Training the Heavens

Chapter 273 Press Conference

For such a significant discovery, simply submitting it to Nature would be too brief, so Lippmann sent invitations to several media outlets, inviting them to attend a press conference at the Sorbonne University to witness this great discovery.

With the cooperation of Pierre, Zhang Xingjiu and Lang Zhiwan prepared to repeat the experiment.

On the day of the press conference, not only reporters from French media such as Le Figaro, Petit Journal, and La Presse arrived, but also reporters from other European countries such as the British Times, the Illustrated London News, and the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Even the European-based reporter from the New York Times came over.

Of course, physicists from several famous universities and research institutions in Paris and surrounding cities were also present, and they were all looking forward to the press conference.

At the appointed time, Professor Lippmann took the stage and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Sorbonne. Today, we will all witness the greatest discovery in physics in 1896."

"First, please allow me the honor of introducing the leader of this great discovery—Mr. Zhang Xingjiu, who comes from the East. He was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China, and studied at the Jesuit-founded St. Ignatius College in Shanghai. He came to the Department of Physics at the Sorbonne University in September of this year."

"Soon after entering school, Zhang demonstrated his exceptional talent in physics. He first discovered an error in Wien's equations through a blackbody radiation experiment, which caused a sensation in the international physics community."

Hearing this, Hans, a reporter from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, curled his lips in frustration. Previously, the German scientific community had always promoted Wien's formula as the pride of their country, but they did not expect that it would be disproven by a student from a French university.

And France also has the tendency to replace Germany as the center of blackbody radiation research. How can this not make them depressed?

"Soon, Zhang had a new inspiration. He designed a series of ingenious experiments. Finally, when conducting a gas conductivity experiment, he discovered that cathode rays were not electromagnetic waves, but a stream of negatively charged particles."

"Oh!" As soon as the words fell, the scene immediately became noisy.

The physicists and journalists present only knew that the Department of Physics at the Sorbonne University had an important discovery to announce, but they didn't know what it was. Their doubts were only revealed now.

"Damn it!" Steven, a reporter from The Times, felt the same way as the reporter from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and was even more frustrated. Since he was sent here for the interview, he must be more familiar with the trends in the physics world.

Steven had just interviewed Professor Thomson, director of the Cavendish Laboratory, and knew that he was also conducting research on cathode rays and had found some inspiration. Unfortunately, the Sorbonne University had already produced the results in advance, and his preparations seemed to be in vain.

"How did he discover it? What does this particle flow consist of?" several physicists asked in unison.

"Don't worry, we will conduct an experimental demonstration soon, and you will know when you see it." Professor Lippmann's face is now flushed, as excited as when he invented the stained glass photography technology.

He extended his hand to invite Zhang Xingjiu and Lang Zhiwan to demonstrate to everyone. The two of them repeated the experimental process in front of so many people, explaining it to them while conducting the experiment.

The reporters were still confused, but some physicists had already understood and they immediately became excited.

"Such a speed is impossible for electromagnetic waves!" "I saw the changes in the readings of the electrometer. The cathode rays really have a negative charge."

"This particle is obviously much smaller than an atom. Is it a new particle or a component of an atom?"

Zhang Xingjiu announced the charge and mass of this particle, stating, "Based on these results, we can basically determine that this particle is a component of an atom. Drawing on the theory of British physicist Professor Stoney, we call this particle an 'electron'!"

"So atoms can be divided further?" Now a reporter who had a better understanding of physics finally reacted.

"Yes!" Zhang Xingjiu answered with certainty. Atoms can be divided into atomic nuclei and electrons. This is basic common sense in later generations. Even high school students know it. But this fact has not been discovered yet. He became the first scientist in the world to discover electrons.

He then took out carefully drawn drawings so that the reporters could understand the process and results of the discovery more clearly.

Most people were confused just by looking at the experimental process, but it was much easier for them to understand with these large pictures. Reporters with cameras immediately took out their expensive equipment and started taking pictures of these pictures.

After taking the photos, the reporters and physicists immediately couldn't wait to ask, "Excuse me, what is the significance of this discovery?"

"This is a great discovery of the microscopic world by mankind, which helps us understand the world more realistically."

"If electrons are part of the atom, then what is the rest of the atom?"

"We don't know yet, and further research is needed. This is also the focus of our next work." Zhang Xingjiu said this, but he didn't intend to do so in his heart.

Because discovering the atomic nucleus is much more difficult than discovering the electron, the current experimental conditions and equipment level do not meet the requirements. According to the original history, Rutherford did not publish the concept of the atomic nucleus until 1911. It is still time for Zhang Xingjiu to wait for ten years to start related experiments.

"Perhaps we can make scientific speculations about the structure of atoms based on this new discovery and previous accumulation," Zhang Xingjiu added.

This was also the focus of physicists' work after the discovery of atoms. Thomson also made predictions about the structure of atoms. Unfortunately, his predictions were not correct and were eventually overturned by Rutherford.

The physicists suddenly became excited. They immediately realized that whoever could make accurate predictions and come up with a diagram of the atomic structure in advance would definitely leave a significant mark in the history of physics and have his name listed alongside immortal scholars such as Newton and Galileo.

How many scientists could resist such temptation? They were eager to see the complete paper immediately and then use it to infer the exact structure of atoms.

Most reporters and physicists congratulated Zhang Xingjiu, Lang Zhiwan and Sorbonne University, but there were still a few reporters who were unwilling to see that such a great discovery came from the hands of a Chinese.

So Steven, a reporter from the Times, asked maliciously, "Excuse me, was this discovery really made by Mr. Zhang?"

　There will be more later
　　
　
(End of this chapter)