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

As a French Duke, M. de Broglie eats French food in the most stylish way.

He gently wiped his mouth and said to Li Yu: "I have been studying Eastern culture recently, and I am very curious about a question. Including us French and Germans, we often know whether he comes from a noble surname. Prominent nobles. But this does not apply to the Chinese."

Solvay also echoed: "The title of the distinguished Duke of Broglie family has a long heritage of more than 150 years, which is really enviable."

Solvay was a wealthy businessman who, like all Europeans and Americans, yearned for noble status.

Li Yu said: "If you think about it this way, my surname is very powerful. The royal family of the Tang Dynasty more than 1000 years ago had the surname Li."

"Oh! My God!" M. de Broglie said in surprise, "So you are a descendant of the royal family?"

Li Yu couldn't laugh or cry. Except for a small number of people who specialize in sinology research, foreigners currently know very little about China. They almost only have mysterious and luxurious porcelain, silk and tea.

Westerners are even less clear about the differences between the Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty.Of course, this is understandable. After all, many Chinese people do not know the changes in the different dynasties of Britain and France.

Li Yu said: "According to your logic, all existing Chinese surnames have ancestors who were rich, either from the royal family or from a famous party."

M. de Broglie said again: "Disrespect, disrespect!"

Li Yu said: "China actually does not have an aristocratic culture, which is different from what you think."

Li Yu felt helpless. Many foreigners had asked similar questions.Whether now or in the future, this way of thinking of "evaluating others by yourself" will be difficult to change.

M. de Broglie said: "The more you talk, the more confused I become."

Li Yu simply said: "If you are confused, why not go to China and have a look. I will pay for the bus or boat tickets. You can go and have lectures and learn about China by the way. Traveling is also very good."

M. de Broglie said: "If I have the opportunity, I will consider it."

Li Yu did not insist: "Let me know at any time."

Anyway, there is no need to worry. Europe will be turned into mud in two or three years, especially France, which is full of craters. They will definitely consider their words.

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The next day was the formal meeting.

Li Yu was even more excited than the others. In front of him, the super bosses he admired so much back then were sitting with them at the Solvay Conference to study cutting-edge issues in physics. Thinking about it made his heart surge.

Nernst sent a meeting document to all participants, which included a list of reports submitted by each person, giving everyone a preliminary understanding of the meeting.

There are a total of thirteen reports in the catalog, basically all about quantum aspects.

Only Jean Perrin's report dealt with molecular reality, his area of ​​expertise.

There are two issues that Nernst wants to solve at this meeting: first, the molecular hypothesis and its experimental verification. After all, it is a very basic issue, at least the meeting will not lead to nothing.The other is the energy quanta hypothesis and its corollary. He even wants to connect the two, but it is a bit difficult.

As the organizer, Nernst made the opening speech:

"Let me refer briefly to a meeting of chemists that took place in Karlsruhe, Germany, almost exactly half a century ago. That meeting was held to discuss a question of great importance to atomic theory, which I believe was the only A meeting somewhat similar to ours.

The conference in Germany resolved key issues regarding nomenclature in chemistry and was fruitful.

I hope that our conference will also have an important impact on the development of physics, and that we may have an advantage over the Karlsruhe Conference because the work on the 'Solvay Conference' was better prepared.The many reports we already have in hand will point us in the direction of the discussion and stop us from getting distracted! "

At the end of his opening speech, Nernst said: "Next, I would like to invite Mr. Solvay to give a speech."

Solvay straightened his tie and said: "I am an entrepreneur in the field of chemistry. Compared with outstanding scholars in the field of physics, I am just a beginner. However, after studying Newtonian mechanics, I also saw Einstein. After my husband wrote some papers on time, many ideas suddenly came to mind. For example, does time have a beginning and an end, and does the universe have a beginning and an end. I know that these questions seem to be more philosophical, but they still belong to philosophy in the category of science, and only science Only people with very good qualities can answer."

Li Yu thought he was going to talk nonsense, but he didn't expect that he would talk about some very in-depth questions.

Li Yu saw Nernst nodding to him, and it was probably him who helped him think about it.

