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

Chapter 421 The Four Philosophers of Tsinghua University
London, Royal Society.

Lockyer received Li Yu's letter and was shocked after reading it. He immediately went to Cambridge University to find Thomson, the director of the Cavendish Laboratory.

"Professor, you must see this!"

"What's all the fuss about? Could it be that you lost everything in today's horse race?" Thomson said.

Lockyer put Li Yu's paper on Thomson's desk, "I received Li Yu's letter, my God, he actually said that even a tiny hydrogen ion can still be subdivided, I think you will be very interested .”

"Hydrogen ions?" Thomson put on his glasses, "Show it to me."

Thomson spent most of his life studying gas conduction and cathode rays, and was very sensitive to things in the atomic field. After reading it, he immediately realized that Li Yu was really brave. He dared to propose such a shocking theory, but it seemed Can't find any flaws.

Seeing that he didn't speak for a long time, Lockyer asked, "How is it? Is there any problem?"

"At least I can't see the problem," Thomson shook his head, "and he seems to have explained a problem that has puzzled me for a long time."

Although Lockyer is not as famous as Thomson and other bigwigs, he has run "Nature" for so many years, and the number of scientific documents he has read is definitely one of the best. The strange phenomenon of the atomic mass of neon ions?"

This experiment can be said to be one of the two most important experiments Thomson did in his life. The other was of course the discovery of the electron.

Thomson said: "Yes, when I measured the atomic mass of neon ions, I found that even after deducting the charge effect, the atomic mass of neon ions still has two values, one is the mass of 20 hydrogen atoms, and the other is the mass of 22 hydrogen atoms. . I always thought it should be 20. The reason why 22 appears is because the neon ions captured two more hydrogen atoms."

Lockyer had read Thomson's experimental report, "If it is according to Li Yu's statement, it is not what the professor guessed before."

汤姆逊再次看了看李谕的论文，点点头：“现在想想，我的猜测确实过于牵强。为什么氖离子能够俘获氢原子？为什么刚好只是2个？而不是1个、3个、4个、5个？”

Lockyer asked: "Is there any way to test Li Yu's 'isotope hypothesis'?"

Thomson shook his head helplessly: "This should be a matter for chemists, but if chemists can't do it, it will be more difficult to use physical methods, because more accurate mass spectrometers are needed."

"Don't you have the professor's modified mass spectrometer in the Cavendish lab?" Lockyer said.

Thomson said: "The machine is too simple, and it is extremely difficult to measure such precise values. More delicate improvements must be made. Improving experimental instruments is not my strong point."

Thomson studied engineering at first, then switched to mathematics, and finally specialized in physics, and he was biased towards theoretical physics. In terms of experimental ability, he was not much better than Li Yu's little clumsy hand.

Lockyer said sharply: "That is to say, it will take a while to verify Li Yu's statement. If it can be proved, with the current attitude of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, it will definitely be another physics medal."

"It's not that simple," Thomson said. "Just like when Mr. Roentgen won the award for discovering I hope someone can make such experimental equipment... Hey, I thought of a few people."

Lockyer asked, "Who?"

"One is Rutherford in Canada now, and the other is Aston at the University of Birmingham." Thomson said while looking for a letter.

"I know Professor Rutherford, who is Aston?" Lockyer asked.

Thomson said: "I saw a young man when I went to speak at the University of Birmingham last year, and I was very optimistic about him."

Thomson, like his successor Rutherford, belongs to the top Bole, has a terrible vision, and his disciples have a bunch of Nobel Prizes.

Lockyer saw that Thomson was really ready to write a letter, so he said: "It seems that you agree very much with the theory proposed by Li Yu."

"It is indeed the best explanation," Thomson unscrewed the pen. "Otherwise, I really can't think of any better theory to explain why the atomic mass has decimals. There can't be 0.4 or 0.6 atoms, right? In this case, explain Atoms really seem to be subdivided."

Lockyer said: "If the professor has no comments, I will publish it in the latest "Nature" magazine."

Thomson said: "Don't worry, Li Yu has not made any mistakes so far."

After the paper was issued, it immediately caused a lot of discussion among scientists.

There are still many people who oppose the atomic theory, and now Li Yu says that atoms can still be divided, which is like stabbing a hornet's nest.

