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

Chapter 468 Whispers
Li Yu participated in the mathematics competition when he was in junior high school, but not in high school. However, he participated in the physics competition in high school. If there are physics competition questions in the future, he will be a good expert.

However, even if Li Yu is asked to give mathematics competition questions, he can handle the first few simple ones - he just picks the most difficult mathematics final questions of the college entrance examination and is completely qualified.

He stayed in Berlin for a few more days, during which time Sun Baoqi, the minister in Germany, invited Li Yu to dinner several times.

Sun Baoqi was the son and daughter-in-law of Sheng Xuanhuai, the business father of the Republic of China. He later served as the Minister-General of Foreign Affairs during the Beiyang Government. He was not confused about major matters. When Japan proposed the "Article 21", he resigned from the post of Minister-General of Foreign Affairs angrily.

After that, Li Yu and Lu Bicheng went to England together.

Due to the long ferry time between England and Germany, some performances were thoughtfully prepared on the ship, but they were actually performed in French. It turned out that the cruise ship was registered in France.Li Yu didn't quite understand, so he had to give up.

Lu Bicheng asked: "Brother Yu, you can speak English, German, and Japanese, why don't you learn French again?"

Li Yu asked directly: "When you were in the capital, that French lady not only taught you piano, but also taught you French. How do you feel?"

Lu Bicheng thought for a while: "It feels similar to English."

Li Yu said: "When you learn numbers, you will feel uncomfortable."

"Numbers?" Lu Bicheng asked, "What's wrong with numbers? Isn't it the best to learn to translate them?"

"That's another language," Li Yu said. "French's numerical logic scares me anyway. For example, do you know how they say 66?"

Lu Bicheng said tentatively: "According to logic, it should be 60+6?"

"Indeed," Li Yu said, "This is quite normal. Then guess how to say 76 in French?"

"70+6?" Lu Bicheng asked.

"Wrong," Li Yu said, "It's 60+16."

Lu Bicheng had a question mark and continued to ask: "Where is 86? Is it 70+16?"

Li Yu said: "That's not right! 86 is 4×20+6."

“完全不明白，”吕碧城说，“96莫非是4×20+10+6。”

"NO, NO, NO," Li Yu said with a smile, "It's 4×20+16."

Lu Bicheng was almost stunned.

Li Yu continued to ask: "Guess 97 again."

Lu Bicheng said: "4×20+17?"

Li Yu held back his laughter and said, "That's wrong again! It should be 4×20+10+7."

Lu Bicheng felt that her brain was running out of energy, "There is no logic at all!"

Li Yu hasn't told her how French people pronounce phone numbers, and that's crazy.

The Chinese pronounce the numbers one by one, while the French pronounce them two by two.For example, the French read the string of numbers 077785957697 like this:
07
60+10+7 (77)

4×20+5(85)

4×20+15(95)

60+16(76)

4×20+10+7（97）

If your native language is not French, it will totally drive you crazy.

Li Yu doesn't even know how French people learn 100-3 in the first grade of elementary school?

怎么看都感觉100-3比4×20+10+7简单吧！

Simple right?

Li Yu had a roommate who also studied French because he thought it was more romantic. But after learning numbers, he complained that "it's like wiping your butt elegantly with silk."

No wonder the French on TV always write their phone numbers on napkins.

Too long to miss!

However, French mathematics is still quite strong, with a lot of great people including Cauchy, Lagrange, and Lópida.

-

After arriving in the UK, Li Yuxian found Li Siguang. He did not enter an American university, but went straight to the UK to study.

However, considering that his family cannot afford such a high tuition fee, he will definitely need Li Yu's help.

Li Siguang had no time to engage in revolution in Britain during this period. He read a lot of scientific magazines and became familiar with the British environment.

Li Yu met with him at a restaurant selling afternoon tea.

Li Siguang said: "The British Empire deserves to be the most powerful country in the world. I have only stayed in London for such a short time and I am already deeply shocked. I must work hard to study science and return to my country to serve."

Li Yu said: "Britain is still too small and has few people. If the whole world is so big, it won't be able to move anymore."

Britain's own decline and its global shrinkage were originally one of the important reasons for the First World War.

However, it was obviously impossible for Li Siguang to know about the First World War a few years later, so he continued: "I saw an article about the importance of science. The content was very good, but some of the views made me very sad."

"What article?" Li Yu asked.

Li Siguang took out a magazine, opened it and said to Li Yu: "It is a very long speech called "An Appeal for Pure Science" by the deceased Mr. Roland, the first president of the American Physical Society."

