Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 272 11 Oppenheimer’s Epiphany

The train traveling along the southern shore of Lake Baikal has left the railway around the lake and arrived at the first station it stopped after leaving the lake, Irkutsk, the capital of the Sulian Irkutsk region.

This is the place where the White Army leader Kolchak was shot. In the future, a large aircraft manufacturing plant will be established to produce the IL-[-] attack aircraft, which is as important as air and bread.

Although the names of this series of aircraft are all called Il, they have nothing to do with Irkutsk, the place of production. It is just a coincidence.

Irkutsk is a station near the middle of the Sulian-Siberian Railway. It is more than 100 kilometers away from the starting station Vladivostok to the west, and more than 100 kilometers away from the terminal station Mashko to the east. .

It's just that Chen Muwu and Oppenheimer got on the bus from Harbin Station, and their terminal station was not Masko, so their journey was far from halfway.

Due to many problems such as terrain and construction difficulty, this section of the Siberian Railway passing through Lake Baikal was not built in history. Instead, the train was broken into several sections and then transported across the lake by ferry.

It wasn't until a few years ago that this section of the Lake Baikal railway was finally repaired, but there was still the risk of rockfalls on the road, and ferry trains were often reopened to resume traffic.

It seemed that Chen Muwu and Oppenheimer had their own destiny. They came and went without catching up on crossing the river by steamer.

After the train stopped at the platform, Oppenheimer, who was tired of seeing the uninhabited woods and lakeside, was the first to run out of the carriage and go to the platform to stretch his muscles and buy food.

Chen Muwu, who had just finished writing the manuscript of "The Rise of a Great Power", lazily turned over and lay down on the bunk, and his eyes accidentally fell on the luggage that filled almost half of the box.

The two of them bought a ticket for a four-person bag, not because Oppenheimer made enough money playing mahjong from the Swedish royal family when he came, but because the luggage he brought on the return trip was even bigger than when he came. need more.

Chen Muwu hurried back to Europe. On the one hand, he wanted to return to the Cavendish Laboratory and continue experiments on the particle accelerator he had just built.

On the other hand, they have to catch up with the wedding of Eve, her eldest sister Irena, and Joliot in October this year.

As for Mrs. Chen, his eldest brother, and his second brother, although due to the unexpected incident, sufficient preparation time must be set aside, and they will not take a ship from Luhai to France until the end of the year.

But when people don’t arrive, the ceremony must come.

After hearing that her in-laws, whom she had never met, was a big boss in academia, Mrs. Chen felt that she had to prepare a generous gift for the sister of Chen Muwu's unmarried daughter-in-law.

The second eldest child, Chen Muping, said that many foreigners in the concession like to collect antique vases, so Mrs. Chen thought about paying for a pair of them as a wedding gift for Irena and the others.

Although it is said that "gold in troubled times, antiques in prosperous times", during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, antiques were really not worth much.

In addition, Emperor Xun of the Qing Dynasty in the Forbidden City was also a slut and did not feel sorry for him. He sold the treasures in the palace without mercy, which greatly enlivened the current antique market, but also greatly reduced the market price of antiques.

Others are trying to exalt you, but when it comes to him, you are trying to persuade them to surrender.

Even if you buy a pair of not-so-top Ming Dynasty blue and white antique vases now, it doesn't cost much. Even if the Chen family is not short of money, Chen Muwu feels that there is no need to do such a thankless task.

As long as they are not the top collectors, the rest of the foreigners are basically interested in the exquisite patterns on the blue and white jars, rather than the rich history behind them.

As far as patterns are concerned, craftsmen in the Republic of China can do a good job now. There is no need to spend a lot of money to buy so many national treasures as gifts. Chen Muwu was even asked to be an accomplice to help the national treasures flow overseas.

So Chen Muwu used various fallacies to persuade Mrs. Chen to change her mind.

Someone was sent to Jiangnai to specially order a set of vases and plates. Chen Muwu even designed the patterns on these blue and white porcelains in a unique way.

Others are like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea and the five blessings bringing longevity, but when it comes to him, the atomic nuclei of radium atoms and polonium atoms are drawn in the center of the plate.

Of course, this schematic diagram is neither his quantum mechanical model nor Bohr's atomic model, but the simplest and most intuitive but incorrect solar system model.

Chen Muwu even ordered an extra set and planned to take it back to Cambridge University and give it to his teacher Rutherford, the proposer of the solar system model.

It can only be said that Xiao Chen is a grateful person. "Once a teacher, always a father." Rutherford helped him at Cambridge University for more than three years. What's wrong with going back to China and giving him some gifts? Is it appropriate?

What is flattery?

