TEDSalon London Spring 2011
Honor Harger: A history of the universe in sound
Honor Harger: Zvučna istorija univerzuma
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Umetnik-tehnolog Honor Harger sluša čudnovate i predivne šumove zvezda, planeta i pulsara. U svom radu, ona prati radio talase koje su emitovali drevni nebeski objekti i pretvara ih u zvuk, uključujući ''najstariju pesmu koju ćete ikada čuti'', zvuk kosmičkih zraka koji su ostaci od Velikog Praska.
Honor Harger - Artist
Honor Harger explores the sounds of the sky, using art to connect her audience to the universe. Full bio
Honor Harger explores the sounds of the sky, using art to connect her audience to the universe. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:21
Space,
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Svemir,
00:23
we all know what it looks like.
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svima nam je poznato kako izgleda.
00:25
We've been surrounded by images of space
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Okruženi smo slikama svemira
00:27
our whole lives,
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čitavog života,
00:29
from the speculative images
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od spekulativnih slika
00:31
of science fiction
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naučne fantastike
00:33
to the inspirational visions of artists
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preko inspirativnih umetničkih vizija
00:36
to the increasingly beautiful pictures
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do sve većeg broja prelepih slika
00:39
made possible by complex technologies.
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koje su omogućene kompleksnom tehnologijom.
00:42
But whilst we have
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Ali dok imamo
00:44
an overwhelmingly vivid
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neodoljivo živopisno
00:46
visual understanding of space,
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vizuelno razumevanje svemira,
00:48
we have no sense of what space sounds like.
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nemamo osećaj kako svemir zvuči.
00:51
And indeed, most people associate space with silence.
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I zaista, većina ljudi povezuje svemir sa tišinom.
00:55
But the story of how
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Priča o tome kako
00:57
we came to understand the universe
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smo došli do razumevanja svemira
00:59
is just as much a story of listening
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je podjednako priča o slušanju
01:01
as it is by looking.
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kao i o gledanju.
01:04
And yet despite this,
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I uprkos tome,
01:06
hardly any of us have ever heard space.
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teško da je iko od nas ikada čuo svemir.
01:09
How many of you here
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Koliko od vas prisutnih
01:11
could describe the sound
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može opisati zvuk
01:13
of a single planet or star?
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jedne planete ili zvezde?
01:15
Well in case you've ever wondered,
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U slučaju da ste se nekada zapitali,
01:17
this is what the Sun sounds like.
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ovako zvuči Sunce.
01:19
(Static)
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(Šum)
01:33
(Crackling)
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(Pucketanje)
01:37
(Static)
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(Šum)
01:43
(Crackling)
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(Pucketanje)
01:47
This is the planet Jupiter.
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Ovo je zvuk planete Jupiter.
01:50
(Soft crackling)
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(Blago pucketanje)
02:10
And this is the space probe Cassini
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A ovo je svemirska sonda Kasini (Cassini)
02:13
pirouetting through the ice rings of Saturn.
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koja prolazi kroz Saturnove ledene prstenove.
02:17
(Crackling)
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(Pucketanje)
02:37
This is a a highly condensed clump
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Ovo je visoko kondenzovana grudva
02:40
of neutral matter,
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neutralne materije,
02:42
spinning in the distant universe.
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koja rotira u udaljenom univerzumu.
02:46
(Tapping)
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(Tapkanje)
03:04
So my artistic practice
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Tako da se moj umetnički rad
03:06
is all about listening
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svodi na slušanje
03:08
to the weird and wonderful noises
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čudnovatih i predivnih zvukova
03:11
emitted by the magnificent celestial objects
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koje emituju veličanstveni nebeski objekti
03:14
that make up our universe.
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koji ispunjavaju naš univerzum.
03:17
And you may wonder,
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I možete se zapitati,
03:19
how do we know what these sounds are?
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kako mi znamo šta su ti zvuci?
