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

This time when he goes abroad, Li Yu plans to go to the United States first and then to Europe.

Also on board were Hou Debang and other students who went to study in the United States.

As soon as the ship arrived in San Francisco, Situ Meitang brought people to greet it.

"Brother Shucai, I haven't seen you for more than two years, and your temperament has become more and more outstanding." Situ Meitang said happily.

Li Yu said: "I've been bumping around on the boat for more than half a month, how can I have any temperament?"

Someone next to Situ Meitang said: "Mr. Academician, I, the Counselor of the Embassy in the United States, Rong Kui, have never been able to meet you. This time I came all the way from Washington. I'm afraid I won't be able to see you again."

Li Yu smiled and said, "Are you afraid that I will run away?"

Rong Kui is the younger brother of Mr. Rong Hong, the "Father of Chinese Students Abroad". In his early years, he was influenced by Rong Hong and signed up to become the second batch of children studying in the United States.

Later, the Qing government suddenly suspended the program for young children studying in the United States and recalled all students.

There were four batches of 120 young children studying in the United States, and 94 returned home. The rest were either repatriated early or died of illness. But two of them refused the Qing court's order and chose to stay in the United States to complete their studies. One of these two was Rong Kui.

(The other one was named Tan Yaoxun. Although he completed his studies, he unfortunately fell ill at the age of 24 and died young.)

Rong Kui studied chemistry at Yale University in the United States, and later went to Columbia University to study mining engineering for two years. Since then, he has worked in the embassy in the United States, specifically responsible for the affairs of students studying in the United States.

He is not a high-ranking official, but Rong Kui is conscientious and has been working for decades. He is responsible for the management and care of all students from China who come to study in the United States.

Rong Kui looked at the list of students and their introductions and said happily: "It's getting better every year."

Li Yu said: "Mr. Lao Rong has arranged it."

Rong Kui then asked: "How is Yi'ai (Liang Cheng) doing in China?"

Li Yu said: "Brother Liang has been staying in his hometown in Guangdong since he was dismissed from his post as minister to Germany and returned to China. Previously, senior officials such as Prime Minister Tang Shaoyi and Chief of Finance Zhou Ziqi invited him to serve as officials, but Brother Liang did not agree. So I have never seen him again. to him."

Rong Kui sighed: "Yi Ai's physical condition deteriorated a few years ago. Perhaps his greatest wish is to enjoy his old age peacefully."

Situ Meitang left the group of them to rest for a day in San Francisco.

Situ Meitang was very concerned about the domestic situation and asked Li Yu: "I read in the newspaper that now that Yuan Shikai has become the president, he has expelled all the members of the Kuomintang, causing the Congress to shut down, and Mr. Sun was forced to live in Japan again."

Li Yu said: "This is indeed the case. Fortunately, no major war broke out, otherwise the people would suffer."

Situ Meitang said anxiously: "Have all your efforts been wasted?"

"It's not so pessimistic," Li Yu said. "The idea of ​​republic has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it is impossible for anyone to buck the trend."

Situ Meitang clenched his fists, wishing he could go back to his country, but thinking about it, even Mr. Sun was forced to leave. It seemed that he could do nothing if he went there, so he could only sigh heavily.

"Brother Situ, there is no need to worry," Li Yu said. "If you think about it, there were at least a thousand large and small uprisings against the Qing Dynasty and restoration of the Ming Dynasty throughout the Qing Dynasty. But after entering the Republic of China, who would think about resisting the people and restoring the Qing Dynasty? This is not heaven. What a big joke! If someone really did that, they would be laughed to death."

Situ Meitang thought for a moment and felt that what Li Yu said made sense, "The former Qing Dynasty has lost all people's hearts. It is indeed impossible for anyone to go crazy and try to restore it."

Li Yu said with a smile: "Even if the restoration is restored, the braid has been cut off, can you still wait for it to grow back?"

Although there were two enthronement events in the first six years of the Republic of China, they were both suppressed in a very short period of time. They were like farces and were unpopular.

As for the various uprisings that took place in the Qing Dynasty for more than two hundred years, they were really numerous and never stopped.

Situ Meitang asked: "Why is Mr. Sun still forced to go into exile overseas?"

Li Yu said: "Power is something that is hard to explain, and there are always people who will become addicted to it."

Situ Meitang said helplessly: "We can only wait and see what happens."

Li Yu then asked: "After Kang Youwei returned to China, the royalists should not have done much in America, right?"

Situ Meitang said: "It really saves a lot of worry."

