1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 575 The Beginning of the Starry Sea! Rockets and Spaceflight! Professor Bruce actually likes big rockets?

Among the five core branches of physics, mechanics ranks first!

It is the first ray of light that illuminates the dark and ignorant world of mankind.

Only after Newton completed the study of mechanics did the natural science system in the true sense come into being.

Because of Newton, mechanics is not just a theoretical subject, but has risen to the level of a thinking framework.

No matter how far relativity and quantum mechanics develop in the future, their foundation comes from mechanics.

Therefore, the status of mechanics is transcendent and unquestionable.

Mechanics has been developed for more than three hundred years, and its application areas are almost all-encompassing.

Machinery, water conservancy, transportation, and construction.
Depending on the different majors, mechanics has been divided into many sub-fields.

For example, fluid mechanics, solid mechanics, material mechanics, elasticity mechanics, etc.

Among all the branches of mechanics mentioned above, fluid mechanics has a special position.

It is the crown in the science of mechanics and represents the highest achievement of mechanics.

Fluid mechanics is definitely the most difficult branch of the entire mechanics system.

The difficulty lies not only in calculation, but also in the complexity of constructing theoretical models.

Even in later generations, even with the assistance of supercomputers, there are still many unsolved mysteries in fluid mechanics.

One of them is the famous NS equations, namely the Navier-Stokes equations.

It is an equation jointly proposed by French physicist Navier and Irish physicist Stokes in the mid-19th century.

The equation involves a large number of parameters, which makes its exact solution very complicated.

Many academic leaders believe that:
“If someone in the field of mechanics can win the Nobel Prize, then his research direction must be fluid mechanics.”

One can imagine how difficult and important it is to win the Nobel Prize for achievements in classical pure mechanics.

This is the charm of fluid mechanics.

Fluid mechanics also has many branches, among which fluid dynamics is the most core and difficult.

The core of fluid dynamics lies in the word "movement".

It mainly studies the movement laws of fluids under the action of external forces and the interaction between fluids and solids.

It is very complicated because it involves almost all influencing factors such as motion, mechanics, materials, temperature, pressure, etc.

The most typical one is aerodynamics.

With the emergence and development of aircraft, aerodynamics has now become the hottest direction.

It is almost synonymous with fluid mechanics.

As the highest conference in the field of mechanics, the First World Congress of Mechanics certainly could not discuss simple issues such as small sliders and forces on mechanical structures.

After collective discussions among big names such as von Karman and Qian Wushi, the branch of fluid mechanics was unanimously favored by everyone.

“It has to be difficult! It has to be high-end! Only in this way can the authority and professionalism of the conference be reflected!”

Therefore, the theme of the conference was finally determined to be: fluid dynamics and aerodynamics. (This is also the theme in real history)
There are more than a dozen mechanics giants headed by von Karman, who are experts in fluid mechanics or aerodynamics.

After all, those who study mechanics are not necessarily big shots, but those who study fluid mechanics are definitely big shots.

Inside the reception room of Delft Institute of Technology.

Li Qiwei and everyone else sat casually.

At this time, von Karman, as the organizer of the meeting, smiled and said:

"Professor Bruce, now please allow me to formally introduce you to my colleagues."

Li Qiwei nodded and smiled in response.

“I’d love to meet you all, too.”

The first person von Karman introduced was an old man.

The other person was wearing a pair of exquisite glasses, his hair and beard were gray, he was not tall, but he looked energetic.

"This is Professor Tsiolkovsky from the Soviet Union."

"He was a pioneer in space travel and a rocket scientist."

Although Tsiolkovsky, 67 years old this year, has a rough appearance, he has a very reserved personality.

He seldom communicates with others, but prefers to lock himself in his room to study.

However, Tsiolkovsky was still very excited to meet the legendary Professor Bruce.

Because he had too many questions to ask.

"Hello, Professor Bruce, nice to meet you."

"You are much younger than I thought."

"It's incredible!"

“Your achievements have attracted worldwide attention.”

"I hope I can have a pleasant exchange with you today."

Von Karman and others were all shocked.

