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

Chapter 708 Winning the Prize
It was a new day again, and this time Schrödinger regrouped and proposed a new theory to address the flaws in the first day's report.

Basically, it says that for a single electron, the equation involves a wave moving in three dimensions; if another electron interacts with the first, another wave moving in three dimensions is required.

In fact, this idea is quite common in mathematics, generally called phase space. However, at least for now, this theory is still not as attractive as the Copenhagen interpretation.

Therefore, this theory still cannot convince the Copenhagen school.

Schrödinger was helpless and lost again in Round 3, but he said something quite profound and even prescient in his report: "The real system is a composite image of the classical system in all possible states."

The two main generals, Schrödinger and de Broglie, were both defeated, and then Einstein had to go on alone.

But even with all his ingenuity, the thought experiments he came up with every day could not break through the defenses of quantum theory.

Many of the thought experiments that Einstein had painstakingly come up with were broken on the same day.

And if you think about it, these thought experiments could actually help to test quantum mechanics and help others better understand its implications.

Einstein was like a fixer desperately looking for bugs in quantum theory.

God Ai is really making continuous contributions to quantum mechanics!

By the last day, Einstein had run out of ideas and could only say in his speech:
"The uncertainty principle is not the only aspect of quantum mechanics that bothers me. I am particularly troubled by the fact that quantum mechanics seems to allow for action at a distance. It seems to me that no force can travel faster than the speed of light, not even gravity..."

His speech seemed to be a bit of a surrender, but it clearly contained the intention of making a comeback in the future.

Einstein was disappointed: "Mr. Einstein, I am ashamed of you. I look at you the same way I looked at those who opposed the theory of relativity."

Einstein shrugged: "It is still unclear who is right or wrong."

Li Yu smiled and said, "It is difficult to find people who can ask questions about quantum mechanics. Mr. Einstein, Mr. Schrödinger, Mr. de Broglie, you must not give up."

Schrodinger also laughed and said, "I really want to take a picture of you guys looking so proud right now."

It's just an academic dispute among everyone, and they are still very friendly in private.

The other bigwigs who were watching the show had a lot of fun these days. Planck said to Li Yu: "I am very lucky now."

Li Yu asked: "What are you thankful for?"

Plank: "Glad I'm retired."

Well, he has decided to sit back and just watch the fun.

Li Yu said: "But your ears will never be pure in the future."

Another big guy, Dirac, was also a pure bystander.

Before leaving, Li Yu asked, "You didn't seem to express any opinions at the formal meeting?"

Dirac said: "Because I am not interested in physical explanations, I don't care whether the core of quantum is probability or not."

"Then what do you care about?" Li Yu asked.

"Of course it is the equations that hide the truth," Dirac said. "For me, the job of a mathematical physicist is to get the right equations, and the interpretation of those equations is only secondary."

Li Yu smiled and said, "You are becoming more and more like those people in Göttingen."

"Like a mathematician?" Dirac said.

Li Yu nodded and said, "So similar!"

Dirac will work out the Dirac equation next year.

The previous Schrödinger equation did not satisfy the spin, but Pauli made some modifications to satisfy the spin and can be used for particles with spin 1/2, such as the key electron. However, Pauli's equation is not applicable to relativity and can only be used for low-speed particles.

So this year Klein and Gordon came up with the Klein-Gordon equation, which can be applied to relativity, but their equation is not applicable to spin. (This is why Bohr said Klein had solved this problem before.)
It wasn't until the next year that Dirac's equations would satisfy both spin and relativity.

The emergence of the Dirac equation can be seen as a watershed in the theory of quantum mechanics.

-

Brussels train station.

As everyone began to say goodbye, Einstein was still comforting the somewhat frustrated de Broglie: "I believe that apart from mathematical expressions, all scientific theories should be able to be expressed in a very simple way, even for children to understand. But now look, is there anything more complicated than the so-called Copenhagen interpretation? So, you must persevere, you are on the right track!"

De Broglie said dejectedly: "I will think about it first."

In fact, de Broglie has already wavered and will switch to the Copenhagen camp next year.

From then on, it was Einstein and Schrödinger fighting with some little fans.

The two of them continued to fight.

Einstein could never believe in probabilistic explanations throughout his life, and he never believed that quantum mechanics was complete. In his view, quantum mechanics was at most "a part of the truth."

At the next Solvay Conference, Einstein proposed several more thought experiments, such as the classic light box experiment.

However, Bohr soon discovered that he had ignored the general theory of relativity in his thought experiment and easily refuted it.

——It is said that when Bohr was dying, there was a sketch of this light box experiment on the small blackboard beside him.

