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

Chapter 467 Aviation bosses gather
Li Yu and the Lumiere brothers went out and called a taxi and went to pick up Lu Bicheng first.

Taxis at this time were naturally not cheap, and they were very similar to horse-drawn carriages. The carriages were partially enclosed, and the driving position was in front of the carriages, but there was no roof.

The taxi that several people were riding in was a slightly older model and used an early airbag horn instead of the patented electric horn that Li Yu had invented.

It seems that taxis at this time also adhere to the principle of driving as long as they can.

After picking up Lu Bicheng, his brother Louis Lumiere said to the taxi driver: "Go to the Photography Association."

Then he said to Li Yu: "I only brought one piece of film, but the Photography Association must have it ready."

Brother Auguste Lumiere said: "That's wrong, that's right, go to the company first to get a set of Star Wars! It's not easy to meet Mr. Li Yu and Ms. Bicheng together. How can you forget such a big thing?"

Brother Louis smiled and said: "Yes, yes!"

Just by signing, you can get one of the earliest color photos. This business is a sure profit for Li Yu.

Lu Bicheng was puzzled: "What are we going to do at the Photography Association?"

Li Yu explained to her: "Now that we have the technology to take color photos, we invited the beautiful oriental girl Ms. Bicheng to be a model."

"Color?" Lu Bicheng didn't know much about photography technology.

"Ms. Bicheng, color photos can show your truest appearance, instead of just black and white in the past." Brother Louis also said.

"It sounds interesting, but isn't it just like oil painting?" Lu Bicheng said.

Lewis said: "Of course you can understand it this way, but oil paintings can take hours or even days to paint, and it takes a lot of time to dry and preserve. Photos are not so troublesome, and the price is much cheaper."

Li Yu smiled and said: "It's a pity that it's a little late, otherwise I could still take a set of wedding photos."

Louis said: "It's simple. The Photography Association has many of the most fashionable clothes in Paris. If you are willing to wait, you can take a lot of photos."

The French Photography Association has existed for a long time. When they came in, Li Yu and Lu Bicheng received a warm welcome.

Not only did they take a color photo of the two of them, the Lumiere brothers also thoughtfully took more photos of Lu Bicheng.

Women still like to take pictures 100 years later.Li Yu could understand. Since he had nothing to do, he took a stroll in the Photography Association.

He saw something very interesting and asked casually: "Could it be the newly born fax machine?"

A young inventor said: "What did you say?"

Li Yu suddenly realized that the word "fax" he said did not seem to appear now, so he added: "telephotography, I think it is this word."

"Yes, it is indeed a fax machine. It turns out that Mr. Academician already knows," the other party replied. "Let me introduce myself. I am Edward Beland, the inventor of this fax machine."

"Nice to meet you," Li Yu said, "When I was in the UK, I saw the news in the newspaper. You just used fax technology to send a photo of King Edward VII from Paris to London via a submarine cable. This is It’s quite a sensational thing.”

"That photo was circulated for a good twelve minutes," Beland said.

The fax technology invented by Beland is quite old. The general principle can be referred to the gramophone record, which is to record the electrical signal and then convert it synchronously in another place.

The efficiency of this technology is very poor. As short as the English Channel is, it takes so long to transmit.More than ten years later, the United States sent a fax map to Paris on the other side of the Atlantic, which took more than 20 minutes.

It was around 1925 that modern fax technology was born, which decomposed text or images into small dots with varying degrees of black and white and gray, and then converted them into corresponding electrical signals for transmission. After reaching the other party, they were synthesized and reorganized using the opposite method. .

But for technological inventions, this is a necessary process. Li Yu said: "We can continue to conduct wireless transmission research in the future."

Beland said: "I have this idea, but it will take some time. And after seeing the Lumiere brothers' mobile camera, I really want to invent a portable fax machine."

"Mobile devices will definitely improve convenience," Li Yu said. "Once it is invented, I will definitely buy the right to use it and promote it in China. You know, China is so big, the distribution of news takes a very long time, and fax technology is of great significance. .”

During the Revolution of [-], this technology was really needed.

Of course, the Qing Dynasty at that time was already a sand castle, and it would collapse at the slightest sign of trouble, but if fax technology was used, it would collapse faster.

