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

Chapter 40
Cixi still looked at the three of them with lukewarm eyes, and she said lightly: "Timothy Li, tell me first, what's wrong with it?"

Sweat was about to seep out of Yikuang's forehead, and he coughed lightly, wanting to remind Timothy Li.

Timothy Lee said to himself: "Honorable Queen Mother, the deduction of the theory of evolution follows the scientific method, but the evidence in it is a little insufficient."

"Oh?" Cixi raised her eyes, "That means Aijia, heck, all people didn't transform from apes?"

"No! There is not much problem with Darwin's statement on this point, it just lacks some fossil evidence."

The hearts of Yikuang and Li Yu who had just fallen to the bottom of the sea slowly rose up again.

Li Yu really wanted Timothy Li to become a screenwriter, and he had to make several twists and turns in every word. He was sincerely looking for excitement!
Cixi was obviously also surrounded by Timothy Li: "Why is it right for a while, and wrong for a while?"

Timothy Lee said: "It is wrong because it is right; it is right because it is wrong."

This time, even Rong Lu next to him was confused: "Mr. Bishop, if I remember correctly, you are a Christian. How come you have been in the Qing Dynasty for decades and you also like to play Buddhism?"

"Lord Zhongtang, it is precisely because I am a missionary that I will never question God; but after years of study, I believe that the theory of evolution is also God's will. God designed everything at the beginning and gave the original motivation."

Li Yu let out a long sigh of relief. Although his explanation was very ridiculous, it can be considered that he mixed himself into it.

Timothy Richard is a Protestant sect that is more radical and respects science in the Christian sect.If they are conservative and devout Catholics, I am afraid they cannot escape the name of deceiving the king today.Because at that time, the most violent objections to the theory of evolution were the believers.

As for Lord Kelvin and others, there are more scientific doubts.For example, Darwin himself once estimated that according to his evolutionary logic, it would take at least a billion years for the evolution of life to develop into its present variety.According to Kelvin's best thermodynamic estimation, the lifespan of the earth is only about [-] million years, which is not enough at all, so he questioned the theory of evolution.

Of course, we all know now that Kelvin’s estimate has a greater deviation, and the actual age of the earth is about 45 billion years.As for life, it began to appear more than 30 billion years ago.

Fortunately, Timothy Richard is not pedantic. After all, Protestantism does not recognize the Pope like Catholicism, nor does it have a supreme institution.The various small factions have a great time playing by themselves, with various opinions emerging in an endless stream, and there are no special constraints.

In addition, he is a person who attaches great importance to education. When he first came to China more than 20 years ago, he vigorously promoted the heliocentric theory, and he is also very enthusiastic about science.

And the Qing court at that time strongly opposed anyone preaching in the school, so he is right today.

But Cixi frowned slightly: "So, is it really a monkey?"

Timothy Li smiled and said, "Queen Mother, this is evolution, not a change from a monkey."

"Tell Aijia carefully." Cixi still didn't want to give up.

"Queen Mother, I only have a brief understanding of it in the newspaper. As for the mystery, I really can't answer it for you. Maybe you can find an excellent teacher of western learning to solve your problems in the palace."

Cixi nodded: "Your suggestion is good."

Cixi is preparing to contact the wives of ministers from various countries, and also learn from them to hold salons, open their eyes, and chat, after all, no one can bear to stay in the palace for a long time.

But if you don't understand anything and make a fool of yourself in front of the ministers' wives, you will lose face a lot. Our Lafayette loves face the most, so it must not be done!And if you want to understand the West, you really need someone who understands Western learning by your side.

Cixi said with a little envy: "Yikuang, you have found a good teacher of Western learning."

Yikuang said: "Queen Mother, this Mr. Li Yuxiao is indeed well-informed and omniscient."

Cixi glanced at Li Yu, and Li Yu's soul was almost scared. See what I'm doing, I don't want to enter the palace!
Fortunately, Cixi also shook her head, "Yikuang, the Yu Geng you mentioned earlier should come back."

Yikuang said: "Back to the Empress Dowager, the slaves have already dispatched a telegram, I believe they are already making preparations."

Or Yu Geng's two daughters are more suitable.

"That's good." Cixi thought for a while and then said, "It's rare to see one of us who understands Western learning today. Your name is Li Yu, right? The Ai family wants to test you."

"Your Majesty, please ask a question, and I will know everything."

Li Yu thought to himself, I'm afraid you may have some silly questions!

Cixi flicked the tea leaves with her long fingernails, and said: "Actually, Sigege mentioned it more or less before, saying that you can make the sound of the stage louder by simply using a few water tanks. Recently, Prince Qing also He told me a lot of things he learned about the sky, I think you taught it. Then Aijia is going to test you, how many stars are there in the sky?"

Cixi just asked casually, but such a broad question is really difficult to answer.Just like a person who has never played basketball asked Jordan how to play basketball well, there is almost no way to speak.

Li Yu could only limit the conditions first, and said: "The Queen Mother, if you look with the naked eye, you can see more than 3000 stars in the sky."

This is more rigorous. Strictly speaking, the eyes can see more than 6000 stars, that is, stars with the lowest visual magnitude of 6.But half of it is below the horizon, and the earth is "lying down" on its rotation, so the stars in the southern hemisphere cannot be seen naturally.

"That's all?" Cixi obviously didn't believe it, "Have you counted it?"

Good guy, Lafayette actually has a bit of a way to raise the bar on the modern Internet.

"Queen, this is the result of years of statistics by scientists from various countries. Of course, if you use a telescope, you can see more."

As soon as this matter was mentioned, Yikuang also cheered up: "Queen Mother, don't you have a telescope?"

Cixi said: "Oh, I almost forgot about it. Unfortunately, no one in the palace knows how to use it. They just look at it blindly. I have seen the moon a few times, but it is not clear."

Li Yu had an idea: "Queen Mother, I can help you observe the beautiful rings of Saturn... Ah, there is a ring of light around Zhenxing. It is very beautiful. You will absolutely like it."

At that time, people called Saturn the town star, because the ancients observed that Saturn would travel through one of the 28 constellations every year, and seemed to be stationed in the 28 constellations in turn, called "Sui Zhen Yi Su", that is, the town star.

Cixi became interested: "A halo around the stars? It sounds interesting."

Observing the rings of Saturn is the most basic thing for astronomical telescopes. Li Yu was good at astrophysics and quantum mechanics during his college years, which was a piece of cake for him.

(End of this chapter)