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

Lu Bicheng brought tea to the two of them.

Liang Qichao said, "Thank you Madam Li."

Lu Bicheng quickly said, "I'm not."

"No?" Liang Qichao immediately understood, "I understand. I have heard the news. You have been to Europe together, and now you have come to the United States together. It is nothing more than a lack of status. If you don't dislike it in the future, I, Liang Qichao, can also be a witness .”

"I..." Lu Bicheng didn't know what to say, put down the tea bowl, "Use it slowly."

Then turned around and ran away.

Liang Qichao said to Li Yu: "Brother Shucai, you really know how to enjoy yourself and take beauties around."

Li Yu said with a smile: "I still have to sign a contract with Collins Publishing House."

Liang Qichao said, "That Star Wars novel? I've read it, and it's really interesting."

During the conversation, Konoe Zhaoxue walked in with a telegram: "Sir, there is another telegram from Germany."

Li Yu asked: "Germany? Could it be that Mr. Planck wants to press the manuscript again?"

Konoe Zhaoxue said, "It was sent by a man named Karl Siemens."

Li Yu took the telegram and looked at the content. It turned out that Siemens wanted to purchase and sell radio equipment in Germany, or use Li Yu's patent to produce it by itself, and then pay the patent fee.

Siemens is an old acquaintance and built a laboratory for him and Planck.

Li Yu agreed to Siemens' request: "You telegram Mr. Siemens, and I will send a prototype first."

Konoe Zhaoxue said: "Sir, can you write it like this? I have learned that I have initially agreed to your request. A prototype will be mailed to your place in the near future."

"Okay, just send it like this," Li Yu said, and added, "Tell him that the patent certificate from the US Patent Office will be mailed to him."

Jinwei Zhaoxue was happy to do the job, so he turned and went back to the telegraph room.

Liang Qichao took a sip of tea and said, "Brother Shucai, you are now a leader of Xinxue, you must understand monogamy!"

Li Yu asked in surprise, "What kind of new school leader am I? What does Brother Zhuo Ru mean by that?"

"Your Excellency is of course the leader of the new school. Even Gu Hongming and Yan Sheng Gong Kong Lingyi can't argue with you. What's more, your scientific achievements have shocked the whole of Europe and the United States." Liang Qichao blew on the tea and continued, "Now the two Both girls are young, beautiful and talented, and they are rare. Although I know it is difficult to choose, but brother, I am an experienced person, you must understand the meaning of the word 'willing', otherwise there will be endless troubles."

Of course Liang Qichao always insisted on monogamy, but he secretly took a concubine, but he never brought it out and never told others.

But the concubine gave him six children, so it is impossible for outsiders not to know that he has a concubine.

As a modern person, Li Yu has a deep-rooted concept of monogamy. He doesn't need to be told by others. He takes it for granted and doesn't talk about it. He didn't expect that in the environment of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, others would misunderstand no matter what. .

Li Yu had no choice but to say: "I must insist on the monogamy system."

"Okay." Liang Qichao put down his tea bowl, "It's not easy to make a decision, but once a decision is made, I can be the witness."

Li Yu was stunned, why did he really like to be a wedding witness!
I knew that Xu Zhimo asked him to be a witness, but at the wedding, Xu Zhimo and Lu Xiaoman were criticized separately.

Because he doesn't think the two of them will have a good result, because the two of them can be regarded as derailed in marriage first...

Li Yu smiled and said, "Brother Zhuo Ru, just wait and see, I, Li Yu, will do what I say."

"Have courage!" Liang Qichao asked again, pointing to the telegram, "Who is Siemens who sent the telegram?"

Li Yu said: "Mr. Siemens is in charge of Siemens AG in Germany, and he is a leader in the field of communication and electrical."

Liang Qichao said: "I heard that Germany's technology is the best in the world, many times stronger than the current United States."

Li Yu nodded: "In fact, it is true."

Liang Qichao sighed: "The United States is so strong, I really can't imagine what Europe will be like, what kind of scenery Britain, France and Germany will be like."

Li Yu said: "If you want to compare them this way, I can only say that they are not much different from the United States, almost the same."

Most people now regard Europe as the strongest, and Americans currently think so too.

Liang Qichao really didn't believe it: "Why can England and France dominate everywhere, but have never heard of the United States?"

Li Yu said: "Because the rise of the United States is late, but it doesn't matter if it is late, we will rise sooner or later."

Konoe Zhaoxue has finished sending the telegram, and came out to report to Li Yu: "I have sent the telegram, and it should be received soon. Also, do you need to contact Earl Zeppelin about the airship?"

She really wanted Li Yu to send more telegrams. After all, valuable information could be obtained the fastest through the exchange of telegrams.

