Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 100 48 Lorenz's Invitation Letter
After getting off the train in Cambridgeshire, Ye Gongchao's mind was full of the story of a Chinese student named Chen George who happened on another train.

However, Chen Muwu was thinking in his mind, whether the method he gave Ye Gongchao was Zhuge's trick to stabilize the country, or Zhou Lang's trick to lose his wife and lose his army?
...1
January 924 was also an eventful winter.

Vladimir still failed to overcome the stroke and died on the 21st.

The next day, Ramsay MacDonald moved into [-] Downing Street and became the first Labor Prime Minister in British history.

In order to commemorate a generation of great men, two days later, Kapitsa’s hometown also changed its name from St. Petersburg to Ryugrad.

Another day after that, in order to warm up for the upcoming Olympic Games in summer, France held the Winter Olympic Sports Week in Chamonix. In the future, this will be retrospectively regarded as the first Winter Olympic Games.

A few days after returning to Cambridge University, the winter semester started again in mid-January.

Both Blackett and Dirac, who were still students, returned to school on time, while Kapitsa, who had been promoted to the Cavendish Laboratory and was no longer burdened by studies, was still in a certain valley in the Austrian Alps. Galloping happily on the snow.

Kapitsa received a three-year Clark Maxwell Scholarship from Chadwick a few years ago, which suddenly enriched his life.

If only the contribution to physics in the Cavendish Laboratory is considered, then Chen Muwu is actually more qualified to get the money than Kapitza.

But on the one hand, Chen Muwu was not short of money, and on the other hand, he had been in the Cavendish Laboratory for too short a time, so he gave up the money to Kapitza.

In addition to the postcard Kapitza sent from Innsbruck, after returning to school, Chen Muwu received two more important letters to him, one from Berlin and one from Paris.

The last time he went to London and participated in the negotiation of the boxer indemnity, Chen Muwu wrote a letter to Einstein, asking him to help contact Haber and BASF, but he did not expect the result to come so soon.

Einstein said in the letter that the BASF plant had received news, and the other party agreed to contact and discuss the sale of the technical equipment of the ammonia plant.

Upon hearing the news, Chen Muwu immediately went to the Telegraph Office in Cambridgeshire and sent a telegram to the domestic Yongli Soda Factory, asking them to send someone to Germany to discuss related matters immediately.

Although it was the quickest and most convenient way for him to travel from the UK to Germany at this time, Chen Muwu had no business negotiation skills, no right to make decisions for Wynn, and he still had a lot of important things to do.

Helping to build a bridge can already be regarded as the best effort I can do in my current state.

As for the contents of the other letter, Chen Muwu was even more surprised.

Your Excellency the little prince is really naive and easy to deceive. De Broglie said in the letter that he recently learned that the United States has manufactured high-quality and high-precision vacuum pumps, which may be able to meet Chen Muwu's experimental requirements.

De Broglie said that he could buy one for him, but because he was a history major, his hands-on skills were poor, and no one in his elder brother's private laboratory was willing to do this experiment.

So if Chen Muwu can agree to come to the laboratory in Paris to do experiments by himself, he is going to place an order with General Electric of the United States to buy this vacuum pump back to Paris.

Aristocrats are worthy of being nobles, and they can spend 2000 yuan at will. They are indeed much richer than Chen Muwu and the Cavendish Laboratory.

Chen Muwu originally wanted to reply to De Broglie's letter immediately, but he thought that he was still a student now, so he could only take De Broglie's letter and go to his mentor Rutherford.

Hearing Chen Muwu mention the surname De Broglie, it brought back a past event in Rutherford's memory: "This de Broglie, is that little guy from Paris, France? He was secretary to the first Solvay meeting in [-] as a young man."

"No, Director, the de Broglie you mentioned is not the same person as the de Broglie who wrote to me. The former is actually the latter's elder brother."