Fortunately, Li Yu stated at the beginning of the article that isotopes are a hypothesis, which needs to be further proved by experiments.

Typical opponents of atomism such as Mach and Ostwald are even more unacceptable to the isotope theory. They still insist on Thomson's previous hypothesis, that is, neon ions capture other hydrogen atoms, but they can't come up with the corresponding theory. .

But this matter is currently difficult to argue, and we can only hope that better mass spectrometers will emerge.

-

Li Yu, who was in the capital, recently received a letter from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

By convention, Nobel Prize winners have the right to nominate candidates. At this time, Li Yu is nominating candidates for next year’s physics prize.

According to history, it will be Michelson who wins.

Although Li Yu really wanted to vote for Boltzmann or Planck, he had no intention of breaking this order, so he still wrote Michelson.

First, Michelson is indeed worth a Nobel Prize; second, even if Boltzmann is nominated, the safer choice is to wait for Jean Perrin to completely conclude the atomic theory.

After sending the letter, Li Yu prepared to leave for Japan.

Lu Bicheng was working as the head teacher at Beiyang Women's Public School at this time, so naturally she couldn't leave, so Li Yu took Hu Jiayan and several other students from the factory and set off.

But Konoe Zhaoxue also insisted on going together, because her Japanese is the best among these people, and she is also in charge of sales to Japan.

Since this ship still needs to pick up people, it will pass through Qingdao and Shanghai, and then go to Yokohama from Shanghai.

When I arrived in Shanghai, I thought I could continue sailing soon, but I didn't expect that there was a problem with the power of the ship, and I had to spend two days in Shanghai port for repairs.

There was no other way, so Li Yu had no choice but to get off the boat to find Cai Yuanpei and Li Shutong to drink tea and chat.

Cai Yuanpei was quite surprised when he saw Li Yu: "It's only been a month since he left, why did brother Shucai come back?"

Li Yu laughed and said, "I didn't need to get off the boat, but the engine of the boat broke down."

"The bad ones are good!" Cai Yuanpei said, "Brother Yunshui invited me to give a speech at his Jingye Higher Elementary School. You are more helpful than me when you come."

"Which one is Yun Shui?" Li Yu asked.

"Brother Yunshui's full name is Ye Jingyun. He also went to Japan to study education. He is an important figure in Shanghai Xinxue. It is worth meeting you." Cai Yuanpei said.

Li Yu had never heard of him, but since Cai Yuanpei had said so, and asked for the address, it was next to the Shanghai Confucian Temple, which was very close, so he took a walk with him.

This is not a concession, it is an area under the jurisdiction of Shanghai County, one kilometer south of Yuyuan Garden.

Although Jingye School is located next to the Shanghai Confucian Temple, which worships Confucius, it is now a truly new school.

As soon as he arrived at the school gate, Li Yu saw a large plaque with the words "Zou Lu on the seaside" written on it.

Cai Yuanpei introduced it to Li Yu: "These four words were mentioned by Lin Zexu when he was working here."

Jingye School is the oldest high school in Shanghai, and it can be pushed forward for more than 150 years.

After entering the school, the principal Ye Jingyun came out to greet him and said, "Why did Brother Heqing arrive early?"

Cai Yuanpei said: "It was hard for me to catch Li Yu, so I brought you here quickly."

Li Yu laughed and said, "I'm like a monkey."

Ye Jingyun said in shock: "It turned out to be Li Yu, the emperor teacher! That's great! You are such a big shot that I dare not even think of inviting you."

Li Yu said, "The principal is being polite."

Several people entered the school, and Ye Jingyun immediately asked the school staff to summon the teachers and students of the school.

Ye Jingyuan said: "We have just established new subjects such as Natural History and Gezhi, but teachers and students encountered many difficulties in teaching, so I asked Brother Heqing to help."

Cai Yuanpei said: "Now in China, no, the most knowledgeable person in the world is already in front of me. I don't think there is anything wrong with me."

Li Yu quickly said, "Brother Heqing knows better about education. Although I know physics, I don't necessarily know how to teach physics. These are two different things."

Cai Yuanpei didn't care at all: "The premise of being able to teach is being able to, and now there are not many people who can even be able to, so what are you thinking about whether you can teach?"

It made sense, and Li Yu couldn't refute it, so he had to agree: "Brother Heqing will talk about education first, and I will talk about physics, so it's okay, right?"