03:21
How can we tell the difference
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Kako možemo uočiti razliku
03:23
between the sound of the Sun
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između zvuka Sunca
03:25
and the sound of a pulsar?
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i zvuka pulsara?
03:27
Well the answer
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Odgovor daje
03:29
is the science of radio astronomy.
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nauka radio astronomije.
03:31
Radio astronomers
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Radio astronomi
03:33
study radio waves from space
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proučavaju radio talase iz svemira,
03:35
using sensitive antennas and receivers,
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koristeći osetljive antene i prijemnike,
03:38
which give them precise information
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koji im daju precizne informacije
03:40
about what an astronomical object is
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o tome šta je astronomski objekat
03:43
and where it is in our night sky.
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i gde se nalazi na našem noćnom nebu.
03:45
And just like the signals
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I upravo kao signale
03:47
that we send and receive here on Earth,
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koje šaljemo i primamo ovde na Zemlji,
03:50
we can convert these transmissions into sound
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možemo pretvoriti te primljene signale u zvuk
03:53
using simple analog techniques.
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koristeći proste analogne tehnike.
03:56
And therefore, it's through listening
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Dakle, preko slušanja
03:59
that we've come to uncover
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smo došli do otkrića
04:01
some of the universe's most important secrets --
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o nekim najvažnijim tajnama univerzuma --
04:04
its scale, what it's made of
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njegovoj veličini, od čega je sačinjen
04:07
and even how old it is.
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čak i koliko je star.
04:09
So today, I'm going to tell you a short story
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Tako da ću vam danas ispričati kratku priču
04:12
of the history of the universe through listening.
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o istoriji univerzuma, kroz zvuk.
04:15
It's punctuated
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Isprekidanu
04:17
by three quick anecdotes,
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sa tri kratke anegdote,
04:19
which show how accidental encounters
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koje pokazuju kako su nam slučajni susreti
04:21
with strange noises
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sa čudnim zvucima
04:23
gave us some of the most important information
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dali neke najvažnije informacije
04:26
we have about space.
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koje imamo o svemiru.
04:28
Now this story doesn't start
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Ova priča ne počinje
04:30
with vast telescopes
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sa ogromnim teleskopima
04:32
or futuristic spacecraft,
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ili futurističkim letelicama,
04:35
but a rather more humble technology --
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nego sa jednim skromnijim posrednikom
04:38
and in fact, the very medium
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zapravo, sa onim istim posrednikom
04:40
which gave us the telecommunications revolution
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koji nas je doveo do telekomunikacione revolucije
04:43
that we're all part of today:
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koju svi koristimo danas:
04:45
the telephone.
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telefonom.
04:47
It's 1876, it's in Boston,
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Godina je 1876., Boston, a
04:50
and this is Alexander Graham Bell
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ovo je Aleksandar Grejem Bel
04:52
who was working with Thomas Watson
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koji je radio sa Tomasom Votsonom
04:54
on the invention of the telephone.
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na pronalasku telefona.
04:57
A key part of their technical set up
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Ključan deo njihove tehničke postavke
05:00
was a half-mile long length of wire,
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je bila žica dužine oko 800 metara,
05:02
which was thrown across the rooftops
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koja je bila prebačena preko krovova
05:04
of several houses in Boston.
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nekoliko kuća u Bostonu.
05:07
The line carried the telephone signals
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Žica je prenosila telefonske signale
05:10
that would later make Bell a household name.
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koji će kasnije načiniti prezime Bel poznatim u svakom domaćinstvu.
05:13
But like any long length of charged wire,
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Ali kao i svaka druga duga naelektrisana žica,
05:16
it also inadvertently became
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ona nehotice postaje
05:18
an antenna.
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antena.
05:20
Thomas Watson
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Tomas Votson
05:22
spent hours listening
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je proveo sate slušajući
05:24
to the strange crackles and hisses
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čudna pucketanja i šištanja,
05:26
and chirps and whistles
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cvrkutanja i zviždanja
05:29
that his accidental antenna detected.
