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

Chapter 251 Crossover Scientist

Sorensen ran back to the laboratory in a flash, leaving Li Yu and Carl sitting there and continuing to eat.

Carl smiled and said, "Don't worry, he's always been like this."

Li Yu can understand his feelings: "Everyone will be so happy that they can get a breakthrough after a long period of research."

With the framework, it is actually very simple to build this set of ph theory, but it will be really difficult to make waves for a while.After all, limited by the times, even many scientists themselves do not believe in atoms, let alone ions in ionization theory.

So Li Yu really didn't take this matter too seriously at the moment.

The next day, he went to the University of Copenhagen as scheduled.

When people mention "Columbia" in later generations, most people's first impression must be Columbia University, but in fact, there are two brothers with the surname "Ge" from the University of Göttingen and the University of Copenhagen.

There are many criteria for judging universities. If we only talk about the number of Nobel Prizes, Columbia University is of course stronger, ranking fifth among universities in the world, with 96 Nobel Prizes.

The University of Göttingen ranks 15th, with 45 Nobel Prizes;
The University of Copenhagen ranks 17th, with 39 Nobel Prizes.

So the "brothers" are not small roles.

At present, Denmark does not have the famous bronze statue of the Little Mermaid. It was actually donated by the Carlsberg Foundation in 1909.

Since then, the statue has been sawed off many times, such as the head and arms. In 2003, it was blown into the water with explosives, and it was seriously damaged when it was salvaged.

Someone splashed blue and white paint on her in 2017; someone else splashed red paint...

There are countless such things, especially all kinds of graffiti, there are too many.There are also endless excuses for some graffiti, such as nationalism, religiousism, or extreme animal protectionists protesting whaling, but I can't list them anyway.

Some even branded the bronze statue of the Little Mermaid a racist label.For example, during the "Black Lives Matter" period, some blacks opposed any historical statues because they felt that these historical figures had played a role in racist oppression such as slave traders and colonialists.

It's hard to understand how racist a little mermaid is in a fairy tale though.

And the poor little mermaid didn't know that she would bear so much "unbearable weight".

When Li Yu came to the University of Copenhagen, Paterson himself, academician of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences, president of the University of Copenhagen, and professor of mathematics, brought along physicist and oceanographer Knudzen, biology lecturer August Crowe, ecologist Warmin and others. Let's meet Li Yu together.

This treatment is quite high.

Among them, Paterson is not young. He himself is doing graph theory research. Since Euler first studied the Seven Bridges problem, many mathematicians in Europe have been interested in this thing.

Crowe would win the Nobel Prize in 1920.

Paterson also attaches great importance to Li Yu. After all, he is a scholar with many first-class achievements at the same time. It is really not an exaggeration to say that he is the top scientific master in the world today.

But they obviously don't know that Li Yu will become more and more terrifying in the future.

"Respected Academician Li Yu, it is really exciting to meet you," Paterson said.

He also used the title of Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society.

Li Yu has already been called an academician by two people one after another, and he is really not used to it.

Fortunately, the other party is also an academician, Li Yu said: "Academician Paterson, hello."

Paterson said: "We at the University of Copenhagen have always respected natural philosophy, and we have made all the teachers and students of the Faculty of Science to wait for your speech."

Li Yu was a little confused, why did he want to give a speech again, so he said: "Actually, the content is all in the book, just a simple communication."

Paterson said: "No problem, you can say a few words as you like."

Crowe said: "Everyone is not only interested in your academic achievements, but also interested in the East, so you should not refuse this speech anyway."

Li Yu felt that the hospitality was hard to turn down, so he agreed.

The University of Copenhagen is very similar to the Faculty of the University of Paris that I went to last time. They both put natural sciences in a special science school.

Paterson happily took Li Yu to the auditorium of the Faculty of Science.Nowadays, it is not easy to recruit scientific experts. Most of them have certain positions, or they are too old to move around too much. Young, promising and energetic people like Li Yu are really rare.

Paterson even said: "I have carefully studied your chaos theory and game theory, as if you have opened up a new mathematical path. And seeing you are so young, it instantly reminds me of Mr. Abel who once visited."

Li Yu knew Abel very well, so he asked, "Is he from Norway, and he has also been to the University of Copenhagen?"

Paterson said: "No, but a senior professor at the university, Professor Hansting, took him in, but he resolutely went to Paris soon."

The reason why Abel went to France at that time was because France had been the center of mathematics for quite a long time, and there were a large number of mathematics talents, and it was slowly overtaken by Germany later.

Li Yu sighed: "It's a pity that there was a mathematical genius of a similar age in Paris at the same time, Galois."

The short lives of these two people established the group theory of modern mathematics, but they were both in their twenties when they died.

Abel was very poor and died of tuberculosis at the age of 26.

Three years later, Galois was only 21 years old when he fought a duel with an officer for what others called a "coquettish woman in a low-level inn".

