Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 365 104 Invitation from the Embassy in Belgium

When she asked that question, the light in Madame Curie's eyes was very dim.

She had already predicted that she and the Radium Research Institute would not be able to afford the money that Chen Muwu was going to say for building a cyclotron accelerator.

But Madame Curie still wanted to hear Chen Muwu tell an exact and specific number, so that she would give up completely.

"Well, I think it should be in tens of thousands at least - I'm talking about pounds, not dollars, not francs, not Swedish krona.

"And this amount of money is only the initial investment. When additional investment is made later, if nothing else happens, it should still be based on the unit of [-] pounds."

Lord Austin spent more than [-] pounds to help the Cavendish Laboratory build a cyclotron, but when Chen Muwu said it, the amount was reduced by an order of magnitude.

This is not because he is very confident that he can do big things cheaply, but because he thinks that he cannot scare Marie Curie by telling a series of astronomical figures at the beginning of the project.

Ten thousand pounds is almost equivalent to about [-]% of the current Cavendish Laboratory's annual funding after Chen Muwu attracted various investments. In Chen Muwu's mind, this figure should still be barely justified.

Chen Muwu was used to living a wealthy life, and he forgot how he became poor in the first place.

A long time ago, because the scale of the laboratory was small and there were only a few people, the funding allocated by the University of Paris to the Radium Institute was much less than what the Cavendish Laboratory received annually from the University of Cambridge. .

After a few years, because of Chen Muwu, the funding for the Cavendish Laboratory has been rising every year.

The Institute of Radium Science is still the same as before. The funds allocated by the University of Paris are only a drop in the bucket. The entire institute can only rely on careful budgeting and the money and materials "raised" by Marie Curie based on her own reputation to operate miserably.

A few years ago, Rutherford was reluctant to spend nearly one-fifth of his annual budget to import the world's most advanced vacuum pump from the United States for Chen Muwu.

A few years later, Marie Curie, who was not as wealthy as Rutherford at that time, could only look at the cyclotron, which required at least tens of thousands of pounds of investment.

She also wanted to know who Chen Muwu had hooked up with in Sweden, who was actually willing to spend such a huge sum of money to allow him to try new things with an uncertain future.

At this time, the most famous Swede in the world is not Garbo, who became famous overnight with the movie "Soul and Flesh" released at the beginning of the year, but who started his career by selling matches. Kruger, the Swedish match king known for lending money to governments.

This man has a lot of money, and he acts in a high-profile manner. He is very happy with his achievements. He looks like a rich man who can fund the research of Chen Muwu, a very topical scientist.

Madame Curie asked him if the big benefactor behind it was the Match King.

Chen Muwu smiled and shook his head: "The energy behind me is far greater than that of the little boy selling matches."

Chen Muwu once again told Marie Curie about the past story of how he and His Royal Highness Prince Gustaf, Crown Prince of Sweden, met at the Paris Olympics.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince himself is a Chinese culture enthusiast, and Chen Muwu is a Chinese and has achieved very good results in swimming competitions.

Later, in the second half of the year after the Paris Olympics, Chen Muwu went to Stockholm to receive a Nobel Prize.

In the eyes of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Chen Muwu possesses all the excellent qualities of a large Eastern country, including not only a powerful brain, handsome appearance, but also a strong physique.

Fortunately, the Crown Prince of Sweden is not a believer in ethnocentrism, otherwise he might really have an issue with the neighboring country across the sea over the question: "Who is the best race in the world, Han Chinese or Aryans?" There was a quarrel between the beards.

Chen Muwu once again conveyed to Madame Curie the determination of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to revitalize education in the country.

That's why he did something like buying horse bones for a thousand dollars, and invited himself to set up a school in Stockholm and teach there, in order to attract more outstanding talents from all over the world to his country, Sweden.

"Madam, this school in Sweden is backed by His Majesty the future King of Sweden, and the Wallenberg family, the richest in Sweden, provides funding behind it. I feel that after the final construction is successful, the academic atmosphere there will be no better than in Europe. It is inferior to other excellent universities, but its research conditions can reach or even surpass the top level in the United States.

