1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 310: Ten years of Guang Xiang's success has shocked the world! Who in the world doesn't know you? (1)

1912 6 Month 15 Day.

Nearly four months have passed since Li Qiwei chose to retreat and began to formally derive the theory of general relativity.

During these four months, apart from brief exchanges with a few people such as Rutherford and Thomson, he hardly met anyone.

This is not because Li Qiwei is pretending to be profound or arrogant, but because being a senior official is really too difficult.

These few months were based on his knowledge of the situation.

So it is understandable that in real history, it took Einstein ten years.

Li Qiwei's paper is 102 pages long!
Because he added a lot of content, it can be regarded as a perfect version of general relativity.

You should know that this is not a doctoral thesis, but an academic research paper.

At least among the literature that Li Qiwei had read in his previous life, there were very few papers that could compare with this one.

Most of them are more than ten or twenty pages long, which is considered very long.

This shows the horror of general relativity.

Just being able to read the entire paper in its entirety is already a remarkable achievement.

Being able to understand that is another level.

Li Qiwei sat at his desk in the office, looking at the first draft of the Guangxiang paper in his hands, feeling very proud.

"Soon, the sky of physics will be opened by me."

"Finally the day has come!"

He smiled slightly and regained his usual calmness and composure.

He no longer needs to send this paper to Nature headquarters.

Gregory now officially takes charge of Nature.

He knew that Li Qiwei's retreat was over, so he immediately made an appointment to report his work progress to his mentor.

Li Qiwei simply waited for Gregory to come today and then gave the paper to him to take back.

For a paper with so many pages and such complex mathematical formulas, typesetting and proofreading are also big problems.

Ridgeway estimated that it would take at least ten days or half a month for Nature to publish a general version of the article.

And he would feel more at ease if he handed it over to Gregory.

Then, Li Qiwei remembered that the list of the second Bruce Conference had not yet been finalized.

He had been busy in seclusion during this period and had no time to think about it.

But it seems that there is no need to rush now. Let's wait until the Prime Minister makes his announcement.

By then, I guess everyone will be scrambling to get an invitation.

After all, he would most likely give a report on the general aspect at the second Bruce Conference.

What a grand occasion that will be!
dong dong!

A crisp knock on the door interrupted Li Qiwei's thoughts.

"Enter!"

As he finished speaking, Gregory walked in with an excited look on his face.

He was holding a stack of information in his hand.

He sat respectfully opposite Li Qiwei and said with a smile:

"Professor, congratulations on your successful retreat."

“I am here today to report to you on the reform of Nature’s review system.”

"According to your suggestion, I have already talked to all the major physicists in the UK."

“They are all very happy to serve as members of the journal’s review panel and think it is a very interesting thing.”

“All future papers will be reviewed by them before being graded into the main journal or sub-journal.”

Li Qiwei nodded. He was very satisfied that Gregory took his words seriously.

You know, at this time Gregory could completely ignore Li Qiwei and make an independent decision.

But he still reported to his mentor as soon as possible, which shows his respect for teachers.

"Gregory, you did a great job."

“And we didn’t push forward blindly. We started with British physicists.”

“After the small-scale pilot is successful, we will consider large-scale deployment.”

"It seems that this job is very handy for you."

"Unlike you when you were studying for your doctorate here, you were always gloomy."

Gregory laughed awkwardly.

It turned out that Professor Bruce had been watching my daily life during my doctoral studies.

To be honest, even now Gregory is sometimes woken up by nightmares in the middle of the night.

In the dream, he did not meet the requirements for doctoral graduation.

He was ruthlessly driven away by Li Qiwei and became a joke in the academic circle.

The entire King's College London was filled with people who laughed at and belittled him.

Bohr, in particular, laughed the loudest and even put his face close to his own face to laugh.

Gregory was so angry that he punched hard and then woke up.

He was not sad or lost, but smiled happily.

His doctoral career was the most valuable experience in his life.

He decided in his heart: "If that kid Bohr publishes a paper in Nature in the future, I will block him for half a month."

