关于物理的英语演讲.docVIP

Have we reached the end of physics? 0:11 A hundred years ago this month, a 36-year-old Albert Einstein stood up in front of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin to present a radical new theory of space, time and gravity: the general theory of relativity. 0:26 General relativity is unquestionably Einsteins masterpiece, a theory which reveals the workings of the universe at the grandest scales, capturing in one beautiful line of algebra everything from why apples fall from trees to the beginning of time and space. 0:40 1915 must have been an exciting year to be a physicist. Two new ideas were turning the subject on its head. One was Einsteins theory of relativity, the other was arguably even more revolutionary: quantum mechanics, a mind-meltingly strange yet stunningly successful new way of understanding the microworld, the world of atoms and particles. 1:02 Over the last century, these two ideas have utterly transformed our understanding of the universe. Its thanks to relativity and quantum mechanics that weve learned what the universe is made from, how it began and how it continues to evolve. A hundred years on, we now find ourselves at another turning point in physics, but whats at stake now is rather different. The next few years may tell us whether well be able to continue to increase our understanding of nature, or whether maybe for the first time in the history of science, we could be facing questions that we cannot answer, not because we dont have the brains or technology, but because the laws of physics themselves forbid it. 1:43 This is the essential problem: the universe is far, far too interesting. Relativity and quantum mechanics appear to suggest that the universe should be a boring place. It should be dark, lethal and lifeless. But when we look around us, we see we live in a universe full of interesting stuff, full of stars, planets, trees, squirrels. The question is, ultimately, why does all this interesting stuff exist? Why is there somethin