Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 216 164 Only needs twenty pounds

From mid-autumn to early winter, during the eight-week autumn semester, Chen Muwu taught a number of linear algebra classes.

The direct result of this is not that more and more young people like mathematics, but that the Sinology Department of Cambridge University has received countless inquiries about what courses they will teach next semester.

Penguin Publishing House, which had not been seen for a long time, even approached Chen Muwu again and asked him if he could translate "Mo Jing" into English, and then hand it over to them for publication.

Since the beginning of this year, when he handed over the last manuscript of George Chen's book to the publishing house, he has been in a bad state.

During the period, people from Penguin Press went to the Royal Research Institute in London to urge several drafts, but Chen Muwu always said that he had no time.

This is not an excuse, it is the truth.

Since the beginning of this year, Chen Muwu basically hasn't had much rest.

Although the speed of publishing papers dropped suddenly this year, the results he produced were not lacking at all.

Of course, there is another reason behind not continuing to write George Chen series, that is, Ye Gongchao went on strike.

In the beginning, Ye Gongchao agreed to write George Chen’s series of novels. He wanted to use the pen in his hand to avenge the drunk man who had fought with him because he was drunk at Cambridge University, and to avenge the racial discrimination he had suffered all the time.

So in the whole year of 1924, he finished writing three books of George Chen, and even the donkeys in the production team were not so diligent.

The reason why Ye Gongchao was able to write these three books in one year was because his good friend Chen Muwu came up with novel ideas one after another.

On the other hand, it is also the most important reason, relying on his own hard work.

Last summer, at the Paris Olympics, Chen Muwu fought hard to win glory for the country, while Ye Gongchao wrote at De Broglie's home.

Last winter, at the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Sweden, Chen Muwu spoke amazingly in the auditorium, and Ye Gongchao wrote vigorously in the hotel in Stockholm.

On the train from Sweden to Holland, Holland to France...

Ye Gongchao has been writing hard all the time.

After working hard for a whole year, either cooking or writing, he wanted to take a break.

So this year Penguin Press urged Chen Muwu several times for drafts, and Chen Muwu wrote several letters to Ye Gongchao.

But every time he wrote back, Ye Gongchao hesitated and talked about him, and he mentioned everything except Chen Qiaozhi at all.

There was no way, facing the reminder letters that flew onto the desk like snowflakes, Penguin Publishing could only make up a temporary excuse, "Mr. Chandler York has embarked on a ship to travel around the world in order to find creative inspiration. After the trip is over, there will be absolutely wonderful new works."

This excuse is not bad, because in the age without airplanes, traveling around the world is really a waste of time.

Besides, isn't this the theme that is delivered to your door?
Chen Muwu felt that if he met Ye Gongchao next time, he would definitely be able to write another "Tragedy on the Nile".

With the development of the past few years, Penguin Press has gradually found a way to make money, and it is no longer just George Chen.

According to the idea provided by Chen Muwu, they opened a magazine that consolidated selected articles, and recruited a good-quality but little-known writer of mystery novels, Agatha Christie.

The most special thing is that this summer, Sir Conan Doyle, who wrote the Sherlock Holmes series, came to the door.

His arrival made the staff of Penguin Publishing ecstatic.

This fairy is usually invisible to ordinary people, and even invited to come, this time not only came to the publishing house in person, but also sent a novella in which Sherlock Holmes and Chen Qiaozhi teamed up to solve the case and hunt down the murderer, and asked them to publish by name.

However, the villain in the book is not Professor Moriarty who studies "Asteroid Dynamics", nor is it the German villain deliberately arranged by Chen George series to please European readers, but the red Sulian.

But who cares?

As long as the author of this book is marked with Sir Conan Doyle, it will definitely sell!
And by the way, it can also appease those book fans who are urging the Chen George series to release new works every day. The Chen George written by Doyle is also Chen George!
Chen Muwu didn't take over the job of translating the "Mo Jing" by himself, but pushed it to Shi Ruwei, so that they could earn some extra money after their studies.

