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

Li Yu did not forget to submit a manuscript to "Science", which mainly discussed the light quantum hypothesis in Einstein's photoelectric effect paper, and first formally proposed the idea of ​​"wave-particle duality".

However, most physicists currently oppose the existence of photons, which means they still believe that light is just an electromagnetic wave.

Li Yu introduced the photoelectric effect equation in detail, namely
E=hμ-w
(Electron energy = photon energy - work function

The work function is the energy required for electrons to be excited and escape from the metal plate)
The physical meaning of this formula is very simple to understand, and it indeed explains the photoelectric effect very perfectly.

But it is clear that the vast majority of scientists cannot accept the quantum hypothesis.This is true in Europe, let alone the United States.

After the manuscript was issued, Millikan first expressed his strong opposition. He wrote: "Mr. Li Yu is an authority in today's scientific community, but he still made the mistake of being too young. A hypothesis without experimental verification should not be stated openly and conclusively. If it is announced, it will mislead the progress of the entire physics community."

Li Yu wrote an article and simply pointed out the direction of the experiment: "It is not difficult to overturn my remarks, you only need to make an experiment. I thought about the possibility of the experiment. The photoelectric effect equation E=hμ-w is in the function image The above is a linear equation of one variable about the frequency μ of light. The slope of the function is Planck's constant h. After many tests in the experiment, find out the slope. If it happens to be the same as the result obtained by Mr. Planck, wouldn't it be The photoelectric effect was verified, and then the existence of photons was verified.”

The idea is this, it is easy to say, but the specific experimental operation is naturally very complicated.

Li Yu's reply was well founded. Millikan could no longer refute it and could only experiment according to Li Yu's ideas.However, he determined in his heart that the result was definitely inconsistent with Planck's constant, and could definitely refute the absurd conclusion of the light quantum hypothesis.

But the experiment is difficult to do and will probably take many years.

Li Yu sent another telegram to Hu Gang, asking him to pay special attention to this unmanned track during his studies.After studying hard for several years and laying a solid foundation, Li Yu would find a way for him to do experiments with Millikan to improve his experimental level.

Although Hu Gangfu could not fully understand what Li Yu wrote, he became very interested. This is physics!
Physics, physics, is the principle of the material world.

He still remembered what Li Yu had said before about the history of exploring the nature of light. Now that he heard about the subject of light quantum measurement, he would have been eager to try it if his theoretical foundation hadn't been very weak.

This experiment is generally of a very high level. It is a top project in the current physics community and directly touches one of the foundations of quantum mechanics.

It would be great if Hu Gangfu could achieve something during his few years in the United States.

Li Yu sent a telegram instructing him to report his learning progress to himself every semester, and then provide corresponding guidance so that he could be recommended to Millikan's laboratory.

As long as you have sufficient skills and a letter of recommendation from a Nobel Prize winner like Li Yu, you will definitely have no problem getting into Millikan's laboratory.

Li Yu has never used his position to write a recommendation letter, and every recommendation is accurate.

-

Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Big Palms Restaurant.

Li Yu, Lu Bicheng, Tesla, and Mark Twain had lunch together.

"I didn't expect that after two years of not seeing each other, you would actually be married!" Tesla said.

Li Yu smiled and said, "Why, what's wrong?"

Tesla said: "What a pity! You will never realize the benefits of celibacy again."

Li Yu said: "Should you also admire that poem? Life is precious, and love is more valuable. If it is for freedom, both can be thrown away?"

"Oh! I like this poem by a Hungarian poet," Tesla said.

Lu Bicheng asked Li Yu in a low voice: "What kind of poem is this?"

Li Yu said it to her in Chinese, and Lu Bicheng repeated it in a deep voice, quickly remembered it, and said: "Although it feels like vernacular poetry, the meaning is quite good."

Tesla is still talking about the benefits of celibacy: "Being single allows me to be immersed in my career forever. Once you get married, you will find that your career is completely ruined."

Mark Twain laughed: "In order to prevent falling in love, you even choose men as servants, is that true?"

Tesla actually admitted: "Yes, even if I am a staunch celibate, I cannot resist close contact with women for a long time."

Li Yu held back a laugh and said, "It's not like I dress up as a maid every day."

Seeing that Tesla could not persuade them, he could only say helplessly: "In short, you will never realize the advantages of celibacy."

Mark Twain took a puff on his pipe and said to Tesla: "You seem to have taken on a lot of patent development projects in the past two years. How is the progress?"

"It's a mess!" Tesla said. "Last year the Bard Company in Philadelphia wanted me to cooperate with them in developing a gasoline-powered turbine, but I thought about it again and again and felt that it was not as feasible as my Edenclyffe Tower."

Li Yu almost fell over after hearing this.

