Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 277 16 Einstein’s Ambition

Having just entered the hotel room where they would stay for the next three days, Oppenheimer was squatting in the corner packing their luggage. At the same time, he did not forget to listen to the conversation between Chen Muwu and Einstein.

He sighed silently in his heart, Dr. Chen is like a plug that can be plugged into the wall socket in front of him. As long as the shape matches and the voltage is appropriate, it can be plugged and played anywhere in any country. of.

When I was in Denmark with Bohr, he could talk about issues related to quantum mechanics;
At Cambridge and Russell, he could also talk about a mathematical problem and provide his own ideas.

Now I am in Berlin. I have just gotten off the train. I have not yet recovered from the fatigue of the journey, but Dr. Chen started talking to Einstein who was sitting on the sofa again.

Fortunately, the content of their chat, whether it was about the theory of relativity of gravity or knowledge about electromagnetism, I had already been exposed to and mastered it.

Now he can listen to the academic exchanges between two leading figures in physics in different periods with peace of mind. It will not be like last time about the incompleteness theorem. He has to catch up on some mathematical knowledge first - even if he has learned it, he will still be It's not easy to understand those contents.

Oppenheimer, who was following Chen Muwu, had recently developed a sense of crisis.

As Chen Muwu became more and more famous, he, like a very massive celestial body, became very attractive to students who were interested in pursuing a career in physics, as well as newcomers who were already engaged in physics.

Especially in the summer of 1926, after the general strike in the UK, the Chancellor of Cambridge University did such a mess and actually wanted to expel Chen Muwu.

Regardless of the impact this incident has had on the international community, many well-known universities around the world are vying to offer him an olive branch.

It is said that due to various reasons, those few people who came to Cambridge University spontaneously or by their teachers, after inviting Chen Muwu to follow them back to no avail, they did not return to the country immediately and resume their lives in a hurry, but all They unanimously chose to stay at Cambridge University and engage in physics research with Chen Muwu.

Not to mention anything else, except for the quantum mechanics lecture notes compilation group he was a member of, apart from Oppenheimer, there were only three people at the beginning, Chen Muwu and Dirac.

Later, the Hungarian guy von Neumann came.

Later, the German Heisenberg also came over.

For a mere lecture on quantum mechanics, five people were crammed into the writing team.

Moreover, the average academic qualifications of these five editorial committee members are basically reaching the doctoral level soon.

Chen Muwu is a Ph.D., Dirac is a Ph.D., and von Neumann and Heisenberg are also Ph.D.s.

What makes people very embarrassed is that the person holding him back is Oppenheimer himself, who is still studying for a doctorate and has not yet put on his doctorate hat.

Fortunately, Dr. Chen has promised that when he is done with this period of work, he will start looking for a graduation topic for him, and he will definitely graduate with his doctorate next summer.

Oppenheimer felt that he must not live up to Dr. Chen's expectations and must work hard to complete this matter.

After a trip to China, Oppenheimer's sense of crisis became more and more serious.

His sense of crisis came from the new students Chen Muwu accepted during his trip to the East.

However, they are not the three he received from universities in China.

——Of course Oppenheimer knew about this. The travel expenses for Chen Shengshen and the others to England were still paid by him.

Because of Chen Muwu, Oppenheimer had no ill intentions toward the Chinese. On the contrary, he had a good impression of them.

Later, he came into contact with Zhao Zhongyao and Shi Ruwei, who studied and worked together at Cambridge University, which made Oppenheimer even more convinced of his point of view.

The Chinese people are not only smart, but also diligent. They do not take credit for themselves and are arrogant. They always move forward step by step in a down-to-earth manner.

There is nothing wrong with how many students Chen Muwu recruits from China. First, he has academic strength, second, he has sufficient status at Cambridge University, and third, he is rich.

What really made Oppenheimer a little nervous was the newly recruited Soviet man Chen Muwu had recruited in Lezigler.

Unlike most Westerners who talk about it with disdain, Oppenheimer's attitude towards the country Soviet Union was neutral and slightly favorable.

Before he came to England, he had already been exposed to that new trend of thought in China.

Just like those rich boys at Cambridge University, Oppenheimer, who also came from a wealthy family, could not say that he recognized or supported this new trend of thought, but he also had a certain curiosity and affection for it.

