1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 494 Why is it expanding uniformly? Fatal doubt! The universe is expanding faster than the speed of light! The audience is shocked!

After Hubble shared his law of galactic expansion, the conference hall became eerily quiet.

Everyone was stunned with shock.

Because of the status and importance of this achievement, it is estimated to be ranked at the forefront of the entire history of astronomy.

So shocking!

In addition, Hubble's keen insight and bold imagination deeply impressed everyone.

As expected of a genius who studied under Bruce, he is so different from others.

Find traces of truth among a pile of messy numbers.

The fifth prediction of general relativity was proved, how shocking it was!

Eddington's sharp eyes seemed to pierce the sky.

He stared closely at the law of expansion and could not help but be moved.

In his eyes, the formula was as elegant and simple as the poetry of Shelley and Byron.

For a big shot like him, just one glance and the intuition made him believe it.

Can’t be wrong!
You can’t go wrong!
This is the testimony of the expansion of the universe!
Shapley and Curtis' faces were moved.

Their bodies trembled slightly and their hearts were in turmoil.

The two couldn't imagine what would have happened if Hubble had announced this result in advance at the great debate of the century.

What a sensation that would cause!
I'm afraid the two of them can only become supporting roles.

A fanatical expression appeared on Yu Qingsong's face.

His heart screamed wildly:

“This is real astronomy research!”

“Astronomy is not just about looking at the stars, but about finding the driving force behind celestial bodies.”

In the face of Hubble's theory, astronomical divination and prediction of good and bad luck seem extremely ridiculous.

If we really compare, the former is the one that can truly predict the mystery of galaxy movement and measure the theory of the expansion of the universe!
At this moment, everyone in the venue had different strong feelings.

However, if a new theory is to be accepted, it must stand the test.

Although some people, such as Eddington, had the intuition that Hubble was right, it was not enough.

Here today are all the top astronomers in the world.

No flaw escapes their eyes.

Where everyone's eyes are focused, Hubble stands proudly.

He knew that a tough battle was waiting for him.

But he was not afraid.

"Come on, all of you. I, Hubble, have nothing to fear!"

At this point, Augusto didn't dare to emphasize that he could only ask three questions.

He quickly and quietly walked to Li Qiwei, Hai Er and others, talked in a low voice, and then returned to the stage.

"Everyone, Dr. Hubble's theory is truly shocking."

“I think everyone must have a lot of questions to ask.”

"So, I just discussed this with Professor Bruce, Professor Haier and others."

"The last speaker was Professor Bruce, who volunteered to take 15 minutes out of his lecture time to devote to Hubble."

"Professor Bruce said his content is very simple and everyone will have no problem with it."

There was a burst of knowing laughter on the field.

"So next, please seize the opportunity."

"Let me witness the birth of the theory of cosmic expansion!"

Wow!
Pressure makes people grow.

Hubble's amazing achievement forced some slight changes to the conference rules.

Augusto was actually very excited, showing quite a bit of the demeanor of a professional host.

At this time, everyone started to get ready.

Because there is something wrong with Hubble's expansion formula. It's very wrong!

Slipher was the first to be selected by Hubble.

From today onwards, his reputation in the astronomical community will probably increase significantly.

He is the man behind Hubble, after all.

His work on the theory of galaxy redshift inspired Hubble.

Slipher smiled and said:

"Dr. Hubble, I have a question, which may be a bit stupid."

"I hope you don't mind."

Hubble smiled and said:

"Mr. Slipher, you are too modest, please."

Slipher felt bitter at being called sir on such an occasion, and the reason was obvious.

He is neither a doctor nor a professor, so he can only be called Sir.

This feels a bit awkward when so many bigwigs are around.

However, he still asked calmly:
"Dr. Hubble, I don't quite understand."

“Why is it that the farther away the galaxy is from the Earth, the faster its recession velocity is, which means that the universe is expanding uniformly?”

"Can you explain this in a little more detail?"

“None of us undergraduates are very good at math.”

Slipher's humor successfully resolved the embarrassment and caused laughter in the audience.

In this day and age, it is still rare to get a PhD in astronomy.

Even a large number of astronomers have never received professional education. They just build an observatory at home and start studying astronomy.

