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In 1960, a team at the University of Illinois released the first version of their PLATO “computerized instruction system,” a network of what would eventually be thousands of computer terminals connected to large mainframe computers.

1960 年，伊利诺伊大学的一个团队发布了柏拉图“计算机化指令系统”的第一个版本，这是一个最终由连接到大型主机的数千个计算机终端组成的网络。

Users of PLATO could use the system to learn about various topics, with courses on subjects such as chemistry, math, music, and foreign languages.

PLATO 的用户可以使用该系统学习各种主题，包括化学、数学、音乐和外语等课程。

The first iteration of PLATO used a simple TV screen for a terminal display, but this was at best a stopgap measure.

PLATO 的第一次迭代使用了一个简单的电视屏幕作为终端显示，但这充其量只是权宜之计。

TV screens used cathode ray tubes (CRTs), which used a magnetically deflected beam of electrons to paint an image on a glass screen.

电视屏幕使用阴极射线管 (CRT)，它使用磁偏转电子束在玻璃屏幕上绘制图像。

This beam redrew the entire screen 30 times a second, which meant that a computer had to feed the CRT screen a constant stream of high-bandwidth video data.

该光束每秒重新绘制整个屏幕 30 次，这意味着计算机必须向 CRT 屏幕提供持续的高带宽视频数据流。

This was fine for broadcast TV, since the same signal was being sent to every TV that received it, but on the PLATO system every terminal needed to be sent different data, depending on what the user was doing.

这对于广播电视来说很好，因为相同的信号被发送到每台接收到该信号的电视，但在 PLATO 系统上，每个终端都需要发送不同的数据，具体取决于用户在做什么。

Not only would this require high-bandwidth data connections between the mainframes and the PLATO terminals, it would force each terminal to have a large amount of memory storage to hold the video data, which at the time was extremely expensive.

这不仅需要大型机和 PLATO 终端之间的高带宽数据连接，而且还迫使每个终端拥有大量内存来保存视频数据，这在当时是极其昂贵的。

CRT-based screens worked well enough for a small system with a few terminals, but it was felt that the technology wouldn’t scale to the thousands or millions of terminals the PLATO designers envisioned.

基于 CRT 的屏幕对于具有几个终端的小型系统来说已经足够好了，但人们认为该技术无法扩展到 PLATO 设计师设想的数千或数百万个终端。

What was needed was a new type of screen, one that had a built-in “memory.” On such a screen, only the things that changed on the screen would need to be redrawn, which would dramatically reduce the bandwidth and data storage such a screen required compared to a CRT.

我们需要的是一种新型屏幕，一种具有内置“内存”的屏幕。在这样的屏幕上，只有屏幕上发生变化的内容才需要重新绘制，与 CRT 相比，这将大大减少此类屏幕所需的带宽和数据存储。

Donald Bitzer, one of the architects of the PLATO system, considered possible methods that might be used to make such a display.

柏拉图系统的架构师之一唐纳德·比泽尔考虑了可用于制作此类显示的可能方法。

One potential option was gas plasma — running an electric current through a low-pressure gas, which would cause that gas to glow.

一种可能的选择是气体等离子体——在低压气体中运行电流，这会导致气体发光。

Scientists had been making low-pressure gases glow using electric current since the 1600s, and the phenomenon had been used in neon signs since the early 20th century.

自 1600 年代以来，科学家们一直在利用电流使低压气体发光，自 20 世纪初以来，这种现象已被用于霓虹灯。

But no one had yet found a way to turn the phenomenon into a computer display, which would require an array of thousands or even millions of independently controlled tiny gas plasma lamps, one for each pixel on the screen.

但还没有人找到一种方法将这种现象转化为计算机显示器，这需要一系列数千甚至数百万个独立控制的微型气体等离子灯，屏幕上的每个像素都有一个。

Bitzer decided it was worth trying.

比泽尔认为值得一试。

In 1962, Bitzer’s graduate student Robert Willson built a one-cell model of a plasma display screen, the equivalent of a single pixel.

1962 年，Bitzer 的研究生 Robert Willson 构建了等离子显示屏的单单元模型，相当于单个像素。

It consisted of a “sandwich” of three thin sheets of glass, with wires on either side of a tiny pocket of argon gas contained in a hole in the middle glass sheet.

它由三片薄玻璃片组成的“三明治”组成，中间玻璃片的一个孔中装有一小袋氩气，两边都有电线。

When electric current ran from the wires through the gas, the argon would glow brightly.

当电流从电线流过气体时，氩气就会发出明亮的光。

Willson’s model suggested that a plasma screen might work, but also that there were many problems that needed to be overcome: the brightness of the cell was inconsistent, components burned out quickly, leaks were rampant, and over time the electricity-excited gas would deposit itself on the electrodes, reducing the flow of current.