As early as 1905, a Swiss doctor named Bosch applied for a patent for a turbocharger.

To put it simply, the principle of turbocharging is to use the exhaust gas discharged from the engine to drive the turbine, thereby increasing the air intake and promoting the combustion of the engine, thereby achieving the effect of increasing power.

However, the premise of this technology is that the engine must be stable enough, otherwise the turbocharger will greatly reduce the smoothness of the car and it will be very uncomfortable to drive.

Therefore, even if this technology was proposed so early, it will take at least 70 to [-] years before it can be put into civilian use.

However, turbocharging technology began to be promoted to the fields of aircraft and ships during World War I.

And no matter what, turbocharging will be very popular in a few decades. As for Tesla saying that it is not as feasible as his Edenclyffe Tower project, it is a bit of a joke...

Mark Twain also concluded: "It is right to reject them. Now all engine manufacturers are always trying to improve power, which is too extreme."

Tesla continued: "What's even more interesting is that engineers from Ford and General Motors approached me to design a flying car."

Li Yu couldn't help but ask: "Ford and GM?"

"Yes," Tesla said, "but I have never been good at aerodynamics, so I had no choice but to refuse. After they were rejected by me, they still wanted to find Mr. Li Yu, and I told them to give up directly, because with me Understand that you will not participate in such risky designs."

"Fortunately, you refused for me." Li Yu breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Yu had no intention of ridiculing. Although the United States was not as good as Europe in the field of science, it had found new ways and continued to make breakthroughs on the road of invention, with many strange ideas.

Tesla pulled out a drawing: "Besides that, I'm very interested in an idea proposed by the Chicago rail operators and have devoted a lot of my spare time to it."

Mark Twain asked curiously, "What project?"

"Developing headlights for trains," Tesla said.

Mark Twain was surprised: "How much power does this require? You can't install a huge reflector on the train like a lighthouse, right?"

Tesla said: "I have considered many options, but due to the material of the light bulb, I feel that I can't move forward."

At this time, trains basically don’t run at night because they don’t have headlights.

Mark Twain said to Li Yu: "You have a headlight specially designed for cars. Can it be used on trains?"

Li Yu said: "I'm afraid not. The characteristics of trains are completely different from those of cars, and their needs are even different."

Tesla said: "If even Mr. Li Yu finds it difficult, I really want to give up, but it will be a pity that the US$[-] bonus will be lost."

Developing turbine gasoline engines, designing flying cars, and researching train headlights are all projects that Tesla has participated in historically. He was too poor in his later years and took on any project.The research on the train headlights took nine months.

Unfortunately, these projects did not make him any money, and he was still in poverty.

If Li Yu hadn't let him join his company, Tesla doesn't know what would have happened now.

Li Yu said: "As technology continues to advance, it can be gradually discovered that many initial concepts are actually crude. Various new problems will inevitably arise during the development process, and it will be very difficult."

As the king of inventions, Tesla couldn't agree more: "The train headlight project has consumed almost all the spare time and energy at my disposal. The funds are more like a bottomless pit. Even hiring assistants will not help, and may even delay Woden." Progress at Cliff Tower.”

Li Yu carefully reminded: "Wodenclyffe Tower does not need to involve too much energy." "No, no, no!" Tesla said firmly, "This is the greatest project in human history! The interior of the earth is like water or Like any incompressible fluid, it flows back and forth like waves with almost no energy loss. By allowing electricity to flow through the earth and be intercepted by receivers above it, wireless power transmission can be achieved, thus benefiting the entire world. Earth."

Li Yu said: "Is it possible that the earth is not an efficient power carrier?"

Tesla said: "No way!"

Li Yu could only continue to remind: "I think we can do experiments to verify it."

Tesla thought for a while and said, "This is something to consider."

Li Yu did not expect to persuade Tesla immediately. Most of the stock dividends and wages he received from LY Wireless Company were invested in the Wardenclyffe Tower project, which almost became his spiritual support.

After all, Tesla has no wife and children, and he only wants to do this.

Tesla added: "One more thing I forgot to tell you is that Westinghouse has expelled Mr. Westinghouse."

Li Yu was shocked: "Isn't Westinghouse the founder of Westinghouse Electric?"

"Yes," Tesla said, "when I worked at Westinghouse Electric many years ago, he was my boss. But this year coincided with the stock crash, and Westinghouse's shareholders had long wanted to squeeze out the founder, so they took advantage of the situation. Mr. Stinghouse squeezed away.”

This is the result of not doing a good job in the ownership structure.

Li Yu said: "If he is willing, he can come to our LY Radio and continue to serve."

"If he comes, won't he become my subordinate!" Tesla was even more surprised, "Is it appropriate?"

