A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 118 Island

The Nobel Prize is presented at the Stockholm Concert Hall, followed by a dinner at the City Hall.

However, this time Li Yu was awarding the award in the name of the king, so the carriage drove straight to the center island where the Swedish Royal Palace is located.

Leeffler said: "Before you came, I asked about it. I heard that Chinese people not only know how to make porcelain and silk fabrics, but also are good at poetry. There are poets everywhere. Can you compose poetry?"

Li Yu laughed and said, "I can recite a lot, but if you ask me to compose poetry, you might as well ask me to solve a math problem."

Leeffler said: "Mathematics is the poetry of nature, and writing is the poetry of human beings. I think the two have a lot in common. I think Mr. Wang must also be a talented poet."

Leeffler is really good at complimenting people, and from time to time he has to contact mathematics and literature, and he is indeed a Nordic.

I have to say that there are too many bridges in Sweden. The sound of horseshoes stepped on countless bridges and finally reached the central island where the royal palace is located.

This is the old town of Sweden. In front of it is a baroque-style square and spacious palace. The palace has 608 rooms, 4 more rooms than Buckingham Palace in England.

In addition, like many royal families, the Swedish king also has a palace, or residence, which is Drottningholm Palace.It is like the relationship between the Winter Palace and the Summer Palace in St. Petersburg, or the relationship between the Forbidden City, the Old Summer Palace, and the Summer Palace.

Leeffler took Li Yu into the palace and waited in the hall.

There were already many ministers, reporters, and scientific researchers in the hall. The king naturally got the news a long time ago, and he came out dressed up not long after.

The current time in Sweden is tight during the day, and with the delay on the road just now, there is no time to exchange pleasantries, so we have to finish the most important awards ceremony first.

The king sat on the throne, and Levre took Li Yu to sit in the row on the left.

Li Yu swept his eyes and saw that the first person sitting across from him was Hilbert.

Well, the face of the Swedish royal family is indeed big enough.

As the mayor of Stockholm, Karl Lindhagen presided over the meeting. He said solemnly:

"Your Majesty the King, honorable gentlemen.

"I think you can still remember the Nobel Prize award ceremony that just passed. Our Royal Academy of Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Faculty of Letters, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded prizes for Physicists, Chemistry, Physiology and Medicine respectively. , Literature Award, and Peace Award are the world's highest honors in various fields. Of course, it is also an honor for Sweden to award medals to outstanding scholars.

"But our king is not satisfied with this!
"The great mathematician Gauss once said that mathematics is the queen of science.

"His Majesty the King believes that it is a great pity that our Nobel Prize does not have a mathematics award. How can it be called perfect?

"Therefore, the king looked for outstanding mathematicians everywhere, and finally found Li Yu, who was extremely innovative and created the theory of chaos by himself.

"After careful review of the manuscript by a group of outstanding mathematicians, such as Professor Hilbert, Professor Piano and Professor Koch, it is agreed that he is fully qualified to receive this excellent medal.

"Next, please stand up, and the king will award Li Yu the Oscar II Mathematics Gold Medal, which symbolizes the highest honor!"

Li Yu stood up from his chair. Although he had never eaten pork, he had seen pigs running. He had watched the Nobel Prize award ceremony on TV.

Li Yu walked forward slowly, and Oscar II took a medal from the red plate presented by the waiter.

Li Yu reached out to catch the medal. Oscar II said in English: "I have known Mr. Li Yu for a long time. You are the first Chinese to come to Sweden and the first Chinese to receive this award. Thank you. Your sincere congratulations."

Oscar II shook hands with Li Yu.

Li Yu solemnly said: "Thank you, Your Majesty the King."

Oscar II returned to the throne, and Li Yu bowed to the king, the mayor of Stockholm and everyone present in turn.

Lindhagen continued to say to Li Yu: "Sorry for making you come to Sweden after such a long journey, and please come forward and give a speech to everyone here."

This is an additional link. Li Yu walked up and said "thank you" to him first.

Sitting in front of him were not only Hilbert, but also Piano, Koch, and many professors from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm University, Uppsala University, Oscar II's alma mater, and of course representatives from several major media agencies.

Although the number of people is far less than that of the Nobel Prize Ceremony, the degree of grandeur is still not low.