威尔森的模型表明等离子屏幕可能会起作用，但也有许多问题需要克服：电池的亮度不一致、组件很快烧坏、泄漏猖獗，随着时间的推移，电激发的气体会沉积在电极上，从而减少电流。

Willson’s design also required each individual cell to have its own resistor to prevent an electric arc forming between the electrodes, which was projected to add significant manufacturing difficulties on a full-sized display: a 500x500 pixel screen would require 250,000 individually attached resistors.

威尔森的设计还要求每个单独的单元都有自己的电阻器，以防止电极之间形成电弧，预计这将大大增加全尺寸显示器的制造难度：500x500 像素的屏幕将需要 250,000 个单独连接的电阻器。

A breakthrough occurred in 1964, when Bitzer’s team had the idea to move the electrodes to the outside of the glass sandwich, which eliminated the need for a separate resistor.

1964 年出现了突破，当时 Bitzer 的团队提出了将电极移至玻璃夹层外部的想法，从而无需使用单独的电阻器。

When building a test display of the new model, the team made a serendipitous discovery: a small amount of air accidentally introduced into the cell gave the display the sought-after memory effect: the gas would continue to glow even when the voltage at the electrodes was reduced.

在构建新模型的测试显示器时，团队有了一个偶然的发现：少量的空气意外进入电池，使显示器产生了广受追捧的记忆效应：即使电极上的电压降低，气体也会继续发光。

By 1967, the team had scaled up their single-pixel display to a 16 by 16 array of pixels (weber 2006), but this was still little more than a fragile prototype: leaks and contamination remained common, and the extremely thin sheets of glass (originally used for microscope slides) broke easily.

到 1967 年，该团队已将其单像素显示器扩大到 16 x 16 像素阵列（weber 2006），但这仍然只是一个脆弱的原型：泄漏和污染仍然很常见，而且极薄的玻璃片（最初用于显微镜载玻片）很容易破裂。

In 1967 Owens-Illinois, a glass manufacturer, licensed this technology, known as a plasma display, and began working to turn it into a real, practical product.

1967 年，玻璃制造商 Owens-Illinois 获得了这项称为等离子显示器的技术的许可，并开始致力于将其变成真正的实用产品。

Owens-Illinois eliminated the middle sheet of glass and the individual gas-filled pockets along with it, and simply filled the entire space between the two outer glass sheets with gas.

欧文斯伊利诺伊州消除了中间的玻璃板和随之而来的各个充气袋，并简单地用气体填充了两块外部玻璃板之间的整个空间。

Even though the gas within the panel was continuous, it would only glow at the intersection of charged electrodes, allowing individual pixels to be controlled.

尽管面板内的气体是连续的，但它只会在带电电极的交叉处发光，从而允许控制单个像素。

In 1968 Owens-Illinois debuted a 128 x 128 pixel plasma display, far sturdier and more reliable than the University of Illinois prototypes, and in 1971 the company shipped the world’s first commercial plasma display panel, a 512 x 512 screen dubbed the “Digivue.” The PLATO system, which would shortly be scaled up to thousands of terminals worldwide, was its first customer.

1968 年，Owens-Illinois 首次推出了 128 x 128 像素等离子显示器，比伊利诺伊大学的原型更坚固、更可靠。1971 年，该公司推出了世界上第一块商用等离子显示面板，即被称为“Digivue”的 512 x 512 屏幕。 PLATO 系统是其第一个客户，该系统很快就会扩展到全球数千个终端。

But the newly released plasma screen wasn’t alone in the market for electronic displays.

但新发布的等离子屏幕并不是电子显示器市场上唯一的产品。

The plasma screen had originally been conceived as an alternative to CRT screens and the bulky and expensive external memory they required.

等离子屏幕最初被认为是 CRT 屏幕及其所需的笨重且昂贵的外部存储器的替代品。

But memory technology wasn’t standing still either: in the late 1960s, as Illinois researchers were building plasma screen prototypes, researchers at IBM developed DRAM , a type of computer memory that stored data using transistors and capacitors.

但内存技术也没有停滞不前：20 世纪 60 年代末，当伊利诺伊州的研究人员构建等离子屏幕原型时，IBM 的研究人员开发了 DRAM，这是一种使用晶体管和电容器存储数据的计算机内存。

Computer memory was soon being pulled along by Moore’s Law, getting smaller, faster, and cheaper with every generation, and before long the memory requirement for CRT screens was a minor concern.

