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In the late 1990s,
在20世纪90年代末，
Albert Einstein had a new hammer,
阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦有了一把新"锤子"
And he was in search of nails to hit.
他正在寻找要敲的钉子试试这个作用。
He just developed a new and a more powerful mathematical description of gravity,
他刚提出了一个新的数理模型能有效描述重力，
and was using it to make predictions willy-nilly.
并用它来做一些随机推论。
First, Einstein checked that his new description matched up with
首先 爱因斯坦发现他的新模型
the previous state-of-the-art description of gravity, Newton's law,
和当时最权威的重力模型（即牛顿定理）相吻合，
for situations where Newton's law agreed with the experiments.
在该条件下，牛顿定理和实验结果相吻合。
And it did.
确实如此。
Then Einstein plugged in the orbit of the Mercury,
然后 爱因斯坦代入水星轨道，
and got a prediction that correctly matched the experimental observations of the day.
得到了和当时实验观测结果一致的推论。
Observations which had an anomaly
但观测结果显示异常，
that couldn't be explained with Newton's law of gravitation.
无法用牛顿定理解释。
He plugged in starlight passing by the sun,
他代入经过太阳的星光轨迹，
and got a prediction that it should bend because of the sun's gravity.
推断轨迹会因为太阳引力发生偏折，
This was later confirmed.
这已被证实。
He plugged the starlight leaving large stars,
他代入离开大恒星的星光，
and got a prediction that the light should be redshifted,
推断在脱离引力层的过程中，
as it climbs out of the gravity well. This was later confirmed.
光线会发生红移。这已被证实。
He plugged in empty space,
他代入真空环境，
and got a prediction that waves of gravitation should propagate through it.
推断引力波能在其中传播。
This, too, was later confirmed. And he plugged in the universe
这一点后来也得到了证实。他又代入宇宙，
and got a prediction that it should be static and unchanging, which was wrong.
推断宇宙是静止不变的，这是错误的推断。
Now, the general understanding at the time was that the universe didn't expand or contract,
当时的普遍理解是宇宙既不膨胀也不收缩，
and while there were starting to be rumors that the distant nebulas were moving away from us.
当有谣言说遥远的星云正在远离我们的时候。
Einstein was firmly in the "static universe" camp.
但爱因斯坦坚定站在"宇宙静止"阵营。
and it just so happened that when Einstein did his calculation about the universe.
当爱因斯坦计算宇宙的时候，就这样发生了。
He made a small but significant technical mistake
他犯了一个微小但重要的技术错误
that implied that the universe couldn't be expanding or contracting.
以致得出宇宙不会膨胀也不会缩小的结论。
I suspect Einstein probably didn't catch the mistake for two reasons:
爱因斯坦没有发现这个错误，我怀疑可能有两个原因：
because tensor calculus is hard and annoyingly subtle,
因为张量微积分很难，而且很微妙，
and because he agreed with the result,
其次因为他同意这个结论，
so had no reason to question it.
所以没有理由质疑它。
This is all the more significant
这一点尤其重要，
because the mistake ultimately meant that
因为这一错误最终意味着，
his equations predicated the universe couldn't have anything in it at all.
它的方程式推断宇宙中不存在任何物质。
And Einstein had to find a totally different clever mathematical trick in order for his equation
因此爱因斯坦得找一个完全不同但巧妙的数学技巧
to describe the universe did have stuff in it,
才能让他的方程式描述宇宙里面确实存在物质。
despite of his mistaken calculation. Anyway a few years later,
尽管他算错了。几年之后，
Russian physicist Alexander Friedman plugged the universe into Einstein's equations,
俄罗斯物理学家亚历山大·弗里德曼将宇宙代入爱因斯坦的方程式，
and he didn't make the mistake Einstein did.
他没有犯爱因斯坦犯的错误。
he got a prediction that the universe could either be expanding or contracting,
他得到的预测是，宇宙可能膨胀，也可能收缩，
depending on how much stuff there was in it, and the balance of matter and energy.
这取决于宇宙中有多少物质，以及物质和能量的平衡。
But Einstein still didn't realize that he had made a mistake.
但是爱因斯坦仍然没有意识到他犯了一个错误。
Instead, he published a criticism of Friedman's work,
相反，他发表了一篇对弗里德曼作品的批评，
justifying his critique with the same erroneous calculation as before.
用同样的错误计算来证明他的批评是正确的。
So Friedman wrote Einstein a private letter,
因此弗里德曼私下给爱因斯坦写了信，
graciously but firmly explaining to Einstein the correct calculation,
亲切而坚定地向他解释了正确的计算，
and again graciously asking Einstein to either show him he was wrong,
并再次亲切地要求爱因斯坦要么证明他错了，
or publish a correction.
要么发表更正说明。
And Einstein eventually saw that Friedman was right.
爱因斯坦最终发现弗里德曼是对的。
So he admitted it and published a retraction of his previous criticism.