Li Yu shook his head: "They will naturally come to me if they need it."

He didn't want to waste too much energy on these things, he still had a lot of things to do.

Liang Qichao asked, "Airship again?"

Li Yu gave him a general introduction: "It is an aircraft that can carry people, goods, and even bombs into the sky."

Konoe Zhaoxue's long eyelashes trembled slightly, "Bomb"!
Sure enough, it has something to do with the military!

Liang Qichao said with emotion: "Could it be that the Germans really have a different structure, just like the theory of evolution, which is more outstanding?"

Li Yu hurriedly corrected: "Brother Zhuo Ru, everyone is the same, but there is a sequence of hearing."

Liang Qichao was relieved immediately: "That's right, after all, you are a Chinese, and you have even achieved the strongest way of science. Now I finally understand why the "Shenbao" is trying to improve you. It is really necessary to improve your self-confidence. "

Li Yu said: "Of course confidence must be built. In the future we will also have industries similar to those in Europe and the United States."

Liang Qichao said: "You are right. After traveling in the United States for more than half a year, I finally understand that the era of iron and blood competition will pass, and the future will be an era of industrial competition. Whether you can make a profit in the business war is the key to prosperity."

The trip to the United States greatly shocked Liang Qichao. He was originally based on agriculture, but now he has changed rapidly. In one article, he even compared industry and commerce to "the strength of a country is determined by the strength of the country, even if it rises or falls."

Li Yu summed it up for him: "Behind industry there are technology and education. Together, it is the way to rejuvenate the country."

Liang Qichao agreed very much, and said: "Brother Shucai is indeed not a person with little talent and little learning. I heard that the imperial court has just established the Ministry of Commerce and issued a decree to reward outstanding merchants with official titles. I think you can definitely get them."

Li Yu didn't take it seriously: "But it's nowhere near it, I'm not interested."

After visiting the laboratory for a while and explaining some patents, Li Yu mentioned the matter of Columbia University: "Columbia University in Manhattan is a top university in the United States. There is a Sinology lecture in it. I hope you can give a lecture."

Liang Qichao didn't object: "It just so happens that I'm going to this university too, and I'll give Miss Kang the teacher's check."

"Miss Kang?" Li Yu asked.

Liang Qichao said: "That's right, the teacher's daughter, Tong Bi, is studying at Columbia University."

Liang Qichao has one school and three academicians, and all nine sons are talented.

As for his teacher Kang Youwei, the two daughters Kang Tongbi and Kang Tongwei are considered to be one of the few children of Kang Youwei who are slightly outstanding.

The two came to Columbia University's Barnard College, Columbia's dedicated women's college.

Since then, the United States has been known as the famous "Seven Sisters Women's College". Later, only Vassar College and Harvard's Radcliffe College began to recruit male students, and the rest still only recruited female students.

Liang Qichao first handed her a check for [-] US dollars: "The teacher said that he might travel to Europe in a while, so don't follow him, and go to school in the United States first."

Kang Youwei will stay in Sweden for a long time when he travels in Europe. I wonder if he will buy another island.

As living expenses, $5000 was quite extravagant at the beginning of the 5th century. The best factories like Li Yu paid $110 a day, about $1300 a month excluding weekends, and just over $[-] a year.

This is still higher income.

Kang Tongbi took the check and asked, "How is father?"

Liang Qichao said, "Don't worry, everything is fine, teacher."

Kang Tongbi looked at Li Yu who was at the side: "Are you Li Yu?"

Li Yu nodded: "That's right."

Kang Tongbi whispered to Liang Qichao: "Father doesn't like him, don't you know?"

Liang Qichao said: "It's just a personal preference, but Mr. Li Yu is a great talent of a generation. This time we were invited to attend a lecture at Columbia University."

It is not easy to give lectures in American universities. Although Kang Tongbi knows Li Yu's ability, he is unwilling to accept his previous exposure of his father's fault.

Li Yu was too lazy to talk, and came to the main campus of Columbia University after the handover.

Columbia University President Seth Lowe, Carpentier and Ding Long came to welcome them together, as well as Xia De, the first lecturer of Ding Long's lecture.

Li Yu and Liang Qichao are now super well-known Chinese people. Not only did many students from the Faculty of Arts come to today's lecture, but also the Department of Science from Columbia University, crowding the lecture hall to three floors.

Schade is a German and one of the most famous sinologists in Europe and America in the early 30th century. He has been in China for nearly [-] years. He not only speaks Chinese fluently, but also has a lot of research on Chinese art history, characters and art.

Moreover, this person has a lot of writings and precise research, and is highly respected in the Western Sinology circles. They call this period the "Xiade Era".

