1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 427 Unified Field Theory! Defeat the gods! "Bruce, I'm going to surpass you this time!"

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics, Germany.

The German government realized the importance of scientific research long ago.

Moreover, as the scale of research continues to expand, the government alone cannot maintain the input of funds.

Therefore, the German government established a special research institution called: Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science.

Planck was the first president.

The society provides research space specifically for scientists and accepts donations from business and industry.

The society has many research institutes under its jurisdiction: Institute of Chemistry, Institute of Physics, Institute of Electrochemistry, etc.

The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics was founded in 1917 and its first director was Einstein.

The establishment of the institute was almost abandoned at one point.

As for the reason, it is very simple, that is, no money.

During the war in Germany, all resources were used for military affairs, and no one had time to take care of a research institute.

Fortunately, it was finally built with the help of big names such as Planck, Nernst, and Haber.

After the end of World War II, the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics was merged into other institutes.

But in real history, this institute had a profound impact on the world.

In 1921, Laue became the second director of the institute.

In 1941, Heisenberg became the third director and the leader of Germany's development of the atomic bomb.

He has an important assistant, Hahn.

Hahn was then director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry and the discoverer of uranium nuclear fission.

If not the plan ultimately failed.

The institutes named after Emperor Wilhelm will probably become the world's first research institutes.

However, at this moment, the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics is just an ordinary research institute.

Although it is very famous in Germany, it still has a certain gap to top research institutions such as the Cavendish Laboratory.

Originally, Germany wanted to invite Ridgway to serve as the director of the Institute of Physics, but he refused.

So, at Planck's suggestion, Einstein became the director of the institute.

At the same time, Einstein was a professor of physics at the University of Berlin.

Although Lao Ai no longer has the general theory of relativity, he is still a physics giant thanks to his achievement of jointly publishing the special theory of relativity with Ridgwell.

It’s more than enough for him to be the director of a research institute.

At this moment, in the director's office.

Einstein was holding his pipe with one hand and writing and drawing on the manuscript paper with the other.

Opposite him sat his good friend Laue.

Laue is now also a professor of physics at the University of Berlin.

In his spare time, he often came to the Institute of Physics to discuss problems with Einstein.

But at this moment, he didn't say anything, just smoked quietly and looked at his old friend.

Einstein's expression was profound, yet there was a hint of excitement.

Because the content on the manuscript is all his hard work in recent years.

A theory that is enough to shock the world of physics!

Unified field theory!

This theory, created to unify gravity and electromagnetic force, is a reflection of Einstein's ambition.

As a physicist who co-published the paper on narrow phases with Ridgway, Einstein is often compared to him.

But now, Li Qiwei's strength has far surpassed him.

Although this did not affect their relationship, Einstein was obviously a competitive person.

"Since Bruce is known as the Heaven of Physics, the God of Physics, then I will go against the Heaven and defeat the God!"

"As long as I perfect the unified field theory, I will definitely be able to surpass Bruce."

call!
Lauer blew out a puff of smoke and asked in a deep voice:

“Einstein, are you really ready to publish your paper?”

"At the second Bruce Conference, Bruce said it was too early to study a unified theory."

"He also kept it a secret for us attendees."

"Now, how sure are you that you will be the first to make it public?"

In real history, Einstein published the first paper on unified field theory in 1922.

This marked the beginning of his twenty-year-long journey towards unification.

The so-called unified field theory refers to a physical theory that describes the nature and internal connections of interactions from the perspective of "field".

We later know that there are four basic interactions in nature: gravity, electromagnetism, strong force, and weak force.

But at this point in time, physicists have only discovered two forces: gravity and electromagnetism.

Although Ridgway predicted at the second Bruce conference that other fundamental forces might exist, there is no evidence so far.

Moreover, even with the evidence, Einstein's idea was:

"Then I can unify gravity and electromagnetism first, and then use this framework to gradually unify the other forces."

