Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 330

Walter Bott, director of the Radioactive Physics Laboratory of the Imperial Institute of Physics and Technology in Germany, who was previously an assistant to the former director Hans Geiger, was one of Planck's students who had many talents all over the world.

As early as 1923, Einstein recommended Chen Muwu, a Chinese student he met in Jihai, to Planck, and said that this Chinese student had submitted a paper to the editorial office of the "Annals of Physics". After that, Planck They found Geiger and Bote respectively and asked them to design experiments to verify whether the theory of gamma ray scattering was correct.

The fate of Bott is somewhat similar to that of Chadwick in the Cavendish Laboratory.

The latter was thrown into a prisoner of war camp by the German government for several years because he was an Englishman stranded in Germany during World War I.

Bothe's situation was surprisingly consistent with Chadwick's. He also joined the German cavalry during World War I, and then became a prisoner of war because of the failure of the battle. However, it was not the British government that imprisoned him, but Tsarist Russia. .

To a certain extent, both of them were victims of this war.

But both of them did not forget to learn physics knowledge in the prisoner of war camp, and they did not waste those painful and boring years.

But the similarities between Bote and Chadwick, or the connection between the two men, go beyond that.

In the original time and space, in 1930, Bott left the Imperial Institute of Physics and Technology and became professor and head of the physics department at Justus Liebig University in Giessen.

It was in this year that he began to try to bombard relatively light nuclei such as lithium beryllium boron with alpha particles, and detected that after the nuclear reaction of the bombardment, an electrically neutral substance that would not be deflected by the electric field would be emitted. particle.

Because in people's understanding of particles at that time, if a particle was deflected in an electric field or magnetic field and could be detected as having a positive charge, it would correspond to various situations, the simplest being various atomic nuclei.

But if a particle does not show any change during the detection of an electric field or a magnetic field, that is to say, the particle is an uncharged neutral particle, then in the scope of people's knowledge, this particle can only be one of the three major One type of ray, gamma ray, is also called a photon.

Because Germany shares a border with France, Botte's research first spread to the Institute of Radium Science under the University of Paris, France, where Madame Curie and his wife Curie lived and worked.

Curie and his wife studied the hard gamma rays newly discovered by Bert, and also believed that the radiated material was gamma particles, but the energy was relatively high.

This research spread across the ocean from France to England and to the Cavendish Laboratory.

Rutherford, who was obsessed with the electrically neutral particles in the atomic nucleus, and his assistant Chadwick did not agree with the conclusions of Bert and the Curies. They redesigned the experiment and finally got the result. A completely different result than before:

These particles are indeed uncharged, but the mass of the particles is not small, but about the same as that of a proton, which is completely consistent with people's theoretical estimates of neutrons.

In this experiment, although the Curies were exposed to neutrons earlier, they missed the opportunity to discover neutrons.

If we exclude Mr. and Mrs. Curie, the two people who made significant contributions to the neutron from its attack to its eventual discovery happened to be Bert, who was imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp during World War I. and Chadwick.

Somehow, it's a coincidence.

At this time, Frederick, who was at the University of Cambridge, had no idea what it meant to use accelerated alpha particles to bombard lighter atomic nuclei that he proposed to Chen Muwu. He was just facing this world. The most advanced particle accelerator, just a little divergent thinking.

But in fact, there is no need to put alpha particles into an electric field with such a large potential difference for acceleration. You only need to add an electric field of similar size in front of the particle source, accelerate it slightly, and then bombard the target nuclei on the target. This experimental phenomenon was obtained.

Frederick asked a good question, but Chen Muwu could not give a correct answer to this good question now.

"Well, Frederick, the particle source in this machine is equipped with a proton source that uses hydrogen gas to generate protons. If you want to accelerate alpha particles, you need to disassemble the machine and determine the internal structure inside. Not to mention the huge amount of work, and one of my two assistants has gone to the United States and the other to Germany. They are not at the Cavendish Laboratory. I definitely cannot complete this project alone. Renovation work."

Chen Muwu finally made up a temporary excuse and temporarily fooled his future brother-in-law.

But after saying this, he was afraid that Frederick would suddenly want to help others, saying that he and Irena would stay at Cambridge University to help Chen Muwu complete the transformation of the particle accelerator.

In that case, the structure of this accelerator, including the principle of generating high potential differences, will be revealed when the proton source is removed and replaced with an alpha particle source.

After the young Curies returned to France, they could apply for a vacant space from the University of Paris and build a replica of the particle accelerator at the Radium Institute without spending much money.

If Paris had a particle accelerator, it would be more difficult for Chen Muwu to trick Madame Curie and her family into leaving France for Sweden.

What Chen Muwu was worried about did not happen. Frederick also knew in his heart that although the two of them would soon become relatives, his and Irena's current status was not to visit relatives and friends at Cambridge University, but as card students. Guests from Wendish Laboratory came to visit and interview.

If there is something big or small between relatives, it doesn't matter if you do a favor or something, but if the guests show too much initiative, it will be a bit overwhelming.

The three of them stood in the particle accelerator laboratory for a while, chatting about some topics related or unrelated to physics. Chen Muwu also pulled out the photos of the cloud chamber taken during previous experiments and pointed to them. The trajectory told them which one was the accelerated hydrogen nucleus and which one was the alpha particle produced after being bombarded.

The visit of the young Curies and his wife in the particle accelerator laboratory finally came to a successful conclusion. After leaving here, they followed the host's arrangement and went for a walk in the most famous Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University.

Although this laboratory was built in Maxwell's era, it is the most famous physics laboratory in the world and attracts many physicists every year.