"The only downside is that the winter in Stockholm is a little cold, but you have been to the Swedish capital twice and have experienced the temperature there before Christmas. You should know that this is not an insurmountable difficulty."

Chen Muwu said with a smile.

In his words, he alluded to Marie Curie, who twice went to Sweden to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Although a good man does not mention his bravery in the past, once it is mentioned, it is difficult not to miss oneself who has achieved many achievements in his youth.

As the world's top female physicist, Marie Curie could certainly hear the true meaning of Chen Muwu's words.

While talking about how good the conditions are in Stockholm, he also talked about how courteous the Swedish royal family is.

If there are no surprises, his true intention should be what he told himself a few years ago, that he hopes his family will move from France to Sweden.

Everyone says it’s hard to leave their homeland. Although Madame Curie’s homeland is Poland, she lived in France for such a long time and left many profound memories of Pierre and her two daughters in Paris.

Paris has become Madame Curie's second hometown, and here is the Radium Research Institute that she and her husband built with painstaking efforts bit by bit. It is difficult to leave every plant and tree behind.

Even though Chen Muwu talked so much about Stockholm, Marie Curie still did not prepare herself mentally for leaving her hometown when she was over fifty.

Chen Muwu saw Madame Curie frowning and had a solemn expression on her face, and he roughly guessed what she was thinking.

He knew that Marie Curie had obviously not yet made up her mind to go to Sweden, but this was not a big problem for Chen Muwu. He had no intention of achieving his final goal in one step today.

"Madam, according to my estimation, if you build this expensive cyclotron, in addition to a large amount of funds, you will definitely need a large number of manpower.

"My teacher, Sir Rutherford, was able to let me out of the Cavendish Laboratory, which is an act of mercy outside the law. He will never allow me to take away enough people from the laboratory to build this big machine in Sweden.

"So, can I borrow a few people from you? I thought that if my sister and brother-in-law have nothing to do recently, I hope I can ask them to come to Stockholm to help me."

This was a temporary coping strategy that Chen Muwu came up with after meeting with Madame Curie and Irena.

Seeing is better than hearing. During their honeymoon, Irena and Frederic went to Cambridge University and saw with their own eyes the "unknown" particle accelerator. After they returned to Paris, they met with Marie Curie. Told various things about this accelerator.

So if the young Curies and his wife are invited to go to Scolmore like they went to Cambridge University, and see with their own eyes the various advanced features of the school jointly built by Chen Muwu and the Swedish Crown Prince, maybe they can also dissuade Curie. Madam has many doubts.

Madame Curie was still thinking about whether she should agree to this matter, and perhaps asked Frederick for his opinion.

However, her eldest daughter Irena, who was sitting next to her, was very excited about Chen Muwu's invitation: "Of course it's no problem! Mom, Frederick and I have long wanted to try working with Chen." I just heard Chen Muwu say He drew such a big picture to his mother and talked about the characteristics of the cyclotron in such a dazzling way.

Moreover, as a physics practitioner who has done experiments at the Radium Institute for several years, Irena has seen with her own eyes how many meaningful experiments Chen Muwu has done on the particle accelerator at Cambridge University, so she knows better. If this cyclotron can be built, it will bring many new results to physics.

"They...can the two of them really help you?"

Marie Curie was still a little unsure.

"To do this kind of large-scale work, of course, the fewer people, the better. Moreover, my brother-in-law has a doctorate from the University of Paris, and my sister has done experiments with you at the Lei Xue Institute for so many years. The two of them have very good hands-on ability. There is absolutely no problem.

"Both of them have accumulated a lot of experimental experience. If there are any problems when I build the cyclotron, I believe that my sister and brother-in-law will be able to point out these problems as soon as possible, so that the construction process can avoid detours. , saving a lot of time in the final construction of the cyclotron.”

Chen Muwu said it sincerely, and the reasons he gave were very appropriate.

How could Madame Curie not know that Chen Muwu was supporting his eldest daughter and son-in-law?

Due to insufficient funds year after year, the Radium Institute has not produced any major discoveries in recent years.

