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

Chapter 693: First Encounter with Oppenheimer
The radio and automobile companies in the United States named LY have been making more and more money in recent years. Looking at the huge amount of money in the account, Li Yu understood that even if he did not deliberately engage in business, he would have become a super chaebol. ——It was entirely due to the cognition that was a century ahead of his time, rather than any business ability, which can be regarded as the "essential conventional skills" of a time traveler.

The momentum of making money will continue to rise until the financial crisis a few years later. But since Li Yu knew it in advance, he naturally didn't have to worry.

In terms of specific business, Zou Zhou became more and more flexible. This guy even fell in love with the daughter of an American congressman and invited Li Yu to attend his wedding.

In addition to the Western-style wedding, Li Yu also had him hold a Chinese-style wedding in Chinatown.

Due to the booming automobile industry and the fact that factories recruited a large number of Chinese people, the living standards of these people have greatly improved, and Chinatown has become more and more prosperous.

The next day, Situ Meitang organized a fundraising campaign to raise enough food for an entire cargo ship for the country, at least several thousand to tens of thousands of tons.

Li Yu made the biggest contribution, accounting for 60 to 70 percent of the donations and giving out one million U.S. dollars.

Situ Meitang was shocked. He knew that Li Yu was extremely rich, but it was unbelievable that he donated so much money. "Brother Shucai, you know the corruption in the country, isn't this…"

Li Yu said, "Don't worry. I have been in contact with the Shanghai Red Cross for a long time. I just donated 20 yuan and commissioned them to build several modern granaries in North and Central China for disaster relief."

"I'm afraid that the warlords will take it as military rations." Situ Meitang was still very worried.

"The Shanghai Red Cross has a certain American background, and its president, Fu Kaisen, is also an American. The warlords dare not touch it," said Li Yu.

Situ Meitang said with emotion: "The warlords have no regard for the people. You have to worry about these things."

Li Yu smiled bitterly and said, "With great power comes great responsibility. There have been many disasters in the country in recent years. The Red Cross told me that the last 20 yuan of food was used to deal with the drought three months later. According to their estimates, at least tens of thousands of people were saved from starvation."

"Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. Sir, you are truly a living Buddha!" ​​Situ Meitang praised sincerely.

Li Yu sighed, "It's a pity that the local disaster relief staff are insufficient, otherwise more people should have been rescued. But with the experience from last time, if we encounter a disaster again, we should be able to save more people."

A year later, the entire three northeastern provinces, Anhui, Henan, Shandong and Sichuan will encounter another super disaster, and it will be a more complicated disaster: Sichuan, the three northeastern provinces and Henan will suffer from severe drought, while Anhui and Shandong will encounter major floods, among which Shandong will be affected by the bursting of the Yellow River.

The Beiyang government was unable to provide disaster relief, and countless people died in these provinces.

Situ Meitang said: "The price of grain in America is cheap. Large-scale purchases, especially through the Red Cross, can keep the price down. I will try my best to help Mr. lower the price so that he can buy more grain."

Li Yu said, "Thank you, Brother Situ."

Situ Meitang said: "Brother Shucai has done this much, if I don't do more, I won't be able to live with my conscience."

"In fact, when I knew that I could save many people, I felt very happy," said Li Yu.

"Of course!" Situ Meitang asked again, "Are these grains really used entirely for relief, with none given to the governments of the North and South?"

"Yes, not interfering in military and political affairs is my bottom line." Li Yu said resolutely. He must know the practices of some warlords and soldiers.

"I understand." Situ Meitang said solemnly.

-

In order to maintain his patent advantages in the two fields of automobiles and radio, Li Yu improved some patents, thereby extending the patent term in another form.

For example, Li Yu planned to make a physical object for the original idea of ​​radar that he had registered earlier: combine a directional ring antenna with an instrument indicating the heading to develop a radio compass; and then make a radio rangefinder.

Of course, it is only about half a year earlier than in history, which will not lead to any great leap forward in American technology.

However, since Tesla was moved to China by himself, Li Yu took several more months to complete it.

