shadow of britain

Chapter 574 European Conference on Electromagnetism

The virtue of prosperity is temperance, the virtue of adversity is perseverance, the latter being a far greater virtue.

——Francis Bacon

Georg Ohm stood backstage in the conference hall at the University of Göttingen with mixed emotions.

Through the remaining gaps between the pitch-black curtains, one can vaguely see the seats in the crowded conference room.

Due to the presence of the Duke of Sussex, President of the Royal Society, at the venue, the Göttingen Police Department, which has nothing to do with academia, volunteered to take on the responsibility of maintaining order at the venue in order to ensure the safety of the royal family.

Under the arrangement and command of this group of policemen wearing German steel helmets, the originally chaotic venue became orderly.

The venue was not far from the Göttingen City Hall, and close to the main road in Göttingen, Weinderstrasse. At this time when classes were supposed to be held, many students even skipped today's classes just to get a chance to stand at the conference site and listen to the teachings of the top scholars in Europe.

Of course, not all students are so keen on science, and many of them are just here to join in the fun.

People are born with curiosity. Even if they just see what those well-known academic figures look like and confirm with their own eyes whether their smart heads are larger than normal people as phrenology says, students will feel satisfied.

The professors and lecturers did not complain at all about the students' collective absence from classes. Many of them even announced to the students a few days in advance that classes would be suspended for one day.

For these natural philosophy researchers, this opportunity to be exposed to the world's most cutting-edge research field is something they cannot miss. Moreover, many of the great scholars present today are editors-in-chief or reviewers of various academic journals. Therefore, even if they just become familiar with them, it will be of great benefit to their future scientific research.

The enthusiasm among professors and students soon spread to the citizens of Göttingen. As a small city with only 10,000 people, the citizens have always been proud of having the University of Göttingen. The citizens simply believe that even dogs born in Göttingen naturally have higher academic qualifications than other dogs.

Every year when the doctoral graduation season arrives at the University of Göttingen, this small town is plunged into a carnival.

Citizens would look on enviously at the doctor's carriage in procession as it circled Göttingen on the street, and then watch it stop in front of the Town Hall Square amidst their blessings.

The doctor, wearing a black academic robe and a tassel of wheat ears on his head, would get off the bus at the square, buy a bunch of colorful flowers from a roadside flower shop, put them in the arms of the bronze statue of the goose shepherdess, and then kiss the little girl.

This is an ancient tradition that has been passed down in Göttingen for two hundred years. The mayor, the police chief, the rich and the nobles are not allowed. Only the glorious Doctor of Göttingen is qualified to present flowers and kiss the goose-herding girl.

In such a social atmosphere where academics are respected, citizens naturally cannot help but have an unspoken respect for the profession of scholars.

The wisdom of scholars and their incomprehensible academic achievements made them almost regarded as great figures who possessed extraordinary powers and could communicate with God, just like priests.

Moreover, since the University of Göttingen was established by the royal family, rather than by church universities like Oxford and Cambridge or private institutions like the University of London, the professors at the University of Göttingen should have a national system. In a sense, they are not only scholars but also officials.

Such a special identity makes the profession of scholar an apostle on earth who possesses traditional power, divine power and legal power in the eyes of the citizens of Göttingen.

In Göttingen, some people might be disrespectful to the mayor and gossip about Police Chief Mr. Schmidt behind his back, but everyone would habitually take off their hats to salute Mr. Gauss when they saw him.

Today, most citizens don’t understand what electromagnetism is.

But they learned from the students that there seemed to be many scientific giants who could be compared with Mr. Gauss in the conference hall today.

Therefore, many citizens would put aside their business and come to the back row of the conference hall to find a good seat to admire the strange scene that can only be seen in religious paintings.

They talked about the Twelve Apostles and discussed enthusiastically which of these scholars was comparable to Jesus, who was St. Simon, who was St. Peter and St. Andrew, and so on.

Amid the buzz of discussion among the citizens, one could occasionally hear a few complaints: "Hey! All the twelve saints of Jesus were martyred. You are simply a curse!"

But the guy who could complain like this was already lucky today, because at least he was in the venue.