"It's a deal," Cai Yuanpei said.

After Ye Jingyun made the opening speech, Cai Yuanpei followed. They mainly talked about the importance of Western learning and the introduction of disciplines.

When it was Li Yu's turn to take the stage, I really didn't know what to say. The audience was full of children about ten years old or even younger. If it was okay to give a speech at a university, if it didn't work, it would be TED. Now I can only talk about some physics. short story.

Li Yu suddenly had an idea and said: "I'm afraid you will feel bored if you talk about physics directly. Why don't we do some interesting physics experiments. In fact, physics is everywhere in life, because physics itself explains everything in this world that we can come into contact with." The science of reason.”

Li Yu hoisted a cup with a rope, filled it with water, and spun it around so fast that none of the water in the cup would spill out.

Then he said: "Some people may have seen such a phenomenon, but the principle behind it is actually centripetal force and inertia. This is the great Newtonian law of mechanics that can explain the operation of the universe."

Not only the students in the audience, but even the teachers became more and more interested.

Li Yu also demonstrated experiments such as cutting out a circular belt with a piece of paper, then putting it on a wooden stick, and putting a candle under it, and the circular belt will rotate and so on.

These are easy to explain. In the end, Li Yu found a box of matches and did the famous experiment of using only three matches, without relying on bonding or stacking heavy objects, but lifting heavy objects by the table. They were all stunned.

Li Yu said: "I want to wait for you to explain the principle of this experiment yourself later."

Many students exclaimed: "Physics turns out to be so interesting, it looks like magic!"

Li Yu said: "It's a pity that I didn't prepare the materials today, otherwise, in the subject of chemistry, many experiments would really be like magic tricks."

After several experiments, the students have completely aroused their strong interest in physics, even if it is difficult, they must seriously pursue it.

After the lecture, several people walked out of the auditorium. Ye Jingyun praised: "The emperor's teacher is worthy of being an emperor's teacher. He can teach the emperor at the top and children at the bottom."

Li Yu said: "There are still many similar experiments. I will write a book in the future and let the Commercial Press print it. I think you can use it."

Even Cai Yuanpei expressed his liking: "I want to introduce it to Nanyang Public School."

An eight-year-old boy suddenly ran over and said, "Master Di Shi, my father said that the physics you study is very profound. Now it sounds very simple, doesn't it?"

Ye Jingyun scolded: "Qisun, don't talk nonsense! These are just the simplest things, and they are still far away from real physics."

Li Yu was startled, Ye Jingyun's son was called Qisun, wouldn't it be Ye Qisun?
Later, one of the four philosophers of Tsinghua University, the founder of modern Chinese physics!
Li Yu smiled at the young Ye Qisun: "Physics is actually very simple, you can definitely understand it. Even the most cutting-edge electronic theory, you can understand it."

Ye Qisun asked, "Electronics? What is that?"

Li Yu said, "Have you ever seen lightning?"

Ye Qisun nodded: "Yes."

Li Yu said: "The sparks of lightning are brilliant and dazzling, and some small particles in the sparks are electrons. Electrons are small charged things, and they are the constituent parts of atoms. Atoms, oh, all matter is composed of atoms, you see Trees, houses, and you and I are all made of atoms."

"Can I see atoms?" Ye Qisun asked, blinking innocently.

Li Yu said patiently: "You can't see it, the atom is too small."

"Then can I see electrons? I've seen lightning!" Ye Qisun showed even greater curiosity.

"No, I can't see it either, because electrons are smaller than atoms. Let me give you an analogy. An atom is like this big school. Electrons are like you lively students in the school."

"It turned out to be like this! Haha, I understand the most advanced physics theory!" Ye Qisun laughed happily, and then said to Ye Jingyun, "Father, I can understand everything! Even if it is as difficult as you say, I can understand it!" Learn to be smart."

"You are so smart!" Ye Jingyun immediately encouraged him, but he knew it was Li Yu's ingenious guidance, so he said, "Master Emperor, thank you for your tireless and persuasive teaching."

"It's a matter of little effort," Li Yu said.

I never thought that I would be able to help young Ye Qisun even if I wasted these two days in Shanghai, it was worth it.Of course, this is not all, Li Yu will help them exert greater energy in the future.

(End of this chapter)