Therefore, people don’t look down on each other’s academic qualifications.

Hubble smiled upon hearing this and said:

"Sorry, I was just worried about time, so I didn't go into details."

"This involves a unit that I defined myself."

"The speed at which the universe is expanding is not the same as the speed at which objects are moving."

"These are two completely different concepts."

"Give me a vivid example."

"As shown in the picture:"

"Now there is a 1.5-meter-long rope. In 1 second, I stretched it to 1.8 meters, and the increment is 0.3 meters."

"If I divide a 1.5-meter-long rope into three evenly spaced segments, each 0.5 meters long, then the increment of each segment is 0.1 meters."

"Okay, now I will use the distance that a 1-meter rope is stretched in 1 second as the rope's expansion speed."

"So the distance the 1-meter rope is stretched is 0.1 + 0.1 = 0.2 meters."

"So, the rope's expansion rate is 0.2 (meters per second) per meter."

“I think this is easy to understand.”

Slipher nodded. Hubble's explanation was very easy to understand.

“This definition is actually my definition in astronomy.”

"The expansion rate of the universe is: 1 million parsecs (326 million light years) is stretched to an incremental distance in 1 second."

"With this definition, it is easier for us to understand uniform expansion."

"Now get back to this rope."

"We are now assuming that the rope is stretched (expanded) uniformly."

"The left end of the rope is the center, and it continues to extend to the right."

"Then you will find that the speed with which any point on the rope moves away from the center of the left end is proportional to the distance it has left from the center."

"For example, at 0.5 meters from the center, I marked it with a triangle symbol, and its increment is 0.1 meters."

"According to the calculation of V=HD, the stretching speed at 0.5 meters is 0.2×0.5=0.1 meters per second."

"For example, if I mark the area 1 meter from the center with a square symbol, the increment is 0.2 meters."

"According to the calculation of V=HD, the stretching speed at 1 meters is 0.2×1=0.2 meters per second."

“That’s where the expansion formula comes into play.”

"So, this formula means that the universe is expanding uniformly."

"The rate of expansion is the constant H in the formula."

"That's my explanation."

Wow!
Slipher suddenly understood.

Hubble explained while also providing demonstration pictures.

Those present were all elites and bigwigs in the field of astronomy.

With their IQ, if they can't understand this, there's no way they would be sitting here.

To put it bluntly, the concept of space expansion requires a roundabout way to understand.

It is not as intuitive as the speed of an object. If the formula is correct, then Hubble's conclusion is not wrong.

The universe is expanding, and it is expanding uniformly.

Hubble looked at everyone with high spirits.

He has been preparing for today's meeting for too long.

And they have put in effort and sweat that ordinary people can hardly imagine.

Because galaxies are so far away, their light sources are very dim.

Therefore, galaxies are not as easy to identify as the stars in the Milky Way.

In order to capture clear galaxy spectra, exposure and tracking accuracy must be maintained for several hours.

Therefore, Hubble had to use his shoulders to support the 2.5-meter-diameter telescope tube and keep the shooting direction focused on the observed galaxy.

This feeling is extremely sour and refreshing.

Colleagues at Mount Wilson Observatory jokingly called Hubble "the frozen monkey."

He stayed in the observation room on the 5th floor all night, guarding the telescope, and "his face looked ugly under the light."

This shows Hubble's rigorous scientific attitude and tenacious scientific spirit.

This is the fundamental reason why he can become a master of his generation.

At this moment, hard work pays off.

Hubble can finally stand at the highest hall of astronomy and challenge all the heroes in the world!
It really deserves the following sentence:
The cold wind blows from Mount Wilson, and the young man returns after a long time!
However, at this moment, the second questioner appeared.

He is Sir Dyson!
The old man didn't say much in the way of small talk, but his words were shocking and shocked the whole audience.

he asked:
"Dr. Hubble, I just used your formula to calculate and discovered an astonishing fact."

"When a celestial body is more than 150 billion light years away from Earth, its recession speed will exceed the speed of light."

"Doesn't this violate the principles of special relativity?"

"How is it possible for an object to move faster than the speed of light?"

boom!
The whole audience was shocked!

Everyone forgets this.

The expansion formula is linear, and linearity means that it can be superimposed infinitely.

