shadow of britain

Chapter 540 Sir Arthur gave me everything I have

According to the Royal Society, after weeks of extensive discussions among members of the Academic Committee and the summary of voting results from members of each department, Mr. George Simon Ohm, Professor of Electromagnetism at the University of London, was awarded the Copley Medal, the highest scientific honor in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with an overwhelming majority.

At the award ceremony held last weekend, Michael Faraday, director of the Royal Society Laboratory and winner of the 1832 Copley Medal, personally presented Professor Ohm with the honor. At the same time, Michael Faraday, Charles Wheatstone and Charles Darwin jointly recommended Professor George Simon Ohm to the Royal Society as a new foreign member of the Royal Society.

It is believed that at the award ceremony, Professor Ohm thanked his scientific colleagues for their great help in his research in recent years, and especially mentioned Sir Arthur Hastings, who was also a researcher in electromagnetism. Professor Ohm claimed that it was Sir Arthur Hastings who extended a helping hand and rescued him from the abyss during the darkest days of his life.

When he proposed Ohm's law of resistance, the German scientific community responded with ridicule and sarcasm because of his identity as a middle school teacher. No one was willing to believe in his scientific achievements, and no authority was willing to stand up and endorse his academic achievements.

However, it was at this time that Sir Arthur Hastings, then the academic dean of the University of Göttingen, ignored everyone's opposition and went against all odds to invite this high school teacher from Bavaria to Göttingen. Sir Arthur not only personally helped him with the experimental verification work, but also did not seek the false reputation of academic achievements and insisted on letting Professor Ohm publish academic papers independently.

After clearing Professor Ohm's name, Sir Arthur Hastings did not become jealous of the academic community's praise of Ohm. He did not suppress or bury Ohm just because they were both in the same field of electromagnetics. Instead, he valued him and entrusted him with acting as the director of the teaching and research work in the electromagnetics discipline at the University of Göttingen.

Professor Ohm believed that he had met many famous academic figures in his life, and Sir Arthur Hastings was definitely the first-rate one in terms of broad-mindedness. Perhaps Sir Arthur Hastings' name had rarely appeared in various scientific journals in recent years, but Ohm had no doubt that if the Sir wanted, he could always win the Copley Medal next year.

When the reporter interviewed Sir Arthur Hastings and asked him what he thought of Professor Ohm's remarks, the Sir just said modestly: "In the field of electromagnetism, Ohm is a more outstanding researcher than me. He fully deserves the Copley Medal. In the process of proof, I just did some marginal auxiliary work. As for jealousy, it is a common human emotion. I am not jealous of Ohm not because I don't have human emotions, but because I have been treated so gently by Mr. Faraday. I am very happy that Ohm thinks I am an upright person. For me, this kind of praise is far higher than all the honors in the world."

——The Times, June 1841, 6, “The Great Soul Behind George Ohm, the Cultivator of the Copley Medal: Sir Arthur Hastings”

The heavy wooden door was slowly pushed open, and scholars walked in one after another. The air was filled with the smell of books. The ceiling was high, and several dim oil lamps were hanging. The light cast swaying shadows on the walls, reflecting the various classical paintings hanging on the walls.

There were several open books on the long oak conference table, with parchment scrolls and ink bottles next to them to record the meeting content.

Academic committee members from various departments of the University of Göttingen took their seats one after another. After they sat down, the teaching meeting began in a calm and solemn atmosphere as usual.

As the position of principal is currently vacant, the person responsible for presiding over the teaching meeting today is naturally the new superintendent Sir Arthur Hastings.

Arthur stood up first and coughed lightly, the clear and low sound echoing in the room.

The content of the meeting was not new. It was nothing more than assigning teaching tasks for this semester, covering recent academic research results, plans for external academic exchanges, and strategies for student training. It also required each department to report on the research progress of the topics they were responsible for.

Before the meeting started, Assistant Dean Professor Herbart had someone compile the relevant content into a book and send it to Arthur's desk.

