走進劍橋大學(xué) 第18期:卡文迪什實驗室的風(fēng)水

所屬教程:走進劍橋大學(xué)

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2018年04月22日

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The Cavendish Laboratory

卡文迪什實驗室的風(fēng)水

Since its foundation, the Laboratory has had great fortune in appointing Cavendish professors who, between them, have changed completely our understanding of the physical world.

自成立以來卡文迪什實驗室在指派卡文迪什教授（指的是上文的實驗物理學(xué)教授，即實驗室或物理系主任，譯者注）方面取得了極大的收獲。杰出的卡文迪什教授們徹底改變了我們對物理世界的看法。

In 1871，James Clerk Maxwell was elected as the first professor at the Cavendish, but the laboratory itself was not finally completed until 1874. Whilst he was at the Cavendish he did not add greatly to his original contributions. However, he established a laboratory where students were taught that property conducted experiments constituted the only true basis of physics, and he began the research school whose standards or experiments and theoretical work played a vital role in the birth of modem physics.

1871年，詹姆斯克拉克麥克斯韋當(dāng)選第一任卡文迪什教授，但是卡文迪什實驗室直到1874年才完全建好。雖然身處設(shè)備一流的卡文迪什實驗室，麥克斯韋并沒有為自己的研究錦上添花。但是，他“創(chuàng)立” 了一個實驗室，在那里學(xué)生們被告知，準確執(zhí)行的實驗才是組建物理學(xué)基礎(chǔ)的唯一方法。麥克斯韋還創(chuàng)立了一個研究學(xué)派，該學(xué)派的操作規(guī)范或?qū)嶒灐⒗碚摴ぷ髟诂F(xiàn)代物理學(xué)誕生中起到了至關(guān)重要的作用。

Max weirs successor, Lord Rayleigh, was appointed in 1879，and continued work on electrical standards initiated by Maxwell as well as carrying out research into a very wide range of subjects from telescopes to sound waves. By the time Rayleigh had left, the Cavendish was well established as a leading research laboratory.

麥克斯韋的繼任者——瑀利勛爵于1879年上任。他繼續(xù)致力于研究麥克斯韋提出的電學(xué)標準，同時還把研究范圍擴大，從望遠鏡到聲波，包羅萬象。當(dāng)瑞利卸任時，卡文迪什實驗室己經(jīng)是研究工作實驗室的領(lǐng)頭羊了。

Under its new head, J. J. Thomson, it grew into an outstanding institution in which many of the world’s greatest physicists were either to be trained or in which they were able to conduct their researches. Thomson himself, though no great experimenter, was able, with primitive and simple equipment, to unravel many of the secrets of the atom. He discovered the electron, and this discovery was the first step in the development of modem atomic theory.

在新領(lǐng)導(dǎo)J. J.湯姆生的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下，卡文迪什實驗室己經(jīng)發(fā)展成了一個杰出的機構(gòu)，世界上頂尖的物理學(xué)家要么在這里接受培訓(xùn)，要么在這里進行研究。雖然湯姆生本身不是一個杰出的實驗員，他卻能用簡陋的的設(shè)備發(fā)現(xiàn)原子能的許多秘密。湯姆生還發(fā)現(xiàn)了電子，這一發(fā)現(xiàn)是現(xiàn)代原子理論發(fā)展的第一步。

One of the scientists who was attracted by the reputation of the Cavendish was the young New Zealander, Ernest Rutherford. He succeeded Thomson as professor of physics in 1918. Many of his famous experiments which helped explain the nature of radioactivity and the structure of the atom were conducted with apparatus of astonishing simplicity, in keeping with the traditions of the laboratory.

很多科學(xué)家被卡文迪什實驗室的聲望所吸引，年輕的新西蘭學(xué)者歐內(nèi)斯特盧瑟福就是其中之一。1918年，他成為繼湯姆生之后的實驗物理學(xué)教授。他的許多有助于解釋放射能本質(zhì)和原子結(jié)構(gòu)的著名實驗都是用極為簡單的設(shè)備完成的，和卡文迪什實驗室的傳統(tǒng)保持了一致。

The list of Nobel Prize winners who passed through the Cavendish in the time of Thomson and Rutherford is imposing, the 50 years of their combined tenures marking a period in which the laboratory played a central role in the development of nuclear science.

在湯姆生和盧瑟福領(lǐng)導(dǎo)時期，獲得諾貝爾獎的卡文迪什實驗室的科學(xué)家名單數(shù)量驚人。湯姆生和盧瑟福在任的50年里，卡文迪什實驗室始終在世界核科學(xué)的發(fā)展中占據(jù)核心地位。

The next phase of development is the reconstruction of the Laboratory to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The major redevelopment program continues the tradition of innovation and originality that has been at the heart of the Laboratory’s program since its foundation.

卡文迪什實驗室的下一個發(fā)展時期則是重組、改造以適應(yīng)21世紀挑戰(zhàn)的時期。主要的改造項目延續(xù)了創(chuàng)新和原創(chuàng)的傳統(tǒng)，自成立以來，這一直是卡文迪什實驗室項目的核心本質(zhì)。