Li Yu said: "Thank you very much for the invitation of King Oscar II, and thank you all the celebrities in the academic world for being present. Actually, I can't say much, and the core content is reflected in the book.

"I know that this knowledge still has a long way to go, and it needs many excellent scholars to develop in different fields. Because chaos is hidden in all aspects, even the clouds and clouds that we can see every day, the unpredictable The weather, as well as leafy and forked branches, even as small as a fern leaf, are everywhere.

"I don't need to introduce too many. All of you here are excellent scholars. You must understand that chaos is not 'chaos'. Because if it is just chaos, there will be no research value. The characteristic of chaos is order in chaos. It's the most amazing place.

"Today, on such a grand occasion, I would like to use one sentence to deeply summarize a thought in my book "Fractals and Chaos", that is, fractal is the description of chaos in space, and chaos is the description of fractal in time. reflect.

"thank you all."

Li Yu's words startled everyone.

Mathematicians Koch and Peano pondered Li Yu's last sentence carefully in their hearts, and then they all exclaimed wonderful.

Only Hilbert took the lead in applauding after thinking for more than ten seconds.

Hilbert couldn't help praising: "Such a simple expression, but the meaning is so profound, it is highly consistent with the ideas in the book!"

Oscar II's eyes also brightened, he did not award the award to the wrong person this time.

The banquet held after the awards was of course also in the palace.

Although Li Yu came to Sweden for the first time, he had already eaten Swedish food at IKEA.

The dishes in front of me are not much different from those I saw in the IKEA restaurant, meatballs, mashed potatoes, salmon, sandwiches, but there are more main dishes such as beef stew, herring and so on.

Definitely not canned herring.

Oscar II was in a good mood. He said: "Today is a good day, which makes up for the lack of our Sweden in mathematics awards. What's more, the winner is such an outstanding young scientist. Although Sweden is not a powerful country on the European continent, we We want to be a powerful country in scientific research. I think we will have the opportunity to meet in the future, and we always welcome outstanding scholars like you. I think I also studied mathematics in college, and I was deeply touched by this. It is great to be able to present the mathematics award in person It has always been my long-cherished wish. I hope that Mr. Li Yu can spend a few days in Sweden happily, and we will definitely entertain him!"

Li Yu is the guest of honor today, and the seat is very high, opposite to the great mathematician Hilbert.

Hilbert was also very interested in Li Yu, and he asked, "Mr. Li Yu, have you ever been to Germany?"

Li Yu said in German, "Mr. Hilbert, I haven't been to Germany yet."

Li Yu once went to Germany as an exchange student, but that was all in his "last life".

"You can speak German?" Hilbert asked in surprise, "I really didn't expect that you also have a talent for languages."

Li Yu said with a smile: "Language is a tool for academic communication, and the tool must be used well."

"That makes sense," Hilbert nodded. "To tell you the truth, before I met you, I didn't know much about the East. Maybe my thinking is too dull and backward, and I should learn Chinese from now on."

Li Yu said: "As a unique square character, Chinese is indeed very interesting, and Chinese calligraphy can exercise people's mind. Maybe the professor will like it in the future."

"I wrote down what you said," Hilbert said, "I can see from your book that you are a scholar with a deep knowledge of mathematics and science, who can penetrate into the deepest mysteries of nature. A shining star in science."

Li Yu said: "Professor Xie's appreciation, I will continue to improve in the future."

To be praised by such an absolute mathematician is indeed something worth showing off.

Hilbert asked again: "Are you interested in visiting me at the University of Göttingen in Germany in the future? It is the most glorious palace of mathematics today."

"Of course, if I have the opportunity, I will definitely visit you in Germany." Li Yu said.

Hilbert smiled slightly: "Communicate with each other and make progress together. I will also warmly welcome you."

In the middle of the banquet, King Oscar II said to Li Yu: "This year's mathematics award comes with a bonus of 15 crowns. You can provide us with an account and remit it to your name."

Finally, an important topic was mentioned.

Li Yu quickly said, "I have an account with HSBC, is that okay?"

Oscar II said: "No problem, you can find Leeffler after the banquet, and he will help you with the account transfer operation."

"Thank you, Your Majesty the King." Li Yu said again, "Your Majesty, I have one more merciless request."

