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

Chapter 149
However, Hilbert's letter caught Li Yu by surprise.

Kenjiro Yamakawa, the president of the University of Tokyo, asked again: "Have you been in contact with Professor Hilbert and other great European scientists?"

Li Yu shrugged: "I guess there is. Now that I have a telegram, it is indeed much more convenient. It took more than a month to write a letter to Lord Kelvin back and forth."

These two people are now leading figures in physics and mathematics, and Kenjiro Yamakawa gasped: "You really are not an ordinary person, you can keep in touch with them!"

Hantaro Nagaoka asked curiously: "What article are you going to write for Professor Hilbert?"

Li Yu rubbed his chin: "I didn't think about it, why don't we calculate the solutions of a few more Riemann functions first, after all, this is one of the 23 mathematical problems he proposed. Although it is not a solution, but Now everyone has not seen what the solution of the Riemann function looks like."

Nagaoka Hantaro smiled and said: "That day you asked the students to solve this math problem. I didn't know what the Riemann function was at the time. After a little research, I found out how difficult it is. You don't know, that student asked for help everywhere. , didn’t even get a clue.”

Li Yu laughed and said, "I was just making a joke."

Nagaoka Hantaro said: "Sir's little joke is really too mathematical. Let alone a student, no one in the Faculty of Science at Tokyo Imperial University can understand it."

Li Yu tasted a few more bowls of matcha, then chatted with them for a while before leaving.

I originally wanted to learn the tea ceremony, but the process is really too complicated. It takes a long time to drink a bowl of tea, which really feels like a waste of time.

——Sure enough, this kind of thing is still suitable for those who have both kung fu and money to enjoy.

Li Yu has already begun to miss the Chinese Gaiwancha. It is simple and simple for a fast-paced person like him.

Of course, even China's loose tea has a lot of attention now.But no matter how particular you are, compared with the matcha tea ceremony, it saves a lot of trouble.

Back at the residence, Li Yu spread out the paper and continued to calculate the solution of the Riemann function.

The mathematics that Li Yu knows are basically not so advanced, or are closely related to physics. After all, he is not a student of the pure mathematics department.

But fortunately, Riemann's mathematics and physics really have a lot of connections.

To put it bluntly, without Riemann's mathematical work, the theory of relativity would have no theoretical basis at all.

Einstein used Riemannian geometry in non-Euclidean geometry, otherwise his wonderful physical ideas would not have been deduced at all.

However, even Einstein himself did not fully understand Riemannian geometry, and he consulted professional mathematicians for many mathematical problems.

After all, the mathematical foundation of physicists at the beginning of the twentieth century really cannot be compared with that of later generations in physics.

It doesn’t mean that physicists at this time are really bad at mathematics. The reason is actually mentioned before: Nowadays, physics is still dominated by experimental physics, and there are not many people who study theoretical physics, let alone form the mainstream.

Einstein and Planck can be regarded as the key figures who pushed theoretical physics to its peak.

As for experimental physicists, they don't even pay much attention to theoretical physics, so how can they pay special attention to more abstract mathematics.

So even if Ai Dashen and Pu Dashen took the road of theoretical physics, and the environment in which they grew up was there, most of the time they themselves actually used mathematical tools before they went to specialize in learning.

The higher education of later generations has already figured out which mathematical tools are needed in physics, and they are all learned simultaneously, and they are more convenient to use.

It can also be regarded as the predecessors planting trees and the descendants enjoying the shade.

Li Yu is best at quantum mechanics and astronomy.In fact, from the birth of the theory of relativity until the 21st century, there were relatively few people who studied the theory of relativity. It’s not that it’s not important, but that Einstein’s theoretical framework is almost done, but experimental verification is too difficult. , the precision requirements are too high.

That was really tinkering work.

Needless to say, everyone can see the awarding situation of the Nobel Prize in Physics: basically half of them are awarded to quantum mechanics, and almost half of the remaining half are awarded to astrophysics.