Gregory shook his head slightly. Putting aside these interesting things, he still had problems.

"Yes, professor, but there seems to be a problem with this review system."

"That's it. That's it"

Li Qiwei said: "Don't be afraid, just tell me what you want to say."

“Could it be that the professors are charging too much?”

Gregory waved his hands quickly, "No, no."

Then he smiled bitterly and said, "Because the bosses have too high standards, many papers have no meaning to be published in their eyes."

“As a result, the number of papers published by Nature has dropped by one-third over this period of time.”

“As a result, sales and revenues have decreased.”

"So, I want to ask you, professor, if you have any solution."

"Ah?" Li Qiwei was suddenly speechless. He really hadn't considered this point.

He took things for granted with the thinking of later generations.

In the era of paper explosion in later generations, even professors at ordinary schools can serve as paper reviewers.

This results in the uneven quality of papers, and anyone can publish a paper.

The only beneficiaries of the entire paper system are the various journals and magazine publishers, they make money.

The rest is just a waste of the country's money.

And who are the judges that Gregory invited in this era?
Thomson, Rutherford, Old Bragg
If these people were to serve as reviewers for Nature, one can imagine how strict they would be.

No wonder Gregory couldn't stand it.

After all, he still has to make a profit, otherwise everyone in the company will be out of money.

Moreover, this is not conducive to the development of the journal. At least at this stage, it cannot be so high-end and refined.

"Haha, I overlooked this."

“But it’s easy to solve.”

"You should make a preliminary judgment among yourselves from now on."

“Send those very important papers that can be published in legitimate journals to the reviewing professors.”

"The rest is up to you guys to decide."

In this era, academic journals were not as strictly academic as they were in later generations.

You can only publish papers, no other content is allowed.

Nature sometimes publishes content that is not purely academic.

Therefore, Li Qiwei's suggestion is still acceptable.

Gregory nodded excitedly.

"Okay, Professor, your suggestion is great. I will start implementing it when I get back."

In fact, he had also thought of this, but the same method was different when it was said by Li Qiwei.

Dr. Gregory had worked for many years before, so naturally he was different from a rookie who had just graduated. He had already entered the big melting pot of society.

After solving his own problem, Gregory was in a good mood. He suddenly smiled and said:

"By the way, Professor, there is one more interesting thing I need to tell you."

"Recently, many people have written to our headquarters, asking when your general theory of relativity will be published."

“Everyone can’t wait.”

"Some even think that you must have failed, otherwise you wouldn't have been in seclusion for so long."

"I have secretly written down the names of those people, and Nature will refuse to accept their papers in the future."

Li Qiwei was suddenly at a loss whether to laugh or cry. Gregory had too many little tricks up his sleeve.

The key is that what he said made him very comfortable.

Alas, Li Qiwei sighed inwardly, his position was getting higher and higher, and everyone was trying every way to make him happy.

He casually picked up the paper in front of him and handed it to Gregory.

"Take it. The results of my retreat are all here."

"You don't need to find someone to review my paper. Just publish it as soon as possible."

Li Qiwei's words were extremely domineering. If they were put in the future, he would definitely be reported for using a backdoor.

But now, Gregory felt it was perfectly normal.

Professor Bruce's paper still needs to be reviewed?

What kind of international joke are you kidding!

And he wasn't surprised at all.

In his mind, there was no way that Professor Bruce could fail in his retreat.

The little general theory of relativity is easy to master.

He quickly stood up and took Li Qiwei's paper with his hands slightly bent.

"Wow, Professor Bruce, you are publishing several papers at once."

Gregory shook it gently. The paper of this era was rougher and heavier.

He roughly estimated that it was over 100 pages, which would have to be at least five or six papers.

Li Qiwei smiled and said, "There is only one paper, all 102 pages."

Wow!
Gregory opened his mouth in surprise, his face full of disbelief.

He almost thought he heard wrongly.

A 102-page paper?

"My God, this is a thin book."

"Is this the terrifying strength of Professor Bruce?"