计算机内存很快就受到摩尔定律的推动，每一代都变得更小、更快、更便宜，不久之后，CRT 屏幕的内存需求就成了一个小问题。

Plasma screens did have other advantages, beyond the way their physical properties enabled a kind of “memory.” Unlike a CRT, which required a bulky glass tube, a plasma display could be made extremely thin.

除了其物理特性能够实现某种“记忆”之外，等离子屏幕确实还有其他优点。与需要笨重玻璃管的 CRT 不同，等离子显示器可以做得非常薄。

And plasma screens could potentially be much more rugged than CRTs, which had fiddly and easily disrupted electron guns.

而且等离子屏幕可能比 CRT 更坚固，CRT 的电子枪操作繁琐且容易损坏。

But plasma screens also had drawbacks: they were very power hungry compared to CRTs, weren’t as bright, and were far more expensive.

但等离子屏幕也有缺点：与 CRT 相比，它们非常耗电，亮度不高，而且价格昂贵。

And while Illinois researchers tested a color plasma screen in the late 1960s, it would be many years before a color plasma screen robust enough to be commercialized was developed.

虽然伊利诺伊州的研究人员在 20 世纪 60 年代末测试了彩色等离子屏幕，但仍需要很多年才能开发出足够坚固、可以商业化的彩色等离子屏幕。

What’s more, plasma wasn’t the only new display technology that appeared in the early 1970s.

更重要的是，等离子并不是 20 世纪 70 年代初出现的唯一新型显示技术。

During the 1960s, scientists at Westinghouse and RCA had experimented with displays based on liquid crystals: substances that were liquid but displayed organized, repetitive structure like a crystal.

20 世纪 60 年代，西屋公司和 RCA 的科学家们尝试了基于液晶的显示器：液体物质，但显示出像晶体一样有组织的重复结构。

Liquid crystal molecules were found to change their orientation when an electric field was applied to them, and if polarized light (light oscillating within a single plane) passed through a liquid crystal, its plane of polarization would rotate .

人们发现，当向液晶分子施加电场时，它们的方向会改变，如果偏振光（在单个平面内振荡的光）穿过液晶，其偏振平面就会旋转。

By the late 1960s, researchers had used these phenomena to construct a display.

到 20 世纪 60 年代末，研究人员已经利用这些现象构建了显示器。

The first liquid crystal display (LCD) screens appeared in calculators and other small electronic devices in the 1970s, and by the 1980s were being used in portable TVs.

第一个液晶显示屏 (LCD) 屏幕出现在 20 世纪 70 年代的计算器和其他小型电子设备中，到 20 世纪 80 年代开始用于便携式电视。

Plasma didn’t slow down either.

等离子也没有减慢速度。

Over the next several decades, plasma display technology steadily improved.

在接下来的几十年里，等离子显示技术稳步改进。

Engineers developed better electrodes, reduced power consumption, and invented a method for creating grayscale by rapidly flickering the pixels off and on (the more a pixel was “off,” the darker the pixel).

工程师开发了更好的电极，降低了功耗，并发明了一种通过快速闪烁像素来创建灰度的方法（像素“关闭”越多，像素越暗）。

Grayscale, in turn, opened the door for full-color plasma displays, and these began to appear in the late 1970s.

反过来，灰度打开了全彩等离子显示器的大门，这些显示器在 20 世纪 70 年代末开始出现。

As their capabilities improved, plasma displays began to carve out a small niche in the electronic display market.

随着其性能的提高，等离子显示器开始在电子显示器市场上开辟出一个小市场。

IBM introduced a line of electronics for banks with plasma displays in 1973, and in the mid-1970s plasma displays began to be used for various military applications thanks to their rugged, low-maintenance designs.

IBM 于 1973 年为银行推出了一系列配备等离子显示器的电子产品，并在 20 世纪 70 年代中期，由于其坚固耐用、低维护的设计，等离子显示器开始用于各种军事应用。

In the 1980s, laptops and portable computers with monochrome plasma screens began to appear.

20 世纪 80 年代，带有单色等离子屏幕的笔记本电脑和便携式电脑开始出现。

By the 1990s, however, LCD technology had advanced to the point where high-quality color screens could be made for laptops, entirely displacing plasma from that market.

然而，到了 20 世纪 90 年代，LCD 技术已经发展到可以为笔记本电脑制造高质量彩色屏幕的程度，完全取代了等离子市场。

As it was forced from the laptop display market, plasma was finding success in a new market: large-screen, high-definition televisions.

由于等离子技术被迫退出笔记本电脑显示器市场，它在一个新市场上取得了成功：大屏幕、高清电视。

Up through the 1990s CRT had been the standard technology used to make TVs, but the size of the tube required made it difficult to scale CRTs up to very large screens of 40 inches or more: when Sony introduced a 45-inch CRT TV in 1988, it weighed over 400 pounds.

