shadow of britain

Chapter 439 The new Isaac Newton?

"Next, let's invite the famous British young researcher of electromagnetism, an outstanding pianist who became famous for a while, and a swordsman comparable to the Parisian swordsman Francois Bertrand, the 'Foil Napoleon', to represent the Royal Society. The British diplomat from London, Sir Arthur Hastings, came to the stage to deliver a speech! "

Amid thundering applause in the lecture hall, Arthur calmly climbed the steps to the center of the stage.

He was dressed in an elegant black tuxedo, with the knighthood ribbon on his chest shining brightly. His shiny hair and slightly reddish black eyes were in sharp contrast, showing his chivalrous demeanor and the temperament of a young scholar.

Everyone knew what was contained in the beautifully carved mahogany gift box he held in his hand.

That is the Copley Medal. This gold-plated silver medal not only carries Sir Godfrey Copley's lofty vision for the advancement of human knowledge, but also symbolizes the highest recognition of the winner by the entire British scientific community.

Even though this is not the first time that the French Academy of Sciences has been awarded the Copley Medal, this honor, which is never awarded lightly, is still precious even for the second time.

As soon as Arthur stood still on the stage, all the gentlemen of the Academy of Sciences attending the ceremony spontaneously stopped applauding. Everyone focused their attention on him, intending to hear what the representative of the Royal Society would say. of high theory.

Arthur first smiled and put one hand on his chest and bowed slightly to the guests, then spoke in fluent French.

“Dear academicians of the French Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Letters, and the Academy of Arts, as well as the immortals of the most noble Academy of Sciences, I have the honor to cross the English Channel today as a messenger of the Royal Society and come to this symbol of the French nation. It is a great honor to be in this palace where the highest wisdom is crystallized and where countless bright thoughts have been nurtured.

Seeing that the joke had a good effect, Arthur smiled with satisfaction and continued.

At this time, he had already put on a gorgeous formal palace dress. Although he was not tall, the scepter in his hand still highlighted his solemnity.

The audience in the audience did not expect that Arthur would actually make a joke at this time. They were caught off guard and fell into a cheerful atmosphere of laughter.

It is for this reason that I crossed the English Channel to France and came to Paris with the highest honor of the Royal Society. I'm here just to be able to put the Copley Medal into his hands. Perhaps for Mr. Poisson, this is only a trivial honor, but I hope he can feel the most sincere praise and hope from the entire British scientific community.

Please allow me to quote Montaigne: The most important quality in us is our sense of responsibility for our actions. Mr. Poisson's intelligence and perseverance, and his sense of responsibility for scientific research, not only won glory for France, but also added immeasurable value to the treasure house of knowledge for all mankind. I sincerely hope that this cross-ocean scientific exchange can become an eternal model for scientific researchers from the two countries and even the world to work together in the future..."

As Descartes said: Treat everything with the most rigorous skepticism until you discover those first principles that are clear and unquestionable. I also believe that in science, doubt is always closer to the truth than certainty. The true glory of science lies not in never making mistakes, but in continually striving to recognize and learn from mistakes.

Because there were so many guests present today, not only many academicians from the Academy of Sciences, but also from the Academy of Arts and the Academy of Liberal Arts next door came to join in the fun, and the seats in the front row were naturally reserved for the most respected immortals.

It was obvious that this moderate joke appealed to these lively and cheerful French people, so many people couldn't help but stand up and applaud him.

In a warm and peaceful atmosphere, amidst thunderous applause, Liouville, who was previously responsible for receiving Arthur, could only stand outside the door of the lecture hall and watch with envy.

Because they know that from today on, the name Simone Denis Poisson will be associated with Stephen Gray, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Cavendish, Hans Oersted, Michael Faraday, etc. These bright stars who have won awards are juxtaposed.

Thiers spoke enthusiastically: "Today we have witnessed the milestone of this great cause. First of all, on behalf of the French government, I would like to express my deepest respect to the Royal Society and Sir Arthur Hastings. Thank you. Contribution to world science. At the same time, I would also like to express my high respect to Professor Poisson.

