Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 413 152 Aren’t we friends?

The reason why Rutherford blocked the real purpose of his and Chadwick's trip to Stockholm and did not tell Blake was that they were not going to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the completion of Prince's College, but were going there because Chen Muwu might have discovered neutrons.

It wasn't that Rutherford couldn't trust Blackett, it was just that he was very protective and wanted to protect Chen Muwu's face.

If the news that Chen Muwu discovered neutrons was publicized now, wouldn't it be ridiculous if what he discovered was not neutrons but something else?

After it is confirmed that what Chen Muwu discovered is indeed a neutron, it will not be too late to tell the world.

Just before Chadwick left, Rutherford told him the same thing.

When you talk to Kapitsa, you should especially keep this matter a secret.

Because this Russian is good at everything, but he has a big mouth.

If Kapitsa had been told about Chen Muwu's discovery of neutrons, he might have believed that Chen Muwu's discovery of neutrons was a certainty based on his trust in Chen Muwu.

Rutherford decided to hide it from everyone in the Cavendish Laboratory for the time being. After he and Chadwick arrived in Stockholm and witnessed with their own eyes whether Chen Muwu's discovery was right or wrong, he would decide when to disclose the matter. Make it public or rot in your stomach.

He was sincerely happy for the Prince's College built by Chen Muwu in Stockholm, and he also understood what Rutherford said.

It was enough for Rutherford and Chadwick to go to Stockholm on behalf of the entire Cavendish Laboratory. A country cannot live without a king, and a laboratory cannot live without managers.

Chen Muwu is very popular at Cambridge University, but if everyone leaves the UK and goes to Sweden in one go, who should a laboratory as big as the Cavendish Laboratory be handed over to?

Blackett was happy for Chen Muwu's achievements in Stockholm, and he was equally happy that he could gain the trust of his teacher Rutherford.

However, nothing in the world is perfect, and nothing can satisfy and make everyone happy.

On the drive from Cambridgeshire to the port of Norwich, the two guests in the back seat, Rutherford and Chadwick, each looked beaming.

Only the driver Peter Kapitsa, who was sitting in the driving seat on the right hand side of the front row and driving the Austin sedan that was given to him as a wedding gift by his good friend Chen Muwu, was unhappy. He didn't look very happy.

It is true that he was once a student of Rutherford, but it had been five or six years since he obtained his doctorate, and he had already established a foothold in the Cavendish Laboratory.

Moreover, Chadwick is also a student of Rutherford, isn't he already the assistant director of the laboratory?

Kapitsa, who was in a somewhat unhappy mood, couldn't help but complain to Rutherford and Chadwick who were sitting in the back row, regardless of Rutherford's status as his teacher and leader.

"Sir, James, I really can't understand why after Chen's Prince's College was built, he only invited the two of you and not me? Obviously I am his best friend in the entire Cambridge University!"

"Di-"

"Di-"

"Beep beep-"

The words got so exciting that Kapitsa even couldn't help but press the car horn several times to vent his anger.

Since this car was given to him by Chen Muwu, wouldn't abusing the car's horn a little bit be equivalent to spreading his grievances on Chen Muwu?

"Teacher, it is already afternoon. After I send you to Norwich, you will definitely not be able to return to Cambridge University alone that day. At least you will have to find a hotel next to the pier to stay for one night.

"How about I find a place to park the car, and then go to the ticket office at the port to buy a ferry ticket. The three of us can go to Stockholm together."

With Rutherford by his side, Chadwick said nothing.

Rutherford is the one with the highest status among their group, and everything should be left to him to make decisions.

However, in Chadwick's heart, he recognized the choice proposed by Kapitsa.

If Kapitsa followed the two people to Stockholm, even if he saw that Chen Muwu had indeed discovered the neutron.

But everyone was in Stockholm, and Kapitsa couldn't reveal the matter to everyone in the Cavendish Laboratory even if he wanted to.

