萬物簡史 第58期:事物的測定(16)

It was history's first cooperative internationalscientific venture, and almost everywhere it ran intoproblems. Many observers were waylaid by war,sickness, or shipwreck. Others made theirdestinations but opened their crates to findequipment broken or warped by tropical heat. Onceagain the French seemed fated to provide the mostmemorably unlucky participants. Jean Chappe spentmonths traveling to Siberia by coach, boat, andsleigh, nursing his delicate instruments over everyperilous bump, only to find the last vital stretchblocked by swollen rivers, the result of unusually heavy spring rains, which the locals were swiftto blame on him after they saw him pointing strange instruments at the sky. Chappe managedto escape with his life, but with no useful measurements.

這是歷史上第一次國際合作的科學(xué)活動，但它幾乎到處困難重重。許多觀測人員遇上了戰(zhàn)爭、疾病或海難。有的抵達(dá)了目的地，但打開箱子一看，只見儀器已經(jīng)破碎或被熱帶的灼人的陽光烤彎。法國人似乎命中注定要再一次遭遇倒霉的厄運(yùn)。讓·沙佩乘馬車呀，乘船呀，乘雪橇呀，花了幾個月才到達(dá)西伯利亞，每一顛簸都得小心護(hù)著容易損壞的儀器。最后只剩下關(guān)鍵的一段行程，卻被一條漲水的河流擋住了去路。原來，就在他到達(dá)前不久，當(dāng)?shù)叵铝艘粓龊币姷拇河?。?dāng)?shù)厝笋R上歸罪于他，因?yàn)樗麄兛吹剿压殴值膬x器對準(zhǔn)天空。沙佩設(shè)法逃得性命，但沒有進(jìn)行任何有意義的測量工作。

Unluckier still was Guillaume Le Gentil, whose experiences are wonderfully summarized byTimothy Ferris in Coming of Age in the Milky Way . Le Gentil set off from France a year ahead oftime to observe the transit from India, but various setbacks left him still at sea on the day ofthe transit—just about the worst place to be since steady measurements were impossible on apitching ship.

更倒霉的是紀(jì)曉姆·讓蒂，他的經(jīng)歷蒂姆西·費(fèi)里斯在《在銀河系里成長》一書里作了精彩而簡要的描述。讓蒂提前一年從法國出發(fā)，打算在印度觀測這次凌日現(xiàn)象，但遇到了種種挫折，發(fā)生凌日的那一天還在海上--這幾乎是最糟糕的地方，因?yàn)闇y量需要保持平穩(wěn)狀態(tài)，而這在顛簸的船上根本無法做到。

Undaunted, Le Gentil continued on to India to await the next transit in 1769. With eight yearsto prepare, he erected a first-rate viewing station, tested and retested his instruments, and hadeverything in a state of perfect readiness. On the morning of the second transit, June 4, 1769,he awoke to a fine day, but, just as Venus began its pass, a cloud slid in front of the Sun andremained there for almost exactly the duration of the transit: three hours, fourteen minutes,and seven seconds.

讓蒂并不氣餒，繼續(xù)前往印度，等待1769年的下一次凌日現(xiàn)象。他有8年的準(zhǔn)備時間，因此建立了一個一流的觀察站，他一次又一次測試他的儀器，把準(zhǔn)備工作做得完美無缺。1769年6月4日是發(fā)生第二次凌日現(xiàn)象的日子。早晨醒來，他看到是個艷陽天;但是，正當(dāng)金星從太陽表面通過的時候，一朵烏云擋住了太陽，在那里停留了3小時14分7秒的時間，等到云開霧散，金星凌日的過程已經(jīng)結(jié)束了。

Stoically, Le Gentil packed up his instruments and set off for the nearest port, but en route hecontracted dysentery and was laid up for nearly a year. Still weakened, he finally made it onto aship. It was nearly wrecked in a hurricane off the African coast. When at last he reached home,eleven and a half years after setting off, and having achieved nothing, he discovered that hisrelatives had had him declared dead in his absence and had enthusiastically plundered hisestate.

讓蒂大失所望地收拾儀器，前往最近的港口，途中患了痢疾，有將近一年時間臥床不起。他不顧身體依然虛弱，最后登上了一條船。這條船在非洲近海的一次颶風(fēng)中幾乎失事。出門十一年半以后，他終于回到家里。他一無所獲，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)他的親戚已經(jīng)宣布他死亡，爭先恐后地奪走了他的財產(chǎn)。