Arthur read the content of the meeting and the teaching feedback that the academic committee had received recently. Some of the academic committee members nodded, some frowned slightly, and several older professors took off their round-frame glasses from time to time and rubbed their eyebrows gently with their fingers. It was unclear whether they were tired of listening or thinking about the topic Arthur had just raised.

However, not all topics were discussed peacefully. On academic issues, there were heated debates within the divergent academic committees. Some professors proposed development plans for emerging disciplines, which were supported by some members, but some conservatives worried that this would affect the status of traditional disciplines.

Occasionally, one or two committee members would stand up, draw curved lines on the table with their fingers, or wave their feather pens in the air to express their views in a more visual way.

Obviously, the recent debate on the humanities and natural sciences was not a sudden idea of ​​the professors, but a long-standing grievance among everyone. The two groups have long disliked each other, and both want to make a fuss by taking advantage of the constitutional reform of the kingdom that will be carried out in the near future.

The biggest disagreement between the two sides is still the issue of money.

After Prussia took the lead in educational reform in 1806, a series of reform movements were soon launched in other German states. In universities, the most typical change was the combination of teaching and research.

To put it bluntly, the criteria for evaluating the quality of German university teachers is no longer just about completing teaching tasks.

If an ordinary university lecturer wants to be promoted to a university professor, he must produce scientific research results that match the status of a professor. The most direct manifestation of scientific research results is to see how many academic monographs he has published.

In order to publish academic monographs, sufficient funding is needed to carry out scientific research projects.

This has formed an academic version of the Matthew effect in universities: the richer the college, the easier it is to produce scientific research results, and the easier it is to produce scientific research results, the easier it is to be promoted to professor. The more professors a college has, the more funding it gets. This will form a virtuous or vicious cycle.

The academic committee members have been in the circle for many years, so they naturally understand this truth.

Therefore, they can make concessions on any issue, but they are unwilling to make concessions on teaching funding.

However, scholars also feel that talking about money directly is too vulgar, so most of them choose to downplay the role of other disciplines and use this as a disguised way to ask schools for money.

Because of the difference in research methods, most natural sciences cost more money to come up with results than humanities, so the rhetoric of these professors is naturally more intense. They may not care about politics, but they cannot care about funding.

For example, the Göttingen University Observatory led by Gauss was currently applying to build a new geomagnetic observatory in the school. In addition, he and physicist Weber also planned to extend the original 1.5-kilometer electromagnetic telegraph line to 8 kilometers.

Although Arthur might not be able to understand the academic argumentation reports submitted by Gauss and Weber, he knew that neither the instruments for the geomagnetic observatory nor the 6.5 kilometers of electrical wires would be cheap.

However, even though these things were expensive, Arthur still had to withstand the pressure and apply to the Hanoverian Parliament.

Because if Gauss and Weber were unhappy because of this little money, they would just quit their teaching positions and go to other universities. This crime would be much more serious than spending more academic funds.

Although the German states were not as wealthy as Britain, they all attached equal importance to education. With the fame of Gauss and Weber, if they left the University of Göttingen, the competitors such as the University of Jena, the University of Berlin, and the University of Munich would definitely send people to invite them over the next day. This is not an exaggeration, because a similar incident happened some time ago.

Some time ago, two biology professors from the University of Berlin: Oken and Wilkoff, were expelled from the University of Berlin for opposing Prussian autocracy. So they joined hands and fled to the Kingdom of Bavaria and were immediately hired as professors at the University of Munich.

When the news reached the Prussian Ministry of Culture and Education, King Frederick William III of Prussia was very angry. He sent someone on horseback to Bavaria overnight to find the two professors and proposed that as long as the two professors were willing to return to the University of Berlin, the king would personally apologize to them and double their salary.

Under such circumstances, the Prussian envoys tried their best to persuade the two professors to return to the University of Berlin.

Because of the impact of this incident, an unexpected situation has arisen in Germany. Professors from various universities want to use "expulsion" to bargain with the school and the state to which they belong.

In order to appease these professors, Prussia's price was: to significantly increase the professors' salaries as a favorable condition to attract talents to stay in its own state.

