霍金现象 堪称科学界的奇迹

Cosmic superhero Stephen Hawking never ceases to amaze his admirers. At the age of 72 he is the world’s most celebrated scientist and the ultimate symbol of triumph over adversity, as he celebrates five decades of intellectual achievement while living with motor neurone disease, which kills most patients within two or three years. “宇宙之王”斯蒂芬•霍金(Stephen Hawking)从未停止让他的崇拜者惊叹。72岁高龄的他不仅是在世最著名的科学家，而且是战胜逆境的终极象征。50年来，他在患有运动神经元疾病(MND)情况下取得了非凡学术成就，而这种疾病的患者大多在两、三年内死亡。 霍金：科学界的奇迹.jpg This week Professor Hawking enjoyed the limelight at the London premiere of the latest film about his life, The Theory of Everything, starring Eddie Redmayne. Last week he showed off a new communications system designed by Intel, which enables him to write and speak more efficiently — in his famous American android voice — by registering tiny movements of his cheek muscles. 最近，霍金教授在《万物理论》(The Theory of Everything)伦敦首映式上成为公众瞩目的中心，这是最新一部刻画霍金生平的电影，由埃迪•雷德梅尼(Eddie Redmayne)主演。更早些时候，他展示了由英特尔(Intel)设计的新通讯系统，通过捕捉他脸颊肌肉的微小抽动，这一系统使他能够更高效地写作和讲话——用他那著名的美国机器人的声音。 At the same time Prof Hawking stirred up controversywith his views on artificial intelligence, which “could be a real danger in the not too distant future”, he told the Financial Times by email. “The risk is that computers develop intelligence and take over. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete and would be superseded.” 同时，霍金对人工智能的看法激起了争议。他在发给英国《金融时报》的电子邮件中说，人工智能“可能在不太遥远的将来给人类带来真正的危险”。“风险在于电脑开发并掌控智能。人类受到缓慢生物进化的限制，可能无法与之竞争，并被取代。” Lord Rees, astronomer royal and fellow cosmologist, first met Prof Hawking in 1964 when both were graduate students at Cambridge university. “He was already unsteady on his feet and spoke with great difficulty,” recalls Lord Rees. “I learnt that he might not live long enough even to finish his PhD. 英国皇家天文学家、宇宙学家里斯勋爵(Lord Rees)第一次见到霍金是在1964年，那时两人都是剑桥大学的研究生。“他已经无法站稳，而且说话也非常困难，”里斯勋爵回忆说。“我意识到他可能活不了多长时间，甚至可能无法完成他的博士学位。” “Astronomers are used to large numbers,” he adds. “But few numbers could be as large as the odds I’d have given, back in 1964 when Stephen received his ‘death sentence’, against ever celebrating this uniquely inspiring crescendo of achievement sustained now for more than 50 years.” 他说：“霍金早在1964年就接到了‘死亡判决书’，而他还可以庆祝这一至今逾50年、不断发挥独特的鼓舞人心作用的辉煌成就，放在当年我会认为出现这一结果的几率无比之小。” Prof Hawking’s scientific reputation rests on his work on the relationship between gravity, space and time. “He has done as much to advance our understanding of gravity as anyone since Einstein,” says Lord Rees. 霍金在科学领域的声誉建立在他对重力、空间和时间关系的研究上。“他是继爱因斯坦之后，在加深我们对重力的理解方面贡献最大的人，”里斯勋爵说。 His most celebrated research concerns black holes, concentrations of matter so dense even light cannot escape their gravitational pull. Prof Hawking showed black holes are not just a bizarre theoretical construct but also play an important role in the development of the universe. His eureka moment came in the early 1970s, when he realised that black holes would not be completely black but would emit what became known as “Hawking radiation”, a key concept in mathematical physics. 他最著名的研究成果与黑洞有关。黑洞是超高密度的天体，连光都逃不过他们的引力。霍金告诉人们，黑洞不仅是一种奇怪的理论建构，而且在宇宙的进化中发挥着重要作用。他的“尤里卡时刻”在上世纪70年代初降临，当时他认识到黑洞并不完全是黑的，而是会发射出被称做“霍金辐射“的能量，这个词后来也成为数学物理领域的一个重要概念。 Although his subsequent work has not had such a strong scientific impact, he has continued to publish research papers on quantum cosmology, tackling questions such as what happened before the birth of our universe. His later output is doubly remarkable in a mathematical subject where most researchers peak at an early age. 虽然霍金之后的研究没再产生那么大的科学影响，但他不断地发表关于量子宇宙学的研究论文，力图解答诸如宇宙诞生前发生了什么之类的问题。他后来在一个数学课题上取得了卓越成果，而在这一领域，大多数研究者在年轻时就达到了顶峰。 