In any case, the anti-Copenhagen school represented by Einstein and Schrödinger failed to break the solid defense of the probabilistic interpretation.

They could only lay low for many years until 1935, when Einstein and Schrödinger suddenly emerged again with two super giants:
Einstein's side is quantum entanglement;
What Schrödinger created was the last of the four great beasts in physics - Schrödinger's cat.

Obviously, these two things were proposed by them to attack quantum mechanics. Unexpectedly, they became the best propaganda tools for quantum mechanics in the future. It's quite interesting.

Quantum entanglement is also commonly known as the EPR paradox.

(A paradox is the opposite of a fallacy.

A paradox is something that appears to be true but is actually false.

A paradox is something that appears to be wrong but is actually true.)
Quantum entanglement is still a thought experiment and also Einstein's most successful thought experiment in the quantum field.

It is not complicated to explain. Just assume that a particle decays and decays into two entangled particles (quantum entanglement is the name given by Schrödinger, which means that these two particles obey the law of conservation).

The two particles are traveling in opposite directions.

After that, whenever I measure particle A, I will immediately know the situation of particle B, because they are opposite (they satisfy the conservation law, so they can only be opposite. For example, if the measured position of A is x, the position of B must be -x. The speed can also be measured in this way).

In other words, when A is measured and a definite value appears, B also instantly has a definite value.

This is a big question: if they are far apart, how does B know? Action at a distance?

It's a bit difficult to refute this.

Historically, this quantum entanglement thought experiment comes from Einstein's paper "Can Quantum Mechanics Be Considered a Complete Description of Physical Reality?"

Bohr naturally came out to refute it, and the title of the paper he published was very interesting, also called "Can Quantum Mechanics Be Considered Complete in Its Description of Physical Reality?"

But Bohr's rebuttal this time seemed very weak, and he himself found it difficult to explain the mechanism behind it.

It can only be said that the two have different attitudes: Einstein believed that quantum entanglement could not exist; Bohr believed that it could exist, but that was all. Einstein's quantum entanglement thought experiment had a significant effect on quantum mechanics, but what he could not have imagined was that nearly a hundred years later, quantum entanglement was actually confirmed! Before Li Yu traveled through time, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for this.

As for Schrödinger's cat, it is even more famous and is simply the super spokesperson for quantum mechanics.

Someone who doesn’t understand physics may not know about Pauli exclusion, wave function collapse, matter waves, Dirac sea, or even quantum entanglement, but he definitely knows Schrödinger’s cat.

This cat is arguably the most famous of the four mythical beasts of physics.

Everyone must be familiar with the specific situation. Basically, there is a Geiger counter for measuring atomic decay in a completely sealed box. Once it decays, it will emit an electrical signal, which will break the bottle containing highly toxic gas through a relay, thereby poisoning the cat.

Since the decay of an atom cannot be known in advance, that is, it is in a superposition state of decay and non-decay, then isn't the cat also in a superposition state of both dead and alive during this process?

Schrödinger's idea is very clever because he discovered another magical angle: where is the boundary between the macro and the micro?
Since quantum mechanics studies the microscopic world, and you say that the microscopic world is different from the macroscopic world, there is uncertainty.

Well, I will design an experiment to connect the macro and micro, and see what you will do!
Now the macro cat is also in a superposition state, so you can have fun!

This thought experiment is really powerful and hits the vital point of quantum mechanics directly.

It took at least half a century until the emergence of decoherence theory to explain whether the cat was dead or alive.

-

But at this time, Einstein and Schrödinger were not so happy.

But there was no time to worry about that. Li Yu said goodbye to them and went to Stockholm with Mr. Compton. Before that, he sent a telegram to Wu Youxun, and he probably had already arrived in Sweden.

This year's Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three people: Compton, Wu Youxun and Wilson.

Including Wu Youxun, there are now three Chinese Nobel Prize winners, all of whom are in the highly prestigious fields of natural sciences, which has enabled China to gain a place in the world of science.

And having a seat will give you the right to speak in the future.

Wu Youxun was somewhat surprised. Historically, he had resolutely removed himself from the list of candidates, but this time, Li Yu would not give him a "chance".

Compton was also generous: "This bonus is half yours."

Li Yu smiled and said, "It's equivalent to about 2 yuan, which is enough for you to have enough food and clothing in the future, so that you can focus on science and education."

Wu Youxun and the other three people each received one-third of the prize money. If only one person won the prize, it would be more than 6 yuan.

Wu Youxun had so much money in his account for the first time, and he said happily: "There will be a lot left for buying a house!"

