Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 27 Chapter 27

Lying on the bed after eating and drinking, Chen Muwu started drafting the topic of his next lecture.

In fact, this kind of lecture on the theory of relativity is also very simple to run. Today's Chinese people praise the theory of relativity not because of its scientific principles, but because of its leading a revolution in physics.

Unlike the strong resistance to the theory of relativity in the European and American academic circles, the Chinese quickly accepted this new theory.

One is that our country already had the kinematic thought of the principle of relativity as early as the Han Dynasty, and the concept of "ether" had little influence in the history of modern domestic thought.

The second reason is that when Eddington observed the total solar eclipse on Principe Island in West Africa in 1919, the new cultural movement in China was also in full swing.

The results of the total solar eclipse observations were sent back to London, and the Times reported it under the headline "Scientific Revolution, New Theory of the Universe, Newton Overthrown!" ".

This report traveled across the sea to the land of Kyushu. The theory of relativity, an important theory that broke the absolute space-time theory of Newton's classical mechanics that had ruled the physics world for hundreds of years, soon became a model of breaking the old and creating the new, and became "Mr. Sai" A banner of , is rising in the academic world.

Russell visited China in 1920 and gave lectures at Bei University for one year. During this period, he strongly praised Einstein and his theory of relativity, which further fueled the upsurge of the theory of relativity in China.

All of a sudden, people who knew physics or didn't understand physics wrote articles in newspapers and magazines one after another, praising this novel thing called relativity.

Even Xu Zhimo, a great poet who has nothing to do with physics, wrote an article titled "Anstein's Relativism, the Great Revolution in the Physics World". in the April 1921 issue of Remodeling.

Whether the content of the article is correct or not, it is inconvenient for Chen Muwu to say more.

——What more can I say!Obviously it is a theory in physics, but in the title, this dude gave the theory of relativity the term "ism" with a strong philosophical meaning.

You say he is wrong, but physics is indeed natural philosophy; you say he is right, but you always feel that it sounds awkward.

These various manifestations in the cultural circles are enough to show how popular the theory of relativity was among intellectuals in China at that time.

Chen Muwu felt that most of these lectures should be aimed at people like Xu Zhimo who are arty and elegant. It is okay to talk about simple knowledge, but if it is more advanced, it will make people drowsy.

For example, he can talk about the "Einstein train" in the special theory of relativity, but he can never talk about the "Einstein elevator" in the general theory of relativity, they don't understand!
Now that such a lecture policy has been determined, Chen Muwu's next topic selection will be much easier.

In the end, he finalized five topics, relativity and space, relativity and time, light, universe and time travel.

As for how to talk about these topics with gusto, Chen Muwu is not helpless. The two popular science books "A Brief History of Time" and "The Universe in a Nutshell" will not be published in 60 or [-] years. Professor Yu Le's "Feynman Lectures on Physics" and "New Concept Physics Tutorial", from which he picked up a little bit at his fingertips, didn't they become Chen Muwu's "original" ones?

Of course, we must also pay attention not to over-the-top spoilers, and not to quote some theories and hypotheses that have not yet been produced.

After waking up the next day, Chen Muwu went to Bei University again, and handed the note with five questions to Hu Shi.

The lecture is coming soon, and Beida will also advertise in newspapers, so as to attract more audiences.

Then he went to the library on the first floor of the red building, found a place with clear windows and sat down.

Chen Muwu was thinking about meeting the bearded Mr. Shouchang in "The Age of Awakening", but he didn't know until later that Bei University Library had a new leader at the end of last year, and Mr. Li had a new position. , the director of the library was succeeded by Pi Zongshi.

Since he had no chance to meet, he took out the pen and notebook he carried with him, and listed the outline of the lecture one by one.

Where to tell a joke, where to shake the burden, he also wrote them one by one.

As I was writing, Chen Muwu also thought of a cross talk video that later generations watched on Station A, "Guidance and Application of Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity in Cross Talk Performance and Creation".

As a student of the Department of Physics, he and his partner once transplanted this cross talk to the school's New Year's Day party in a certain year, which won the laughter of the audience.

It's a pity that time is tight and there is no time to rehearse, otherwise he would think of re-enacting this cross talk now.

Maybe, that little black fat man in future generations will honor him as a senior.

Unexpectedly, the day before the lecture, there was still a change in Bei Da's side, and Hu Shi's promise turned into a blank check.

When we met for the first time, he said that the disturbance of Cai Yuanpei’s leaving school would not affect the normal course of lectures, but on Saturday afternoon, Hu Shi went to Ma Yuzao’s home in Dongbanqiao to find Chen Muwu, and told him that because the students had all gone to the Ministry of Education to ask Cai Yuanpei to revisit Back to school, so tomorrow's lecture is under-represented.

Hu Shi asked him if he could postpone all the lectures for a week, that is to say, the first lecture would be scheduled for next Thursday.

Chen Muwu didn't have any thoughts of his own about this, saying that he was completely at his own discretion.

Hu Shi thanked him for his understanding, and told Chen Muwu that Bei University would subsidize him for the travel expenses incurred during the few days he stayed in Beijing.

In fact, what is the reason for the lack of students!It's just that American Minister Shulman suddenly wants to go to Qiandao to investigate the proposals of the Washington Conference on the Zhongqian Island issue. The estimated time is about half a month.

Calculating the time, if Chen Muwu still gives lectures according to the original arrangement, then Shulman will not be able to catch up.

I spent a lot of money to invite people here, but I didn't listen to a game, no matter how rich I am, I can't spend it like this!

So Hu Shicai had to use the excuse of insufficient number of students to postpone Chen Muwu's lecture, so that Schulman could catch up with the last lecture after returning to Beijing.

Of course, Chen Muwu didn't know the real reason behind this, he only knew that half a week of preparation time was suddenly added, and he suddenly didn't know what to do.

The outline of the lecture has been fully laid out. It is neither meaningful nor necessary to continue to write a detailed speech according to the outline, because the above content is extremely simple for him, but he has to deal with raising his hands from time to time. For the audience who asked questions, if the speech was written in too much detail, it would cause confusion.

Calculating the time, two months have passed since I submitted my paper to Europe, and half a month has passed since Einstein's telegram was sent.

I wonder if that paper has been published in a journal?Has it caused any impact in European and American academic circles?Are there more people who support him, or more people who scold him?
Just when Chen Muwu was doing nothing, and was even planning to write another shocking thesis, a childish voice suddenly came from outside the room: "Brother Chen, someone is looking for you outside the courtyard."

(End of this chapter)