1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 472: Past, present, and future! All causes and honors are tied to me!
The news of the third Bruce Conference caused a stir in the physics community.

This meeting is unprecedented in scale.

The participants were either physics gurus or geniuses.

Even India had physicists like Raman participating.

However, Britain, as the sovereign country, is happy to see this happen.

This shows that under their great rule, civilization spread.

On a passenger ship sailing in the Mediterranean, an Indian scholar is measuring the sea water with a simple optical instrument.

He seemed fascinated by the deep blue color of the sea and wanted to explore it.

At this time, a child nearby asked curiously:

“Uncle Raman, what are you doing?”

This Indian scholar was Raman.

A previous paper on the scattering of light made him famous.

This is a very critical supplement to the Wu-Compton effect.

The phenomenon was even named "Raman scattering" in recognition of his contribution.

Almost everyone in the industry has concluded that this is a Nobel Prize-level achievement.

Raman's trip to the UK was not just to attend the Bruce Conference.

After that, he will represent the University of Calcutta in India to attend the Commonwealth University Conference in Oxford.

Although only 33, he has already become a leader in Indian science.

At this moment, Raman looked at his little nephew with love in his eyes.

The child received a good education since childhood.

Although I am only 11 years old this year, I will go to high school next year.

And he is very smart at a young age.

The child's father wants him to study hard and become a civil servant in the future.

But the child himself aspires to become a scientist.

He also said that his idol is Professor Bruce.

As an uncle, Raman certainly wanted to train his nephew to become an outstanding physicist.

So this time when he goes to the UK, he will also visit Cambridge University to prepare for his nephew's future admission.

At this moment, facing his nephew's question, Raman did not answer, but asked:
“Chandrasekhar, let me ask you a question.”

“Why is the ocean water dark blue?”

It turned out that this child was Chandrasekhar, who would become famous in the field of astronomy.

In real history, Chandrasekhar's most famous achievement was his debate with Eddington on the structure of white dwarfs.

Chandrasekhar believes that if the mass of a white dwarf exceeds a certain limit, it will collapse and form a neutron star.

Eddington objected to this view.

It was later proved that the former was right and the latter was wrong.

This limit is also known as the Chandrasekhar Limit.

But at that time, Eddington was a famous figure.

And Chandrasekhar was just a rookie.

Although he was right, he was suppressed by Eddington for decades.

It can be said that he has suffered a lot of grievances throughout his life.

If Li Qiwei were here, he would definitely say: Be good, Uncle Bruce will help you get justice.

This also led to his low-key and calm character throughout his life.

However, although the Nobel Prize may be late, it will not be absent.

Chandrasekhar won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on stellar structure and evolution.

He was one of the most important physicists of the 20th century and one of the first scientists to combine the study of physics and astronomy.

He also turned down an invitation to work on the Manhattan Project.

There is also a little interesting story about him.

In 1947, Chandrasekhar, who was already a professor of astrophysics at the University of Chicago, wanted to open an advanced seminar.

To this end, he wanted to recruit a group of students with talent in physics, teach them personally, and specifically discuss cutting-edge topics in astrophysics.

However, he was full of confidence and did not expect that in the end only two young people signed up for the seminar.

These two people are Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee.

Although the attendance was far below expectations, Chandrasekhar did not cancel the class.

Every week, he drove hundreds of kilometers from Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago to the University of Chicago just to teach the two.

At that time, he certainly could not have imagined what amazing achievements these two young people would make in the future.

At this moment, facing the problem of uncle Raman.

Although Chandrasekhar was young, he had read a lot of scientific journals.

He answered almost without thinking:

"I've seen Professor Rayleigh's explanation of why the sky is blue."

"He also mentioned in his paper that the color of the sea water is due to the reflection of the blue sky."

Raman was shocked hearing this.

This answer is far beyond the level of an 11-year-old child.

He felt extremely relieved, as if he saw hope for rise.

"Haha, Xiaoka, it's great that you can answer this far."