The only thing required by Penguin Publishing House is that Chen Muwu's name must be written in the translator column, so that sales will be guaranteed.

Chen Muwu did not refuse the proposal, because he is one of the major shareholders of the publishing house.

The more money the publishing house makes, the more money it gives to major shareholders.

Who would think that earning less money?
……

Although the linear algebra course was extremely popular, Chen Muwu had to ask the college for a few days' leave in the middle of the semester.

Every time the Royal Society convenes a plenary meeting, the number of teachers and professors at Cambridge University is at least [-]-[-]% lower than usual.

This time, the Cavendish Laboratory was the hardest-hit area. Basically, several elderly professors and teachers, as well as Chen Muwu, had to leave.

Fortunately, there is Chadwick, who is not a monk, who can stay and preside over the overall situation with Kapitsa.

The director of the laboratory, Rutherford, had a great reputation. After waiting for more than a year, the term of the former president Sherrington expired, and he finally succeeded the post of president of the Royal Society.

Part of the reason why Chen Muwu went to the Royal Society meeting this time was to support his teacher and give him a platform.

But the main purpose is to apply for the funding for the construction of the "Kelvin-Chen type electrostatic generator" from the Lord Kelvin Foundation.

He also finally understood the reason why old Thomson said that he would apply for this funding again when he went to the Royal Society meeting in London next time.

The new speaker of the Royal Society, which is in charge of the Lord Kelvin Foundation, is not only a good student of old Thomson, but also a good teacher of Chen Muwu.

Moreover, the expenditure item of this fund is still to build a particle accelerator for the Cavendish Laboratory, in order to better study the structure in the nucleus and find new particles and elements.

In reason and reason, it is impossible for Rutherford to reject this application.

"It is easy to be an official in the court", this sentence is applicable to both Britain and China.

After this change of session, Old Prague temporarily stepped down from the leadership of the Royal Society.

For the past five years, he has been Vice-President of the Royal Society, responsible for matters related to physics in the society.

The reason why it is said to be temporary is because ten years later in 1935, the old and vigorous old Prague will be elected as the president of the Royal Society at the age of 73.

With his status, even if he has retired, he can still sit in the front few rows of the venue.

But Old Prague still took advantage of the tea break between meetings to change seats with others and sat beside Chen Muwu.

"Dr. Chen, long time no see?"

"Sir, long time no see, what can you do for me?"

"It's nothing serious. Isn't this a plenary meeting of the Royal Society? Lawrence also came to London from Manchester. Do you have time to have dinner at home in the past few days?"

Oh, and Little Prague is here too.

That would be a good time to meet him and get on good terms with the future director of the Cavendish Laboratory.

What's more, Old Prague has so kindly invited you today...

No, he is a drunkard who does not want to drink!
Letting myself know Little Prague is fake, and meeting Little Prague's sister is real.

And if you meet Little Prague, you can meet in this Royal Society, why do you want to go home with Old Prague?
It seems that this old British gentleman is still thinking about being his father-in-law.

"Forget it, sir, these days are really tight, and I have to go to the Chinese legation to do some things."

This is not a lie, Chen Muwu originally thought that the time he left London was the last time he and Zhu Zhaoxin saw each other.

As a result, several months passed, and the ambassador of the Republic of China to Italy, who had been appointed for more than half a year, still failed to go to Rome to take office because there was no order from the country at all.

If the new envoy to the UK who succeeds him is not in office for a day, he will not be promoted for a day.

Chen Muwu was still living in the embassy these days as usual, every day at the dinner table, he always ate the Chinese food he wanted to eat, and at the same time listened to Zhu Zhaoxin complaining to him endlessly, how unreliable the gang of idiots in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were.

"Sir, what else do you want from me?"

Old Prague would never change his position next to Chen Muwu just because of the trivial matter of introducing his daughter to him as a friend.

"Well, there is one more thing indeed. Are you interested in being a keynote speaker at the Christmas Lecture at the Royal Institute this year?"