因此，他承认了这一点，并发表了一篇撤回之前批评的文章。
Turns out the equations of general relativity
原来广义相对论的方程
could describe an expanding or contracting universe.
可以描述一个膨胀或收缩的宇宙。
Silly Einstein think now it was possible.
虽然爱因斯坦现在认为这是可能的。
Einstein was famously upset about the whole episode.
众所周知，爱因斯坦对整个事件感到不安。
And the story is typically written to suggest that he simply regretted being wrong.
写这个故事通常是为了暗示他只是后悔自己错了。
And maybe that's the truth.
或许这就是事实。
But speaking as a physicist,
但是作为一个物理学家，
and to be clear, this is purely my own speculation,
要明确的是，这纯粹是我自己的猜测，
I kind of wonder if Einstein was also kicking himself in the pants.
我有点想知道爱因斯坦会不会捶胸顿足。
Because if he hadn't make that silly math error,
因为如果他没有犯那个愚蠢的数学错误，
maybe he could have arrived, years earlier, at the same equations as Friedman,
也许他可以在几年前得出与弗里德曼相同的方程，
and which are now called the Friedman equations,
现在被称为弗里德曼方程，
and are the foundation of our modern understanding of the large-scale structure of the universe.
是我们现代理解宇宙大尺度结构的基础。
What I'm saying is, I wonder if Einstein regretted the mistake
我的意思是，我想知道爱因斯坦后悔这个错误，
not just because it was a mistake,
不只是因为这是个错误，
but because his ego was tendelizing him with what could have been.
而是因为自负让他失去了本属于他的成就。
But I'm not entirely sure Einstein would be able to do what Friedman did,
但我不完全确定爱因斯坦是否能做到弗里德曼所做的事，
because all people, even scientists, have biases.
因为所有人，甚至科学家，都有偏见。
And biases tend to be hold so strongly and so deeply
偏见往往被如此强烈和深刻地持有，
that they no only blind us to alternatives,
以至于不仅使我们对选择视而不见，
they blind us to their very existence.
而且使我们对选择的存在视而不见。
The beauty of keeping an open and rational scientific mindset is that
保持开放和理性的科学心态的好处是，
when one of your biases are wrong,
当你的一个偏见是错误的，
you are more willing to look at the evidence,
你更愿意看到证据，
see that you are wrong and admit it.
发现你错了并承认这个错误。
But that's really hard to do,
但这真的很难做到，
even – or maybe especially – for somebody like Einstein.
甚至-或者特别是-像爱因斯坦这样的人。
And I really wonder if Einstein would have been able to
我真的想知道爱因斯坦是否能够
see past his bias about the static nature of the universe,
超越他对宇宙静态性质的偏见，
without outside help.
在没有外界帮助的情况下。
Einstein, like all of us, was human after all.
爱因斯坦和我们所有人一样，毕竟是人。
What we can take from Einstein in this story is this :
通过这则故事 我们可以从爱因斯坦身上学到：
we can understand that we can be wrong,
我们可以理解，人人都会犯错，
and when we are, graciously admit it.
当我们犯错的时候，优雅地承认吧。
This video is sponsored by a platform
这个视频是由一个平台赞助的，
that's all about understanding when you're wrong and trying to improve.
旨在帮助大家认清错误的时刻并努力改正。
Of course, it's Brilliant.org.
这就是Brilliant.org。
Brilliant has courses and quizzes and puzzles
网站有课程，测试和游戏，
to master logic, math and science skills in whatever size dose you want.
能满足你学习逻辑，数学和科学技能的各种需求。
And they're sporting a new look.
它最近推出了新界面。
What I like about their redesign is that it's not just cosmetic,
我很喜欢新界面，不只因为外观的改进，
the interactive quizzes and problems are getting more and more interactive and animated!
更因为交互测验和问题更有互动性，更生动！
Do you know what the angles on the outside of a pentagon add up to?
你知道五边形外角总和是多少度吗？
What about why solar panels are tilted,
为什么太阳能电池板是倾斜的？
and how you pick the right angle?
如何选择合适的角度？
or for something a little more in-depth,
如果想要更有深度的课程，
I'd recommend their "mathematical fundamentals" course.
我会推荐他们的《数理基础》课程。
To sign up for free, go to brilliant.org/minutephysics.
登陆brilliant.org/minutephysics免费注册。
that lets Brilliant know you came from here.
让它知道你从这里过去的。
Plus Brilliant is offering the first 200 people to go that link
同时最早点击链接的200位用户
20% off of a premium subscription.
将获得高级订阅服务20%的优惠。
Again, that's brilliant.org/minutephysics, to sign up for free,
再次强调这是brilliant.org/minutephysics，免费注册，
and thanks to brilliant for supporting MinutePhysics.
再次感谢brilliant对《分钟物理》的支持。