I, Arthur Hastings, do hereby declare that the recipient of the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of Great Britain and Ireland for 1832 is... for analytic mathematics, applied mathematics, theoretical mechanics, thermodynamics, celestial mechanics, optics, Mr. Simon Denis Poisson, who has made outstanding contributions in ballistics and hydraulics! "

He was born in an ordinary military family. He initially studied medicine, but had no interest in it, so he began to study mathematics. He is an outstanding graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, an outstanding disciple and loyal follower of Laplace and Lagrange. He started working as an assistant professor at the Ecole Polytechnique at the age of 21, and succeeded the great Mr. Fourier at the age of 25. He became a professor of calculus and was elected as an academician of the French Academy of Sciences at the age of 31 and a member of the academic committee. "

As Voltaire said: The realization of a great cause requires determination, ability, organization and a sense of responsibility, and the existence of the French Academy of Sciences is the best practice of this sentence. The gentleman I am going to mention next is a leader among the French Academy of Sciences and a role model for all of us researchers in natural philosophy.

Thiers solemnly took out the medal from the box and hung it carefully on Poisson's neck. Suddenly, everyone in the hall stood up and applauded to express their congratulations to Poisson.

When Arthur said this, bursts of cheers and applause began to ring out from the audience.

Amidst thunderous applause, Poisson, who was wearing a dark black tuxedo and with some wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, stood up slowly. He nodded slightly to the audience. Facing the coming glory, Poisson took it calmly. His expression was as calm as ever, and his elegant manner was as if he was attending an ordinary academic conference.

Arthur smiled, opened the mahogany box in his hand, and displayed the bright and magnificent Copley Medal in front of everyone.

He smiled and paused for a moment, then continued: "At the beginning, the great British poet Pope once said: Nature and natural laws are hidden in darkness. God said, let Newton go! Then everything became light. And I want to say: Whether light is a particle or a wave is hidden behind the disk. God said, let Poisson calculate it! So we found the bright spot behind the disk."

At the other end of the stage, Adolphe Thiers, the president of the French Council of Ministers, also slowly appeared on the stage. He was the award-giving guest sent by the French government to attend the ceremony.

"Of course, I don't say this to slander Mr. Poisson's reputation. On the contrary, I respect him very much. All British scientific researchers respect this man who promotes the most cutting-edge research progress in the scientific community.

Therefore, as an ordinary teaching assistant, Liou Weier did not even have the right to get a seat in the lecture hall. He could only stand quietly outside and watch.

Liouville looked at Poisson with the stars over the moon, and couldn't help but sigh.

If you ask Liou Weier how he feels at this time, it is just like what is sung in the lyrics - he was eighteen years old, at the alma mater dance, standing like a minions. At that time, I swore with tears that you must see me.

Although this is not the alma mater dance, Liouville is not eighteen years old. But as a 24-year-old mathematician, he did feel that he was like a low-ranking bastard at Poisson's award ceremony.

If he had just been defeated by Poisson, Liouville might not have been so frustrated.

Because in the entire French Academy of Sciences, and even in the entire scientific community, the number of people who can arm-wrestle with them can be counted on one hand.

What made him even more frustrated was the paper he held in his hands - "On Applied Mathematical Analysis to Electromagnetism".

He could never understand why Sir Hastings from London could hand over such a logically rigorous and flawless masterpiece when he only had half an hour.

Although this paper does not meet the requirements for papers, it is still incomprehensible to produce such an outstanding masterpiece in such a short time, including the definition of potential function and non-homogeneous differentials with initial conditions or boundary conditions. The definition of equation functions is even more groundbreaking.

All in all, if this really only took half an hour, it would be inhuman.

Therefore, Liouville could only think that Lord Hastings's paper had probably been polished for a long time, and he just re-wrote it today.

However, even so, Sir Arthur Hastings's attainments in mathematics have definitely reached an extremely terrifying level. He is by no means a laggard in the field of mathematics, as he said himself, but an outstanding mathematician who has the ability to challenge academicians of the Department of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences.

