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

Chapter 72 What a boss!
Li Yu was about to go back to his house, when he passed by a room with a larger opening, the door was not closed, and inside was a dance studio.

Yu Rongling is practicing ballet inside. Rong Ling is only less than 14 years old. Although she is still a little girl, her dancing talent has already been revealed.

Li Yu took a look and left, but was spotted by Yu Deling who was watching, "Are you Li Yu...Brother?"

Li Yu stopped, "That's right."

Yu Rongling heard the voice, turned around and quickly ran over, and said directly: "Do you know? You are my friend."

Li Yu was confused: "Friend?"

Yu Yongling said: "That star is too."

Li Yu suddenly realized: "You are Yu Rongling who wrote the letter."

Yu Rongling straightened up, "It's me!"

The sisters of the Yu family have lived abroad for many years and are not conservative. Although they are daughters of the Han family, they do not have their feet bound. Otherwise, Yu Rongling would not be able to practice dancing.

"Then we are really friends." Li Yu said with a smile.

Although due to time travel, Li Yu's age was a little younger than the 25 years old before time travel, around 20, but there was still a 6-year difference between the two, and he was like looking at a younger sister.

"I can go to my star friend to see, it is so cold, it must be very lonely." Yu Rongling is actually a quite emotional little girl.

Li Yu smiled and said, "If you can see it, it will no longer be alone. Speaking of which, why are you still practicing dancing at such a late hour?"

Elder sister De Ling said: "Sister Rongling will participate in the performance of the opera house tomorrow. Didn't my father mention it to you just now? Tomorrow evening we will go to the opera house together to watch opera and dance performances."

Well, Yu Geng really knows how to make arrangements.

Li Yu thought for a while and said, "If I can end my speech at the University of Paris tomorrow, I will definitely go to see it."

Yu Rongling immediately said: "If we have time, we will also go to your speech, and you will watch our performance again, it will be evened!"

It seems that it is a schedule of the special mission. The special mission should not stay in France for a long time. It would be good to see more.

"Okay, that's it."

Yu Rongling raised his palm: "High five!"

Li Yu and her slender hands patted lightly.

But Yu Deling smiled and said: "You little girl, don't pretend, can you understand it when you go there? University is full of university students!"

"I went to university and I was a student of university! Besides, you are three years older than me, don't call me a little girl!"

De Ling covered her mouth and smiled, "Why are you still angry?"

Yu Rongling ran into the dance studio, "I still want to practice dancing, I don't want to talk to you!"

De Ling smiled and said to Li Yu, "Don't be surprised, sir, she's just a little girl."

Li Yu is also interesting to watch, no wonder so many fathers like their daughters, they are really loved, otherwise Yu Geng would not have to take two precious daughters with him everywhere.

Li Yu said, "It doesn't matter. Are you really going to the University of Paris tomorrow?"

Yu Deling said seriously: "Of course I will go, not only my sister and I, but also my father and brother. It is rare to hear a person from his own country give a speech at a French university. I didn't even dare to think about it before, so even if I can't listen Understood, we also want to hold a solo field."

Li Yu was actually a little moved when he heard it, he was really an old acquaintance in a foreign land!Most of the international students sent out in the late Qing Dynasty went to the United States and Japan, and almost none came to Europe.

Yu Deling asked again: "Are you going to speak in French at the University of Paris?"

Li Yu said awkwardly: "I don't speak French, I can only use English."

Yu Deling said "Oh": "Then I know."

But I thought in my heart: Haha, it turns out that some university students can't do it!

Maybe in the future Li Yu will learn French when he has time, but now, the complicated grammar is a big trouble for him, and it takes too much time.

Early the next morning, a car stopped at the gate of the embassy, ​​and the driver was Jean Perrin from last night.

Pei Lan took off his hat and said to Li Yu who was waiting at the door: "I don't know if you have seen it in England. This is also the latest car."

Li Yu smiled and said, "I have seen it, and I even drove the Daimler car owned by President Huggins of the Royal Society."

Perrin introduced: "This car is made by Renault, but it's not mine. It belongs to Mr. Principal. He specifically asked me to pick you up."

Now that cars are so expensive, the courtesy given to Li Yu by the University of Paris is considered very high, which is equivalent to sending a Rolls-Royce to later generations.

Although horse-drawn carriages are also a very prestigious way of travel now, a new thing like a car is obviously more in line with the style of a university that advocates innovation.

