Honor Harger: A history of the universe in sound

譯者: yuanyuan liang 審譯者: Jenny Yang

Space,

太空，

we all know what it looks like.

我們都知道它的樣子。

We've been surrounded by images of space

太空的圖景一直環繞著

our whole lives,

我們整個一生，

from the speculative images

從科幻小說中

of science fiction

推測出的景象，

to the inspirational visions of artists

到藝術家靈感觸發的圖景，

to the increasingly beautiful pictures

乃至越來越美麗的照片

made possible by complex technologies.

這得益于複雜的技術手段。

But whilst we have

儘管我們

an overwhelmingly vivid

已經生動地瞭解了

visual understanding of space,

太空看上去是怎樣的，

we have no sense of what space sounds like.

但我們對太空聽上去如何卻一無所知。

And indeed, most people associate space with silence.

事實上，大多數人都認為太空是寂靜無聲的。

But the story of how

但是我們

we came to understand the universe

認識宇宙的過程中

is just as much a story of listening

傾聽所占的比重

as it is by looking.

與觀測是同樣的。

And yet despite this,

但是儘管如此，

hardly any of us have ever heard space.

我們卻幾乎從來沒有聽見過太空的聲音。

How many of you here

在座的有多少人

could describe the sound

可以描述一下

of a single planet or star?

一顆行星或恒星的聲音？

Well in case you've ever wondered,

如果你想知道的話，

this is what the Sun sounds like.

這就是太陽的聲音。

(Static)

（靜音）

(Crackling)

（劈啪聲）

(Static)

（靜音）

(Crackling)

（劈啪聲）

This is the planet Jupiter.

這是木星。

(Soft crackling)

（輕柔的劈啪聲）

And this is the space probe Cassini

這是卡西尼航天探測器

pirouetting through the ice rings of Saturn.

正旋轉著穿過土星的冰環

(Crackling)

（啵啵聲）

This is a a highly condensed clump

這是一個高度壓縮的

of neutral matter,

中子聚合

spinning in the distant universe.

旋轉在遙遠的宇宙中。

(Tapping)

（敲擊聲）

So my artistic practice

所以說我的藝術創作

is all about listening

就是聆聽

to the weird and wonderful noises

就是聆聽這些奇怪而美妙的聲音

emitted by the magnificent celestial objects

正是發出了這些聲音的巨大天體

that make up our universe.

組成了我們的宇宙。

And you may wonder,

可能你會問，

how do we know what these sounds are?

我們是怎麼知道這些聲音的？

How can we tell the difference

我們如何能區分

between the sound of the Sun

太陽的聲音

and the sound of a pulsar?

脈衝星的聲音？

Well the answer

答案就是

is the science of radio astronomy.

射電天文學。

Radio astronomers

射電天文學家們

study radio waves from space

研究來自太空的無線電波

using sensitive antennas and receivers,

他們使用靈敏的天線和接收器，

which give them precise information

從而獲得準確的信息

about what an astronomical object is

瞭解到天體的狀況

and where it is in our night sky.

以及在我們夜空中的位置。

And just like the signals

正如那些

that we send and receive here on Earth,

我們在地球上收發的信號，

we can convert these transmissions into sound

我們也能把這些電波轉化為聲音，

using simple analog techniques.

只需一些簡單的模擬技術。

And therefore, it's through listening

所以，通過聆聽

that we've come to uncover

我們逐漸揭開

some of the universe's most important secrets --

一些最重要的宇宙奧秘——

its scale, what it's made of

它的範圍，組成構造，

and even how old it is.

甚至它的年齡。

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

所以，今天我要展示給大家的，

of the history of the universe through listening.

就是透過聆聽瞭解宇宙的歷史。

It's punctuated

它包括

by three quick anecdotes,

3小段，

which show how accidental encounters

展示出那些偶然聽到的

with strange noises

奇怪聲音是如何

gave us some of the most important information

讓我們瞭解到關於太空的

we have about space.

一些最為重要的信息。

Now this story doesn't start

這個故事並不是來自

with vast telescopes

大型的望遠鏡

or futuristic spacecraft,

或非常先進的宇宙飛船，

but a rather more humble technology --

而是來自一種相當平凡的器材——

and in fact, the very medium

而事實上，正是這種器材

which gave us the telecommunications revolution

給我們帶來了電信革命

that we're all part of today:

今天的我們都是這個革命的一部份：

the telephone.

