1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 217 meeting list announced, well deserved!
On August 1909, 8, the latest issue of Nature journal announced the list of participants in the first Bruce Conference.

Suddenly a stone stirred up a thousand waves.

People in the field of physics all over the world are rushing to subscribe to the journal, wanting to know which great people have been selected.

The list article contains detailed information about each physicist, including position, nationality, research results, etc.

There is no Ridgway classification for the levels of physicists.

Because that is a private division.

Scientific journals, scientific magazines, newspaper reviews, discussions among friends, etc. can be compared at will.

But it is not suitable to be placed on the table in such a formal occasion.

There are different levels of achievements in physics, and there are different levels of physicists, but there is no distinction between high and low physicists.

According to statistics from their respective countries, the participants are as follows:

Britain: Lord Rayleigh, Thomson, Rutherford, Bruce
Germany: Roentgen, Planck, Nernst, Wien, Sommerfeld
France: Marie Curie, Lippmann, Langevin
Netherlands: Lorenz
Switzerland: Albert Einstein

United States: Michelson, Millikan
Once the list was announced, the world was shocked!

"It's really a gathering of stars. I can't imagine what kind of status this conference will have in the history of physics."

"Bruce said the theme of the conference is classical physics and modern physics. Does that mean that the Newtonian mechanics and Maxwell electromagnetism that we learned before will also be classified as classical physics?"

"Oh my goodness! How long has electromagnetism been around? Is it going to become an antique?"

"What does modern physics include?"

“I just want to ask, do young people still have a chance?”

Countless physics practitioners are discussing this.

As can be seen from the list, there are both older generation physicists and new physicists.

This is in line with the theme of the meeting.

This is a collision of old and new physics.

Newton, Maxwell, Clausius and others are history.

Physicists who grew up under their system encountered unprecedented difficulties.

And the participants of this conference will make new history!
However, some people complained that the meeting had a fatal flaw.

That's because there are too few people!

Including the organizer Li Qiwei himself, there were only 16 participants.

However, this further illustrates the value of this session.

The results of any one person are worthy of the test of all physicists.

Now, no one doubted the importance of this meeting anymore.

More than a dozen top figures in the field of physics gathered together to discuss the most core issues.

The big guys pave the way for the future of physics, and those who come later just have to follow.

In real history, there were 23 participants in the first Solvay Conference, including Solvay.

This also includes mathematicians such as Poincare and Lindemann.

But now, all the people Li Qiwei invited were pure physicists.

There is one area in this list that has been questioned.

That is why Sommerfeld and Lang Zhiwan were selected.

In real history, these two people were also participants in the first Solvay Conference.

But now, because of Ridgway's appeal, the first Bruce Conference is far more valuable than the original Solvay Conference.

Nobel Prize winners account for more than half of them.

The rest also have special physics research results.

Therefore, among these bigwigs, Sommerfeld and Lang Zhiwan seem to be slightly inferior.

Li Qiwei did not give much explanation for this.

Because only he knows that these two people will lead to very important people and very important results in the next ten years.

However, even though they were a little weaker, they did not violate Li Qiwei's principles, and the results could stand the test.

University of Munich, Germany.

Sommerfeld, 41 years old this year, came to the University of Munich from the Aachen Institute of Technology in 1906 and took over Boltzmann's position as professor of theoretical physics at the University of Munich.

He, Hilbert and Minkowski are all from the same hometown.

In real history, Einstein admired Sommerfeld very much and once said, "If I were in Munich, I would definitely study physics with you."

Einstein, who always had very high vision, had such an attitude towards Sommerfeld, which shows his personal charm.

In the near future, Sommerfeld supplemented Bohr's theory of quantum orbits.

He also had two students, one named Pauli and the other named Heisenberg.

The Department of Physics at the University of Munich led by him, the Physics at the University of Göttingen led by Born, and the institute led by Bohr, will become the "golden triangle" of quantum mechanics.

At this moment, Sommerfeld was discussing the list with his academic assistant Laue.

After graduating from Planck, Laue made a special trip to Switzerland to visit Einstein, with whom he became a lifelong friend. He now works under Sommerfeld.

"Laue, Einstein seems to have a good relationship with you."

"Now, he has become famous and has received an invitation from Bruce."

"You must not think too much."

Laue smiled and said, "Don't worry, Professor."

"My friendship with Einstein will not change because of my status."

“I can only be happy for what he has achieved.”