Lorenz, the chairman of the conference, said: "Thank you Mr. Solvay for your speech. Although I cannot answer these questions, I have some revelations, that is, the ultimate answer to the macroscopic field of the universe may be reflected in the microscopic one. Please forgive me. I answer it in words that also have some philosophical meaning, because I can only make this assumption. But I still believe in it, so the significance of this quantum conference we held is extraordinary."

Lorenz was indeed the oldest person present. He introduced the topic into the quantum realm in just a few words, and the transition was very smooth.

Then, Lorenz made a hypothesis about the radiation energy that can only be absorbed in discrete quantities through the mathematical physics method he is best at.

Others also made relevant reports respectively.

But the most important reports on quantum theory were made by Planck, Sommerfeld, Einstein and Li Yu.

As the "originator" of quantum theory, Planck first talked about his theoretical research on the blackbody radiation formula in his report, and raised his own questions:
“Until now, dynamical models under quantum theory have contained an inherent inconsistency that has been perplexing to all of us.

The only way out seemed to be to apply a new hypothesis: quantum emission plus continuous absorption.

The advantage of the new hypothesis is that it can preserve electrodynamics while explaining quantum phenomena.However, under the new hypothesis, the discontinuity caused by quantum must be transferred to the laws of mechanics.

So, we must think of the forces that bind atoms and electrons in molecules as being to quantum discontinuities. "

Planck's speech is actually a bit puzzling. His core meaning is that quantum theory should not be treated independently, but should be used as a methodological supplement to classical physics.

Regardless, Planck's report caught the attention of everyone present.

Planck's formulas on the blackboard were basically based on mathematical derivation, which Poincaré was most familiar with. He said: "Your speech gave me an idea, whether there is a formula that determines the shape of a finite area in phase space." Any conditions? If people try to extend the quantum concept to systems with multiple degrees of freedom, this assumption cannot be avoided."

Poincaré's speech was relatively conservative, and he still wanted to use mathematics to improve Planck's report.

Einstein asked directly: "We must accept the physical reality of these atomic light particles, instead of still trying to find ways to connect quantum theory and classical mechanics mathematically. With all due respect, this does not make much sense. Meaning. Are you so afraid of quantum, like a bullet, aiming at the core of Maxwell's equations and even the entire classical physics?" Planck said: "I accept quantum theory, but I still insist that this is true only when light is emitted or absorbed. , the particle nature of light is not a real characteristic of light itself."

Einstein objected: "These discontinuities, which are objectionable in your theory, appear to be real in nature!"

Well, it turns out that Einstein not only staged a century-long debate on quantum theory with Bohr at the Fifth Solvay Conference, but as early as the first Solvay Conference, Einstein and Planck Tit for tat.

It's just the other way around twice. In 1911, Einstein was a staunch supporter of quantum theory; but at the Fifth Solvay Conference in 1927, he stood opposite to Bohr and opposed quantum mechanics.

Li Yu saw them arguing so much that he almost wanted to find a plate of melon seeds to eat. He even thought of an inappropriate metaphor in his mind: the dragon-slaying warrior finally turned into an evil dragon...

Good luck fooling people!
And their next round of rebuttal made Li Yu's eyes light up even more.

"It's not clear enough to say 'it's true in nature,'" Planck said.

Einstein immediately said: "If you can't observe it, of course it makes no sense to say that they exist. But the reality is that the photoelectric effect is obvious to everyone!"

Li Yu felt happy: in more than ten years, especially after the uncertainty principle comes out, you will not say that.

Lorenz and others actually supported quantum theory, but Einstein's speech seemed a little too certain to them, so Lorenz said: "Mr. Einstein, some of your statements seem to be completely incompatible with Maxwell's equations. .”

Einstein was honest: "The quantum hypothesis is indeed a stopgap measure at present, and it seems to be incompatible with the wave theory verified by experiments. But in order to reconcile the wave theory and particle theory of light, in addition to our indispensable Maxwell equations, We must also admit the hypothesis of quantum!”

