Pioneers of Science
科学发展的先驱者
If you had to choose the single most important discovery of the 20th century, you would have a real dilemma on your hands. In just 100 years, the world changed completely.
如果要选择20世纪最重要的一个发现，你将会面对一个真正的难题。仅仅100年，世界就完全变了。
Amazing discoveries were made in medicine, communications and transport, not to mention our knowledge of the world and space.
医学、通讯和交通运输方面都有了惊人的发现，更不用说我们对世界和空间的了解了。
Medical advances ranged from discovering the causes of diseases under microscopes to surgical procedures replacing diseased organs with donated ones.
医学的进步包括从在显微镜下发现疾病的起因到用捐赠器官替代病变器官这样的外科手术过程。
Communications changed with the introduction of mobile phones and the way we correspond went from writing letters to emailing.
通讯随着移动电话的引入而改变，我们通信的方式也从写信变成发电子邮件。
We started flying around the world and meanwhile, scientists figured out how to split the atom, previously thought to be the smallest particle of matter in the universe.
我们开始在世界各地飞行，同时，科学家们发现了怎样分离原子，而原子以前被认为是宇宙中最小的物质微粒。
Although it is impossible to choose the most important discovery, it is possible to single out a few pioneers of the 20th century. Here are five of them.
虽然不可能选择最重要的发现，但是挑选出20世纪的几个先驱者是可能的。以下是他们中的5位。
One of the 20th century’s premier scientists was Albert Einstein. In the summer of 1905, this outspoken young man was rocking his one-year-old baby when he was suddenly inspired.
20世纪最重要的科学家之一是阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦。1905年的夏天,这个直率的年轻人正在摇着他一岁大的孩子，突然灵感就产生了。
“E=mc²” was born. E=mc² showed how a small piece of mass could produce an unbelievable amount of energy.
“E=mc²”诞生了。E=mc²显示出了质量很小的物质怎样能产生出令人难以置信的巨大能量。
Einstein then showed in his “theory of relativity” that not even time, mass or length are constant _ they change according to our experience of them.
之后爱因斯坦又在他的“相对论”中表明,甚至连时间、质量和长度也不是持久不变的——根据我们对它们的了解，它们也会有所改变。
Einstein had already become world-famous when a young ex-lawyer, returning from the First World War, started work in California.
就在爱因斯坦的名字响彻世界之时，从第一次世界大战的战场回来的一个年轻律师，开始了他在加利福尼亚的工作。
Using the most high-powered telescope of the time, he began the long, slow process of exploring our galaxy. Edwin Hubble was about to make astronomy’s greatest breakthrough of the century.
用一台在当时倍数最高的望远镜，他开始了漫长的对我们的星系的探索。埃德温·哈勃即将实现本世纪天文史上最大的突破。
He discovered small areas of mist which were in fact galaxies like our own, millions of light years away from us, which proved that the universe was vastly larger than had previously been thought.
他发现小的雾区实际上是像我们自己的一样的星系，离我们有几百万光年之远。这个发现证明了宇宙比我们以前想象的要大得多。
In 1929, another far-reaching finding was made by the son of a Scotish shepherd.
1929年，又一个意义深远的发现诞生了，发现者是一个苏格兰牧羊人家的儿子。
Before he went on holiday, biologist Alexander Fleming left a dish with bacteria in it in his laboratory.
去度假之前，生物学家亚历山大·弗莱明把一个带有细菌的盘子放在实验室里。
When he came back, he noticed something strange. He double-checked and saw a blue mould in the dish around which the bacteria had been destroyed.
回来时，他注意到不同寻常的东西。
他再检查了一下，发现盘子里有青色的霉斑，其周围的细菌都被消灭了。
This blue mould was in fact the natural form of penicillin, which Fleming realized could be used to kill bacteria.
实际上这些青色的霉斑正是青霉素的自然形态，弗莱明意识到青霉素可能被用来杀灭细菌。
A few years later, penicillin was being mass-produced and helping to save the lives of millions. Fleming remained modest about the amazing outcome of his discovery. “Nature made penicillin,” he said, “I just found it.”
若干年后，青霉素被大规模生产，帮助挽救了数百万人的生命。他的发现具有令人难以置信的成效，但是弗莱明对此很谦逊。“大自然创造了青霉素,”他说，“我只是发现了它。”
During the Second World War, when Fleming’s discovery was first helping to cure people, the US Navy was looking for ways of improving the accuracy of their missiles.
第二次世界大战期间，弗莱明的发现第一次被用来帮助治疗人们，这时美国海军正在致力于寻找提高导弹命中率的方法。
The navy turned to Eckert, an engineer, and Mauchly, a physicist, to wrestle with the problem and produce a machine to do the job. Although they only finished after the war in 1946, it did not matter.
海军方面向工程师埃克特和物理学家莫克利寻求帮助来解决问题并制造一台能完成这项工作的机器。
虽然他们直到战后的1946年才研制出这台机器，但这无关紧要。
This huge machine was the world’s first computer, but it was nothing like our computers today. It measured 100 feet long by over 10 feet high and weighed over 30 tones.
这台巨大的机器是世界上的第一台计算机，但是它一点儿也不像我们今天的计算机。
它长100英尺，高10多英尺，重30多吨。
With 18,000 tubes, thousands of circuits and 6,000 switches, it used so much energy that when it was turned on, the lights in the local town went out!
内含18000个电子管，几千块电路板和6000个开关。它消耗的能量特别多，以至于一开机时当地镇上的灯都会熄灭！
These pioneers of the 20th century were all dedicated to improving the quality of human life on earth, but sometimes breakthrough discoveries that have affected our lives today happened by mistake!
这些20世纪的先驱者们都致力于提高地球上人类生活的质量，但是，有时候，影响我们今天生活的突破性发现却是由于错误而发生！
For example, we are all grateful for the handy microwave oven that allows us to prepare meals in minutes and we have Percy Spencer to thank.
例如，我们都很感激方便的微波炉使我们能够在几分钟之内准备好饭菜，对此我们要感谢珀西·斯宾塞。
This inventor, with 120 patents to his name, discovered microwaves when he was experimenting with radars and noticed a chocolate melting in his pocket.
这个名下拥有120个专利权的发明家在用雷达做实验时注意到自己口袋里的一块巧克力在熔化，从而发现了微波炉。
There is no doubt about it. Without the breakthroughs of these pioneers in science and technology, whether lucky or planned, the world as we know it today would have been a completely different place.
这一点是毫无疑问的，如果没有这些科技先驱者们的突破，是否是由于幸运还是有所计划，我们今天所熟悉的这个世界将会是个完全不同的世界。