However, many physicists who come from the United States with the intention of learning advanced physics knowledge from Europe and the United Kingdom will always feel a great sense of gap in their hearts after seeing the true face of the Cavendish Laboratory. Because the scene in front of them disappointed them, it was completely different from the laboratory they imagined.

The Cavendish Laboratory has long been no longer the best laboratory in the world with the most outstanding instruments. Even the management level is not advanced enough. It is only maintained by the strong man Rutherford who came from the sky and a group of young strong men. The final glory in the laboratory.

This is more like answering the words that the future president of Tsinghua University has not yet said: "The so-called great scholar does not mean a building, but a master." However, American physicists will be disappointed. , does not mean that Frederick and Irena, who came to visit today, will be disappointed.

In recent years, the Cavendish Laboratory seems to be experiencing a second spring in its career: increasing funding, updated instruments and equipment, and more and more research results.

The situation in the laboratory now is much better than when Chen Muwu first arrived in the UK in 1923.

In the eyes of the younger and younger Curies, the Cavendish Laboratory was actually a big company. It not only had a long history, but also had abundant funds. Compared with the Radium Institute under the dismal management of his mother, Madame Curie, it was not only in the sky but also in the earth. But the gap between the two cannot be caught up in three to five years.

Irena and Frederick are Eve's mother-in-law, so everyone in the Cavendish Laboratory is considered to be a relative of Chen Muwu's mother-in-law's family.

For someone like Kapitsa, who runs to Paris every day, the Curies and his wife have seen him countless times.

The remaining Chadwick, Blackett and others met for the first time, but both sides had their own regrets.

Unfortunately, the Curies came to Cambridge University and failed to meet the director of the laboratory, Rutherford.

Unfortunately, everyone in the Cavendish Laboratory was unable to meet Madame Curie.

But it won’t take long for everyone’s regrets to disappear, because not long after, the link between them—Chen Muwu and Ai Fu are about to get married. At that wedding, if nothing else, the people on both sides will We can meet again.

After visiting the Cavendish Laboratory, Chen Muwu took the young Curies and his wife to the Cam River and to Newton's room at Trinity College. Anyway, it was the day after ordinary physicists visited the University of Cambridge. A complete set of procedures, not missing a single step.

After finishing their trip in Cambridgeshire, Chen Muwu did not return to London with them.

On the one hand, Chen Muwu felt that he had been home for too long and that if he left the school again, he, the acting director, would be derelict in his duties and should not do so. On the other hand, it was also the repeated request of Mr. and Mrs. Curie.

They said that as long as Chen Muwu followed him back to London and his home, then during their honeymoon trip, they would probably have to stay in the Chen mansion and chat with the Chen family every day.

If Chen Muwu didn't go back, there would be no translator between them. Instead, they would be able to take time to visit other places near London, such as Oxford University, Stonehenge, which is suspected to be an alien ruin, and so on.

Speaking of Stonehenge, Irena, who was waiting for the train on the platform of Cambridgeshire Railway Station, suddenly revealed something else to Chen Muwu after the train pulled into the station.

"Eve is very interested in the alien issue that you suddenly made popular. She seems to be planning to try to write a novel about aliens recently. If you have any good ideas, you may wish to write more letters to communicate with her. For a moment, don't say I told you, she still wants to give you a surprise after writing it out!"

Chen Muwu waved his sleeves to say goodbye to the train heading south.

What he was thinking about was not that he should subtly tell Eve what kind of alien science fiction theme, but another more important thing.

In the laboratory with the particle accelerator, although Chen Muwu temporarily fooled Frederick with some witty answers.

But the question raised by the other party still makes Chen Muwu a little frightened.
Even if the Institute of Radium Science does not yet have a particle accelerator, after the young Curies returned to Paris, they would either put this idea into practice themselves, or they would put it into practice after speaking it out to Mrs. Curie. Then the neutron was What physicists have been looking for for many years may be about to meet humans in advance.

It’s not that Chen Muwu didn’t want the little Curies to regret that they missed neutrons in their previous life, but they were able to discover neutrons as they wished in this life.

They are related to each other, and the other is a great physicist. Both emotionally and logically, he should be happy to see the Curies and his wife achieve breakthrough results in research on neutron problems.

However, Chen Muwu has long wanted to keep neutrons in the Cavendish Laboratory as they did in his previous life.

——After all, this kind of particle has been playing hide-and-seek with humans for decades, but his teacher Rutherford has always been thinking about what he wants to find after he took over the Cavendish Laboratory.

Chen Muwu felt as if he suddenly understood a sentence, "Since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety cannot have both sides."

Although there is still a certain gap between the actual meaning of this sentence and his current situation, the mood behind it is the same.

Rutherford and Chadwick were people he respected, as were Madame Curie and Mr. and Mrs. Curie.

You can't have both, give up...

The palms and backs of these hands are full of flesh, no one can part with them!
On the way back to the university from Cambridge train station, Chen Muwu was still thinking about this matter.

Why did the Curies think of using accelerated alpha particles to bombard light atomic nuclei so many years in advance?Could it be that he developed the particle accelerator in advance, which caused the butterfly effect?
Since they can think of this, it seems likely that physicists in other parts of the world can also think of it.

Maybe Professor Botte from Germany has already started doing this experiment.

Chen Muwu felt that it was necessary to invite the Curies and his wife to Cambridge University to do experiments, or some other method, and that a solution must be come up after the teacher Rutherford returned to the Cavendish Laboratory.

The egg of Neutron has been incubating for so long, and it is finally time to bear fruit.

(End of this chapter)