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

If you stay in Europe for a long time, you will find that the area here is really small, especially if you don’t count Russia’s land. Europe is only more than 400 million square kilometers, and it is divided into so many countries. It will be true if you don’t get the EU. Didn't get it right.

Departing from Berlin by train, I arrived in Amsterdam within a day. As soon as I got off the train, Lu Bicheng asked a lot of Chinese people who came to the Netherlands a question: "Why is the Russian flag planted here?"

It is definitely impossible for Li Yu to laugh at her, because he can't tell the difference clearly.

The flags of the two countries are very similar.

More than 100 years later, in 2015, the Turks protested against Russia and originally wanted to smash their embassy, ​​but they made a mess and smashed the Dutch embassy.

What the Dutch consul later said on social platforms was very funny: "Tonight, the angry Turkish people got it wrong again and are throwing eggs at us!"

The word "again" is very essence!

Only hardcore Dutch fans seem to be able to tell the difference.

Now that Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands has sent a letter, the first stop must be the Royal Palace in Amsterdam.

The palace, which was recently the city hall of Amsterdam, was recently renovated.

Most of the royal palaces in Europe are very luxurious, but compared with some palaces in China, the internal area is actually not particularly large.

Queen Wilhelmina summoned Li Yu and Lu Bicheng in the main hall. When the two entered, Lorenz, Peter Zeeman, and Van Torf, three Nobel Prize winners, were waiting. Onnes, who was not the Three Musketeers, And van der Waals were also there.

Van Toff won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in the first year of 1901, but the Three Musketeers were so dazzling that many people didn't know him at all.

The queen had not arrived at this time, so Li Yu warmly shook hands with several senior scientists one by one to pay tribute.

In the early years of the Netherlands, there was quite a scientific background, such as Huygens and Leeuwenhoek who were at the same time as Newton.However, there was a break for quite a long time, until Lorenz and others turned out again.

Soon, Queen Wilhelmina and her husband, Duke Hendrick, will arrive.

Queen Wilhelmina is 24 years old this year, only three years older than Lu Bicheng, and looks very young.

Half a step behind her is her husband, Duke Hendrick. I have to say that being the queen's husband is still a bit embarrassing.Duke Hendrick has repeatedly claimed that being a consort is loud, unseemly, and has no power at all.

After Queen Wilhelmina took her seat, the crowd bowed to her.

Wilhelmina said in fluent English: "I have heard about the two unusual people from the mysterious East, and it is true."

In Europe, even in later generations, the English level of the five Nordic countries is very high, and the accent is even more correct than that of many British people.

After all, it is a small country, so it is 100% necessary to know several foreign languages.

Queen Wilhelmina can speak not only Dutch and English, but also French, Latin, and German. Considering that many of Li Yu's articles are written in English, she chose English.

Li Yu knew very well that this was out of respect for him, otherwise the Queen should still speak her mother tongue, Dutch or French, in formal occasions.

Li Yu said respectfully, "Thank you Queen for your appreciation."

Lu Bicheng bowed slightly, and returned a Chinese court salute.

Queen Wilhelmina said: "Nowadays, the deeds of the two are everywhere, the pride of the scientific world, the pink lightning in the literary world."

Well, two more words.

The queen continued: "Mr. Academician, I have specifically asked Mr. Van Tolf and Mr. Lorenz about your achievements in science. Both of them gave you an astonishing evaluation."

Li Yu said modestly: "Senior is too famous."

The queen said: "Eight years ago, the thousand-year-old Li Hongzhang of your country visited our country. I was deeply impressed by the appearance of him and many of his entourage. It is a pity that I cannot leave the Netherlands at will, otherwise I really want to go to the East."

To the Chinese, Queen Wilhelmina's address to Li Hongzhang is a bit strange, but they think the emperor is long live, and Li Hongzhang is the most powerful person under the emperor, so there is nothing wrong with calling him thousand years old.At that time, the welcome ceremony for Li Hongzhang was very grand, and the five characters "Li Hongzhang, a thousand years old" were even formed in the air with fireworks, which made Li Hongzhang amazed.

Li Yu said: "The East has a brilliant culture. If you can't go there, the queen can still learn a thing or two through books."

The queen nodded: "Yes, I already have such an idea. The beginning is the Star Wars series between the two of you."

Li Yu smiled and said, "The description of oriental culture in this series is still a bit off."

"After all, it has aroused my interest," the queen said again, "We, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, have always attached great importance to science. If you are willing, sir, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences is willing to grant you the post of foreign academician."

"This is my honor," Li Yu said.

Naturally, he couldn't refuse, and the number of foreign academicians awarded by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences was much less than that of the British Royal Society, and those awarded were all at the level of great gods such as Madame Curie, Einstein, and Planck.

Afterwards, the queen took out a medal and presented it to Li Yu, and took another medal and presented it to Lu Bicheng.

Medals are relatively common, mainly for civilians.The Dutch royal family has donated nearly [-] pieces in total.

Medals also have levels, which are divided into the high-level Lion Medal and the ordinary-level Nassau Medal, each of which is subdivided into three smaller levels.

What the queen bestowed on Li Yu was the commander-level medal in the middle level of the Lion Medal.

And Lu Bicheng is a knightly medal in the middle level of the Nassau Medal.

These two medals are quite commemorative.

After the ceremony, the queen took Li Yu and Lu Bicheng to visit the magnificent palace together, and showed several famous Rembrandt paintings collected by the royal family.

Then came the grand state banquet.

The Dutch state banquet is a typical "small but refined", not as varied as France.

