艾萨克·牛顿：最后的魔术师（2013）

But a magician is someone who, even after you see what they’ve done,
甚至你都瞭解了之后，你还是会觉得完全是个谜
even after you understand it, you think it’s a complete mystery.
而牛顿就是魔法师
And Newton was a magician.
他就是那种不知道会从那里得到灵感的人
He was somebody who seemed to pull ideas out of nowhere.
艾萨克．牛顿最后在1687年出版他那本大部头的书
Isaac Newton finally published his magnum opus in 1687,
五百页满满的文字、图表和计算－
500 pages of densely-packed words, diagrams and calculations –
自然哲学的数学原理，
The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy,
原理
the Principia.
少部分能瞭解牛顿数学的人陷入狂喜之中
The few people who could understand Newton’s maths were in raptures.
天上掉下来的论文，
A divine treatise,
将人类的理智推上另一个高峰
exalting human reason to such a pitch
藉由这…这个心灵的竭尽心力！
by this… this utmost effort of the mind!
牛顿的精确计算
Newton’s precise calculations
提供这个世界一种方法来预测…
gave the world a way to predict the motion of virtually…
…所有物体的运动
..everything.
彗星和日食不再是末日的预兆
Comets and eclipses were no longer omens of doom.
可以精确预测出来
They could be accurately forecast.
可以解释潮汐现象
Tides could be explained.
建筑物的静力平衡可以计算出来
The forces holding up buildings could be worked out
而且重量的分布也能计算出来
and weight distribution computed.
最后，飞机可以被设计出来
Eventually, aeroplanes could be designed
火箭得以升空…
and rockets launched…
…全都因为有能力对力和运动进行运算
..all due to the ability to calculate forces and motion.
牛顿学说的时代已经到来
The Newtonian Age had arrived.
但是发行版本也带来了争议，
But publication also brought controversy,
再一次又是罗伯特·虎克引起的，
once again from Robert Hooke,
他声称他是
who claimed he was the originator
万有引力的原创者
of the Theory of Universal Gravitation.
我认为我才是发现天体运动的原因，
I conceived that discovery of the cause of celestial motions,
所以牛顿先生，或是其他人，都没有权力宣告所有权
to which Mr Newton, nor any other, has any right to claim.
我现在认为自然史上最伟大的发现
I now conceive it to be one of the greatest discoveries yet made
还没有出现
in natural history.
虎克正在为相同的事情努力著是不争的事实，
It’s true that Hooke was working on the same thing,
哈雷也深感兴趣，而且所有的…
and Halley was interested, and all of these…
…所有其他人在这个领域里努力所累积的知识，也是成就他之所以能发现
..the knowledge that all these other people were working on it was a part of what made it possible
他所发现的部分原因
for him to discover what he discovered.
牛顿准备要承认他的成就是建立在别人的功劳之上的，
Newton was prepared to admit that he built on other people’s work,
但不是像虎克那种人的功劳
but not the work of people like Hooke.
假如我可以看得更远，
If I have seen further,
那是因为我是站在巨人的肩膀上
it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
据信这是故意讽刺虎克身材短小的形象
Some believe this was really a cutting reference to Hooke’s short stature.
牛顿无意分享他发现的功劳
Newton was not interested in sharing credit for his discovery.
他拒绝虎克的声明
He rejected Hooke’s claim
而且说虎克是个差劲的数学家
and said that Hooke was too poor a mathematician
连理解微积分的能力都没有
to even understand the calculations involved.
他只会假装掌握了所有的东西
He does nothing but pretend and grasp at all things.
他相当会为自己的无能找藉口
He should rather excuse himself by reason of his inability.
发现重力的所有者，
Those properties of gravity,
是我自己首先发现的
which I myself first discovered
而且在多年以前就已经对公众发表过了，
and showed to this society many years since,
牛顿先生把它当作是自己的发明
Mr Newton has done me the favour
而付印发行，真是帮了我个大忙
to print and publish as his own inventions.
公众的兴趣是没有良知的
Interest has no conscience.
虎克的声誉再也没有恢复过
Hooke’s reputation never recovered.
他一下子就被牛顿如日中天的名声所淹没
He was soon eclipsed by Newton’s fame.
牛顿的时代已经来临
Newton’s time had come.
启蒙时代正笼罩在它的光辉之中
The Age of Enlightenment was in its glory
他名扬四海
and he was famous.
甚至在新王奥兰治的威廉的统治下
Even his extreme Protestantism was more acceptable
最激进的清教♥徒♥也非常能接受牛顿
under the new King William of Orange.
牛顿在1692年成为国会的剑桥会员
Newton became a Member of Parliament for Cambridge in 1692.
但牛顿从来不公开他的鍊金术
But Newton revealed nothing about his alchemy.
反而，他开始普及他的想法，
Instead, he began to popularise his ideas,
从重力开始
starting with gravity.
苹果…来自果园的灵感，
The apple… Musing in the garden,
从心里冒出来的想法是，
it came to mind that the power of gravity,
重力把苹果从树上拉到地面，
which brought an apple from the tree to the ground,
重力可以超越离地距离的限制
was not limited to a certain distance from the earth.