The Christmas Lecture mentioned by Old Prague is an annual repertoire of the Royal Institute, which focuses on one or several science popularization activities for young people who yearn for science during the Christmas holiday to stimulate their interest in studying.

Basically, it is equivalent to a lecture of the type of "Let's Talk", but it is nearly 100 years earlier than it.

The holding of such popular science lectures was first proposed by Faraday, who presided over the Royal Institute at that time.

The first lecture was held on Christmas Day in 1825.

That is to say, by now, the Christmas Lecture has gone through a full 100 years.

On Christmas Day 1925, the lecture to be given in the Royal Institution's Great Hall will begin a new century of Christmas lectures.

Chen Muwu never imagined that the old Prague would give such a commemorative lecture to himself.

It's just that Xiao Chen has other arrangements for Christmas. Although he doesn't want to have dinner with Old Prague's daughter, he wants to take advantage of the Christmas holiday to have dinner with Madame Curie's daughter.

It is difficult for Chen Muwu to choose between becoming famous and growing in love with his sons and daughters.

In the end, he chose the former.

"If the relationship lasts for a long time, how can it be day and night?" Even if we can't spend Christmas together, we can spend New Year's Day together, right?

"Sir, thank you for valuing me so much. What is the content of this lecture?"

"It's entirely up to you, just keep it a little simpler and less esoteric."

"What about the time of the lecture? Is it Christmas Eve?"

Old Prague smiled: "Dr. Chen, the times are different, and there are more entertainment methods. On such an important day as Christmas Eve, instead of listening to a less pleasant speech, why not choose to gather around the fire with your family and listen to Christmas carols played on the phonograph?

"This year's speech is on the last Sunday before Christmas, which is December 12."

Double happiness.

This day was well chosen. Not only could Chen Muwu finish his speech, but he could also go to Paris, France after the speech without rushing.

Those famous scenic spots in this place in Paris are really less than one glance,
In some places, the mustaches are reluctant to be absent, but one does not know when, "the fire will burst into Venus for nine days, and the Twelve Official Street will be filled with smoke".

"Sir, thank you again for entrusting such an important lecture to me. I will definitely live up to the trust."

"I also want to hand over the Mond Laboratory to you, do you think it will work?"

"Uh, let's talk about this..."

Old Thomson's proposal was approved by Rutherford, and finally the Lord Kelvin Foundation affiliated with the Royal Society allocated a total of [-] pounds to Chen Muwu's research and development project of "Kelvin generator".

Adding in the [-] pounds previously given by the Cavendish Laboratory and the [-] pounds given by Trinity College, the total is [-] pounds, almost one-third of the laboratory's annual funding.

After coming to the UK for so many years, Chen Muwu finally got rich.

It's just that some people want him to be so rich.

This person was neither a villain nor Chen Muwu's deadly enemy, but his newly recruited student, Cockcroft.

While Chen Muwu was lecturing at Cambridge University, Zhao Zhongyao and Cowcroft had been working hard on the design of electrostatic generators.

Although there are only two people in their team, the division of labor is very clear: Zhao Zhongyao, who is proficient in theory, is responsible for calculations and design drawings.

Cockcroft, who was born as an engineer, was responsible for pointing out the irrationality of Zhao's design in engineering, and estimating the cost of manufacturing the generator.

In the end, the two of them came up with a design that had almost no defects and fully met all of Chen Muwu's requirements:
A spherical metal electrode, eighty centimeters in diameter, mounted on top of a two-meter-high insulating glass support.

The power supply device that provides the charge only needs a DC power supply of several hundred volts.

It's just that the ribbon that acts as a charge-conducting medium needs to be customized separately, which is the most expensive expense in the entire electrostatic generator.

Such an electrostatic generator, according to Zhao Zhongyao's calculation, can provide a high voltage of 150 million volts.

The quotation given by Cockcroft made Chen Muwu, who returned to Cambridge University with a huge sum of money, drop his jaw in shock, and even wondered whether his ears had auditory hallucinations.

"Twenty pounds, sir. I promise we can make such a machine for twenty pounds."

(End of this chapter)