But I also took advantage of this time to sort out the business in the United States, and gave speeches at several universities in New York with Tang Feifan.

After obtaining the patent, Li Yu was preparing to leave for Europe from Boston after giving several visiting professor lectures at Harvard.

-

Harvard University.

Wyman, a chemistry student, was eating in the cafeteria when a tray suddenly appeared in front of him.

"It's so hot! I've been lying in bed all morning reading Jeans's Kinetic Theory of Gases. What else is there to do in this weather?" Oppenheimer complained.

Wyman had long been accustomed to this wealthy and intelligent man showing off his talent. After all, who would really read a professional theory book when they had "nothing to do"?
Wyman decided to change the subject. He pointed to Oppenheimer's plate and said, "Can you try something different? Always toast with peanut butter and artichokes."

Not only do artichokes taste bad, but the main problem is that the "common area" is too large. If an artichoke weighs one kilogram, the edible part is at most two ounces.

Oppenheimer took out a bottle of chocolate sauce from his bag and poured it over the toast and artichokes: "With the soul chocolate sauce, it's absolutely delicious!"

Wyman's scalp tingled when he saw it. "What kind of way is this? It's bitter one moment, sweet the next. I can't accept it."

Oppenheimer ate with gusto and asked, "President Lowell will invite Mr. Li Yu to give a special lecture at tomorrow's graduation ceremony. Will you go?"

"If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Li Yu will definitely talk about physics. How come you, a chemistry major, are so interested in it?" Wyman said.

"I've regretted my decision to major in chemistry since the day I chose it. Now that I think about it, physics is more suitable for me," Oppenheimer said. "I've basically decided to switch to physics in graduate school."

Oppenheimer was a child prodigy and a genius. When he first entered college, he was undecided about which academic path to choose. He took a wide variety of courses in his early years, including philosophy, literature, calculus, history, chemistry, architecture, etc. He even wanted to be a painter or a poet.

But in his freshman year, he still chose to major in chemistry. Oppenheimer was determined to graduate within three years, but Harvard stipulated that he could only take six courses per semester, so he managed to audit two or three additional courses.

The life of a genius is dull and tedious. Although Oppenheimer was handsome and came from a wealthy family, he had almost no social life during college and spent a lot of time on studying.

So he not only completed the chemistry courses, but also read a lot of "extracurricular books", the scope of which was still very wide, covering history, literature, and physics.

Wyman asked, "Which physics professor are you close to?"

Oppenheimer said: "Professor Bridgman (1946 Nobel Prize winner in Physics) admires me very much and I have attended his courses."

Wyman laughed and said, "I know, you almost destroyed his lab."

Oppenheimer had no talent for experimentation. When Bridgman assigned him an experiment to make a copper-nickel alloy in a homemade furnace, Oppenheimer couldn't even tell the difference between the two ends of a soldering iron. He was so clumsy in using the laboratory's galvanometer that the delicate suspension on the instrument needed to be replaced every time he used it. Other physics students said he was a destroyer of experimental equipment.

Oppenheimer said unfazed: "At least Professor Bridgman never thought of getting rid of me."

Wyman said, "It's fine for you to attend Mr. Li Yu's lecture, but I'm worried about your foundation in physics. You read too many different books and don't know a lot of the basics of physics."

"What does that matter?" Oppenheimer said confidently, "I focus on interesting things, the most cutting-edge things."

This guy is quite unique, and his method of studying physics is eclectic and even chaotic. He paid attention to some problems in the field of physics purely out of interest, and ignored the boring basic knowledge.

Oppenheimer was always aware of his knowledge gaps, and in his later years he bluntly admitted: "To this day, I panic when I think of elastic vibrations. I know nothing about them... My mathematical knowledge is also very superficial, which is obviously far from enough for a career in physics."

"It would be great if you could go into physics," Wyman joked. "I'd have one less formidable competitor."

Oppenheimer graduated summa cum laude from the Department of Chemistry with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and was listed on the honor roll - only thirty people were selected that year.

Li Yu’s speech the next day was definitely about physics, this time he would talk about spin in quantum theory.

