1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 539: The first particle accelerator! Artificial nuclear fission reaction! The dawn of the nuclear physics era!

After the speech, the laboratory officially entered a carnival state.

Music, food, dancing, conversation.
There was toasting and laughter everywhere.

Aston went back to his old job and actually mixed cocktails for everyone himself.

Before coming to Cavendish, he worked as a research and development engineer in a brewery as a professional.

He smiled modestly:

"Everyone, please feel free to enjoy."

"I would like to state in advance that I only guarantee safety, not taste."

Many people came interested.

No matter how unpalatable the wine made by the Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry is, you have to drink it. Maybe it will inspire you.

Wilson quipped:

"I have never tasted a good wine mixed for me by a Nobel Prize winner in my life."

After that, he picked up a cup and took a sip, then exclaimed exaggeratedly:

"Wow, it smells like the Nobel Prize!"

The crowd burst into laughter.

The laboratory was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

The two big guys, Li Qiwei and Rutherford, were sitting in the corner, watching the lively scene in front of them.

Party law: The worse the food, the happier the people are.

Therefore, Wilson was the first to bear the brunt and was reluctant to leave.

After Thomson finished his speech, he talked to everyone and left early.

Now they are the leaders.

Rutherford suddenly asked:
"Bruce, are you really determined to leave Europe next year?"

Li Qiwei shook the wine glass in his hand, and the blurry crimson color reflected a deep light.

He said softly:

"Yes."

"The construction of the Science City is almost complete, and I need to go back and take charge."

"Also, the political atmosphere in Europe right now is a bit strange, and I have a bad feeling about it."

Ridgway's plan envisaged a return to Borneo in 1925.

After this year's fourth Bruce Conference, quantum mechanics will be truly complete.

All his scientific arrangements in Europe were completed.

There is no need to stay here anymore.

The following era was a time of vigorous development of nuclear experiments.

It was time for experimental masters like Rutherford to show their prowess.

It would be better for Ridgway to stay in the Borneo base camp than in England.

He had more time to guide Master Qian Wu and others to achieve various breakthroughs.

In fact, the moment he met Ramanujan, Li Qiwei even had the urge to leave.

However, for the next Pangu plan, he had to travel around Europe and build relationships.

Contact and negotiations with the British and Dutch governments enabled him to penetrate deeper into Borneo.

Just wait until the time is right and listen to the original chant!
Borneo will naturally change its allegiance and become Li Qiwei's exclusive delicacy.

Only then will the dragon truly return to the sea and the tiger flee to the mountains!
"I will use science to protect the country forever!"

Rutherford frowned slightly when he heard this.

Although he doesn't pay much attention to current affairs, he knows that things are not very peaceful in Germany and Italy recently.

Some people are ready to spread some very bad ideas.

This has even affected the scientific community.

The last atomic conference he was planning to attend was cancelled for unknown reasons.

Yet Rutherford was optimistic.

"Bruce, don't think too much."

"Europe has just experienced such a big war, no one dares to risk the world's condemnation and start another dispute."

"However, you should go back, so you can spend time with your family."

"If you don't retire soon, young people will curse you."

Li Qiwei smiled.

At this time, Rutherford said with a relaxed expression:
"You also donated a wireless telegraph machine to the laboratory, which makes communication very convenient."

"Besides, I can go to your place for the next conference, and it will be like a round-the-world trip."

"As a capitalist, you have to reimburse us for our travel expenses."

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Cavendish Laboratory, visitors carefully prepared various gifts.

Li Qiwei was simple and crude. He waved his hand and ordered a high-end wireless telegraph machine as a gift, which aroused the envy of everyone.

No one dares to compete with Professor Bruce.

Just kidding, physicist is just the other party’s poorest identity.

Li Qiwei smiled slightly after hearing Rutherford's comfort and jokes.

He is also looking forward to what the future will be like.

He raised his head and drank the red wine in his hand.

Then, his face turned the color of liver.

"Depend on!"

"The drinks that Aston mixes are too bad to drink."

Rutherford laughed uncontrollably, wishing time could stop at this moment.

The revelry lasted for more than an hour.

Rutherford stood up, walked to the stage, and said with a smile:

"Everyone, please listen to me."