After the vehicle was started, Pei Lan couldn't help telling Li Yu about the car: "Regardless of the fact that Renault was only established four years ago, their products are so good! I heard that they have developed a technology application called turbocharging." Patent, I really want to experience it!"

Hey guys, turbo!It turned out to be born so early!

You must know that in the 21st century when Li Yu once lived, many people still believe that turbocharging is an unstable technology.Especially in the United States, many people are still extremely obsessed with large-displacement self-priming.

The promotion of new technologies always requires a lot of cost and resistance, but at this time the automobile industry is still in its infancy, and various technologies are also growing through continuous trial and error.

Peilan's driving skills are much better than Li Yu's, and he must have driven a lot. Peilan continued: "It's a pity that it's too expensive. Can you believe this car costs 3000 francs!? Hey, I really want to have a car to participate in racing competitions." what!"

It seems that men 100 years ago were also unable to resist the charm of cars, and loved them to death.Moreover, these great scientists who used to be in textbooks are also so down-to-earth in life.

3000 francs is a large amount, almost the sum of 10 years' salary of ordinary workers.

The motor racing competition he mentioned already exists now, and Renault has made a name for itself through motor racing.

Racing is definitely a tradition of Renault. Until the 21st century, Renault also has the highest level of F1 racing team.Quite difficult, after all, there are only ten or twelve teams participating in F1 every year.

The cities at the beginning of the twentieth century were not too big, and the car quickly arrived at the University of Paris.

Perrin led Li Yu into an auditorium, and the principal Greal stood at the door to greet them, and Perrin introduced them.After asking, the principal said: "It is a great honor to invite an outstanding young scientist to our school to give a speech."

Li Yudao: "Come to your school, of course to learn from each other!"

"Come in! Many students and lecturers are already waiting inside."

A few people walked into the auditorium, and Li Yu took a look, good guy, there are at least [-] people in the audience, didn't they agree to just do a small seminar, this is too grand!

Li Yu didn't know until he saw the banner that it turned out that today is the anniversary of the Faculty of Science of the University of Paris, no wonder there are so many people.

The principal first came to the stage to give a speech, and spoke for a while about diligent study.

During this period, Li Yu really saw the Yu family rushing to the auditorium, and their family sat in the middle right.Huang Kaijia from the envoy was also present.

After 15 minutes, Principal Greal finished his speech. Li Yu thought it would be longer, but he didn't expect it to end so soon.

The principal finally said: "Today we invited a young scholar to give a speech in the auditorium. He is the young scientist who just predicted that X-rays are electromagnetic waves, expanded the second law of thermodynamics, and just discovered Pluto, Li Yu!"

What he said was so provocative that the audience immediately applauded wildly.

At that time, the University of Paris was the center of Chinese studies in Europe, and it had a relatively good understanding of Chinese humanities and culture.

Pei Lan gave a push from behind, and Li Yu stepped onto the podium.

Although I also gave a speech during my studies, it was the first time that it was so formal.

Li Yu looked at the audience, and suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure, with an elegant sitting posture and pure eyes, like an unyielding rose among the men, it was Marie Curie!
And next to him was Pierre Curie.The Curies were there together!
my God!There are really big guys!

Pierre Curie was now a professor at the Faculty of Science of the University of Paris, and it was quite reasonable to be present on this occasion.

But Li Yu felt very nervous.

If we say who the greatest female physicist is, there is no doubt that it is Marie Curie, who has won the Nobel Prize twice and absolutely deserves it.

Although Marie Curie will officially win the Nobel Prize next year, she and Pierre Curie have already discovered the new elements polonium and radium, and successfully extracted radium salt. The Nobel Prize is already a certainty.

Moreover, Marie Curie is really a scientific model for all human beings, without any stains in life, her career and personality are first-class, and she can be said to be dazzling.It is really incredible that the key family can train their daughter to become a Nobel Prize winner, and the husband and wife jointly win the prize!

Li Yu's palms felt sweaty, it was because the Curies and his wife had too much aura.

Li Yu was lost in thought and paused for five or six seconds without speaking. The principal next to him reminded: "Mr. Li Yu, you can just talk about it."

Originally, he really wanted to talk casually, but what level of people are there in the audience!How could it be possible to just talk casually!
Li Yu sorted out his thoughts, and said, "It's a great honor to be here, the incident happened suddenly, and I didn't make any preparations, so I have the right to chat with everyone.

