Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 303 42 Professor Fei from the University of Rome

"Professor Planck, my teacher Sir Rutherford, told me the price of the particle accelerator, which is nine pounds and fifteen cents... Bah, that's eight thousand pounds per machine.

"But this is just his recommended selling price. Professor, you have helped me so much before, and I am not a person who does not miss old feelings. I invented and built this machine, so I also have a certain say in the pricing.

"Eight thousand pounds will definitely not be used. Do you think six thousand pounds will do? For only six thousand pounds, we will help the University of Berlin build a particle accelerator that can at least increase the voltage to 100 million volts."

Not only did he say nice things, but the evil businessman Chen Muwu also raised the price by another thousand pounds from the five thousand pounds he expected.

When the Cavendish Laboratory bought a vacuum pump from the United States, the price charged was two thousand pounds.

Chen Muwu felt that the price he had come up with was only for three vacuum pumps, and it was already a very conscientious price.

Compared with the most outrageous period, the German economy has recovered at least 12% to [-]%, but the exchange rate between marks and pounds is still horribly high. One pound can be exchanged for more than [-] marks, so Chen Muwu raised the price from the ground. A particle accelerator costs more than [-] marks in German banknotes.

If it had been 1923, Planck wouldn't have blinked an eye when he heard 12 marks.

After all, this little money can't even buy a piece of black bread.

But time has moved forward four years, and today's 12 marks has become an astronomical figure.

Even though the University of Berlin is very large, if there is such a sudden increase in expenditure, it will definitely require a meeting of the department and the school's senate to discuss it. It is completely impossible for Planck to make a decision on this train to Como. Decide.

"Well, Dr. Chen, can't the price of this particle accelerator really be made cheaper?"

Planck had a wry smile on his face. He planned to rely on his old age and continue to play the emotional card with this Chinese who respects his elders and loves his young.

"I'm sorry, Professor Planck, but my authority only goes so far."

Chen Muwu no longer intends to give in anymore, because the physicists participating in the meeting come from different universities and research institutes in different countries. If this opening is opened for the first order, it will only attract more and more thoughts. The enemies who bought the machine came to Chen Muwu to bargain.

"However, if you really want to get cheaper, you should discuss it with my teacher Sir Rutherford."

Thinking that Chen Muwu had given him a good idea, Plank quickly responded: "By the way, why don't you see Director Rutherford? Didn't he come to Italy to attend this meeting?"

"What a coincidence, Professor Planck. He has already left the UK after Christmas last year. It has been many years since he came to Europe and the United States. This time he is finally going back to New Zealand to visit his relatives."

After being teased a little, Planck finally understood what Chen Muwu meant: If he wanted to sign a contract and purchase a particle accelerator at this meeting, then the price of six thousand pounds would be the final bottom line. There is no room for further decline.

"Ahem, Dr. Chen, if the price is this, I still have to go back and think about it again. After all, you know that I have stepped down from the position of chairman of the physics department, and I no longer have as much power in my hands as I did before. .”

"Easy to say, easy to say."

Chen Muwu didn't even expect to sign a contract for the purchase of particle accelerators with the enemies from other universities during the Como Conference, let alone before he arrived in Como and was on the train to his destination.

Rutherford and himself positioned this conference as an exhibition where they could showcase their products.

After the meeting, these scientists from all over the world returned to their home countries, applied for purchase to their respective universities, waited for funding approval, and finally handed over the money to the Cavendish Laboratory.

As the saying goes, "You can't eat hot tofu in a hurry"!

Plank and Chen Muwu chatted for a few more words in the aisle of the carriage, which slightly eased the awkward atmosphere.

Then the former parted with him temporarily on the pretext of going to wash up.

After a while, Chen Muwu, who had had enough of seeing the scenery outside the window, returned to the box where he was.

Because the train they took was a special train specially prepared for these physicists and did not exist on the Italian domestic railway map.

Therefore, there is no accurate departure time and arrival time. It is impossible to know how many minutes the train was delayed.

Anyway, in the end, everyone finally arrived at Como Station without any danger. There was no train derailment, and there were no mahjong bandits riding horses with guns and mahjong tiles on their faces, rushing down from the mountains and robbing everyone. Got their train.

Compared with the previous train trip back to China, Chen Muwu packed lightly and simply during this trip.

The suitcase only contains a few changes of clothes. In addition, there are pens and notebooks that need to be recorded when inspiration occasionally overflows. There are also copies of several papers that have been printed at the University of Cambridge and are planned to be presented at meetings. When writing the paper, distribute it to other peers present.

Before leaving, Cockcroft made a somewhat "clever" suggestion. Since they were going there mainly to sell particle accelerators, should they bring along the machine that Chen Muwu had used to show Rutherford the generator more than a year ago? The principle, the model made with simple tin cans and silk.

Chen Muwu has always maintained an elegant and easy-going demeanor in the Cavendish Laboratory, and basically rarely speaks loudly to others.

This is because although he has achieved many achievements, he is actually the youngest in the laboratory.

A few years later, the Cavendish Laboratory recruited several new batches of students, so that he no longer had to say hello first when meeting someone.

But after hearing the suggestion put forward by Cockcroft, Chen Muwu couldn't help but raise his voice to stop the idea.

Those who were invited by Italy to attend this meeting were all outstanding physicists.

You foolishly showed the model to everyone, hoping to better promote your particle accelerator, but if someone else discovered the principle of the accelerator through this move, wouldn't it be worth the loss?