During these days of getting along with Tsiolkovsky, they got to know his temper roughly. He was taciturn and liked to speak directly.

But today, he actually said so much in one breath.

Everyone smiled bitterly: Sure enough, being aloof or not depends on the person.

In real history, Tsiolkovsky was known as the "Father of Spaceflight".

Many people may not be able to distinguish between aerospace and aviation.

To put it simply, all flight activities within the Earth's atmosphere are called aviation.

Whether manned or unmanned, flying machines are generally called "aircraft".

Flight activities outside the Earth's atmosphere are called aerospace, also known as space flight or space navigation.

Various machines used in aerospace are not called aircraft, but "spacecraft".

Spacecraft also can be divided into manned and unmanned.

Tsiolkovsky was the first to demonstrate the feasibility of using rockets for interstellar transportation and for creating artificial satellites.

As early as 1882, he was inspired by Newton's third law:

"If a small hole is opened at one end of a barrel filled with high-pressure gas, the gas will be ejected through the small hole and produce a reaction force on the barrel, causing the barrel to move in the opposite direction."

This is the prototype of the principle of rocket flight.

Later, he began to devote himself to rocket research.

Starting in 1903, he published several papers in succession, systematically expounding the theory of rockets and interstellar travel.

First, he proposed the famous rocket motion formula: the formula that relates the rocket's flight speed to the rocket engine's jet speed, the rocket's mass, and the fuel's mass.

Second, he also proposed the idea of ​​progressive flight of multi-stage rockets, providing a theoretical basis for space navigation.

Third, he advocated the use of liquid fuel in rockets.

In one of his papers, he even described in detail the entire process of a rocket carrying a spacecraft from launch to entering orbit.

Reading it feels like you are there!
His achievements were highly praised by bigwigs such as Mendeleev, but were suppressed by the mainstream scientific community in Russia.

The reason is simple: you really want to fly away from the earth and stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun.

At the time, few believed that humans could develop the technology to leave Earth, let alone interstellar travel.

However, none of this dampened Tsiolkovsky's enthusiasm for space research.

Soon, his career took a turn for the better, as the newly born Soviet Union attached great importance to research in the aerospace field.

Tsiolkovsky immediately became a household name in the country as a scientist and academician.

His published papers and novels were widely published, sparking a "space travel fever" across the country.

In 1924, the Soviet Union established the Astronautics Society, and Tsiolkovsky became the first professor of the society. He was responsible for training the first generation of aerospace engineering talents for the Soviet Union.

The future famous aerospace tycoon Korolev was his student.

Korolev was the designer of the world's first artificial satellite launch vehicle and the chief designer of the first manned spacecraft.

However, in this era, although the Soviet Union attaches great importance to the aerospace field, European and American countries are not optimistic about it.

This is true even for the United States and Germany, which have the strongest aerospace research.

The big guys are doing research out of passion, without expecting any reward.

Therefore, even if some important theories and technologies are developed, they are unlikely to be taken seriously and will be thrown into an abandoned corner.

However, in just a few decades, the advent of the Space Age will completely change this situation.

Humanity’s footsteps finally set foot in the starry sky!
Li Qiwei looked at Tsiolkovsky in front of him and felt deeply moved.

Someone has already begun to build upon his dream of the sea of ​​stars.

Rockets, spacecraft, satellites, space stations, moon landings, Mars exploration, planetary transformation, Dyson spheres
The future is bright.

And today, he may be able to plant a seed of hope.

Li Qiwei smiled and replied:

"Hello, Professor Tsiolkovsky."

“I’ve read your published papers and novels, and they’re both excellent.”

“One of the papers left a deep impression on me.”

"You described the entire process of rocket launch in detail in your paper. It's shocking!"

Wow!
Everyone was even more surprised when they heard this!

Is Professor Bruce still interested in rockets and aerospace?
This cross-border move is quite impressive.

Although Tsiolkovsky himself did not study fluid mechanics, rocket design is definitely related to aerodynamics.

Therefore, von Karman invited this big shot to attend the conference to cheer for it.

At this point, von Karman joked:

"Professor Bruce, since you are so interested in rockets, you should attend this mechanics conference."