"I think everyone must have heard that Michelson, the predecessor of the academic circle, said that the building of physics has been built, and the posterity is nothing more than a little tinkering.

"But there are many outstanding scientific researchers sitting here today, and I think it can be seen from their research fields that there is still a long way to go in the future.

"Professors Mr. and Mrs. Curie's great discovery of radioactivity is one of them. As for the application of radioactivity, we still know too little.

"Many people also say that I made some predictions. The reason why I say predictions is because they still need to be discovered. What is the nature of X-rays and the nature of the principle of entropy increase still needs to be verified by experiments.

"I also know that many people will definitely question my point of view, because I don't even have a way to prove myself, and I admit that I am not good at experiments. But when it comes to verification, I have something to say here today, That is what is the essence of science! This question may be a little strange, I wonder if you have thought about it?"

Li Yu looked at the audience. In fact, what he said was a philosophical question about science, but people at that time obviously did not think deeply about the essence of the word "science".

Even Mrs. Curie thought about it when she heard this question.

Someone in the audience replied: "You just said that science is to explore the nature of the world."

Li Yu said: "You are not wrong in this sentence, but what I want to ask now is the nature of "science" itself, rather than using science to study the nature of the world."

"The nature of science?"

Many students in the audience began to whisper to each other.

In this day and age, philosophy of science is basically a research direction that has not yet been born. What Li Yu is talking about is a theory that will not appear until decades later.

Li Yu paused for a while and said, "Whether it's you or me, if you face doubts, I hope everyone understands what I'm going to talk about today. That is, science must be falsifiable!"

As soon as these words came out, the audience was instantly stunned.

"Falsifiable? Have you ever heard that term?"

"Are we taking a philosophy class?"

"Totally incomprehensible!"

Only Mrs. Curie's eyes flashed. She has extremely high academic skills and has been engaged in cutting-edge scientific research all year round. She seemed to have figured out a little way. She raised her hand and asked, "Can you explain it with an example?"

The first person to ask the question was unexpectedly Madame Curie.

Li Yu continued: "The so-called falsifiable means that it can be proved to be wrong. Be sure to pay attention to the word 'can be proved to be wrong'. These words are very important. For example, earthquakes, someone once said that Because the earth is flat, there are four elephants standing on the four corners, and one of the elephants felt tired, so he raised his foot and shook it, and the earth shook. Do you think this is science?"

Many students laughed directly: "It's just nonsense!"

Li Yu also smiled: "Yes, that's right, this is nonsense! But it is a scientific theory, just a wrong theory."

The bottom exploded again: "Science, this is science? Are you kidding me!"

Li Yu raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet and let him continue: "The reason is very simple, because this theory can be falsified. Hundreds of years ago Magellan circled the earth once and found that the earth is not flat but a ball, which directly proved the theory is false. And that is falsifiable, which means it can be proven false.”

The audience was quiet, and everyone was listening to Li Yu's continuation. What he said was so novel, and the headmaster next to him, Greal, also became more and more novel as he listened to it.

Li Yu continued: "I ask everyone, if I say again that the earthquake was caused by God's sneeze, do you think this is science?"

The students went on to say: "Your question is too simple, of course it is not science, it is also nonsense!"

Li Yu gave a thumbs up, "Very good! You are right! But it is all nonsense. Why is what the elephant said just now is science, but what God said is not science? It is because science can be falsified, and science is There are right and wrong ones, we can prove which ones are wrong, and then use the correct ones. But do you think there is a way to prove that it is wrong to say God? No! So this is not science!
"Or you go to God to pray, wishing yourself to pass the exam, but you fail, people can say that your heart is not sincere enough, and you have not touched the gods, but what exactly is sincerity? The right to explain is completely vain. Similarly, this It's also pseudoscience.

"So I said, if it is just a theory that can prove whether it is correct, beggars on the street can tell a lot, it is not science!

"Only a theory that must have some method to prove whether it is wrong is a scientific theory!"

Li Yu's explanation is very simple and easy to understand, but the truth is extremely profound.

This is the well-known Popper's philosophy of science in later generations. Speaking it out in this era that is about to completely get rid of ignorance is like a thunderbolt from the blue sky and a thunderbolt on the ground!
Mrs. Curie stretched out her hands first and applauded, and then the whole auditorium erupted into prolonged applause.

(End of this chapter)