这种力量可以扩展的范围一定比想像中的还要深远
This power must extend much further than was usually thought.
「为什麽不能作用到月球那麽高呢？」我告诉我自己，
“Why not as high as the moon?” I said to myself,
「如果真的是这样，一定会影响到月亮的移♥动♥」
“And if so, that must influence her motion.”
这个故事紧扣人心
The story caught on
马上要比科学所启发的内容还要广为人知
and soon became better known than the science that inspired it.
这真的发生过吗？我们只听牛顿谈过这件事
Did it actually happen? We only have Newton’s word for it.
在他过世之前，只有简短谈过四次，
He told the story four times shortly before he died,
所以在他大半辈子里，从未提过隻字半语
so for the majority of his life he never mentioned it.
最后，掉在牛顿头上的苹果成为
Eventually, the apple was shown falling on Newton’s head
受到天启顿悟时刻的代表
like a moment of divine inspiration.
变成了科学上的神话
It’s become a scientific myth.
变成一种框架，左右著我们怎麽看待科学
It frames, it governs how we think about science.
我们真的这样想，伟天的天才
We really like to think that there’s great geniuses
突然受到上帝的感召的样子
who suddenly are inspired by God.
但是正当全世界要开始认识他的天份时，
But just as the world began to recognise his genius,
牛顿又再一次隐退而去
Newton retreated once again.
在他五十岁生日的某处，
Somewhere about his 50th birthday,
他正遭受一种我们现在所知道的严重神经系统的崩溃
he suffered what one we now term a severe nervous breakdown.
失眠、忧鬱，
Sleeplessness, melancholia,
迫♥害♥妄想…
fear of persecution…
造成他的心智崩溃的原因
The cause of his mental collapse
一直是他一生中最巨大的谜团
remains the greatest mystery of his life.
产量丰沛的理论
Theories abound.
特殊的崩溃
The particular breakdown
或衰退，或叫什麽都可以，发生在1693年，
or collapse, or whatever it was, of 1693,
恰好发生在一个时期
it does coincide with a period
他正和罗伯特·波以耳通信
when he’s corresponding with Robert Boyle
谈论一些非常特殊的炼金术实验，
about some very specific alchemical experiments,
而且确实涉及近距离使用大量的水银
and it does involve close-up use of a lot of mercury.
有可能这是造成他崩溃的部分原因
It may be that part of the reason for his breakdown
因此他警觉到他不可能在
was that he realises that he cannot urge
炼金术上获得渴望的成果，
the alchemical work to fruition,
可能因此在这个领域里毫无动静的原因
that perhaps there’s nothing in this after all.
也有可能牛顿并不是一般所相信的
It may also be that Newton had not been as solitary
那麽离群所居
as is commonly believed.
这当然绝对不是巧合
It is absolutely no coincidence that
在他被称作是崩溃之前的短暂时间，
shortly before he had the so-called breakdown,
和一位来自瑞士的年轻数学家叫法西奥·德丢列突然绝交，
his friendship with a young man called Fatio de Duillier, a Swiss mathematician, broke off,
而且德丢列回到瑞士
and de Duillier went back to Switzerland
而且从此牛顿很难再见他一面，
and Newton hardly ever saw him again,
在那件事之前，大约隔了一、两年之前，
whereas before that, for the space of a year or two,
他们互相通信，为了延长相处的时间，他们投宿在彼此的屋子里
they’d been writing to each other and staying in each other’s houses for protracted periods of time.
所以对我来说是很明白的一件事
So it seems quite clear to me
在他们之间一定有很强烈的情绪连结
that there was a very strong emotional bond between them.
牛顿一生未婚，
Newton never married,
而且和他所认识的女人都没有建立任何关係
nor is he known to have had any relations with women.
他开始妄想他的朋友正在嘲弄他
He began to imagine that his friends were mocking him.
他写给约翰·洛克的信中…
He writes to John Locke letters…
…让洛克觉得牛顿的心态很危险
..that lead Locke to think that Newton’s mind is deranged.
阁下，对于你努力企图把我和女人纠缠在一起的想法，
Sir, being of the opinion that you endeavoured to embroil me with women,
而且运用其他手段，
and by other means,
我对此深感困扰，
I was so much affected with it,
因此当有人跟我说你噁心到不该活在这世上，
that when someone told me you were sickly and would not live,
我的回答是你最好是死了算了！
I answered it were better if you were dead.
用他自己话来说，他丧失了之前心灵的协调性
He lost, in his own words, the former consistency of his mind.
他不再专心在追求旧时代的智慧，
He never again concentrated after the old-fashioned,
也没有做出什麽新鲜的玩意
or did any fresh work.
三年之后，他打包好自己的文件，离开了剑桥
Three years later, he packed up his papers and left Cambridge.
牛顿即将展现他最诡异的变化
Newton was about to perform his strangest transformation.
从一个没没无闻的学者
The hermit and academic
变成权倾一时的男人
became a man of power.
因为他在国际上的名气和声望如日中天
In recognition of his international fame,
处在启蒙时代核心人物，倍受推崇的地位上