除此之外 一切都模糊不清让人联想
Beyond that, things get murky and more imaginative.
创造出死亡射线 能够一下击毁1♥0♥0♥0♥0♥架飞机
他出生于1856年 离镀金时代还很远
He was born in 1856, far from the Gilded Age
在里喀斯米利安 一个小乡村
in Likas Milian, a small rural village
在现在的克罗地亚
in what’s now Croatia.
他的父亲是一名塞尔维亚东正教神父
His father is an Orthodox Serbian priest,
但他和母亲更亲近 一位不会读书写字
but he’s closer with his mother, a brilliant woman
但却很聪慧的女性
who couldn’t read or write.
他是个早熟的男孩 有点内向感情不外露
He’s a precocious boy, a bit withdrawn, secretive
在语言和数学上很有天分
with a gift for languages and mathematics.
爱迪生电报信♥号♥♥箱专利图 1874年
违抗了他的父亲 去布拉格学工程学
Defying his father, he studies engineering in Prague,
布拉格是捷克首都
但没有毕业
but never graduates.
爱迪生打印机 爱迪生电报机 1869年
在布达佩斯从低潮中走出来
In Budapest, coming out of a depression,
布达佩斯是匈牙利首都
在和朋友逛公园时 他灵光一现
walking in a park with a friend, he sees in a flash,
想到了那个将是他第一个
in a vision the motor that will be
革命性发明的电机
his first revolutionary invention.
做交流电就是在浪费时间
Alternating current is a waste of time.
不现实也没希望
Impractical and deadly.
那东西没有未来
There’s no future in it.
五万美金
$50,000.
你觉得我欠你五万美金
You think I owe you $50,000?
特斯拉 你不懂美式幽默
Tesla, you have no understanding of the American sense of humor.
一个人要是说他不在乎钱
A man who says he doesn’t care about money
会发现自己因缺钱备受折磨
can find himself tormented by the lack of it.
而爱迪生 爱迪生看重钱
Whereas Edison, Edison values money
但花得比挣得还快
but spends it faster than he makes it.
但他一直都在挣
But he’s always making it
挣得很多
in great quantities.
搜托马斯·爱迪生
Google Thomas Edison
你会得到超过六千四百万个结果
and you get over 6♥4♥ million results.
是特斯拉的两倍
Twice as many as Tesla.
爱迪生是那个时代最出名最成功的人之一
Edison’s one of the most famous, most successful men of his time.
但有些事情被人们忽视了
But some facts slip out of sight.
特斯拉是在玛丽·爱迪生去世的
Tesla went to work for Edison the same year,
同一年的同一个夏天到爱迪生那工作的
the same summer that Mary Edison died.
官方说法是脑淤血
Congestion of the brain was the official report,
是吗♥啡♥过量致死的代称
code for a Morphine overdose.
在她15岁时他们在爱迪生的
She was 15 when they met in the rain
新工作室外的雨中相遇
outside Edison’s new workshop,
16岁时他们结的婚 25岁时去世
16 when they married, 25 when she died,
给爱迪生留下了三个年少的孩子
leaving Edison with three young children
还有满腹的心事
and a lot on his mind.
你可能认为这是特斯拉时来运转的时候了
This, you might think, is where Tesla’s luck turns.
他找到了投资人成立了特斯拉照明公♥司♥
He finds investors and sets up the Tesla Lighting Company,
但他的合伙人把他骗得身无分文
but his partners swindle him, leaving him penniless.
他穷困潦倒
He falls into the abyss of poverty,
在西联公♥司♥当挖掘工
becomes a ditch digger digging trenches for cables,
给电缆电♥话♥线挖沟
phone lines for Western Union.
经过了屈辱的一年 一位善心的工头
After a humiliating year, a sympathetic foreman
把他介绍给了
introduces him to
阿尔弗雷德·布朗和查尔斯·派克.
Alfred S. Brown and Charles F. Peck.
关键在于交流电机是由旋转的磁场
The key is the motor rotates by virtue of induction
形成的电磁感应所带动
of rotating magnetic fields.
它无需给转子内电流换向的
I’ve eliminated the commutator which distributes
换向器
electricity to the rotor.
