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

After listening to the speech at the University of Glasgow, Li Yu was about to leave for the European continent.

Although Stockholm has not yet released a candidate, in fact, the British high-level officials have received some reliable news, and there is a high probability that the Chemistry Prize will be awarded to Ramsay and Sir Rayleigh.

After three years of awarding, the Nobel Prize has established a supreme position in the scientific community.And according to the urine nature of European politics at this time, it will definitely be included in the scope of competition.

European countries now understand what the power of science and technology represents, and it is very face-saving for their own country to have a few more Nobel Prizes.

The early Nobel Prizes were indeed influenced by politics many times, and they will meet several times in the next few years.

No wonder.

Among the Nobel Prizes in the first three years, the three major prizes in the natural field representing the power of science and technology are the Physics Prize, the Chemistry Prize, and the Physiology or Medicine Prize. prize.

This is completely unsatisfactory for the British who have always claimed to be the hegemony of European science and technology, especially the lack of physics or chemistry prizes, which really makes the British feel embarrassed.

Germany, France, and the Netherlands have all got it, but if they don't have English, they will definitely not give Sweden a good face.

As a result, the Swedish royal family has long acquiesced in high-level negotiations that it must give Britain a Nobel Prize medal this year.

Ramsay's idea is to go to the nearest France first, meet the Curie couple, and have some academic issues to discuss with them.

Li Yu has no objection, anyway, Europe is not big, it doesn't matter where you settle down first, and you can go to Hachette Publishing House to discuss the release of the Star Wars series.

As for Lord Rayleigh, he took his time and waited for an official letter from Sweden.

A group of people boarded the ship at the London pier. This time they chose a faster route. Instead of going directly to Paris along the Seine, they disembarked at the nearest port of Dunkirk on the other side of the strait and took a train. Much faster in time.

Dunkirk is very close to the British mainland, only 70 kilometers away, which is about the same distance as Hong Kong and Macau.

After getting off the boat, Ramsey took a deep breath first: "Sure enough, France without smog and thick smoke is more suitable for life. If Charles II hadn't sold this land to the French, maybe I could have more money every year." Convenient to come on vacation."

Konoe Zhaoxue had never been to France, and now that he landed on French territory, he was extremely excited. Hearing Ramsay's words, he asked curiously, "It turns out that the British have sold land before."

Li Yu said: "The child has no mother, it's a long story."

In history, the UK was not an island country hanging overseas. They used to have a very vast territory in the European continent. It was not until Dunkirk was sold to France for 40 pounds that they lost their last bridgehead in the European continent.

The survival of these territories can be said to a large extent about the hundreds of years of grievances between Britain and France.

But for a Japanese spy, Li Yu was not in the mood to chat with her about the past between Britain and France.

They got on the train and went straight to Paris.

When they came to the University of Paris, they did not find the Curies.

Li Yu met an old professor in the Faculty of Science, and Li Yu stepped forward and asked, "Sir, where are Mr. Pierre Curie and Ms. Marie Curie?"

The old professor glanced at Li Yu and recognized him: "You are Li Yu?"

Li Yu said, "Exactly."

The old professor said: "The last time you came to the University of Paris, I happened to be on vacation in Marseilles. It was a pity that I couldn't meet you. I didn't expect to see you again so soon."

Li Yu vaguely recognized it: "You are Professor Lippmann?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Lippman reached out and shook his hand, "You actually recognize me."

Lippmann was the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1908 and was the first person to create color photography technology.

It's just that his method is very complicated, requires a long time of exposure, and more importantly, it cannot be reproduced repeatedly, so that it cannot be popularized, and it is more of a scientific research creation.

Li Yu took out the Kodak portable camera he carried with him: "How can I not know about optics? I'm still waiting for the advent of color cameras."

Lippmann, who had seen the camera, said: "I am working on the color photograph thing with the Lumiere brothers, and they seem to have made a lot of progress."

Li Yu smiled and said, "I wish you success, I can't wait to take colorful portraits."

In about two or three years, the first color photographs in the modern sense will appear.

Lippmann said: "If you want to find the Curies, you can go to their laboratory. Oh, it is a place that looks like a warehouse, I hope you are not mistaken."

