霍金現象 堪稱科學界的奇蹟

Cosmic superhero Stephen Hawking never ceases to amaze his admirers. At the age of 72 he is the world’s most celebrated scientist and the ultimate symbol of triumph over adversity, as he celebrates five decades of intellectual achievement while living with motor neurone Disease, which kills most patients within two or three years.

“宇宙之王”斯蒂芬•霍金(Stephen Hawking)從未停止讓他的崇拜者驚歎。72歲高齡的他不僅是在世最著名的科學家，而且是戰勝逆境的終極象徵。50年來，他在患有運動神經元疾病(MND)情況下取得了非凡學術成就，而這種疾病的患者大多在兩、三年內死亡。

This week Professor Hawking enjoyed the limelight at the London premiere of the latest film about his life, The Theory of Everything, starring Eddie Redmayne. Last week he showed off a new communications system designed by Intel, which enables him to write and speak more efficiently — in his famous American android voice — by registering tiny movements of his cheek muscles.

最近，霍金教授在《萬物理論》(The Theory of Everything)倫敦首映式上成爲公衆矚目的中心，這是最新一部刻畫霍金生平的電影，由埃迪•雷德梅尼(Eddie Redmayne)主演。更早些時候，他展示了由英特爾(Intel)設計的新通訊系統，通過捕捉他臉頰肌肉的微小抽動，這一系統使他能夠更高效地寫作和講話——用他那著名的美國機器人的聲音。

At the same time Prof Hawking stirred up controversywith his views on artificial intelligence, which “could be a real danger in the not too distant future”, he told the Financial Times by email. “The risk is that computers develop intelligence and take over. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete and would be superseded.”

同時，霍金對人工智能的看法激起了爭議。他在發給英國《金融時報》的電子郵件中說，人工智能“可能在不太遙遠的將來給人類帶來真正的危險”。“風險在於電腦開發並掌控智能。人類受到緩慢生物進化的限制，可能無法與之競爭，並被取代。”

Lord Rees, astronomer royal and fellow cosmologist, first met Prof Hawking in 1964 when both were graduate students at Cambridge university. “He was already unsteady on his feet and spoke with great difficulty,” recalls Lord Rees. “I learnt that he might not live long enough even to finish his PhD.

英國皇家天文學家、宇宙學家裏斯勳爵(Lord Rees)第一次見到霍金是在1964年，那時兩人都是劍橋大學的研究生。“他已經無法站穩，而且說話也非常困難，”里斯勳爵回憶說。“我意識到他可能活不了多長時間，甚至可能無法完成他的博士學位。”

“Astronomers are used to large numbers,” he adds. “But few numbers could be as large as the odds I’d have given, back in 1964 when Stephen received his ‘death sentence’, against ever celebrating this uniquely inspiring crescendo of achievement sustained now for more than 50 years.”

他說：“霍金早在1964年就接到了‘死亡判決書’，而他還可以慶祝這一至今逾50年、不斷髮揮獨特的鼓舞人心作用的輝煌成就，放在當年我會認爲出現這一結果的機率無比之小。”

Prof Hawking’s scientific reputation rests on his work on the relationship between gravity, space and time. “He has done as much to advance our understanding of gravity as anyone since Einstein,” says Lord Rees.

霍金在科學領域的聲譽建立在他對重力、空間和時間關係的研究上。“他是繼愛因斯坦之後，在加深我們對重力的理解方面貢獻最大的人，”里斯勳爵說。

His most celebrated research concerns black holes, concentrations of matter so dense even light cannot escape their gravitational pull. Prof Hawking showed black holes are not just a bizarre theoretical construct but also play an important role in the development of the universe. His eureka moment came in the early 1970s, when he realised that black holes would not be completely black but would emit what became known as “Hawking radiation”, a key concept in mathematical physics.

他最著名的研究成果與黑洞有關。黑洞是超高密度的天體，連光都逃不過他們的引力。霍金告訴人們，黑洞不僅是一種奇怪的理論建構，而且在宇宙的進化中發揮着重要作用。他的“尤里卡時刻”在上世紀70年代初降臨，當時他認識到黑洞並不完全是黑的，而是會發射出被稱做“霍金輻射“的能量，這個詞後來也成爲數學物理領域的一個重要概念。

Although his subsequent work has not had such a strong scientific impact, he has continued to publish research papers on quantum cosmology, tackling questions such as what happened before the birth of our universe. His later output is doubly remarkable in a mathematical subject where most researchers peak at an early age.

雖然霍金之後的研究沒再產生那麼大的科學影響，但他不斷地發表關於量子宇宙學的研究論文，力圖解答諸如宇宙誕生前發生了什麼之類的問題。他後來在一個數學課題上取得了卓越成果，而在這一領域，大多數研究者在年輕時就達到了頂峯。

He became a celebrity in 1988 with the publication of his first popular book, the bestselling A Brief History of Time. Ten further books have appeared, including four written for children with his daughter, Lucy. “The concept of an imprisoned mind roaming the cosmos plainly gripped people’s imagination,” Lord Rees says.

