萬物簡史 第91期:敲石頭的人們(23)

In the course of a long career (he lived till 1907 andthe age of eighty-three), he wrote 661 papers,accumulated 69 patents (from which he grewabundantly wealthy), and gained renown in nearlyevery branch of the physical sciences.

在漫長的生涯里(他活到1907年，享年83歲)，他寫了661篇論文，總共獲得69項專利(因此變得很富裕)，在物理學的差不多每個學科都享有盛譽。

Among much else, he suggested the method that led directly to the invention of refrigeration,devised the scale of absolute temperature that still bears his name, invented the boostingdevices that allowed telegrams to be sent across oceans, and made innumerable improvementsto shipping and navigation, from the invention of a popular marine compass to the creationof the first depth sounder. And those were merely his practical achievements.

其中，他提出一個方法，后來直接導致制冷技術的發(fā)明;設計了絕對溫標，至今仍冠以他的名字;發(fā)明了增壓裝置，使越洋發(fā)送電報成為可能;還對海運和航海作了無數(shù)改進，從發(fā)明一個深受歡迎的航海羅盤，到創(chuàng)造第一個深度探測器。這些只是他有實用價值的成果。

His theoretical work, in electromagnetism, thermodynamics, and the wave theory of light, wasequally revolutionary.

他在電磁學、熱力學和光的波動等理論方面的成果同樣是革命性的。