万物简史 第161期:爱因斯坦的宇宙(4)

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　　普朗克没有泄气——哎呀，也许稍稍有点胆怯，开始把注意力转向别的问题。

　　Planck was often unlucky in life.

　　生活中，普朗克屡遭不幸，

　　His beloved first wife died early, in 1909, and the younger of his two sons was killed in the First World War.

　　1909年，他的第一任爱妻早逝，两个儿子中的最小的一个死于一战。

　　He also had twin daughters whom he adored.

　　他宠爱的双胞胎女儿们，

　　One died giving birth.

　　其中一个死于分娩，

　　The surviving twin went to look after the baby and fell in love with her sister's husband. They married and two years later she died in childbirth.

　　另一个在照顾她姐姐遗腹时，爱上了她的姐夫并喜结连理，两年后，普朗克唯一的一个女儿竟也死于分娩。

　　坚强，普朗克！！

　　In 1944, when Planck was eighty-five, an Allied¹ bomb fell on his house and he lost everything-papers, diaries, a lifetime of accumulations.

　　1944年，那时普朗克已经85岁了，联军的一枚炸弹击中了他的房子，为此，他失去了一切——论文、日记和毕生积蓄。

　　The following year his surviving son was caught in a conspiracy² to assassinate³ Hitler and executed.

　　翌年，他仅存的儿子在一次密谋刺杀希特勒的行动中被抓并被杀害。

　　We shall turn to these ourselves in a moment, but first we must make a slight (but relevant!) detour⁴ to Cleveland, Ohio,

　　这方面的事，我们等一会儿再说，先稍稍地（而又恰当地）换个方向，前往俄亥俄州的克利夫兰，

　　and an institution then known as the Case School of Applied⁵ Science.

　　去一家当时被称为凯斯实用科学学校的机构。

　　There, in the 1880s, a physicist⁶ of early middle years named Albert Michelson, assisted by his friend the chemist Edward Morley,

　　19世纪80年代，那里有一位刚到中年的物理学家，名叫阿尔伯特·迈克尔逊。他在他的朋友化学家爱德华·莫雷的协助之下，

　　embarked⁷ on a series of experiments that produced curious and disturbing results that would have great ramifications⁸ for much of what followed.

　　进行了一系列试验。那些试验得出了很有意思而又令人吃惊的结果，将对以后的许多事情产生重大的影响。

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