But it is obvious that Liouville’s guess that Arthur’s paper was off-topic was definitely misunderstood.

Arthur had never written any mathematics paper, let alone drafted any manuscript in his stomach. That paper was completely ghostwritten for him by Red Devil Agares. As for why Red Devil went off topic, it was because this guy did not fully recognize the basic equations of fluid mechanics derived by Arthur.

In the view of this knowledgeable Duke of Hell, this basic equation that cannot explain all fluid phenomena is a piece of smelly garbage. This is like Agares asking Arthur: Do you know how many ways to write the word fennel for fennel beans?
Arthur told him: I know that this character has 9 strokes, and it also starts with a cursive character.

Of course Agares can't say that Arthur is completely wrong, but Arthur's right is indeed quite limited.

Therefore, after the Red Devil and Arthur demurred on the contract for a long time, the Duke of Hell only agreed to pay half of the reward.

Just like Arthur's half-right answer, the Red Devil only agreed to help Arthur write a mathematics paper, but he didn't care whether it went off topic or not.

However, even such a grudge-like paper was enough to devastate Liu Weier, who had been grinding away at the paper for several years.

As for the basic equation of fluid mechanics that Agares identified as '9 strokes or the beginning of grass', it caused the other two guys to go crazy.

Liu Weier was standing outside the lecture hall in despair, sighing. Suddenly, a gust of wind seemed to blow in front of him.

Before he could recover, he felt as if the sunlight in front of him had been blocked by some ignorant guy.

Liu Wei frowned and was about to complain, but when he raised his head, his dissatisfaction was swallowed back.

"Mr. Navier, Mr. Coriolis? Didn't you two go to the lecture hall to attend Mr. Poisson's award ceremony?"

Navi waved his hands rather irritably, and he said with a hint of blame: "We are not interested in the award ceremony, so if you miss it, just miss it. But, Liouville, since you are continuing on the basis of me, Poisson, and Cauchy, You have derived the Euler equation, why don’t you show me these results?”

Coriolis smiled happily and said: "I didn't know that you were also doing research on fluid mechanics. I always thought that you followed Mr. Ampere and Mr. Mathieu to specialize in electrodynamics. "

Liu Weier was confused by the question: "I...I'm sorry, gentlemen. I have indeed done some research on fluid mechanics, but it is not in-depth. I have also studied and analyzed Euler's equation, but I have not Derivation in the future! All my energy recently has been on expanding the concepts of differentials and integrals, especially establishing the theory of derivatives of any order. These tasks are already very difficult. Where do I have time to distract myself from fluid mechanics? Woolen cloth?"

"Huh?" Navi realized that he might have wrongly blamed Liu Weier. He slapped his forehead and said, "Ah! I'm really sorry about that. Liu Weier, I'm sorry, I was so excited just now that my brain heated up. But... …”

Navi pinched his chin and frowned: "If you didn't derive this formula, then who could it be? There are not many people who have the key to that library. Apart from me, it's Ampere. Although Poisson has the key, He doesn't go there often, and then there is Arago. As the lifelong permanent secretary of the college, he has the keys to all places... But he shouldn't be so idle that he just casually threw me a derivation formula in the library. Degree."

Coriolis scratched his head in confusion, and he tentatively said to Navi: "Do you think it's possible that Mr. Ampere and the others lent the key, or that they had brought a stranger with them?" Been to the library?”

"That's right!" Navi clapped his hands and said, "Liu Weier, have you taken anyone to the library recently? And that person is also very interested in fluid mechanics?"

Hearing this, Will Liu immediately smiled bitterly and said: "I did take someone to the library, but I don't know if he is interested in fluid mechanics. Moreover, I don't think he will have time to deduce in the library. Such a complicated formula.”

Navi asked: "Why do you say that?"

Liu Wei sighed and said: "Because the gentleman I mentioned only stayed in the library for more than half an hour, and he should have spent this half hour writing a paper."

At this point, Liouville handed the copy of "On Applied Mathematical Analysis to Electromagnetism" into the hands of two mechanics masters. Although these two gentlemen did not understand electromagnetism very well, they could still understand the mathematical part of it. .

