William Noel: Revealing the lost codex of Archimedes

譯者: Alison Yang 審譯者: Yuning912 陳又寧

The great texts of the ancient world

我們看到的偉大古文字

don't survive to us in their original form.

並不是它們的原件。

They survive because medieval scribes copied them

由於中世紀抄寫員的不斷抄寫，

and copied them and copied them.

反覆抄寫，所以它們仍然存在。

And so it is with Archimedes,

阿基米德，

the great Greek mathematician.

他是個偉大的希臘數學家，

Everything we know about Archimedes as a mathematician

這就是我們所知有關他的東西。

we know about because of just three books,

我們從三本書知道他是這樣的一個人，

and they're called A, B and C.

分別是A，B和C。

And A was lost by an Italian humanist in 1564.

在1564年，一個意大利人道主義者遺失了A書；

And B was last heard of in the Pope's Library

在1311年，人們最後一次在維泰博羅馬

about a hundred miles north of Rome in Viterbo in 1311.

北面約一百里的教皇的圖書館聽到B書；

Now Codex C was only discovered in 1906,

在1906，C的抄本被發現，

and it landed on my desk in Baltimore

並運到我在巴爾的摩的辦公桌上。

on the 19th of January, 1999.

那是1999年1月19日的事。

And this is Codex C here.

而這就是C書的抄本

Now Codex C is actually buried in this book.

事實上，C的抄本是埋在這本書內。

It's buried treasure.

這是被埋藏的寶藏，

Because this book is actually a prayer book.

因為這是一本禱告書。

It was finished by a guy called Johannes Myrones

約翰內斯在1229年4月14日，

on the 14th of April, 1229.

完成了此書。

And to make his prayer book he used parchment.

他用了羊皮紙去釘裝成他的禱告書，

But he didn't use new parchment,

但他沒有用新的羊皮紙。

he used parchment recycled from earlier manuscripts,

他用早期的手稿循環再造的羊皮紙，

and there were seven of them.

而那些羊皮紙內有七份手稿，

And Archimedes Codex C was just one of those seven.

阿基米德的C手抄本只是其中一份而已。

He took apart the Archimedes manuscript and the other seven manuscripts.

他把阿基米德的手稿和其他七份拆開，

He erased all of their texts,

抹去上面的所有文字，

and then he cut the sheets down in the middle,

然後把羊皮只從中間切開。

he shuffled them up,

他把它們洗了牌，

and he rotated them 90 degrees,

旋轉90度變成橫向，

and he wrote prayers on top of these books.

最後把禱文寫在那些舊書上。

And essentially these seven manuscripts

基本上，這七份手稿都已經消失700年了，

disappeared for 700 years, and we have a prayer book.

而幸好我們有這本禱告書。

The prayer book was discovered by this guy,

在1906年，一名叫約翰•海伯格的男人

Johan Ludvig Heiberg, in 1906.

發現了這本禱告書。

And with just a magnifying glass,

他僅用了放大鏡，

he transcribed as much of the text as he could.

盡可能抄寫了那些文字下來。

And the thing is that he found two texts in this manuscript

他在整份手稿中

that were unique texts.

發現了兩份獨特的文本。

They weren't in A and B at all;

它們不是A書或B書，

they were completely new texts by Archimedes,

而是阿基米德所寫的新文本---

and they were called "The Method" and "The Stomachion."

《阿基米德方法》和《胃痛》。

And it became a world famous manuscript.

它從此成為世界著名的手稿。

Now it should be clear by now

所以，現在你們應該很清楚

that this book is in bad condition.

這本書的保養情況十分惡劣。

It got in worse condition in the 20th century

在二十世紀經海伯格看完以後，

after Heiberg saw it.

它的情況更強差人意。

Forgeries were painted over it,

偽造的文字曾被塗在上面，

and it suffered very badly from mold.

黴菌更長滿此書。

This book is the definition of a write-off.

這本書肯定會被報銷，

It's the sort of book

它的情況好像

that you thought would be in an institution.