那就是電話。

It's 1876, it's in Boston,

那是1876年，波士頓，

and this is Alexander Graham Bell

這位就是貝爾（Alexander Graham Bell）

who was working with Thomas Watson

他和Thomas Watson一起

on the invention of the telephone.

發明了電話機。

A key part of their technical set up

他們的技術設計的關鍵部份

was a half-mile long length of wire,

是一條半英里長的電線，

which was thrown across the rooftops

這條線橫跨過波士頓

of several houses in Boston.

好幾家房屋的屋頂。

The line carried the telephone signals

這條線承載了電話信號

that would later make Bell a household name.

它使得貝爾後來成為一個家喻戶曉的名字。

But like any long length of charged wire,

但是就像任何長距離的帶電電線，

it also inadvertently became

這條線也成為一條意料之外的

an antenna.

天線。

Thomas Watson

Thomas Watson

spent hours listening

經常連續數小時聆聽

to the strange crackles and hisses

那些奇怪的劈啪聲和嘶嘶聲

and chirps and whistles

各種鳴音和哨音

that his accidental antenna detected.

這些都是他那個無心之作的天線探測到的。

Now you have to remember,

你們要記得，

this is 10 years before

直到十年之後

Heinrich Hertz proved the existence of radio waves --

赫茲才證明了無線電波的存在——

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

十五年之後泰斯拉（美國電機工程師）才發明了四調諧電路——

nearly 20 years before Marconi's first broadcast.

近二十年後，馬可尼才首次進行無線廣播。

So Thomas Watson wasn't listening to us.

所以Thomas Watson聽到的聲音並不是人為的。

We didn't have the technology

那時還沒有技術

to transmit.

去廣播。

So what were these strange noises?

那麼這些奇怪的噪音是什麽呢？

Watson was in fact listening

Watson事實上聽到的

to very low-frequency radio emissions

是非常低頻率的無線電輻射，

caused by nature.

是自然界產生的。

Some of the crackles and pops were lightning,

有些咔嚓和噼啪聲是閃電，

but the eerie whistles

但是那些陰森森的哨音

and curiously melodious chirps

以及有著奇怪旋律的鳴音

had a rather more exotic origin.

則有著非常奇異的源頭。

Using the very first telephone,

就是使用第一部電話機，

Watson was in fact

Watson事實上

dialed into the heavens.

撥通了天堂的電話。

As he correctly guessed,

而且正如他所猜想的，

some of these sounds were caused

其中一些聲音來自

by activity on the surface of the Sun.

太陽表面的活動。

It was a solar wind

那是太陽風

interacting with our ionosphere

與我們的電離層發生相互作用

that he was listening to --

他所聽到的

a phenomena which we can see

就是我們能看到的一種現象

at the extreme northern and southern latitudes of our planet

在地球的南北高緯度上

as the aurora.

就是極光。

So whilst inventing the technology

於是就在發明了

that would usher in the telecommunications revolution,

引發電信革命的技術手段的同時，

Watson had discovered

Watson也發現了

that the star at the center of our solar system

我們太陽系中心的恒星

emitted powerful radio waves.

發出的強力的無線電波。

He had accidentally been the first person

他不經意地成為第一個人

to tune in to them.

調通了它們的頻道。

Fast-forward 50 years,

快進50年，

and Bell and Watson's technology

貝爾和Watson的技術

has completely transformed

徹底地改變了

global communications.

全世界的通訊狀況。

But going from slinging some wire

但是從拉起一條電線

across rooftops in Boston

跨過波士頓的幾個房頂，

to laying thousands and thousands of miles of cable

演變到鋪設數千英里的線纜

on the Atlantic Ocean seabed

在大西洋底，

is no easy matter.

並不是一個簡單的過程。

And so before long,

所以很快地，

Bell were looking to new technologies

貝爾就在探索新的技術

to optimize their revolution.

來優化他們的革命。

Radio could carry sound without wires.

無線電可以無需電線就可以承載聲音。

But the medium is lossy --

但是載體會有耗損——

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

容易有噪音和干擾。

So Bell employed an engineer

因此貝爾雇傭了一名工程師

to study those noises,

來研究這些噪音，

to try and find out where they came from,

試圖找到它們的來源，

with a view towards building

從而可以建立起

the perfect hardware codec, which would get rid of them

完美的硬件解碼器能擺脫這些噪音，

so they could think about using radio

因此他們可能想到使用無線電

for the purposes of telephony.

