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

Chapter 315 Letter from Bern

The concession in Tianjin is different from that in Shanghai and is more complicated.

The concessions in Shanghai actually developed to the extent that there were only public concessions and French concessions.

But Tianjin is known as the "Nine Concessions", and it has: the British Concession, the French Concession, the American Concession, the Belgian Concession, the Austro-Hungarian Concession, the Italian Concession, the German Concession, the Japanese Concession and the Russian Concession.

However, the United States and Belgium have basically not developed much, and the real development is mainly the British and French concessions.

The theater where Li Yu and the others listened to cross talk and watched operas was located in the French Concession. Now that the Haihe River is being dredged, the French Concession is almost the most active place for commercial activities.

Li Yu asked curiously: "Master Huo, the business of escort agencies in various places is still prosperous, why didn't you inherit the family business?"

Huo Yuanjia said: "Ever since I saw the train and the post office, I knew that the bodyguard bureau couldn't compete with foreigners, and I couldn't get used to the domineering foreigners, so I came out to make a living. And..."

Huo Yuanjia took a sip of his wine and continued: "And since Fifth Brother passed away, I don't want to do this business anymore."

Li Yu said: "The Fifth Brother mentioned by Master Huo, could it be the Great Swordsman Five?"

Huo Yuanjia seemed infinitely sentimental in his heart, and said: "That's right. At that time, Fifth Brother and Tan Sitong, a patriot of the capital reform, were called brothers, and served as his security work. After Tan Sitong died, Fifth Brother risked his life to collect his body and send it back to his hometown in Hunan. Later, Wu Ge participated in the boxing movement, and the Shunyuan Escort Agency he founded was besieged, outnumbered, arrested, and eventually shot to death."

Huo Yuanjia clenched his wine glass tightly: "The hateful foreigner killed Fifth Brother, cut off his head, and hung it above the city gate to show the public. So I sneaked in at night and took off the head, so that Fifth Brother could have a whole body."

Huo Yuanjia took another sip of wine, "The Escort Bureau... Hey, the Escort Bureau has no future. They can protect the bodyguards, but they can't protect the brothers' homeland."

Li Yu remembered that he had watched "Fang Shiyu" played by Jet Li. There was a scene in which Fang Shiyu's friend refused to betray him, was beaten to death by the Qing soldiers, hanged in the city gate, and then Fang Shiyu went to collect the corpse.

It is quite a reference to Wang Wu's collection of Tan Sitong's body and Huo Yuanjia's collection of Wang Wu's body.

And after Qiu Jin died, it was his friend Wu Zhiying who risked his life to collect the body.

In fact, the Escort appeared in the Qing Dynasty, and it didn't exist before.

And it should have started to prosper during the Qianlong period.

Because in the turbulent era, the Escort Bureau is powerless at all.

As an encyclopedia of feudal society, "Dream of Red Mansions" has not recorded the bodyguard bureau.

The "Jin Ping Mei" of the Ming Dynasty also did not mention it.

Huo Yuanjia is much closer than Huang Feihong, Li Yu said: "Maybe in the future, I may have the opportunity to learn two tricks from Master Huo."

Huo Yuanjia said: "I'm just a warrior. The emperor has the ability to manage the world and benefit the country. Why do you need to learn these things? You are responsible for surpassing foreigners in terms of brains, and a savage like me can do things with hands."

Nong Jinsun said: "That's right, and the times have changed. Back then we saw a lot of boxing masters who were good at boxing, but under the guns of foreigners, there is nothing that is invulnerable."

Nong Jinsun studied in Japan in his early years and was a staunch supporter of Mr. Zhongshan. He later joined the Tongmenghui. His pharmacy in Tianjin was also Mr. Zhongshan's secret contact office.

So Nong Jinsun looks at things more rationally.

Li Yu said: "Mr. understands thoroughly, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with strengthening the body."

Nong Jinsun agreed: "Opium has been poisoned for many years, so we should strengthen our health."

Now opium has not been completely banned, and it will be a disaster for many years. Even Zhang Xueliang has been addicted to opium.

Li Yu said: "Master Huo only teaches a few ways to defend himself."

Li Yu is quite good at pistol practice now, although he knows that it is enough, but when he sees such famous people as Huo Yuanjia and Huang Feihong, his hands are itchy, and he always wants to learn.

Where can I find a martial arts teacher of this level.

Huo Yuanjia said: "That's easy to say. If the emperor's teacher comes to Tianjin again, I will definitely teach you all."

Li Yu smiled and said, "Master Lao Huo is here."

In fact, Huo Yuanjia is indeed very leisurely now and doesn't have much to do.Unlike Huang Feihong, he still has to take care of Bao Zhilin.

-

Switzerland, Berne Patent Office.

Einstein stared at his watch. When the second hand jumped to 12, he was about to get up and leave work immediately, but he was stopped by the director just as he got up.

"Einstein, there is an urgent matter that you need to deal with. It is the patent on signal transmission and switching."

