1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 479: Wonderful summary! Theme sublimation! "Now, I will show you the framework of the world system!"

With the naming of the weak force completed, Ridgway's speech officially ended.

In this speech, he put forward three earth-shaking concepts in succession.

Strong force, weak force, protons and neutrons can be further divided.

Even though they are just guesses now, they are the guesses with the highest gold content and research value.

It's just like the various conjectures in the field of mathematics.

Its proposer and its solver are equally great.

Everyone knew that this speech would cause a sensation in the physics community.

The Bruce Conference lived up to its status and is undoubtedly the highest conference in physics.

Once again, it opens up a new future for physics.

It shows that in addition to relativity and quantum theory, modern physics has other exciting areas.

It is both a challenge and a hope for everyone!
Moderator Lorenz concluded:
“After listening to Professor Bruce’s speech, I began to understand why he was so obsessed with the reconstruction of quantum theory.”

“I want to tell you a little story about myself.”

"When I was young, my favorite physicist was the French optics master Fresnel."

"The first extracurricular academic material I read in my life was the Fresnel Collection."

"I think among his generation of physicists, Fresnel was unrivalled."

“He did a lot of groundbreaking research in the wave nature of light.”

“So my doctoral thesis was also about optics.”

"The title is: On the theory of refraction and reflection of light."

"I think the young people here will find this topic very simple."

"Well, that's true."

Everyone laughed, they knew that Professor Lorenz was being modest.

That paper was not simple at all.

"Fresnel has already done this."

"But I'm different from him."

“I used Maxwell’s equations to re-process the phenomenon of reflection and refraction of light.”

"In Professor Bruce's words, that is to reconstruct the wave theory of light."

"The result was that I unified the old wave theory of light with the new electromagnetic theory of light."

"This puts Maxwell's equations on a solid physical basis, rather than a purely mathematical derivation."

"But it's still a theory in the pure electromagnetic field."

"The largest part of our world is made up of matter, not electromagnetic waves."

"How do Maxwell's equations explain matter?"

"Later, I founded the electron theory based on the electromagnetic theory of light."

"Professor Bruce once told me that the electron theory is the pinnacle of classical physics and the highest level that the latter can reach."

"I don't know if he did it on purpose to cheer me up."

Everyone laughed again.

Li Qiwei smiled and quickly said that he was sincere.

The electron theory is the last glory of classical physics.

In simple terms, this theory states that matter is made up of charged particles.

The interaction between electromagnetic waves and matter can be attributed to the interaction between electromagnetic waves and charged particles in matter.

It is now known that the so-called charged particles are actually electrons.

But at that time, the electron had not yet been discovered by Thomson.

It can be seen that the awesomeness of the electronic theory is ahead of its time.

It perfectly combines classical concepts such as force, electromagnetism, and matter, and explains the essence of the world in a logically self-consistent way.

Of course, this theory was later abandoned.

The generally accepted theory that studies the interaction between electromagnetic waves and charged particles is quantum electrodynamics.

Like quantum chromodynamics, it is also a branch of quantum field theory, and the most mature and complete one.

Quantum electrodynamics quantizes the electromagnetic field.

In the later period, physicists' research method was to quantize the four fundamental forces.

The quantum theory of electromagnetic force is quantum electrodynamics;
The quantum theory of the strong force is quantum chromodynamics;

The weak force does not have a separate quantum theory, but is unified with the electromagnetic force, and their quantum theory is the electroweak unified theory;

Finally, there is gravity, which cannot be quantized for the time being.

The hottest attempt at the moment is quantum gravity theory.

Once successful, the unification of the four fundamental forces will be just around the corner.

All of the above theories are a type of quantum field theory.

This shows the importance of quantum field theory!
The core of quantum field theory is quantum mechanics.

Therefore, from the perspective of explaining the origin of the world, the importance of quantum mechanics even exceeds that of relativity.

At this time, Lorenz sighed:
"Of course, with the development of modern physics, the previously perfect electron theory now also has problems."

