英語美文名人勵志故事20:Isaac Newton研究、實驗的故事

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20. Isaac Newton

20. 艾薩克·牛頓

Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day 1642, in the rural English county of Lincolnshire. Isaac's early years were spent in the care of his grandmother. At age 12, he was sent away to school in the town of Grantham.

1642年的圣誕節(jié)，艾薩克·牛頓出生在英國林肯郡的鄉(xiāng)間。艾薩克在祖母的照顧下度過了他的童年時光。在他十二歲那年，他被送到格蘭瑟姆的一所學(xué)校讀書。

Living in the house of an apothecary called Clark, young Isaac showed a keen interest in the man's chemistry books and laboratory. He also built devices to amuse Clark's stepdaughter. Newton was said to be attracted to amuse Clark's stepdaughter. Newton was said to be attracted to the girl, but she later married someone else, while he remained single all his life.

少年艾薩克住在一位名叫克拉克的藥劑師家，他對克拉克的化學(xué)書籍和實驗室表現(xiàn)出濃厚的興趣。他還制作了一些小設(shè)備逗克拉克的繼女高興。據(jù)說牛頓被這女孩所吸引，但她后來還是嫁給了別人，而牛頓則終生未娶。

Newton entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1661 After graduating in 1665, Newton planned to study for a master's degree, but the university was closed due to an outbreak of the plague. He returned to his home village for 18 months, during which time he did most of the thinking that led to his later work on gravitation and optics.

1661年，牛頓進(jìn)入著名的劍橋“三一學(xué)院”。1665年牛頓從大學(xué)畢業(yè)后，打算攻讀碩士學(xué)位，但大學(xué)卻由于鼠疫的爆發(fā)而關(guān)閉。他回到家鄉(xiāng)采了18個月，他以后在萬有引力與光學(xué)方面的研究大部分是在這個時期蘊(yùn)釀構(gòu)思完成的。

1667年，牛頓回到劍橋，完成了他的學(xué)業(yè)，并在27歲時成為劍橋?qū)W院的數(shù)學(xué)教授。他是通過前任教授的推薦而獲此教職，擔(dān)任了27年之久。

Newton returned to Cambridge in 1667, completed his studies, and at the age of 27, became Lucasian Professor of Mathematics there. He was given this position on the recommendation of his predecessor, and held it for 27 years.

Newton's experiments in optics led to improvements in the effectiveness of telescopes. He sent his results to the Royal Society, England's most prestigious scientific organization. The Society's positive reaction encouraged him to send in a paper outlining his experiments on light.

牛頓在光學(xué)領(lǐng)域的實驗，導(dǎo)致了后來對望遠(yuǎn)錐效能的改善。他將實驗結(jié)果送到英國最具威望的科學(xué)組織——“皇家學(xué)會”，而該學(xué)會對此所作的積極反應(yīng)，激勵他送去了一篇光學(xué)實驗報告的大綱。

Some of the Society's more conservative members objected to Newton's revolutionary conclusions. Always sensitive to criticism, he became discouraged and almost quit scientific work altogether. The great astronomer Edmund Halley eventually persuaded Newton to put together the results of his work on the laws of motion.

然而學(xué)會中一些更保守的會員反對牛頓革命性的結(jié)論。對批評總是很敏感的牛頓，聽到這些意見后大為沮喪，而且?guī)缀跻艞壙茖W(xué)研究。著名的天文學(xué)家埃德蒙·哈雷，最后說服了牛頓讓他總結(jié)在運動定律方面的研究結(jié)果。

The outcome was the famous "Principia Mathematica", which Publishecl in 1687, in which Newton presented solutions to most of the problems of motion that had concerned earlier scientists. This was the high point of his professional life, though he continuously revised and improved the work until his death in 1727. The papers Newton left behind testify to the incredible powers of concentration of the genius who opened the door to the age of technology.

牛頓的研究成果在1687年首次出版的《自然哲學(xué)的數(shù)學(xué)原理》一書中發(fā)表。在這本書里牛頓對以前科學(xué)家所關(guān)心的大部分力學(xué)難題做出了解答。雖然他在 1727年去世前仍持續(xù)地修正、改進(jìn)他在這方面的研究著作，可這段時期仍是他事業(yè)的巔峰時期。牛頓留下的研究論述證明了這位開啟科技時代大門的天才擁有驚人的專注力。