1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 341 I return to Cambridge in glory and have become a legend!
On February 1913, 2, at the invitation of Thomson, Ridgway went to his alma mater, Cambridge University, to give an academic report.

Wealth that does not return home is like walking in brocade at night.

After returning to Cambridge, Li Qiwei was warmly welcomed by teachers and students.

Everyone was shouting his name, just like the star-chasing in later generations.

Of course, Li Qiwei is much more famous than a star.

He is a legendary figure destined to be written into the history of Cambridge University, on par with Newton and Maxwell.

Although he had been here many times before.

But this time was different. He returned to the school to give a speech in the dual capacity of an alumnus and a scholar.

The teachers and students at Cambridge have changed several times, but everyone regards him as a legend.

Even though Li Qiwei was calm, his heart was still in turmoil and filled with emotion.

"Before I knew it, I had become a legend in the eyes of others."

Thomson and everyone from the Cavendish Laboratory prepared a grand welcome ceremony for Ridgway.

Ridgway and Wilson shook hands vigorously, and everything was said without words.

Then, he greeted the welcoming staff cordially, showing his masterly demeanor, which was greeted with a burst of screams.

Finally, accompanied by Thomson, Ridgway visited the Cavendish Laboratory again.

Today, Cavendish is growing stronger and stronger, with its number of members doubling.

Although the laboratory lost two key figures, Li Qiwei and Rutherford, the laboratory's output of results is still gratifying.

It is a world-class laboratory.

Li Qiwei looked at the various instruments and equipment in the laboratory and felt emotional.

Even such an awesome laboratory became distorted in later generations.

The early 20th century was Cavendish's peak, but it gradually declined and never regained its glory.

On the one hand, it is because the development of physics has entered a deep water zone, and it is difficult to produce explosive original results.

This is due to the times and cannot be changed by human power.

On the other hand, academia has become impure due to being mixed with other interests.

Scientific research is no longer driven by interest and the desire for truth, but by funding.

But now, Cavendish is thriving and shows no signs of slowing down.

The masters and doctoral students in the laboratory had light in their eyes and dreams in their hearts, and they were extremely excited to see Li Qiwei.

Soon, Thompson brought Ridgway into his office.

He has a happy story to tell.

"Bruce, I have nominated you as a Fellow of the Royal Society and the letter of recommendation has been submitted."

“The election is on March 3th.”

"According to the regulations, at least six academicians must jointly recommend it."

"So I called Rutherford, Old Bragg and others."

Li Qiwei didn't expect that Thompson would do what he said and even drag others into it.

It’s good to have a great mentor.

"Thank you so much, Professor Thompson."

"It seems that I have to thank Rutherford for my speech in Manchester."

Thompson smiled knowingly.

"Bruce, with your academic achievements, you could have joined the Royal Society long ago."

"It's just that you are not British. The Royal Society is very strict about this."

"There are only four foreign academicians each year."

“It will also be spread across more than a dozen areas.”

"So a lot of times, personal achievements are a secondary factor."

Li Qiwei nodded, he understood the logic here.

A country's highest academic institution symbolizes that country's respect for scientific and technological talents and will certainly not easily allow foreigners to join.

Otherwise, domestic scientific researchers would be very disappointed.

Even in later generations, it is extremely difficult to become a foreign academician, and one must have great academic achievements or equal contributions.

What's more, Li Qiwei is not an ordinary foreigner. His special identity leads to higher evaluation requirements.

In this era, the identity of the Chinese people is not a help, but a hindrance.

Then, Thomson smiled and said:

“Of course, once general relativity was published, the Royal Society had no more concerns.”

"If you can't even get into Bruce, then I guess no one will want to join the Royal Society in the future."

"This has a significant impact on the authority and impartiality of the society."

"So don't worry, your academician status is set in stone."

"When the time comes, you will still have to give academic speeches, but these will be small matters to you."

After listening to Thomson's analysis, Li Qiwei smiled modestly.

This is the legendary proof of truth through force.

No matter what rules you worry about, as long as my achievements are great enough, I can break all constraints.

If college students can make a breakthrough in controlled nuclear fusion, they can at least be promoted to 985 professors.

"Professor, don't worry, I will be prepared."

"Whether it succeeds or not, I will thank you for your efforts."

Thomson suddenly exclaimed:

"Alas, it's a pity that you are not British, Bruce. Otherwise, you could have strived for the position of President of the Royal Society."