"I see," Rutherford nodded, "Oh, by the way, Chen, since the Solvay Conference was mentioned, Professor Lorenz, the chairman of the conference not long ago, has sent me the invitation letter for April this year. , the topic of this meeting is about the electrical conductivity of metals, do you have any good ideas on this topic?"

Solvay meeting?
The one Chen Muwu remembers most deeply was the one held in 1927, when a group of talented people came together, and young and old gathered together.

When he was in college, every time the final exam was due, Chen Muwu’s roommate, who stayed in the dormitory all day and knocked on DNF, would always pay respects to the photo pasted on the bed, hoping that the gods would bless him. pass.

But, never heard of a Solvay conference held in 1924?
Chen Muwu felt that since this session seemed to have never appeared in his memory, it can also be explained to a certain extent that the status of this session in the history of physics is not so high.

And the subject is still what, the conductivity of metals?

Rutherford asked himself his thoughts on this issue, and Chen Muwu's first reaction was to use the viewpoint of quantum mechanics to deduce the electrical conductivity in metals.

However, the derivation of conductivity requires the use of Fermi-Dirac statistics, and to create FD statistics, at least the electron spin needs to be obtained first.

There are less than four months before the start of this session, and in terms of time, it is far from enough.

"Sorry, Director, I really don't have any good ideas."

"Chen, since someone is helping to pay for it, I think you can go to Paris. If you have a perfect result in this experiment, I hope you can write the paper more beautifully than usual, and make it a How about your doctoral thesis?"

"This one……"

Hearing this request from Rutherford, Chen Muwu was a little surprised at the first moment. How come he has only been in Cambridge for more than a year, and he is about to graduate with a Ph.D.?
Doctoral graduation is indeed fast in this era. Kapitsa studied in the Cavendish Laboratory for two years before graduating, which is considered to be the slow batch.

Heisenberg was the fastest to receive a doctorate. He graduated from high school in 1920 and entered university. By 1923, he had already received a doctorate.

It took Chen Muwu a year to graduate with a Ph.D., which is barely considered satisfactory.

However, Chen Muwu changed his mind again, writing a thesis on the experiment of electron volatility and electron diffraction is the best chance for him to graduate with a Ph.D.

Cavendish is a laboratory after all, and his mentor Rutherford is an experimental physicist after all.

If you miss this opportunity, next time you come to Cavendish for a doctoral defense with a purely theoretical wave equation paper, then there will be more or less nondescript.

However, didn't he not only snatch De Broglie's thesis, but even the famous scene?
Chen Muwu, who pondered for a moment, finally agreed to his mentor: "Thank you, Director."

It's just that I don't know whether the official fees allocated to him by various domestic departments after graduation are still counted?

Now that he has obtained Rutherford's approval, Chen Muwu no longer has any worries.

Back in the office that basically only belonged to him, Chen Muwu hugged the typewriter and typed a reply letter to De Broglie.

Calculating the time, from de Broglie receiving his reply letter confirming his trip to Paris, to the time when he ordered the vacuum pump from the United States, and then to the time when General Motors shipped the goods across the ocean to Paris in the European continent...

This series of necessary processes will come down, at least until after the Lunar New Year.

Before that, there was still a veil covering the great discovery, waiting for Chen Muwu to uncover it.

……

Sunday, January 1, evening, sunny.

According to the usual practice, Chen Muwu once again came to the Observatory of Cambridge University.

Since November last year, Chen Muwu has been coming to the observatory every Sunday night to independently manipulate the 90-year-old Northumberland telescope in front of him to "find" Planet X.

In almost two months, he also took dozens of photos one after another.

Although many of them are useless efforts to confuse the public, there are as many as a dozen photos of the real Planet X among them.

Although the earth is still revolving around the sun uninterruptedly during these two months, it can still be observed from the photos that the position of a star is constantly changing.

Although the University of Cambridge Observatory has no money and cannot afford to build a large telescope, small things like the scintillation comparator invented by Carl Zeiss in 1904 are still affordable.

