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

Chapter 372 Defense
Back at the Cavendish Laboratory, Rutherford and Owen Richardson were sorting out the data, with some other Cavendish Laboratory researchers helping.

Although Rutherford is not the director yet, everyone can see Thomson's attitude towards him, and Rutherford has already gained a lot of fame, so when he starts, many people will help.

What's more, the research is in the very popular field of ray, and there are super scientific stars like Li Yu. Everyone wants to see what they are doing.

A researcher named Harold even brought his daughter Lilian who loves mathematics and science.Of course he brought it for a good reason: Lillian was in love with Owen Richardson.

Owen Richardson's family was engaged in mathematics, and later his sister married a physicist.

Rutherford is a relatively open-minded person, and he does not reject this phenomenon. Instead, he joked with him: "I hope that your energy during work will not be attracted by things other than research."

Owen Richardson laughed loudly: "You didn't see the wonderful thing about Li Yu and that beautiful Bicheng girl in heaven yesterday."

"What good thing?" Lilian asked curiously first.

Owen Richardson proudly said: "I think this matter can be put on the "Daily Mail". It is definitely a popular news."

"Oh? So interesting?" Rutherford didn't want to sort out the data anymore, and urged, "Tell us quickly."

Owen Richardson swaggered and sat down: "I have always heard that oriental women have a charm different from our western women, which seems to be called 'shyness' in Chinese. Oh, I saw it yesterday, as expected! The beauty is beyond description, I now I really envy Li Yu to death!"

Lilian pouted: "Then you can find an oriental girl."

Only then did Owen Richardson feel that he had slipped his tongue, and hurried over to coax his girlfriend: "Hey, I'm not from the East, so of course I like you like this!"

Lilian was still dissatisfied: "I'm angry, you figure it out!"

He left after speaking.

"Too direct!" Owen Richardson spread his hands helplessly, "Now I envy Li Yu even more."

"Why do you envy me?" Li Yu also walked into the Cavendish laboratory at this time.

Rutherford said with a smile: "Now he is eager to find some more oriental books for Lilian to read, like the "Dream of the Red Chamber"."

"A Dream of Red Mansions?" Li Yu asked in surprise, "There is already an English translation?"

Rutherford said: "It should be just an excerpt. The translator, Mr. Davis, said it was from the third meeting of the hero and heroine, and translated one of the poems."

Li Yu had read "A Dream of Red Mansions", and immediately remembered that it was the first time Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu met.

However, the translator Davis himself admitted: "The degree of understanding of "Dream of Red Mansions" is limited, and we can only try to preserve the original appearance of the work."

Due to national power and cultural penetration, it is actually very easy for Chinese to understand many literary classics by foreigners, but it is too difficult for foreigners to understand Chinese classics.

Li Yu said with a smile: "If you want to know more about Dongfang, it's better to live there for a year or two."

Owen Richardson said: "No, it's good for Lilian and Miss Bicheng to get in touch more in the future. After all, she is also a popular female writer and knows English. It is not surprising to participate in cultural salons."

Knowing what Richardson was thinking, Rutherford jokingly said, "I'm afraid you also want Miss Lilian to learn more of the oriental taste you've been dreaming of from Miss Bicheng."

Owen Richardson was poked at the center, but he didn't hide it: "If I want to tell the truth, it's better to be an oriental woman."

Li Yu laughed: "I know why Miss Lilian wants to run out, it seems that your ability to deal with girls is not as good as dealing with mathematics and physics."

Owen Richardson countered with a smile: "Every other! But I am serious about the cultural salon. Lilian knows many celebrities in the circle. I will invite Miss Bicheng when she recovers in a few days."

Now there are indeed many cultural salons who really want to invite Lu Bicheng, because a best-selling female writer is too rare, and the British can't help but think of the three Bronte sisters who dominated the entire European literary world back then.

Although strictly speaking, the Star Wars series is nothing more than science fiction, but everyone likes it.

There are many benefits for Lu Bicheng to communicate more with people in the cultural circles, and in terms of Chinese culture, Lu Bicheng, as the first of the four talented women in the Republic of China, is much higher than Li Yu.

At best, Li Yu can recite some ancient poems and essays he learned in school, and he can't even write the most basic brush calligraphy. , considered a time difference.