The students below were stunned, even those from the Physics Department.

Oppenheimer couldn't help but raise his hand and asked, "Mr. Academician, are you sure you are talking about current physics?"

Li Yu recognized him and said, "Yes, it's the latest physics."

Nowadays, few students and professors in the United States know about spin.

In the early 20th century, the United States was far behind Europe in technology.

Oppenheimer was surprised and asked, "What are we still learning?"

That same day he decided to switch to physics and go study abroad in Europe.

He came to Bridgman's office and asked, "Professor, could you please write me a letter of introduction?"

"Let me write?" Bridgman asked. "For whom?"

Oppenheimer thought for a moment and said, "Director Rutherford of Cavendish."

Bridgman didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "You are really good at picking. You just picked the most difficult one to apply for. But although he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, he is actually a physicist."

"I just wanted to study physics," Oppenheimer said. "European physicists have entered a passionate era, but many senior physicists in the United States are completely unaware of it. Everyone is even in a state of complete ignorance. It was not until I listened to Academician Li Yu's speech that I learned what the Stern-Gerlach experiment was. Before that, I am afraid no American knew it."

Bridgman understood the situation very well. He rubbed the pen in his hand and said, "I can help you, but I can't guarantee success."

Bridgman had always been optimistic about this chemistry student and personally wrote a letter of recommendation and sent it to Cambridge.

In the letter, he wrote frankly: "Oppenheimer has a very amazing ability to absorb, but experiments are his weakness. His way of thinking is analytical, not practical, and he cannot cope with laboratory operations. As for whether Oppenheimer can become an important figure with substantial contributions, in my opinion, predicting this is a bit like gambling. However, if he really achieves something, I believe it will be an extraordinary success."

Bridgman is also very good at judging people.

However, Rutherford refused.

Rutherford didn't even like Bridgman, let alone a chemistry student who couldn't do experiments.

After reading Rutherford's letter, the two were quite disappointed.

Bridgman suddenly said, "Why don't you ask Mr. Li Yu for help? His reputation is very important to the entire physics community."

"Why would he have time for me?" Oppenheimer said.

"Well, then you can only choose to study physics at Harvard. Actually, Harvard's physics is pretty good..."

"I'm going to find Mr. Li Yu now!"

……

In the Harvard Observatory, Li Yu looked at Oppenheimer in front of him and said, "Since Rutherford has refused, based on my understanding of him, this crocodile will basically not change his mind."

Oppenheimer said, "Even you can't do anything?"

Li Yu said, "But Professor Thomson might accept you. He still has a position at the Cavendish Laboratory. If you don't mind, I can write him a letter of introduction."

"Mr. Thomson, the president of the Royal Society?" Oppenheimer nodded repeatedly, "Of course!"

Fortunately, he doesn't pick.

Li Yu smiled and said, "Wait a moment, I'll finish writing it right away."

It wouldn't hurt to help Oppenheimer out in a small way.

Not only did he lead the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb, which brought two beautiful mushroom clouds to the damned Japanese, but many people also seemed to be unaware that Oppenheimer was actually quite "leftist". Although he did not join the Communist Party, he always had this kind of thinking, and so did the people around him. Even almost everyone in his family joined the Communist Party of the United States. He often called himself a "fellow traveler".

In the 50s, the United States began to engage in ideological confrontation and the so-called "McCarthyism", strictly opposing communism and censoring many people with such ideas, including Oppenheimer.

By the way, in the top-secret Manhattan Project, there was also an “Eastern Marie Curie” Wu Jianxiong.

Two weeks later, Thomson's letter arrived from England: he agreed to guide Oppenheimer's studies.

In this way, Oppenheimer entered the Cavendish Laboratory. As mentioned earlier, although Thomson had no time to continue his research and teaching work, the Cavendish Laboratory still retained his laboratory and office.

Oppenheimer was very happy and ran to thank Li Yu: "I have learned a Chinese saying: A drop of water should be repaid with a well!"

Li Yu said lightly: "This sentence is enough."