Due to the narrowness of the conference venue, most citizens could only gather in the square outside the venue, and many unlucky citizens could only stand on tiptoe to watch the scene in the venue through the window glass.

Among them were quite a few parents who had believed the rumors spread by some charlatan and thought that their children would become smarter if they just breathed in the air in the venue a few more times.

Others went a step further, saying: If possible, it would be best if the scholars attending the conference could touch the heads of their children one by one and bless them, just like priests and pastors do during mass, to help the children establish a spiritual connection with natural philosophy.

Although it was a grand event in the field of natural philosophy, the nature of the conference continued to evolve fanatically towards the field of theology. This not only brought pressure to the organizer of the conference, the University of Göttingen, but also posed a severe test for the security forces of the Göttingen Police Department.

But to Sir Arthur Hastings, who had seen many ups and downs, life was full of wonders.

When he was resurrected in the church and indulged in feudal superstition, the British Privy Council insisted that this was something that could be explained by science.

But when he wanted to hold a scientific conference, the citizens told him: Let's get rid of some feudal superstition.

Seeing the crowd growing larger and larger, Police Chief Schmidt was already sweating from nervousness.

But fortunately, he could rely on Sir Arthur Hastings, once the most outstanding police commander of the Royal Metropolitan Police.

Arthur's resume clearly shows that he is fully capable of handling crowd gatherings of this scale.

Even if all the citizens of Göttingen were put together, they would not be able to match the number of participants in the largest mass riot Arthur had ever dealt with.

Asking Arthur to maintain order in the venue is like asking a pigherd to manage a chicken coop. Although it is not impossible, it is also a waste of management resources.

He didn't even have to use the management skills he learned at Scotland Yard, nor did he have to use his royal titles.

His status as the academic director and professor of the University of Göttingen was enough to win him the trust and applause of the citizens.

What is even more unbelievable is that the citizens never thought that such a noble figure would actually agree to touch the child's head.

Just patting the child's head and saying a few kind words were enough to calm the citizens. After experiencing the gunfire in London, Arthur just wanted to praise the German people from the bottom of his heart for being easy to manage.

"His eyes are very deep, and profound philosophy matches his eyes."

"He has a low nose bridge, which makes him a good candidate for astronomical observation because his nose bridge won't hit the lens of the telescope. The stars are closer to his eyes, so he can see them more clearly than others." "He is very quiet? Being able to keep calm is a valuable quality, ma'am. Mathematics is perfect for him."

"He's a troublemaker? Oh! Perfect! A natural born experimental physicist!"

"A drunkard at such a young age? Able to distinguish the flavors of many different kinds of wine? Sir, what are you thinking? Your son is perfect for chemistry."

"What about this boy? He is young but very smart, and has no other strengths except talking too much to little girls? Oh! Madam, don't be discouraged. I sincerely recommend your son to join the Royal Navy. Seriously, I think he can become an admiral there. I have a friend there."

"What about you? Are you good friends with that kid in front? My God! Boy, do you know how much of an advantage you have? You have a good foundation to become a biologist!"

Under the protection of Professor Hastings, who was well-versed in history and current affairs, scholars from various countries were finally able to avoid being harassed by the citizens.

They smiled at each other and walked into the venue with laughter.

Ohm, who was standing backstage, gradually saw the faces of the people sitting in the first row. Their names were marked on paper in front of their seats.

Sitting in the center of the seats was the Duke of Sussex, president of the Royal Society, who was half the organizer. Sitting next to him were Dominique Jean Arago, lifelong secretary of the Paris Academy of Sciences, and Alexander von Humboldt, president of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, who represented the highest authority of the four major European academies of sciences.

The only regret is that the Roman Academy of Sciences, which is also among the four major academies of science, does not appear here.

This once brightest pearl in the European scientific community basically fell into a state of stagnation in the early 19th century due to the impact of the Napoleonic Wars. Although it has not been disbanded in name, it has not recruited new members for many years, and there has been no news of any research activities recently.

After Volta, Italy's most outstanding electrical researcher, died in 1827, no breakthroughs in electricity had been heard in Italy for many years.