It is impossible to imagine what would have happened if they had lived a few decades longer.

There is no mathematics award in the Nobel Prize. The highest mathematics award since then is the Fields Medal, but it is only awarded to mathematicians under the age of 40. It may be because they are afraid that young pearls will be lost.

But it seems that the greatest achievements of most scientists or artists are completed before the age of 40.

Just like Eileen Chang said, "become famous as early as possible".

Paterson came to the podium and introduced Li Yu first. In fact, he didn't need to introduce much. When Li Yu, who had yellow skin and dark eyes, appeared, the audience was already screaming.

"My God, he's like a student our age!"

"How on earth did he achieve great achievements in physics, mathematics, and astronomy at such an early age!"

Paterson stretched out his hand and pressed down: "Everyone, be quiet! It is really not easy to invite academician Li Yu, a hot new star in the scientific world. The Royal Academy of Sciences and the Carlsberg Foundation jointly won this opportunity. Everyone must cherish it. I learned from him the path to seek the truth..."

After hearing this, Li Yu thought to himself, in fact, I am not so difficult to invite, I can come here with a little persuasion!
After speaking for a few minutes, Paterson said to Li Yu, "Academician Li Yu, please speak."

Li Yu walked up to the stage, but really didn't know what to say, so he said casually, "This time I came quite suddenly, and I didn't actually make any preparations, otherwise I'll leave it to everyone to ask questions and find an introduction."

Li Yu scanned the people below, and there were not many people. The current university enrollment scale is generally not large.

He found Bohr very quickly, because his head was indeed very large, very obvious.

"Student Bohr, what do you want to say?" Li Yu asked.

In fact, he has been brewing for a long time, calling Bohr, one of the three giants of quantum mechanics, a "classmate", which is really a little awkward.

Bohr was a little surprised. Although he really wanted to speak, he was just a freshman and felt that it was not his turn.

Li Yu's sudden question made him feel at a loss for a moment, "Ah...I..."

Li Yu smiled and said, "It's okay, just ask casually."

Bohr said: "I, I was thinking about what formation to adopt for the football match in the afternoon. Academician, do you like football too?"

Li Yu was stunned by the question, "Football? Of course I like it..."

Bohr went on to say: "We will play a match with the seminary in the afternoon, so you can join us! Anyway, we are about the same age."

"Okay...or..." Li Yu didn't know how to answer.

The students behind burst into laughter, and someone said:

"The Seminary is very strong, it is very difficult for us to win, so let's not think about it."

"Let you ask a question, how did it involve football?"

But Bohr said: "Academician Li Yu asked me to ask casually."

A person next to Bohr suddenly said: "Brother, we will definitely win, don't worry about this issue. Now that I have finally met Mr. Li Yu, try to ask some professional questions."

Li Yu came to a sudden, I was dizzy, I actually admitted my mistake!
The "Bohr" identified at the beginning is actually the younger brother of the famous quantum mechanics giant Niels Bohr, and his name is Hanard Bohr.

The two brothers were about the same age and looked alike, so Li Yu suddenly found the wrong person.

But Bohr's younger brother was not simple. When he was young, his talent was even higher than that of his elder brother, and he became a mathematician afterwards.

Moreover, the two brothers loved football since they were young, and even almost became professional athletes.

Especially the younger brother Hanard Bohr, who also represented the Danish football team and won the football runner-up in the 1908 Olympic Games.

The two brothers can be said to be the best in mathematics and science in the football world, and the best in football in the mathematics and physics world!

"True," said Bohr, "may I ask?"

Li Yu was a little embarrassed just now, so he said, "Of course."

Bohr said: "I have read academicians' papers on the derivation of black body radiation many times. If this is true, then it means that the unit of energy must be extremely small before it can become a state. It also confirms the existence of atoms from the side. Considering the previous experiment by Professor Thomson of the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, there are electrons in the atom, what kind of state are they in? How is the charge distributed?"

Li Yu didn't expect Bohr to start thinking about such advanced questions just after entering the University of Copenhagen, but the question he asked was really too big, so he replied: "What you proposed is exactly the direction of the future development of physics, but I have to regret it Let me tell you, this question is very difficult to answer because it involves experimental demonstrations, otherwise anything proposed at this moment will only be a hypothesis.”

Bohr asked: "According to the academician's thesis, if atoms exist, the scale is extremely small, how can this kind of experiment be done?"

Li Yu said: "Good question! But the physics of atoms is precisely an extremely precise science. This level of precision is like measuring the distance from London to St. Petersburg by only a hair."

Bohr was surprised: "Is this something that can be done?"

Li Yu said: "Of course, otherwise, how can we face the doubts of everyone?"

After the development of quantum mechanics, it is an extremely precise science in experiments. The level of precision of many experiments cannot be imagined by ordinary people. It is an epic achievement for human beings to explore the microscopic world.

(End of this chapter)