"The laboratory will hold an academic salon at 3 o'clock this afternoon."

“Everyone who is interested can attend the salon.”

"If you are not interested, you can continue to have fun here. Drinks and food will always be available."

Everyone was overjoyed when they heard this.

This arrangement is very good.

Heisenberg and others of course chose to attend the salon.

Most others chose to continue celebrating.

They are very self-aware. If they go, it will lower the level of the salon.
-
Cavendish Laboratory, 3pm.

Organized by Rutherford, the salon was held in a larger meeting room.

The room is fully equipped with fine wine and delicious food.

There were more than thirty people participating.

Everyone sat down casually, with no order of precedence.

At this time, Rutherford presided over the meeting and said:
"Today's salon does not have a specific theme. We can discuss any academic issues at will."

"With Professor Bruce here, you must seize the opportunity."

Many people had excited eyes, this was a good opportunity to ask for advice.

Asking a good question can really help you achieve success overnight and become famous in the physics community.

Little Thompson is the best example.

"However, before the free discussion, I have prepared two sessions."

“First, several of my students will give reports and share some of Cavendish’s latest achievements.”

“If you have any questions or want to know anything, feel free to ask.”

“Second, I invited Professor Wilson to share his latest work on cloud chambers.”

“In addition, he will present the question that Professor Bruce answered at the quantum mechanics conference, which is the problem of electron trajectories in a cloud chamber.”

After Rutherford finished speaking, everyone became interested.

Both the students’ reports and Wilson’s cloud chamber are cutting-edge topics in physics.

Even if they are big shots or geniuses, they still need to keep learning.

Soon, the first student came on stage.

"Hi everyone, I'm Cockcroft."

"My research topic is particle accelerators."

"Please look at the picture." "This is a proton accelerator that I invented and made."

"Its principle is to accelerate protons by superimposing linear electromagnetic fields."

"Currently it is possible to generate a DC potential difference of approximately 800 kilovolts."

"After the protons are accelerated by this accelerator, their energy is enough to cause a nuclear reaction."

Wow!
Cockcroft looked a little nervous, but his research work amazed everyone.

Particle accelerator is the hottest topic in the field of atomic science right now.

Many laboratories are trying to build such an instrument.

With the concept of nuclear fusion proposed by Ridgwell, the discipline of nuclear physics was officially born.

Nuclear bombardment experiments require even greater particle energy.

The old equipment is now gradually being eliminated.

Now it's particle accelerators.

From theory to practice, research on it is developing rapidly.

The accelerator that Irena built herself before was simply incomparable to this one of Cockcroft.

Sure enough, he continued:

"According to the information I retrieved, my accelerator should be the world's first true particle accelerator."

Everyone couldn't help but marvel!
The Cavendish Laboratory is indeed getting stronger and stronger.

In the field of atomic science, it is far ahead, even the Institute of Quantum Research cannot match it.

Rutherford smiled and nodded with satisfaction.

He was extremely pleased to see the laboratory flourish and develop in his hands.

Irena's beautiful eyes sparkled, and she whispered to Li Qiwei:
"Professor, this accelerator built by Cockcroft uses capacitors and rectifiers."

"So it only needs low pressure to produce a lot of acceleration."

“This is so practical!”

Irena was very envious.

Compared with other people's accelerators, she felt extremely frustrated.

Li Qiwei comforted:

"It's okay. Once he invents it, you can use it directly."

"Next time you need it, come directly to Cavendish to find Professor Rutherford."

Irena was at a loss whether to laugh or cry when she heard this. Is this even possible?
Li Qiwei looked at the young man in his twenties in front of him and understood.

In real history, Cockcroft invented the world's first linear accelerator.

In 1932, he and another student of Rutherford, Walton, used accelerated protons to bombard lithium atoms and successfully generated helium atoms.

This was also the first time that humans achieved artificial nuclear fission reaction, shocking the physics community.

For this achievement, Cockcroft and Walton jointly won the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Judging from his age, Walton should not have come to Cavendish yet.

Just two years later, in 1934, physicists achieved artificial nuclear fusion reaction for the first time.