"I'm not telling this story to judge whether the electron theory is good or bad."

"Instead, I will use my personal experience to tell you what it is like to reconstruct quantum theory."

“It’s true that quantum theory is now very powerful, just as Maxwell’s equations were back then.”

"It can explain many, many phenomena in the field of atomic physics."

"However, it cannot explain the stability of nuclei, nor can it explain beta decay."

"It actually means that it cannot explain the strong and weak forces."

"Besides, quantum theory operates on microscopic particles."

"So what are microscopic particles?"

"Electrons count, but do atoms count? Do molecules count? Do individual polymers count?"

"If protons and neutrons do have a composite structure, what does that mean?"

“The reconstruction of quantum theory seems to me to be very similar to the creation of the theory of electrons.”

"A theory is ultimately meant to explain our objective world."

"But now it seems that the achievements of atomic science have far surpassed the existing quantum theory, and the two do not match each other."

“So, quantum theory needs to be reconstructed, just like the electromagnetic theory of light to the electron theory.”

“The theme for the third Bruce Conference is excellent.”

"Atoms and Quantum."

"Compared to the theory of relativity, they may be closer to the essence of the world."

"I believe that the future of quantum theory will achieve achievements that are beyond the imagination of the world."

"I firmly believe that when that day comes, we physicists will be able to say proudly, just like Newton did back then:

"Now, I will present the framework of the world system."

boom!
Thunderous applause broke out in the venue instantly.

"Professor Lorenz's summary is so insightful and brilliant."

“It complements Professor Bruce’s speech perfectly and elevates the theme of the conference.”

"This is the style and heritage of the older generation of physicists."

The older generation of physicists may have become slower in thinking and slower in action.

But their thoughts become more profound, like a jar of fine wine, refreshing.

At this moment, all the young talents present were very excited.

They witnessed the birth of a perfect speech.

Professor Bruce's wild imagination and Professor Lorenz's incisive summary.

The best cooperation between the two made them feel what a feast of thoughts is.

"Professor Lorenz is truly the number one person in the scientific hosting field."

After the opening speeches, the Bruce meeting entered into the report and discussion agenda.

First, the experts took turns to share their recent research. Of course, the research content must be in line with the theme.

Rutherford shared the Cavendish Laboratory's achievements in atomic science.

It includes the study of three types of rays, various particle bombardment experiments, atomic structure, etc.

Of course, the most eye-catching of these is undoubtedly the experiment on the existence of neutrons.

"Since Professor Bruce predicted the neutron two years ago, many scholars have joined the search for it."

“But unfortunately, progress towards this goal has been slow.”

"So far, no organization or individual has publicly claimed to have discovered traces of neutrons."

"I think the biggest difficulty in the search is that neutrons are not charged."

"We can't capture neutrons using electric or magnetic fields and observe their trajectory."

"However, our lab has recently designed a completely new method that may be able to detect neutrons better."

As he spoke, Rutherford began to demonstrate his experimental design.

Today's meeting makes the existence of neutrons even more important.

It is so closely connected to so many new concepts that there is absolutely no room for error.

If neutrons do not exist, then the so-called strong force and weak force are nonsense.

Even the model of the atomic nucleus needed to be derived again, causing a major earthquake in the physics community.

However, Rutherford's confident tone put everyone at ease.

Neutrons must exist!
It's just that it hasn't been found yet.

With the development of theory and experimental technology, we will eventually be able to find the trace of neutrons.

Irena listened very carefully and even took notes from time to time.

As an authority in the field of atomic science, Rutherford's experimental design was much better than that of the Quantum Institute.

This is also related to the fact that Li Qiwei is not an experimental physicist.

After all, theories can be deduced at will, but experiments may not be able to be carried out, even if the answers are known in advance.

In real history, the discovery of neutrons was of great significance.

It led directly to the discovery of uranium nuclear fission and then to the advent of the atomic bomb.

It is no exaggeration to say that neutrons have changed the direction of the world.

