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

Chapter 135 Years

Li Yu's paper on the third law of thermodynamics was finally sent to the Royal Society.

Huggins, the president, didn't dare to disassemble it by himself now, so he immediately called Lord Kelvin.

"You can open the letter this time!" Huggins said.

Lord Kelvin saw that it was a letter from Li Yu, and looked forward to it: "I don't know what new things he can write."

He didn't even have time to drink the tea brought by Huggins, so he took out the paper and read it carefully.

Lord Kelvin excitedly said: "Amazing! He has come up with a new trick in thermodynamics this time!"

Huggins was puzzled: "You are already the leader of thermodynamics, what new things can come out of thermodynamics?"

"Look, he actually came up with a new law! It's amazing!"

Huggins is definitely not as proficient in thermodynamics as Lord Kelvin: "You can't even say it, so naturally it's okay."

Lord Kelvin can directly serve as a reviewer for the paper, and it will be published soon.

Now thermodynamics, as a hot topic, is rapidly spreading to all major scientific research institutions.

Boltzmann paid the most attention to Li Yu, and immediately supported Li Yu after reading it: "Now most of Europe is discussing Li Yu's thesis enthusiastically, and everyone has even been looking forward to the publication of his thesis. What a brilliant scene!"

Boltzmann was somewhat subjective, but he was sincerely supportive of Li Yu.Not only that, but he also personally wrote a letter to Li Yu to congratulate him: "Recently, I have read the new paper of Xiaoyou and made a new high in the field of thermodynamics. It is really extraordinary, and I would like to express my congratulations!"

Later, when he received a reply from the boss, Li Yu immediately wrote back: "Professor Xie! It is my only honor to receive your praise."

After all, Boltzmann was too old to conduct experimental research.Other universities or scientific research organizations immediately launched experiments on Li Yu's thesis. Of course, this is not a short process, and it may last for several years.

And another theoretical physicist, Planck, the super boss, can see the problem much faster.

After reading the thesis, he couldn't help being amazed: "I can't remember how many times I have seen Li Yu's papers. Every one is of such high quality, it's unbelievable! I really want to go to the mysterious East to see it for myself. Is it true what Marco Polo said about gold everywhere, or is it true what the newspapers say about decay and backwardness?"

And Planck also keenly used his solid statistical theory to point out that the perfect crystal of various substances has zero entropy at absolute zero.

Before long he would give Planck's formulation of the third law of thermodynamics: "The change in entropy associated with any isothermally reversible process approaches zero as the temperature approaches zero." Or simply: "As the absolute temperature tends to zero, so does the entropy of solids and liquids."

This is the boss's affirmation of Li Yu.

But for the time being, Li Yu has no way of knowing the situation in Europe.

In Tianjin, as the Chinese New Year was approaching, many shops were closed. Li Yu had stockpiled a batch of food in advance. Of course, there was no need to store too much, after all, there were still shops in the concession.

Lu Bicheng wrote a pair of Spring Festival couplets and handed them to Li Yu: "This is for you, it should look a bit like Chinese New Year."

Li Yudao: "It's disrespectful, you are all alone in a foreign land as a stranger, let's have a meal together, I made a few dishes, I guarantee you haven't eaten them!"

Lu Bicheng opened his eyes wide: "You know how to cook?"

"Can't you?" Li Yu asked.

"How can someone who is a university student know this now? Shouldn't he be just learning? Besides, you don't look like a child from a poor family, and it's even less likely that you will be able to enter the kitchen." Lu Bicheng said.

"Then you really don't know me very well," Li Yu said with a smile, "Come and taste it!"

He bought meat, eggplant, tomato, eggs, chicken and curry today.

Lu Bicheng must have seen minced meat and eggplant before, but this is the first time I have seen scrambled eggs with tomatoes and curry chicken nuggets.

Li Yu bought the ingredients from the British Concession, although when it comes to curry, everyone thinks of Indian Asan, and there is indeed an Indian soul seasoning in curry: masala.I believe many people have heard of it. After all, this unique seasoning has been popularized by many "food" bloggers who went to India.