直到 20 世纪 90 年代，CRT 一直是制造电视的标准技术，但所需的显像管尺寸使得 CRT 难以扩展到 40 英寸或以上的超大屏幕：当索尼于 1988 年推出 45 英寸 CRT 电视时，其重量超过 400 磅。

Thinner plasma screens, by contrast, could more easily scale to very large screens.

相比之下，更薄的等离子屏幕可以更容易地扩展到非常大的屏幕。

Japanese electronics manufacturer Fujitsu demonstrated a 31-inch plasma TV in 1990, and then a 42-inch plasma in 1995.

日本电子制造商富士通于 1990 年展示了 31 英寸等离子电视，随后于 1995 年展示了 42 英寸等离子电视。

US display startup Plasmaco debuted a 60-inch plasma screen in 1999, and Samsung displayed an enormous 102-inch plasma screen in 2005.

美国显示器初创公司 Plasmaco 于 1999 年推出了 60 英寸等离子屏幕，三星于 2005 年展示了巨大的 102 英寸等离子屏幕。

However, LCD was entering the large-screen TV market at the same time, and by the early 2000s LCD manufacturers were making screens of similar size as plasma screens.

然而，LCD 同时进入大屏幕电视市场，到 2000 年代初，LCD 制造商开始生产与等离子屏幕尺寸相似的屏幕。

Plasma had some advantages over LCD TVs — they could offer richer colors and higher refresh rates — but also some disadvantages.

等离子电视比液晶电视有一些优势——它们可以提供更丰富的色彩和更高的刷新率——但也有一些缺点。

Plasma screens consumed more power, put out more heat, and were less bright than LCD screens.

与液晶屏幕相比，等离子屏幕消耗更多电量，散发更多热量，并且亮度较低。

And for a given screen size, an LCD screen could be made much higher resolution than a plasma screen.

对于给定的屏幕尺寸，液晶屏幕的分辨率可以比等离子屏幕高得多。

But the most important issue was likely manufacturing: it proved harder to achieve high yields and low manufacturing costs with plasma screens than with LCD screens, possibly because manufacturers invested far more in LCD manufacturing than they did plasma.

但最重要的问题可能是制造：事实证明，等离子屏幕比液晶屏幕更难实现高产量和低制造成本，这可能是因为制造商在液晶制造方面的投资远多于等离子制造。

By the mid-2000s, plasma’s screen quality advantages had either been whittled away or simply gone unnoticed by most consumers: in 2006 reviewers found them roughly equal in quality, and LCD was significantly outselling plasma screens.

到 2000 年代中期，等离子屏幕的质量优势要么被削弱，要么被大多数消费者忽视：2006 年，评论家发现它们的质量大致相当，而 LCD 的销量明显超过等离子屏幕。

Plasma and LCD battled over the TV market through the early 2010s, but by 2013 plasma had lost nearly all its market share.

2010 年代初，等离子和液晶电视在电视市场上展开了激烈的竞争，但到 2013 年，等离子几乎失去了所有市场份额。

By the end of the 2010s, plasma screen manufacturing had essentially ceased, and today the technology is all but dead.

到 2010 年代末，等离子屏幕制造基本上已经停止，如今这项技术几乎已经消亡。

The classic pattern of new technology adoption is something like an S-curve: it starts out serving niche uses for users who need its particular combination of attributes, but as the technology gets more capable and less expensive, it gets adopted more broadly, until it reaches some particular peak.

新技术采用的经典模式有点像 S 曲线：它开始为需要其特定属性组合的用户提供利基用途，但随着技术变得更强大、更便宜，它会被更广泛地采用，直到达到某个特定的峰值。

When a technology gets replaced, in turn, it tends to follow this pattern in reverse, getting removed from more and more uses but continuing to be used by users who value its particular combination of attributes.

当一项技术被取代时，它往往会反过来遵循这种模式，从越来越多的用途中删除，但继续被重视其特定属性组合的用户使用。

Sometimes this combination allows an “outdated” technology to continue to be used far into the future; vacuum tubes were replaced by the transistor for most uses decades ago, but they’re still manufactured today for use in certain audio equipment.

有时，这种组合允许“过时”的技术在遥远的未来继续使用；几十年前，真空管的大部分用途已被晶体管取代，但如今仍在制造用于某些音频设备。

But sometimes this isn’t enough to save a technology; while some folks prefer the look of plasma screens , this preference evidently wasn’t enough to maintain production of it.

但有时这还不足以拯救一项技术；虽然有些人更喜欢等离子屏幕的外观，但这种偏好显然不足以维持其生产。