你在機構裡見到的舊書一般。

But it's not in an institution,

但它不在機構內，

it was bought by a private owner in 1998.

而被一個人在1998年賣下來。

Why did he buy this book?

為什麼他會買此書呢？

Because he wanted to make that which was fragile safe.

因為他想令脆弱得東西得以安全，

He wanted to make that which was unique ubiquitous.

令獨一無二的東西普及，

He wanted to make that which was expensive free.

令昂貴的東西變得免費。

And he wanted to do this as a matter of principle.

當然，這也是根據他一貫的原則---

Because not many people are really going to read Archimedes in ancient Greek,

即使只有少數人真的會閱讀阿基米德的古希臘文本，

but they should have the chance to do it.

所有人都應有機會閱讀它。

So he gathered around himself the friends of Archimedes,

所以，他召集了一群阿基米德的支持者，

and he promised to pay for all the work.

並承諾負擔一切的費用。

And it was an expensive job,

預料之內，這是十分昂貴的工作，

but actually it wouldn't be as much as you think

但你絕對意想不到

because these people, they didn't come from money,

那些人不是為錢而來，

they came from Archimedes.

而是為阿基米德而來。

And they came from all sorts of different backgrounds.

他們來自不同背景，

They came from particle physics,

包括粒子物理、

they came from classical philology,

古典哲學、

they came from book conservation,

書本保養、

they came from ancient mathematics,

古代數學、

they came from data management,

數據管理、

they came from scientific imaging and program management.

科技成像和程序管理。

And they got together to work on this manuscript.

他們一起開始工作，

The first problem was a conservation problem.

而首個難題是關於書本保養。

And this is the sort of thing that we had to deal with:

這是我們無可避免要處理的難題：

There was glue on the spine of the book.

書脊上有膠水。

And if you look at this photograph carefully,

如果你仔細看看這張照片，

the bottom half of this is rather brown.

你會發現底下的一半是偏啡色的。

And that glue is hide glue.

那是隱藏膠水。

Now if you're a conservator,

假如你是一個管理員，

you can take off this glue reasonably easily.

你會頗容易地把這些膠水剝下來。

The top half is Elmer's wood glue.

但上面的那一半是牛頭牌木膠，

It's polyvinyl acetate emulsion

一種乾後不溶於水的

that doesn't dissolve in water once it's dry.

聚醋酸乙烯乳液。

And it's much tougher than the parchment that it was written on.

它的質地遠遠比那張羊皮紙硬。

And so before we could start imaging Archimedes,

故此，在開始進行影像掃描之前，

we had to take this book apart.

我們要把這本書拆開。

So it took four years to take apart.

我們用了四年才完成。

And this is a rare action shot, ladies and gentlemen.

先生小姐，這可是很不平常的事。

(Laughter)

（笑）

Another thing is that we had to get rid of all the wax,

另外，我們還要弄走那些臘，

because this was used in the liturgical services

那是希臘東正教教堂

of the Greek Orthodox Church

的禮拜儀式滴留在書上的。

and they'd used candle wax.

而且，那些是臘燭的臘，

And the candle wax was dirty,

那些臘是很髒的，

and we couldn't image through the wax.

而我們更不能透過那些臘進行影像掃描。

So very carefully we had to mechanically scrape off all the wax.

所以，我們得小心翼翼地動手刮去所有的臘。

It's hard to tell you exactly

我很難確實地告訴你

how bad this condition of this book is,

這本書有多殘舊，

but it came out in little bits very often.

只能說它的碎片不時的跌出來。

And normally in a book, you wouldn't worry about the little bits,

通常，這種大小的碎片你跟本不會在意，

but these little bits might contain unique Archimedes text.

但是這些碎片都可能有獨一無二的阿基米德字跡。

So, tiny fragments

所以，這些小碎片，

we actually managed to put back in the right place.

我們還是要仔細的放回原頁。

Then, having done that, we started to image the manuscript.