Li Yu flipped through it casually. The article was very long and he couldn't finish it in a while, so he said, "It's okay to just listen to the name."

Li Siguang found one of the passages and pointed it out to Li Yu, "Mr. Luo Lan said in his speech, 'If we stop scientific progress and only pay attention to the application of science, we will soon degenerate into like the Chinese.'" Then he said angrily. , "What do you mean by 'degrading like the Chinese'? Do the Chinese represent a backward group?"

Li Yuning looked over and saw that it was indeed written like this, so he asked: "Why did he say that? Is there an explanation later?"

"Yes," Li Siguang said, turning to the back, "Mr. Roland explained this. Although China has an ancient civilization and a large population, we only regard them as barbarians because their technology is almost There has been little progress for thousands of years. They are satisfied with applying technology to make life more convenient, but they rarely systematically explore the principles of technology, let alone regard technology as the focus of national development and progress.

"They also applied science to fields such as chemistry and physics, and invented gunpowder, but for them it was enough that the gunpowder could explode. As for why the gunpowder exploded? They didn't care at all. That's the kind of scientific problem The attitude of not paying attention to getting to the bottom of things and only protecting vested interests has made them regress."

After Li Yu listened, he was speechless for a moment.

After a pause, he said: "I have written an article before, "New Interpretations of Unfounded Worries," which generally talks about this issue, but it is not as explicit as Mr. Roland's."

Li Siguang said: "Mr. Luo Lan obviously uses the Chinese as a negative example, but he doesn't understand us. Moreover, foreigners are only one or two hundred years stronger than us. Why do they need to be so arrogant?"

Li Siguang is still quite courageous, and his key words are very ambitious.

He has been like this since he was young, and he is worthy of being the backbone of China.

Li Yu said: "But the reality is like this. After all, the most important thing is the present, so everyone only cares about the present."

Li Siguang continued: "We just went a little wrong and became liberal arts students. We have always been strong in this aspect; while foreigners are science students. But now we are beaten by science and engineering students, so it won't completely deny us, right?"

Li Yu sighed: "If we want to change the views of foreigners, we can only rely on ourselves."

He may not know that even 100 years later, this inherent concept is still in the minds of foreigners, and there are many cases of discrimination against Chinese people.Immediately, Li Yu comforted him and said: "Since foreigners can learn our gunpowder to attack us, we can now learn from them in turn. Feng Shui is turning, heaven is moving, and a gentleman is constantly striving for self-improvement."

Li Siguang said: "I will definitely not return empty-handed."

These aspiring young people in the Republic of China are really touching. The situation they faced was too painful.

Now that Li Yu has traveled through time, he can even feel the despair of being so backward that there is a generation gap.

Li Yu said: "Our culture is not weak. When science and engineering are boosted in the future, it will definitely be a day of revival."

These words made Lu Bicheng next to him very excited and wanted to study science and engineering. However, considering that he didn't even understand the introductory lectures, he could only calm down first.

Li Siguang added: "Mr. Luo Lan also said that scholars should not devote themselves to making money, but I found that this is not the case."

Li Yu asked: "Why?"

Li Siguang said: "Because one year after Mr. Roland said this sentence, his wife fell ill, and treatment required very high costs. So Mr. Roland no longer believed in his creed and instead invented a teletype printer. , made a huge fortune of US$20 after applying for a patent.”

Li Yu said with a smile: "Mr. Luo Lan still knows how to be flexible in this matter. There are indeed many ways to get rich in science and engineering, and it is a broad road for the country to become rich."

"The emperor's words have further strengthened my philosophy." Li Siguang said.

Li Yu said: "You choose a university and tell me directly how much tuition it will cost."

Li Siguang said gratefully: "I really don't know how to thank Emperor Master."

Li Yu said: "As I said just now, you must learn from foreigners and become stronger. What you can repay in the future will be the [-] million Chinese people, not me."

-

The next day, Li Yu went to Manchester to meet with Royce and Rolls from Rolls-Royce and quickly signed a patent licensing contract.

The young Rolls could not wait to build a lightweight, high-performance rotary-cylinder engine so that he could install it on an airplane and complete his goal of crossing the English Channel.

The sales of sports cars produced by Rolls-Royce are pretty good in the UK. As soon as a few people walked out of the office, a car stopped in front of them.

A middle-aged man in his 40s and [-]s walked down with a beautiful girl who was more than ten years younger than him.

