It was not "publish or perish" but "publish and perish."

不是"不发表就灭亡"而是"发表就灭亡"
It was not a good thing to come out and say what you thought,

在当时站出来说出你的想法不是什么好事
and he still did that.

但他仍然这样做了
Even independent of the social risk,

即使不考虑社会风险
how did anybody figure this out,

一个人怎么能描绘出这个图景
because even today, even when I know this is true,

即使在今天即使我知道这是正确的
I look around, it doesn't look like this at all to my eyes.

我环顾四周眼中看到的完全不是这样
So, on a good day,

有时天气好的时候
I flatter myself into thinking

我会自娱自乐地想
I could have maybe discovered this or discovered that.

我可能会发现这个或那个
There is no way I would have done this.

但不可能完成这个
This is really amazing. Go out and look.

这确实令人惊奇出去看看