Basically, these two things are about to wrap up the Nobel Prize in Physics!

But the theory of relativity is an important elective course after all, and I once calculated the Riemann function in my free time.

If Li Yu wanted to, he could even make the Special Theory of Relativity come out ahead of time, but it really doesn’t make much sense, because as we all know, the Special Theory of Relativity has many flaws and great limitations. What really matters is the later General Theory of Relativity.

Einstein himself said that even if he hadn't proposed it, someone would have proposed the special theory of relativity within five years.But without him, general relativity would not have been born for 50 years.

Because the speed of light is the highest speed limit of motion, it has been researched by Maxwell a long time ago.

Minkowski also came up with the four-dimensional space-time theory of three-dimensional plus time, but the two did not join forces.

Let’s talk about the Riemann function. Although Gram, a Danish mathematician, will give 15 solutions for the first time half a year later, there are errors, and some errors are still a little bit big.

But after all, people do calculations by hand, and it is not easy. If you just list a solution, you will know the difficulty of hand calculation:

1/2+14.134725i.

The Riemann function itself is complex enough. If you want to understand the function itself, you need to have advanced mathematical knowledge. When calculating, there are so many digits after the decimal point. If you want to calculate it by hand, your scalp will feel numb!Li Yu admired Graham's willpower from the bottom of his heart.

But how smart Li Yu is, that's what calculators do!
For people in the 21st century, the brain should not be wasted on such time-consuming and troublesome calculations!
But even with the blessing of an artifact like a calculator, it took Li Yu a whole morning to calculate the twenty solutions.

It feels like these are almost there for the time being.

This kind of paper with a large number of numbers can be sent by telegram, but it is really expensive to send a long-distance telegram.

If such a telegram is sent in its entirety, if the commercial quotation is followed, it may not be worth a few hundred taels of silver.

So this kind of thing is not easy to bother the Tokyo Imperial University. Li Yu is going to go to the Qing embassy in Japan to ask first, and then talk about it if they disagree.

As soon as Li Yu arrived near the legation, he saw many Chinese students blocking the embassy, ​​and the students were still chanting slogans.

Li Yu originally thought it was a movement to reject Russia, but he heard the slogans saying something: "Return the rights to our country!" "Allow me to enter school!"

The gate of the legation was closed all the time, and many students even climbed up the wall to get in, but were stopped by the Japanese police.

The students were even more indignant when they saw the Japanese police: "This is our own business in China, and the Japanese have no right to intervene!"

Li Yu couldn't see what was going on, but happened to find Brother Xun and others were there.

Not only Lu Xun, there were at least [-] students from Hongwen College present.

Li Yu called to Lu Xun: "Brother Xun, oh... Mr. Zhou, what happened here?"

Lu Xun turned around and found that it was Li Yu, so he said, "So it's Mr. Li, don't you know? The students are protesting against the trend of school refusal in Chengcheng schools."

"Refused to study?" Li Yu still didn't know what was going on.

Lu Xun also explained: "It is like this. Chengcheng School is the same as our Hongwen College. It is a school for students studying in Japan. However, they are somewhat different from us. Our Hongwen College will go to ordinary universities in the future, and Chengcheng School After graduation, I went to the Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy. This time, nine international students wanted to enter Chengcheng School, but they were rejected."

Hey guys, it turned out to be the preparatory school for the Army NCO Academy.

There are no less big figures from this school than Hongwen School where Lu Xun was.

Of course, most of the students from Chengcheng School are military leaders.

This Chengcheng school will soon be renamed Zhenwu School, which is the school that Principal Jiang attended.

However, Principal Jiang himself did not enter the Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy after graduating from Zhenwu School.

But people feel that it is a bit embarrassing to say it. Zhenwu School is only a middle school diploma at best. How can you be the principal of Whampoa Military Academy?And President Jiang's fortune is absolutely inseparable from the Whampoa Military Academy.

