那個聲響
03:46
And I went to see one of these experiments,
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我去看過他們的一場試驗
03:48
and this is actually -- you can barely see it,
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現場像這樣 -- 幾乎啥都看不見
03:50
and the reason for that is it's entirely dark in there --
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原因是那裡幾乎完全漆黑一片
03:53
this is a cavern that was left behind by the miners
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這是個礦產業所留下來的洞穴
03:56
who left this mine in 1960.
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他們1960年左右停止採礦
03:58
And physicists came and started using it
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然後物理學者開始接手
04:00
sometime in the 1980s.
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運用這座礦坑是在1980年
04:02
And the miners in the early part of the last century
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上個世紀早期的礦工事實上
04:05
worked, literally, in candlelight.
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是靠著燭光在這裡工作
04:07
And today, you would see this inside the mine,
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今天在這個地方
04:09
half a mile underground.
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大約深達地下半英里之處
04:11
This is one of the largest underground labs in the world.
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這是世上少數幾個大型地下實驗室之ㄧ
04:13
And, among other things, they're looking for dark matter.
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他們有好幾個目標,其中之ㄧ是尋找暗物質
04:16
There is another way to search for dark matter,
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有好幾個方法可以尋找暗物質
04:18
which is indirectly.
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是以間接方式
04:20
If dark matter exists in our universe,
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如果暗物質存在於宇宙中
04:22
in our galaxy,
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在我們的銀河系裡
04:24
then these particles should be smashing together
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那麼這些粒子應該會撞在一起
04:26
and producing other particles that we know about --
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創造出其他我們已知的粒子
04:29
one of them being neutrinos.
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其中之ㄧ就是微中子
04:31
And neutrinos you can detect
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探測微中子的方式是
04:33
by the signature they leave
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可追蹤它們遺留的軌跡
04:35
when they hit water molecules.
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它們撞擊水分子時
04:37
When a neutrino hits a water molecule
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當微中子撞擊水分子時
04:39
it emits a kind of blue light,
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它會發出一種藍色光
04:41
a flash of blue light,
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藍色的閃光
04:43
and by looking for this blue light,
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尋找這種藍色光
04:45
you can essentially understand something about the neutrino
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對微中子的了解可能會增加一些認識
04:47
and then, indirectly, something about the dark matter
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意味著我們對暗物質的認識也能更進一步
04:50
that might have created this neutrino.
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微中子,有可能是由暗物質而來
04:52
But you need very, very large volumes of water
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但我們需要很大量的水
04:55
in order to do this.
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才能進行這個觀察實驗
04:57
You need something like tens of megatons of water --
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需要上千萬噸的水
04:59
almost a gigaton of water --
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幾乎上億噸的水
05:01
in order to have any chance of catching this neutrino.
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為了要有點機會抓住微中子
05:04
And where in the world would you find such water?
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世界上哪裡有這麼多水的地方?
05:06
Well the Russians have a tank in their own backyard.
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俄羅斯的後院裡有個水庫
05:09
This is Lake Baikal.
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貝加爾湖
05:11
It is the largest lake in the world. It's 800 km long.
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全世界最大的湖。長800公里
05:14
It's about 40 to 50 km wide
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寬度40到50公里
05:16
in most places,
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多數的深度
05:18
and one to two kilometers deep.
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約1到2公里
05:20
And what the Russians are doing
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俄羅斯人現在做的工作是
05:22
is they're building these detectors
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建造這些探測器
05:24
and immersing them about a kilometer beneath the surface of the lake
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埋到河面底下一公里深的地方
05:27
so that they can watch for these flashes of blue light.
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為了找尋這些一閃而過的藍色光
05:30
And this is the scene that greeted me when I landed there.
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我降落在那裡的時候迎接我的就是這樣的景象
05:33
This is Lake Baikal
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這是貝加爾湖
05:35
in the peak of the Siberian winter.
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在西伯利亞冬季最低溫時
05:37
The lake is entirely frozen.
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整個湖完全結冰
05:39
And the line of black dots
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黑色點點的線
05:42
that you see in the background,
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就是你在背景上看到的那些線
05:44
that's the ice camp where the physicists are working.