然後，我們開始影像掃描。

And we imaged the manuscript

我們用了14種光波的波段

in 14 different wavebands of light.

來掃描。

Because if you look at something in different wavebands of light,

當你在不同波段看同一樣東西的時候，

you see different things.

你看到不同的東西。

And here is an image of a page

這一頁上有14種

imaged in 14 different wavebands of light.

不同波段的各個映像。

But none of them worked.

但是，沒有一個可用。

So what we did was we processed the images together,

所以我們把那些映像一起處理，

and we put two images into one blank screen.

把兩個映像疊在同一頁。

And here are two different images of the Archimedes manuscript.

這是阿基米德的兩個不同的綜合手稿。

And the image on the left

左邊的映像

is the normal red image.

是普通的紅色圖像；

And the image on the right is an ultraviolet image.

右邊的映像則是紫外光的圖像。

And in the image on the right

右邊的映像

you might be able to see some of the Archimedes writing.

有比較清晰的阿基米德字跡。

If you merge them together into one digital canvas,

當你把這兩個圖像合併成同一個數碼影像，

the parchment is bright in both images

羊皮紙在原本兩個圖像都是亮色的，

and it comes out bright.

所以它現在是亮色的。

The prayer book is dark in both images

禱告書在兩個圖像都是暗色的，

and it comes out dark.

所以它結果也是暗色的

The Archimedes text is dark in one image and bright in another.

阿基米德文字在一張是暗的，在另一張是亮的，

And it'll come out dark but red,

所以它結果是暗紅色的。

and then you can start to read it rather clearly.

現在你可以清楚的看到了，

And that's what it looks like.

就在這裡。

Now that's a before and after image,

這是處理前和處理後的圖像，

but you don't read the image on the screen like that.

但是你不會在這種背景去閱讀的。

You zoom in and you zoom in

你把它放大，放大，

and you zoom in and you zoom in,

放大，然後再放大，

and you can just read it now.

然後再去讀。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

If you process the same two images in a different way,

如果你把同樣的圖像用不同的方法處理，

you can actually get rid of the prayer book text.

你甚至可以弄走禱告書本身的文字。

And this is terribly important,

這是非常重要的，

because the diagrams in the manuscript

因為手稿上的影像

are the unique source for the diagrams

是所有其他合成影像的唯一來源。

that Archimedes drew in the sand in the fourth century B.C.

阿基米德在公元前四世紀時在沙子上畫的

And there we are, I can give them to you.

這裡，我會給你看到，

With this kind of imaging --

在影像掃描之下的

this kind of infrared, ultraviolet, invisible light imaging --

紅外線影像，紫外線影像，和透明光影像。

we were never going to image through the gold ground forgeries.

但是，我們還是無法對有金色底稿的偽書進行掃描。

How were we going to do that?

我們怎麼辦呢？

Well we took the manuscript,

我們拿了那些手稿，

and we decided to image it in X-ray fluorescence imaging.

放在螢光X射線下掃描。

So an X-ray comes in in the diagram on the left

所以，一束X射線在圖像左面射進來，

and it knocks out an electron from the inner shell of an atom.

從原子的電子內殼層撞了一顆電子出來，

And that electron disappears.

然後這顆電子消失了。

And as it disappears, an electron from a shell farther out

當它消失的同時，外一層得電子外殼中，

jumps in and takes its place.

一顆電子跳進內層，取代原本的位置。

And when it takes its place,

同時，那顆電子

it sheds electromagnetic radiation.

釋出一束電磁輻射。

It sheds an X-ray.

它釋出的便是X射線。

And this X-ray is specific in its wavelength

這種X-射線有獨特的波長，

to the atom that it hits.

專門為這種原子調校。

And what we wanted to get

我們想要拿到的

was the iron.

是鐵，

Because the ink was written in iron.

