Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 2428 Sonia ([-])
These jobs are mainly done by veterans and naturalized technicians from the Long-distance Exploration Department and the Agricultural Port, and the students from Fangcaodi are doing auxiliary work.According to the consistent stinginess of the Senate, the appropriation of unproductive "public service projects" such as the Natural History Museum is naturally "tight".In terms of establishment, it is now under the Ministry of Science and Technology, but the Ministry of Science and Technology has not increased many places for this purpose.There are less than ten full-time staff members in the entire Natural History Museum.The rest are "temporary secondments" - from veterans to naturalized civilian workers.

The current curator of the museum is Dr. Chung.However, Dr. Zhong seldom comes to the museum, and the specific manager is Cui Yunhong from the long-distance exploration department, the leader of the preparatory team.As for why Cui Yunhong was chosen as the permanent curator, the gossip said that it was because there were several veteran maids in the preparatory team, so he was chosen.

Cui Yunhong didn't care about this, but he said that his major is actually geological survey, and he doesn't have much use for the Natural History Museum.

"We are going to hold a natural history training class in the museum, and your favorite student Sonia is also there. We are short of field exploration personnel now. You go there and give them geology lessons—let Sonia give them lessons too." Zhong. Dr. said.

So Sonia is currently not only a staff member of the museum, but also a student of the training class, and also a teacher of the training class.If it wasn't for a baby at home, I would have to report to the museum at about seven o'clock every day.Even so, she basically delayed getting off work until after six o'clock every day.

Sonia looked at the itinerary for the past few days: there are no classes.She was slightly relieved, no matter whether it was lecturing or listening to the lectures, she had to spend a lot of energy.And not only in the museum, she also has to prepare lessons, review and preview for it when she returns home.

Although learning knowledge is a happy thing, it is not easy for a mother.If it weren't for the help of Lin Guanyu and the childcare nanny at home, Sonia really didn't know how she could deal with these things.

There are new materials piled up on her desk, these are the reports that she needs to review after sorting out, some of them are missing and need to be re-identified; If it can't be saved, it has to be registered and re-made later.

Sonia hastily flipped through the report -- she can now read Chinese easily and understand the formatted report.These reports are not difficult for her, and they have another advantage for her: the professional terms of various branches of modern biology are spelled in Latin, and she has been familiar with Latin works since childhood.

According to the report, there are [-] other stuffed animals that need her identification.

Sonia sighed. She has been very familiar with the local climate conditions in the past few years in Hainan Island.During the rainy season that lasts for more than half a year, objects that are not carefully kept will become moldy, and insect infestation is even more common.Due to the limited storage conditions of the specimens, many of them will be moldy and moth-eaten.And most of them can't be repaired.

If the damage continues like this, Dr. Zhong's "Hainan Island Local Exhibition" will almost be unable to continue.

According to Dr. Chung's opinion, the exhibition of the Natural History Museum must first highlight "local characteristics", so the theme of the first perennial exhibition is "Nature of Hainan Island".It mainly exhibits various specimens of animals, plants, insects and minerals in Hainan Island.It is relatively less difficult to hold an exhibition this way.

But even in accordance with this "local characteristic" and without the "big and comprehensive" policy, the workload is not trivial.When Sonia was studying in the Remote Exploration Department, she learned that Hainan Island under the Australian rule has 19 species of wild birds in 56 orders, 256 families, and 8 species of mammals in 24 orders and 68 families.The specimens collected by the Remote Exploration Department in recent years are only 176 species of birds and 40 species of mammals.Very different.As for insects and plants, it's even worse.

And these specimens have suffered a lot of damage.To make up for it, you have to collect again—this cannot be done in a day or two.

The long-distance exploration team has trained four teams, each led by one or two full-time veterans, and adopts a rotation system. Each team conducts a piece-by-piece carpet survey of the entire Hainan Island every three months.Sonia also participated twice.Every time she comes back from the inspection, she has gained a lot, but it also makes her have some doubts: the "Hainan Island Natural Overview Series" published by Gaoshanling Publishing House in the museum clearly records all the materials of this island, obviously long ago There is a group of very knowledgeable naturalists who have made a detailed inspection of the island. Why should another group of people who are obviously not as capable as the former be organized to re-investigate it?

Such doubts also arose when she inspected Jeju Island and Taiwan Island.

She raised this question to Cui Yunhong and others, but everyone was vague, either saying "these are old materials from the past, which are different from the present", or "we want more detailed materials".

