1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 129: Just after questioning Newton, you want to overthrow your mentor again?

1902 9 Month 1 Day.

More than a month has passed since the first relativity seminar.

This conference had a huge impact on the field of physics.

And as time went on, the spread of special relativity became more and more widespread.

Even most ordinary people know about this latest physics theory.

Because its conclusions: time expansion, space contraction, and the mass-energy equation, satisfy the fantasies of ordinary people very well.

Even an uneducated person can comment on these conclusions.

Either criticism or respect, it feels very fashionable.

In addition, this kind of high-level conference has gradually become the authority for publishing theories in the scientific field.

The bigwigs in every field now want to imitate the operations of physics and hold high-level conferences in their own profession.

Invite top scientists from around the world to create the most authoritative, grand and well-known academic conference.

In short, the wind of later academic thought has blown into the present age, and the emergence of Li Qiwei has subtly changed the scientific community.

At this moment, in the Cavendish Laboratory, he was sitting opposite Thomson, and the master and apprentice were having a heart-to-heart talk.

"Bruce, I'm ashamed to say that I haven't given you any guidance since you started your doctoral program."

"Professor, you can't say that. I can successfully graduate from Trinity College and study for a doctorate at Cavendish without your support."

"In my heart, your intangible support is much more important than the tangible support for my doctoral thesis."

After listening to Li Qiwei's explanation, Thompson was very happy, but he deliberately joked: "Haha, Bruce, do you think you can successfully graduate with a doctorate without my guidance?"

Li Qiwei suddenly felt overwhelmed and said with a wry smile: "Professor, how is that possible? I have been asking you questions related to atomic structure recently."

Thomson was surprised. “Aren’t you going to use the special theory of relativity as your graduation subject?”

Li Qiwei smiled and said, "I don't have that plan."

"Not to mention that the special theory of relativity has not yet been proven to be completely correct and is too controversial."

"Besides, it was the result of my collaboration with Einstein. It would be a bit unreasonable to use it as my graduation thesis."

"I am still sticking to the topic I chose, and I have also produced some results recently, which should be able to meet the graduation standards."

Thomson nodded when he heard this. Bruce was the most peculiar doctoral student he had ever taught in his teaching career.

He was neither like Wilson, who was diligent and hardworking, nor like Rutherford, who was focused and had flashes of inspiration.

If I had to describe the feeling he gave people, it would be casual.

It was as if he was strolling on the beach of physical truth, and with just a few steps he could pick up a few shells engraved with truth.

He never works overtime in the lab, nor does he get himself into a mess, but he always creates earth-shaking academic results.

Sometimes, Thomson could only admit that there were indeed great differences between people.

There are always some geniuses who don't play by the rules.

"Bruce, I see that your recent questions are all about atomic structure. Have you made any new progress in your research?"

Li Qiwei became serious and said, "Professor, my experimental ideas mainly come from Rutherford, which are explained in detail in the previous proposal report."

Thomson gestured to continue. When Ridgway was choosing a topic, it was he who gave four options, and he finally chose the most difficult one, atomic structure.

Therefore, Thomson was very interested in Ridgway's research.

But he is very busy at work and rarely has time to inquire about the specific experimental data and progress. Today is a good opportunity to listen to the report on the results.

Li Qiwei said: "My recent work is to bombard gold foil with alpha particles and then calculate the path angle of the alpha particles after the collision."

"Based on the distribution of angles, we can infer the possible structures inside the atom."

"According to my latest experimental results, I found that the inside of the atom is very strange, and..."

Li Qiwei looked very conflicted and glanced at Thompson from time to time.

This left Thomson confused and very puzzled.

You are analyzing your experimental results. Why do you keep looking at me? "What's wrong, Bruce? Is there anything wrong with the experimental results?"

Li Qiwei seemed to have made up his mind and said, "Professor, according to my research, there may be some problems with your atomic date cake model."

"I proposed a new model of the internal structure of the atom."

Hey!
Thompson was immediately shocked.

Are the students going to overthrow the teacher?

The world of physics is becoming increasingly incomprehensible.

Thomson smiled bitterly and said, "Bruce, you just announced that you overthrew Newton, and now you want to overthrow your mentor me."

"Come on, I'm ready."

"Anyway, I'm not Newton, so being overthrown isn't a big deal."

These words made Li Qiwei feel embarrassed.

But in order to graduate with a legitimate doctorate, he had no choice but to "kill his teacher to prove his truth."

However, in the scientific research community, overthrowing one's teacher is not an act of treason, but rather a beautiful story of a student surpassing his teacher.

Therefore, Thompson was not angry. He looked at Ridgway with interest, wondering how he was overthrown.

"Professor, my experimental results show that the positive charge inside an atom is not evenly distributed inside the atom, but is concentrated in a very small area in the center."

"I call this accumulation of positive charges the 'atomic nucleus', and the internal structure of the atom the 'nuclear structure'."

"And the electrons are outside the atom, orbiting the nucleus. Just like planets orbit the sun."

"So I gave the [atomic nuclear structure] a descriptive name, called the [planetary model]."