At this point, some people may wonder:

"Huh? Didn't they say that uranium nuclear fission was the first nuclear fission phenomenon discovered?"

"Why is there a Cockcroft?"

Because after Cockcroft and Walton used particle accelerators to artificially achieve nuclear fission reactions, physicists at the time reached a consensus.

That is, after an atom undergoes a nuclear fission reaction, it can only split into atoms with similar atomic numbers.

What does that mean?

For example, if element 50 undergoes nuclear fission, it can only form several elements such as 49, 48, and 47.

In other words, if the nucleus loses a few protons at most, the change will not be significant.

Many bombardment experiments have also proved this point.

However, when physicists bombarded uranium, they discovered something unusual.

Element 92, uranium, was the last element in the periodic table known at the time.

After the nuclear fission reaction occurs through neutron bombardment, elements such as 91/90/89 should be produced.

But physicists have tried many times and found no trace of these elements.

So, everyone suddenly had an idea: Could it be that elements after uranium, the so-called transuranium elements, were generated?

If this is true, it would be a huge discovery.

Expanding the periodic table is a temptation that no one can resist.

What follows is a series of thrilling stories.

We now know that when uranium undergoes nuclear fission, one of the reactions is the formation of element 56, barium, and element 36, krypton.

This is almost equivalent to splitting the uranium nucleus in two.

It is completely different from the result of traditional nuclear fission reactions (also called heavy nuclear fission), so it shocked the physics community.

Of course, there are other special features of uranium nuclear fission, but that is a story for another time.

At this moment, Cockcroft carefully reported his results and put forward another shocking concept.

"Inspired by the concept of nuclear fusion proposed by Professor Bruce, Professor Rutherford believed that nuclear fission reactions should also exist."

"Moreover, he also pointed out that nuclear fission should have occurred in various particle bombardment experiments before."

"For example, Professor Rutherford's discovery of the proton included the steps of nuclear fission, according to our analysis."

"But those are naturally occurring things and cannot be artificially created or controlled."

"Therefore, my goal is to use a particle accelerator to artificially achieve nuclear fission reactions."

Wow!
Everyone was simply stunned!

No one took this ordinary-looking guy seriously at first.

Unexpectedly, he turned out to be such a fierce man.

He actually wanted to achieve artificial nuclear fission reaction!
If this succeeds, it will definitely be a major achievement that will shock the physics community.

Although the concept of nuclear fission is not as shocking as nuclear fusion.

But it is also the most important theory in the field of nuclear physics.

Everyone was filled with emotion:

"Cavendish is indeed a place of hidden talents."

At this time, Irena suddenly asked:

"Mr. Cockcroft, why don't you want to achieve artificial nuclear fusion reaction first?"

Upon hearing this, Cockroof felt a little excited.

He knew that the beauty in front of him was the famous Irena.

Therefore, he acted enthusiastically.

"That's right, Miss Irena."

"In fact, what I first studied was nuclear fusion reactions."

"But even if I turned the accelerator to maximum power, it still had no effect."

"The conditions required for artificial nuclear fusion are very harsh."

"So, I had to choose nuclear fission, which is easier to achieve."

"After all, the process of bombardment experiment is more suitable for fission rather than fusion."

Hearing this, Irena nodded slightly.

She suddenly got some inspiration from what Cockcroft had just said.

Next, several more students came on stage.

Their contents are equally wonderful, reflecting Cavendish’s profound background and strength.

Several of them, like Cockcroft, attracted Ridgeway's attention.

For example, Kapitsa from the Soviet Union was the discoverer of superfluid in real history, and won the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics for it.

The so-called superfluid refers to a state of matter that is completely frictionless and can flow super fluidly.

If a superfluid is placed in a donut-shaped container, it can flow endlessly.

This phenomenon was later successfully explained by the famous Landau using condensed matter theory.

In later generations, someone put forward a bold theoretical conjecture: the essence of space-time may be some form of superfluid.

According to this point of view, it may be possible to use quantum mechanics to explain gravity and thus unify the four fundamental forces.

At this moment, when several of Rutherford's students finished their reports, they won applause from everyone in the audience.

"Cavendish is indeed worthy of being the temple of atomic research!"

"So scary!"

(End of this chapter)