So Principal Jiang spent [-] oceans to bribe Liu Zongji, the head of the sixth class of the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy, to add his name to the list of classmates, so that he forged his academic qualifications.

In order to make people more convincing, I found two genuine students from the Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy, and I often brought them with me to various occasions, just to lie to him everywhere, and everyone said that I was indeed a classmate of the Non-commissioned Officer Academy. Two witnesses!

Although historians later exposed the lies through textual research, Principal Jiang had already been in a stable position at that time, so he didn't care.

It's all tricks!
I really don't know if I learned this from Fang Hongjian watching "Fortress Besieged".

Li Yu asked, "Why does Chengcheng School refuse students to enroll?"

Lu Xun said: "Sir, what I don't know is that the Hongwen Academy I attended is a private school, and everyone can enroll at will; but because Chengcheng School is a preparatory school for the Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy, only public-funded students recommended by the Minister in Japan can enroll. .”

Li Yu generally understood: "That is to say, these nine people are self-funded students, and the envoy didn't issue them a certificate of enrollment?"

Lu Xun nodded: "That's it. In fact, not only Japan has similar public opinion, but even the embassies in Japan believe that public-funded students are more secure, and most of them don't like self-funded students."

Li Yu said, "It doesn't sound like it has much to do with Hongwen School, does it?"

Lu Xun said: "It really doesn't matter. The big guy didn't know about this incident at first, but suddenly he heard that Minister Cai Jun mobilized the Japanese police to suppress the students, and even forcibly sent the two leading students, Wu Zhihui and Sun Kui, back to China. Jumping into the moat of the Japanese imperial palace, everyone knew that such a big thing happened. The Japanese are too bullying!"

In fact, to put it simply, Minister Cai Jun is not good at handling affairs, and small things make big things. I really don't know how to be a minister.

Over there, the Japanese Minister to China has joined forces with the Black Dragon Society and the spy chiefs to start espionage work. It is really lamentable that the Qing Minister to Japan is still playing low-end games here.

Li Yu asked, "Is that classmate Wu okay?"

Lu Xun pointed to the most excited person in front of him: "That's him."

Li Yu said, "Fortunately no one was killed."

Wu Zhihui was indeed living a good life, and later became Principal Jiang's right-hand man.

At this time, Wu Zhihui was taking the lead in shouting: "Better lose your knowledge than lose your reputation!"

Many students from Hongwen College also shouted: "If we don't solve the problem, we will drop out of school!"

Seeing the enthusiasm of the crowd, Li Yu asked Lu Xun, "You don't really want to drop out of school, do you?"

Lu Xun said: "The International Student Association has made an urgent discussion on this matter. The result of the discussion is that it plans to suspend classes until the matter is resolved; if there is no resolution, it is not too late to withdraw from school."

Li Yu sighed: "Although everyone is filled with righteous indignation, they are too radical. If you really drop out of school, the loss will be too great. Now that the national conditions are like this, you should know how to bear the burden of humiliation. If everything is threatened by dropping out of school, how can you learn well? After all, it is time to serve the country Not there yet."

Lu Xun was sober in the world, but he pointed to Hu Hanmin in front of him and said, "Although I think so too, I can't help them how to do it."

Hu Hanmin led a group of people with a very loud voice: "Oppose the Qing government, oppose the Japanese government! Quit school! Quit school!"

He is the leader of Guangdong students, and many people follow him.

After all, Hu Hanmin is a professional in politics, and his organizational and leadership skills are a hundred times stronger than Lu Xun's. Dozens of people below are even so angry that they want to drop out of school immediately.

When the matter was getting tense, someone yelled: "Stop arguing, Mr. Liang from "Xinmin Congbao" is here!"

The student was immediately attracted: "Mr. Liang Qichao?"

"Great, someone has come to uphold justice!"

It was really Liang Qichao who came.

Needless to say, Liang Qichao’s appeal was strong. He glanced at the students and said loudly: “Students, please return to school quickly and don’t act impulsively! You can resort to the newspapers and use the correct tools of public opinion to fight against the embassy and the Japanese government. , our "Xinmin Congbao" will speak out for the students! So everyone, don't act on your will today!"