Even after selling the goods, the other party can quickly discover that the core principle of this particle accelerator worth five to six thousand pounds is so simple.

But the goods are sold and cannot be returned or exchanged. By then it will be too late for them to regret.

Chen Muwu felt that he was just like a profiteer, but in order to live up to his teacher Rutherford's instructions, he had no choice but to "bear the humiliation and bear the burden."

Although the train conditions along the way were not satisfactory, I have to say that after arriving in Como, the Italian reception was still very good.Because this is originally a tourist city, many local Europeans had crossed the Alps to vacation in this city long before the opening of this conference.

There is a rumor that Einstein refused to attend this meeting not only because of his personal reasons to resist Mussolini's policies in Italy, but also because he was afraid of missing things after coming to Como.

I think back then, after graduating from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Einstein had been in a state of unemployment after graduation.

He published a paper on capillary phenomena and attached the paper to the back of his cover letter and sent it to professors in almost all universities in Europe, but all of them fell silent and there was no news.

Unable to find a job, Einstein could only become an old man. He came to Milan, Italy, and lived with his father.

What he does every day, apart from continuing to repeat his job search, is to occasionally write letters to his long-distance girlfriend Mileva to express his love for him.

Confucius had Chen Guo and Cai Guo, and Einstein had his Milan.

In this difficult situation, he finally got the position of patent examiner at the Bern Patent Office through a friend's relationship.

For this reason, Einstein was so excited that he was eager to share the good news with his lover, so he wrote a letter inviting Mileva from her hometown, Serbia, which was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to come to Como next to Milan for vacation.

It was during this vacation that Einstein gave birth to his first child.

There are very few records about this child named Liesel Einstein.

So much so that when experts in the history of physics carefully studied the communications between Einstein and his ex-wife Mileva in 1986, they learned that there was such a child between the two of them.

It is unknown whether the little girl Liesel was given away to others because she was unable to raise her, or whether she died young. However, Como, including Milan, was undoubtedly a sad place for Einstein.

Coming here will definitely make people emotional, thinking of their first child and the failed marriage.

Although it is based on the pain of others, this incident also illustrates another thing.

That is, as early as 1901, when Einstein and Mileva went on vacation, Como and its surroundings already had very complete resort facilities.

After more than 20 years of development, the situation here will only be better than when Einstein arrived.

Sure enough, as soon as they got off the train, everyone was welcomed by the Italian side and sent in several cars from the train station to the most upscale resort hotel in Como. It has the Alps as its back and faces Lake Como, with beautiful scenery and unlimited scenery.

The Italian side also paid great attention to the reception staff. It is rare that the ones they sent were not the kind of ignorant government officials, but young physicists drawn from various universities in the country.

Although everyone had arrived at the meeting in the morning, there were no activities scheduled for that day on the schedule.

After putting your luggage in the room and getting settled, everyone can move around freely.

Going to the lake, to the foot of the mountain, or even climbing a few steps up the mountain to see the snow that has not yet melted is a good choice.

When Dirac first arrived in Cambridge a few years ago, he was a country boy from Bristol and could not quite integrate into the noble atmosphere of the school.

After studying, his only hobby in Cambridgeshire is walking through the streets. To use a relatively popular saying, this should be called City Walk, oh no, Shire Walk.

Later, Kapitsa allowed Dirac to experience the thrill of driving, which allowed Dirac to take up a new hobby besides walking, drag racing.

The quiet resort environment of Como in front of us would definitely not allow anyone to race cars where tourists were walking by the lake, and there were no cars available for Dirac to use.

This reminded him of the way he used to relax a long time ago. Dirac called Chen Muwu, who lived in the same room as him, and said that he finally came here and had to walk around the hotel. , and like other tourists, go sightseeing.

The reason why they share a room is because they are about the same age and are good friends.

There were two of them in the compartment on the train when they arrived. Dirac witnessed Compton and Chen Muwu chatting and laughing throughout the whole journey, and he sighed in his heart that Robert was really the right person to follow Chen Muwu in research. Chen was not only conscientious in academics, but also in He is very considerate in life and even helps his students find jobs after graduation.

As for why Chen Muwu doesn't live with his other good friend Kapitsa?Do you need to give any reason for this?

Anyway, a very reasonable explanation given by Chen Muwu is that it’s not that he doesn’t want to sleep in the same room with his good buddies, it’s because Kapitsa is the eldest among their group of young people, and he must and can only be allowed to accompany her. Professor Dinton, the closer we are in age, the more common topics we have.

After riding ships and trains for several days, Chen Muwu didn't get much rest, so he originally wanted to catch up on some sleep in his own bed.

But Dirac's kindness was hard to resist, so he had no choice but to accept the invitation and risk his life to accompany the gentleman.

I heard that the coffee in Italy is good, and there is an urban legend that this is the only country in the world without Starbucks, although this was later proven to be a rumor.

At the very least, I'll drink a few more cups of coffee to hold myself together when I get back, and taste how it tastes.

As a result, just as uninvited guests occasionally appear on the train station platform, when Chen Muwu lives in a hotel, roadblocks appear in the hotel lobby from time to time.

It was Einstein in Berlin before, but this time in Como, the person who stopped him was a host who spoke English with an Italian accent. He seemed to be about the same age as Dirac and himself.

"You must be Dr. Chen, and you are Dr. Dirac!"

The Italian reached out his hand enthusiastically.

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Enrico Fermi, I am a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Rome.

"I have admired the names of these two gentlemen for a long time. I would like to discuss some issues with you. I wonder if you have time?"

(End of this chapter)