"even"

Thomson stopped talking because he knew Ridgeway's determination.

Li Qiwei laughed and said, "Haha, Professor, I think you are very likely to be the next president."

In real history, Thomson would succeed Crookes as President of the Royal Society of London in 1915.

Thomson was stunned, then burst into laughter.

“I’m ready to retire.”

"I have already made an agreement with Rutherford that when I retire, he will take over as the director of the Cavendish Laboratory."

“Continue to develop the laboratory.”

Li Qiwei smiled and said, "Well, Rutherford is the most suitable."

After the master and disciple finished their conversation, they walked towards the lecture venue together.

Under the attention of all teachers and students of Cambridge University, Li Qiwei delivered a keynote speech.

The title is: "Beauty and Physics".

Ridgeway said in his speech:
"The principles of physics have their own structure."

“The structure is wonderful.”

“People at different levels discover beauty in different ways.”

“Take the rainbow, for example.”

“A painter who does not understand physics would think that the rainbow itself represents beauty.”

"It appears after the rain, symbolizing new life, beauty and so on."

"But as a physics student, he knows that rainbows are caused by water droplets refracting sunlight."

"Different wavelengths of light have different refractive indices, so the white light emitted by the sun is decomposed to form a rainbow."

“He felt the beauty of the refraction of light.”

"But for more advanced physicists, the cause and nature of refraction is what fascinates them most."

"With Maxwell's equations, physicists now know the reason why light is refracted and reflected."

“This is a higher level of beauty.”

"In addition, different physicists have different views and feelings about beauty, which leads to different research styles."

“For example, some people study the wave nature of light, while others study the particle nature of light.”

"But I am different. I study the wave-particle duality of light."

“This has led to different research directions.”

“But no matter which direction it goes, it’s all about the observation and pursuit of beauty.”

"This is the most precious personal charm and wealth of a physicist."

"This is true for all disciplines except physics."

“So I hope that everyone here has a pair of eyes that can discover beauty.”

“Academics is a very interesting thing, isn’t it?”

Wow!
The wonderful speech won thunderous applause from the teachers and students present.

Everyone was impressed by Li Qiwei's gentlemanly temperament.

His thoughts are so profound, his views are so novel, and his angles are so unique.

The boss is indeed a boss!
"Professor Bruce's speeches are truly unique." "He always uses the most understandable language to explain the most profound truths in a simple way."

“Although I studied history, I seem to understand it.”

"This is the style of a master. Professor Bruce has reached the state of making light of heavy tasks and returning to the basics."

After the speech, Cambridge University officially appointed Ridgwell as a lifetime honorary professor at Cambridge University.

This means that as long as Ridgway is alive, he will always be a professor at Cambridge University.

The speech was a complete success.

However, Li Qiwei cannot rest yet because he still has the next game.

After saying goodbye to Thomson and his team, Li Qiwei went directly to Manchester Polytechnic University.

Rutherford is already looking forward to it.

1913 2 Month 5 Day.

At the invitation of Rutherford, Ridgway gave a speech at Manchester Polytechnic.

Different from the speech at Cambridge University.

In this speech, Li Qiwei mainly used his own experience as a template to share interesting anecdotes about scientific research.

He also proposed several effective research methods, which won wide acclaim.

After the speech, Manchester Polytechnic was modeled after Cambridge University.

First, Li Qiwei was awarded an honorary doctorate degree, and then he was issued a certificate of appointment as an honorary professor.

It can be said to be done in one step.

It suddenly occurred to Li Qiwei that, from this perspective, Princeton University still owed him an honorary doctorate.

Symbolically, a PhD is more valuable than a professorship.

Because a person can be a professor at any school, but there is only one school from which he can receive his doctorate.

No wonder there was a big shot in the Republic of China who asked for so many honorary doctorates.

Li Qiwei was unwilling to lag behind and wanted to surpass the big boss.

Then, Rutherford took Ridgway to his laboratory for a tour and happily boasted:
"Bruce, look, my laboratory is now the world's top atomic research laboratory."

"I believe that it won't be long before a large number of results will be produced."

Li Qiwei watched and marveled.

The equipment in Rutherford's laboratory was even more advanced than that in Cavendish.

And the configuration is more reasonable and very professional.

No wonder Professor Thomson was so confident in handing over Cavendish to him.

Being a laboratory director requires more than just personal research ability.

Various other qualities should also be considered, including teaching ability, management ability, communication ability, etc.

