Jim Bell traces the evolution of our relationship with the cosmos in more than 500 lavish pages of micro-essays and photographs chronicling the most notable people, ideas, and discoveries in the history of space. From landmark developments like the invention of the modern calendar and the Hubble Space Telescope, to notable figures like Galileo and pioneering female astronomer Maria Mitchell to essential discoveries like radioactivity, dark matter, and the Transit of Venus, the compendium covers 240 historical milestones and 10 intensely mind-bending predictions on the future of space, ranging from the possibility of landing humans on Mars to what happens if black holes “evaporate” to how the universe will end.

　　在《太空志要：从时间之始到时间之终，太空与天文学历史上的250座里程碑》一书中，身兼科学家、公共宣传员和天文学教授的吉姆?贝尔追述了我们与宇宙关系的演化历程。在超过500页的华美篇章中，他用微散文和照片对太空史上最著名的人物、想法和发现进行了编年记述。这本书是斯特灵系列(译者：斯特灵里程碑丛书――Sterling Milestones，目前共5本，除此处提到的三本，另有药学和数学两本，药学尚未出版。)的最新一本，这个系列还分别给我们讲述了医学史和物理学史上的250个里程碑。从发明现代历法和哈勃太空望远镜这样里程碑式的进展，到伽利略和女性天文学先驱玛丽亚?米歇尔这样的名人，再到放射性、暗物和金星凌日这样重要的发现，这本志要覆盖了240项历史里程碑和10项对于未来太空极其令人难以理解的预言，预言范围涉及人类登陆火星的可能性、黑洞“蒸发”的后果、宇宙如何终结等。

　　More than a mere masterpiece of historical insight, the project is a vital reminder, as the future of space exploration hangs in precarious balance, that understanding our place in the cosmos is an essential part of what it means to be human, a gift bequeathed upon us via centuries of civilization, squandering which would be not only lamentable but a true failure of our inherited privilege.

　　这个项目不仅仅是一部洞悉历史的杰作，更是在未来的太空探索悬于危险平衡之际，对我们的一个至关重要的提醒：对于我们在宇宙中位置的理解是宇宙对人类意义的一个重要部分，是几千年文明赠予我们的礼物。挥霍这份遗赠将不仅令人扼腕，还是我们所继承荣耀的真正失败。

　　“A designer without a sense of history is worth nothing, ” legendary graphic designer Massimo Vignelli memorably proclaimed, and this is equally true in astronomy. Sensitive to the notion that, like art, all science builds on what came before, Bell writes in the introduction:

　　“没有历史观的设计师一文不值。”这是传奇图形设计师马西莫?维格纳利令人难忘的宣言，它对于天文学而言同样正确。贝尔敏锐地注意到，所有科学和艺术一样，都是建立在之前的基础之上，他在引言中写道：

　　In the last 50 years alone, we have been witness to one of the most profound and important bursts of human exploration in history: the Space Age. People have left the planet (some are living off-planet right now!), and a dozen have walked on the Moon. Using robotic proxies and giant telescopes ― some launched into space ― we have been able to see, up close, the alien landscapes of all the classically known planets, visit asteroids and comets, and view the cosmos in all its glory.

　　仅仅在过去的50年间，我们就已经见证了人类太空探索史上最重要，也是意义最为深远的大发现时代：太空时代。人们已经离开了地球这颗行星(有些人现在正生活在行星外!)，有12个人已经在月球上行走过。使用机器人替身和巨型望远镜――一些巨型望远镜被发射到了太空，我们已经能够近距离地看到所有经典已知行星的外星景观，能够造访小行星和彗星，能够欣赏宇宙的所有壮丽美景。

　　All of this has been made possible because we have, as Sir Isaac Newton put it best, “stood on the shoulders of giants.” No appreciation for the wondrous discoveries of modern astronomy and space exploration would be complete without a thoughtful consideration of the foundations of modern science and experimentation that were built by our ancestors. Many of their achievements were attained at great personal or professional cost, and many others were not recognized as important until decades ― even centuries ― later.

　　艾萨克?牛顿爵士说得最好，所有这一切之所以成为可能，是因为“站在巨人的肩膀上。”如果对先辈为我们现代科学和试验打下的基础没有深入的思考，就无法领会现代天文学和太空探索的奇妙发现。先辈的许多成就是耗费了巨大的个人或专业成本得到的，而其他许多成就直到几十年、甚至几百年后才得到重视。

　　Long before reconstructionist Maria Mitchell made history as the first female astronomy professor in the world and the first woman admitted to the American Academy of Sciences, another lady-stargazer ― English astronomer Caroline Herschel, who discovered Encke’s Comet in 1795 ― ironically named after the man who “discovered” it more than twenty years after Herschel. Bell writes:

　　远在重建主义者玛丽亚?米歇尔创造历史――成为世界上第一位女性天文学教授和第一位入选美国科学院的女性――之前就有另一位女占星师――英国天文学家卡罗琳?赫歇尔，她在1795年发现了恩克彗星――讽刺的是，这颗彗星由在赫歇尔之后20多年才“发现”它的男人命名。(译者：客观说，恩克不是什么都没做，他根据包括卡罗琳在内的前人观测，推算了彗星轨道，并成功预言了彗星的出现。这些是前人未曾做到过的。)贝尔写道：

　　While there have been significant advances toward establishing gender equity in the practicing of science in the past few decades*, the overall history of astronomical observation and discoveries from antiquity to modern times has been dominated by men. Among the first female pioneers to break into this old boys’ club was the English astronomer Caroline Herschel, the youngest sister to William Herschel, the discoverer of Uranus.

　　虽然在过去的几十年里，对于在科学从业者中建立男女平等方面已经有了显着的进步，但从古代到近代，天文观测和发现的整个历史一直都是由男性主导的。英国天文学家卡罗琳?赫歇尔是打入这个悠久的男生俱乐部的首位女性先驱之一，她是威廉?赫歇尔――天王星的发现者――最小的妹妹。

　　Caroline was an accomplished vocalist and often performed in concerts with her brother in their younger years. Her interest in astronomy appears to have paralleled William’s, and as he began devoting more of his time to telescope making and observations, she joined him as a constant assistant. She became proficient in astronomical calculations and developed a reputation that exceeded her brother’s as a mirror polisher and telescope engineer.

　　卡罗琳是一个多才多艺的歌手，在她们年轻的时候，她经常和哥哥在演唱会表演。她对于天文学的兴趣似乎是与威廉同步的，当威廉开始将自己的时间更多地投入到望远镜制作和观察的时候，卡罗琳加入其中，成了威廉的一位常驻助理。她开始精通天文计算;在镜片抛光和望远镜工程学上，她逐渐超过了自己的哥哥。

　　* Let’s not get carried away ― here’s a chilling contemporary reality check.

　　*我们不要得意忘形――这里是当代一份令人胆寒的实情调查。

　　Bell observes a curious pattern that reveals a crucial paradigm shift in the evolution of science and the shift toward the cross-pollination of disciplines:

　　贝尔观察到了一种奇怪的格局，这种格局揭示了科学演化过程中一次重要的范式转变，转向了多学科交叉作用的模式。

　　I noticed partway through the research that the number of individuals being singled out for mention was decreasing over time, especially in the entries after the 1950s ― the start of the Space Age. This reflects, in my opinion, a recent trend in astronomy and space exploration ― and perhaps all scientific fields. Science and exploration used to be fairly individualistic enterprises, usually practiced by wealthy men who worked alone, often under a monarch or patron of some kind and often in fierce competition with other wealthy gentleman scientists. . . .

　　我在研究过程中注意到，单独提到某个人的次数随着时间而减少，尤其是在进入20世纪50年代后――太空时代开始的时候。在我看来，这反映出天文学和太空探索领域――也许也包括所有领域在内――的一种最新趋势。科学和探索曾经是相当个体化的项目，通常由独自工作的有钱人来开展，常常下属于某些君主或者出资人，而且常常同其他富有的科学绅士之间有激烈的竞争。

　　In contrast, as technology advanced in the latter half of the twentieth century, more and more advances in physics, astronomy, and space exploration began to fall under the realm of what many now call Big Science. Big Science is a group or team enterprise; individuals have expertise in specific parts of the project, but the project spans such a wide range of disciplines that on one team member is expert in all of it.

　　反之，随着20世纪后半叶的技术进步，在物理学、天文学和太空探索中，越来越多的进展开始归属于被许多人称为大科学的范畴。大科学是一组或一队项目;每个人都在项目中的特定部分里有所专长，但项目涉及的学科范围相当广大，团队中的单个成员无法精通所有学科。

　　Bell gives the Manhattan Project of the 1940s (which also, unbeknownst to most, involved a large cohort of unsung female contributors) as a prime example of Big Science, but it’s surprising he doesn’t point to the invention of the space suit itself as the most perfect and apt meta-example. Still, Bell does a remarkable job of not only synthesizing but also organizing chronologically events and individuals the history and order of which is often messy, chaotic, or poorly understood.

　　贝尔援引了20世纪40年代的曼哈顿计划(同样不为大多数人所知的是，一大批默默无闻的女性奉献者参与到了这个计划中)作为大科学的一个主要事例，但令人惊讶的是，他并没有指出，太空服的发明本身就是其后一个最完美、最贴切的例子。不过，贝尔工作的出色之处在于，他不仅对事件和人物进行了综合，而且还进行了编年。这些事件和人物的历史和时间顺序常常是很凌乱的，又或者所知甚少。

　　It’s delightfully disorienting to consider a time before many of the discoveries and developments Bell chronicles, which we’ve come to take for granted as common, basic cornerstones of our reality. Take, for instance, Saturn’s rings, which were discovered in 1650 by the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens or the origin of tides, discovered by Sir Isaac Newton in 1686.