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是在那裡工作的物理學家紮營的地點
05:46
The reason why they have to work in winter
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必須在冬季裡工作的原因是
05:48
is because they don't have the money to work in summer and spring,
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他們沒有在春夏季裡進行這些工作所需要的經費
05:51
which, if they did that,
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因為如果那樣的話
05:53
they would need ships and submersibles to do their work.
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他們需要船和潛水艇才行
05:55
So they wait until winter --
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所以等到冬季
05:57
the lake is completely frozen over --
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這時湖面完全結冰
05:59
and they use this meter-thick ice
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運用厚度達一公尺的冰
06:01
as a platform on which to establish their ice camp and do their work.
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得以在冰上建立營地以便工作得以展開
06:04
So this is the Russians working on the ice
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所以俄羅斯人在冰上的工作
06:08
in the peak of the Siberian winter.
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是這樣在西伯利亞最天寒地凍的冬季裡進行的
06:10
They have to drill holes in the ice,
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必須在冰上鑿洞
06:12
dive down into the water -- cold, cold water --
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潛水到水中 -- 很冷很冷的水中
06:14
to get hold of the instrument, bring it up,
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取得儀器,帶上水面來
06:17
do any repairs and maintenance that they need to do,
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進行任何必要的修理和維修
06:20
put it back and get out before the ice melts.
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然後在冰層融化之前再趕快把儀器放回水底下去
06:22
Because that phase of solid ice lasts for two months
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因為堅硬冰層只維持為期兩個月
06:24
and it's full of cracks.
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完全像石頭一樣硬
06:26
And you have to imagine, there's an entire sea-like lake
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想像一面向海一樣遼闊無邊的湖
06:29
underneath, moving.
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在那湖面底下移動
06:31
I still don't understand this one Russian man
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我迄今仍未明白這位俄羅斯男人
06:34
working in his bare chest,
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赤裸著胸膛工作
06:36
but that tells you how hard he was working.
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但這至少說明他有多認真工作
06:39
And these people, a handful of people,
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這些人,數量不算少
06:41
have been working for 20 years,
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已經如此工作了20年
06:43
looking for particles that may or may not exist.
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尋找或許存在或不存在的粒子
06:45
And they have dedicated their lives to it.
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為此獻上自己的生命
06:48
And just to give you an idea,
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為了讓你有點概念
06:50
they have spent 20 million over 20 years.
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20年來他們只花了2千萬
06:53
It's very harsh conditions.
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條件很差
06:55
They work on a shoestring budget.
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預算極為微薄
06:57
The toilets there are literally holes in the ground
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冰上挖的洞就是洗手間
06:59
covered with a wooden shack.
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上面加塊木板
07:02
And it's that basic,
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這麼原始
07:04
but they do this every year.
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年復一年的做
07:06
From Siberia to the Atacama Desert in Chile,
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接下來,從西伯利亞我們去看智利的阿塔卡瑪沙漠
07:09
to see something called The Very Large Telescope.
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去看一組叫做甚大望遠鏡的光學望遠鏡
07:11
The Very Large Telescope
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「甚大望遠鏡」
07:13
is one of these things that astronomers do --
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天文學家習慣
07:15
they name their telescopes rather unimaginatively.
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取一些沒什麼想像力的名字
07:17
I can tell you for a fact,
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我直接告訴各位
07:19
that the next one that they're planning is called The Extremely Large Telescope.
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下一個計畫中的陣列,名字就叫做特大陣列望遠鏡
07:22
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
07:24
And you wouldn't believe it,
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你不會相信
07:26
but the one after that is going to be called The Overwhelmingly Large Telescope.
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再下一個又會叫做超級特大陣列望遠鏡
07:29
But nonetheless,
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不管怎麼說
07:31
it's an extraordinary piece of engineering.
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這是工程史上了不起的一個傑作
07:33
These are four 8.2 meter telescopes.
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4架8.2米望遠鏡
07:36
And these telescopes, among other things,
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這些望遠鏡有許多目的
07:38
they're being used to study
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還包括用來研究
07:40
how the expansion of the universe is changing with time.
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宇宙如何隨著時間而擴張
07:43
And the more you understand that,
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愈多了解一些
07:45
the better you would understand
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就愈明白
07:47
what this dark energy that the universe is made of is all about.