因為原手稿的墨水含有鐵的成份。

And if we can map

如果我們可以

where this X-ray that comes out, where it comes from,

把X射線從哪裡射入、那裡射出的地方標記，

we can map all the iron on the page,

我們就可以標示出整頁有鐵成份的地方。

then theoretically we can read the image.

理論上，我們可借此閱讀圖像。

The thing is that you need a very powerful light source to do this.

實際上，我們則需要用一個強大的光源去做這件事。

So we took it to the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory

所以我們把手稿拿去史丹佛的同步輔射實驗室，

in California,

坐落於加州的

which is a particle accelerator.

一部粒子加速器。

Electrons go around one way,

電子從一邊走，

positrons go around the other.

正電子則往另一邊，

They meet in the middle,

然後在中間相遇，

and they create subatomic particles

合成亞原子粒子，

like the charm quark and the tau lepton.

就好像夸克和τ子。

Now we weren't actually going to put Archimedes in that beam.

我們本來沒有打算把阿基米德的手搞放進那光束裡，

But as the electrons go round at the speed of light,

但是當電子以光束打圈時，

they shed X-rays.

它們會釋出X射線。

And this is the most powerful light source in the solar system.

這是太陽系內最強的光源---

This is called synchrotron radiation,

同步輻射，

and it's normally used to look at things

而我們平常看東西也會用它，

like proteins and that sort of thing.

例如蛋白質那類東西。

But we wanted it to look at atoms, at iron atoms,

但現在我們想看到原子，鐵原子，

so that we could read the page from before and after.

然後讓我們看到的是處理前和處理後的影像。

And lo and behold, we found that we could do it.

你看，我們的確可以做到的。

It took about 17 minutes to do a single page.

它用大約17分鐘去完成一頁的掃描。

So what did we discover?

我們發現什麼了？

Well one of the unique texts in Archimedes

一份獨特的阿基米德手稿

is called "The Stomachion."

《胃痛》，

And this didn't exist in Codices A and B.

這並不存在於抄本A和抄本B內。

And we knew that it involved this square.

我們知到它談到這個正方形，

And this is a perfect square,

這是一個完美的正方形，

and it's divided into 14 bits.

然後分成14塊。

But no one knew what Archimedes was doing with these 14 bits.

沒有人會知道阿基米德用這十四塊做什麼，

And now we think we know.

而現在，我們認為我們知道了。

He was trying to work out

他試圖找出

how many ways you can recombine those 14 bits

不同方法重新組合這 14 塊

and still make a perfect square.

成一個完美的正方形。

Anyone want to guess the answer?

有人要猜猜看嗎？

It's 17,152 divided into 536 families.

總數是 17,152， 分為 536 類別。

And the important point about this

最重要的是，

is that it's the earliest study in combinatorics in mathematics.

它是組合數學的最早研究，

And combinatorics is a wonderful and interesting branch of mathematics.

組合數學是數學中精彩而有趣的分支。

The really astonishing thing though about this manuscript

這份手稿令人驚異的事情

is that we looked at the other manuscripts

是當我們看著再生羊皮紙卷上的其他的手稿

that the palimpsester had made,

其他手稿時，

the scribe had made his book out of,

在抄寫員釘裝成它那本禱告書時，

and one of them was a manuscript containing text by Hyperides.

其中一份是包含海柏維特的文字，

Now Hyperides was an Athenian orator from the fourth century B.C.

海柏維特是西元前四世紀雅典的演說家，

He was an exact contemporary of Demosthenes.

堪稱當代的狄摩西尼。

And in 338 B.C. he and Demosthenes together

在西元前 338 年，他和狄摩西尼一起

decided that they wanted to stand up

決定反抗

to the military might of Philip of Macedon.

馬其頓菲力浦的軍隊，

So Athens and Thebes went out to fight Philip of Macedon.

所以雅典人和底比斯人去抵抗馬其頓菲力浦的軍隊。

This was a bad idea,

這是一個糟糕的主意，

because Philip of Macedon had a son called Alexander the Great,

因為馬其頓菲力蒲的兒子是亞歷山大大帝，

and they lost the battle of Chaeronea.

