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

Chapter 558 Coke Ingredients

Li Yu's next step is to go to the Chinese Science Branch of Cornell University to meet with Jiang Lifu and Zhu Kezhen.

I didn't forget to send a paper to "Science" on the way, mainly about the Doppler effect explanation of atomic spectra written by Li Yu some time ago.

To explain this phenomenon at the atomic level, quantum mechanics is undoubtedly required.

This is what Li Yu is best at, but the article is too professional, based on pure theoretical physics, and is only influential among a small group of people who engage in theoretical physics.

Well, even those who engage in experimental physics will basically not read it. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was still a bit of a gap between experimental physicists and theoretical physicists.

Theoretical physicists generally read experiments performed by experimental physicists; but experimental physicists often do not read articles written by theoretical physicists.

The reason is that the experimental physicists feel that the theoretical people have made it too complicated, with a bunch of long and difficult formulas and esoteric mathematics. It may take months to understand a paper. It is better to do more experiments on your own.

The key point is that these people who engage in theoretical physics also use probability theory!

Probability theory!

Is this what physics should be used for?

Even though top theoretical physics figures such as Maxwell and Boltzmann began to use probability theory twenty or thirty years ago, the physics community generally still cannot accept it.

They believe that Boltzmann did this just because when studying the thermal motion of molecules, there were too many molecules to calculate, so he had no choice but to use probability theory.

But as we all know, how can quantum mechanics be separated from mathematics? Probability theory has very great connotations in the quantum field.

Anyway, although the derivation of Li Yu's paper is very exciting, it can't make any splash for the time being.

Especially here in the United States, experimental physics is the main focus, and there are very few people engaged in theoretical physics.

Only after the paper is reprinted in Europe and translated into German will it cause some discussion.

-

After arriving at Cornell University, President Jacob Shulman personally went out to greet him. The two Nobel Prize winners were "rare treasures" that are rarely seen.

"Mr. Academician, I am deeply honored and also quite surprised by your arrival." Schulman said.

Li Yu shook hands with him and said: "Hello, principal! I came here because of the science club branch established by several Chinese students in your school."

Li Yu deliberately pointed the reason to the Science Society Branch, which will inevitably attract Cornell University's attention and be beneficial to the development of the Science Branch.

Principal Schulman was really surprised: "A branch of the Chinese Science Society?"

"That's right," Li Yu said, not forgetting to praise a few words, "your school provides a very good environment and soil."

Principal Schulman paused for a second, understood what Li Yu meant, and immediately laughed and said: "It should be! It should be!"

Shulman later served as the U.S. minister to China and was generally friendly to China. This may be related to his experience as the president of Cornell University.

He knew that Li Yu would win another prize soon, and that the two Nobel Prizes were only a small part of Li Yu's research results. The top boss in the field of physics had to give a speech when he came.

Li Yu naturally agreed. After all, he had given speeches so many times and had enough experience. In his speech, he first talked about the development of the physics community and some of his own insights and achievements, and then tried to win over Cornell University and Chinese students.

Not only Hu Mingfu (the younger brother of Hu Gangfu and Hu Dunfu), Hu Shi, Zhao Yuanren, Yang Xingfo and others who were studying at Cornell University attended, but Jiang Lifu and Zhu Kezhen who were far away from Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley all gathered at Cornell University to listen to Li Yu speech.

Among these people, Hu Mingfu and Jiang Lifu are engaged in mathematics; Zhu Kezhen is engaged in meteorology; although Zhao Yuanren and Yang Xingfo have not continued to devote themselves to science since then, Zhao Yuanren is also studying physics and Yang Xingfo is studying mechanics.

In short, they are currently considered in the scientific circle.

After Li Yu spent a long time dealing with university affairs, he and Zhu Kezhen and others came to the small classroom rented by the Science Society branch.

At this time, there were not many students in American universities and there were many empty classrooms.

Hu Mingfu, who is most enthusiastic about the affairs of the Science Society branch, said excitedly: "When Mr. Academician came today, we realized firsthand how powerful you are in front of foreigners! We usually only meet the principal during ceremonies, but today he came early to greet you."

"Yes!" Zhu Kezhen said, "You have greatly boosted our fighting spirit to rejuvenate the country through science."

"The rejuvenation of the country through science depends on more students like you," Li Yu said. "The circulation of the domestic Science Magazine is good, with a stable number of several thousand copies. As time goes by, more people will definitely join the scientific field. I am prepared to An office building at Datong University will be used as a dedicated space for the Science Society. When you return to China in the future, the Science Society will organize regular activities to keep everyone connected."