He wouldn't send a telegram or make an overseas phone call to make this matter public as soon as possible, right?

Rutherford thought again and again, and finally rejected Kapitsa's offer: "Peter, it's not that Chen Muwu didn't invite you to Stockholm to cut the ribbon. We all went to Chen Muwu's home in London at the beginning of this year, and his home. People spent a Chinese New Year together.

"Can't you tell from that big gathering? The Chinese people should be a nation that likes liveliness, and Chen Muwu would definitely hope that as many people as possible would attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"However, we can't just leave the Cavendish Laboratory behind in order to go to Stockholm to celebrate Chen Muwu, right? There is always someone who will be in charge of our laboratory. Because I am absolutely assured of you, that's why I put the person in charge of the laboratory The heavy responsibility has been placed on the shoulders of you and Blackett.

"Peter, I believe that you two will definitely manage the laboratory in an orderly manner during the few days that James and I are not in the UK.

"There is also the issue of your passport. If you leave the UK this time and come back, you will inevitably encounter the same troubles as before when you go through British customs twice."

Even though Rutherford had been kind and considerate in his explanation, it was hard to see a smile on Kapitsa's face during the road trip from Cambridgeshire to Norwich Port.

The Austin car traveled less than a hundred miles in less than three hours on Britain's uneven and bumpy roads.

Kapitsa followed the directions on the road signs and ran to Norwich, then made inquiries in the local area and finally drove into the parking lot of the Norwich Port Ferry Terminal.

Chadwick got off the bus and ran quickly to the ticket office to pick up the two tickets he had booked over the phone in advance.

Rutherford sat in the back seat, smoking from his pipe.

The driver Kapitsa, who had been running all the way, also took out his pipe and followed suit.

Chadwick quickly returned and got two tickets for a boat leaving the port of Norwich at 7:30 tonight for Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.

The time now is five o'clock in the afternoon, and there are still more than two hours before the ship sails. It is enough time for Rutherford and Chadwick to board the ship calmly with their luggage.

Before leaving, Chadwick asked Kapitsa to keep all the receipts for this trip to and from Cambridgeshire and Norwich County, as well as the receipts for gas expenses.

After they return to Cambridge University from Stockholm, they will take the above-mentioned things and go to the office to ask him for reimbursement.

"Sir, James, I wish you a safe journey and a safe arrival in Stockholm."

"Peter, when you return to Cambridge tomorrow, remember to drive carefully to avoid any accidents. See you later!"

Rutherford and Chadwick got out of the car and said goodbye to Kapitsa who was sitting in the driver's seat.

"Huh, cunning old crocodile."

Watching the two people walking towards the passenger hall in front of the boarding terminal in the rearview mirror, Kapitsa let out an imperceptible sneer in his nose. He started the car and left the parking lot outside the terminal. He drove a short distance and stopped at the entrance of the Norwich Port Passenger Terminal.

Although Kapitsa is careless on weekdays, he is actually a rough-and-tumble person.

He still found some clues from one detail. It seemed that Old Crocodile and Chadwick were going to Sweden to deal with something this time.

Because Rutherford left with a suitcase in each hand.

If they were just going to Stockholm to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony of Prince's College, there should be no need to carry so much luggage.

Could it be that Chen Muwu encountered something in the Swedish capital?

Although he felt unhappy because his good friend didn't tell him something, but thinking that Chen Muwu might not be able to handle those things alone, Kapitsa wanted to help.

Wait for the telegram to Stockholm in Norwich, and then wait for Chen Muwu's reply?

But what if he deliberately hid it from her and didn't reply to her telegram?

Moreover, Rutherford and Chadwick had already set off for Sweden, so something must have happened in Stockholm.

Right, that is it!

Kapitsa, who had read enough detective novels from George Chen's series, fully believed in his own intuitive judgment.

He decided not to get in touch with Chen Muwu, but went directly to Stockholm to find out.