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暗能量--一種生成了宇宙的東西--是什麼
07:50
And one piece of engineering that I want to leave you with
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我要把一樣了不起的
07:53
as regards this telescope
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和這望遠鏡相關的工程傑作向各位介紹
07:55
is the mirror.
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是望遠鏡的鏡面
07:57
Each mirror, there are four of them,
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一共有四個鏡面,每一面
07:59
is made of a single piece of glass,
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都由一塊玻璃製成
08:01
a monolithic piece of high-tech ceramic,
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單一一塊高科技陶瓷技術
08:03
that has been ground down and polished to such accuracy
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被細磨,拋光到非常精準之程度
08:06
that the only way to understand what that is
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怎樣想像了解這研磨達到多精密?
08:09
is [to] imagine a city like Paris,
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你可以想像一個像巴黎一樣大的城市
08:11
with all its buildings and the Eiffel Tower,
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所有建築物和艾菲爾鐵塔
08:14
if you grind down Paris to that kind of accuracy,
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如果你以它的精準度去磨碎巴黎的話
08:17
you would be left with bumps that are one millimeter high.
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碎塊大約只有一毫米厚
08:21
And that's the kind of polishing that these mirrors have endured.
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這些鏡面承受過的研磨拋光精細度就是如此高
08:24
An extraordinary set of telescopes.
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令人驚嘆的望遠鏡陣列組
08:26
Here's another view of the same.
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另一個圖像
08:28
The reason why you have to build these telescopes
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建造這些望遠鏡的理由
08:30
in places like the Atacama Desert
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建造在阿塔卡瑪沙漠中
08:32
is because of the high altitude desert.
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是因為在高緯度的沙漠中
08:35
The dry air is really good for telescopes,
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乾燥的空氣才適合望遠鏡看得遠
08:38
and also, the cloud cover is below the summit of these mountains
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並且,山頂高度已超過雲層
08:40
so that the telescopes have
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這些望遠鏡一年
08:42
about 300 days of clear skies.
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有300個無雲的天空可進行觀測
08:44
Finally, I want to take you to Antarctica.
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最後我要帶你到北極洲
08:46
I want to spend most of my time on this part of the world.
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我很想把大部分時間都花在這個角落
08:50
This is cosmology's final frontier.
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這裡是宇宙學的最後一個前線區
08:52
Some of the most amazing experiments,
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最奇異的一些實驗
08:54
some of the most extreme experiments,
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最最超乎想像的實驗
08:56
are being done in Antarctica.
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就是在南極洲這裡進行的
08:58
I was there to view something called a long-duration balloon flight,
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我在那裡要看的是個叫做超長續航時間的氣球飛行計畫
09:01
which basically takes telescopes and instruments
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基本上搭載的全都是望遠鏡和儀器
09:04
all the way to the upper atmosphere,
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飛上大氣層高層
09:06
the upper stratosphere, 40 km up.
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同溫層的上層,約40公里以上
09:09
And that's where they do their experiments,
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實驗就在那裡進行
09:11
and then the balloon, the payload, is brought down.
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然後氣球以及乘載之物,又再被帶下來
09:14
So this is us landing on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
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這是我們,降落在南極洲的Ross Ice Shelf 這個地方
09:17
That's an American C-17 cargo plane
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這是一架美國 C-17 貨機
09:19
that flew us from New Zealand
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我們從紐西蘭啟程
09:21
to McMurdo in Antarctica.
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抵達南極區的McMurdo
09:23
And here we are about to board our bus.
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在這裡我們要搭轉乘巴士
09:25
And I don't know if you can read the lettering,
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不知你能否看清楚上面寫的字
09:27
but it says, "Ivan the Terribus."
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可以的話,所寫上的是「伊凡的恐怖巴士」
09:30
And that's taking us to McMurdo.
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就是這個車,載我們前往McMurdo
09:33
And this is the scene that greets you in McMurdo.
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那裡,列隊歡迎您光臨的是這個景象
09:36
And you barely might be able to make out
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在那裡幾乎很難拼湊出
09:38
this hut here.