It is clear that Rutherford is a well-deserved top talent in every way.

"Great, Rutherford."

"I have to admit that although you are not as good as me in academics, I am not as good as you in building a laboratory."

A group of Rutherford's assistants and students were all smiling around.

Professor Bruce was indeed just as rumored, he had a very good relationship with Professor Rutherford.

This kind of joke is not something that just anyone can make.

Moreover, although Professor Rutherford was calm and casual in front of his students, he would never be like that in front of Li Qiwei.

"Come on, Bruce, let me introduce you to one of my new students."

"Chadwick, come here."

A student who looked to be in his early 20s stood out from the crowd with excitement on his face.

He is tall and handsome.

In later times, people with such conditions would never study physics.

When Chadwick was called, he trembled with excitement.

As a student of physics, Li Qiwei is his biggest idol and the goal of his life.

Rutherford smiled and said, "Bruce, this young man is incredible."

“I have a feeling he will achieve great things in the future.”

Li Qiwei looked at Chadwick curiously with a smile on his face.

He certainly knew what kind of results the other party would achieve.

In real history, Chadwick won the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering the neutron in 1935.

A real boss!
Moreover, the discovery of neutrons is an important part of the birth of the atomic bomb and has far-reaching significance.

There is another interesting fact about Chadwick.

During World War I, due to the hostility between Britain and Germany, Chadwick was taken prisoner in Germany.

However, because he was a scientist, he was treated preferentially.

But he had nothing to do in the prisoner-of-war camp and was bored to death.

Later, another captured young British officer, Ellis, came to the prisoner camp.

So Chadwick began to explain physics to Ellis with great enthusiasm.

After the war, Ellis changed his career and became a physicist studying atoms.
I guess he was influenced by Chadwick.

Later, after negotiations with German scientists, it was considered that scientists should not be involved in the war.

Scientists must have their own rights.

Chadwick was then given the right to build a laboratory in the prisoner camp to study radioactivity.
He was not released.

It's really weird.

It was not until the end of the war that Chadwick regained his freedom.

Therefore, except for a few ambitious individuals, scientists around the world are almost all anti-war.

Wars between countries do not affect their respect for science or each other.

With these in mind, Li Qiwei stretched out his hand and said with a smile, "Hello, Chadwick."

Chadwick's mouth was dry and his face flushed. He quickly stretched out his hands to greet him and said excitedly:

"Hello, Professor Bruce."

"I'm so excited to meet you."

No matter how powerful a boss is, he is just a fanboy in front of Li Qiwei.

Even if Chadwick won the Nobel Prize in the future, I would still be his fan.

It's just that he has grown from a small fanboy to a big fanboy.

Li Qiwei smiled and asked casually:

"Professor Rutherford is very optimistic about you. What is your research topic?"

Chadwick said excitedly: "I have been studying the radioactivity of atoms recently."

Li Qiwei encouraged: "Not bad, work hard and surpass your mentor in the future."

Chadwick touched his head embarrassedly, and was very happy in his heart.

With his identity, if he was not a student of Rutherford, he would never have come into contact with Li Qiwei in his life.

Not to mention getting guidance from Li Qiwei.

This is the role of teachers and platforms.

The resources controlled by those big names at the top of academia are beyond the imagination of casual cultivators.

Even in later generations, if there is an academician in the research team, there is almost no need to worry about funding.

Instead, think about how to spend the money.

Because you can’t spend all the money, you will fail the final assessment.

At this time, Rutherford smiled and said, "Okay, Bruce, you have to give these geniuses in my lab some practical advice."

"If you don't take out something from the bottom of your box today, I won't let you go."

Everyone laughed.

Next, Ridgway gave speeches at several British universities.

His network of scientific contacts is simply too vast.

He has friends and acquaintances in almost all well-known universities.

In order to attract more people to the Science City in the future, Li Qiwei also welcomes everyone who comes.

And he also received a lot of honorary doctorate titles, which is very interesting.

Li Qiwei's humorous yet professional and profound speaking style is sought after by countless people.

Some people have even started collecting his speeches and compiling them into books, which have become the best-selling popular science books in the field of science.

After giving speeches at universities in the UK, Ridgway began preparing for his global tour.

He will be returning to Borneo early next year, so he wants to make as many appearances as possible during this period.

On the one hand, he was accumulating fame, and on the other hand, he was promoting his city of science.

Just then, news came from the Royal Society of London.

(End of this chapter)