"But scientific research is about breaking authority."

"What Professor Rayleigh said may not be true."

"Aren't you curious about what research I'm doing?"

"I was just thinking about the color of the sea."

"Here, put this thing in front of your eyes, look through it, and then see what color the sea is."

“It takes away the color of the sky and allows you to see the color of the water itself.”

As he spoke, Raman handed over a special prism.

After Chandrasekhar took the instrument, he couldn't wait to start the experiment.

He cried out in surprise:
"Hey, why is it still dark blue?"

"This shows that the color of the sea water is not caused by reflecting the sky."

Raman touched Chandrasekhar's head and said with a smile:

“The issue of seawater color is very complicated if you look into it in detail.”

"It even involves my latest theory."

Chandrasekhar suddenly asked:
"Does Professor Bruce understand?"

Raman laughs.

"If you are lucky enough to meet Professor Bruce this time, you can ask him in person."

After hearing this, Chandrasekhar smiled happily, his little head full of anticipation.

Rome, Italy.

Leonardo da Vinci, the erudite and amazing man, and Galileo, the father of modern physics.

Italian science in the past was brilliant and glorious, guiding the direction of human civilization.

But in modern times, Italy has rapidly declined in the field of science.

Although Marconi had won the Nobel Prize for wireless telegraphy before.

But in the purely academic world, his achievements are clearly not impressive enough.

If anyone could inherit Italy's scientific glory, it would be Fermi.

Of course, it is the future Fermi.

In real history, Fermi had two very important achievements in the academic field.

The first result.

Ever since physicists figured out the nature of alpha rays, beta rays, and gamma rays, they have begun to study these rays in more depth.

Among them, the high-speed electron flow and beta rays attracted everyone's attention.

Because it has a very strange phenomenon.

In 1914, Chadwick discovered that when an atom undergoes beta decay, the electrons only take away a portion of the total energy. Some of the energy is actually missing!
In other words, energy is not conserved during beta decay.

Bohr jumped out on the spot and shouted: The law of conservation of energy is wrong!
Of course, he was wrong again.

In 1930, Pauli came up with a bold idea.

He believed that in β decay, in addition to turning a neutron into a proton and producing an electron, another particle was also produced.

Based on his calculations, he predicted that this unknown particle should be a particle with zero rest mass, electrical neutrality, and non-photon.

It’s just that the detection methods at the time could not detect this kind of particle.

It is this unknown mysterious particle that takes away the disappeared part of the energy.

The law of conservation of energy still holds true!

In 1932, Fermi officially named the particle proposed by Pauli "neutrino".

Based on Pauli's neutrino hypothesis, he believed that there was a completely new force in nature that governed the process of β decay.

In 1933, Fermi first proposed the concept of "weak interaction" to describe this force.

Then he proposed the famous "four fermion theory".

That is, during the β decay process, the four particles, neutrons, protons, electrons, and neutrinos, interact weakly at a certain point.

This was Fermi's first achievement.

Fermi had a doctoral student named Tsung-Dao Lee.

In 1956, Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang proposed the theory of "parity non-conservation" in weak interactions.

To put it simply, the "left" and "right" in the universe are asymmetrical.

For example, you smile at the mirror, but the image in the mirror is crying.

Pauli expressed his strong opposition, believing that everything in the universe must be symmetrical.

Lawrence had a female doctoral student named Chien-Shiung Wu.

In 1957, Wu Jianxiong verified the correctness of parity violation through experiments.

Pauli was wrong again.

(Note: Heisenberg had a doctoral student named Taylor, who was hailed as the "Father of the Hydrogen Bomb"; Taylor had a doctoral student named Yang Zhenning.)
The second achievement.

Fermi was the first physicist to bombard elements with neutrons.

At that time, the last known element in the periodic table was uranium.

Therefore, finding transuranium elements has become the dream of all scientists.

In 1934, Fermi bombarded uranium with neutrons and obtained a completely new element.

He thought it was the legendary "transuranium element" and published the experimental results.