Lippmann has a very good attitude towards Marie Curie. Last year, Marie Curie just received her doctorate from the University of Paris, and the person in charge of the defense is Professor Lippmann.

It was also through him that people began to change their previous stereotypes: Marie Curie was not just Pierre's assistant.Thus affirming the important position of Madame Curie.

As for the laboratory of the Curies, it is a bit flattering to say that it is a warehouse, after all, there is no such a messy warehouse.

The Curies have already won the Nobel Prize, but they still can't get a better laboratory. Although the University of Paris has agreed to build a new laboratory, it will be several years before it is completed.

However, Li Yu was not going to let Lu Bicheng and Jinwei Zhaoxue go there together, and stopped them: "It's better for you to wait here."

Through the news report about the Nobel Prize winners written by Li Yu at the beginning of the year, Lu Bicheng admired Madame Curie so much that she basically regarded her as a goddess. She didn't want to let go of this opportunity, so she said firmly: "Why not? I Must see her!"

Li Yu said helplessly: "Actually, there is strong radioactivity there, and it's not friendly to... well, barren women."

"Unfriendly? Why?" Konoe Zhaoxue also asked.

Li Yu said, "Because radioactivity is harmful to the human body."

"But I heard that radioactivity is a magical thing, and it can also cure terminal illnesses." Lu Bicheng also sided with Jinwei Zhaoxue.

As early as the year when radium was purified, the reporter had already reported this matter, and the article directly said: "A young good wife and mother, after four years of hard work, finally discovered the miraculous radium, which can cure cancer .”

Li Yu felt confused, so he could only say, "Then let's stay for a while."

Arriving at the laboratory, Li Yu still felt a sense of shabbyness. The dignified Madame Curie, the greatest female scientist in human history, made great discoveries in such a difficult environment.

In later generations, wherever radiation is involved, whether it is hospital X-rays, CT, etc. that ordinary people may come into contact with, or other scientific research institutions, the protection of people is very good.But now, Li Yu could even directly see the pile of radioactive slag outside the house—it was from these tons of slag that radium was extracted.

In the house, Pierre Curie had just returned from the French Academy of Sciences. He sat down and took a sip of water, and said to Mrs. Curie: "It's really disappointing. We still can't get the title of academician of the Academy of Sciences."

The two took reputation very lightly, but they were really short of money and wanted to build a decent laboratory.

Academicians of the Academy of Sciences have a much richer remuneration than university professors. In conversion, it can be as high as tens of thousands of dollars a year, and it may be higher. Everything is linked to the funding of the Academy of Sciences.

Li Yu has not yet turned one year, and by then he will receive huge rewards from the Royal Society, the French Academy of Sciences, and the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Mrs. Curie sighed: "The two houses given to us by the University of Paris on Rue de la Vierre will take seven or eight years to build a laboratory, which is too long."

Pierre Curie said: "If we hadn't donated part of the Nobel prize money to the three scientific organizations, maybe we could have saved a little money."

Marie Curie said: "They are more short of money than we are."

Knowing Madam's temperament, Pierre said instead: "Actually, you should be awarded the Academy of Sciences more than me."

Mrs. Curie didn't care: "Thinking about the red tape gives me a headache. To become an academician, applicants have to visit all the academicians to get their votes. I hate this kind of atmosphere, and I don't even bother to do this kind of thing." .”

Pierre said: "I am the same. It would be best if the Academy of Sciences can take the initiative to award it like Li Yu did."

"Boom boom boom!"

There was a knock on the door.

Madame Curie opened the door, and Li Yu, Ramsay and his party stood there.

Li Yu had met her before, so she didn't need to be introduced, but Lu Bicheng was very excited when he saw Madam Curie: "So you are so beautiful, and you have such extraordinary wisdom!"

Mrs. Curie smiled and said, "You are the rumored talented Bicheng, right? It's a great honor to meet you. You are equally beautiful and talented."

Li Yu saw how Lu Bicheng saw the idol's eyes shining, and said with a smile, "You can take a photo together."

Lu Bicheng was so happy: "It is a dream honor to be in the same frame as Ms. Mary."