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koje je antena slučajno detektovala.
05:32
Now you have to remember,
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Ali upamtite,
05:34
this is 10 years before
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ovo je 10 godina pre
05:36
Heinrich Hertz proved the existence of radio waves --
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nego što je Hajnrih Herc dokazao postojanje radio talasa --
05:40
15 years before Nikola Tesla's four-tuned circuit --
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petnaest godina pre četvorodelnog kola Nikole Tesle -
05:43
nearly 20 years before Marconi's first broadcast.
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skoro dvadeset godina pre Markonijevog prvog emitovanja.
05:47
So Thomas Watson wasn't listening to us.
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Tako da Tomas Votson nije slušao nas.
05:50
We didn't have the technology
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Nismo imali tehnologiju
05:52
to transmit.
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za prenos.
05:54
So what were these strange noises?
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Šta su onda bili ti čudni zvukovi?
05:58
Watson was in fact listening
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Votson je zapravo slušao
06:00
to very low-frequency radio emissions
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radio emisiju veoma niskih frekvencija
06:02
caused by nature.
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koju je prouzrokovala priroda.
06:04
Some of the crackles and pops were lightning,
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Nešto od pucketanja je bila munja,
06:07
but the eerie whistles
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ali jezivo zviždanje
06:10
and curiously melodious chirps
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i melodični cvrkut
06:13
had a rather more exotic origin.
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je imao egzotično poreklo.
06:16
Using the very first telephone,
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Koristeći prvi telefon,
06:18
Watson was in fact
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Votson je zapravo
06:20
dialed into the heavens.
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zvao nebesa.
06:22
As he correctly guessed,
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Kao što je tačno pogodio,
06:24
some of these sounds were caused
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neki od tih zvukova su bili prouzrokovani
06:26
by activity on the surface of the Sun.
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aktivnošću površine Sunca.
06:29
It was a solar wind
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On je zapravo slušao
06:31
interacting with our ionosphere
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Sunčev vetar
06:33
that he was listening to --
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u interakciji sa našom jonosferom -
06:35
a phenomena which we can see
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fenomen koji možemo videti
06:37
at the extreme northern and southern latitudes of our planet
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na ekstremno severnim i južnim geografskim širinama naše planete
06:40
as the aurora.
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kao Auroru.
06:42
So whilst inventing the technology
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Dok je otkrivao tehnologiju
06:45
that would usher in the telecommunications revolution,
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koja će pokrenuti telekomunikacionu revoluciju,
06:49
Watson had discovered
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Votson je otkrio
06:51
that the star at the center of our solar system
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da je zvezda iz centra našeg Sunčevog sistema
06:54
emitted powerful radio waves.
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emitovala jake radio talase.
06:57
He had accidentally been the first person
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On je slučajno bio prva osoba
07:00
to tune in to them.
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koja je naišla na njih.
07:02
Fast-forward 50 years,
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Preletimo pedeset godina,
07:04
and Bell and Watson's technology
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Belova i Votsonova tehnologija
07:07
has completely transformed
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je potpuno preobrazila
07:09
global communications.
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globalne komunikacije.
07:11
But going from slinging some wire
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Ali krenuti od prebacivanja žica
07:13
across rooftops in Boston
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preko krovova u Bostonu
07:15
to laying thousands and thousands of miles of cable
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do postavljanja hiljada i hiljada kilometara kablova
07:18
on the Atlantic Ocean seabed
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na dno Atlantskog okeana
07:20
is no easy matter.
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nije jednostavna stvar.
07:22
And so before long,
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Tako da je ubrzo
07:24
Bell were looking to new technologies
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Bel potražio nove tehnike
07:26
to optimize their revolution.
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koje bi optimizovale njihovu revoluciju.
07:29
Radio could carry sound without wires.