What is flattery again?

Pure nonsense.

This is called a strong friendship between teachers and students!

As for Rutherford’s teacher, Old Thomson, he also proposed a plum pudding model.

It's just that the model was too complicated to draw and didn't look good when printed on porcelain, so Chen Muwu could only selectively ignore it.

Preparations for the custom-made porcelain began when Chen Muwu returned home, and it was not until a few days before their departure that they finally got it.

After careful calculation, the price of customizing such a few sets of brand-new porcelain is not much different from purchasing Ming Dynasty antiques directly.

The only thing was that when the porcelain was delivered to his home, Chen Muwu had already become a hands-off shopkeeper, and he went directly from Ganzhou to Suzhou along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

He only carried a small bag with him, which contained a few changes of clothes for when he returned to his hometown to worship his ancestors.

But most of the luggage returned to the UK was still left at Yanhai's home.

These luggage items only made Oppenheimer miserable, and he could only escort the car to Suzhou to meet Chen Muwu.

In addition, Oppenheimer, the young master, spent so many days eating, drinking and having fun in Bihai, and he also bought a lot of things.

Although Oppenheimer was not very popular in the Cavendish Laboratory, he still had a few friends.

Except for a few American students from New York or Harvard, his social circle at Cambridge University basically overlapped with Chen Muwu's.

Among them, the one who got along best with Oppenheimer, apart from Zhao Zhongyao and Shi Ruwei, who had been together day and night, was probably Dirac.

Because like Dirac, he was among the physicists at Cambridge University who were not good at doing experiments but were proficient in theoretical calculations.

Even in the original time and space without Chen Muwu, the relationship between Oppenheimer and Dirac was still very close.

The two of them first met on the campus of Cambridge University and continued to meet when they went to the University of Göttingen for further studies.

At the Cavendish Laboratory, neither of them did much hands-on experimentation.

In Göttingen, they were unable to integrate into the circle of German students, so they could only sympathize with each other.

Even though Oppenheimer once tried to kill Dirac's good friend Blackett with poisonous apple poison soaked in cyanide, but this incident did not affect the friendship between him and Dirac.

In the "Three Kingdoms" series of games, military commanders have a numerical value called phase.

Only generals with similar compatibility values ​​to yourself can easily become good friends and trigger various special events such as sworn homage and surrender.

Oppenheimer and Dirac should be of the same type, and the appearance of Chen Muwu furthered their relationship.

I have come all the way to China once, and when I return, I have to bring some gifts to these friends.

So the things Oppenheimer bought from various places in Jihai were no less than the luggage and gifts prepared by the Chen family for Chen Muwu.

There was no way he could take the train with so much luggage on his own.Chen Muping had no choice but to find two cars and send Oppenheimer and his luggage to Baihai North Station together. He also specially spent money to arrange for the first-class cabin crew to take more care of the foreigner along the journey.

Chen Muwu boarded the train at Suzhou Railway Station and then met Oppenheimer on the train.

After that, they went north along the route they came from, including Jingjing, Tianyi, Fengtian, Harbin, and Manzhouli. After entering the Trans-Siberian Railway, they turned westbound until the train stopped in Irkut. gram.

Oppenheimer came down from the carriage to the platform and came back again, holding various kinds of food in his arms.

I even bought the most expensive train tickets, so I naturally didn’t lack the money to eat or order food in the train’s dining car.

But Oppenheimer seems to have developed a fondness for it when he was in China. Everywhere he goes, he always likes to buy some local specialties and gain experience.

What he was holding in his arms this time was black bread, a staple food that can be seen everywhere along the way, and honey that he bought specially to go with the black bread.

In addition, buying fruits to supplement vitamin C is the most important thing.

Oppenheimer bought a variety of berries produced locally in Irkutsk this time, basically red, black, blue raspberries, and currants.

In addition to eating food and fruit, he got off the bus this time and even brought back a newspaper from the platform.

Although newspapers are sold at stations along the way, passengers trapped in the semi-isolated train can learn about what is happening in Sulian and the world while they are traveling across Siberia.

It's just that Oppenheimer didn't know Russian at all, and Chen Muwu only learned a few words from Kapitsa about the three-legged cat in case of emergency.

The two of them were faced with a Russian newspaper, and they looked at it with big eyes and small eyes, insisting on reading the text as a pictorial newspaper.

Chen Muwu didn't understand what Oppenheimer's motive was for buying this newspaper.

As if seeing Dr. Chen's doubts, he opened the newspaper, pointed to a certain photo on a certain page and said: "Doctor, look, it's His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. It seems that he has arrived in the country safely and smoothly. Standing there Is the person next to him my emperor?"