Einstein said: "Director, I have read that application draft, and I think it has room for improvement."

The director said: "You are a patent examiner, whether it can be improved is not something you have to consider, if it can be realized, it should be approved."

Einstein glanced at his watch again: "Okay, Director, I will take care of it tomorrow."

Einstein wanted to get out, but was stopped by the director again: "Einstein, you have to finish it today, because the customer has already complained to me."

Einstein was quite helpless: "Director, I actually made an appointment with Professor Kleiner from the University of Bern today."

"About physics?" asked the director.

Einstein said frankly: "Yes, Director."

The director said: "If I were you, I would definitely do the work at hand first, because this is your responsibility, and it will allow you to support yourself and your family. As for the spare time, you have to do it after work."

Einstein had no choice. After all, the director was usually nice to him, so he could only do as he said.

Two hours later, Einstein hurried to a coffee shop and said to a professor, "Professor Kleiner, I'm sorry, I just got off work."

Kleiner was very helpless and said, "If it wasn't for the gentleman's etiquette, I would have left. It's good to see you now, but I want to tell you that one hour and seven minutes have passed since the meeting time."

Einstein said: "In fact, Professor Kleiner, when it comes to time, I think a lot about time."

"Time?" Professor Kleiner asked back, "Are you saying that you want to discuss engineering and how to make clocks? This is in line with the Swiss style. But unfortunately, if you are not punctual, you cannot make a good clock."

Einstein quickly said: "I'm sorry, professor, I admit that it was my mistake, but please take a good look at my paper. You know, without the signature of your supervisor or professor, it is difficult to publish it in a regular academic journal. .”

Professor Kleiner said angrily: "If you keep your appointment, I will definitely watch it, but you have already wasted me an hour and oh, oh, an hour and 8 minutes. Sorry, I have to leave!"

Einstein begged: "Please give me 1 minute, and I will explain the opening report of the thesis to you very soon."

"One minute?" Professor Kleiner said, "Okay, I'll just listen to what you can say in one minute."

Einstein sorted out his thoughts, and said quickly: "Professor, everyone thinks that light is a wave, right? But I can prove that when light travels from any place, it is composed of a finite number of energy quanta. More interesting Unfortunately, these energy quanta can only be generated or absorbed in whole."

Einstein finished speaking in one breath, then took a breath, and said with a smile: "Professor, you see, I have used it for less than a minute."

Professor Kleiner thought for a while and asked, "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Einstein said: "Do you remember Mr. Philip Lenard's paper on the photoelectric effect? ​​He discovered the photoelectric effect, and although he speculated that sometimes light might not be a wave, he couldn't explain why."

Philip Leonard is an interesting experimental physicist. He actually had the opportunity to be the first inventor of many important physical discoveries, but he was always a small step behind.

He missed the discovery of cathode rays, the electron, the discovery of X-rays, and the model of the atom.

That is to say, Leonard himself discovered that cathode rays are negatively charged; he made an instrument that almost took X-ray photos; Space is relatively empty.

It sounds like a super awesome discovery, but...

The final discovery of electrons fell on Thomson; the discovery of X-rays made Roentgen a German physicist; Rutherford proposed the universally accepted model of atomic nuclei through a-particle scattering experiments!

All Nobel Prizes!
By the way, when Leonard was studying the emission of light, he also correctly speculated that the emission of light is related to the release and return of electrons, but unfortunately, he did not go further.

What is this after?

It's the energy level orbit proposed by Bohr, the master of quantum mechanics!

Still a Nobel Prize!

And each of them is the most gold-rich physics award among the Nobel Prizes! (except Rutherford)
Two years ago, he discovered the correct nature of the photoelectric effect through experiments: the generation of the photoelectric effect is only related to the frequency of light, and has nothing to do with the brightness.

(The so-called photoelectric effect simply means that when light shines on a metal plate, an electric current will be generated, that is, "photoelectricity".)
However, Leonard's experiment proved that if the frequency is not enough, no matter how strong the light is, the photoelectric effect will not appear.And if the frequency is high enough, even a very weak light intensity can produce the photoelectric effect.

This is completely contrary to common sense.

Or, it is completely deviated from the light fluctuation.

Professor Kleiner of the University of Bern in front of him naturally read Philip Leonard's paper, stroked his beard and said to Einstein, "You continue to talk."

Einstein said, "This is what my paper is about. Leonard can't explain it. Guess who can?"

Professor Kleiner looked at Einstein and asked, "You?"

"Yes!" Einstein said, pausing for a moment to feel that it was inappropriate, and added, "No! It should be Professor Planck! I think I can use his Planck constant to explain the photoelectric effect and prove that Light actually has duality."

After Einstein finished speaking, he handed the paper to Professor Kleiner and looked at him with joy.

Professor Kleiner adjusted his glasses, only looked at the beginning of Einstein's thesis, and said, "Duality?"

