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In 1781 Herschel became the first person in the modern era to discover a planet. He wanted to call it George, after the British monarch, but was overruled. Instead it became Uranus.
1781年，赫歇爾成為現(xiàn)代行星發(fā)現(xiàn)者的先驅(qū)。他曾想把自己發(fā)現(xiàn)的行星命名為英國君王的名字——喬治，但當(dāng)時(shí)那樣做是允許的。所以那顆行星被更名為天王星。
But of all that Michell accomplished, nothing was more ingenious or had greater impact than a machine he designed and built for measuring the mass of the Earth. Unfortunately, he died before he could conduct the experiments and both the idea and the necessary equipment were passed on to a brilliant but magnificently retiring London scientist named Henry Cavendish.
然而，在米歇爾的成就當(dāng)中，最精巧或最有影響的莫過于他自己設(shè)計(jì)、自己制作的一臺(tái)用于測量地球質(zhì)量的儀器。不幸的是，他生前沒能完成這項(xiàng)試驗(yàn)。這項(xiàng)試驗(yàn)以及必要的設(shè)備都傳給了一位杰出而又離群索居的倫敦科學(xué)家，他的名字叫亨利·卡文迪許。
Cavendish is a book in himself. Born into a life of sumptuous privilege—his grandfathers were dukes, respectively, of Devonshire and Kent—he was the most gifted English scientist of his age, but also the strangest. He suffered, in the words of one of his few biographers, from shyness to a "degree bordering on disease." Any human contact was for him a source of the deepest discomfort.
卡文迪許本身就是一部書。他生于一個(gè)生活奢華的權(quán)貴家庭--祖父和外祖父分別是德文郡公爵和肯特公爵--是那個(gè)年代最有才華而又極其古怪的英國科學(xué)家。幾位作家為他寫過傳記。用其中一位的話來說，他特別靦腆，"幾乎到了病態(tài)的程度"。他跟任何人接觸都會(huì)感到局促不安。
Once he opened his door to find an Austrian admirer, freshly arrived from Vienna, on the front step. Excitedly the Austrian began to babble out praise. For a few moments Cavendish received the compliments as if they were blows from a blunt object and then, unable to take any more, fled down the path and out the gate, leaving the front door wide open. It was some hours before he could be coaxed back to the property. Even his housekeeper communicated with him by letter.
有一回，他打開房門，只見前門臺(tái)階上立著一位剛從維也納來的奧地利仰慕者。那奧地利人非常激動(dòng)，對他贊不絕口。一時(shí)之間，卡文迪許聽著那個(gè)贊揚(yáng)，仿佛挨了一記悶棍；接著，他再也無法忍受，順著小路飛奔而去，出了大門，連前門也顧不得關(guān)上。幾個(gè)小時(shí)以后，他才被勸說回家。連他的管家都要以書信的方式跟他交流.
