THE HANDEDNESS OF THE UNIVERSE
THE HANDEDNESS OF THE UNIVERSE
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DOI：
10.1038/scientificamerican0190-108
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发表时间：
1990-01-01
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
KONDEPUDI, DK
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
HEGSTROM, RA;KONDEPUDI, DK
1848 年，路易斯·巴斯德 (Louis Pasteur) 在显微镜下检查某种酒石酸盐，发现它形成了两种类型的晶体，每种晶体都是另一种的镜像。他将两者分开，将其溶解在水中形成两种溶液，并用光束照射每一种溶液。令他大吃一惊的是，一种溶液使偏振光顺时针旋转，另一种则逆时针旋转。他在 25 岁时做出的这一美丽发现，促使巴斯德发展了分子结构理论。当时，人们对如此小尺度的物质结构还一无所知。巴斯德假设，盐晶体的两种不同形状及其以不同方式旋转光的能力源自这样一个事实：组成盐的分子本身有两种类型，一种是“右旋”，另一种是“左旋”。他沿着这些思路进行的研究为 1857 年的另一项非凡发现铺平了道路。有一天，巴斯德发现霉菌在含有光学非活性溶液（不旋转光）的培养皿中生长。巴斯德并没有简单地扔掉“受污染”的溶液（这是常见的做法），而是检查了它对光束的影响。被污染的溶液
In 1848 Louis Pasteur, examining a certain salt of tartaric acid under a microscope, noticed that it formed two types of crystals, each one a mir ror image of the other. He separated the two, dissolved each in water to form two solutions and shined a light beam through each. To his great sur prise, one solution rotated polarized light clockwise, the other counter clockwise.This beautiful discovery, which he made at the age of 25, led Pasteur to develop a theory of molecular struc ture. Uttle was known then about the structure of matter on such a small scale; Pasteur postulated that the two distinct shapes of the salt crystals and their ability to rotate light differently were derived from the fact that the molecules making up the salt were themselves of two types, one" right handed" and the other" left-handed." His research along these lines paved the way for another remarkable dis covery in 1857. One day Pasteur found that molds had grown in a dish con taining an optically inactive solution, one that did not rotate light. Instead of simply throwing away the" contam inated" solution-the common prac tice-Pasteur checked its effect on a light beam. The contaminated solu-