"Also, my X-ray research is on its last legs."

"I am confident that within three years I can prove the nature of X-rays."

Sommerfeld said with relief: "I am very optimistic about your research." "I think it will definitely be a Nobel Prize-level result."

"Laue, keep going, your achievements will not be worse than Einstein's."

Lauer smiled happily.

At this time, Sommerfeld suddenly said jokingly: "I just don't know why Bruce invited me."

"There is still a certain gap between me and big guys like Roentgen."

Laue smiled and said, "Professor, you are too modest."

"Your achievements in metal electron theory and electromagnetism are obvious to all. You are one of the senior scholars in the field of physics."

"And you have taken over Professor Boltzmann's position."

"You should be invited to this meeting anyway."

Sommerfeld sighed. "I guess this is the only session I can attend."

"Depending on Bruce's opinion, this meeting may be held regularly in the future."

"The future belongs to you young people."

"Born is now a lecturer at the University of Göttingen. You can talk to him more when you have time."

Laue said: "I have a good relationship with Born as well. We have attended the Young Scholars Conference held by Bruce together before."

At this time, Sommerfeld's doctoral student, Debye, came over and wanted to ask his mentor questions about the experiment.

Sommerfeld and Laue ended their conversation.

On the other side, at the Institut Française in France, 37-year-old Lang Zhiwan was communicating with a young man.

"Morris, Professor Bruce has responded to your request."

"He agreed that you should serve as scientific secretary for the first Bruce Conference."

"Together with Professor Bruce's doctoral student Bohr, I was responsible for recording the contents of the meeting."

The young man named Morris clenched his fists and looked extremely happy.

"Thank you, Professor, for giving me the opportunity to participate in this scientific feast."

Lang Zhiwan looked at the man in front of him who was only three years younger than him, and felt deeply moved.

Although the other party graduated with a doctorate under his tutelage last year, he never treated him as an ordinary student.

Because his name is Maurice de Broglie.

The de Broglie family is a French aristocratic family that has existed for hundreds of years.

The family's ancestors were made hereditary dukes by Louis XIV.

The de Broglie family has produced a prime minister, a parliamentary leader, several ministers and ambassadors, and has provided the French army with three generals and several senior officers.

The family's prominence is known throughout France.

In 1906, Maurice de Broglie inherited his father's title and became the sixth Duke of Broglie.

His younger brother, Louis de Broglie, was the super genius who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his doctoral thesis and the future seventh Duke of Broglie.

Although Maurice de Broglie was a distinguished duke, he was very fascinated by natural sciences, especially physics.

After graduating with a Ph.D. last year, he set up his own laboratory specializing in X-ray research.

There is no other way. The huge manor at home is too empty, so I have to get some experimental equipment to fill it up.

It has to be said that Europeans’ thinking is indeed very different from that of Easterners.

If Maurice de Broglie's identity were replaced by a Chinese equivalent, Li Qiwei probably couldn't imagine what they would do.

Especially in the feudal era, human life was worth as much as pigs and dogs.

If you think about it this way, it is not without reason that natural sciences are so developed in Europe.

When Maurice de Broglie heard the news of the first Bruce Conference, he was immediately excited.

He knew that with his research level, he would definitely not be invited by Li Qiwei.

So he tried another way and planned to sit in as a secretary.

I didn't expect it would actually be allowed.

Maurice de Broglie was very happy.

He knew Bruce must have been affected by his identity.

If Li Qiwei were here, he would definitely sneer at this.

A duke is nothing, how many divisions can he have?

Even if it is the King of England, although he does not have the power for the time being, he will not take it seriously.

They are just future defeated opponents, nothing to worry about.

The reason why he agreed to let Maurice de Broglie come was that Ridgeway did not want to change the original history.

Because when Maurice returns, he will share the content of the meeting with his brother Louis de Broglie.

This influenced Louis de Broglie, who fell in love with physics and later published his famous theory of matter waves.

Everything is under Li Qiwei's control.

When he announced the list, he received mostly approval.

Physicists all over the world are looking forward to this conference.

Li Qiwei also said that all the contents of this meeting will be printed into a book and available for those who are interested to read.

Ridgway made Bohr the secretary of the conference, which was a small change in history.

Bohr and Einstein's meeting would be brought forward by nearly ten years.

Will the two of them have another debate of the century in this life? Li Qiwei is looking forward to it.

Okay, the preparation is over.

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(End of this chapter)