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

Chapter 173 Start to make some big moves
Director Pickering showed Li Yu the results of the Harvard University Observatory. They have now taken more than one hundred thousand astronomical photos and completed the classification of tens of thousands of stellar spectra. They have already had a preliminary spectral classification.

Among the many data and results, Li Yu is more interested in a result that is currently a little unpopular.

"This is a Cepheid variable star!" Li Yu said in surprise.

The woman who made this achievement in front of her did not speak.

Pickering came over and said, "This is Ms. LeWitt, unfortunately she has lost her hearing."

Li Yu quickly said, "Sorry!"

LeWitt could see that Li Yu was very appreciative of her discoveries, and said, "I have discovered quite a few such stars, and their properties are worthy of attention, although I don't know what they are useful for."

LeWitt did not lose her hearing until she was an adult, and by the time she was admitted to Radcliffe College, she had mastered five languages.

It's just that in the first year of graduation, he suffered from a strange disease and gradually lost his hearing.

"Yes, this is a very noteworthy discovery," Li Yu said.

Immediately remembering that LeWitt had lost her hearing and that she could not speak sign language, she had to give her a thumbs up to show her respect.

Pickering didn't think so. He just thought that there was such a special kind of star whose brightness changed over time, and then asked LeWitt to conduct related research.

In fact, this does not belong to the most important stellar spectrum classification work of the Harvard University Observatory at this time, it is an unpopular matter.

The most important thing is that no one knows what a variable star is and what value it is.

"To be honest, as far as I know, variable stars are not uncommon, and there's nothing special about them," Pickering said.

Li Yu said: "But the variable stars discovered by Ms. LeWitt are indeed very special."

Li Yu certainly knows the value of Cepheid variable stars, which are the "rulers" for measuring the sky, that is, they can be used to measure the distance of distant stars.

Generally speaking, the annual parallax method is used to measure the distance of stars within 300 light-years;
Spectroscopic analysis is used to measure the distance of stars between 300 million and 10 light-years;

For stars that are particularly distant, such as over 10 light-years, the Cepheid variable method is used;
Of course, if the distance reaches hundreds of millions of light years, only the redshift method can be used.

But the current astronomy community's understanding of the universe is still within the Milky Way, or that the Milky Way is everything.

On the one hand, it is because it is too far away to observe; another reason is that it is impossible to measure the distance, and the distance is unknown.

If the distance cannot be effectively measured, a lot of information will be lost, and subsequent astronomical research cannot be carried out at all.

The vigorous development of astronomy and astrophysics actually began at the beginning of the [-]th century, so LeWitt was almost the woman standing behind a large number of great astronomers since then, but she herself was unknown and died of cancer early.

LeWitt naturally knew Li Yu's identity, and was very happy with his appreciation.

This is her biggest effort, and she is a woman who is not recognized by the scientific community. In such a boring and complicated job, she can persevere because she really loves astronomy.

Li Yu said to Director Pickering: "Can I use the data from the Harvard Observatory?"

"Of course it's fine," Pickering said. "You just need to give credit to the source, which is going to be published in the future."

Director Pickering himself of course hopes that these data can play a greater role in the hands of those who understand them, which is beneficial to his own observatory and Harvard University.

Of course, it's really great for Li Yu. High-quality data can save a lot of trouble.

So, let's get started.

The facilities at the Harvard University Observatory are quite advanced, and are currently top-notch in the United States.

However, the Mount Wilson Observatory built by Haier of the American Astronomical Society and the Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago will be even more powerful.

After carefully reading the data of the Harvard University Observatory, Li Yu quickly understood what to do, and what he had to do was not just a discovery:
First, he could correctly map the structure of the Milky Way for various stellar distances.

A few years ago, some astronomers gave a structural diagram of the possible spiral structure of the Milky Way, but the error was huge. The spiral arms and the center of the Milky Way were all wrongly drawn, and even the most familiar position of the solar system was not drawn correctly.

This is also related to the relatively limited cognition of the current astronomical community.

Although people have generally accepted the heliocentric theory, they believe that the sun is the center of the Milky Way, and the Milky Way is the entire universe.

Li Yu can use these data to correctly give the vortex structure map of the Milky Way, which will be of great help to astronomy.In particular, the correct spiral arm structure of the Milky Way is definitely a major event in astronomy.

Since then, the search for extraterrestrial life has also inspired, but it involves the composition of matter near the galactic center, and Li Yu doesn't need to discuss those issues too much now.

This is just the first item. With so much data, more valuable scientific research results must be produced.

In order to have greater repercussions, Li Yu must make a greater change in people's cognition at present.

So for the second research, he is going to use LeWitt's Cepheid variable star method to find the extragalactic galaxy-the Andromeda Galaxy for the first time in human history.

With such practical results, LeWitt, a woman with some regrets in her life, will be respected more during her lifetime.

The Andromeda galaxy is more than 200 million light-years away. This distance greatly exceeds the range of the Milky Way, and it is a distance that is difficult for humans to imagine at this time.

However, Li Yu knew in his heart that, on the scale of the universe, a few million light-years was as small as a tiny thing.