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Radio je mogao prenositi zvuk bez žica.
07:32
But the medium is lossy --
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Ali medijum ima nedostataka -
07:34
it's subject to a lot of noise and interference.
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stvara dosta šuma i interferenciju.
07:38
So Bell employed an engineer
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Tako da je Bel zaposlio inženjera
07:40
to study those noises,
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da proučava te šumove,
07:42
to try and find out where they came from,
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da pokuša da pronađe odakle dolaze,
07:44
with a view towards building
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sa idejom pravljenja
07:46
the perfect hardware codec, which would get rid of them
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savršenog hardvera koji bi se oslobađao šumova,
07:49
so they could think about using radio
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tako da bi mogli razmišljati da koriste radio
07:51
for the purposes of telephony.
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u svrhu telefoniranja.
07:54
Most of the noises
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Većina zvukova
07:56
that the engineer, Karl Jansky, investigated
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koje je istražio inženjer Karl Janski,
07:59
were fairly prosaic in origin.
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bila je relativno poznatog porekla.
08:01
They turned out to be lightning
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Zaključilo se da su to munje
08:03
or sources of electrical power.
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ili izvori električnog napajanja.
08:06
But there was one persistent noise
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Ali postojao je jedan uporan zvuk
08:09
that Jansky couldn't identify,
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koji Janski nije mogao identifikovati,
08:11
and it seemed to appear
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i izgledalo je da se pojavljuje
08:13
in his radio headset
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u njegovim radio slušalicama
08:15
four minutes earlier each day.
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i to četiri minute ranije svakim danom.
08:18
Now any astronomer will tell you,
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Sada će vam svaki astronom reći,
08:20
this is the telltale sign
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da je to nagoveštajni znak
08:22
of something that doesn't originate from Earth.
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nečega što ima poreklo van Zemlje.
08:25
Jansky had made a historic discovery,
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Janski je došao do istorijskog otkrića,
08:29
that celestial objects could emit radio waves
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da nebeski objetki mogu emitovati radio talase
08:32
as well as light waves.
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isto kao i svetlosne talase.
08:34
Fifty years on
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Pedeset godina od
08:36
from Watson's accidental encounter with the Sun,
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Votsonovog slučajnog susreta sa Suncem,
08:39
Jansky's careful listening
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pažljivo slušajći, Janski je
08:41
ushered in a new age of space exploration:
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najavio novo doba svemirskog istraživanja:
08:44
the radio astronomy age.
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doba radio astronomije.
08:46
Over the next few years,
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Tokom narednih nekoliko godina,
08:48
astronomers connected up their antennas to loudspeakers
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astronomi su povezali svoje antene na zvučnike
08:52
and learned about our radio sky,
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i učili o našem radio nebu,
08:54
about Jupiter and the Sun,
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o Jupiteru i Suncu,
08:56
by listening.
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slušajući.
08:58
Let's jump ahead again.
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Hajde da još jednom odemo malo napred.
09:00
It's 1964,
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Godina je 1964.
09:02
and we're back at Bell Labs.
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i ponovo smo u Belovim laboratorijama.
09:04
And once again,
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I još jednom,
09:06
two scientists have got a problem with noise.
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dva naučnika imaju problem sa šumom.
09:09
Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson
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Arno Penzijas i Robert Vilson
09:12
were using the horn antenna
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su koristili rog antene
09:14
at Bell's Holmdel laboratory
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u laboratoriji Bela Holmdela
09:16
to study the Milky Way
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da bi proučavali Mlečni Put
09:18
with extraordinary precision.
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sa izvanrednom preciznošću.
09:20
They were really listening
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Oni su zaista slušali
09:22
to the galaxy in high fidelity.
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galaksiju u visokoj preciznosti.
09:24
There was a glitch in their soundtrack.
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Postojao je problem u njihovoj traci.
09:27
A mysterious persistent noise
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Uporni, misteriozni šum
09:30
was disrupting their research.