In fact, Wu Youxun is not short of money. He is a professor at a domestic university and has a good salary. It is not difficult for him to buy a property in other cities except Shanghai.

As for scientific research, now with Li Yu's fund, he doesn't need to live frugally.

Tang Feifan came all the way from America to attend the award ceremony. "Congratulations, Professor Wu!"

"Thank you, Dr. Tang." said Wu Youxun.

Tang Feifan said: "When I came here, I heard that many American universities offered you high-paying jobs, with the lowest annual salary being $1."

This salary level was quite good in the 1920s and 1930s, and one year's salary was equivalent to the prize money he received from the Nobel Prize.

Wu Youxun said: "I'd better go back to China. Mr. Li Yu's salary is higher than theirs. In fact, even if it's half as much, I still want to go back to China."

The funds provided by Li Yu were more like an annual fee or research funding. He did not care which university Wu Youxun worked at.

Tang Fei has the same idea: "I will return to Shanghai next year."

Li Yu said: "The laboratory at Datong University needs you to be the director."

The conditions that Li Yu can offer will definitely not be bad.

In the future, Datong University will have two more Nobel Prize winners, Zhao Zhongyao and Wang Ganchang, who will be in charge of Datong University. Just thinking about it is an incredible picture.

Another American professor who attended the award ceremony, Millikan, was very grateful that Compton had such a talented student under him. He wondered if he thought of Fletcher, the graduate student who helped him with the oil drop experiment.

"Professor Millikan, don't you think this situation is very similar to that of Mr. Lorentz, who won the second Nobel Prize, and his student Zeeman?" Li Yu asked.

Millikan said, "Indeed."

Li Yu said intentionally or unintentionally: "I think Zhao Zhongyao also has this ability."

Millikan laughed and said, "How does the Chinese say that? The sky is high and the birds fly freely."

Millikan basically let Zhao Zhongyao do whatever he wanted, letting him do all the experiments on his own without interfering too much. He did this, on the one hand, because he learned from Fletcher's experience; on the other hand, he really didn't have that much time, nor did he know that much about theoretical physics.

Li Yu was delighted: "Professor Millikan's Chinese is getting better and better. Maybe he can give a Chinese lecture at Caltech in the future."

Millikan spread his hands and said, "This is even more difficult. Caltech has already set its tone in the field of science and engineering, and its humanities are not even as good as those of third-rate universities in the East."

If it weren't for Hale of the Astronomical Society calling Millikan to Caltech as dean, the school would probably have become just an ordinary college. Millikan's appeal in the American physics community is still very strong.

As for Zhao Zhongyao's Nobel Prize, Li Yu was not too worried. It should be the easiest one. As long as he could help him publish the paper on time, it would be fine. Historically, Millikan did not believe in the experimental results and kept them secret for several months.

With the key publication time in an official journal, and then reprinting it in a core journal, especially a core European physics journal, the Nobel Prize will be secure.

——It’s not really a lot to worry about. By the way, it would be better for him to read Dirac’s paper carefully, so that the direction will be clearer.

It was a great pity that Zhao Zhongyao missed the Nobel Prize for antimatter, but he really deserved it.

This little incident can be corrected with a little help.

-

The next day, Xu Beihong also came to Stockholm from Switzerland.

He had seen their photos in the newspaper a long time ago, and when he saw them he immediately said excitedly: "Heroes of Stockholm, these three gentlemen are so exciting!"

In recent years, Xu Beihong has often come to Europe to study painting, and he just started to become famous in the French painting world this year, so not only Li Yu, but also Tang Feifan and Wu Youxun know him.

"Mr. Xu, you're too kind." Wu Youxun had just won a big award and was still very humble.

Xu Beihong said: "I would like to draw a portrait of the three of you. Is that possible?"

Li Yu smiled and said, "Of course."

Xu Beihong's painting skills have now reached a high level, and are a fusion of Eastern and Western styles.

Xu Beihong took out his camera, took dozens of photos, and typed more than a dozen sketches of people in a notebook. He then carefully observed the Stockholm City Hall in the background and said to them, "Let's choose this as the background, which will highlight the scene of winning the Nobel Prize."

Li Yu didn't know much about painting and composition: "Everything is done as you wish."

Wu Youxun asked, "Chinese language or Western painting?"

Xu Beihong said: "Since we are in Sweden, let me paint a Western oil painting for you gentlemen, which will achieve a more realistic effect."

Li Yu nodded and said, "I look forward to your paintings, sir."

Xu Beihong has no other arrangements recently and will not start writing "The Five Hundred Men of Tian Heng" until next year.