But it was actually the British who brought curry to the world. Since the occupation of India, the British have also fallen in love with curry.Foreigners do have a strong taste and love strong spices.

After all, the original driving force of the great voyage was also spices.

Since curry itself is a very strong seasoning, the dishes related to curry are very simple to prepare, and Li Yuhui is these simple dishes.

Lu Bicheng looked at these two dishes that he had never seen in his life. Although the aroma was strong, he had never seen them before, especially the chicken curry. He said, "What is it? It's yellow, it's so disgusting!"

Li Yu could only explain to her again, and after taking a bite, Lu Bicheng picked up a piece tremblingly, "Hey, it tastes good! Why haven't I eaten it yet?"

"Of course I haven't eaten it. This is a dish brought over by the British."

"It turned out to be agar. You really know Western learning."

Well, she doesn't know what globalization is in the future.

After dinner, Lu Bicheng said again: "I have carefully read the reports about you these days, but it seems that they are all complicated things. Could it be that science is so high, why can't it be more approachable?"

"Approachable?" Li Yu thought for a while, "That's right! There is a good thing, and I'll show you how simple science is."

Li Yu took out a box from the room: "The thing inside is called a prism, which can scatter light, and you can see a rainbow anytime, anywhere."

Lu Bicheng was surprised: "How is it possible, it is clear that only after the rain can you see a rainbow."

"No, I say yes!"

Li Yu took out another piece of white paper, let the light pass through the prism, turned the angle slightly, and the colorful light came out.

Lu Bicheng couldn't believe his eyes: "It's amazing, there really is a rainbow!"

Li Yu said: "This is the essence of light."

"Is this light?"

"It's light," Li Yu said with a smile, "and it's a little romance of science."

Lu Bicheng picked up the prism: "It's too unbelievable."

Li Yu said, "I gave it to you. You can play with it when you have nothing to do."

The current way of science is really deserted. Not many people know relatively simple and basic optics.

This year can be said to be the quietest and most ordinary year that Li Yu has lived in his life. Perhaps because of this, it is more vivid in his memory.

——No Spring Festival Gala, no fireworks, not even firecrackers.

When Li Yu was a child, if he didn't set off a few firecrackers every year, it wouldn't be New Year's Eve if he lit a few kicks!

It’s just that setting off firecrackers is really a luxury nowadays, not to mention the trouble of making gunpowder, even the firecracker wrapping paper that packs gunpowder is very difficult to source, not to mention that the ancients have always had a tradition of “respecting calligraphy and paper”, how could there be so much paper for folks? Let's make firecrackers.

However, everyone who celebrates the New Year is willing to listen to the sound, and instead of stepping on hemp stalks.

Sesame straw is sesame straw, which becomes hollow after harvesting and drying.Then spread out a pile of sesame straws in the yard, and adults and children who get up early during the Chinese New Year step on it with their feet, and they will make a "cracking" sound, which sounds like setting off firecrackers.The wisdom of the working people is still great.

It can also be regarded as a good start for the New Year by means of the meaning of "sesame blossoms steadily".

Li Yu only rested for five days during the Chinese New Year, and then went back to the Beiyang Military Equipment Accelerated School to continue his classes. He wanted to complete the basic mathematics and mechanical principles courses of the surveying and mapping department before the end of the first month.

Anyway, Li Yu has a lot of time now, so he helped Wu Peifu organize the lecture notes on the basics of mathematics and mechanics and the principles of mechanics.

Since the handouts are in Chinese, for the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China when science and engineering textbooks were scarce, they were as rare as the previous handouts on basic surveying and mapping and basic ballistics.

Moreover, the content of these two lectures is also very solid, easy to understand, very suitable for military schools who only need to understand preliminary mathematical knowledge and basic mechanical principles.

Later, it also became an important textbook for the Armed Forces School and the subsequent Baoding Military Academy.

It can be said that there are quite a few officers who have read Li Yu's textbooks, and many of them are middle- and upper-level officers.

(End of this chapter)