Xia De said happily: "It is a great honor to invite two outstanding Chinese people. I have met Mr. Liang, but I happened to leave the capital the year before last, and you became famous in the second year. It is a pity that I could not meet you."

Li Yu smiled and said, "It's indeed a pity."

But I thought in my heart that I was lucky enough, and I couldn't travel through time left and right.

Liang Qichao said: "This trip has been hasty and I have not prepared properly."

"You just have to talk, talk, talk," Shad said.

Liang Qichao clasped his hands and said, "It's a shame."

Liang Qichao has been studying new historiography, so he gave a comparative speech based on some historical differences between China and the West.

Liang Qichao has made a lot of contributions in this regard, not just engaging in politics.

After Liang Qichao finished speaking, Seth Lowe asked Li Yu to also give some scientific expositions.

Li Yu can talk a lot, so he talked about the mathematical principles behind the physical phenomena for his most sensational black body radiation derivation and X-ray diffraction experiment recently.

Once combined with mathematics, no matter what subject, the difficulty will suddenly increase.

I remember that in the early years, many people were still bragging that reading was useless, especially when they said that learning mathematics was useless.A powerful counterattack at the time was: mathematics is the best tool to identify who can go further.

In later generations, almost all subjects are inseparable from mathematics, such as those who study economics, accounting, or finance. Mathematics is very important.

Even literary studies use mathematical statistics...

Sometimes I really feel that Pythagoras said more than 2000 years ago that "everything is number" is not unreasonable.

Even though Li Yu slowed down the pace and wrote on the blackboard, many students from the Faculty of Science still struggled to listen.

——It’s still an old problem. Today’s university education either pays attention to mathematics or physics, and does not integrate them better.

Mainly before Planck and Einstein, the status of theoretical physicists was really not high enough.

Fortunately, the two aspects that Li Yu talked about are hot spots, and the students have a little understanding of them, otherwise it would really be a heavenly book.

Li Yu later found that the content of the speech was too difficult, so he finally concluded by deriving the three major cosmic velocities.

This content is much simpler, but it has also caused many people to have questions.

Langmuir Owen asked: "Academician Li Yu, what will happen if the speed of light is reached?"

Li Yu had no choice but to say: "Any object with mass will not reach the speed of light."

Owen continued: "However, I have read your article. You once mentioned the concept of single photon in Germany. If so, photon is moving at the speed of light?"

He is really Li Yu's little fan, and he actually read this article with little influence.

Li Yu explained to him: "It's very simple, because photons have no rest mass."

The students were directly confused. They said wave-particle duality and photons are particles for a while, and said photons have no mass?

There is no elementary particle model established now, so it is not surprising that they do not know.

A student asked: "Is it possible that the experimental devices used by Mr. Michelson and Mr. Morley could not go beyond the natural rules of reality? In other words, because they are in the natural world where the speed of light is constant, they can only measure This speed?"

Good guy, there's a little paradox out there.

It seems that the arrival of the third mathematical crisis is not injustice, everyone likes to mention paradox.

This question is placed in later generations, and everyone can clearly see that it is a Minke point of view.

But before the birth of the theory of relativity, it was more insightful for someone to raise such a question. (Even before Li Yu's time travel, there were still many people who didn't believe in the theory of relativity, let alone the constant speed of light, and they even came up with a lot of conspiracy theories, which were quite interesting.)
Li Yu explained to him: "The speed of light is different in different media, and according to Mr. Maxwell's formula, it can be seen that the propagation of light does not need a medium, and is not even affected by the reference system. As for the speed of light you said is constant , it is indeed the joint result of experiments and mathematical derivations, or more should be said to be an experimental result. But you must know that what the experimental results reveal is the principle of nature.”

On the blackboard, Li Yu listed the derivation of Maxwell's equations and some physical logic of the Michelson-Morley experiment, such as aberration.

Many people have a misunderstanding that the Michelson-Morley experiment is to search for ether.

In fact, it is not. The experiment defaulted to the existence of ether from the very beginning, and the original purpose was to test whether ether would interact with ordinary matter.

But the final result negates the ether.

It feels a bit like a mathematical proof by contradiction.

As for the physical reason behind the constant speed of light, it is unknown, at least before Li Yu traveled through, human beings still could not figure it out.

Physics, that's all.Many things are the essence of nature, and I really can't explain them anymore, I can only continue to explore from other angles.

The students raised a lot of questions, but in the field of physics, they obviously couldn't beat Li Yu.

Li Yu once again convinced the Columbia students of his abilities.

Columbia University is the strongest university in New York, they are convinced that there is no other school in New York that can question Li Yu's true ability.