He wanted to return to China with Chen Muwu. On the one hand, he wanted to see China. On the other hand, he also wanted to see with his own eyes this country built on new ideas when passing through Sulian.

Because the visa application and ticket purchase were late, Oppenheimer was unable to go to Sulian with Chen Muwu and Kapitsa, but went alone later in the evening.

He did not catch up with Gamov's famous confrontation in the classroom, nor did he catch up with the arrogant Landau in the canteen of Lezhigrad University in Russian and English. Chen Muwu showed two completely different attitudes.

Oppenheimer basically arrived in Legegrad with the Crown Prince of Sweden, and the reception he received was overwhelming.

After listening to Chen Muwu's second lecture at the Sulian Academy of Sciences, Oppenheimer followed everyone on the road eastward.

The fact that he was not involved in Chen Muwu's trip to Lezhigrad does not mean that Oppenheimer did not know that Chen Muwu had accepted a new student in Sulian.

He vaguely felt that this matter was a bit outrageous. Why was it that after a few days of lectures at Lezhigrad University, Chen Muwu was able to spot a good prospect among the students listening to the lectures in the large lecture hall?

In Oppenheimer's imagination, the Su Lian student whose name he did not know must have tried his best to express himself in Chen Muwu's class in order to make Chen Muwu notice him.

Doesn’t gold shine everywhere?Why do you have to come to Cambridge University?

Not counting the Englishman Cawcroft who was borrowed from Kapitsa to help build the particle accelerator, this new Soviet student should be the second foreign student Dr. Chen has accepted besides himself. .

The Sulian guy stood out among all the students in the Lezhigrad Physics Department. Now back in Cambridge, he and himself were the only two people left on the track.

Facing such a super giant, Oppenheimer felt a deep sense of competition this time.

You must always follow Chen Muwu step by step, and you cannot let the Su Lian boy you have never met compare yourself to.

An American and a Soviet are about to start a silent competition at Cambridge University. This confrontation between the two countries also originated in the United Kingdom, a full 20 years before the Cold War that would be triggered by the Iron Curtain speech. .

Oppenheimer squatted on the ground and thought wildly. Over there, Einstein had already roughly explained to Chen Muwu his new idea of ​​unifying gravitation and electromagnetic force.

After several years of calculations, the affine theory proposed by Eddington and called a "genius idea" by Einstein has been abandoned by Einstein himself.

His new approach was to find the simplest form of the law of gravity in the absence of an electromagnetic field and then generalize it.

"Chen, I wonder if you can realize that Maxwell's electromagnetic theory is the first-level approximation of this form? You should understand the general theory of relativity very well, right?"

Einstein paused briefly here, waiting for Chen Muwu's statement.

In his impression, this young man gave several solutions to the gravitational field equations the first time he met him.

If it were not for the in-depth study of general relativity, it would be absolutely impossible to achieve such results.

Finally, he had a keen eye and brought Chen Muwu from the Far East to Europe. Since then, he has achieved outstanding results in physics, astronomy, sports, mathematics... in all aspects. .

The emergence of such a genius is a lucky thing not only for China, but for all mankind.

Alas, forget it, let’s not think about those things that are there and not for the time being. Let’s see if Dr. Chen has any suggestions for this idea he proposed.
Chen Muwu nodded, confirming Einstein's question. "In front of you, the well-deserved discoverer of general relativity..."

He deliberately put an emphasis on the word "deserved". I wonder if Einstein could understand what he meant.

"...I dare not say that I understand general relativity very well. I can only say that I know a little more than the average person. Of course, this average person does not include Mr. Oppenheimer over there. Maybe one day he will be able to surpass me."

Suddenly hearing Chen Muwu say his name, Oppenheimer straightened his back.

But when he heard him praising himself, Oppenheimer felt a little embarrassed.

After receiving an affirmative answer, Einstein continued: "In the equation of general relativity, the metric tensor has ten independent components, but this is under the condition of symmetry.

"If this field is asymmetric, then there is..."

sixteen.

Oppenheimer, who had been praised just now, silently gave his answer in his heart.

"Sixteen independent components, enough to include electromagnetism."

Bingo!

Oppenheimer celebrated secretly. It seemed that Dr. Chen's praise just now was not polite. He still had two brushes.

"Professor, I understand. You want to connect the six components describing the electromagnetic field and the ten ordinary metric tensors describing gravity like the Lorentz transformation, is that right?"

