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

Chapter 63 Stargazing
Paris, France, Qing Dynasty Legation in France.

"Come on, sit down and don't move! Very good, look here, smile! Cheese!"

"Crack!"

Yu Xunling pressed the shutter, and images of Minister Yu Geng and two beautiful daughters Yu Deling and Yu Rongling were left on the film.

As soon as Yu Geng stood up, his youngest daughter Rong Ling grabbed his arm: "Daddy, Daddy, let's take another picture!"

Yu Geng patted her head, "If you want to take pictures, you can take pictures with your sister."

The two sisters, Yu Deling and Yu Rongling, are only three years apart, and they both grew up very gracefully.

After they spent their childhood in Wuhan, they traveled with Yu Geng to various countries. They first stayed in Japan for three years, and then lived in France for four years.

The two sisters have their own characteristics:
My elder sister, De Ling, loves literature and art, and is very talented in languages. She can speak seven or eight foreign languages, and she can create very skillfully in English and other foreign languages.

Rong Ling loves dancing and is a very talented dancer. She can not only dance Chinese classical dance, but also Japanese dance, Western modern dance, ballet, and is also very good at Greek dance and Spanish dance.

Not to mention that girls nowadays love to take selfies. After the birth of photography, women fell madly in love with this art of preserving beauty, especially beautiful girls like the two sisters of the Yu family.

Rong Ling entangled his sister De Ling, and said to Yu Xunling behind the camera: "Brother, take a quick picture!"

Yu Xunling loved the two younger sisters equally, "All right, let's make a pose."

Just as he was about to press the shutter, De Ling interrupted him, "Wait a minute, I'm going to change my clothes. I just bought a Cloche hat from the Champs Elysees today. It must look good in the photo."

Unexpectedly, after a while, when De Ling came out of the house, he not only put on a beautiful hat, but also changed into an elegant French dress.

"Come on, let's shoot!"

Younger sister Rong Ling pouted: "Hmph! No more shots."

"Why didn't you shoot?" De Ling asked.

"You go to buy new clothes and hats, why don't you buy them for me?" Rong Ling said angrily.

De Ling hurriedly sat beside her, "Good sister, you go to learn dancing today, I went out for a stroll because I was bored at home."

Yu Rongling is the only Chinese who has personally learned dance from Isadora Duncan, the originator of modern dancers, and has received high praise from her.

Yu Rongling obviously didn't want to let it go: "I don't care! I want it too!"

De Ling took off his hat and put it on her head, "here, here you are."

"really?"

"Sister can still lie to you?"

Rong Ling got up and walked lightly to the mirror, looking at the beautiful hat, his mood immediately changed from cloudy to sunny, "Hurry up, hurry up!"

When several people were taking pictures and playing, the staff of the embassy came in to find Yu Geng.

"My lord, here is today's newspaper."

Yu Geng said: "How is it, where is Master Bei?"

The staff replied: "The newspaper did not publish the news about Master Bei, but it did report about a person named Li Yu in the mission."

"Li Yu?" Yu Geng took the newspaper, "What kind of radiation did the previous one produce?"

"It's X-rays, Your Excellency."

Yu Geng sat on the chair, read carefully for a while, and then slowly put down the newspaper, "There is such a person!"

"Daddy, what's the news today?"

Rong Ling ran over with light lotus steps. She has practiced dancing all year round, and she dances gracefully when she walks.

Rong Ling and Yu Xunling also came here, and they were very concerned about the envoy led by Zai Zhen.

"See for yourself."

De Ling read the fastest, and asked in surprise: "Li Yu?" She remembered the name, "So he is also in the mission."

They are all abroad and have a quick understanding of current affairs. Li Yu shocked the entire academic circle some time ago, and they naturally saw the report.

Yu Xunling ate a few grapes, and said: "It's rare to have someone who understands Western learning. It's normal for Mr. Pei to bring it, but he played really big this time. The Royal Society in the UK is not an ordinary institution. They must have it." genuine talent."

Yu Geng leaned back, "That's why I was a little surprised."

Rong Ling read the word-twisting noun word by word: "Canis Major A, what kind of star is this?"

De Ling corrected: "It's α, you don't understand Greek. Although I don't know what it is, it must be not easy for the president of the Royal Society to pay attention."

Rong Ling said: "Li Yu is so powerful, he must be an old scholar, how much knowledge does he have to know! Thinking about those numbers makes me afraid."

Minister Yu Geng said: "The newspaper said that he is a young man, only in his twenties."

"In your twenties? Let me see if you have any photos." De Ling asked.

Chinese people in this era are used to big politicians and great literati, and talents in the field of science are really refreshing.

Minister Yu Geng shook his head, "Not at all. However, Master Pei's mission will come to France, and maybe we can see it then."

"Really? That's great, I really want to meet you!"

"I hope it's not too ugly..."

Li Yu was very busy during this period. He lived directly in the observatory, observed at night, and analyzed and calculated during the day.My little computer has helped a lot, and the solar panels on it are estimated to be guaranteed to last for 20 years.

Astronomy is not just a science of observation, the calculations that need to be used are very, very complicated and cumbersome.

Tycho observed so much data back then, but found nothing. It was not until Kepler, who was good at mathematics, inherited his observatory, that he really gave life to this pile of boring data, and made Kepler's three laws come out. .

The most used in astronomical calculations are logarithmic and trigonometric functions.When Napier invented the logarithmic table, he was even praised by Laplace for "extending the life of astronomers".

However, although the logarithmic table is relatively accurate, compared with a calculator, it is really like a nine-nine multiplication table.

Not to mention the trigonometric functions, the sine function is often used in astronomical calculations, and the calculator can give the answer in a few seconds.At that time, astronomers even took several days to calculate several sets of data!
It is also the blessing of this little calculator that allows Li Yu to produce some "big news" in a short period of time.

All he has to do is discover Pluto!

Although in Li Yu's time, Pluto had been removed from the list of the nine planets and downgraded to a dwarf planet.But 100 years ago, the discovery of a planet in the solar system, especially a planet beyond Neptune, was an earth-shattering event.

But observing Pluto is not easy because it is so faint.And there are too many stars in the sky, how do you know where a certain star is?Astronomers at the time could only try and try, and sometimes it really took a certain amount of luck.

And there is also a very contradictory problem, that is, the higher the multiple of the telescope, the more time it takes to discover the stars.The reason is simple: the higher the multiplier, the smaller the range you can see.

(End of this chapter)