This is not over yet, with so much data at hand, the issue of spectral redshift on the large scale of the universe must also be raised!

Although the general theory of relativity has not yet been born, the redshift cannot be used to explain the expansion of the universe, and it will take many, many years to measure the distance of many other extragalactic galaxies—the value of the redshift will be more slowly reflected at that time.

But this opening can make Li Yu's position very detached.

These three things are linked together, and they are all heavyweight astronomical research results.

It's just that after finishing these things, Li Yu is not in a hurry to publish, because now he still has someone to meet.

At the same time, the UK has received a paper on the derivation of the black body radiation formula sent by Li Yu.

"Oh my God!"

In the Royal Society, Lord Kelvin almost trembled when he looked at the paper in front of him.

"My lord, although you are very excited every time you see a paper from Li Yu, but this time it is a bit too much." Huggins, the president of the Royal Society, said.

Lord Kelvin read it again carefully. He was so familiar with the problem of black body radiation that he said the "two dark clouds" himself.

"Could Planck be right?!" Lord Kelvin said to himself.

The current research on blackbody radiation in the physics community shows that Wien, which only has a good fit with high frequencies, and Baron Rayleigh, who has a good fit with only low frequencies, basically use thermodynamic methods.

But Li Yu completely jumped out of their shackles, and carried out a real theoretical derivation based on quantum concepts.

The key point is that Li Yu used his mathematical ability again, and the derivation process was extremely rigorous, and it was impossible to pick out the faults.

Chairman Huggins saw that Lord Kelvin was deep in thought and did not answer himself, so he directly took Li Yu's paper and read it.

Huggins' professional field is astronomy, and he is not good at theoretical physics, but of course he has heard of the problem of black body radiation being so hot.

"Is it all true?" Huggins asked.

Lord Kelvin replied after a long time: "I don't see the problem, but I really can't imagine that after he has made such a great contribution in the field of thermodynamics, he would break away from thermodynamics at this time."

Li Yu's previous papers on the second law of thermodynamics and the third law are all in the field of thermodynamics.In fact, the problem of black body radiation is now considered to be a thermodynamic problem.

"I don't see what you mean," Huggins said.

Lord Kelvin said: "His argumentation process is too novel, and I can't fully explain it. I'm afraid I have to let the German Planck himself take a look."

"Planck?" President Huggins thought for a while before finding this person in his mind, "Professor Planck from the University of Berlin?"

Lord Kelvin nodded: "That's him."

President Huggins said: "Shouldn't it be sent to our Baron Rayleigh, who is now at Cambridge University."

Lord Kelvin said: "It should also be shown to him, but the main review opinions of the paper should be obeyed by Professor Planck."

Chairman Huggins, of course, respected Lord Kelvin's views more in this pure physics field, so he called over to edit Joelsen and asked him to transcribe two papers as soon as possible and send them to Planck and Rayleigh respectively.

But Lord Kelvin said, "Let me take the paper for Baron Rayleigh and show it to him."

Cambridge University is just on the edge of London, only seventy or eighty kilometers away.

The Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge is world-renowned. Its founder was Maxwell, a tycoon of electromagnetism, and he was also the first laboratory director.

The second director of the Cavendish Laboratory was Baron Rayleigh, but he voluntarily resigned and gave way to Thomson, who was only 28 years old at the time.This move was very sensational at the time. After all, Thomson was too young, and many people did not recognize it. However, Baron Rayleigh recognized Thomson's talent early and resolutely gave him the position.

Since then, Thomson has also used practical actions to prove that Baron Rayleigh's vision is correct.

Therefore, Baron Rayleigh has absolutely nothing to say about his scientific conduct, and he is very magnanimous.

Lord Kelvin is of course more famous, but in the current physics world, the status of Baron Rayleigh is not much weaker.

Baron Rayleigh is also the one who will win the Nobel Prize in Physics next year, not because of the somewhat watery Nobel Prize that comes from the wrong black-body radiation formula like Wien's.

In this era, the Nobel Prize is also divided into "levels": the physics award is an absolute crown level, which is much higher than the others.

So when Rutherford was inexplicably awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, he was a little unhappy.He himself said: "Science has only one discipline, physics, and the others are just collecting stamps."

In addition, the binaural effect of why the human ear can distinguish the position of sound, and why the sky is blue, are the earliest explanations given by Baron Rayleigh.

Both Lord Kelvin and Baron Rayleigh have titles, so don't underestimate them by thinking that they are just the youngest barons among the dukes. Barons are not simple.

"Mr. Lord, why are you here?" Baron Rayleigh was quite surprised when he saw Kelvin. People of their status communicated less and less in private.

Lord Kelvin held the manuscript in his hand and said: "I don't know if there is an article that should make you happy or disappointed. You must show it to you personally."

Baron Rayleigh asked in surprise, "What kind of article is worthy of your lord's coming here?"

"Remember Planck's weird formula?" Kelvin asked.

"Of course," Baron Rayleigh said, "he just added "-1" to the denominator of Wien's formula, and it completely matches the black body radiation curve. It would be so easy."

This is the view of most scientists today.Planck's formula is indeed too similar to Wien's formula, the only difference is that the denominator has been added such a simple step as "minus 1", which is difficult for anyone to accept.