"You're welcome?" Oscar II said, "You just say it's okay."

"I hope to be the king's neighbor. To be precise, I want to buy a small island on the outskirts of Stockholm. I don't know if it's feasible or not?"

There is a reason why Li Yu said that.

Later, when Kang Youwei arrived in Sweden, he bought an island and built a Chinese-style garden. Now there is this "Kang Youwei Island" in Stockholm, Sweden on the map.

"Oh?" Oscar II laughed loudly: "Of course, I know more or less about China. Now it is invaded by many European countries and has occupied a lot of land. But we are different from Sweden. We will become a permanent neutral country. Yours The request is not too much, we will conduct formal transactions on the basis of fairness and justice. However, the specific island needs to be selected by our mayor together with you, and the price must also be specified by him."

"Thank you, Your Majesty the King!"

Li Yu thought to himself, it seems that he will occupy this small island sooner than later.

After Kang Youwei went into exile overseas, he took a lot of money from the overseas Chinese in Nanyang by means of the forged "clothes edict". Of course, he couldn't do anything for Guangxu.

Kang Youwei found that there was too much money, and later traveled around the world to play. When he arrived in Sweden in 1904, he took a fancy to a small island in the suburbs of Stockholm, bought it for 28000 kroner, and spent 8000 kroner to build gardens and other buildings.

It's a pity that Kang Youwei lived in such a good place for only three years, and then drifted away without looking back.Such a degree of extravagance is simply a tribute to Empress Dowager Cixi.

But Li Yu thinks farther than that. He is not simply squandering money to enjoy life. He wants to have a complete scientific research base in a neutral country, which will be a good place to stay in the future.

Sweden has an excellent environment, which is also very favorable for some astronomical observations.

The key point is that Sweden, like Switzerland, was a neutral country in World War I and World War II. It completely avoided the invasion of war.

After the banquet, it was already dark.

Yes, it was so fast, but at the end of the 19th century, the palace was modernized and installed electric light wires, water pipes and heating equipment.

The next day, Leeffler accompanied Li Yu to complete the account transfer.

It was the first time for Li Yu to see so much money, but he took it with peace of mind. In his opinion, scientists are worth the money!

Why do you have to suffer so much to do scientific research, and corrupt officials make a lot of money instead, so they are not worthy.

Lindhagen, the mayor of Stockholm, accompanied Li Yu to the island by boat with the king's order.

Levler also came with him. In his heart, he really hoped that Li Yu could live in Stockholm, and he was quite concerned about this matter.

The island is now lush and lush, and it is an uninhabited desert island, but it is very close to the mainland, only more than 100 meters away, and the water is shallow and the waves are gentle. It is not difficult to build a bridge.

After landing, it is less than 15 kilometers away from the city of Stockholm, which is relatively convenient.

Mayor Lindhagen said: "Mr. Li Yu has a unique vision. I have more than 27 islands in Sweden, but I think the one you selected today is very good."

Li Yu said: "Sweden has a unique location. Any island is a good island in the world. I just got it by chance."

In fact, Li Yu couldn't help but sigh in his heart: Kang Youwei is really good at picking places, and he really is a little expert at spending money.

I don't know how the overseas Chinese will feel when they know that the money they donated to the country has been squandered in his hands.

Lindhagen went on to introduce: "According to international public ownership units, the island is 3 square meters visually. According to the king's preferential policy, the total price is [-] crowns. What do you think, sir?"

This is much less money than Kang Youwei spent. It seems that the king also wants to keep him.

Sweden has a large land area and few people in the true sense. They don't care at all if a small island can exchange a talent.

However, it is currently impossible for Li Yu to live in Sweden for a long time. He still has a lot to do.

3 square meters just sounds like a lot, but in fact, if you change a unit, it is only 0.03 square kilometers.

Lindhagen is just an estimate. In fact, the island is about 2.7 square meters, or 0.027 square kilometers, which is the area of ​​a relatively ordinary high school.

The Vatican, the smallest country in the world, is 0.44 square kilometers; the Forbidden City is about 0.7 square kilometers.

So it is indeed a small island.

Li Yu definitely has no objection, he replied: "I accept this price."

Although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs. As long as it is well developed, the 2.7 square meters is not small, and it will definitely become a focus island!
(End of this chapter)