Now "Xinmin Congbao" is the strongest Chinese-language newspaper in Japan, and Liang Qichao is in charge, so its combat effectiveness is very strong.

After listening to Liang Qichao's words, the students calmed down a little.

"What Mr. Liang said is that we must learn to fight. What are you reading so many books for? Go back and practice your pen!"

"Yes, let's go back and write the manuscript!"

"Just like when Mr. Yang Lian wrote the suicide note, we have to write something decent before we fight!"

Seeing this, Lu Xun also said to Li Yu, "Sir, I'm going back to school."

Li Yu knew Lu Xun's fighting power, and all the people present could not compare to Lu Xun's pen, so he asked, "Lu...Mr. Zhou wants to go back and write articles?"

Unexpectedly, Lu Xun shook his head: "No, I want to go back to study!"

That's right, my dream now is to be a doctor.

In history, although Lu Xun did experience a wave of enrollment in Chengcheng, it was only recorded in his diary.Moreover, the sharpness of his writing at this time is incomparable to that of later, and the diary he wrote is simply a running account.

After the students left, Li Yu stepped forward and said to Liang Qichao, "Mr. Ren, I have long admired him."

Liang Qichao looked at Li Yu: "What's next?"

Li Yu said, "I am Li Yu."

Liang Qichao opened his eyes wide: "So you are Li Yu? Master Kang mentioned to me that Mr. is also a great talent who understands the truth of the universe like him."

Li Yuzhen didn't know whether Kang Youwei was scolding him or praising him, so he smiled wryly and said, "Thanks for Mr. Kang's compliment."

Li Yu thought, this Kang Youwei wouldn't really think that he "knows the truth of the universe"?
Um, isn't that a magic stick... Anyway, Li Yu has never seen anyone who is really knowledgeable say that.

The more knowledgeable a person is, the more he will feel that he knows nothing.

Liang Qichao invited Li Yu to his "Xinmin Evening News" newspaper office. Liang Qichao saw the manuscript in Li Yu's hand: "Sir, is this a manuscript?"

Li Yu said, "That's right, it's the mathematics thesis I'm going to write for the University of Göttingen in Germany."

Liang Qichao said: "Can you refer to one or two for details?"

"Of course." Li Yu handed it over.

Liang Qichao was immediately taken aback when he saw the dense numbers, "Sir, you are really talented and can do such complicated calculations. To be honest, I have read many Western books in the past few years, and I also know the significance of the Western Industrial Revolution, so I have also read books related to science, but it is difficult to understand the meaning at all, and I even thought that it was not something that Chinese people could understand.”

Of course Liang Qichao would not brag like Kang Shengren.

Kang Youwei often said that he "has a photographic memory at the age of eight" and "knows the past and the present in his teens", but he took the exam three times for every scholar.

But Liang Qichao is a real child prodigy. He became a scholar at the age of 11, and won the imperial examination at the age of 16.

When Liang Qichao went to Kang Youwei to learn from him, Kang Youwei was still a scholar, and it would be many years before he won the imperial examination.

"It's all about specialization in surgery," Li Yu said, and then mentioned what happened just now, "Thanks to the presence of Mr., the storm was resolved."

Liang Qichao said: "The turmoil has not passed yet, but we must not let the students take the lead. They are the hope of the country. If they make a big mess, if the imperial court stops sending Japanese students to study because of this, it will not be the same again. It will hurt us. .”

Li Yu nodded. It was really possible for the people of the Qing court to do such a thing.After all, there are many anti-Qing organizations in Japan now, and they are also afraid that students will "learn badly".

Li Yu said: "Young people are inevitably impulsive, but what they think is definitely good, but the method is wrong."

Liang Qichao sighed: "Yes, I really don't want them to make the same youthful and impulsive mistakes I made back then."

(End of this chapter)