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je ometao njihovo istraživanje.
09:32
It was in the microwave range,
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Nalazio se u mikrotalasnom području,
09:34
and it appeared to be coming
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i izgledalo je kao da dolazi
09:36
from all directions simultaneously.
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simultano iz svih pravaca.
09:38
Now this didn't make any sense,
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Što nije imalo nikakvog smisla.
09:40
and like any reasonable engineer or scientist,
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I kao i svaki razumni inženjer i naučnik,
09:43
they assumed that the problem must be the technology itself,
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pretpostavili su da je problem u samoj tehnologiji,
09:46
it must be the dish.
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da mora da je do antene.
09:48
There were pigeons roosting in the dish.
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Na anteni su se golubovi gnezdili.
09:51
And so perhaps once they cleaned up the pigeon droppings,
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Možda kada bi očistili golubiji izmet
09:54
get the disk kind of operational again,
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i ponovo osposobili antenu za rad,
09:56
normal operations would resume.
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nastavile bi se normalne radnje.
09:59
But the noise didn't disappear.
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Ali šum nije nestao.
10:02
The mysterious noise
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Ispostavilo se da je misteriozni šum
10:04
that Penzias and Wilson were listening to
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koji su Penzijas i Vilson slušali
10:07
turned out to be the oldest and most significant sound
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bio najstariji i najznačajniji zvuk
10:10
that anyone had ever heard.
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koji je ikada neko čuo.
10:12
It was cosmic radiation
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Bilo je to kosmičko zračenje
10:14
left over from the very birth of the universe.
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koje je preostalo od samog rođenja univerzuma.
10:18
This was the first experimental evidence
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Ovo je bio prvi eksperimentalni dokaz
10:21
that the Big Bang existed
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da je Veliki prasak postojao
10:23
and the universe was born at a precise moment
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i da je univerzum bio rođen u određenom momentu
10:26
some 14.7 billion years ago.
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pre oko 14.7 milijardi godina.
10:31
So our story ends
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Tako da se naša priča završava
10:33
at the beginning --
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na početku --
10:35
the beginning of all things, the Big Bang.
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početku svih stvari, Velikom prasku.
10:38
This is the noise that Penzias and Wilson heard --
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Ovo je zvuk koji su Penzijas i Vilson čuli --
10:41
the oldest sound that you're ever going to hear,
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najstariji zvuk koji ćete ikada ćuti,
10:44
the cosmic microwave background radiation
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kosmičko mikrotalasno pozadinsko zračenje
10:47
left over from the Big Bang.
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preostalo od Velikog praska.
10:49
(Fuzz)
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(Šuštanje)
11:04
Thanks.
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Hvala.
11:06
(Applause)
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(Aplauz)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Honor Harger - ArtistHonor Harger explores the sounds of the sky, using art to connect her audience to the universe.
Why you should listen
Honor Harger is a New Zealand-born artist and curator who has a particular interest in artistic uses of technologies. She's the director of Lighthouse, an arts agency in Brighton, UK. Her artistic practice is produced under the name r a d i o q u a l i a together with collaborator Adam Hyde. One of their main projects is Radio Astronomy , a radio station broadcasting sounds from space.
From a great interview with Harger from Lift '11:
What does it mean to listen to space?
Whilst our project uses what we describe as "sounds from space", it is important to understand that stars and planets are not directly audible. Sound waves can not propagate in the vacuum of space. However, it is possible for radio waves emitted from celestial bodies, such as Jupiter and the Sun, to be heard by using radio technology. In our galaxy, the Sun is the strongest source of radio waves - so it's the most powerful transmitter in the radio sky. Jupiter also sends us strong radio signals.
What we hear is very curiously linked with our experience of radio here on earth -- the sounds are a bit like the sound of static between the stations.
Photo: Matt Locke / Flickr CC
Honor Harger | Speaker | TED.com