Lord Kelvin said: "I thought so too at the beginning, but I don't know how to say it. You can see for yourself."

Lord Kelvin handed Li Yu's manuscript to Baron Rayleigh.

When Ruili saw the name "Li Yu" on the cover, he felt a little interesting, "It turned out to be him."

Looking at the specific content of the article again, it can be called subversive.

Rayleigh has studied the problem of black body radiation for a long time, and he has been familiar with it for a long time. After reading it for a long time, he knew that there was no problem in the demonstration process, but the use of Planck's quantum assumption really made people feel very "out of the box".

Rayleigh said: "You also believe that the world is discontinuous? How is that possible!"

Lord Kelvin said: "I don't know whether to believe it or not. This reminds me of the fractal graphics mentioned in Li Yu's influential book "Fractals and Chaos". No matter how bizarre, it is undeniable that his proof process is so perfect."

Rayleigh was not against new science, but it was only so long after the Second Mathematical Crisis that the scientific community had just embraced the mathematical concept of infinitesimals.Now physics suddenly says that there are no infinitesimals, which really makes everyone feel awkward.

Rayleigh also asked this question: "Mr. Lord also knows that in any case, mathematics is the forerunner and the crown, and no matter how it can conflict with mathematics."

Lord Kelvin nodded: "Your question is very good, but this Li Yu's mathematics is really good. He obviously knows this contradiction, so his mathematical argumentation process is so perfect that you can't find any faults at all. I I even suspect that my mathematics knowledge is outdated, so I should make up for it.”

"Then," Rayleigh looked carefully at the paper again, "the problem is not in mathematics, but in physics."

"Yes," said Lord Kelvin, "I think the core is the quantum hypothesis at the beginning."

Rayleigh breathed a sigh of relief: "This is an incredible thing."

People in later generations will have to work hard to accept quantum mechanics, not to mention the enlightenment period of quantum mechanics.

Lord Kelvin asked: "What do you think of this article? I mean, is there any flaw?"

"My lord, wait a moment, I want to check again carefully."

Baron Rayleigh sat at the table, concentrating on reading every word, and said after a long time: "I can only say that his argumentation process is perfect, without any problems."

Lord Kelvin smiled and said, "I agree with you. It seems that we have to wait for what Planck from Germany has to say."

Planck also received the letter soon. He knew Li Yu's name a long time ago, and he had already caught a trace of quantum theory from Li Yu's papers before. He had already felt that Li Yu also recognized his point of view. Now This paper refers directly to his own black body radiation formula. He doesn't need to read the content, but he knows that the core is quantum just by looking at the name.

Planck didn't immediately read the content of the article. He stood up and looked at the sky, feeling like he had met a confidant and was afraid that he would be disappointed after reading it.

Planck took a few puffs of cigarettes, took a deep breath, and sat back to start Li Yu's thesis.

He was an expert in this field, and he seemed to be much faster than Baron Rayleigh. He soon discovered that Li Yu's theoretical foundation was terribly solid, and his understanding of quantum theory was astonishingly deep, even surpassing his own.

"What kind of person is this!" Planck couldn't help exclaiming, "What kind of person can write such sharp articles! Between the lines, every number and every symbol seems to be screaming for the correctness of quantum theory!"

Of course, he also questioned: "Why can he stand so firmly on the side of my quantum theory?"

Looking at the entire scientific community, there are really few people who can support quantum theory so much, which of course makes Planck feel incredible.

Planck read the paper several times in a row, and couldn't help saying it was wonderful, "Although they are all based on my quantum hypothesis, it is obvious that his proof process is much better than mine."

Lord Kelvin has declared Planck as a reviewer in his letter, so what is there to say!

Planck immediately wrote a reply eloquently: "This is a very groundbreaking paper. There is no doubt that Mr. Li Yu has already walked at the forefront of mathematical science. No matter from the perspective of mathematics or physics, you cannot Pick out even one blemish. It’s hard to imagine that this is just a first draft, but I can definitely say that it doesn’t need to be revised a word, and it can’t be changed, and it’s all worth remembering by the whole world!”

Well, Planck's praise is really a face.

Although Planck's reputation is far less than Lord Kelvin's now, nor is it as famous as Baron Rayleigh.But after all, Planck is a professor of university physics and a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. As a reviewer, his opinions must be respected.

So after getting the approval of several leaders at the forefront of black body radiation, Lord Kelvin also made up his mind.

"Publish it," said Lord Kelvin, "I never thought that Li Yu would send us such an incredible article."

President Huggins said, "Does that mean we have to send him an authorization at the same time?"

"No problem!" Lord Kelvin affirmed. "The importance of this paper is beyond words. He should definitely be granted the status of a foreign academician of the Royal Society. I'm even worried that if we delay the invitation, other academies of science will send out applications."

President Huggins felt that Lord Kelvin was right, and immediately said: "That's right, I will write the authorization letter myself now!"

Lord Kelvin smiled and said, "Let's send a telegram first. Read Li Yu's letter. He is now in the United States, so send it to the Qing embassy in the United States."

(End of this chapter)