Her eyes went to the globe on the table.This was a gift from Lin Hanlong when she first arrived at the Lin family: a world map was meticulously engraved on the sphere made of high-grade wood splicing and polishing.It is one of her favorite Lingao objects.Before this, she had never seen such a detailed and accurate map.What amazed her the most was that the globe marked the latitude and longitude of many sea area landmarks.

You must know that navigators all over the world are thinking hard about how to position themselves during the voyage. One of the difficulties in positioning is longitude.Scientists have long been able to determine latitude through astronomical observations, but longitude can only be speculated by time because of the lack of reference points.And how to measure the precise local time has always been a problem—the data obtained by simple corona observations are very rough.

The telescope was invented in the early 17th century. In 1609, Galileo began to manufacture astronomical telescopes. Through the telescopes, he observed the moon, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and other celestial bodies, and discovered four satellites of Jupiter.Through the observation of Jupiter's satellites, Galileo discovered that Jupiter's moons revolved around Jupiter, and determined the revolution period, which strongly supported the heliocentric theory.More importantly, Galileo discovered that the movement of Jupiter's satellites can be used as a clock in the sky, and Jupiter's short revolution period and four satellites to choose from make it an ideal standard clock. When Jupiter and Jupiter block each other During eclipse, all regions on the earth can be observed at the same time, so that the local time difference in different regions can be corrected, and then the longitude difference can be obtained.

However, it is difficult to accurately target Jupiter with a telescope on a bumpy ship, and each measurement must wait until the eclipse occurs to accurately time it.

In order to solve this problem, some people have tried their best to develop an accurate timer, and some people have found another way to use the phases of the moon to determine the time.But either way, little progress was made in the seventeenth century.Geolocation in navigation is rough and imprecise.As a navigator, adventurer, and naturalist, Sonia is no stranger to this.

She immediately thought of the watch the owner gave her.Since Australians can manufacture precise timepieces, they should also be able to manufacture precise marine clocks.

However, she immediately discovered a strange phenomenon: on the globe of the Australians, the 0-degree longitude is actually in England!

Not only is the 0-degree longitude in England, but a small town is also specially marked: Greenwich.

Sonia is of British descent and has also visited relatives in the UK with her grandfather and uncles.But don't know this place.From the location, it belongs to the scope of "Greater London".I haven't heard of any observatory in the area.

On the nautical chart familiar to Sonia, the 0-degree meridian is marked on Hierro Island in the Canary Islands.

Why do Australians have such deep affection for England and Greenwich that they put the 0-degree meridian in such a place?
Sonia knew that not only were there European elders who spoke English in the senate, but all the elders knew at least a little English—of course their English was not the same as hers.But Sonia still has the ability to judge whether it is the same language.

Next, she discovers more mysteries on the globe. Although geography in the 17th century already knew the general appearance of the earth, many details have not yet been completed.The coastlines and inland mountains of the continents, and the flow and source of rivers are mostly marked roughly, and some are not even clear at all.Great rivers such as the Nile and the Amazon are well-known, but their flow areas, tributaries, and sources were not fully understood until the 19th century.

But on the Australian globe, there are too many similar details, so much that she can't imagine that it was drawn randomly—someone must have been there and done a survey to draw it on the map.

Sonia didn't know that the globe had been greatly "simplified" by the Office of Truth.Even so, the "sterilized" globe still gave her a great shock.

From this moment on, Sonia developed a keen interest in the Australians and the Senate.Compared with all her past experiences, they are too mysterious.

Sonia's interest in this "mystery" of the senators grew with each passing day.She is most interested in where is "Australia"?

According to the elders, including Lin Hanlong, the Australian mainland is located further south of the Spice Islands, but to reach the Australian mainland, one needs to pass through a section of sea with unpredictable weather and sea conditions. This voyage cannot use any navigation means and can only be done by chance. drifting with the flow.

This statement was surprisingly consistent in the mouths of the elders, so that Sonia had some doubts.She began to collect and investigate the situation in Australia.When she felt that she had collected enough information and summed up some of the doubts, she once again raised her doubts to Lin Hanlong.However, the master who has always been gentle and loving towards him has a rare cold face.Although he did not reprimand himself, he said a maxim that made her shudder:

"The kindest thing in the world is that the human mind cannot comprehend all of its contents. We live on a peaceful island called ignorance, surrounded by an endless black ocean, and we should not sail far. "

The strange feeling of oppression made Sonia feel strong fear, and she immediately understood: Although the elders kept saying that they were from Australia, they didn't want anyone to know about this place at all.

She destroyed her notes and kept her doubts firmly in her heart.No matter what the real situation in Australia is, prying into the secrets of the powerful is very dangerous.

(End of this chapter)