1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 205 King's College London, PhD Admissions Program

Under Gregory's leadership, Ridgway soon arrived at King's College London.

This place is located right at the corner of the Thames in London, similar to the location of Lujiazui in Shanghai in later generations, and is an absolute city center location.

One kilometer to the south is the famous Whitehall, which connects the Houses of Parliament and Downing Street and is the location of various British government departments.

The famous residence of the British Prime Minister is located at 10 Downing Street.

2 kilometers southwest of the school is Buckingham Palace, which is the bedroom and office of the British monarch.

Ridgeway was very satisfied with this location. He could climb up and overlook the Thames and have a panoramic view of all the beautiful scenery of London.

While Gregory was taking him on a tour of the campus, Ridgeway was also checking out relevant information about King's College London in his mind.

The school was founded in 1829 by King George IV and Prime Minister Wellesley.

The school is the fourth oldest university in England after Oxford University, Cambridge University and University College London.

It accepts students and teachers from all races, religions and classes, and admits women.

Like University College London, King's College London was established to break the religious nature of Oxford and Cambridge and allow ordinary people to receive education.

Because Cambridge and Oxford mainly recruit children from upper-class Christian families, it is difficult for commoners to enter.

It's just that Li Qiwei is a special case.

Therefore, the university with the title of king is actually intended to enable ordinary people to go to university.

It's really interesting.

King's College London currently has three main teaching and research directions: natural sciences, medicine, and sociology.

Among them, medicine is its strong subject, and the school has produced many Nobel Prize winners in physiology or medicine.

Its strength in natural sciences, especially physics, although not comparable to that of Cambridge University, should not be underestimated.

This school has also produced several Nobel Prize winners in physics.

The most famous of them is probably Higgs of later generations.

This great man predicted the existence of the Higgs boson, the last undiscovered elementary particle, also known as the "God particle."

This particle is closely related to why matter has mass.

Higgs received his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from King's College London.

Moreover, late physics giants such as Maxwell and Wheatstone once served as physics professors here for several years.

But now, the Department of Physics at King's College London is not very good and has nothing to show for it.

Therefore, the school has been recruiting senior physics professors with high salaries and offering various preferential conditions.

Because a scholar with enough fame can often force the school to move to a higher level.

Regardless of the century or country, talent is the most important.

Of course, except for the big clearing.

It was from Thomson's information that Li Qiwei discovered this and finally chose it as his teaching school.

He can only wait for the price to be raised if the other party has an urgent need for the product.

Li Qiwei also wanted to start directly as a department head like Rutherford, which would be worthy of his status.

With Professor Thomson's high-end academic network, Li Qiwei felt that there shouldn't be any major problems.

After a period of communication, Gregory discovered that Li Qiwei was not the arrogant scholar as he had imagined.

The other party was so polite to a small employee of a magazine like himself, which made Gregory flattered and bolder.

"Dr. Bruce, are you planning to take up a position at King's College?"

Li Qiwei smiled and said, "I have this plan for now, but I don't know if they want me."

Gregory said quickly: "Yes! Definitely!"

"When you published the theory of special relativity, the entire physics community was in an uproar."

"The Department of Physics at King's College once invited me to give a speech as an outstanding graduate."

“Of course, the content of my speech is my feelings about papers such as quantum theory, photoelectric effect, and wave-particle duality.”

“As the editor of Nature, they always assume I have some inside information.”

“Everyone is curious about you.”

"If they knew you were going to teach at the Department of Physics at King's College, they would be so excited that they would not be able to sleep."

"Your joining, just like Professor Maxwell did in the past, will make King's College London shine."

Li Qiwei felt very comfortable with the flattery. He thought this young man was good and teachable, so he became interested.

"Gregory, it's been ten years since you graduated from college. Have you ever thought about starting over and getting a doctorate?"

"If I can really become a professor in the physics department, I would also like to take on a few students as soon as possible."

"Ah?" Gregory was stunned with surprise, his face full of disbelief.

He could never have imagined that Li Qiwei would value him so much.

"Dr. Bruce, are you telling the truth?"

“Can I still study for a PhD?”

Li Qiwei smiled and said, "No one can predict the future, and when I recruit doctoral students, they must be tested."

"You can try it."

"It won't take any time to give it a try. I think Sir Lockyer will definitely support you."

Gregory was so excited that he was speechless. It was truly a godsend.

He was not a fresh-faced young man who had just graduated, so he naturally knew what Li Qiwei meant.

If someone didn't want you, they wouldn't even mention it.

Gregory knew very well that attitude was far more important than ability when it came to so-called tests.

For a moment, he was shaking all over and his mouth was dry.

"Dr. Bruce, I really don't know what to say, thank you."

Li Qiwei smiled and said, "Let's go. Continue to introduce King's College London to me. This will increase my chances of being successfully recruited."

Gregory smiled naively and agreed, "If the school leaders are sane, they will definitely be eager to hire you."

Li Qiwei laughed.

His choice of Gregory as his doctoral student was also a well-considered one.