The most important thing is definitely that it will be of great benefit to the journalism industry. Various progressive newspapers were the source of various ideological trends and movements in the early years of the Republic of China.

Marshals and warlords will also like it. They often make moves to electrify the country. If they can show their faces more and let the people know what they look like, the effect will be better.

Beland said: "I will inform you of the news of technological innovation as soon as possible. In fact, I am very interested in the mysterious Eastern country and will go there myself."

Bei Lan actually went to China, and also specially studied the characteristics of square characters, helping to establish early fax communication in the Beijing-Tianjin area.

After taking pictures for a long time, Lu Bicheng finally finished changing eight pieces of clothes. Although she was still unsatisfied, she felt that there was no new clothes she liked more.

It's a pity that I found out a little too late, otherwise I would have gone to the Champs Elysées to rent more.

The French Photography Association did not ask for more money from the two of them, which was quite a favor.

The Lumiere brothers said: "After we develop the photos, we will show them to you two."

Lu Bicheng said gratefully: "Just waiting for the good news."

Farewell to the French Photography Association, Li Yu and Lu Bicheng took a taxi and just returned to the gate of the French Academy of Sciences. Pierre Curie hurried out: "There happened to be a taxi, great! Oh, it turned out to be Li Yu gentlemen."

Li Yu asked curiously: "Why are you in such a hurry?"

Pierre Curie said: "There will be an air show in the suburbs. The performers are the Wright brothers from the United States. I heard that the aircraft they invented is the best in the world. Do you want to go and see it?"

Li Yu said: "Okay, I just don't have anything else to do."

Over the past two years, the development of aircraft can be seen with the naked eye, from flying for only a few minutes to flying for 10, [-] or [-] minutes.

After parking the car at the performance base in the suburbs, Li Yu and Lu Bicheng were recognized immediately because they were Chinese.

"Mr. Li Yu and Ms. Bicheng?" Two people came over and asked.

"That's right," Li Yu replied, "Who is your Excellency?"

The older man said: "Henry Royce, this is Charles Rolls. We established the Rolls-Royce Motor Company two years ago and are very interested in Academician Li Yu's many patents. "

It turned out to be the two founders of Rolls-Royce.

Li Yu shook hands with the two of them: "Nice to meet you."

Henry Royce is over 40 years old. He comes from a relatively humble background, but he has been engaged in automobile design 20 years ago and has rich experience.

The year before last, he met Charles Royce, who was born into an aristocratic family, and the two collaborated to establish Rolls-Royce.

Speaking of which, the names of these two people are really a bit difficult to pronounce. It would be more comfortable to translate them as Rolls-Royce.And the company has since split into two companies: Rolls-Royce, which mainly produces aircraft engines, and Rolls-Royce, which produces luxury cars.Before the birth of Rolls-Royce, the UK did not have its own car brand and all sold French or German cars.

So Rolls-Royce is the first British car brand, although it was eventually merged by BMW.

After establishing the company, Charles Rolls mainly used his connections in the aristocratic circle to be responsible for sales, while Henry Royce was in charge of design and production.

The cooperation between the two was quite successful.

Early Rolls-Royce opened up the market through two advantages: relatively simple manufacturing process, lower noise when driving, and therefore better durability.

——It seems to have a slight resemblance to a certain island country brand of later generations...

Young Charles Rawls said: "I heard that Mr. Li Yu applied for and approved an excellent aircraft engine patent."

Li Yu said: "Yes, it is called a rotary cylinder engine to be precise. Compared with currently used aero engines, it is lighter and has very good heat dissipation."

Henry Royce has worked in automobile production for many years and is very familiar with what Li Yu said: "Most of the engines used in aircraft today are modified from automobiles. Think about the difference between animals running on land and birds flying in the sky. It’s very big. This kind of temporary borrowing is inappropriate in the first place, otherwise the plane will never fly far.”

Charles Rawls said leisurely: "I also want to fly across the Channel to England. I don't know when it will be possible."

Today's aristocrats are very keen on the automobile and aviation industries, which are very bragging rights.

Even during World War II, most pilots were from noble families. After all, only they could afford it.

Li Yu said: "Considering many aspects such as mechanics and aerodynamics, the aircraft still has great limitations. It may take several years to achieve safe long-distance flight."

Before Rawls could reply, the crowd in front suddenly burst into cheers: Wilbur Wright, one of the Wright brothers, appeared, and his biplane was slowly pulled out.