Experts will know if there is one as soon as they take action. After reading this paper, they also made the same judgment as Liou Weier.

"It seems that this gentleman really doesn't have time to derive the formula. This paper alone is enough to consume his energy."

"This is something that can be written in more than half an hour? Could it be that he wrote it early in the morning and brought it over?"

Liouville shrugged his shoulders and said: "I don't know the actual situation, but the paper is here, and many of the theories and concepts in it are brand-new, so this is 100% the work of Sir Arthur Hastings himself. There is no doubt that he wrote the paper in advance or on the spot, I don’t know.”

"Sir Arthur Hastings?"

Navi recalled: "Is there such a person in the Academy of Sciences? Or is he a young scholar who has just emerged recently?"

Coriolis also became interested: "His mathematical skills are so strong that I almost want to ask him to help me find the expression for my imaginary force. Liouville, can you recommend him to me?" ?"

Liouville nodded and said: "Of course there is no problem with this. But Sir Hastings is a distinguished guest sent by the Royal Society, and he was the one who awarded the Copley Medal to Mr. Poisson. Although he seems to be a very kind man, I have to Let’s ask his opinion first.”

Coriolis responded readily: "This is as it should be. If he agrees, remember to inform me. I have classes scheduled at the Polytechnic University during the day this week, so I should be able to attend in the evening. time to visit him.”

Although Navier is usually a very calm scholar, he was agitated by this sudden formula today. He just said: "Sorry, Gustave, I may not be able to discuss your rotation with you today. It’s a matter of force in the coordinate system. I have to go to the office to find Ampere and ask him if he has taken anyone to the library recently.”

Upon hearing this, Coriolis politely took off his hat and said goodbye: "Well, I wish you a safe journey, Mr. Navier. We will meet on campus in the afternoon. Please don't forget that you will have two classes of applied mechanics at Luqiao School in the afternoon. ”

"Well, Gustave, see you in the afternoon."

Coriolis and Liouville watched Navier leave in a hurry. Liouville laughed dumbly and said: "Since I met Mr. Navier, this is the first time I have seen him lose his composure."

Coriolis smiled and said: "Really? That means you haven't entered the Academy of Sciences for a long time. He often does this in front of Mr. Cauchy and Mr. Poisson. Although Mr. Navier is also a genius, but that The two are geniuses among geniuses, and there is a gap between geniuses.”

Liouville sighed faintly when he heard this and said: "Of course I understand that only the most talented geniuses can win the Copley Medal. Alas... I have exhausted all my strength just to delve into the field of mathematics, but Mr. Cauchy What about Mr. Poisson? They are like a walking encyclopedia on the earth. Just opening a page is enough for the average person to study for several years. "

Coriolis smiled and replied: "Really? Liouville, you still overestimate the average person. For ordinary people, a page of Cauchy and Poisson does not take several years. Studying for several years refers to the study of For a genius like you.”

Liouville mocked himself as he picked up Arthur's paper and said: "Yes, for me, it may be several years, but for Sir Hastings, it is only half an hour. This is simply It's crazy. Not only is a man proficient in mathematics and electromagnetism, but he is also a London detective, a piano master, a master of duels, a diplomat, and a good speaker. You didn't see it just now, but Sir Hastings only used it. A few words made everyone in the lecture hall burst into laughter. Although Mr. Poisson may be better than Lord Hastings in scientific research, he is still inferior in the scope of the field involved. Some. Mr. Coriolis, has there ever been such an astonishingly learned man in the history of Britain?”

When Coriolis heard this, he pondered for a moment, then smiled and nodded: "Of course there is."

Liu Weier said in surprise: "Is it true? Who are you referring to?"

Coriolis laughed heartily and said: "Have you forgotten? He is also a knight, and he is also a British man. In addition to science, he also knows theology and economics very well, and is a senior member of the government."

Hearing this, Will Liu smiled helplessly and said, "Isaac Newton?"

(End of this chapter)