Several people chatted for a while and began to sort out the experimental data.

The high-altitude data alone is enough to explain the problem, and it can basically be concluded that the rays come from the universe; and the underwater test is also important evidence, and it shows that the intensity of the rays is extremely high.

The correspondence between the two is a very good theoretical result.

They finished the dissertation in no time.

Rutherford and Owen Richardson must have insisted that Li Yu be the first author.

In fact, based on the current situation in the scientific community, there is basically only one author of the paper, so many people who have done a lot of auxiliary work have been ignored.

Li Yu is not a stingy person, and the two of them have helped a lot.Li Yu is also very clear that he is strong in theoretical ability, and these big guys from the Cavendish Laboratory must be better at experiments.

Another key point is that the current experimental equipment is too crude, unlike when I was in college, all experimental equipment had to be made by hand.

Although the results of this cosmic ray are relatively preliminary, it only verifies the existence of cosmic ray, and does not derive its energy, source, classification and other parameters.But it is still an incredible thing to publish, which instantly broadens human vision, because it shows that there are so many mysteries beyond the universe that it is unimaginable.

Rutherford had a private discussion with Li Yu: "I don't know a lot about astronomy, but after reading your astronomy papers, I know the existence of extragalactic galaxies. Could they come from these distant galaxies?"

Li Yu said: "It's possible, maybe even farther away. Most of the rays with less energy may come from within the Milky Way. Our research is just the beginning. When solar eclipses and solar flares occur, we will continue to Do a lot of follow-up testing."

Later generations discovered that the particles with the highest energy in cosmic rays have reached an unimaginable level: the energy of a particle is as high as 3×10 eV.

eV is electron volt, which is a very small unit. After Thomson discovered the electron, he found that its energy was very small, so this unit was used.

But at the level of 10 to the 20th power eV, it is already possible to use joules (J), after all, they are all energy units.

That's about 50 joules.What is this concept: equivalent to the kinetic energy of a 1kg weight falling from 5 meters!

My mother, this is just the energy of a microscopic particle!
The name of this particle is also very loud: oh my god particle.My god particle.

Physicists are sometimes funny with names.

The small team of Li Yu, Rutherford, and Owen Richardson accomplished very meaningful achievements, and after they were published, they really attracted the attention of the entire scientific community.

But the first thing Li Yu has to do is to complete his doctoral defense in Cambridge.

The examiners of the defense are all old acquaintances: Thomson, Sir Rayleigh, Wilson and so on.

The process was almost like a speech process, because they had long tacitly agreed to give Li Yu a doctoral title in their hearts, even if he just produced something, let alone such a real result.

As for the questioning stage, several people only asked some routine questions.

For example, Thomson asked: "Why did you choose this subject?"

This is a very random question, Li Yu said: "Because it will have great inspiration for modern physics, especially in the field of particles."

Thomson himself is engaged in particle physics, and asked: "You mean that there is a lot of room for discovery in particle physics?"

Li Yu replied: "Yes, in addition to the known particles, there are many different particles in the microscopic state, just like there are many kinds of organs that make up human beings. Since the world is so rich and colorful, the elementary particles that make up the world must also be rich. Colorful."

Thomson was very satisfied with Li Yu's answer: "Your answer has already reflected a profound philosophy of physics. I have no other questions."

Lord Rayleigh didn't seem to be asking a question, he was just chatting: "Do you think you are a physicist, or a mathematician, or an astronomer, or even an engineer? By the way, and a writer?"

Li Yu smiled and said, "It doesn't matter how I answer this question, the most important thing is how others see me."

Rayleigh also smiled and said, "We are considering what kind of doctorate title to award you. It seems that any one is suitable. Now it seems that we can only make do with the topic of the thesis and decide it as a doctorate in mathematical physics."

If it is a later generation, it will certainly not put mathematics and physics together, but there were indeed many such titles in the early twentieth century.

Because many current physicists originally studied mathematics, there is one in front of them: Thomson.

Li Yu continued to chat with them for a while, and the defense meeting ended in a very relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.

Li Yu obtained a doctorate from the University of Cambridge. Although the sequence is a bit strange, he already has several academician titles, but he has many certificates, and he will not refuse anyone who comes.