Ridgway had previously conceived a plan to deliberately delay the introduction of the concept of the neutron so that the West would not discover nuclear fission.

But later he felt that there was a bug in this plan.

That is, if this happens, Master Qian Wu and others will not know about the neutron.

There is no way to even do theoretical calculations.

Then how can they research the atomic bomb?

Is it possible to rely on Li Qiwei to fool people: Just believe me, it will work!

I'm afraid everyone will think that the principal has gone crazy.

"The principal is crazy!"

"There are no neutrons in this world!"

So in the end, he gave up the plan.

It is more reliable to promote nuclear fusion than to hide neutrons.

After Rutherford finished sharing, Einstein, Bohr and others took the stage one after another.

They have all done a lot of basic work in their respective segments.

As an important founder of quantum theory, Bohr even boasted:
"We are fully prepared for the future of quantum theory!"

Finally, there is a report from the younger generation.

Pauli, as one of several representatives of the young group, shared his exclusion principle in detail.

Finally, he concluded:
"Combining the minimum energy principle and Hund's rule, we can fully explain the arrangement of electrons outside the nucleus."

“This proves the theory that Professor Bruce put forward in his speech at the University of Berlin in Germany.”

"I think the next step in this theory is to study how atoms form molecules."

"How are the electrons outside the nuclei of two atoms connected together?"

Pauli spoke eloquently and even boldly predicted the prospects of electron configuration theory, showing the demeanor of a master.

Although these contents were also mentioned by Li Qiwei in his speech in Germany.

But Pauli was obviously well prepared, and he spoke in more detail.

This is the experience he learned from Li Qiwei.

If you want to become a top physicist, you need to think a few steps further about any theory or phenomenon, and not stick to the existing form.

Heisenberg felt mixed emotions as he watched his senior brother Pauli, who was in high spirits.

He was certainly proud of Pauli.

But bitterness is inevitable.

As the silver medalist of the 2nd Physics Olympiad, he didn't know that he had become an idol.

While my peers published blockbuster results one after another, I achieved nothing.

Heisenberg felt a sense of frustration and remorse.

Although he is shy, he has a strong competitive spirit and likes to compare himself with others silently in his mind.

In real history, when Heisenberg first went to the Bohr Institute, he saw the many talented people in the institute and instantly felt inferior.

He felt like a loser and became very unconfident.

In simple terms, Heisenberg is a typical person with a thin skin but a strong self-esteem.

He is like an ordinary person who got a genius system.

Although he has the smartest brain in the world, he also has all the character flaws of an ordinary person.

This may be the reason for his later self-contradiction.

It's so twisted.

This is completely different from Dirac.

Dirac was absolutely isolated from the outside world and nothing could affect him.

He is an Olympic gold medalist and the top talent in the eyes of his peers.

However, people like Pauli and Uhlenbeck, who were not as good as him, have already become famous in the physics world.

However, these did not bring any pressure to Dirac at all.

He hasn't even started real research in physics yet, but is still learning the basics.

"You are awesome, what does it have to do with me?"

But Heisenberg did not have such a strong mentality.

He was anxious.

He was eager to prove himself.

The reconstruction of quantum theory is his hope.

~~~
The first day of the meeting passed by in a flash.

The big guys are used to it, but the younger generation is extremely excited.

I even tossed and turned in bed at night and couldn't fall asleep at all.

This conference opened their eyes and allowed them to see what true wisdom is.

They are usually called geniuses in school and wherever they go, and even their teachers are not as good as them.

But I just discovered today that problem-solving ability is the lowest-level ability in physics research.

Real physics research does not test the ability to calculate results based on known conditions.

Instead, we need to find those hidden conditions through imagination and thinking in the vast darkness.

If there are no conditions, then create conditions.

If you can’t create, it means you’re not a true genius.

Everyone recalled Professor Bruce’s speech today.

They were deeply impressed by his wild imagination and rigorous logical reasoning ability.

Heisenberg called out in a daze in his sleep:
"Quantum, please, don't run~"

(End of this chapter)