Kapitsa rushed into the ticket hall in high spirits, and the first thing that greeted him was bad news.

The ship stopped selling tickets two hours before departure, and Kapitsa was unable to catch the same ship as Rutherford and Chadwick.

The second piece of bad news came one after another. Ships between the UK and Sweden depart twice a week. After today's ship leaves the port, the next ship to Stockholm will have to wait for another four days. .

Four days?

The day lilies are cold!

Kapitsa felt that he could not wait so long anyway.

The staff at the ticket office saw the anxious look on his face, so he tentatively made a suggestion to Kapitsa.

"Sir, sir?

“Would you consider going to Copenhagen, Denmark first, and then overland to Stockholm?

"There is a ship to Copenhagen tomorrow morning and we will reach our destination in one day.

“After you arrive in Copenhagen, you can cross the channel to Sweden, get on the train from Malmö, and go to Stockholm.

"Although this route is really difficult, it is definitely the only way that can get you to your destination the fastest at the moment."

"Okay, okay! Please give me a ticket to Copenhagen tomorrow morning!"

Kapitsa finally realized what it means to have a perfect path.

This was not the first time he had heard of the route from Copenhagen to Stockholm, but he had walked it once before.

That was the time when Chen Muwu won the Nobel Prize in Physics at the end of 1924.

They set off from Cambridge as guests at the ceremony, first went to the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen, which was run by their mentor Bohr, and then joined the larger army and headed for Stockholm.

Why didn't I think of this just now?

Thanks to the staff at this ticket office.

Kapitsa gratefully took the ticket from the staff, then ran to the telegraph office near the port to take a telegram, and finally found a hotel to stay.

He made an agreement with the hotel owner to temporarily store the car in his parking lot, and after returning in a few days, he would pay the parking fee and management fee together.

……

After sending the telegram to Cambridge University, Chen Muwu was not just waiting for his teacher to arrive.

He took this opportunity to first write an experimental report and paper on how to use a cyclotron to accelerate deuterium nuclei to bombard the No. 42 metal molybdenum to obtain the No. 43 metal manganese.

Then he quietly went out again and brought back enough boron from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm without anyone noticing.

No one knew about the new metal brought back by Chen Muwu, let alone the news about the upcoming arrival of Rutherford and Chadwick.

However, despite Chen Muwu's clever calculation, he did not expect that the first pair of guests who came to his door were not his teacher Rutherford and the teacher's assistant Chadwick.

It was one of his senior brothers, Kapitsa, and another senior brother, Bohr.

The telegram Kapitsa sent in Norwich was not to report that he was safe to his wife Anna in Cambridgeshire, but to Bohr in Copenhagen.

He told himself the ship schedule he would take the next day and the estimated time of arrival at the port of Copenhagen, hoping that Bohr could meet him at the port then.

Kapitsa's original intention was to ask Bohr, a local coward, to buy a boat and train ticket for him who could not speak Danish, and send him safely to Stockholm.

But when he informed Bohr of Chen Muwu's situation in Stockholm, he unexpectedly aroused his interest.

Especially when he heard that his teacher Rutherford and Chadwick were also coming to Stockholm, Bohr thought that he had not been able to meet his teacher for more than a year.

Compared to Cambridge in the UK, the capital of a neighboring country is undoubtedly closer and a better choice.

So without thinking, Bohr bought a ticket for Kapitsa from Copenhagen to Malmö, and also bought one for himself.

"Chen, you didn't expect that I would be the first to come to Stockholm, right?"

After seeing Chen Muwu, the elated Kapitsa laughed wildly.

"Peter, what's going on? Professor Bohr, why are you here too?"

"What's going on? Didn't you say in the telegram to Old Crocodile that your Prince's College has been completed and is waiting for him to cut the ribbon? I also want to ask you what's going on? Why did you only invite Old Crocodile? , don’t invite me, aren’t we friends?”

(End of this chapter)