Mrs. Curie did not object, so Li Yu acted as a photographer and took a group photo for them.

Mrs. Curie said: "After the photo is developed, be sure to give me one."

After taking the photo, Ramsay took out a paper and said to Mrs. Curie: "After repeated verifications by myself and Professor Rutherford in the authoritative Cavendish Laboratory, I found that what Madam said is correct. , the charge-to-mass ratio of β-ray particles decreases with the increase of particle velocity."

That is, the greater the velocity, the greater the mass.

Mrs. Curie said: "I have thought about this matter for a long time. Now that the experiment has been verified, it shows that the conjecture is not wrong. I think that at least part of the mass of the particle is probably virtual mass or electromagnetic mass. There is even a scholar who said The mass of the particle is electromagnetic mass, but this is a bit bizarre, because if the mass of the particle reaches the speed of light, the mass will become infinite; and when the speed is much smaller than the speed of light, the mass will approach a constant."

Li Yu was stunned and couldn't help exclaiming: "It's simply a unified theory!"

Mrs. Curie wondered: "Great unification? What is this? I just think this phenomenon heralds the possibility of using the dynamics theory of moving charged particles to construct a theory of matter mechanics."

Li Yu admired Madame Curie more and more.

What she proposed and actually recorded is the first relativity effect observed by human beings in history.

So Madame Curie, like Lorenz and others, also had an intersection with the theory of relativity.

Marie Curie discovered extremely radioactive radium from the slag. The β-ray electrons released by the radium element have a very high speed, so that there is an obvious relativistic effect.

Judging from her words, her explanation of the experimental phenomenon cannot be said to be completely unreasonable, and she even saw a bright future for physics from this incident.

Li Yu said with a smile: "I saw it from a draft paper, from a Swiss patent officer."

After that, Marie Curie and Einstein had an excellent relationship, and Einstein was one of the few people who still maintained Marie Curie's reputation during the low period.

But at this time Mrs. Curie had already become famous, and Einstein was still an unknown junior, fishing at work and doing research.

Madame Curie said: "Draft paper? Not yet published?"

Li Yu said, "You should see it soon."

Ramsey asked in surprise, "Mr. Academician, what do you mean, someone will explain this puzzling phenomenon in a few months?"

Li Yu nodded: "Yes, please wait and see."

Ramsay said awkwardly: "If I knew it, I wouldn't spend so much time on it. But since you have read the paper, can you explain it to us first?"

Pierre and Madame Curie were also very curious: "Yes, we promise not to reveal it."

Li Yu took the pen and paper: "To put it simply, I used the mathematical skills of Mr. Lorenz who just won the Nobel Prize last year, a kind of relative transformation."

If you want to fully explain relativistic phenomena, you need to use the theory of weak interactions, but they are still many years away.

Li Yu only performed a mathematical demonstration using a relatively elementary method of relativity.

Even so, Ramsey still can't accept it. After all, he is engaged in chemistry, and his research on radioactivity is entirely due to his position, and he doesn't understand such advanced physical theories at all.

Pierre Curie frowned, expressing that he still had many doubts.

Only Mrs. Curie was mentally prepared: "I welcome new theories, and I really want to see how Mr. Lorenz will feel when he sees these contents."

At this time, someone came to visit again. Since winning the Nobel Prize, there have been countless people visiting. The Curies even thought about moving to a secluded new residence, but it was impossible to do experiments like that.

But today the two were invited by Marie Curie.

They are two very qualified doctors in Paris. Through cooperation with them, they quickly discovered that the rays produced by radium have different effects on various human cells and tissues.

For cancer cells that multiply rapidly, they can be destroyed as long as they are irradiated by radium, which is a good news for cancer patients.

Although not long after its inception, radium has greatly helped medical research, especially making it possible to treat lupus erythematosus and several types of cancer.

The treatment was known outside the world as "radiation therapy," and in Paris it was known as "Curie therapy."

However, doctors don't know much about how to obtain radium and how to use it, so they need to consult the Curies themselves from time to time.

It's a pity that even doctors still only see the benefits of radium, and they still don't know anything about the harm of radioactivity.