After some preparations, Wilbur Wright flew into the sky in front of thousands of people watching and the cameras of more than a dozen news reporters.

Charles Rolles immediately exclaimed: "So handsome!"

After circling for almost 10 minutes, Wilbur Wright piloted the plane to land slowly. Although it encountered a large bump during landing and the wings almost broke after touching the ground, the flight performance was finally completed.

Charles Rawls said excitedly: "I decided, I want to become a pilot!"

Fortunately, he was only responsible for the company's sales, and Henry Royce didn't care about his playful behavior. Increasing his reputation would actually make their company's products more popular.

There were many people who had the same idea as Rawls. A young college student next to them also murmured to himself: "I want to learn to fly!"

Li Yu just glanced at it. It might be Sikorsky, the father of modern helicopters.

He is currently studying at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. After watching this performance, he immediately decided to join the aviation industry.

In the special gallery for female guests, there was Parisian actress Raymond Laroche, who also had the idea of ​​becoming a pilot.

Two years later, she became the first woman in the world to obtain a pilot's license.

However, Li Yu doesn't really want to fly a plane at the moment. The crash rate of early planes was so high that flying a plane is like an extreme sport.

At least until World War I, the stability of aircraft was slightly better.

The Wright Brothers' performance was a success and made headlines the next day.The whole of Europe was greatly shocked, which incidentally made the sales of various science fiction works even more popular.

Europe has also really begun to make efforts in the aviation field.

Although the airplane was first invented by the Americans, the Wright brothers, the world's aviation center soon moved to Europe. After all, Europe's education and technical reserves were still at a higher level at this time.

After the flight show, Royce and Rawls knew that Li Yu was going to the United States soon, so they invited him to stop by Manchester to sign a relevant patent usage contract.

The British now know that they are lagging behind France and Germany in automobiles and aviation, so they are very anxious.

Anyway, Britain is not big, so Li Yu agreed.

After getting the photos taken by the French Photography Association, Li Yu and Lu Bicheng returned to Berlin first.

Lu Bicheng really didn't expect that the photos could actually be in color, and she was so happy that she couldn't put it down.

"I thought that only the eyes could record the beauty of the world. Everything is fleeting. It turns out that science can freeze the colorful world."

Li Yu said: "There will be color movies in the future."

"Oh my god!" Lu Bicheng said, "Technology is so amazing. I have begun to regret not being able to study science when I was a child."

After arriving in Berlin, Planck asked Li Yu to give several lectures at the University of Berlin and the Prussian Academy of Sciences, which were relatively routine activities.

A few days later, Planck suddenly came to Li Yu with another letter, "Budapest wants us to solve some mathematical problems."

Li Yu wondered: "Why not find those people at Göttingen University?"

Planck said: "It's just a middle school test question. There's no need to tell Hilbert."

"Middle school test questions?" Li Yu asked.

Planck said: "To be precise, it is a mathematics competition organized by Budapest for about ten years. Last year, I went to Hungary for academic exchanges on behalf of the University of Berlin. I agreed to organize some German students to participate this year, but they need to provide test questions. .”

Li Yu reacted: "Is it the Olympic Mathematics Competition?"

"The mathematics competition is a mathematics competition, but how did it become an Olympics?" This time it was Planck who asked.

"It's difficult to explain." Li Yu said with a smile.

Planck said: "I sent them a few letters, but they said that the questions I asked were too over the top and did not meet the competition standards at all. I was worried, and I happened to see you. You are young and you must still remember middle school. What you have learned in mathematics is better for you to come up with."

It’s not easy to write questions for mathematics competitions. Li Yu said, “I’m afraid I won’t do well either.”

Planck said: "It's too late. Anyway, you won the Swedish King's Prize in Mathematics, so you have no problem."

Li Yu had an idea. He could use this opportunity to familiarize himself with the rules of mathematics competitions in this era, and bring them back to China as soon as possible to discover talents.

As for coming up with questions, Li Yu could only temporarily come up with a few well-known questions that he had seen before.

For example, the very famous 50th International Mathematical Olympiad test questions - the second time Wei Shen got perfect scores.

At that time, Li Yu had read it out and read it, so he was very impressed.

The questions in the math competition were very short and I haven’t forgotten them yet.

(End of this chapter)