-

The next day, everyone got on the train and headed to the east coast of the United States. Li Yu got off the train in Chicago first. He was going to the University of Chicago to visit Hu Gangfu, and then to Detroit to inspect the production situation.

University of Chicago.

Millikan's laboratory is tidy, and Millikan has gained greater academic prestige than he did last time.

A few months ago, Millikan published that important paper: through the oil drop experiment, the numerical value of the electron charge was given.

The results he obtained were already very accurate, differing from modern values ​​by only about 1%.

There is still some controversy over this in the American scientific community, because the results obtained by some laboratories are different from Millikan's, and even erratic.

Those who have done oil drop experiments in college may have some experience. The precision of instruments will inevitably have uncontrollable errors a hundred years from now, let alone the early 20th century.

However, the data in Millikan's paper is indeed relatively clear, so more people in the scientific community still believe that Millikan is right. The key is that the experimental design can withstand scrutiny.

"Your Excellency, Academician," Millikan came over and said, "It's an honor to see you again."

"I'm honored too," Li Yu said, and then asked, "Are you satisfied with the Chinese student I recommended, Hu Gangfu?"

"I am very satisfied," Millikan said. "Chinese students are extremely hardworking, to the extent that it scares me. They can stay in the laboratory all day without eating."

Li Yu smiled and said: "Maybe the food in your school is not good."

Millikan was amused: "I wanted him to cook a Chinese dish, but he said he couldn't cook it. Otherwise, I can try the rumored dumplings and tofu."

Li Yu looked at the paper on his desk and said, "Professor will definitely win a Nobel Prize in Physics in the future. I am very happy and congratulated."

Millikan already knew that Li Yu was awarded the Nobel Prize again by the Nobel Prize Committee, so he said: "Academician, you have already received two Nobel Prizes at a young age. It is you who should be congratulated."

Li Yu said indirectly: "This year the Nobel Prize will be awarded to two people again. I think this is the best way to encourage scientific researchers."

Millikan didn't seem to hear the voice-over and just said: "Wouldn't it be better to teach three people separately?"

Li Yu sighed in his heart, knowing that if he did not agree, his assistant would not be able to win the award, because the final signature of the published paper was only Millikan, and the assistant named Harvey Fletcher was destined to miss it.

Li Yu thought of Professor Michelson, who was also at the University of Chicago, and said, "Professor Michelson has refreshed the accurate value of the speed of light again and again. Professor, do you have any ideas to continue to improve the results of the oil drop experiment?"

Millikan said bitterly: "This is the most perfect result I can get. Even if I continue to do multiple sets of experiments, it cannot be more accurate."

Millikan was right. The reason for the error in his experimental results lay in the selection of the air viscosity coefficient.

Simply put, when calculating the buoyancy of an oil droplet in the air, Stokes' law needs to be used. When the oil droplets are very small, close to air molecules, this law does not apply, that is, the viscosity coefficient of the air needs to be adjusted.

But the scientific community currently doesn’t know about this.

In short, the oil drop experiment has basically come to an end for Millikan. He is now busy with another experiment. Li Yu noticed the test equipment and asked: "Professor wants to overthrow Mr. Einstein's photoelectric effect theory?"

"His paper is riddled with holes," Millikan said bluntly.

Li Yu asked: "What loophole?"

Millikan said: "The biggest loophole, or simply nonsense, is that he actually adopted the light quantum hypothesis. I am a firm supporter of the wave theory. In my opinion, photons can never exist!"

Li Yu said: "But Mr. Einstein's theory does perfectly explain the photoelectric effect."

Millikan said: "It's just a theory, without any experimental support. And I will use experiments to prove that photons do not exist."

Li Yu glanced at it and understood his experimental ideas. It was not complicated to understand.

Einstein’s equation for the photoelectric effect is:

E=hv-w

That is, electron kinetic energy = photon energy - work function.

The work function is the energy required for electrons to be excited and escape from the metal plate.

Obviously, this equation is a linear equation, and the slope is Planck's constant h.

What Millikan had to do was to draw a picture of the photoelectric effect equation through experimental data.

——If it is not a linear equation relationship, it will naturally prove that Einstein is wrong.

It must be said that Millikan was truly a first-rate experimental physicist, with excellent physical intuition and acumen.

However, history also made a little joke: Millikan, who wanted to prove that photons did not exist and that Einstein was wrong, perfectly verified Einstein's photoelectric effect equation through experiments, and even gave a more accurate general equation. The value of Ranke's constant!