I have to say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Lao Ai’s idea.

It's just that his luck was really bad, and he encountered the gravity bug first.

Because gravity is extremely special, it is difficult to associate it with the other three forces.

According to some speculation, gravity could only be unified under extremely harsh conditions at the initial moment of the Big Bang.

So no wonder it failed.

The theoretical basis of Einstein's unified field theory is as follows:

In general relativity, the gravitational field is described as a curvature of space-time.

So if we want to unify gravity and electromagnetic force, we can consider linking the electromagnetic field with the geometric properties of space-time.

For example, is the electromagnetic field the rotation of space-time? Or is it the folding of space-time?
and many more.

In this way, the changes in space and time can be used to describe gravity and electromagnetic force, thus achieving the goal of unification.

This is the central idea of ​​Einstein's unified field theory.

Figuratively speaking, unified field theory is the geometrization of physics.

Theoretically, this is indeed a feasible idea and it is in line with the unified aesthetic.

If gravity weren't so strange, Einstein should have succeeded long ago with his intelligence.

In real history, there are other methods.

For example, Kaluza-Klein's five-dimensional space-time model.

The idea is to incorporate the electromagnetic field into the five-dimensional space-time system by adding a dimension.

These two people believe that unification can only occur at high latitudes.

All kinds of forces in four-dimensional space-time are just projections of some higher-dimensional existence.

However, after more than two decades of efforts, all theories attempting to unify gravity and electromagnetism, including unified field theory, have failed.

Because these theoretical proposals only consider classical field theory (i.e. macroscopic gravitational and electromagnetic phenomena).

But the quantum effects of the field are not involved.

This is because Einstein at the time actually had prejudices against quantum mechanics.

He did not want to mix such unorthodox things as quantum mechanics into his noble unified theory.

This was also an important reason for his failure.

There is no way. The bigger the boss, the more stubborn he is and it is difficult to change his ideas.

Unless there is a more powerful boss who wakes him up.

Although Einstein failed, his contribution and the significance of unified field theory cannot be denied.

After all, he was the first to try it.

His ambition inspired countless physicists.

Over the next hundred years, generation after generation of geniuses came forward, just to take a crucial step on the road to unification.

When Dirac combined special relativity and quantum mechanics and proposed the concept of "quantum field theory", the road to unification was on the right track.

Within the framework of quantum field theory, several brilliant theories have been born, bringing us closer and closer to unification.

However, quantum field theory is still helpless against gravity.

Therefore, some people want to combine general relativity and quantum mechanics to propose the concept of "quantum gravity".

But there are still no good results.

This shows how difficult it is to unify gravity. However, at this moment, Einstein did not know that his future was doomed to failure.

He is now full of confidence, as if he sees a bright future.

Punching Bruce and kicking Rutherford.

"I don't know what Bruce is worried about."

"But for unified field theory, I already have a theoretical basis."

“I think this is a viable path.”

"The current quantum theory is just a theory that describes microscopic particles."

"To put it bluntly, it is still within the scope of electromagnetic force and has no impact on the unified field theory."

"This time, I think Bruce is wrong!"

“He shouldn’t have waited for quantum theory to develop.”

“The path to unity is the most critical.”

Wow!
Einstein's bold words made Laue open his mouth in surprise.

My good friend is a little too fierce.

It seems that Bruce had a great influence on Einstein.

"Anyway, I'm terrible at math, so I have absolutely no chance of learning unified field theory."

"I'll just watch you gods fight quietly."

"Perhaps Einstein you can surpass Bruce and Newton and accomplish this great feat."

After hearing this, Einstein smiled and said modestly:

"Haha, that's not the case yet."

"My paper is just a starting point for discussion."

"I agree with what Bruce said: the ultimate goal of physics must be unification."

“I am confident, but not arrogant.”

"Unified field theory is just my path, it doesn't mean it is necessarily correct."

“But I will never give up.”

At this moment, Laue felt Einstein's strong desire.