There are only four dishes in total, and the name is very famous. The simple translation is clear soup, filet steak, baked potatoes and dessert.

Of course, this kind of solemn Western food is more of an etiquette nature. Except for a few countries, the dishes are just like that.

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The next day, Li Yu went to Leiden University to attend a scientific seminar held by Lorenz.

Several big names in science were present. Although Van Tolf won the Nobel Prize a year earlier than Lorenz, he had to regard Lorenz as the leader of Dutch science.

Lorenz said to Van Torff: "No milk delivery today?"

Fantov said with a smile: "It's been a long time since I gave it away."

Earlier, Van Tolf was not very rich, so he worked part-time to deliver milk to nearby communities.

Even when he won the Nobel Prize in 1901, the newspaper report added a sketch about Van Tolf's milk delivery.So Fantoff the Milkman and Fantoff the Chemistry Prize have become deeply ingrained in people's minds and have become a good talk.

Although Van Tolf is not very well-known, he is by no means an ordinary person, but the reason for winning the Nobel Prize in 1901 was not about his more well-known space chemistry.

It is said that the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is also awarded to the field of space chemistry.

To put it simply, Van Toff first proposed that molecules have a three-dimensional structure. For example, the carbon atoms that make up the human body will expand four chemical bonds around; the three-dimensional structure of diamond makes it so hard and so on.

In the eyes of later generations, this matter is as simple as common sense, but it is not easy to come up with such a theory because even the existence of molecules has not been completely confirmed more than 100 years ago.

After Li Yu took his seat, Lorenz asked in surprise, "Miss Bicheng didn't come?"

"She doesn't seem to get up yet," Li Yu said, scratching her head, "and she doesn't understand profound science, so she can't get in the way when she comes."

"Like?" Peter Zeeman wondered, "Why do you say like, don't you know if you got up or not?"

Li Yu said, "I definitely don't know."

"Sure!" Peter Zeeman was even more puzzled, and then opened his mouth wide, "Could it be that..."

Li Yu explained: "We are not husband and wife."

After saying this, everyone in the audience was shocked: "Impossible! Unreasonable! It shouldn't be!"

Li Yu was a bit overwhelmed by the series of three in a row, but after thinking about it carefully, this matter should be dealt with when returning to China, otherwise there would be too many misunderstandings, and it would not be good for a girl in Lu Bicheng; besides, cough cough!

At this time, it is better to change the topic first, Li Yu said: "Professor Onnes, I heard that you are building a low temperature laboratory?"

"Yes, Professor van der Waals and I are going to challenge absolute zero," Onnes said.

Li Yu said: "I think what the two professors want to achieve is the liquefaction of helium?"

This is a matter in the field of thermodynamics. Li Yu's two famous early papers were on thermodynamics, and they were very important, so it is natural for everyone to think that Li Yu has a lot of knowledge in classical physics, especially thermodynamics.

"Sir, you're right, but it's not going to be easy," Onness said.

Li Yu said: "If there is a chance, we can jointly conduct low temperature experiments."

Onnes is quite short of manpower, and it is not uncommon for research on low temperature to exist in many places. He said: "I would like to, but this is a somewhat dangerous experiment. Even some of my students are afraid of it." unwilling to participate."

Li Yu said: "It doesn't matter, if there is no danger at all, science will be a smooth road."

Onnes gave a thumbs up: "Your Excellency's spirit of exploration is admirable."

Onnes was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1913 for his discovery of superconductivity.

How much is also a bit of a coincidence.

And at the beginning, superconductivity is not the key, the most troublesome thing is to prepare liquid helium. With the low temperature of liquid helium, many low-temperature physical phenomena can be discovered.

It can be said that superconductivity is the last highlight of classical physics.

The most effective way to achieve low temperature is liquid gas. At present, there is only one gas left in the world that has not been liquefied: helium.

As early as six years ago, Dewar, the British Chemistry Prize, successfully completed the liquefaction of the penultimate gas, hydrogen, at an astonishing temperature of minus 260 degrees Celsius, which is 13K.

And liquid helium is as low as 4K.

Although the difference between the two is only 9K, it is a great challenge to current physics.

The entire physics community is watching the matter.

In fact, even if superconductivity has not been discovered, the Nobel Committee will award Onnes a medal just for the preparation of liquid helium.

As for Li Yu, he naturally wanted to attack Superconductor.

The reason is that Onnes only discovered superconductivity, that is, the phenomenon that the resistance of metals suddenly disappears.

But low-temperature physics is far more than superconductivity. The most typical one is complete diamagnetism, which is how magnetic levitation comes about.

Even diamagnetism makes more sense for later applications.

Therefore, Li Yu can propose complete diamagnetism after Onnes proposed superconductivity, which is a discovery that can win the Nobel Prize together.

Furthermore, Li Yu is more familiar with superconductivity, because before Li Yu traveled, China's research on superconductivity was indeed very strong.

As mentioned above, sometimes the Nobel Prize is issued early.Otherwise, China's Zhao Zhongxian can win a Nobel Prize for high-temperature superconductivity (only a year away, which is a pity).

Li Yu wants to lay the foundation for domestic research on superconductivity earlier, so as to help him win the Nobel Prize.

It's just that this incident will be relatively late, until the end of the 1980s, when Li Yu may have passed away.

But there are still a few similar characters, and it was during the period of the Republic of China. Since Li Yu has time-traveled, he must help them win the Nobel Prize.

Establishing as many images of scientific experts as possible will be of great benefit to the early take-off of domestic education and technology.