Italy was excited.

The Italian Minister of Education made a high-profile announcement:

"Under the rule of FXS, Italy regains the glory of ancient sages."

It was later proved that what Fermi discovered was not transuranium elements, but the phenomenon of nuclear fission.

Although this was the biggest embarrassment in his scientific career, it did not prevent the result from having a profound impact on the world.

The above is Fermi’s greatest contribution to the academic world of pure physics.

And now, Fermi was just a 20-year-old college student.

The school he attended was the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa.

This university, founded by Napoleon, is located in Pisa, the hometown of Galileo, in central Italy.

This historic city is world-famous for the Leaning Tower of Pisa and many tourists visit it every year.

However, Fermi was not at school at the moment, but at his home in Rome.

A family of three is having dinner.

His father was an official in the Ministry of Transport and his mother was an elementary school teacher.

When Mr. Fei heard that his son had received an invitation to the Bruce Conference, he was overjoyed.

He quickly imparted his so-called experience to Fermi.

"Son, remember, when you get to the meeting, you should talk less and listen more."

"You are still young. You must maintain the most humble attitude when facing your seniors."

“Don’t be arrogant and ignorant of the rules just because you are a genius.”

Fermi ate and laughed:
"Father, I didn't expect you to pay attention to scientific conferences."

Father Fei acted as if he was someone very arrogant and said mysteriously:
"You don't know how much the country values ​​science now."

“In recent years, there have been so many large-scale academic conferences held internationally, and several of them were held in Italy.”

"Back in the day, this was also the place where Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo came from."

"How did it end up like this?"

The reason why Fei's father has been so successful in his career recently is because his son has performed so well in the Physics Olympiad.

Won honor for Italy.

So he hopes that his son can cherish this opportunity and make great achievements in the future.

Fermi found it a little funny.

The three islands and twenty districts of Italy are not yet his responsibility.

"Father, isn't the first International Astronomical Union meeting to be held in Rome next year?"

When Father Fei heard this, he sighed:

"Professor Bruce is such a mysterious figure."

"If he were European, I can't imagine what his status would be."

"What a pity, what a pity."

Fermi said unconcernedly:
"What a pity."

"Academia does not discriminate between nationalities and races."

"Didn't you see that Professor Bruce is advocating the establishment of an international scientific alliance?"

"I think this is a broad mind that can swallow up mountains and rivers."

“It’s what scientific leaders should do.”

"Instead of thinking about power, status, wealth and other things all day long."

Mother Fei looked at her son with loving heart. In her heart, none of that mattered.

But Fei's father looked very disappointed with his child.

"You, what do you know?"

"I work in the government, I know better than you."

“No matter how smart a scientist is, he is still a human being, and as a human being he must be managed.”

"Even if your scientific alliance is finally established, will it not be subject to jurisdiction?"

"Haha, I don't think that's possible."

Fermi argued, unconvinced:
"We are doing research well, why should we be controlled by others?"

"Maybe one day, Professor Bruce will be able to invent a terrible weapon that will make everyone afraid to act rashly."

Fermi had read the paper on nuclear fusion and wanted to use it to scare his father.

Father Fei looked disdainful and joked:

"Stop talking nonsense."

"You might as well say that it was you, Fermi, who invented this weapon to fight your father."

In real history, Fermi built the first controllable nuclear reactor in human history.
-
As the third Bruce Conference approached, the entire physics community began to stir.

The older generation is reminiscing, the middle generation is thinking, and the younger generation is striving and expecting.

At this moment, countless thin and transparent silk threads seemed to extend from Li Qiwei's body.

Those scientific greats who are famous in real history are connected together through these threads.

And their center is Li Qiwei.

The glory of the past, the splendor of the present, the hope of the future.

Everything was deeply connected to him.

Past, present, and future! All causes and glory are tied to me!
Several years later, when students opened the textbooks of modern physics.

You will find that the first sentence is not a formula or a concept, but:

"Ridgway, born October 1880, 10."

(End of this chapter)