"Ten years of hard work have produced this 102-page paper."

The difficulty of general relativity was materialized at this moment.

If Gregory had only blind confidence in Ridgway before, he did not have much feeling for the general theory of relativity itself.

Now it seemed as if thousands of horses were galloping in his heart.

Gregory's hands were shaking. He felt unworthy of holding the manuscript.

What a valuable paper this is.

Although he had only a vague understanding of the special theory of relativity, there was nothing he could do; he really couldn't understand it.

However, through the developments in the physics community during this period, he clearly knew the tremendous value of the paper in his hand.

It is no exaggeration to say that this paper is more valuable than all the papers in Nature combined.

Gregory suddenly felt a sense of piety, a kind of worship of the sacred.

"Professor, this, I am really excited."

“I didn’t expect that I would be the first person to see the theory of general relativity.”

Li Qiwei chuckled, "It's just some papers."

“It will be published sooner or later.”

Li Qiwei's calmness and ease made Gregory admire him to the core.

This is Professor Bruce, who remains calm even when faced with a huge crisis.

Even a paper as brilliant as the general theory of relativity is nothing but insignificant in the eyes of the other party.

Unfortunately, Gregory's filter was too severe, and he had no idea that Li Qiwei had already been excited alone.

Afterwards, Li Qiwei gave Gregory a few more instructions, and the other party took the paper and hurried back.

He wanted to treat the publication of general relativity as the most important thing for Nature.
-

Nature headquarters.

As soon as Gregory came back, he immediately shouted to the office:
"Parker, Bob, Green, the three of you put down everything you are doing and come to the editor-in-chief's office immediately."

Wow!
There was a commotion in the office.

All the employees were whispering to each other.

"What's wrong with Boss today? He looks very anxious."

"I heard that he went to Professor Bruce. I don't think he got scolded."

"That's nonsense! Professor Bruce is famous for being kind to his students."

"I think something must have happened."

Gregory is only in his 30s this year, but he has become the editor-in-chief of Nature journal, which can be said to be full of vigor and vitality.

Without talking about his own background, the great Professor Bruce’s first Ph.D.

It's just his recent series of reforms that have slightly reduced the company's revenue.

But anyone with a discerning eye can see that the company’s potential is completely different.

With so many big names in the scientific field joining, the company will sooner or later reach a higher level.

There is truly a promising future!
Therefore, Gregory's authority within the company is unquestionable.

And he was not parachuted in; he is a long-time employee of Nature.

The three people Gregory just called out are the backbone personnel he promoted after taking office.

In the editor-in-chief's office, Gregory carefully opened Li Qiwei's paper and placed it gently on the table.

He looked calm and said to the three people:

"Do you know what's in front of you?"

Pike and the other two looked at each other and shook their heads. They had no idea what their boss was so excited about.

Gregory took a deep breath and said slowly: "This is Professor Bruce's theory of general relativity."

“It will be published in Nature soon.”

Wow!
The three of them were stunned.

I just felt like thunder was exploding in my head.

Oh, God!
That is the legendary general theory of relativity!
Is it really going to be published now?
The three Parkers are all students of science and engineering.

I just graduated two or three years ago this year.

It can be said that the story they heard most in school was about Li Qiwei.

Especially after entering university, all teachers were talking about quantum theory and relativity.

The three of them admired Li Qiwei just like countless others.

"Oh my god, boss, is this true?"

"Is the general theory of relativity really going to be published?"

“I never thought that one day I would be the first person to see the theory of general relativity!”

“I’m just so excited.”

"."

Parker and the other two expressed their shock one by one.

Gregory, however, looked calm and composed, which made the three of them admire him.

"The boss is indeed the boss. He is worthy of having seen the world under Professor Bruce."

“He can even handle the famous theory of general relativity with ease.”

Gregory succeeded in pretending to be cool, and he pretended to cough and said:
"Well, the paper is very long, more than a hundred pages."

"So the proofreading work has to be done very carefully. I don't allow any mistakes, not even a single letter."