And distance is a physical quantity that can be superimposed.

According to Hubble's formula, the recession speed of distant celestial bodies actually exceeds the speed of light.

This is incredible!
For a moment, there was a heated discussion in the venue.

Even Hai Er was speechless.

He knew that the question from his old rival Dyson was very tricky, but also a very good question.

If Hubble was right, then general relativity was right, and at the same time, special relativity was right too.

But if the special theory of relativity is correct, then the speed of an object cannot exceed the speed of light, so Hubble was wrong.

This is a contradictory process.

Dyson's question directly hit the core of Hubble's law of expansion.

Everyone admired him.

"Sure enough, ginger is still spicier when old!"

Hubble was also moved, and no longer had the calmness and composure he had just shown when answering Slipher.

He had been so excited before that he hadn't thought about it.

You know, before today, the largest scale in astronomers' minds was only the Milky Way.

But the Milky Way is only about 20 light years in diameter.

Its distance from the M31 nebula is only in the millions of light years.

Normal people would only think that the scope of the universe is roughly tens of millions of light years.

At most, it is 100 million light years away.

This is already an unimaginably huge number.

Such a large universe is enough to accommodate everything.

But now, Sir Dyson opened his mouth and mentioned the distance of 150 billion light years.

At this scale, no one can simulate the image in their brain.

It's too far!

However, if we substitute it into the expansion formula, we will indeed conclude that the speed of the celestial body has exceeded the speed of light.

Although Hubble tried his best to calm himself, his heart was beating wildly.

He knew that now was the most critical moment.

If Dyson's problem cannot be explained, then his theory will fail.

This was an ending he could not accept no matter what.

His dream was shattered!

So he forced an explanation:
"That's how I understand it, Sir Dyson."

“Perhaps our universe has a clear boundary.”

"150 billion light years is too big. The universe can't be that big."

"So, the situation you are talking about does not exist."

"Perhaps we can use the speed of light to reversely calculate the size of the universe."

After Hubble finished speaking, a trace of cold sweat broke out on his head.

After hearing his answer, many people nodded silently, as if this answer made some sense.

But Sir Dyson wasn't buying it.

He smiled and said:

"Haha, Dr. Hubble, this is not in line with your true level."

"Before today, we all thought that the universe was only a few hundred thousand light years across."

"But you overturned that view and proved the island universe theory."

"The universe is much bigger than we thought."

"In that case, how do you know it's no more than a few billion light years in diameter?"

"Maybe it's just your expansion formula that needs fixing."

These words left Hubble speechless and unable to refute.

Yes, he is the man who proved the universe island.

Why are we now starting to limit the size of the universe?

What about courage?
What about your mind?
And Dyson's logic is correct.

If the universe is really that big, then the law of expansion is wrong.

In other words, Dyson and Hubble are incompatible.

One of them must be wrong!
This is the consensus of everyone on the field.

Eddington frowned. He really wanted to help Hubble, but the doubts from his mentor Dyson were too fatal.

He couldn't think of a reason.

Even Shapley stood on Hubble's side at this moment.

But when faced with the problem of superluminal speed, he could only stare blankly.

Hai Er, who was standing next to him, was so angry that he almost wanted to drag the old man Dyson out.

"Just ask if you want to, why are you being so weird?"

At this moment, Hubble was caught in the most tense moment in its history.

His mind was working frantically, yet it was completely blank.

Everyone in the audience was looking at him.

This kind of pressure is simply unimaginable. Ordinary people would have collapsed long ago.

Hai Er felt extremely distressed. He wanted to stand up and shout:

"believe it or not!"

Of course, in today's ultra-high-end academic environment, everything must be convincing.

We can only rely on Hubble himself.

Because Haier couldn't explain Dyson's doubts.

He is powerless.

At this critical moment, it seemed as if a flash of thought flashed in Hubble's mind.

As if possessed by some strange impulse, he looked towards a figure in the audience.

"Professor Bruce."

Suddenly, a heavenly sound rang in Hubble's ears.

But to everyone, it sounded like an icy and merciless decree from the emperor above the nine heavens!
“Hubble was not wrong.”

"The law of expansion does not contradict the special theory of relativity."

boom!
Words that move the world!

(End of this chapter)