霍金在1988年因其第一本暢銷書《時間簡史》(A Brief History of Time)成爲名人。之後，他又出版了10本書，其中4本是爲兒童以及他的女兒露西(Lucy)所寫。“一顆身體被禁錮的心靈在宇宙中漫遊的想法顯然激發了人們的想象，”里斯勳爵說。

Prof Hawking enjoys his fame, happily filling lecture rooms from London’s Royal Albert Hall to the White House. He has featured in Star Trek, The Simpsons and many other television shows. Several films have been made about him, including a notable portrayal by Benedict Cumberbatch in 2004.

霍金享受他的聲譽，他高興地發表演講，從倫敦的皇家阿爾伯特音樂廳(Royal Albert Hall)到白宮的演講廳都擠滿了他的聽衆。他在《星際迷航》(Star Trek)、《辛普森一家》(The Simpsons)和其他許多電視節目中出演過。已有多部關於霍金的電影問世，其中包括本尼迪克特•康伯巴奇(Benedict Cumberbatch)在2004年塑造的著名形象。

The best account of Prof Hawking’s early life is his memoir, My Brief History,published last year. He grew up just north of London, the son of Oxford graduates. After three laid-back undergraduate years, also at Oxford, serious work began as a Cambridge postgrad. His illness started at that point, too.

對霍金早年生活最好的記錄是他的回憶錄——去年出版的《我的簡史》(My Brief History)。他在倫敦北部長大，父母都是牛津大學畢業生。他同樣在牛津念大學，度過3年悠閒的本科時光之後，他成爲一名劍橋碩士生並開始了嚴肅的研究工作。他的病情也是在那時開始發展的。

The Theory of Everything focuses on Prof Hawking’s marriage to Jane Wilde, who looked after him and their three children with extraordinary devotion for more than 25 years. They broke up under the strain of 24-hour medical care — and in 1995 he married Elaine Mason, one of his nurses. That, too, ended in divorce and since 2006 he has depended on a team of helpers — and the best medical technology available.

新片《萬物理論》着重刻畫了霍金與簡•懷爾德(Jane Wilde)的婚姻，後者爲照顧霍金和他們的3個孩子做出了超過25年的非凡奉獻。但在24小時醫療護理的壓力下，他們離婚了。1995年，霍金與照看他的護士之一伊萊恩•梅森(Elaine Mason)結婚，但這段婚姻也以離婚收場。自2006年以來，霍金一直依靠一個助手團隊和當今最先進的醫療技術生活。

Prof Hawking retains a strong sense of fun and adventure, though respiratory problems are curtailing his ability to travel and in particular to fly.

霍金依然對娛樂和冒險保持強烈的興趣，儘管呼吸道問題限制了他旅行，特別是坐飛機。

“He is a fantastic symbol for people living with motor neurone disease,” says Belinda Cupid, research director of the UK Motor Neurone Disease Association, with his role in the 2012 London Paralympics opening ceremony particularly inspiring. “As patron of our charity, he is very generous with his time.” Why Prof Hawking has lived so much longer than other MND patients remains a medical mystery, however.

英國運動神經元疾病協會研究部主任貝琳達•丘比特談到霍金在2012年倫敦殘奧會開幕式上特別鼓舞人心的作用時說：“他對患有運動神經元疾病的人來說是一個神奇的象徵。”“作爲我們慈善機構的贊助人，他付出了很多時間。”但是，爲什麼霍金可以比其他運動神經元疾病患者多活如此之久仍是個醫學謎題。

In the past 15 years Intel engineers have looked after his communications needs. “They have redesigned my software and incorporated new word prediction algorithms that allow me to write faster,” he says. “Through my computer I can write, talk, read scientific papers, make Skype phone calls and search on the internet. Recently I decided to join Facebook .”

在過去15年中，英特爾的工程師一直在關注他的通訊需求。“他們重新設計了我的軟件，並加裝了新的單詞預測算法，讓我可以寫得更快，”霍金說。“通過我的電腦，我能夠書寫、講話、閱讀科學論文、撥打Skype電話以及在互聯網上進行搜索。最近，我決定加入Facebook。”

Important as Prof Hawking’s own research has been, his role as a beacon inspiring young people to study maths and physics may be even more influential in the long run, says Professor David Wands, director of Portsmouth university’s cosmology institute: “The iconic figure of Hawking the celebrity is impossible to disentangle from his profound contribution as a scientist.”

朴茨茅斯大學宇宙學研究所所長大衛•萬茲(David Wands)教授說，與霍金教授自己所做的研究同樣重要的是，從長遠來看，他作爲鼓舞年輕人學習數學和物理的一盞明燈可能會發揮更大的影響。“霍金作爲一個名人的偶像形象不可能脫離他作爲一個科學家的巨大貢獻。”