As he spoke, Li Qiwei picked up a pen and paper, drew a model, and explained it to Thomson.

After listening to Ridgway's planetary model, Thomson was shocked.

If this discovery is true, it would be explosive news for atomic research. It can even be said that Ridgway has opened up a new physics discipline: atomic physics.

Oh my God, can a person really be this talented?

It’s bad enough that he is talented in theoretical physics, but now even experimental physics is beyond his ability.

"Bruce, are you sure your experimental results are reliable?" Thomson was very excited at this moment.

"I mean, the study of atomic structure is not relativity, which can be deduced in the brain alone. It requires reliable experimental data."

Li Qiwei said solemnly: "Professor, don't worry, I have recorded all the original data of the experiment and the experimental instruments."

"I also measured the whole experiment three times in a row, and the results were the same every time."

"It completely proves my planetary model hypothesis."

"I am currently writing a paper and conducting the final theoretical analysis and confirmation."

Thomson was overjoyed. "Okay, Bruce, then you should write your paper well. I can't wait to see your results."

In fact, it’s no wonder that Thomson was so excited.

The discovery of the electron and the proposal of the date cake model can be said to be his proudest achievements.

It was also the basis for him to win the Nobel Prize in the future.

But since he proposed this atomic model, there has been no further progress.

What does an atom look like? No one knows.

There is no way to directly observe the interior of an atom.

So he had to hand the project over to his students, hoping that a miracle would happen one day.

He continued his research on cathode rays.

In this era, various cathode and anode rays are the popular research directions in physics.

Many achievements have been made by analyzing these rays, including electrons.

Now, Thomson was of course ecstatic to hear that Ridgway had made a more profound discovery about the structure of atoms.

This is a huge breakthrough.

On the one hand, this level of physical results can make physics giants feel spiritually satisfied.

On the other hand, Ridgway was, after all, Cavendish's student and Thomson's doctoral student.

When students are successful, teachers will of course be proud of it, and it can also create a good story between master and apprentice.

Li Qiwei was also very moved when he saw Thompson's excitement.

What a great era it is, with all kinds of great discoveries and phenomena emerging one after another.

Atomic structure is a great physical achievement that can be compared with the theory of relativity.

In real history, in the early 20th century, two major theories, relativity and quantum mechanics, dominated the entire physics.

The theory of relativity was almost a one-man show by Einstein, suppressing countless geniuses.

Quantum mechanics is a gathering of stars, proposed, developed and perfected by countless top masters, including Einstein.

These two theories have their own research objects and material basis.

Among them, the research object and foundation of the theory of relativity is the macroscopic cosmic celestial bodies.

Black holes, gravitational waves, and cosmic expansion have given rise to cosmological principles and models.

The research object and foundation of quantum mechanics are microscopic particles. In the early stages of development, they mainly refer to photons and atoms.

Later, electrons, protons, neutrons, quarks, etc. appeared inside atoms.

Therefore, the study of atomic structure is the core of quantum mechanics.

In real history, Thomson discovered the electron in 1897 and proposed the atomic structure [date cake model], ending the debate on the indivisibility of atoms.

He was then overthrown by the planetary model proposed by his student, Rutherford, in 1911.

Coincidentally, Rutherford was overthrown by the Bohr model (orbital quantization) proposed by his student, Bohr in 1913.

At that time, Bohr was inspired by Planck's quantum theory and conceived that electron orbits were quantized.

Later, the Bohr model was supplemented and improved by countless geniuses, and finally formed a systematic theory of atomic structure, which played an important role in the development of quantum mechanics.

Among them, Bohr's student, Heisenberg, single-handedly founded [matrix mechanics] (a formal system of quantum mechanics) and proposed the [uncertainty principle].

As for another formal system of quantum mechanics, it is the wave mechanics proposed by Schrödinger.

Rutherford's daughter married a physicist named Fowler, who had a student named Dirac.

He innovatively introduced relativity into quantum mechanics and established the relativistic form of the Schrödinger equation, also known as the Dirac equation.

Curie's student was Lang Zhiwan, and Lang Zhiwan later had a student named de Broglie.

It was he who, based on the wave-particle duality of light, eliminated light and believed that all matter possesses the [wave-particle duality].

At this point, the three major principles of quantum mechanics: quantization, uncertainty principle, and wave-particle duality, are all established.

Among them, the landmark achievements of quantization are the photoelectric effect and the electron orbit quantization model.

This shows how important the study of atomic structure is.

It can be said that without the study of the behavior of these microscopic particles, there would be no emergence of quantum mechanics.

Ridgwell had his own considerations for choosing to propose the planetary model first instead of going directly to the Bohr model.

Now, among these future greats mentioned above, the oldest one, Bohr, is only 17 years old now. He will enter the University of Copenhagen in Denmark next year to major in physics.

Without the participation of these big guys, Li Qiwei's path to becoming a god would seem boring and tedious.

So, he is waiting.

Anyway, for a PhD degree, the nuclear structure is sufficient.

Quantum mechanics will officially begin with his doctoral thesis and become a theory on par with relativity.

(End of this chapter)