Name: 土星戒指 - Sixty Symbols (The Rings of Saturn - Sixty Symbols)
Uploaded: 2026-02-15T22:19:29.000Z
Duration: 14 min 20 s

You're going a little bit outside your area of expertise today.

你今天稍微有點離開你的專業領域了喔。

基礎被動語態

What we got inspired by a show on the BBC, a quiz show called Mastermind, in which the contestants are given two minutes to answer questions on their favorite topic.

我們受到 BBC 的一個節目啟發，一個叫做 Mastermind 的問答節目，參賽者有兩分鐘時間回答關於他們最喜歡的主題。

Recently, I saw one on planets of the solar system.

最近我看到一集是關於太陽系的行星。

So I thought, okay, I'll have a go at that.

所以我想，好吧，我也來試試看。

I couldn't answer anything, but there was a question that came up, and

我什麼都答不出來，但有一個問題出現了，

when I heard the answer, that was me finished for the show.

當我聽到答案時，我就徹底輸掉了這個節目。

I just went online, and I'm just looking.

我就上網搜尋，然後我就在看。

And the question was in his essay on the stability of the motion of Saturn's rings, published in the 1850s, which scientists demonstrated that the rings could not be solid structures, but

而那個問題是，在他 1850 年代發表的關於土星環運動穩定性的論文中，有科學家證明瞭這些環不可能是固體的結構，而是

must instead be composed of numerous small particles orbiting the planet independently.

必須是由許多獨立繞著行星運行的小粒子組成的。

And I'm thinking it's going to be a famous astronomer.

我心想，這一定是位有名的天文學家。

Maxwell of electromagnetism fame, Maxwell of thermodynamics fame.

就是那位以電磁學聞名的 Maxwell，以熱力學聞名的 Maxwell。

I'd never thought of Maxwell of astronomy fame.

我從沒想過 Maxwell 在天文學方面也這麼有名。

He's the one person that submitted this essay.

他是提交這篇論文的唯一一人。

And in that essay, he explains the ring structure of Saturn way before it was known.

在那篇論文裡，他在大家知道之前就解釋了土星環的結構。

Andy explained why it had to be made up of particles and not made up of solids and a solid piece and not made up of a fluid.

Andy 解釋了為什麼它必須由粒子組成，而不是由固體和一塊固體，也不是由流體組成。

The theoretical physicist came up with this prediction that was finally confirmed, well, certainly in the 20th century.

這位理論物理學家做出了這個預測，最終得到了證實，當然是在 20 世紀。

But it's Cassini going up between 2007 and 2017, that actually finally was able to get between the rings and saw all of these particulates that James Clerk Maxwell had predicted must be there.

但實際上是 Cassini 在 2007 年到 2017 年之間，終於能夠進入土星環之間，看到了 James Clerk Maxwell 預測一定存在的那些微粒。

And actually, there's a nice little story about the Adams Prize as well, that I thought we could just bring it all together.

其實，關於亞當斯獎還有一個有趣的小故事，我覺得我們可以把它們都串起來。

All right, so Adams is John Adams, not the US president, John Adams.

好的，所以 Adams 是 John Adams，不是那位美國總統 John Adams。

So in the 1840s, he was busy trying to understand Uranus and the orbit of Uranus around the sun, and

所以在 1840 年代，他正忙著試圖瞭解天王星以及天王星繞著太陽運行的軌道，而

he was noticing that it wasn't fitting quite with the equations that Newton's laws and Kepler's laws.

他發現天王星的運行軌道，似乎跟牛頓定律和克卜勒定律的計算結果不太符合。

And he predicted that there needed to be something else there, that something else turned out to be Neptune.

他預測那裡應該還有別的東西，而那個東西後來證實就是海王星。

So he told two of his astronomy colleagues about this, but nothing was done.

於是，他把這件事告訴了兩位天文學同事，但卻沒有進一步的行動。

A few years later, Le Verrier in France did a very similar calculation and came to the same conclusion.

幾年後，法國的 Le Verrier 做了非常類似的計算，也得出了相同的結論。

He also predicted there should be another planet, but

他也預測應該有另一顆行星，但是

he got in touch with a Friend of his, a colleague in the Germany, an astronomer, said, can we go look him?

他聯絡了一位在德國的朋友，也是一位天文學家，問他能不能一起去找找看。

I think he was called Gallis and said, could you go and find this?

我想他當時的名字叫做 Gallis，然後問他能不能去找到這顆行星。

結果在幾天之內，他就找到了。

So Adams had predicted it but hadn't published anything, and

所以 Adams 雖然預測到了，但並沒有發表任何東西，而

Le Verrier had predicted it and it had been published and it had been spotted.

Le Verrier 預測了它，也發表了，而且也被觀測到了。

So there was a bit of a tussle as to who should get the credit.