The Prussian practice of wage inflation soon spread to other states. Overnight, salaries of professors at German universities increased, and academic projects that were difficult to approve in the past are now much easier to approve.

The professors put pressure on Arthur, and Arthur could only put pressure on the Ministry of Culture and Education of the Kingdom of Hanover in return.

First of all, I have already brought Gauss's request to you. If you don't listen to my advice and let him get away, all the responsibility will be on the government. Think carefully about whether it is necessary to quibble over these trifles!
Secondly, don't think of using dismissal to pressure me, because I am a British, not a Hanoverian, and my position as school supervisor and special national representative was appointed by His Majesty the King. You can't touch me!

Finally, Gauss and Weber were professors, and I am also a professor. If you make me angry, I will quit. Three professors left in one month, which is also a big sin. Besides, even if I can't do it in Göttingen, there is a cultural counselor waiting for me at the British Embassy in Russia. If it doesn't work out, I can go back to the University of London to teach. The Ministry of Culture and Education in Hanover can't control me!

In most cases, Arthur did not need to explain the problem so clearly, and the Hanover government roughly understood that this special representative of the country was a tough nut to crack.

Moreover, this guy also holds the title of a very difficult constitutional reform consultant. If he gets angry, he will suggest adding something to the constitution, such as allowing the police department and the Ministry of Culture and Education to cross-manage universities to divide the power of the Ministry of Culture and Education, which will be enough to make the Ministry of Culture and Education uncomfortable.

Moreover, even if we leave aside Arthur, the new dean, there are several great scholars in the University of Göttingen who are responsible for constitutional reform, such as Professor Friedrich Dahlmann of history.

So, in the Kingdom of Hanover, at least at this point in time, you may offend any other school, but don't offend Göttingen.

Arthur accepted all the professors' requests. The professors, who had just been arguing with each other, were a little surprised to see that the new dean was so easy to talk to.

They even started to think for Arthur: "Sir, will there really be no problems if you sign up for so many projects at once?"

Arthur buried his head in recording the professors' needs, and replied without even looking up: "Report it first."

"What if we get beaten back? Wouldn't that mean everything is a failure?"

"Failure? No, fighting back is just a temporary setback. The Ministry of Culture and Education will never give up until we are satisfied." Arthur sorted out the requirements and said, "If you have anything else to propose, sort it out and send it to me. Professor Dalman and I will take it back with us when we go to Hanover for the second constitutional convention at the end of the month. This will save the colleges from having to submit it in batches."

The professors couldn't help but smile when they saw how confident Arthur was.

How many years has it been since Göttingen produced such a tough school leader?
He was worthy of being a knight of the third year of William IV, a well-known police figure in London, and a figure praised by the Royal Society.

Since Sir Arthur Hastings took office at the University of Göttingen, even the police in Göttingen have become more polite to students and professors. Now, he dares to confront the Ministry of Culture and Education, the superior department of the school. With such a school leader, the academic committee members have become more confident.

"Okay! Let's go back and sort out the needs. The teaching aids in the academy should have been replaced long ago. We might as well take this opportunity to apply for them all."

"There are two young teachers in our college who want to publish academic monographs, but they haven't received sponsorship yet, so they can't afford the printing costs. Should this also be included in the academic budget?"

"Also for our laboratory, we plan to get two new instruments, but there are no manufacturers producing them in Germany, so we have to go to London to order them."

"Our library plans to receive another 2,000 books this year. There are too many German publications recently, and the library's collection must be expanded accordingly."

Arthur heard the professors were about to adjourn the meeting and called them all to stop.

"Wait a minute, gentlemen, the meeting isn't over yet."

When the professors heard this, they were stunned at first, then they sat back with red faces and awkward smiles.

These professors, who usually have more outspoken opinions than each other, now acted very easy to talk to, just like elementary school students in a German classroom.

"We are getting carried away, sir. Is there anything else you want to discuss?"

Arthur took out his pipe and lit it. He then threw a book from the bag beside him. He blew out a puff of smoke and asked, "Do you know anything about this Ohm?"

(End of this chapter)