Everyone smiled knowingly.

Li Qiwei said:
"We have a man named Wan Hu in China. He should be the first person in the world to study rockets."

"Five or six hundred years ago, he tied a homemade rocket to a chair and tried to fly into the sky."

"Unfortunately, he failed and paid with his life."

"I admired his spirit, so I remembered this story and became interested in rockets."

Wow!
Everyone was shocked.

Although they had never heard of Wan Hu's name, they also admired him very much.

This is a true seeker!
There was a gleam in Tsiolkovsky's eyes, and he felt a sense of regret and sympathy.

He decided to go back and learn more about Wan Hu's deeds.

Then, his eyes became fiery.

The famous Professor Bruce is actually interested in rockets and aerospace?
The most important thing is that the other party has read the papers and novels I wrote.

For a moment, the old man was very excited and even began to feel a little unconfident.

"Professor Bruce, my rocket theory should be full of loopholes in your opinion."

"After all, it doesn't involve any advanced physics theories."

Li Qiwei smiled and said:
"That's a bad word."

"When Wan Hu was researching rockets, natural science had not yet been born."

"The rocket theory you proposed is of a rough outline, but it is of great significance."

"If I really want to build a rocket like the one in your paper, I still have a long way to go."

“But I’m pretty confident about it.”

Wow!
Everyone was shocked!

Professor Bruce's belief can break the stone!

Tsiolkovsky was completely defeated and instantly became a chatterbox.

"Professor Bruce, your analysis is so accurate!"

"Just last year, Oberth from Romania published a 90-page article titled "Rockets to Interstellar Space."

"He systematically explained mathematically how and at what speed rockets could escape the pull of the Earth's gravity, and he also introduced the principles of spacecraft flight."

“His work is much more detailed than mine.”

Li Qiwei nodded slightly after hearing this.

In real history, Oberth was known as the "Father of European Rockets".

He transformed Tsiolkovsky's theory into engineering, making it operational.

Oberth's work on rocket propulsion was regarded as the "Bible" of the aerospace field by a whole generation of engineers.

One of his students was the famous von Braun.

To introduce von Braun, only one sentence is needed: the chief designer of the German V2 rocket.

Although the V2 rocket has the word "rocket" in its name, it is actually a ballistic missile.

The difference between a rocket and a missile lies in "guidance".

Rockets are about using great power to create miracles. As long as there is enough fuel, they can go as far as you want and generate as much thrust as you want.

Therefore, rockets are mainly used as means of transportation for spacecraft and satellites, and they all look bulky and crude in appearance.

Missiles are mainly used as weapons and require precise strikes on targets.

Therefore, missiles generally do not carry much fuel and look much smaller. Their core indicator is the accuracy of guidance.

At this point, Tsiolkovsky added:

"Oh, right!"

"Goddard in the United States recently successfully developed a liquid-fuel rocket that uses a mixture of liquid oxygen and gasoline."

"Although the world's first liquid-fuel rocket only flew for 2.5 seconds and a distance of only 56 meters."

“But I firmly believe that it must be the future of rocket power!”

In real history, Goddard was hailed as the "Father of American Rocketry" and the "Father of Modern Rocket Technology."

He not only calculated the feasibility and necessity of liquid fuel theoretically, but also proved it through experiments.

The rocket he developed was the truly modern rocket.

Von Braun once said of Goddard:

"In the history of rocket development, Dr. Goddard is unrivaled."

"He was ahead of everyone in the design, construction and launch of liquid rockets."

At this moment, Li Qiwei listened to Tsiolkovsky's detailed introduction to the field of rockets with a look of admiration.

Tsiolkovsky, Oberth and Goddard are the founders and pioneers of the field of rockets and aerospace.

Their achievements may have many shortcomings when viewed by future generations, but it is precisely because of their selfless persistence that they have a bright future.

For example, after Goddard launched the first liquid rocket, he did not attract the attention of the US government.

It wasn't until decades later, when the United States began to fall behind in the space race, that it looked at the data and saw: Damn, Goddard had already done the work!
And in this life, Li Qiwei suddenly had an idea.

"I want to intercept!"

(End of this chapter)