所以他們在海羅尼亞的戰鬥落敗了。

Alexander the Great went on to conquer the known world;

亞歷山大大帝繼續征服那時的世界 ；

Hyperides found himself on trial for treason.

海柏維特則因叛國罪受審。

And this is the speech that he gave when he was on trial --

這是他在判刑時的演說，

and it's a great speech:

一個偉大的演講全文：

"Best of all," he says, "is to win.

"最好的結果，"他說："是勝利。

But if you can't win,

但如果你贏不了，

then you should fight for a noble cause,

你應該為一個崇高的理想去打那場仗，

because then you'll be remembered.

因為你會名留青史。

Consider the Spartans.

試想想斯巴達，

They won enumerable victories,

他們贏得不可枚舉的勝利，

but no one remembers what they are

但沒有人記得它們是哪些戰場，

because they were all fought for selfish ends.

因為他們為一己之私而戰。

The one battle that the Spartans fought that everybody remembers

我們唯一記得斯巴達的

is the the battle of Thermopylae

是溫泉關的戰役，

where they were butchered to a man,

他們完全被宰殺了，戰敗了，

but fought for the freedom of Greece."

但為希臘的自由而戰鬥。"

It was such a great speech

這是一個偉大的演講

that the Athenian law courts let him off.

雅典法院判他無罪釋放。

He lived for another 10 years,

他又活了十年，

then the Macedonian faction caught up with him.

然後，馬其頓派的分子抓到他。

They cut out his tongue in mockery of his oratory,

他們砍下他的舌頭，並諷刺

and no one knows what they did with his body.

並沒有人會知道他們對他身體做的所作所為。

So this is the discovery of a lost voice from antiquity,

所以，我們發現了一把在遠古遺失的聲音

speaking to us, not from the grave,

對我們說話，不是從墳墓中，

because his grave doesn't exist,

因為他根本沒有墳墓，

but from the Athenian law courts.

而是從雅典法院。

Now I should say at this point

現在我應該說明一下

that normally when you're looking

通常當你看到

at medieval manuscripts that have been scraped off,

那些被擦去的中世紀手稿時，

you don't find unique texts.

你不會找到獨特的案文。

And to find two in one manuscript is really something.

在一份手稿中找到兩份獨特的案本並不常見，

To find three is completely weird.

找到三個則是完全不合乎常理的。

And we found three.

我們發現了三個。

Aristotle's "Categories"

亞里斯多德的"類別"----

is one of the foundational texts of Western philosophy.

西方哲學的基礎文本，

And we found a third century A.D. commentary on it,

公元後三世紀的評論----

possibly by Galen and probably by Porphyry.

很大可能由蓋侖或斑岩所寫。

Now all this data that we collected,

現在我們所收集到的資料，

all the images, all the raw images,

所有圖像、 所有原始圖像

all the transcriptions that we made and that sort of thing

所有我們的一切抄錄和其他東西

have been put online under a Creative Commons license

都放在受創作共用許可的保護下的一個網上平臺上，

for anyone to use for any commercial purpose.

任何人都可將其用於商業目的。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Why did the owner of the manuscript do this?

為什麼擁有手稿的人會這樣做？

He did this because he understands data as well as books.

因為他明白資料與書籍的個別用處。

Now the thing to do with books,

對於書本典籍，

if you want to ensure their long-term utility,

如果要確保其長遠的使用，

is to hide them away in closets

就要把它們藏在在櫃子，

and let very few people look at them.

讓很少人能夠看到它們。

The thing to do with data, if you want it to survive,

但如果你想要讓資料長期的被使用，

is to let it out and have everybody have it

就要把它發放出去，讓每一個人都擁有它，

with as little control on that data as possible.

盡可能的少控制資料流通性。

And that's what he did.

這就是他做的事情，

And institutions can learn from this.