　　想到贝尔编年的众多发现和进展出现之前的年代，那是如此地令人着迷，我们理所当然地把这些发现和进展当作了我们现实世界寻常而根本的基石。比如(上图这个)土星环，它是1650年由荷兰天文学家克里斯蒂安?惠更斯发现的;又比如潮汐的起源，那是艾萨克?牛顿爵士在1686年发现的(译者：与之相关的是 1687年发表的万有引力)。

　　Bell writes of Carl Sagan and his iconic 1980 Cosmos series, which single-handedly opened generations’ minds and hearts to the wonders and infinite mesmerism of space and ushered in a new era of scientific storytelling whose legacy can be traced to such contemporary favorites as Radiolab, The Story Collider, and It’s Okay To Be Smart:

　　贝尔写到了卡尔?萨根和他的代表作――1980年的《宇宙》系列片。单单这一部系列片就开启了几代人的思想和心灵，给他们带去了太空的奇妙与无限迷恋。这部系列片还引领了一个科学评书的新时代。(译者：“评书”二字在这里可能有点怪异，但面对一部讲述科学故事的“评书”，译者本人绝对是相当兴奋的。)追根溯源，诸如广播实验室、故事对撞机和聪明可矣等当代最受喜爱的节目都是科学评书时代的产物。

　　Astronomy and space exploration are interesting and exciting topics, yet throughout most of recent history, scientists have not been compelled or encouraged to share their discoveries (or, pointedly, their failures) with the public.

　　天文学和太空探索是有趣并且令人兴奋的话题，但从古至今的大多数历史中，没有什么去强迫或者鼓励科学家与公众分享他们的发现(或者刻薄点说，还有他们的失败)。

　　Cosmos: A Personal Voyage was the most watched PBS series in the world, and was seen by an audience of more than 500 million people. Through Cosmos, Sagan had an enthusiastic and educational conversation with the public about the latest observations and theories concerning some of the biggest questions we all ponder: What is going on up there? Where did it all come from? Why are we here? Are we alone?

　　《宇宙：个人游记》是全球收看人次最多的PBS系列节目，收看观众超过5亿。通过《宇宙》，萨根与公众就最新的观测和理论进行了一次热烈而又具有教育意义的对话，这些观测和理论涉及到了一些所有人都思考过的最大的问题：太空中正在发生着什么事情?它都是从何而来的?为什么我们会在这儿?我们孤单吗?

　　Sadly, Sagan met significant resistance from many of his scientific contemporaries for his tireless work popularizing the value of science and space exploration, and was reportedly denied membership in the National Academy of Sciences because of the petty jealousies of other scientists. But Sagan’s ideals and legacy have since spread to a new generation of astronomers and planetary scientists (many who grew up watching Cosmos); his ideals have been promoted worldwide … and they have been embraced by a scientific community that now regards as essential the public communication and understanding of science in our modern world.

　　不幸的是，萨根对于科学和太空探索价值那不知疲倦的普及遭遇到了来自许多科学同辈的巨大阻力。据报道，他被拒绝接纳为美国科学院院士，原因是他对于其他科学家的小心眼。但从那时起，萨根的理想和遗赠传递到了新一代天文学家和行星科学家的身上(他们当中的许多人都是看着《宇宙》成长起来的);他的理想已然被提高到了全球范围……这些理想已经被科学界所接受。现在的科学界重视起在现代社会中公众对于科学的交流和理解。

　　While the task of compressing space history into just 250 milestones is a herculean one, The Space Book accomplishes it with admirable rigor, breadth and balance ― a feat at the intersection of the editorial and curatorial: on the one hand, the short page-long essays on each of the milestones offer beautifully synthesized background and insight on how the specific person, event, or idea shaped the course of space history; on the other, the very act of selecting and ordering 250 such notable nodes is itself a masterful creative accomplishment.

　　虽然将太空历史压缩成仅仅250座里程碑是一项艰巨的任务，但《太空志要》以令人钦佩的严谨性、广度和平衡性完成了它――这是一项编辑与策划交相辉映的壮举：一方面，对于特定的人物、事件和想法是如何影响太空史进程的，每座里程碑所搭配的短短一页长的文章给出了精彩的背景总结和深入分析;另一方面，选择和编排这250个要点的做法本身就是一项高明而具有创意的成就。

　　Complement it with The First Book of Space Travel, the lovely vintage gem by a female science author and illustrator, this visual chronicle of the Space Race, and Neil deGrasse Tyson’s indispensable Space Chronicles.

　　与本书互为补益的作品还有：一瓶女性科学作家和插花家出品的美妙陈酿――《太空旅行第一书》，图说编年史――《太空竞赛》，以及奈尔?德葛拉司?泰森那本绝不可少的《太空编年史》。

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