Einstein quickly said: "Yes, to put it another way, light is not only a wave, but also a particle."

After hearing this, Professor Kleiner immediately returned the paper to Einstein, and said, "I'm not listening to sleep talk, am I? You want to use a paper to prove that the basic laws of physics since 1678 are actually wrong? That's two hundred dollars. ……two hundred……"

Einstein continued: "226 years."

Professor Kleiner said: "That's right, you want to refute the firm laws of physics since 226 years! What a joke! You still want to understand and then come to me, you young people always feel that you can shock the world with an idea and become A great man like Newton was actually far from it."

After listening to Professor Kleiner's words, Einstein's heart immediately turned cold, as if he had eaten a lump of ice in the cold winter, but he finally got an appointment with a professor and had to fight for it.

"Professor Kleiner, you should still remember the miraculous oriental scientific genius Li Yu. He has proved that Professor Planck's formula is correct by rigorous mathematics, rather than making it up. So, I think Mr. Planck That's right."

Professor Kleiner took his hat from the table and put it on, then said: "You mean, Planck also thought that light was a particle? I never heard about it at the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin."

"But, Professor Kleiner, if you read my paper in its entirety, you might find that I'm right..." Einstein insisted.

Professor Kleiner didn't want to do this. He turned around and said, "I'm not an editor of a small magazine. I don't have time to read ridiculous papers. What's more, you are not even a professional physics researcher."

Einstein was quite sad when he saw the figure of Professor Kleiner leaving.

His original wish was to be a university lecturer after graduation, but when he was studying at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, because of a bad relationship with the professor, he was unwilling to write a letter of recommendation, so he did not have the opportunity to enter the university as a physicist. professor of science.

Einstein returned home listlessly on his bicycle.

His wife, Mileva, asked curiously, "Uncomfortable at work today?"

Einstein sat down slumped: "No."

Mileva asked again: "Then why do you look like this?"

Einstein took out his thesis: "I managed to make an appointment with a professor of physics at the University of Bern today, but he just listened to my opening report and said he was not interested at all."

Knowing that Einstein's long-standing dream was to engage in physics research, Mileva encouraged him: "If you think it is correct, you can publish the paper."

Einstein said: "Without the signature of the supervisor or professor, those formal academic journals are not willing to review manuscripts at all."

Mileva said: "Do you have to review the manuscript?"

Einstein said: "Of course, otherwise, if there is an error in the publication, it will be even more difficult to turn around. But now no one believes my theory at all."

Mileva thought for a while and said, "That Chinese man Li Yu before, you can find him."

Einstein's eyes lit up: "That's right, I can send the article to him to read first!"

Einstein immediately came to the desk, copied the paper, and sent it to the capital according to Li Yuliu's address.

He didn't even think it was fast enough, and planned to send a telegram in advance to tell him about it.

It is a pity that the director of the Patent Office has not left these days, so he cannot use the telegraph machine of the Patent Office, and can only send telegrams at the Telegraph Office at his own expense.

The speed of the telegram is fast.

When Li Yu returned to his residence in the capital, he immediately saw Einstein's telegram.

"My dear friend from the East, Mr. Li Yu, I recently completed a thesis on explaining the photoelectric effect. As discussed with you before, I boldly used Planck's quantum theory, which I think can perfectly explain the photoelectric effect. But But no one around could understand or even accept it, and the professors were even less willing to discuss physics with a temporary third-level patent officer like me. So I thought of you, and I always remember the weekend when I talked about physics with you heartily, it reminded me of I told you a Chinese legend about bosom friend. I hope you can carefully examine my thesis, it is on the way to mail. In addition, it will be better to communicate by telegram when the time comes.”

Feng Ling said to Li Yu: "Sir, this German seems to be very rich. It's rare for a private telegram to be sent so long."

Feng Ling counted the numbers: "According to the current price of 20 cents per word, this private telegram cost more than [-] silver dollars."

Li Yu laughed and said, "Whether you have money or not is another matter, but you are very talented."

Einstein's income at the Berne Patent Office in Switzerland was about 4000 Swiss francs a year, which definitely belonged to the high-income group.

There is a one-to-one correspondence between the Swiss franc and the French franc.

At present, the income of ordinary French people is around 300-800 francs.

If converted into U.S. dollars, Einstein’s annual income of $800 is indeed good, allowing his family to live at least a middle-class life in Bern.

As soon as he got a temporary job at the patent office in Bern, Switzerland, he wrote to his wife Mileva: "We are going to be very rich soon."

Of course, the requirements of this position are not low, to be precise, it is not a "little employee", it should be said to be an engineer.

The job advertisement is very clear: Higher education in mechanical technology or physics is required, and mastery of German, French, and Italian is required.

This requirement alone can wipe out a large number of so-called pseudo-public intellectuals who "are in the United States and just got off the plane" in modern times.

Not to mention the very low university penetration rate at the beginning of the twentieth century.

(End of this chapter)