Chen Muwu looked in the direction of Oppenheimer's finger, and sure enough on the blog he saw the Swedish Crown Prince in military uniform, posing with a bust of a short man in military uniform and glasses.

As a Nordic, Prince Gustav Adolf was tall, and he didn't seem to be nearly the same size as me.

This is probably why there are only bust photos in the newspaper. I am either stepping on the box or sitting on a chair with the Crown Prince of Sweden.

However, this person is not the "emperor" in Oppenheimer's mouth, but the current crown prince, Hirohito.

It is completely reciprocal in terms of diplomatic etiquette for the crown prince to receive the crown prince.

But there is another reason behind this, that is, Hirohito's father Yoshihito, who is now the Emperor of Taisho, is a mental patient and often makes some ridiculous and absurd actions in the court.

In order to prevent humiliation of the country and embarrassment on some important occasions, Japan's nobles and political elders jointly negotiated and the result was to let Yoshihito become the "overlord" and let the crown prince Hirohito take the regent in advance.

However, the Taisho period in the autumn of 1926 was like a grasshopper after autumn, unable to jump around for more than a few days.

By the end of this year, Jiaren will pass away, and then the regent crown prince will naturally ascend the throne and change his reign.

"No, no, this is not our emperor, but their crown prince."

Taking the train was boring anyway, so Chen Muwu explained the whole story to Oppenheimer in detail.

“It’s ridiculous that the supreme ruler of a country is actually a mentally ill person, and they have to worship a mentally ill person every day.

"I don't know why they still insist on the imperial system, a dregs left over from the feudal period, instead of adopting more advanced political systems like China and the United States..."

Listening to Oppenheimer's complaints, Chen Muwuxin said, it doesn't have to be like this.

Not to mention that he hit many European countries such as Britain and Sweden in the face with his imperial combo boxing.

Just say that he talked about the political systems of the two countries and said that the United States is understandable. After all, it is the most developed country in the world.

But Oppenheimer actually said that China was advanced, which made Chen Muwu really want to laugh.

Whether it is the current Beiyang government or the future Tengjing government, they have nothing to do with the word advanced.

There is no need for him to tout anything related to China in order to please Chen Muwu.

Chen Muwu wanted to ask Oppenheimer where China was advanced, but he couldn't bear to expose his words.

But he still interrupted Oppenheimer's criticism of himself and the monarchy. It was useless to tell himself this. When he returned to the United States, he could talk to a man named MacArthur, and it might have some effect.

Otherwise, just throw a big mushroom into Edo and conduct an experiment with the royal family, nobles and politicians, so that they can be one step ahead and try for themselves whether the irradiated water and food are harmful.

——But Oppenheimer had no say in this matter.

Chen Muwu interrupted the other person who was still criticizing the appearance of the royal family and mentioned another topic: "How is your travel book going?"

Oppenheimer did not hide the matter of writing travel notes.

He even conducted multiple interviews with Chen Muwu in order to obtain detailed first-hand information.

"The revisions and supplements have basically been completed. After returning to the UK, I want to submit the manuscript to a publishing house in the UK or the United States to see if I can get a publishing opportunity."

Chen Muwu felt that there must be a lot of things in Oppenheimer's travel notes that could not be published.

For example, I asked him to write a letter to his father to buy a microfilm machine. If nothing else, he must have written all this in his travel diary.

My intelligence system is so advanced, I will definitely be able to get some clues from this, and maybe I will understand my true intentions.

Then wouldn’t all my previous preparations have been in vain?
But Chen Muwu couldn't say it directly, so he could only choose another way: "Robert, do you know Penguin Press?"

"Of course, it is the same publishing house that published the George Chen series. It has become very popular in the UK and the United States in recent years."

"I happen to be familiar with an editor of their publishing house. How about I help you recommend your travel diary to this publishing house?"

"It couldn't be better!"

Oppenheimer was a little surprised.

Chen Muwu breathed a sigh of relief, as long as he agreed, it would be enough to write in the publishing contract that the publisher had the right to delete a certain amount of content, and then quietly delete the words that were not beneficial to him.

After the surprise, Oppenheimer suddenly figured out something else.

"Dr. Chen, why are you so familiar with the editor of Penguin Press? Is it possible that you are really the author behind the George Chen series as rumored? But why have I never seen you write anything?"

It can only be said that Oppenheimer's observation ability is really poor, and his associative ability does not seem to be very rich.

Although he rarely saw himself writing anything, in the winter two years ago, on the way from Sweden to France after receiving the Nobel Prize, he should have seen Ye Gongchao writing non-stop, right?
(End of this chapter)