Jiang Lifu said: "I can't wait to return to China."

"It's not necessary," Li Yu said with a smile, "You'd better study here for a few more years, as long as you can, and don't waste opportunities and funds. Just submit more articles to domestic magazines. In addition, those who write articles Please be aware that we are in the science popularization period and control the difficulty.”

Hu Mingfu said: "We are still students and cannot write top-notch articles like Mr. Academician."

Li Yu was not picky: "You don't need to pursue quality too much. What's important now is quantity. If you write it, feel free to submit it. I will publish it and give you considerable remuneration."

Hu Mingfu said: "I usually draw some popular science paintings. Can the magazine publish them?"

"It must be possible!" Li Yu said, "I just want to start another "Science Illustrated" to make it more interesting."

Hu Mingfu said: "That will be easy to handle!"

Hu Mingfu is one of the international students who contributes the most articles to Science Magazine, and he is very good at writing popular science articles and pays great attention to introducing new knowledge in all aspects to readers.

The first three volumes of "Science Magazine" published 47 articles by Hu Mingfu, covering mathematics, physics, chemistry, biomedicine, astronomy and meteorology, education, military, etc., which shows his profound knowledge.

Each of the "Three Heroes of the Hu Family" is awesome.

The boss, Hu Dunfu, is the one who has become the president of Datong University in China; he has been introduced before.

The third brother, Hu Gangfu, whom Li Yu had just met a few days ago at the Millikan Laboratory at the University of Chicago, was a physics major.

Hu Mingfu in front of me is the second eldest child, and like the eldest son, he studies mathematics.

Hu Mingfu was very talented. He later participated in the review of mathematical terms and compared the American, English, French, Italian, Japanese and German names with the Chinese translations, which played a very important role in promoting the exchange of mathematics at home and abroad.

Unfortunately, Hu Mingfu died young due to a drowning accident not long after returning to China.

By the way, Jiang Lifu and the Hu family became a family after that - Hu Zhihua, the younger sister of the three brothers of the Hu family, married Jiang Lifu.

Although Hu Shi studied philosophy rather than science and did not join the science club, he still came to join in the fun.

Hu Shi said: "It's a pity that I studied agriculture for more than a year, but it was not my strong point after all. I transferred to the philosophy department, otherwise I could have written a few more articles and submitted them to the Science Society."

Hu Mingfu had a good relationship with him and said with a smile: "You joined the Christian Church two years ago. I can't imagine you writing scientific articles."

Hu Shi scratched his scalp and said with some embarrassment: "It's all based on emotion. Now I understand that the church relies entirely on emotional tricks to win over the believers. I really regret it!"

Hu Shi's joining the Christian Church was a manifestation of his extreme admiration for American culture and lifestyle. Originally, Hu Shi had always declared that he was an "atheist" when he was in China. Then at a summer camp in the United States, he discovered that a classmate of that year had become a teacher and "speaks and behaves like a Cheng-Zhu scholar, making people admire and respect him." Therefore, he came up with the idea of ​​"pursuing atheism". The meaning of Jesus."

However, less than half a year after joining, Hu Shi felt that it was not the case and gradually faded out of the church.

Li Yu asked curiously: "Classmate Hu Shi, why didn't you continue studying agriculture?"

Hu Shi had chosen his major at first and was confident that he wanted to study agriculture.

Hu Shi said: "When I first came to the United States to study, I really wanted to study agriculture. I felt that articles and the like were just trivial skills that would not be used to save the country. But after studying for a year, I found it was not suitable. Not only was I not suitable for studying agriculture, I also think the theory I learned is not suitable for China’s situation.”

Li Yu asked: "Why do you say that?"

Hu Shi said: "Western agriculture relies heavily on machinery, and only thousands of acres of fertile land can be developed. However, China's land is scattered and rugged, which is not suitable."

Li Yu said: "China is not without great plains. The huge North China Plain, Northeast Plain and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain are all suitable for mechanical planting."

Hu Shi said bitterly: "But mechanics is really not my specialty, so I might as well switch to studying literature and philosophy, which I am better at."

Zhao Yuanren suddenly said: "Literature is indeed valuable in Western countries, but in China it is a hidden gem with no merit. In reality, agriculture seems to be more practical."

Hu Shi said: "My elder brother also warned me, but I still had the idea of ​​joining politics. I have observed the political environment in the United States and found that speech is very important, so I made up my mind to switch to literature and philosophy. If I can use literature to develop the spirit of philosophy in the future, It’s quite an achievement.”