Li Yu smiled and said: "You should ask yourself this. If you both accept it, there is nothing wrong with it."

Tesla thought for a while and found it quite exciting. After all, it was Westinghouse that stole his alternating current patent. Now the situation has changed and he can actually be Westinghouse's boss. It's exciting to think about it.

"I will be in contact with him," Tesla said.

The waiter brought a few glasses of whiskey, and several people drank it together. Under the influence of alcohol, Mark Twain suddenly said: "After discussing with a lady in the fashion industry, I found a better use for my patent."

Li Yu asked: "Underwear buttons?"

Mark Twain said: “From now on I would like to call them bra buttons.”

Li Yu almost spit out a mouthful of wine: "Did you design a bra?"

Mark Twain said, “The first draft is here.”

"When did it happen?" Tesla asked confused, "How come I don't even know about it?"

In the past, Mark Twain would discuss any new design ideas with Tesla, a friend in the technology circle.

Mark Twain said: "You don't understand women at all, and you can't help them."

"What does it matter?" Tesla asked.

Mark Twain said with a wicked smile: "You haven't even kissed a woman on the mouth, so you can't help."

"Then who did you ask for help?" Tesla asked again.

Mark Twain said proudly: "New York socialite, Ms. Jacobs!"

"It's her!" Tesla found it difficult to accept that Mark Twain and a beautiful young socialite in New York had anything to do with each other. "Stop hiding it, show it to me!"

"Aren't you a celibate? Why are you so anxious about women's things?"

As Mark Twain spoke, he took out a design draft. Li Yu leaned over and took a look. It already had the form of modern underwear.

Although some people had developed underwear more than ten years ago, they were more like breast supports and only very large women would buy them.

As a celebrity in the fashion industry, Jacob truly knows how to make underwear a fashionable item.

The reason is extremely simple: use as little fabric as possible and be more sexy.

This design actually caters to the current needs: With the stock market crash and the financial crisis in the United States, many people have lost their jobs and are living in difficulty. More women have to go out of the house to work and socialize. Comfortable underwear is an urgent need. .

But unlike later generations, early underwear was mainly used to make the breasts appear smaller. In the aesthetic circle at this time, petite and exquisite figures were the most popular.

Lu Bicheng blushed after taking one look. She never expected that Mark Twain, who was known throughout the American literary circle and could be called the American Lu Xun, actually designed women's underwear!
OMG!

Mark Twain asked Li Yu: "You are a young man and have just gotten married. Would you like to comment on this design?"

Li Yu smiled and said: "I can only say perfect!"

"Young people have good taste!" Mark Twain said, "Ms. Jacob happened to be staying at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, so I asked the waiter to call her over."

Not long after, a tall, slender woman dressed very fashionably came to the table. She was a well-deserved New York socialite.

Mark Twain made the introduction, and Jacob said: "I am honored to meet you all, especially Miss Bicheng, the rumored oriental genius and one of the authors of the Star Wars series! Your temperament is really outstanding! I love it Die to the mystique of the East!”

Lu Bicheng smiled slightly: "I am also honored to meet you."

Jacob said: "If you enter the fashion circle with me, you will definitely be on the cover of a magazine!"

Historically, Lu Bicheng liked the costumes of various countries and did not refuse: "I hope my image will not bring shame to my country."

"What nonsense!" Jacob said, "Believe in my vision, you will become a celebrity in the fashion world!"

Mark Twain talked about his great creation again, "Ms. Jacobs, everyone appreciates the design of this underwear very much. You should apply for a patent and produce it as soon as possible. With your status in the fashion circle, it must be very easy to promote it. "

Jacob said: "It will be smoother if we can invite girls from Bicheng to join us!"

Lu Bicheng blushed even more: "I..."

Jacob continued: "We should think about the trademark name now and let everyone talk about it."

Tesla said: "Liberation, how about that?"

"The name is a little too masculine," Jacob said.

Mark Twain said: "Tesla, I told you you don't understand women at all! I think it should be given a European name, such as Delphine, or simply the name of the goddess of love, Venus."

"It's better for writers to come up with names!" Jacob admired it very much, and then said to Li Yu, "Sir, he is also a best-selling Star Wars author. Do you have any suggestions?"

Li Yu scratched his scalp, "I just thought of an advertising slogan."

Mark Twain said: "It just so happens that you don't have to think about a name. My name is good enough. Let's come up with the slogan."

Li Yu paused and said, "Is it good to be... a woman?"

Jacob was very happy: "Great!"

Mark Twain said: "I also think it's good. Mr. Li Yu understands women very well! And it perfectly meets the requirements of the advertising slogan. It is short, concise, catchy, and highly concise!"

Li Yu spread his hands helplessly: "I just said it casually."