Перевод текста henry cavendish and his discovery перевод

Перевод текста henry cavendish and his discovery перевод

HENRY CAVENDISH AND THE CAVENDISH LABORATORY

There are some scientists who seem to be born to be scientists, whose life is devoted completely to discovering the laws of nature. Such a man was Henry Cavendish, whose name was given to the most famous research laboratory in Great Britain. Henry Cavendish was born in 1731. He was an English nobleman who did scientific experiments as a hobby.

Cavendish was not a poor man; he never had to work for a living. The money that was left to him by his parents and relatives was enough to support him in the highest circles 1 in London. But he took no pleasure in the empty life that the aristocracy led; and he was not interested in a career in the army, the church or the diplomatic service, the three professions that young men of his class went into, as a rule. From the time that he was able to think and analyse, he never had any doubt 2 what profession he wanted to follow. He lived for science, for science alone.

Half a century after Cavendish died, Maxwell, the famous physicist and the director of the Cambridge laboratory, published Henry Cavendish’s papers on his theoretical and experimental work. Maxwell repeated Cavendish’s experiments, proving that Cavendish was a pioneer in scientific research. In one experiment (repeated by Maxwell) Cavendish discovered the well-known Coulomb law of electricity, forty years before Coulomb himself discovered it. By a beautifully simple method, Cavendish experimentally proved Newton’s law of universal gravitation. In 1781 he made an important discovery that water is not an element but a compound of the gases we now call hydrogen and oxygen.

These and many other discoveries and researches won the respect and admiration 4 of Cavendish’s colleagues in his time. And when at last the results of his researches were published, his unusual talent was recognized by the widest scientific circles all over the world. The Cambridge laboratory, one of the most famous in the world, was named after him; and its fine scientific traditions are connected in people’s minds with the work of the 18 th century genius.

Scientists are supposed to be rather strange people, unusual not only in their creative ability, and their power of thinking, but in their way of life too. The fact that we often meet scientists who do not seem different from other people does not change the general opinion; we are sure that there must be something at least 5 a little strange in them. Cavendish is a good example: a few facts about him and his way of life will show that he was not an ordinary person.

Cavendish had an excellent library of books, which he was always willing to let 8 his friends and acquaintances read. Anybody could take a book from his library, but Cavendish avoided speaking to the person who took the book. Such conversations seemed unnecessary to him. The only thing he demanded was a note from whoever took a book. There were no exceptions to the rule: everybody had to leave such a note. When Cavendish took a book out of his own library, he left the same note, addressed to himself.

The unusual personal habits of Cavendish, the man, were never allowed to influence Cavendish, the scientist. In research, he differed from other men only in the depth of his devotion to science and the brilliance of his mind. For centuries, the directors of the Cavendish laboratory have insisted on Cavendish’s scientific ideals and demands. One of these demands is that a scientific research worker 9 must be able to work independently and not depend on others for support of his ideas.

A new worker is given a research subject, or theme, and is told how to work at it. But if, when he finishes his work on the theme, he does not know how to continue, or what new theme he wants to study, he is not kept at the laboratory. The laboratory wants only workers who can go forward by their own efforts, people who can learn quickly and can make important additions to scientific knowledge.

A brilliant example of such an independent scientific worker is the Russian physicist Kapitza, who spent several years in the laboratory. He was the favourite pupil of Rutherford, the director, but even when he was still a pupil his work showed complete independence of thought. Kapitza soon gathered around him the most talented workers in the field of low temperatures, and they all recognized him as their scientific leader. Henry Cavendish died in 1810.

Источник

HENRY CAVENDISH AND HIS DISCOVERY

Outstanding scientists

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