所以誰該得到這個功勞，就有一點爭議了。

But in Cambridge, they were pretty determined to try and make sure that Adams got some credit.

不過在劍橋，他們很努力地想確保 Adams 也能得到一些肯定。

And so the alumni of Johns College clubbed together, put money in and said, we're going to have a prize.

所以 John's College 的校友們就集資，捐錢說我們要設立一個獎項。

It will be bestowed by the University of Cambridge and the prize will be given to somebody who writes an essay in either mathematics, astronomy or another area of natural philosophy.

這個獎項將由劍橋大學頒發，獎項會給予一位在數學、天文學或其他自然哲學領域寫出優秀論文的人。

It'll be a biannual thing and the title will be given that the essay has to be about.

這將是個兩年一次的活動，論文的題目會被訂定出來。

Before we move on, professor, to this essay and the prize, the Adams Prize.

在我們繼續討論，教授，關於這篇論文和這個獎項，Adams Prize 之前。

Yeah, I'd forgotten that Adams, if I knew, I'd forgotten that Adams was associated with it.

是啊，我忘了 Adams，如果我知道的話，我忘了 Adams 跟它有關聯。

And I had heard of the Adams Prize because I know two prize winners of the Adams Prize.

我聽過 Adams Prize，因為我知道有兩位 Adams Prize 的得主。

喔，是啊，它還在蓬勃發展，是啊。

Two good friends of mine have won the Adams Prize.

我有兩位好朋友贏得了 Adams Prize。

So this was 1848, now that the Adams Prize was sort of instigated.

所以這是 1848 年，Adams Prize 差不多是那個時候設立的。

So in 1855, the announcement was made that the next Adams Prize would be on the title of the Rings of Saturn.

所以在 1855 年，宣佈了下一屆 Adams Prize 的題目將是土星環。

People think it's because there had been observations.

人們認為是因為當時已經有觀測了。

I mean, Galileo saw Saturn back in 1610, and

我的意思是，伽利略早在 1610 年就看到了土星，

then in 1650, Huygens was able to make out that there were ring structures there.

然後在 1650 年，惠更斯發現了那裡有環狀結構。

Then in 1750 or something, Cassini realized that there were a series of rings.

然後在 1750 年左右，卡西尼發現有一系列的環。

And then closer to the 1850s, it was realized there was like a darker ring near the center of Saturn.

然後到了 1850 年代左右，人們發現土星中心附近有一個比較暗的環。

And I think that led to this interest in what are these rings made of?

我想這就引起了對「這些環是由什麼組成的？」的興趣。

所以他們發布了這個論文挑戰。

And, well, there was one submission, of course, it was from James Clark Maxwell.

嗯，當然，只有一份投稿，是來自 James Clerk Maxwell。

So you might think, well, he's going to win anyway.

所以你可能會想，嗯，反正他都會贏。

But what was quite remarkable about this submission from James Clerk Maxwell was a.

但 James Clerk Maxwell 的這份投稿非常引人注目的一點是 a。

It's open to all Cambridge alumni, it still is.

這個獎項對所有劍橋校友開放，現在也是。

But he was busy thinking about electromagnetism, speed of light.

但他當時正忙著思考電磁學、光速。

And then he was also applying for jobs in Scotland.

然後他也在應徵蘇格蘭的工作。

And he actually published the final essay, which is now regarded as, you know, the definitive work from him on it, in 1859.

他實際上在 1859 年發表了最終的論文，這篇論文現在被認為是他在這方面的代表作。

So he worked on and off this project for quite a while, even after he'd won the prize.

所以他斷斷續續地進行這個計畫，即使在他贏得獎項之後。

Because he got the prize in the summer of 1857, they awarded him the prize.

因為他在 1857 年夏天獲得了獎項，他們頒發獎項給他。

People who've heard of Maxwell will know Maxwell's equations.

聽過 Maxwell 的人，都會知道 Maxwell's equations。

But he wasn't super famous when he won the prize.

但他在贏得獎項時，還沒有那麼出名。

他那時候已經寫好他的方程式了嗎？

And he was beginning to think about kinetic theory of gases, which fed into actually to some of this work.

他也開始思考氣體動理論，這也幫助了他完成一些工作。

But he wasn't anything like the superstar that he did become.

但他當時還不是後來那位超級巨星。

But let me just make one point about the approach he took, which I think makes this even more interesting.

不過，我想讓大家特別注意他採用的方法，這讓事情更有趣。

He basically was one of the first to develop a technique called dynamical systems, which is used all the time in mathematics.

他基本上是第一批開發出「動力系統」技術的人之一，這在數學上被廣泛運用。

這在我的工作中也扮演了很重要的角色。

And what a dynamical system does is it says, okay, I know what the equilibrium situation should be with the orbits of the planets, for example.

而動力系統的作用是，它會說，好，我知道像是行星軌道應該有的平衡狀態是什麼。