That is the ultimate desire for physics.

This best friend of mine, like Professor Bruce, has a pure and innocent heart for physics.

They are all warriors who walk alone in the darkness.

He is also very optimistic about Einstein's unified field theory, which he believes is an amazing idea.

I'm afraid even Professor Bruce himself hasn't thought about this.

Maybe it is really possible to unify gravity and electromagnetic force.

By then, the name of Einstein will definitely shock the whole world.

However, Laue still reminded:

"Einstein, would you like to write a letter to Professor Bruce?"

"Communicate your thoughts to him."

"The third Bruce Conference is about to be held. Your unified field theory will surely cause a sensation."

“Perhaps we can announce the contents of the second session.”

Einstein nodded.

"That's a good idea."

"But I wonder what Bruce is busy with lately."

"I have invited him many times to come to Germany to give lectures, but he always said he didn't have time."

"I have already published the unified field theory this time, I don't believe he won't come."

Laue laughed.

"That would be fun."

"Your unified field theory excludes quantum theory, and Professor Bruce has set up a special quantum research institute."

"Now, Einstein, I guess you will have to debate with Professor Bruce just like Professor Rutherford did."

Einstein laughed:

“That’s the physics I like.”

"I would rather have a question without an answer than an answer that cannot be questioned."

"It has always been my dream to play against Bruce."

Lauer felt a little lost.

I have won the Nobel Prize, but why do I feel like there is still such a huge gap between me and you?

I didn't even have anything to discuss with Professor Bruce.

Soon, Einstein wrote a letter expressing his ideas about unified field theory.

He wasn't worried about any leaks.

After all, the concept of unification was first proposed by Li Qiwei.

He is the pioneer of unified theory.

And Einstein wanted to be the first founder and even the successful one.

This is destined to be an extremely difficult road.
-
At the Quantum Research Institute, when Li Qiwei received Einstein's letter, he felt a surge of emotion.

In this life, his brilliance illuminates the entire physics community, but he still cannot withstand the challenge from the big guys.

First it was Rutherford, and now it is Einstein.

In the future there will be Bohr, Heisenberg, Dirac and so on.

Although Professor Bruce is extremely powerful, he can still be surpassed by the big guys.

This is the scene that Li Qiwei wants to see.

"Heroes are as numerous as the fish in the river!"

"But even if the waves are gone, I will remain standing!"

Ridgway did not want to see Einstein's second half of his life was ruined by the unified field theory as in real history.

So, he has to make some changes.

Ding!
Li Qiwei pressed the bell lightly and Wang Zhengyang walked in.

"Zhengyang, go call Irena over."

Soon, Irena walked into the office with doubts.

She noticed that Uncle Bruce had a serious expression on his face, obviously something important.

Li Qiwei saw her coming and said with a smile:

"Irena, I have a task for you."

"If the nucleus is composed of protons and neutrons, then there should be repulsion between protons."

"If we rely solely on gravity and electromagnetic force, is it enough to overcome this repulsive force and press protons and protons, protons and neutrons together?"

"You can try to do an experiment to verify your calculation results."

"This is a test of your abilities."

Wow!
Irena was suddenly extremely excited, her chest heaving.

This topic is a bit too advanced.

"Professor, this mission is too important. I'm afraid I'll mess it up."

Li Qiwei smiled and said:
"I believe you. If you encounter a problem, you can go to Schrödinger to discuss it first. He is very good at mathematics."

Hearing this, Irena became confident.

"Don't worry, professor, I will complete the task."

Looking at Irena's departing back, Li Qiwei smiled gently.

That's right, he would propose the concepts of strong and even weak forces at the third Bruce Conference.

He wants to gather the four basic forces in advance.

This will be a huge challenge for unified field theory!

Li Qiwei murmured to himself:
"Einstein, how will you deal with this situation then?"

"Do you continue to stick to your unified field theory, or embrace quantum mechanics and take another path?"

(End of this chapter)