Galileo

Galileo. Written by Keith and Sarah Cordemarten. Illustrated by Wesley Lowe. Focus Question. How do questions lead to new discoveries?

伽利略。 作者：基思·科德马滕、萨拉·科德马滕。 绘图：韦斯利·洛。 探究问题： 问题是如何带来新发现的？

Introduction What do music, a chandelier, and the planet Venus have in common? They each played a part in the discoveries of one of history's greatest scientists, a man who lived 500 years ago. That man was Galileo Galilei. Galileo was born in Italy in 1564 during the Italian Renaissance. The Renaissance was a time of excitement and discovery. Painters, writers, mathematicians, musicians, builders, and scientists all developed new ideas during the Renaissance. Galileo was what we now call a Renaissance man, an expert in several subjects at once. He used ideas from many areas to make scientific discoveries. Even more importantly though, Galileo was good at asking questions. Though this habit eventually got him in trouble, Galileo's questions would change the way we understand the world.

导言 音乐、吊灯和金星，这三者有什么共同点？ 它们都和一位生活在五百年前的伟大科学家的发现有关。 这个人就是伽利略·伽利雷。 伽利略1564年出生于意大利，那时正值意大利文艺复兴时期。 文艺复兴是一个充满探索热情与新发现的时代。 画家、作家、数学家、音乐家、建筑师和科学家，都在文艺复兴时期提出了许多新想法。 伽利略就是我们现在说的全才，同时精通好几个不同领域。 他运用多个领域的思路，取得了不少科学发现。 不过更重要的是，伽利略非常善于提问。 虽然这个习惯最终给他惹来了麻烦，但他提出的问题彻底改变了我们认识世界的方式。

Galileo's Childhood Galileo was the son of Vincenzo Galilei, a musician and composer. Vincenzo was curious about how music worked. He taught young Galileo to be curious too. Galileo would remain curious all his life. He looked closely at everything, recorded what he saw and tried to explain what he had recorded.

伽利略的童年 伽利略的父亲温琴佐·伽利雷是一位音乐家兼作曲家。 温琴佐对音乐的运作原理充满好奇。 他也教会了小伽利略要保持好奇心。 伽利略一生都保留着这份好奇心。 他仔细观察所有事物，记录下所见内容，还试着解释自己记录的现象。

The student. As a young man, Galileo became fascinated with math and physics, the scientific study of matter, energy, and motion. In fact, he made one of his first major discoveries in physics a year before he entered university. On a windy day in 1582, Galileo went to church. The church had a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Galileo noticed that the wind outside was making the chandelier swing back and forth. Sometimes the chandelier swung only a few inches from side to side. Sometimes the movement was much larger, as much as a few feet from side to side. But Galileo noticed something strange. Although some swings were much wider than others, every swing took exactly the same amount of time.

求学时期。 年轻的伽利略迷上了数学和物理——物理就是研究物质、能量和运动的科学。 实际上，他第一项重要的物理学发现，是在进入大学前一年就完成了。 1582年的一个大风天，伽利略去教堂。 教堂的天花板上挂着一盏很大的吊灯。 伽利略发现外面的风吹得吊灯来回摆动。 有时候吊灯只左右摆动几英寸远。 有时候摆动幅度大很多，左右能摆好几英尺远。 可伽利略发现了一件怪事。 虽然有的摆动幅度比别的大得多，但每一次摆动花的时间居然一模一样。

By watching the chandelier, Galileo discovered that a weight that swings back and forth can keep time. Later, he designed the first clock that used a swinging weight. Clocks like his are still in use today. Despite his early achievements in math and physics, Galileo did not study math when he first entered the University of Pisa in 1583. His father urged Galileo to become a doctor instead. Galileo's medical studies never fascinated him as much as math and physics though. In fact, he never finished his degree. He left university in 1585 because of money problems. For the next four years, Galileo worked as a math tutor, but he would not stay away from the university for long.

通过观察吊灯，伽利略发现来回摆动的重物可以用来计时。 后来，他设计出了第一台用摆锤计时的时钟。 我们至今还在使用这种摆钟。 尽管伽利略很早就展现了数学和物理天赋，但1583年他刚进入比萨大学时，并没有学习数学。 他父亲劝他去当医生。 可医学从来没有像数学和物理那样让伽利略着迷。 实际上，他最终都没拿到大学学位。 1585年，因为经济问题，他离开了大学。 接下来四年，伽利略靠当数学家教谋生，但他并没有离开大学太久。

the professor. In 1589, Galileo returned to the University of Pisa to teach mathematics. Shortly afterward, he was invited to teach math in Padua. He remained in Padua for the next 18 years. Throughout his teaching career, Galileo continued to test his ideas. He was interested in gravity and conducted several experiments with falling objects. In the process, he proved that heavy objects fall at the same rate as lighter ones. However, the discoveries that would make him famous were still to come. Galileo's biggest discoveries happened when he began to study the sky.

大学教授。 1589年，伽利略回到比萨大学教授数学。 不久之后，他受邀去帕多瓦教数学。 之后他在帕多瓦待了整整十八年。 在任教期间，伽利略一直不停验证自己的想法。 他对引力很感兴趣，做了很多落体实验。 实验中，他证明了重的物体和轻的物体下落速度是一样的。 不过，那些让他名噪天下的发现还没到来。 伽利略最伟大的发现，诞生在他开始研究天空之后。