Zhao Yuanren said: "It is too slow to use literature to develop philosophy! It is better to directly use literature to develop the truth of politics. If it can be done, the effect on governing the country will not be small."

Hu Shi nodded and said, "That's exactly what I meant."

Hu Mingfu said with a smile: "Studying literature and philosophy requires reading a lot of books. Brother Shi can no longer compose vernacular poems or letters."

Hu Shi said: "I will naturally allocate my time reasonably."

He says this, but he really didn’t study much in the past few years in the United States, mainly because he had too many social activities! The number is staggering.

Hu Shi himself calculated that in 1915 alone, he received 999 letters and sent 874 letters. On average, he wrote two to three letters a day, and many of the letters were very long.

At this time, writing a letter was not as simple as typing and sending an email on a computer in later generations. Each letter had to be considered for a long time.

He sent more than 40 letters to the aforementioned Chen Hengzhe in five months; he sent more than 100 letters to the American woman Wei Liansi with whom he had an affair; at the same time, he also corresponded extensively with another Western woman, Ms. Shouqin. .

As his good friend, Hu Mingfu advised Hu Shi several times to study more, but Hu Shi did not get rid of this problem, and even almost had problems in his doctoral thesis defense.

Those who stand out and get the qualifications to study in the United States are definitely among the best. Hu Shi is very smart, but he had too many "side ambitions" during college.

When it was dinner time, Li Yu and a group of international students went to a restaurant to eat.

Before the food was served, Hu Shi happily ordered a few bottles of drinks.

"Coca-Cola!" He placed it on the table.

Several other students brought it over skillfully.

Li Yu didn't drink.

Hu Shi asked doubtfully: "Mr. Academician, don't you want to try it? This is the most popular drink in the United States."

Li Yu asked: "Do you know what Coca means?"

Hu Shi paused: "What do you mean?"

Li Yu said: "Coca leaves contain an ingredient called cocaine. The explanation is a bit complicated, but you just need to know that this thing and opium are both drugs."

"Ahem!" Jiang Lifu almost spit out, "Opium?!"

Li Yu said: "If you talk about it in detail, there are some differences, but they are definitely not good things and are harmful to the human body."

All the people stopped moving.

Hu Shi didn't believe it and said, "But Americans are drinking it."

Li Yu said: "The Coca-Cola Company invests hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising every year. If no one buys it, it will lose money. Although they stopped adding cocaine directly a few years ago, they have not completely eliminated coca leaves in the production process. "

Zhu Kezhen asked: "Mr. Academician, what is the function of the coca you mentioned?"

"Don't you think you're a little addicted after drinking it?" Li Yu asked.

Hu Shi said: "It's true, that's why we often buy in the afternoon. This is a very fashionable American lifestyle."

Li Yu said: "Not necessarily everything Americans do is correct, and they even have to imitate it."

Ten years ago, Coca-Cola was almost straight up with cocaine, almost like a drug.

Then in 1903, a chemist realized the danger and discovered through testing that Coke clearly contained cocaine. Subsequently, the U.S. federal government sued the Coca-Cola Company.

Since then, Coca-Cola has greatly restrained its efforts, but it was not until around 1930 that the cocaine ingredient was completely eliminated.

Li Yu knew that most of these students studying in the United States were very attracted to American society. After all, it had just surpassed the United Kingdom to become the number one industrial power.

When Hu Shi first arrived in the United States, he said: "The customs in the United States are excellent. The houses are not closed at night, the streets are not picked up, and the people are not wandering around. Even if they are playing games, they all have the style of a great country. This is really enviable. !”

In addition, many students studying in the United States will live with American families, and these families are at least middle class. They will spare no effort to promote American culture (although the United States does not seem to have a deep cultural heritage at this time), but they do so voluntarily. Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the United States deliberately selected it.

A few years ago, Hu Shi cursed the United States' return of the Geng Geng money as a conspiracy, but now he is enjoying it.

The Geng Fund subsidies for international students are quite large, enough to allow international students to live in the United States better than ordinary American students.

They had no worries about food and clothing, and they did not compete with Americans for survival. The ugly side of Americans' competition was not exposed to Hu Shi and others.

Professor Tang Degang once commented sharply: Hu Shi's group of Geng Geng-money students did not know the sufferings of another type of Chinese who opened restaurants and laundries. At the same time, they did not make a living in the United States, so they only saw the benefits of the United States and were passionate about the United States.

However, it cannot be said that the international students have never noticed it. They are elites after all, so how can they always be kept in the dark.

More than ten years later, with social and life experience, international students know very well that many foreigners discriminate against Chinese people.

(End of this chapter)