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甚至只是一間像這樣的小屋
09:40
This hut was built by Robert Falcon Scott and his men
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它是由羅伯法坎司考特和他的團隊建造的
09:43
when they first came to Antarctica
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當他們第一次來到南極區
09:45
on their first expedition to go to the South Pole.
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第一次進行南極探險時
09:47
Because it's so cold,
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因為天氣酷寒
09:49
the entire contents of that hut is still as they left it,
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他們離去時在小屋裡留下的東西都還和當初一樣
09:52
with the remnants of the last meal they cooked still there.
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最後一次開火烹煮所剩餘食物都還在那裡
09:55
It's an extraordinary place.
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非常特別的地方
09:57
This is McMurdo itself. About a thousand people work here in summer,
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這是McMurdo,夏季約有1000人在這裡工作
10:00
and about 200 in winter
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冬季則約200人
10:02
when it's completely dark for six months.
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冬季時天全是黑的,要過6個月
10:04
I was here to see the launch
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我在那裡要看發射
10:06
of this particular type of instrument.
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這種特殊儀器的發射升空
10:08
This is a cosmic ray experiment
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這是一種探測宇宙射線用的儀器
10:10
that has been launched all the way to the upper-stratosphere
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向上發射直達同溫層上層
10:13
to an altitude of 40 km.
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距離地面海拔約40公里處
10:15
What I want you to imagine is this is two tons in weight.
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我希望各位想像一下的是,這裡有兩噸的重量
10:18
So you're using a balloon
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用一個氣球當作飛行器
10:20
to carry something that is two tons
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用來乘載兩噸的重量
10:22
all the way to an altitude of 40 km.
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要到海拔約40公里的高空
10:25
And the engineers, the technicians, the physicists
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工程師技術人員和物理學家
10:28
have all got to assemble on the Ross Ice Shelf,
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都必須在這塊 Ross Ice Shelf 完成組裝
10:31
because Antarctica -- I won't go into the reasons why --
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因為南極區 - 我不花時間解釋為什麼
10:34
but it's one of the most favorable places for doing these balloon launches,
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是最適合從事這種實驗的地方之ㄧ
10:36
except for the weather.
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除了氣候以外
10:38
The weather, as you can imagine,
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可以想像,它的氣候
10:40
this is summer, and you're standing on 200 ft of ice.
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即便夏天裡,也是站在厚200呎的冰層上
10:42
And there's a volcano behind,
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後面有火山
10:44
which has glaciers at the very top.
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火山頂上有冰層覆蓋
10:46
And what they have to do
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他們必須做的是
10:48
is they have to assemble the entire balloon --
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組裝整個氣球
10:50
the fabric, parachute and everything -- on the ice
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編織品,降落傘和所有東西 -- 都在冰上完成
10:53
and then fill it up with helium.
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再以氫氣將它灌飽
10:55
And that process takes about two hours.
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這個過程費時約2小時
10:57
And the weather can change as they're putting together this whole assembly.
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當組裝進行中,天氣可能說變就變
11:00
For instance, here they are laying down the balloon fabric behind,
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例如,他們把未充氣前的氣球拖拉在後面
11:03
which is eventually going to be filled up with helium.
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最後會以氦氣灌滿這支氣球
11:06
Those two trucks you see at the very end
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所看到最後兩台卡車
11:08
carry 12 tanks each of compressed helium.
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每輛乘載著12桶壓縮氦氣
11:11
Now, in case the weather changes before the launch,
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要是天氣在發射升空之前起變化
11:14
they have to actually pack everything back up into their boxes
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所有東西都得裝回箱子裡恢復原狀
11:17
and take it out back to McMurdo Station.
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再運回McMurdo基地站
11:20
And this particular balloon,
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這顆特製的汽球
11:22
because it has to launch two tons of weight,
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設計是要乘載兩噸重的物品升空
11:24
is an extremely huge balloon.
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所以非常非常大
11:27
The fabric alone weighs two tons.
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氣球體本身重量兩噸
11:29
In order to minimize the weight,
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為了縮減重量
11:32
it's very thin, it's as thin as a sandwich wrapper.
