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

One of the two doctors, Bouchard, gave Mrs. Curie a purchase order: "Madam, I don't think you should give up the patent right on radium, you can't even imagine how high its price is now." .”

Li Yu glanced at it and found that 2.5 grams of radium bromide cost 187 million francs, or 75 francs per gram, which is 5 US dollars per gram in US dollars.

Sky price!

Therefore, it is really expensive to do some radioactive experiments now. Many people know that radioactive is one of the three popular scientific research projects, but the radioactive materials are too expensive to do experiments at all.

If you waste a little carelessly, your intestines will regret it.

The Curies had long made up their minds to give up the patent rights, and resolutely said: "I can't violate my scientific spirit, otherwise even if I become rich, I will be extremely painful."

Li Yu was very impressed, but he couldn't do it himself.

The environment is different, he has too many things to do.

The doctor still has to study medical issues with the Curies, and Li Yu resigns first, anyway, there is still a chance to meet.

He found Hachette Publishing House, the publisher made up some contract documents, and then settled the previous royalties. The prequel plus the main story, the sales volume in Europe is comparable to that in the United States, that is, close to 70 US dollars.

This is a huge sum of money, so Li Yu dared to invest the money earned in industry into education. If he just wanted to live a better life, the income from royalties and patents was more than enough.

Even royalties and patents are enough to choose only one.

A huge amount of money was remitted to Li Yu's account in HSBC Bank, which is relatively convenient to use everywhere.

Taking a break from its busy schedule, the French Academy of Sciences in Paris also made up for Li Yu's academician ceremony.

The scale of the French Academy of Sciences is not as large as that of the British Royal Society, but the reason is that their threshold is really too high. Even Pierre Curie, who won the Nobel Prize, has not yet been awarded the status of academician.

However, this is also related to Pierre's personality. He doesn't like the worldly way of life, and he always wants to protect the reputation of Mrs. Curie, and wants to enter the Academy of Sciences together.

But the French Academy of Sciences does not accept women, and the relationship between the Academy of Sciences and Pierre Curie is not very good.

Li Yu met Lippmann again at the French Academy of Sciences. He had long been an academician of the French Academy of Sciences, and then there was a super boss: Poincaré, the last person who claimed to have comprehensive knowledge of mathematics and its applications.

Lippmann enthusiastically introduced the two of them: "Academician Li Yu, this Poincaré is very worth mentioning. If you insist on me choosing one of the smartest people in France, I'm afraid I will say him without hesitation." .And you, I think, are the wisest men in the East."

Li Yu said with a smile: "I dare not compare IQ with mathematicians."

Poincaré's thinking is very sensitive: "IQ? I have never heard of this word, but I used 'quotient', which is the quotient of division in mathematics?"

"Yes." Li Yu said.

"Interesting vocabulary." Poincaré adjusted his small glasses. "Besides the illusory metaphors used by Professor Lippmann, we have a real intersection."

Li Yu asked, "What intersection?"

"We all have the dual identity of Academy of Sciences and Academy of Letters," Poincaré said.

Lippmann explained: "Academician Poincaré also, for his popular writing, won the highest honor a writer can receive in France - a member of the French Academy of Letters."

Li Yu said with a smile: "You are still better, I just won a medal from the Faculty of Arts."

"No, no, no!" Poincaré shook his head, "Almost, if you stay in France for an extra year or two, you will be indispensable to the Academy of Arts."

Li Yu asked awkwardly, "Do they accept ladies?"

"I don't think so," Poincaré said.

Li Yu spread his hands: "Then there is no other way."

"I understand, you mean that there is a beautiful female author in the epoch-making Star Wars series, what a pity!" Poincaré sighed, and then whispered to Li Yu, "Actually, after I was awarded the academician of the Faculty of Arts, It has also been criticized by many novelists, guess what they say."

Li Yu thought for a while, "Do you think your level is not enough?"

Poincaré snorted: "What a joke! I just don't have time to devote myself to writing, otherwise what would they do? They said that I received this honor unique to people in the scientific community because the Faculty of Arts also has a function , constantly compiling an authoritative French dictionary; and I help poets and linguists who don't understand mathematics explain what automorphic functions are."

Li Yu said: "Then your writing level is indeed worthy of the academician status of the Faculty of Arts. It turns out that it is a bit one-sided to say that you are a generalist in mathematics."