“And I’m going to publish general relativity as a separate issue.”

“You need to prepare accordingly.”

hiss!
The more than one hundred pages of thesis made the three of them gasp.

“I have never seen such a long paper in my life.”

"Is this the general theory of relativity? It's so terrifying."

The three of them nodded in response.

Professor Bruce is the boss's mentor, so he deserves this treatment.

"Now, the three of you come with me and take a quick look at it."

"Let's roughly divide the content."

After saying that, Gregory gently opened the cover amid the dry swallowing sounds of Pike and the other two.

A huge paper title caught the eyes of the four people: "General Relativity".

Extremely simple, yet domineering.

This is the exclusive status of the big guys.

If an ordinary person came up with such a short title, the editors would throw it away as garbage.

"You are worthy of such a short time?"

Then Gregory carefully opened the paper and read it carefully.

then
There's no after that.

five minutes.
ten minutes.
thirty minutes
One hour.
Gregory and the other three sat in a circle, maintaining a focused posture for a full hour.

They didn't move.

There was surprisingly no expression on his face, instead he looked simply numb.

No one could describe the shock in their hearts at this moment.

It was like a volcanic eruption, a tsunami, and the collapse of the sky and the earth.

The sky is broken.

Suddenly, Gregory was the first to react.

He gasped.

hiss!
"Oh my god, is this the professor's general theory of relativity?"

"It's terrible. It's really terrible."

At this moment, Gregory no longer cared about pretending to be cool in front of his younger brother.

He was so shocked by the content of general relativity that he was unconscious.

At this moment, there was only one thing on his mind: the sky of physics was about to change.

Pike and the other two didn't care at all about their boss's gaffe.

Their brains have shut down.

"Oh my god, gravity doesn't exist, it's just the curvature of space-time?"

"Spacetime can actually bend?"

"My God, if this paper is published, it will probably bring an unimaginable revolution to the physics community."

Soon, the four of them gradually calmed down.

There's no use not being calm.

After just one hour of reading, they only understood the sentence "The essence of gravity is the curvature of space-time", and didn't understand the rest.

In their eyes, those complicated Riemannian geometry and tensor analysis are no different from the holy books.

Bob pointed to a spot on the paper and asked boldly, "What does this symbol mean?"

"How come I have never seen it before? Could it be written wrong?"

Pike and Green looked at each other and shook their heads at the same time, then all three of them looked at Gregory.

"The boss is Professor Bruce's apprentice, he should be able to understand it."

Gregory was completely confused at this moment.

He is now particularly glad that he did not continue to engage in physics research.

Otherwise, it would become a huge joke.

I couldn't even understand the paper.

However, what he didn't know was that he was not the only one who couldn't understand it.

His face turned serious and he said, "Look at me."

"I asked you to help me solve the problem, not to ask me questions."

"Write down all the things you don't understand and organize them together. I'll find a time to consult Professor Bruce."

The three of them wanted to laugh but didn't dare to, so they could only hold it in, and their faces turned red.

Gregory felt that if he stayed any longer, the authority he had worked so hard to establish would be completely lost.

He waved his hand.

"Well, get to work and make sure you figure out all the places."

"You don't need to understand the meaning of the formula anyway, just make sure you don't make any mistakes in copying it."

"I must get the paper published within a month!"

The three of them responded loudly: "Yes, boss, we promise to complete the task."

Then the three of them left the editor-in-chief's office with the manuscript.

Gregory sat alone in a chair.

He thought back to the general theory of relativity he had just seen.

The more I thought about him, the more I couldn't stop trembling.

How talented does one have to be to be able to write a paper like this?

"Even if I were asked to start thinking from the age of apes, I still can't come up with the theory of general relativity."

"And it only took Professor Bruce ten years."

"I thought ten years was a long time, but it turned out to be too short."

He couldn't imagine how much shock the paper would cause in the physics community after it was published.

At this moment, Gregory suddenly thought of a Chinese sentence the professor had said.

Who in the world doesn’t know you!
(End of this chapter)