"Yes, that's what I mean! Chen, it seems you still understand me. To be honest, are you interested in not going back to Cambridge University? Stay in Berlin and complete this great cause with me."

The more Einstein talked, the more excited he became. He could not wait to arrange an office for Chen Muwu in the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics and a residence for him in Berlin.

Chen Muwu didn't think so.

The idea of ​​​​this transformation is very interesting, but it is limited to an idea.

The Lorentz transformation can convert an electric field or a magnetic field into a mixture of an electric field and a magnetic field, but there is no transformation that can mix an electric field or a magnetic field with a gravitational field.

When he realizes this in the future, all the efforts Einstein put into it will be in vain.

Otherwise, he would not have continued to abandon this transformation idea just like he gave up the affine theory, and then turned around and tried a more novel "distant parallel" method.

Chen Muwu must have been unable to explain this matter to Einstein for a while, and he was afraid that even if he explained it clearly, Einstein's brain might come up with new ideas to continue communicating with him.

So he simply started playing Tai Chi with Einstein, showing that he was very interested in this transformation of ideas, and even wrote and drew on the calculation paper himself.

Oppenheimer had already packed his luggage, and when he saw Dr. Chen and Professor Einstein having a lively exchange, he couldn't help but get closer.

He even prepared a pen and paper in advance, planning to take notes on the side.

Chen Muwu noticed that there was another person beside him. It seemed that Oppenheimer was also preparing to go astray.

In order not to make Einstein suspicious, he could only remain silent for the time being.

After leaving Berlin, explain to Oppenheimer why the electromagnetic field and the gravitational field cannot be unified using this method.

After explaining clearly, I wrote a paper on the way, which can be regarded as giving Einstein a reasonable response.

Li Bai once quoted an allusion in "The Book of Jingzhou with Han", saying that in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Wang Yun was appointed as the governor of Yuzhou. He recruited Xun Shuang before he got off the bus, and Kong Rong was recruited as soon as he got off the bus.

Chen Muwu is now similar to Wang Situ - not the one who was scolded to death by Zhuge Liang. As soon as he got off the car, he started "researching" the unified theory with Einstein, without even bothering to eat lunch.

It wasn't until the sun set and someone's stomach growled twice that Einstein realized that his host seemed to have neglected his duty.

Although he went to the train station to greet him in person, he also sent him to the hotel in person.

But Chen Muwu, this distinguished guest from the East, didn't even have a meal. He kept discussing issues with himself from the morning until the sun was almost setting.

"Chen, it seems that we won't be able to study this issue for a while. Anyway, we still have time tomorrow, so why don't we go have a meal first, drink a glass of celery punch, and then continue the discussion after the meal? ?”

"Guest as you wish."

Chen Muwu and Oppenheimer followed Einstein out of the hotel again and walked to a restaurant near the University of Berlin that the latter often visited.

It was only at his seat that Chen Muwu learned what punch was.

It looked like just a juice cocktail, but I didn’t expect Einstein to like to take such a sip.

"There's no alcohol in it, it's just a borrowed name from punch. I know you don't drink, would you like to try this?"

Einstein saw through Chen Muwu's doubts and sent him an invitation.

Einstein, like Chen Muwu, didn't drink much. He even drank coffee without caffeine.

But Ion, like Rutherford, was a hardcore smoker.

It's just that they were so absorbed in discussing issues during the day that they didn't even smoke a cigarette.

Chen Muwu still rejected Einstein's invitation.

If it was alcohol-free, he would be willing to try it.

It's just that the smell of celery...

He smiled and shook his head.

Fortunately, Oppenheimer asked for a glass of beer, and he could clink glasses with Einstein on behalf of Chen Muwu.

The meals for the three people were quickly served, and just as everyone was getting ready to start, a few more people walked in at the door of the restaurant, talking and laughing.

Everyone is used to seeing Einstein sitting at a dining table.

After all, this is the best restaurant around the University of Berlin, so it’s not surprising to see top students in any subject.

Students of Cambridge University will not be surprised to see old Thomson or Rutherford or Eddington in the Eagle Bar in Free School Lane.

But when one of the people in the group saw Chen Muwu sitting next to Einstein, he was surprised. His smile did not disappear immediately, but froze on his face.

(End of this chapter)