Poincaré said: "Actually, I don't care about the academician status of the Academy of Arts, but these novelists always want to slander me, I have to accept it, and then fight back. As for you, you have written literary works, but with me. As a scientist, there is also a female author, so there are more topics! I heard them talking about it when I was drinking coffee yesterday afternoon."

Li Yu said with a smile: "In our country, there is a saying that literati look down on each other. I have long been familiar with it."

"Literati are less important," Poincaré repeated, "very reasonable! But I refuted it at the time, because they didn't even explain the settings in it clearly. For example, the specific data about the Millennium Falcon was already in the A No. 40 page seven and thirteen lines mentioned it. But they said that the Millennium Falcon is only the size of two train carriages, which is ridiculous."

Li Yu was stunned: "Even I can't tell it's in such a precise location."

Lippmann handed the two of them a glass of red wine each, and said, "I said it a long time ago, Mr. Poincaré is the smartest person in France! As long as it is a book he has read, it seems to be printed in his mind. If you ask a question, he can tell you exactly where it is on a certain page.”

Li Yu was even more shocked. This kind of photographic memory was exactly the same as Euler, the true god of mathematics, and even better than him.

Memory is a key indicator of intelligence testing. Putting him in later generations, his intelligence is definitely the top-notch, and he can easily pass the test with the strongest brain.

Sure enough, those who engage in mathematics are the least to be messed with. Those who can become well-known mathematicians are all rewarded by God and given a super powerful brain.

Poincaré asked: "From my guess, you should continue to write the follow-up works of Star Wars, because there are still a lot of foreshadowings that can be excavated. Like those third-rate novelists in coffeehouses."

Li Yu laughed and said, "There will indeed be a follow-up work."

"That's about the same!" Poincaré affirmed, "Next time I will fight for you, so that you can also enter the Faculty of Arts. By the way, there is also the beautiful Ms. Bicheng."

Li Yu asked, "Didn't you say they don't accept ladies?"

Poincaré said: "It's too pedantic, and it should be changed long ago! I know that in the United States on the other side of the Atlantic, many schools have begun to accept female students. If women are equally educated, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no next Marie Curie."

Poincaré was a relatively conservative person in terms of accepting female academicians. What he said was actually just the result of rational thinking.

"In addition," Poincaré continued, "I have carefully read the two mathematics books of game theory and fractals and chaos. Although the mathematical ideas in them are very good and I appreciate them very much, I always feel more like a big There are many places to prove urgently.”

In front of such a generalist in mathematics, Li Yu has no need to hide: "Game theory and chaos theory are complex subjects, just like analysis and topology in mathematics, which cannot be completed by only one person."

"You really are very humble. This is my favorite quality among Orientals. You won't forcefully give various reasons to prevaricate, which will only make the description darker!" Poincaré said, "Since you mentioned topology, I just happened to have a very disturbing hypothesis recently, it seems very simple, but it cannot be proven. Simply put, in a three-dimensional space, if every closed curve can shrink to a point, then this space must be a three-dimensional Ball."

Li Yu opened his mouth, sweating profusely. Isn't this the famous Poincaré conjecture?It was indeed proposed this year.

One of the seven major mathematical problems of the later millennium, and the only one to be solved.

Li Yu had no choice but to say: "You were also thinking about the shape of the universe. But I really can't do anything about such a difficult topological problem."

The so-called mathematical "pain scale" has been circulating on the Internet. It is a very interesting sauna show, and the big brothers who come in one by one with tattoos are more awesome.

Often the penultimate entry is topology or modern algebra.

I don't want to explain this thing at all. After listening to it too much, I feel that my wife is insulting my IQ!
The dinner that night was held at the French Academy of Sciences. Although it was only at the level of the Academy of Sciences, it was much better than the chefs who ate at the state banquet in England before.

During the meal, Poincaré talked about the second law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy increase, "Actually, although I agree with this law, it is also not mathematically rigorous. As we all know, once the number of particles exceeds three, it will become It becomes a chaotic system, which cannot be predicted at all. And the law of entropy increase predicts that the universe may go to heat death, which I really cannot accept! Because I can’t even account for three atoms. There are such a huge number of atoms in the universe, how can it be possible to predict them? home?"

Li Yu couldn't talk too much about the Big Bang theory at this time. After thinking about it, he only expressed it in terms of thermodynamics: "The end is not necessarily the end. Even if it goes to heat death one day, it will not be the end of time. Maybe the universe will Waking up again, when heat will flow from cold objects to hot objects, disorder will turn into order, and everything will return to the way it was before."