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它很薄,厚度只和包裝三明治包裝紙一樣
11:34
And if they have to pack it back,
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要重新打包
11:36
they have to put it into boxes
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裝回箱子的話
11:38
and stamp on it so that it fits into the box again --
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得要用力推壓加上封印
11:41
except, when they did it first,
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最初裝箱作業
11:43
it would have been done in Texas.
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是在德州完成
11:45
Here, they can't do it with the kind shoes they're wearing,
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這裡他們腳上穿的鞋子不適合完成這個工作
11:48
so they have to take their shoes off,
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所以鞋子得脫掉
11:50
get barefoot into the boxes, in this cold,
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在南極的天候中光腳進入箱子裡
11:52
and do that kind of work.
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完成打包的工作
11:54
That's the kind of dedication these people have.
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這就是這些人對科學作出的貢獻
11:56
Here's the balloon being filled up with helium,
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這些氣球充滿了氦氣以後
11:58
and you can see it's a gorgeous sight.
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這是甚為壯觀的一幕
12:00
Here's a scene
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請看
12:02
that shows you the balloon and the payload end-to-end.
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完整的氣球外加上承載物品一覽
12:04
So the balloon is being filled up with helium on the left-hand side,
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左邊的氣球正在充灌氦氣
12:07
and the fabric actually runs all the way to the middle
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一直到中間都是氣球
12:10
where there's a piece of electronics and explosives
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中段附近有一個電子裝置負責點火引爆
12:13
being connected to a parachute,
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是和一張降落傘相連
12:15
and then the parachute is then connected to the payload.
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降落傘再和裝載物相連
12:17
And remember, all this wiring is being done
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提醒您,這些佈線工作
12:19
by people in extreme cold, in sub-zero temperatures.
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都是在極度寒冷零下氣候中靠人力施工的
12:22
They're wearing about 15 kg of clothing and stuff,
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他們身上穿著重達15公斤的衣物和設備
12:25
but they have to take their gloves off in order to do that.
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但是有時為了工作的緣故手套卻得脫掉
12:28
And I would like to share with you a launch.
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這裡和大家分享一段升空的影片
12:31
(Video) Radio: Okay, release the balloon,
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(來自影片的聲音)無線電:OK,釋放氣球
12:33
release the balloon, release the balloon.
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釋放氣球,釋放氣球
13:04
Anil Ananthaswamy: And I'll finally like to leave you with two images.
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安尼 阿拿司旺米: 結束前我還有兩張圖片
13:07
This is an observatory in the Himalayas, in Ladakh in India.
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這是位在喜馬拉雅山上的觀測站,印度的拉達克
13:10
And the thing I want you to look at here
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請細看
13:12
is the telescope on the right-hand side.
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右手邊的望遠鏡
13:14
And on the far left there
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及最左邊
13:16
is a 400 year-old Buddhist monastery.
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一間400年歷史的佛寺
13:18
This is a close-up of the Buddhist monastery.
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建築物近照
13:20
And I was struck by the juxtaposition
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兩相並列之下令我心頭一震
13:23
of these two enormous disciplines that humanity has.
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是這人類的兩大學科
13:26
One is exploring the cosmos on the outside,
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一個向外探索無邊的宇宙
13:29
and the other one is exploring our interior being.
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一個是向內探索深層的內在
13:31
And both require silence of some sort.
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二者都需要某種寂靜的要素
13:34
And what struck me was
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令我震撼的是
13:36
every place that I went to to see these telescopes,
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每一處我前往參觀的望遠鏡
13:38
the astronomers and cosmologists
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每一位天文學家和宇宙學者
13:40
are in search of a certain kind of silence,
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無不是正尋找著一種,無聲的狀態
13:42
whether it's silence from radio pollution
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或在電波訊號受干擾的環境中尋找
13:44
or light pollution or whatever.
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或在光害嚴重的環境中尋找
13:47
And it was very obvious
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顯然
13:49
that, if we destroy these silent places on Earth,
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破壞地球上的無聲寧靜以後
13:51
we will be stuck on a planet without the ability to look outwards,
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也就失去了對大千宇宙感知的能力
13:54
because we will not be able to understand the signals that come from outer space.
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因為我們理解不了,那來自外太空的訊號
13:57
Thank you.
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謝謝
13:59
(Applause)
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(掌聲)
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