His experiments directly helped Einstein win the Nobel Prize in Physics for correctly explaining the photoelectric effect!

I don’t know if this is unintentional or not?

It's just a stumbling block for others.

Li Yu wanted Hu Gangfu to study as Millikan's assistant mainly because of this experiment.

In any case, Millikan is currently the best experimental physicist in the United States. His experiments are directly related to the cutting-edge fields of physics, which will definitely benefit Hu Gangfu a lot and achieve higher academic achievements than in history.

After chatting with Millikan for a while, Hu Gangfu and Fletcher came to the laboratory after class.

"Master Li!" Hu Gangfu was very happy after seeing Li Yu, "Why did you suddenly appear here!"

"Passing by," Li Yu said with a smile, "How does it feel here?"

“It’s good,” Hu Gangfu said. “The focus of the University of Chicago is different from that of Harvard University where I was previously. Most of the experiments done at Harvard were about X-rays and spectroscopy, while at the University of Chicago they were on atomic physics. "

Li Yu said: "There is no harm in having more contacts. Both aspects are cutting-edge theories."

Hu Gangfu added: "By the way, I heard from my previous letter from China that my husband founded a Datong University in Shanghai with his brother."

Li Yu said: "Hu Dunfu is now the president, and we are ready to build this university into a first-class institution."

Hu Gangfu said: "After returning to China, I will join you too!"

"That's something for later," Li Yu said. "You finish your studies first and cherish these few years."

Hu Gang said seriously: "Remember sir's teachings."

Li Yu originally wanted to meet Michelson, but he happened to be out for a meeting, so he had to leave Chicago first and head to Detroit.

-

Li Yu planned to expand the factory in advance, allowing the company's production capacity to continue to increase, and now it has achieved results.

Just this year, Ford launched an epoch-making assembly line, achieving a qualitative leap in automobile production capacity.

Ford was a very smart businessman. He knew that it was not enough to sell cars to the rich. Only when ordinary people could afford them could real business success be achieved.

In his view, if cars continue to exist as luxury goods, their development will inevitably be restricted.

It feels a bit like later generations: no matter how high Lamborghini's market value is, it can't surpass Volkswagen.

The assembly line was an instant success, and car prices began to fall rapidly.

Especially in the United States, a Model T car cost a worker two years of income in 1913, but it only took about three months in 1924.

On average, one is built on the production line every 10 seconds, and a new Model T is sold every 24 seconds.

No other manufacturer competing with Ford could break this record. In just a few years, Ford became the largest automobile company, and Henry Ford himself won the title of "Automobile King". At the same time, he gained huge wealth and became a conglomerate-level existence.

In Li Yu's factory, Zou Zhou and David Buick followed suit and introduced Ford's management model for streamlined production.

——If we don’t do this, the factory will not be able to meet Ford’s orders.

Ford made a lot of money, and Li Yu made equally hard money.

After all, Li Yu is now an invisible upstream boss in the automobile industry, holding the most critical automobile patents.

Ford's design philosophy still needs to take care of the current poor road driving conditions, so it is absolutely inseparable from Li Yu's four-wheel drive system, chassis patents, transmission patents, shift structures, electronic ignition systems, lighting systems, and rearview mirrors wait.

The assembly line is an innovative improvement in management, and David Buick, as a technology boss, is even more obsessed with technology itself.

The reason why Li Yu didn't worry about the engine was because he was there.

David Buick used Li Yu's patent and then referenced the products of many companies to create a lightweight aircraft engine with excellent heat dissipation.

Although there is still a gap between the top engines of other manufacturers in Europe and the United States, the gap is not obvious and it is considered to be at the mainstream level.

Li Yu is planning to ship a batch of engines back to China, and at the same time, he is also shipping a batch of Model T cars back to China for sale.

Model T cars are very cheap in the United States, but including shipping by sea, the price after arriving in China is at least three times that in the United States.

Compared with European cars, the quality of the Model T is a bit lower, but the price is cheaper, and it also has an unexpected advantage: fuel economy.

The fuel consumption level of the T-model is about seven or eight liters per 10 kilometers, which is a remarkable result even a hundred years later (the fuel consumption of common SUVs for urban commuting is generally around liters, or even higher).

For comparison, the fuel consumption of Citroën cars sold in China during the Republic of China was more than 14 to 5 liters, which was twice as bad.

During the Republic of China, cars were typically affordable but not affordable.

The price of gasoline is so expensive. If the fuel consumption is doubled, the difference in fuel consumption after driving is quite obvious, and I can't stand it.