Not only that, the Royal Society also awarded Li Yu a Royal Medal.

This is the highest honor of the Royal Society. It used to be called the "Queen's Medal". It is only awarded twice a year, which is very rare.Even in Li Yu's last life, only about 400 pieces were distributed, and one-fifth of the winners won the Nobel Prize.

Huggins, president of the Royal Society, handed a silver-plated medal to Li Yu and said, "Congratulations, this is a testimony of honor and the starting point of honor."

Lord Kelvin said: "It is indeed only the starting point of honor. I think that after a few years, Li Yu, you are very likely to be awarded the title."

The British royal family can also grant titles to foreigners, but very, very few.

In the evening, Lord Kelvin invited Li Yu to dinner. The dishes were very good, basically reaching the level of a British state banquet, but Li Yu had eaten before, and it was just like that...

It's nothing more than a more refined approach, and a little more etiquette.

If you have seen some dishes of Michelin restaurants on TV, you will know it.In fact, it's the situation and the difficulty of cooking that dazzle. As for the taste, I can only tactfully say that different people have different opinions.

Lord Kelvin took a bite of the strawberry meringue pie and praised: "It is very rare to invite the chef of Buckingham Palace to cook."

After taking a bite of the Windsor mutton vanilla pie, Li Yu said, "It's really remarkable."

Lord Kelvin continued to ask: "I have listened carefully to your thesis defense on cosmic rays, and it seems that this is a topic with great potential for development."

At this time the chef brought up a Queen's Salad.

"Thank you!" Li Yu said to the chef, and then continued to say to Lord Kelvin, "My lord's insight is really good. In fact, we can only count as a part of the experiment now, and we need to conduct experimental tests around the world."

Lord Kelvin has lived at such an advanced age, and he quickly understood the meaning of Li Yu's words: "That is to say, this research still needs a lot of experimental funds in the future?"

Li Yu said, "It is true."

Lord Kelvin said: "It's easy! I will let President Huggins approve it as soon as possible, but the research ship may have to wait."

Li Yu said, "I own the boats myself."

Kelvin happily said: "It saved the Royal Society a lot of money, but you can report higher personnel costs and equipment costs, at least you can save money on fuel."

Li Yu understood: "It should be so."

Kelvin took out 10 shillings from his pocket: "I think I still owe you 10 shillings, so take it."

This was a bet the two had made before.

Li Yule said: "Your lord, do you want to surrender and lose half?"

A pound is 20 shillings.

Kelvin also smiled: "Can you still surrender and lose half? You should have told me earlier."

Li Yu said: "My lord seems to have accepted Mr. Rutherford's point of view that there is energy inside the radium atom."

Lord Kelvin said: "After careful consideration, it is indeed a more reasonable explanation. Although my method of estimating the age of the earth is not wrong, but after thinking about it, it seems that there is not enough factual basis to assume that the earth was originally a magma sphere. Science is about evidence. Yes, I am also reasonable, and if I am wrong, I am wrong."

Li Yu praised: "My lord is kind and generous."

Lord Kelvin said: "It's just that I still can't imagine that the earth is hundreds of millions of years old."

Li Yu said with a smile, "Maybe billions of years."

Lord Kelvin said: "That's even more unimaginable. How long does God exist? What does the Holy See think?"

Li Yu said: "Mr. Rutherford estimated the age of the earth by hundreds of millions of years based on the half-life of uranium, but uranium actually has an isotope with a half-life of more than 40 billion years."

Kelvin was shocked: "More than 40 billion years?!"

Li Yu said, "Isn't it exciting?"

"Wait!" said Lord Kelvin. "You mentioned the word 'isotope' just now. What is it?"

Li Yu immediately realized that the concept of isotope had not yet been born.

So he said: "One element can have several forms."

"Dear me!" said Lord Kelvin, "have I drunk too much, or have you drunk too much?"

Li Yu raised his wine glass: "If you don't get drunk, everyone gets drunk. Your lord must take good care of your health. There will be more shocking things in the future."

Lord Kelvin clinked glasses with him and said: "I like you more and more, you are so educated! If it is really like what you said, it is only the lowest level of Chinese culture among Chinese intellectuals, then I really want to know the complete Chinese culture in the future. What's it like."

(End of this chapter)