所以你的交流电机里没有换向器
So you’ve eliminated the need for the commutator
也没有电刷不会产生火花
and brushes the sparks.
太神奇了
Amazing.
没有火花
There are no sparks.
那不好吗
Is that so bad?
他们只是多余的
They’re just unnecessary.
磁场会改变电流方向
The magnetic field redirects the current.
我可以看看吗
May I?
你在爱迪生手下做的什么工作
The work you did for Edison, what was it?
我重新设计了24个不同的发电机
I redesigned 24 different dynamos,
维护机器
standard machines,
用短的线圈替换长的磁体
replaced longer magnets with short coils,
替换旧型号♥
replaced older models.
我没法让他对交流电感兴趣
I couldn’t interest him in alternating current,
但是当然你懂的
but of course you know…
我懂 我是一个电力工程师
I know, I’m an electrician.
但是他
But he…
是律师 理智的那个
The lawyer, the sensible one.
他明白
He understands…
这不仅仅是一个电机
This is more than just a motor.
这是一个完整的系统
It is entire system
用于产出 传送 和利用电能
for generating, transmitting, and utilizing power.
给爱迪生工作你每周赚15美元对吧
You were making $15 a week with Edison, correct?
我们调查过了 爱迪生只雇最优秀的
We checked. Edison hires the best,
但他几乎是让他们付钱为他工作
but he practically makes them pay for the privilege.
我们有资金
We have capital.
5万美元的年度偿债基金
$50,000 for an Annual sinking fund
还有在交流电这个事情上
and alternating current…
我不在乎它是不是危险
I don’t care if it’s dangerous.
它不危险
It isn’t.
爱迪生说过
Edison says…
火也是危险的 如果你把手伸到火里
Fire is dangerous if you stick your hand in it.
我们会给你建个实验室
We’ll set you up with a lab
还有支付给你薪水
and a salary.
每个月250美元
$250 a month.
比你预计的要好 对吧
It’s better than you were expecting, is it?
我听说你母亲不太喜欢我
I understand your mother is not very impressed with me.
爱迪生在1885年认识了他的
Edison met his second wife,
第二任妻子米娜·米勒
Mina Miller, in 1885.
我母亲认为我们都是渺小的存在
My mother regards our earthly existence as insignificant.
她父亲赚了很多钱
Her father had made a fortune
因为他发明了一个受欢迎的割草机
by inventing a popular lawnmower,
“七叶树收割者”
the Buckeye Reaper.
她是7个孩子里最小的
The youngest of seven children,
她和一个牧师的儿子订过婚
she was engaged to marry a preacher’s son.
她说当你离开这个世界
She says when you leave this life,
你将进入一个更光明更幸福的世界
you enter into a brighter and happier life,
永无止境的幸福
one that never ends.
你知道我母亲对我说过什么吗
You know what my mother said to me?
永远不要去吃比你头大的东西
Never eat anything bigger than your head.
我准备问你父亲
I am going to ask your father
看我是否可以教你摩尔斯电码
if I can teach you morse code.
那样我们就能无声地交流
So we can talk without talking.
我们不用一个线圈
Instead of a single coil,
我们用四个
we use four.
四个线圈缠在叠片环上
Four coils around a laminated ring.
两股交流电流分别从两头流入
Two separate AC currents feed into the paired coils
配对的线圈中
on opposite sides.
这两股电流是异相的
The currents are out of phase.
这样就产生了旋转电场
This creates the rotating electrical field.
没有火花
No sparks.
我和他当时在布达佩斯
I was with him in Budapest
他想到这个主意的时候
when he had the idea.
他脑袋里有了这个主意然后
He saw it in his head and then
他在泥土上画出了雏形
he draw it in the dirt.
确实是这样
I did.
那是5年前了
That was five years ago.
瞧瞧我们现在
And here we are now.
新奥尔良 圣保罗 芝加哥
New Orleans, St. Paul, Chicago,
费城 布鲁克林
Philadelphia, Brooklyn.
爱迪生在美国有121个发电站
Edison has 121 power stations in the U.S.
加上柏林 米兰 巴黎 波尔多
Plus Berlin and Milan, Paris, Bordeaux,
阿姆斯特丹 慕尼黑
Amsterdam, Munich.
全球各地

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