Rawls shook hands with him and said: "Congratulations, Sir Montagu, the newspaper published the good news that you won No. 3 in the automobile competition."

"Thanks to your Rolls-Royce!" the middle-aged man Montague said proudly, "By the way, I have good news for you this time. I have successfully made King Edward VII of England fall in love with him. racing, and recommended your company’s products.”

Rawls said happily: "That's great! With His Majesty the King as the spokesperson, I can't even imagine what a hot sales scene it will be."

Montagu said: "But if you provide a car to the king, your product still lacks luxury elements, such as the standard that all cars now have."

"You are right," Rawls said. "You are better at design than I am. I leave this matter to you."

Montague thought for a moment and said, "I do have some design ideas."

When the two mentioned the logo, Li Yu realized that the Rolls-Royce goddess of joy logo originated from Montague and the young girl who was traveling with him.

But at this moment, almost all car brands have their own logos, and many even make their own to show their individuality.Some of the signs are very dirty in design: there is a bent woman in the front and a man close to the back.Can you believe it!

Montague was also a British nobleman and was married before he met the beautiful girl.

But extramarital affairs are prevalent throughout Europe. After Montagu meets a beautiful girl, he talks sweetly, such as "I fell in love with you at first sight, but I feel that I must stay as far away from you as possible."

——A typical trick of playing hard to get, the girl quickly fell.

Then, Montagu's words changed to "You and I love each other deeply, and our worries disappear in the face of great love."

Montagu drew a pattern on the paper, which showed a girl with her skirt flying, and then raised her fingers to make a silent gesture, as if to calm the surrounding people's comments about her affair.

"I named it 'Whispers,'" Montague said.

Rolls was very satisfied: "I will install this stand mark on the next batch of cars produced, hoping to gain recognition."

Montagu lit his cigar and said: "Don't worry, it is definitely the best design in Europe!"

Li Yu smiled and said, "Give me one when the time comes."

Rolls took advantage of the situation and said: "Don't want to buy a car?"

Li Yu said: "If I stay in the UK for a long time in the future, I will consider it."

The original Rolls-Royce logo, named "Whisper", was produced in single digits, and even fewer survived to later generations.

-

After leaving Rolls-Royce, Li Yu did not immediately go to London and then take a ship to the United States. Instead, he went to the University of Manchester to meet Rutherford.

He just left McGill University in Canada last year to serve as director of physics at the University of Manchester.

Needless to say, this job must have been arranged with the help of his teacher Thomson.

Li Yu said: "Professor Rutherford, I think this year's Nobel Prize will definitely be you."

Rutherford smiled and said: "I heard similar rumors two years ago, but they have not come true until now."

Li Yu smiled and said, "Shall we make a bet?"

Rutherford said: "If I really get the award, it doesn't matter if I lose to you in the bet. Tell me, what are you betting on?"

Li Yu said: "If I win, that means you win this year's Nobel Prize, and you will accept several Chinese students as your students in the future."

"I thought it was nothing. It didn't hurt at all," Rutherford said. "I promise you."

Li Yu smiled and said, "You will definitely lose."

"I hope so," Rutherford said. "Since you are here, I just have a few experimental questions I want to discuss with you."

Li Yu could roughly guess what was going on, so he said, "Of course."

Rutherford said: "I have been doing research on rays when I was in Canada. When I was studying alpha particle imaging, I found that the edges of the image formed by the imaging plate were always blurry, but if the same experiment was done at very low air pressure, the image would be blurry. The edges will be much clearer.

“At that time, I speculated that it should be caused by collision and scattering between alpha particles and air molecules.

"It happened that one of my students had nothing to do, so I asked my assistant Geiger to conduct an experiment with him to practice his skills. He wanted to see whether large-angle scattering would occur after alpha particles collide with atoms.

“At first I thought the scattering angle wouldn’t be very big, but after doing the experiment, some alpha particles actually bounced back!
"It's incredible!"

Yes, what Rutherford was talking about was his most famous alpha particle scattering experiment.

However, this experiment and the particle model derived from it did not win Rutherford the Nobel Prize.

Much like Einstein, he is most famous for his theory of relativity, but he won the Nobel Prize for his achievements in the quantum field of the photoelectric effect.

The key is that Einstein has been engaged in a super debate about quantum theory with the Copenhagen School in Denmark, and he has stood against quantum mechanics (to be precise, he is partially opposed).

Things are wonderful.

(End of this chapter)