用在電話技術上。

Most of the noises

大部份的噪音

that the engineer, Karl Jansky, investigated

經過工程師 Karl Jansky的研究後發現

were fairly prosaic in origin.

其源頭都很普通。

They turned out to be lightning

或者是閃電

or sources of electrical power.

或者是來自其他電源。

But there was one persistent noise

但是有一個持續存在的噪音

that Jansky couldn't identify,

Jansky無法辨認，

and it seemed to appear

這種噪音似乎在

in his radio headset

他的無線電聽筒中

four minutes earlier each day.

每天都提早4分鐘出現。

Now any astronomer will tell you,

現在任何一個天文學家都可以告訴你，

this is the telltale sign

這顯然標示了

of something that doesn't originate from Earth.

該訊號並非來自地球。

Jansky had made a historic discovery,

Jansky的這一發現具有歷史意義，

that celestial objects could emit radio waves

太空中的天體既發射無線電波，

as well as light waves.

也發射光波。

Fifty years on

50年來，

from Watson's accidental encounter with the Sun,

從Watson無意之中收聽到太陽算起，

Jansky's careful listening

Jansky的認真聆聽

ushered in a new age of space exploration:

開啟了空間探索的新紀元：

the radio astronomy age.

射電天文學時代。

Over the next few years,

在接下來的數年間，

astronomers connected up their antennas to loudspeakers

天文學家們將他們的天線連上揚聲器

and learned about our radio sky,

認識到我們的無線電天空，

about Jupiter and the Sun,

認識了木星和太陽，

by listening.

就是通過聆聽。

Let's jump ahead again.

讓我們再跳前一段。

It's 1964,

這是1964年，

and we're back at Bell Labs.

我們回到貝爾實驗室。

And once again,

再一次，

two scientists have got a problem with noise.

兩個科學家也遇到了噪音的問題。

Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson

Arno Penzias 和Robert Wilson

were using the horn antenna

正使用喇叭天線

at Bell's Holmdel laboratory

在貝爾的Holmdel實驗室（位於新澤西）

to study the Milky Way

研究銀河

with extraordinary precision.

他們的精確度是超乎尋常的。

They were really listening

他們真的是以高保真的方式

to the galaxy in high fidelity.

傾聽整個銀河系。

There was a glitch in their soundtrack.

在他們錄製的音軌中有一個小差錯。

A mysterious persistent noise

一個揮之不去的神秘噪音

was disrupting their research.

干擾著他們的研究。

It was in the microwave range,

這個噪音在微波範圍，

and it appeared to be coming

而且它似乎從各個方向

from all directions simultaneously.

同時出現。

Now this didn't make any sense,

這根本就說不通。

and like any reasonable engineer or scientist,

就像任何理性的工程師或科學家，

they assumed that the problem must be the technology itself,

他們以為問題一定處在技術本身，

it must be the dish.

一定是天線的問題。

There were pigeons roosting in the dish.

有鴿子棲息在天線上。

And so perhaps once they cleaned up the pigeon droppings,

所以可能一旦他們清掃乾淨鴿子糞，

get the disk kind of operational again,

讓天線重新運轉，

normal operations would resume.

就可以恢復正常的運行。

But the noise didn't disappear.

但是那個噪音并沒有消失。

The mysterious noise

這個神秘的噪音

that Penzias and Wilson were listening to

也就是Penzias和Wilson聽到的

turned out to be the oldest and most significant sound

原來是人類能聽到的最為古老

that anyone had ever heard.

也最為重要的聲音。

It was cosmic radiation

那就是宇宙輻射

left over from the very birth of the universe.

它產生自宇宙誕生的一刹那。

This was the first experimental evidence

這是第一個實驗證據

that the Big Bang existed

證明了大爆炸的存在

and the universe was born at a precise moment

證明了宇宙是在某一確切的時間點誕生的

some 14.7 billion years ago.

大約147億年前。

So our story ends

所以我們的故事就要結束在

at the beginning --

這個最開始的時刻——

the beginning of all things, the Big Bang.

也就是整個世界的最開始，大爆炸。

This is the noise that Penzias and Wilson heard --

這就是Penzias 和 Wilson 聽到的那個噪音——

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

你所能聽到的最古老的聲音，

the cosmic microwave background radiation

宇宙微波背景輻射

left over from the Big Bang.

是宇宙大爆炸遺留下來的。

(Fuzz)

（滋滋聲）

Thanks.

謝謝大家。

(Applause)

（觀眾掌聲）