其他機構可以向其學習。

Because institutions at the moment

因為目前大部份的機構

confine their data with copyright restrictions and that sort of thing.

把許可權制等等的東西限制著他們的資料。

And if you want to look at medieval manuscripts on the Web,

如果你想在線上看看中世紀手稿，

at the moment you have to go to the National Library of Y's site

你要去某甲國家總圖的網站

or the University Library of X's site,

或某乙大學圖書館的網站。

which is about the most boring way

這是最無聊的方式

in which you can deal with digital data.

去處理的數位資料。

What you want to do is to aggregate it all together.

你想做的是把它們全部組合在一齊，

Because the Web of the ancient manuscripts of the future

因為線上古代手稿的未來

isn't going to be built by institutions.

不是由那些機構來建造，

It's going to be built by users,

而是依靠使用者。

by people who get this data together,

那些把資料組合在一起的人，

by people who want to aggregate all sorts of maps

那些想要制作各式各樣的統計圖的人

from wherever they come from,

那些來自世界各地的人，

all sorts of medieval romances

那些來自世界各處的

from wherever they come from,

各種各樣的中世紀傳奇故事，

people who just want to curate their own glorious selection

那些只是想要策劃

of beautiful things.

自己喜歡的系列的人

And that is the future of the Web.

這是網路的未來。

And it's an attractive and beautiful future,

它是有吸引力和美麗的未來，

if only we can make it happen.

而只有我們可以讓它發生。

Now we at the Walters Art Museum have followed this example,

現在沃爾特斯藝術博物館已經這樣做了，

and we have put up all our manuscripts on the Web

我們已經把所有稿件上載到 Web 上，

for people to enjoy --

讓人享受

all the raw data, all the descriptions, all the metadata.

所有的原始資料，所有的說明，所有中繼資料，

under a Creative Commons license.

享受創作共用許可的保障。

Now the Walters Art Museum is a small museum

沃爾特斯藝術博物館是一座小型的博物館，

and it has beautiful manuscripts,

有美麗的手稿，

but the data is fantastic.

精彩的資料。

And the result of this

結果，

is that if you do a Google search on images right now

如果你現在在谷歌搜索那些影像，

and you type in "Illuminated manuscript Koran" for example,

例如，當您可以輸入"亮色手稿古蘭經"，

24 of the 28 images you'll find come from my institution.

你會發現的 28 幅圖像 中有24 幅來自我的機構。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Now, let's think about this for a minute.

現在，讓我們用一分鐘的時間思考一下。

What's in it for the institution?

該機構裡有什麼？

There are all sorts of things that are in it for the institution.

有各種各樣的東西。

You can talk about the Humanities and that sort of thing,

你可以談有關人文和諸如此類的事情，

but let's talk about selfish things.

但讓我們談一談自私。

Because what's really in it for the institution is this:

因為這才是機構真正的本質：

Now why do people go to the Louvre?

為什麼人們去羅浮宮？

They go to see the Mona Lisa.

他們去看蒙娜麗莎。

Why do they go to see the Mona Lisa?

他們為什麼會去看蒙娜麗莎？

Because they already know what she looks like.

因為他們已經知道她的樣子。

And they know what she looks like

他們會知道她的樣子是

because they've seen pictures of her absolutely everywhere.

因為他們在很多地方看過她的圖片。

Now, there is no need

所以，我們沒有必要

for these restrictions at all.

去設定這些限制。

And I think that institutions should stand up

我認為各機構應該

and release all their data under unrestricted licenses,

開放資料數據等的使用權限，

and it would be a great benefit to everybody.

造福每個人。

Why don't we just let everybody have access to this data

為什麼我們不讓每個人都有權訪問此資料

and curate their own collection

和策劃自己的數據集合？

of ancient knowledge and wonderful and beautiful things

這樣可以讓古代知識和精彩和美麗的東西流傳下去，

and increase the beauty and the cultural significance

和增加互聯網美的價值

of the Internet.

和文化意義。

Thank you very much indeed.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）