He became a celebrity in 1988 with the publication of his first popular book, the bestselling A Brief History of Time. Ten further books have appeared, including four written for children with his daughter, Lucy. “The concept of an imprisoned mind roaming the cosmos plainly gripped people’s imagination,” Lord Rees says. 霍金在1988年因其第一本畅销书《时间简史》(A Brief History of Time)成为名人。之后，他又出版了10本书，其中4本是为儿童以及他的女儿露西(Lucy)所写。“一颗身体被禁锢的心灵在宇宙中漫游的想法显然激发了人们的想象，”里斯勋爵说。 Prof Hawking enjoys his fame, happily filling lecture rooms from London’s Royal Albert Hall to the White House. He has featured in Star Trek, The Simpsons and many other television shows. Several films have been made about him, including a notable portrayal by Benedict Cumberbatch in 2004. 霍金享受他的声誉，他高兴地发表演讲，从伦敦的皇家阿尔伯特音乐厅(Royal Albert Hall)到白宫的演讲厅都挤满了他的听众。他在《星际迷航》(Star Trek)、《辛普森一家》(The Simpsons)和其他许多电视节目中出演过。已有多部关于霍金的电影问世，其中包括本尼迪克特•康伯巴奇(Benedict Cumberbatch)在2004年塑造的著名形象。 The best account of Prof Hawking’s early life is his memoir, My Brief History,published last year. He grew up just north of London, the son of Oxford graduates. After three laid-back undergraduate years, also at Oxford, serious work began as a Cambridge postgrad. His illness started at that point, too. 对霍金早年生活最好的记录是他的回忆录——去年出版的《我的简史》(My Brief History)。他在伦敦北部长大，父母都是牛津大学毕业生。他同样在牛津念大学，度过3年悠闲的本科时光之后，他成为一名剑桥硕士生并开始了严肃的研究工作。他的病情也是在那时开始发展的。 The Theory of Everything focuses on Prof Hawking’s marriage to Jane Wilde, who looked after him and their three children with extraordinary devotion for more than 25 years. They broke up under the strain of 24-hour medical care — and in 1995 he married Elaine Mason, one of his nurses. That, too, ended in divorce and since 2006 he has depended on a team of helpers — and the best medical technology available. 新片《万物理论》着重刻画了霍金与简•怀尔德(Jane Wilde)的婚姻，后者为照顾霍金和他们的3个孩子做出了超过25年的非凡奉献。但在24小时医疗护理的压力下，他们离婚了。1995年，霍金与照看他的护士之一伊莱恩•梅森(Elaine Mason)结婚，但这段婚姻也以离婚收场。自2006年以来，霍金一直依靠一个助手团队和当今最先进的医疗技术生活。 Prof Hawking retains a strong sense of fun and adventure, though respiratory problems are curtailing his ability to travel and in particular to fly. 霍金依然对娱乐和冒险保持强烈的兴趣，尽管呼吸道问题限制了他旅行，特别是坐飞机。 “He is a fantastic symbol for people living with motor neurone disease,” says Belinda Cupid, research director of the UK Motor Neurone Disease Association, with his role in the 2012 London Paralympics opening ceremony particularly inspiring. “As patron of our charity, he is very generous with his time.” Why Prof Hawking has lived so much longer than other MND patients remains a medical mystery, however. 英国运动神经元疾病协会研究部主任贝琳达•丘比特谈到霍金在2012年伦敦残奥会开幕式上特别鼓舞人心的作用时说：“他对患有运动神经元疾病的人来说是一个神奇的象征。”“作为我们慈善机构的赞助人，他付出了很多时间。”但是，为什么霍金可以比其他运动神经元疾病患者多活如此之久仍是个医学谜题。 In the past 15 years Intel engineers have looked after his communications needs. “They have redesigned my software and incorporated new word prediction algorithms that allow me to write faster,” he says. “Through my computer I can write, talk, read scientific papers, make Skype phone calls and search on the internet. Recently I decided to join Facebook .” 在过去15年中，英特尔的工程师一直在关注他的通讯需求。“他们重新设计了我的软件，并加装了新的单词预测算法，让我可以写得更快，”霍金说。“通过我的电脑，我能够书写、讲话、阅读科学论文、拨打Skype电话以及在互联网上进行搜索。最近，我决定加入Facebook。” Important as Prof Hawking’s own research has been, his role as a beacon inspiring young people to study maths and physics may be even more influential in the long run, says Professor David Wands, director of Portsmouth university’s cosmology institute: “The iconic figure of Hawking the celebrity is impossible to disentangle from his profound contribution as a scientist.” 朴茨茅斯大学宇宙学研究所所长大卫•万兹(David Wands)教授说，与霍金教授自己所做的研究同样重要的是，从长远来看，他作为鼓舞年轻人学习数学和物理的一盏明灯可能会发挥更大的影响。“霍金作为一个名人的偶像形象不可能脱离他作为一个科学家的巨大贡献。”昆明韦博国际英语