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

Chapter 58 You are wrong

"Royal Society?" Zai Zhen had heard the name before.

"Yes, Master Bei, you know that the president of the Royal Society wants to invite me to study." Li Yu said, "Would you like to go and have a look together?"

Zai Zhen shook his head, "The itinerary is already full, and the river cruise in the morning has been delayed. We still have to go to the Bank of England."

He did have a mission, and he had to write a report to the court when he returned home. Moreover, Zai Zhen would be a minister of the Ministry of Commerce in the future, so he must be very concerned about the banking industry.

So Li Yu said: "Since that's the case, I will go first with Editor Jorsen."

Zai Zhen said: "Yes, you can go, remember to write an investigation report."

Zai Zhen's energy is limited, and it is impossible to go to too many institutions. It just so happens that Li Yu is familiar with science, so it is very suitable and completely trustworthy to ask him to do research in this field.

"No problem." Li Yu turned to Joelsen and said, "Mr. Lao will lead the way."

Jolsen said, "The Royal Society is very close. I took a carriage and rushed here. Let's go out and get in the carriage."

As soon as the two walked out of Westminster Abbey, Huang Kaijia chased after him: "Wait for me! I'm going too!"

Li Yu asked, "Aren't you going to inspect the bank with Master Bei?"

Huang Kaijia laughed and said, "I don't know anything about money. It's enough for You Yizhong (the characters of Liang Cheng) and Yinghou (the characters of Tang Wenzhi). They are all people who fall into the eyes of money."

Huang Kaijia was a top student when he went to Yale University in the United States, and he was also a person who was keen on science and engineering.

The three of them got into the carriage, passed Downing Street, Whitehall, and the Admiralty Building, and stopped in front of the Royal Society.

When Li Yu got out of the car, he saw two energetic old men smoking cigars standing on the steps. Li Yu saw the photos and immediately knew that they were Lord Kelvin and President Huggins himself.

Unexpectedly, the two academic masters went out to greet them. Li Yu hurriedly stepped forward and bowed deeply to them, expressing his grand respect.

Lord Kelvin said with a smile: "Your Excellency is so young, I am deeply moved."

Huang Kaijia didn't know them, so Jorsen introduced them again.

President Huggins turned sideways: "Please come in, both of you."

Several people came to President Huggins' office. He picked up a teapot and said, "Knowing that you are coming, Lord Kelvin even went out of his way to ask someone to buy a Chinese teapot."

Although the British porcelain industry was already flourishing at that time, most of them followed the bone china route. In terms of exquisiteness, the upper class still liked Chinese porcelain.

What President Huggins is holding is a blue and white porcelain teapot, which is very valuable, but in the early twentieth century, it was really just a teapot.

Lord Kelvin also smiled and said: "The teapot is mine, but the tea leaves are personally selected by President Hudgens. He knows that I don't know as much about tea as I do about coffee."

On President Huggins's table was a small pot, also made of porcelain, with a small label on it that said "Qimen" in Chinese, that is, Qimen black tea.

This is also quite in line with the characteristics of the British. The British almost only drink black tea, and generally it is mostly Indian black tea, such as Assam black tea and Ceylon black tea.

But the upper class, especially the royal family, love the black tea that is most popular in China, and the top-grade black tea is Keemun black tea.

The British are considered to be the most knowledgeable about tea among Europeans. Chairman Huggins brewed it skillfully, then picked up a glass of iced milk and asked, "How much do you want to add?"

Li Yu used to have a classmate who was an overseas student in the UK. He knew that the British were very good at this. They only drank strong tea, and they had to drink hot tea. It was absolutely impossible not to add milk or to heat the milk.

So he said, "Just a little bit."

President Huggins was stunned for a moment. Li Yu knew that his words were too "Chinese", so he said again: "One-fifth of a glass of milk."

President Huggins immediately smiled and handed the milk to Li Yu.

"The royal family has a lot of tea from various countries, but my favorite is this can of Qimen black tea." President Huggins' pronunciation is not very standard, "How about you try it?"

Li Yu took a sip of the milk tea from the British Empire 100 years ago, and it was indeed very rich.He usually doesn't drink much tea, and mainly drinks green tea, the taste of which is much weaker in comparison.

Huang Kaijia praised from the side: "Qi Hongte is the most fragrant among all the people, with a good reputation and high fragrance. Good tea! Good tea!"

President Huggins did not understand the Chinese poem and asked, "Can you translate it in English?"

Huang Kaijia was directly asked, and held back for a long time and said: "That is to say, this bowl of tea is Very Nice!"

Lord Kelvin also agreed: "Chinese tea is very nice!"

President Huggins asked about Li Yu's scientific research environment and educational background. Li Yu smiled and said, "Sir, I don't have any diplomas now."

Lord Calvin almost bit off the butt of his cigar: "No diploma? You are a genius!"

President Huggins wasn't too surprised, because he didn't go to a formal school. He was a businessman before, but he has achieved today's achievements because of his great love for astronomy, and even built his own observatory.

Several people chatted about topics related to thermodynamics, which is Lord Kelvin's specialty.Li Yu actually wanted to point out Kelvin's mistake in estimating the age of the earth, but after thinking about it, the current scientific research conditions are simply not available, because accurate measurement requires radioactive isotope dating, that is, the half-life of elements, so he had to give up.

But Li Yu's knowledge of existing thermodynamics is not low, and because he truly understands the essence of thermodynamics, that is, he has a good understanding of the microscopic field, so his views are actually much more thorough, which made Lord Kelvin very impressed.

As we talked, we talked back to Chairman Huggins' old profession of astronomy. He was engaged in the study of stellar spectra.

But astronomy is Li Yu's specialty, and the two chatted very speculatively.

President Huggins said: "I didn't expect that you are so young, you have such a wide range of research, and you also have research on astronomical spectroscopy. Speaking of it, I measured the spectrum of α Canis Major A many years ago, and found that it was over 40 kilometers away. The speed per second is far away from the sun, which makes me very difficult to understand, do you have any insight?"

Alpha Canis Major A is also known as Sirius.

Sirius is the first star whose velocity is measured in history, which is the beginning of the research on the radial velocity of celestial bodies. The measurer is President Huggins.

But Li Yu clearly knew that he was wrong.Because although the universe is expanding, most of the stars are moving away from us, but there are still running towards us, the brightest star in the sky - Sirius is exactly the case.

"Dear President, with all due respect, if the spectrum can be accurately measured again, I believe that Alpha Canis Major A is not far away from us, but is coming towards us."

(End of this chapter)