萬物簡史 第45期:事物的測定(3)

For all his achievements, however, Halley's greatestcontribution to human knowledge may simply havebeen to take part in a modest scientific wager withtwo other worthies of his day: Robert Hooke, who isperhaps best remembered now as the first person todescribe a cell, and the great and stately SirChristopher Wren, who was actually an astronomerfirst and architect second, though that is not oftengenerally remembered now.

然而，盡管他取得了這么多的成就，但他對人類知識的最大貢獻也許只在于他參加了一次科學(xué)上的打賭。賭注不大，對方是那個時代的另外兩位杰出人物。一位是羅伯特·胡克，人們現(xiàn)在記得最清楚的興許是他描述了細胞;另一位是偉大而又威嚴的克里斯托弗·雷恩爵士，他起先其實是一位天文學(xué)家，后來還當過建筑師，雖然這一點人們現(xiàn)在往往不大記得。

In 1683, Halley, Hooke, and Wren were dining in London when the conversation turned to themotions of celestial objects. It was known that planets were inclined to orbit in a particularkind of oval known as an ellipse—"a very specific and precise curve," to quote RichardFeynman—but it wasn't understood why. Wren generously offered a prize worth forty shillings(equivalent to a couple of weeks' pay) to whichever of the men could provide a solution.

1683年，哈雷、胡克和雷恩在倫敦吃飯，突然間談話內(nèi)容轉(zhuǎn)向天體運動。據(jù)認為，行星往往傾向于以一種特殊的卵行線即以橢圓形在軌道上運行--用理查德·費曼的話來說，"一條特殊而精確的曲線"--但不知道什么原因。雷恩慷慨地提出，要是他們中間誰能找到個答案，他愿意發(fā)給他價值40先令(相當于兩個星期的工資)的獎品。

Hooke, who was well known for taking credit for ideas that weren't necessarily his own, claimedthat he had solved the problem already but declined now to share it on the interesting andinventive grounds that it would rob others of the satisfaction of discovering the answer forthemselves. He would instead "conceal it for some time, that others might know how to valueit." If he thought any more on the matter, he left no evidence of it. Halley, however, becameconsumed with finding the answer, to the point that the following year he traveled toCambridge and boldly called upon the university's Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, IsaacNewton, in the hope that he could help.

胡克以好大喜功聞名，盡管有的見解不一定是他自己的。他聲稱他已經(jīng)解決這個問題，但現(xiàn)在不愿意告訴大家，他的理由有趣而巧妙，說是這么做會使別人失去自己找出答案的機會。因此，他要"把答案保密一段時間，別人因此會知道怎么珍視它"。沒有跡象表明，他后來有沒有再想過這件事?？墒?，哈雷著了迷，一定要找到這個答案，還于次年前往劍橋大學(xué)，冒昧拜訪該大學(xué)的數(shù)學(xué)教授艾薩克·牛頓，希望得到他的幫助。