Poincaré blinked his eyes, pondered for a while and said, "So there is still such a way of dealing with it, although it sounds like a guess."

The next step is to talk about philosophy.Poincaré didn't like fantasy, so he ended the topic.

But after today's meeting, I have a very good impression of Li Yu: "If you need it, I will help you deal with difficult problems in mathematics."

He is the top mathematician in the world, and it is not easy to make such a promise in person.

Someone once wanted to visit Poincaré, but he had already arrived at home, and he waited in the living room for three hours, with only a door in between, so as not to disturb his thinking.

Li Yu said gratefully: "It would be great to have your help. As a reward, I will invite you to visit China in the future."

Lippmann smiled and said nothing: "Academician Li Yu kills two birds with one stone."

-

Li Yu couldn't stay longer in France, so he boarded the train and rushed to Italy without stopping the next day.

Because Planck had sent another telegram, he was already in Rome.

The distance from Paris to Rome may sound like a long distance, but it is actually about the same distance as Beijing to Shanghai.

After nearly a day's train journey arrived at the Rome station, Planck picked up Li Yu and headed for the Holy See Vatican without stopping.

Naturally, Lu Bicheng and Jinwei Zhaoxue couldn't get in, so they had to wait outside.

In the carriage, Li Yu didn't even have time to take a good look at St. Peter's Basilica before entering the main hall.

Several cardinals including Pope Pius X and Mariano welcomed him in costumes.

After Planck and Li Yu got off the car, they said politely, "I have seen His Excellency the Pope."

Pius X said: "You are our guests. In addition to the two, as the founding academicians of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, we have also invited several other outstanding scholars in science."

The Italian mathematician Peano was present, as well as Mach, Ostwald and others who also came from Germany.

After Li Yu shook hands with them one by one, Pius X continued to say to Li Yu: "Dean Planck and Mr. Piano have had many direct exchanges with us before, and they have already agreed to join the Pope. A request from the Academy of Sciences of the Holy See. And for your arrival, myself and Cardinal Mariano are very eager, because without an academician from the East, it would not be complete. Moreover, you have such great significance for today's scientific community. Contribution, considering you are so young, you will be even brighter in the future."

"Thank you, His Excellency Pope, for your compliment," Li Yu said.

Pius X also praised several Italian figures in China by the way: "Looking back at history, we have had long-term contacts with your country, such as Matteo Ricci and Castiglione."

Matteo Ricci was one of the first Catholic missionaries.

Li Yu said: "Mr. Matteo Ricci is not only a preacher, but also brought scientific enlightenment. Together with Mr. Xu Guangqi from China, he translated "Elements of Geometry". We have always been grateful for such a feat."

If it was said before, it would be a bit of a slap in the face of the Holy See: the greatest contribution of missionaries for hundreds of years has been to spread science!

Fortunately, the Holy See has given in now, and even the Academy of Sciences is about to be established, so I don't feel much about it.

Pius X said: "I heard from some people who came back from your country that what impressed them most in the palace of your country was a pair of "Emperor Qianlong's Grand Review" painted by Mr. Castiglione. It can be seen that we The two countries have a deep relationship, and even the emperor of your country loves Italian works."

This sentence made Li Yu feel dizzy.

You must have seen a huge portrait of Qianlong on the Internet. It is a young Qianlong riding on a horse in military uniform holding a bow and arrow.

This painting, which uses Western painting techniques, is from Castiglione's handwriting.

But as for why they could see this painting in the Chinese Imperial Palace, of course it was because the Eight-Power Allied Forces occupied the Forbidden City.

Li Yu bit his lip and said suddenly: "My lord, please forgive me. If you want me to join the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, you must agree to one condition."

Pius X was not surprised: "Speak."

Li Yu said: "Since you mentioned Mr. Castiglione, if you can use the authority of the Pope to help me find the picture scroll that was also from Castiglione's "Heart Writing Zhiping Tu" but was lost overseas, I would be very grateful, and I will also use it." Actual action to repay the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Of course, if the painting is in private hands, I am willing to pay for it.”

"Heart Writing Zhiping Picture" is a picture scroll of characters of Qianlong and his twelve concubines, who were taken away in the war.

Pius X intended to sell Li Yu's face, but a painting was not difficult, so he said, "You don't need to pay for this kind of thing, the Holy See can do it."