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Franklin's Lightning Rod Served Political Ends

富兰克林发明的避雷针竟有政治色彩？

Besides helping¹ to create the United States of America, Benjamin Franklin of course invented the lightning rod. Which sits atop buildings and protects them by attracting lightning strikes and conducting them to the ground. Rather than through the structure. Which can cause fires or outright² electrocutions.

本杰明·富兰克林除了帮忙创建了美利坚合众国，还发明了避雷针。避雷针被安装在建筑物的顶端，通过吸引雷击并将其引至地面，而非击中建筑物本身，从而保护它们。雷电击中建筑物会引发火灾或直接导致触电。

But what’s better? A lightning rod with a round end or one that comes to a sharp point? According to the book Revolutionary Science by Steve Jones at University College London, Franklin liked lightning rods to be, in Franklin’s own words, “made sharp as a Needle.”

不过，哪种避雷针更好呢？圆头的避雷针，还是尖头的？根据英国伦敦大学学院史蒂夫·琼斯出版的《革命科学》一书所述，用富兰克林自己的话来说，他喜欢把避雷针做得“像针一样锋利。”

\And so in North America, Jones writes, “The use of one or the other was interpreted as a statement in favor of the rebels or of the Crown.” In fact, Jones continues, “George III, to advertise his displeasure at the colonial revolt, had the sharpened structures on Buckingham Palace replaced with rounded versions.”

因此在北美，琼斯写道，“使用哪种避雷针会被解释成支持哪一方——反叛者或统治者。”事实上，琼斯继续说，“乔治三世为了宣传他对殖民反抗的不满，将白金汉宫的尖角结构的建筑替换成了圆角的。”

The king even pressured the Royal Society, the leading scientific organization of the time—and still highly regarded today—to endorse³ the idea that round-ended lightning rods were better than Franklin’s pointy ones. To which the president of the Royal Society responded, “I will always do my best to fulfil the wishes of His Majesty⁴, but I am able to change neither the laws of nature nor the effects of its forces.”

国王甚至向当时最重要的、且至今仍被高度重视的科学组织——皇家学会施加压力，让他们认同圆头的避雷针比富兰克林的尖头的避雷针要好。英国皇家学会主席对此作出的回应为：“我会一直尽我最大的努力去实现国王陛下的愿望，但我不能改变自然的法则，也不能改变其能量的影响。”

Some Americans today, especially a few in positions of authority, would do well to acknowledge the reality of the laws of nature and the effects of its forces.

当今如果一些美国人，尤其是一些权威人士，肯承认自然法则及其能量的影响，那他们会把分内之职做得更好。