Nernst said: "I cannot fully agree. I have no interest in the concept of light quanta; for all the applications I have in mind, all that is needed is the concept of energy quanta itself."

Sommerfeld, another master of quantum mechanics, made the same conclusion as Nernst: "Quantum is now at best a concept, and its right or wrong needs a long time to be verified and developed."

Sommerfeld became interested in the concept of light quanta only a year ago and applied it for the first time in a paper submitted to the Academy of Sciences this year.

It's just that Sommerfeld currently doesn't have the same confidence in quantum mechanics that he did later.

Einstein felt helpless and looked at Li Yu: "Li, you haven't spoken. What do you think of this issue?"

Li Yu put away the melon seeds he was eating in his mind and said: "I listened carefully to the report and everyone's speeches. I think there are many flaws in Mr. Planck's approach to integrating classical mechanics into quantum theory. For example, he The very important statistical theory has been ignored. Whether Maxwell or Boltzmann, they have used their own theories to prove the importance of probability and statistical theory in the microscopic field."

Li Yu pointed out the mathematical problem to the point.

In fact, the big guys present were not unaware of it, but they really couldn't introduce probability theory into physics, so they chose to ignore it.

Because probability theory will lead to the emergence of "uncertainty", and physics hates uncertainty - at least this is the case in classical physics.

Planck said: "I admit that the equations of statistical mechanics are of great significance to the energy distribution of blackbody radiation."

Li Yu said: "In this case, it is natural for everyone to admit that radiation not only has some properties described by electromagnetic theory, but also has the properties of light quanta. Isn't it natural?"

Li Yu felt that his transition was smooth enough, but everyone still couldn't fully adopt it.After several rounds of speeches, consensus still could not be reached.

Planck said: "We must all agree that today's so-called quantum theory, although a useful tool, does not represent a theory in the ordinary sense and in any case does not represent a theory that can be developed in a closed form. A theory.”

This is an inconclusive conclusion.

Exceptionally, the Solvay Conference was unable to conclude quantum theory so quickly.But the impact of the meeting was good, at least it was the first meeting of top experts.

Everyone gets together to elaborate on their respective arguments and debate the fundamental and controversial aspects. This has many benefits for the nascent quantum theory and provides a better soil for the development of quantum theory.

When we walked out of the venue, raindrops were falling from the sky.

Einstein looked at the gloomy sky and said with some sadness: "In today's meeting, I have not made any progress in quantum theory. Everyone in Brussels must be sad about the failure, but they can't find a way to remedy it." The meeting was like a visit to the ruins of Jerusalem, with nothing positive coming out of it. My ideas were received with interest and without serious criticism. There was no victory, but I felt less challenged. , because I didn’t hear anything I didn’t already know.”

Li Yu said: "Well, at least in my opinion, the Solvay Conference actually achieved its main purpose, which is to draw everyone's attention to quantum issues and urge us to cooperate more closely for the future growth of quantum theory. .”

Einstein shrugged: "The cooperation of physicists is not a simple and easy thing. The future of quantum theory is worrying."

"I think quantum theory has a bright future," Li Yu pointed at the glass in front of him and said, "How about we make a bet."

"A bet?" Einstein said, "What bet? Don't spend too much time."

"Quickly," Li Yu said, "Did you see those two raindrops on the glass?"

Einstein frowned and looked over: "What's wrong?"

"Let's bet on which one of them will fall faster." Li Yu said.

"It's interesting," Einstein looked at them. "It's difficult to estimate from the complexity of the glass and the irregularity of the waterway. It seems to have some connection with your chaos theory."

Li Yu said: "I didn't think too much, I bet on the left."

Einstein said, "What's the stakes?"

"10 francs, and a treat for lunch tomorrow." Li Yu said, "In addition, if I win, it will prove that quantum theory will definitely become a truly successful theory."

"Then I'll make this bet," Einstein said. "I can only choose the right."

After a few seconds, the raindrops on the left slid down smoothly.

Li Yu laughed loudly: "10 francs!"

"I hope so," Einstein said leisurely, "Oh! 10 francs, in the past, this was my food expenses for at least a week!"