Just put the photos taken these days into the scintillation comparator one by one, and you can clearly see a track left by the star during the two-month movement.

Tonight is Chen Muwu's last visit to the observatory, and the last time he used the Northumberland Telescope to take pictures of Planet X.

The day after tomorrow, he planned to publish this amazing discovery.

After adjusting the orientation of the telescope according to the coordinates that he had calculated long ago and that he knew by heart, the planet that had met Chen Muwu countless times appeared in the center of the eyepiece again.

Chen Muwu pressed the shutter, and recorded the figure of Planet X on the photo film for the last time.

On Monday morning, he left the observatory with the developed photos. Chen Muwu asked for a leave of absence from the Cavendish Laboratory, and then had a good sleep.

After waking up, it was rare for him not to use the typewriter that became more and more handy, but to "calculate" on paper the trajectory of Planet X, which he had been familiar with for a long time.

Seeing that the sun was gradually setting to the west, Chen Muwu took a dozen photos and the paper on which the orbit calculation process was written, and walked from Mrs. Brown's house to the Cambridge University Observatory.

At first, Eddington thought that when Chen Muwu said that he was also interested in Planet X, it was just to avoid embarrassing himself.

But I didn't expect that since the last meeting, this young Chinese man not only submitted a very in-depth reading report on Planet X literature, but also carefully attended the astronomical observation course I set for him from beginning to end.

And every weekend, Chen Muwu always comes to the observatory on time, unlike those of his peers who maintain a 3-minute enthusiasm.

The rigorous scientific spirit displayed by Chen Muwu moved Eddington very much. No wonder he was able to stand out in the physics world in just one year. A super-worldly talent is one aspect, but he is persevering That's the most important thing!
However, Eddington was surprised to see Chen Muwu again at the Observatory before leaving get off work tonight.

Because didn't this person just leave this morning?Why did he come here again after less than a day?

"Chen, did you remember the time wrong? Today is Monday."

As the relationship between the two became more and more familiar, Eddington also became more and more fond of joking with Chen Muwu from time to time.

In this regard, Chen Muwu never suffers: "Mr. Eddington, your memory is wrong. Today is Sunday, because I just activated the time travel machine and quickly skipped five long and boring working days."

"Chen, you are really interesting! Tell me, what's going on today?" Eddington pointed behind Chen Muwu, "Don't hide it, I've already seen those things behind you."

"I think, Mr. Eddington, that I may have discovered a new star."

"That's great, isn't it? According to the naming rules of the International Astronomical Union, if it is confirmed to be an asteroid, you have the priority to name it.

"Tonight, I can help you use Northumberland to confirm. If it is indeed a new asteroid that has never appeared on the star map, then congratulations, young man, and you can think about it. What is your first child's name?

"But I don't suggest you call it Chen Xing, Chen Scattering, Chen Universe, Chen Jie, Chen Effect, Chen Statistics... In the past year, I have heard too many things named after this monosyllabic name!"

Because Chen Muwu used the word star instead of planet in his words, Eddington naturally thought that Chen Muwu had discovered an asteroid.

"Sir, I think what I discovered may not be an asteroid, but that 'Planet X'," Chen Muwu said as Kong Yiji dispensed nine coins on the counter of the Xianheng Hotel, combining the photo with the orbit calculation The data papers were placed on the desk in front of them one by one, "Sir, this is the photo I took these days, and this is the trajectory of Planet X calculated by me based on the trajectory on the photo."

Of course, Chen Muwu knew that in the era before he came, Pluto had already been deprived of the qualifications of a planet, but was relegated to the ranks of dwarf planets.

But here he can't use the word "dwarf planet" that hasn't appeared yet, so he can only call him a planet temporarily.

Chen Muwu spoke these words calmly, and Eddington was terrified when he heard them.