Irena is just a helper by her side, and Frederic's doctorate has been graduated for a few years. Before that, he studied with Langevin. He mostly focused on theoretical physics knowledge and was basically able to do physics experiments. Considered a newcomer.

What kind of questions can such a newlywed couple pose to Chen Muwu?

He obviously knew that the cyclotron would be a great physics discovery, so he let his family get involved in advance.

"Since it was Chen who invited you two to Sweden, of course I have no objection. But Irena, after arriving in Stockholm, you can't point fingers at Chen's experimental progress just because you are a few years older.

"In terms of particle acceleration, the experience of you and Frederick together is not even [-]% of Chen's. You must study hard with him, do research well, and strive to return to radium after the cyclotron is built. At the Institute of Science and Technology, we also built one ourselves.”

Marie Curie still did not forget her identity as the director of the Radium Institute, and wanted to add some of the world's top high-end instruments to the institute.

Chen Muwu didn't take this to heart. After all, "it's easy to move from simplicity to luxury, but it's difficult to move from luxury to frugality." After the Curies saw the excellent environment and sufficient funding of Prince's College in Stockholm, they returned to the University of Paris. When you go to graduate school, you will definitely feel a strong sense of gap, and it will be too inconvenient to do anything.

"thanks Mom!"

Irena became the most excited among the three people present. She ran to Madame Curie and pecked her on the cheek.

Chen Muwu was already used to this situation.

Madame Curie looked at Chen Muwu with some embarrassment. Although he was her prospective son-in-law, he had not yet become a family member.

It was a bit embarrassing to do this in front of Chen Muwu.

“Madam, it’s getting late now. It’s my first day in Brussels and I haven’t even had time to pack my luggage.

“The meeting schedule will last for nearly a week, and we will have plenty of time to get together to discuss various things in the next few days.

"If there is nothing else to do today, I will say goodbye and leave."

Madame Curie did not continue to stop Chen Muwu here because she really wanted to calm down and think carefully about what he had just said.

If you go to Sweden, the experimental conditions and working environment will become better, and you may be able to produce some new experimental results.

But if you don’t move and continue to stay in Paris, the final result is likely to be that nothing can be achieved.

Chen Muwu walked to the door of the room where he and Dirac lived. Listening to the chatter and laughter coming from inside, he wondered whether he had another guest?
  It’s already so late and you’re disturbing people. You really can’t read the air.

But then he thought about it. Dirac was at Cambridge University, but he was even more wooden than Blackett. It was almost impossible for him to chat and laugh with a stranger he had just met.

So the person in his room should at least be an acquaintance of his.

After pushing open the door, Chen Muwu confirmed his guess.

Half a month ago, he used the new car he bought for Kapitsa in London to pick up Cockcroft who had returned from the United States after successfully completing his mission.

Half a month later, he met Zhao Zhongyao in Brussels again after finishing his work on the European continent.

Because he had always studied and worked with Chen Muwu, the relationship between him and Dirac was also very good.

At this moment, Zhao Zhongyao was telling the latter about various things he had seen during his trip to Germany and Sulian, and about the strange-shaped roofs on the Orthodox buildings.

After seeing Chen Muwu come in, Zhao Zhongyao, whom he hadn't seen for several months, stood up and greeted him.

Although he was familiar with Dirac, he was not so familiar with him that he immediately visited him as soon as he arrived in Belgium. It was obvious that he came here for his own sake.

However, even when reporting on work in Europe, there is no need to be in such a hurry.

"Brother Zongyao, everything went smoothly during this trip to Europe?"

“For TOEFL, there is no big mistake.

“It’s just that when I first arrived in Belgium, I accidentally lost my passport, so I went to the Republic of China’s embassy in Brussels a few days ago to explain my situation and report the loss and get a replacement.

"The staff of the legation heard that you came to Belgium and wanted to ask me to invite you to find a time to visit the legation."

At this critical moment, why is the embassy looking for me?

Do they represent the North or the South?

Neither is a good thing though.

Or is it that these embassies abroad have completely run out of money due to lack of funds, and they want to find Chen Muwu, a wealthy man, to fight against them?
  (End of this chapter)