Therefore, everyone was not particularly sorry about the absence of the Roman Academy of Sciences. After all, the person who replaced the Roman Academy of Sciences was another heavyweight in the European scientific community - Hans Oersted, the permanent secretary of the Royal Danish Society and the discoverer of the magnetic effect of electric current.

Oersted's neighbor was Jöns Berzelius, the president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the originator of the electrochemical dualism.

Next to them was a group of three chatting animatedly.

They were Mary Ampere, the unit of electric current that was faster than the Fleet Street reporters, and Michael Faraday, the director of the Royal Society laboratory and the pride of Britain. Of course, among them was Johann Gauss, the director of the Göttingen University Observatory and the heaviest cloud hanging over the European mathematical community.

It can be seen that Mr. Faraday did have many mathematical problems when he came to Göttingen this time. He even moved his seat to the side just to ask Gauss for advice. And looking at the bright smile on his face, Gauss's answer must have satisfied him very much.

Of course, not all seats in the first row were occupied, there was still an empty seat.

Needless to say, it belonged to Sir Arthur Hastings.

As for why he didn't sit down quickly, that depends on one's own opinion.

However, not being able to sit in the first row does not mean low academic achievement, because even in the second row, you can still see William Weber, William Sturgeon, Charles Babbage and Felix Savart.

When Ohm saw these faces, looked at the names he had seen countless times in various academic journals, and thought of the large number of theorems named after these people, he couldn't help feeling his liver trembling.

Although he believed that he had made some research in the field of electricity, at this moment, facing the upcoming academic report, this physicist who had not yet become famous still felt unprecedented pressure.

He knew very well that today's audience was not just a group of ordinary listeners, but the highest level of world science, and any slight mistake would not escape their eyes.

It is true that a perfect academic report can restore his reputation in the academic world, but a failed academic report can also upgrade his level of social death from Germany to the whole world, and the time he is tied to the academic pillar of shame will suddenly increase from decades to hundreds or thousands of years.

Ohm took a deep breath and tried to calm his nervousness. He repeatedly recalled the content of his prepared speech, replaying every data and every formula in his mind, fearing that there would be any mistakes. Although he had checked his manuscript many times, he was still a little uneasy at this moment, worried that he might have missed some key points.

Gradually, Ohm heard the noisy lecture hall gradually return to silence, followed by the crisp and powerful sound of riding boots stepping on the podium.

A familiar, warm voice came from the front desk to the backstage. It was Sir Arthur Hastings, who was giving a welcome speech at the opening of the meeting.

Arthur's voice sounded like the rustling of a printing press to Ohm's ears. Although he knew that there must be a lot of words written on it, he could not remember a single word clearly.

His mind was so confused that he couldn't remember even a single sentence or word.

Ohm held his head, trying to calm himself down: "Calm down! George, this is your only chance! Don't let down everyone who trusts you!"

Boom boom boom!
Someone knocked gently on the wall. Ohm looked up and saw that it was Weber.

I don't know when this guy ran from his seat to the backstage.

He smiled and said to Ohm, "George, relax. This is no different from your usual class. Superintendent Hastings has finished his speech. It's your turn."

As soon as Weber finished speaking, he heard Arthur's solemn introduction from the stage: "Today's first academic lecture, "Calculation of Electric Current", speaker: Mr. George Simon Ohm!"

Suddenly, there was thunderous applause from the audience and the curtain slowly opened.

Ohm's heartbeat quickened, but he tried to remain calm. He realized that this was a great opportunity to present his research results to his peers and could be an important turning point in his career.

He thought about his persistence and hard work over the years, those lonely nights, those attempts after countless failures, and those days and nights when he was accused of academic fraud. These will become the source of strength for his speech today.

Ohm's mind gradually calmed down. He slowly walked up to the podium, stopped in front of the stage, looked at the crowd of people below, and suddenly felt an atmosphere of awe.

The scientists in the conference hall were waiting for him, including Faraday, Oersted, Ampere, Berzelius...

There was both expectation and scrutiny in their eyes.

Ohm felt everyone's eyes focused on him, and he felt a warm current surging from the bottom of his heart, a mixture of confidence and determination.

He clenched his fists and began to speak, wanting to show his determination, but he didn't expect that his first word would tremble: "I..."

(End of this chapter)