How did this planet X, which astronomers have "traveled through iron shoes and find nowhere to find", come to Chen Muwu, just like picking the only apple from a pile of potatoes, "it took no effort to get it"?
Of course, there is no basis for empty talk, just relying on Chen Muwu's one-sided words, it is not enough to believe that he has indeed discovered a new planet.

So Eddington hurriedly adjusted his glasses, leaned out, and carefully examined the photos on the table one by one.

Because Chen Muwu took out more than a dozen photos at once, Eddington didn't even need to clip the photos two by two to the flash comparator for comparison.

Following the guidance of the pen in Chen Muwu's hand, he checked the photos one by one, and Eddington also found a bright spot in these photos that was not too bright, and its position was constantly changing with time.

He found the latest version of the starry sky map from the bookshelf, and found that the planet had never been marked on it.

But with only photos and sky maps, it is still impossible to say that this bright spot must be the mysterious planet X.

Eddington felt that seeing with the Northumberland telescope had to wait until after dark to believe seeing.

Looking at the sunset outside the window, he felt that time passed so slowly for the first time.

"Sir," Chen Muwu thoughtfully made a cup of coffee for Eddington and handed it over, "You may stay up late tonight, you should pay attention to your health."

Although on the surface, Eddington was still calm like a gentleman, but his hand that took the coffee could be visibly trembling with the naked eye.

After dark, Chen Muwu manipulated the telescope with ease, aiming at the trajectory where Planet X will appear tonight.

Eddington was very worried. He first took the photo and compared it with the orbital formula several times, and then went to the telescope to check whether Chen Muwu had made any low-level mistakes.

In the face of the vast universe, stargazing is indeed a work that must be meticulous, and there is no room for sloppy work.

Time passed by, and neither of the two people under the dome said a word.

A few minutes before the calculated time, Eddington took off his glasses ahead of time and put his eyes on the eyepiece.

When the mysterious planet X, reflecting the dim sunlight, appeared in the field of vision on time, Eddington felt that tonight might be the most worthwhile night for him.

"Chen, I saw it, I saw it!"

He shouted with excitement, like a lion roaring on the African savannah.

"Then, Mr. Eddington, can you be sure that it is the mysterious planet X?"

"That's right, that's it, Chen, Dr. Einstein is right, you are a genius!"

Now that Eddington successfully confirmed the existence of this planet, Chen Muwu felt that there was no need for him to stay at the observatory.

Without mobile phones and the Internet, Chen Muwu's ability to stay up late has obviously weakened by [-]%.

He stayed up all night yesterday and stayed up all night again today. He really needs to go back to the second floor of Mrs. Brown's house to catch up on sleep.

But Eddington obviously didn't want to let him go: "Chen, don't go home tonight, just stay with me and rest for a few hours, and tomorrow morning, we will take the earliest train to the Royal Astronomical Society in London." , to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Such a great astronomical discovery must be made public as soon as possible, without delay!"

Eddington was secretly pleased, you Yankees have money, you can use a [-]-inch telescope or a [-]-inch telescope, but what's the use of that?

After searching for the mysterious planet X for more than a hundred years, didn't we just rely on our small-caliber old antique telescope in Cambridge to observe it?

It seems that sometimes the aperture of the telescope is not that important. The only important thing is to see if there is a genius like Chen Muwu in the observatory!

The sleepy Chen Muwu pointed out a contradiction in Eddington's words with the last trace of clarity in his brain: "Mr. Eddington, it is useless for us to go to London early tomorrow, because this planet, it It is only visible to telescopes after dark."

"Yes, yes, I was too excited to take this into consideration," Eddington quickly admitted his mistake, "then we will take the express train at ten o'clock tomorrow morning to London, and we will be at Trinity College at nine o'clock." Gather in front of the door, see you soon."

Wearing stars and wearing moon and stars, Chen Muwu dragged his exhausted body back from the observatory to his apartment.

He left a note outside Mrs. Brown's and Dirac's room door, asking them to wake him up on time before eight o'clock tomorrow morning.

(End of this chapter)