Not only him, Li Qiwei will also let Chris be his doctoral student.

In this way, he would have a reason to accept Chinese students as his doctoral students. Li Qiwei asked Li San to count the Chinese students currently studying in the UK for this purpose.

He will train a group of research students in the UK.

These students have a different positioning from He Yujie and others. They are truly engaged in physics research, not physics education.

After returning to China, I can become a backbone force and promote domestic physics research.

It complements He Yujie's basic physics education.

However, while he was teaching Chinese students, he also had to recruit British students.

The British are not stupid either. They provide you with resources and funding.

You are different. All the students you teach are from your own country, and they return to serve their country after graduation.

Britain is losing money.

Therefore, Ridgway had to treat everyone equally so as not to arouse opposition and to fully exploit the British.

He has dozens or even hundreds of Nobel Prize-winning achievements, so it is easy for him to train several students to win Nobel Prizes.

By then, when Britain sees how loyal he is to the British Empire, it will certainly relax its vigilance.

Li Qiwei can do it in a big way in the Science City of Borneo, develop slowly, accumulate strength, and finally swallow it in one bite.

A few Nobel Prize-winning achievements in exchange for a Borneo of more than 70 square kilometers. This deal is a good deal no matter how you look at it.

Everything is calculated and routine.

Just as Li Qiwei was thinking about the doctoral enrollment plan, the visit had already ended.

After thanking Gregory, he let him go back first.

Gregory seemed to be floating when he walked. It is not easy to study for a doctorate these days.

Unlike in later generations when there were too many doctors, doctors are very valuable nowadays.

With this title, you can at least hold your head high in any occasion and field.

Moreover, there are no exams for doctoral admissions nowadays. As long as there is a supervisor who is willing to accept you, you can go to study at any time.

As for whether you can graduate, it depends on your own ability.

Many domestic universities in later generations also adopted similar tutor selection systems, which did not require unified examinations.

Some master's students can even become doctoral students just by talking to their supervisor for a few words, without any difficulty.

If it is for an unfamiliar student, a letter of recommendation is particularly important.

After returning to Cambridge from London, Ridgway went to see Thomson again.

Thomson was very happy after telling the other party his final decision.

What he cared about was that Ridgway settled down in the UK, not which university he went to.

Anyway, with the other party's intelligence and talent, he will shine wherever he goes.

"King's College London is great, and their vice-president, Karp, and I are acquaintances."

"Some time ago, before you came to England, he came to me and asked me to introduce him to a professor of physics."

"At that time, Rutherford and Richardson were already arranged, so I turned him down."

"Now that you want to go to their physics department, I'll write you a letter of recommendation. I guarantee it will be fine."

"Given your qualifications and the current situation at King's College, I think it shouldn't be difficult for you to become the head of the Physics Department."

Li Qiwei was overjoyed. He didn't expect that Thompson had such a close relationship.

Even though he has won the Nobel Prize and is a knight, he is Chinese after all.

in the country, Li Qiwei can go wherever he wants.

But in the UK, although this invisible restriction is invisible and intangible, everyone knows it.

It is just like a foreigner, it is absolutely impossible for him to become the president of Imperial University of Peking.

However, with Thomson's assurance, everything is possible.

After all, the significance represented by a physics department director and a president is incomparable.

Li Qiwei's own strength is enough to make Thompson willing to contribute.

If it was Wilson, it would have been almost the same.

Otherwise, Thomson would have recommended Wilson to King's College long ago, even if it was a good opportunity.

Half a month later, Li Qiwei came to King's College London again with a letter of recommendation and met Vice-President Capp.

"Dr. Bruce, you are very welcome."

“If you have any needs in the future, you can always ask the school.”

Cap looked excited. He was unexpected about Li Qiwei's arrival, but he was also extremely excited.

Cambridge University is the benchmark for how much funding a great physicist can bring to a school.

Cap's face was full of smiles, and he was full of expectations for the future.

Unlike King's College London and Cambridge University, the school has greater management power over its various departments, but only gives teaching authority to professors and lecturers in each department.

Therefore, Karp has a great say in the selection of the head of the physics department.

Li Qiwei also smiled and said: "I hope to contribute a little to the development of physics at King's College London in the future."

After some pleasantries.

Karp said: "Dr. Bruce, I can now call you Professor Bruce in advance."

"The school does not have any restrictions on your doctoral enrollment. You just need to report your information."

Li Qiwei felt the sincerity of King's College London and it seemed that he had come to the right place.

If he had gone to Oxford University, he would certainly not have been treated so specially.

Next, Karp took Ridgway to sign several contracts, formally confirming the employment relationship and becoming the head of the Department of Physics at King's College London.

At this moment, Li Qiwei finally obtained the title of professor at a regular British university.

From now on he can be called Professor Bruce.

He didn't expect that his first professorship would be from King's College London.

Then let’s set a small goal first: within five years, obtain the title of professor at at least 20 prestigious European and American universities.

In this era, there is also the title of honorary professor, so Li Qiwei's goal is feasible.

(End of this chapter)