1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 228 Cavendish New Year Party
The shock that the scientific community brought to people in 1909 was truly too great.

Especially physics and chemistry, which are in the lead and let everyone see the great charm of science.

And who was the most eye-catching person in 1909? It was undoubtedly Bruce Lee.

The other party was silent for six years and returned to Europe. With one move, he turned the scientific world upside down.

Only then did people realize that the number one genius in physics had not died. He had returned with the force of thunder, as if he was going to dominate physics.

An older generation of physicists lamented: Cavendish is really nourishing!

On New Year's Day in 1910, Professor Thomson, director of the Cavendish Laboratory, organized a rare New Year's party.

The European New Year is somewhat different from the Chinese New Year.

According to the Gregorian calendar, their New Year celebrations start a few days before Christmas and last until January 1th.

January 1st is New Year's Day, the so-called New Year.

On January 1910, 1, the Cavendish Laboratory was bustling with activity.

Such a New Year's party has not been held for more than ten years.

Thomson took over as director of the Cavendish Laboratory from Lord Rayleigh at the age of 28, and it has been 25 years now.

Over the past twenty years, he has trained countless talents for academia and society.

It was under his leadership that Cavendish established a complete system of graduate training and a good academic style, thus cultivating many talents.

Today, Thomson invited all the outstanding students he had taught to commemorate this special year of 1909.

Those invited to attend included: Li Qiwei, Rutherford, Richardson, Bakla, Lang Zhiwan and others.

Some of these people were Thomson's graduate students, while others had studied and worked here, and all bore the mark of Cavendish.

When Li Qiwei rushed to the laboratory, he found that everyone was already there.

Thomson and Lord Rayleigh sat in the center, listening to their juniors telling interesting stories in their respective fields.

Li Qiwei's appearance immediately caused a sensation at the scene.

Because he has become so famous in the physics community recently.

Far surpassing his mentor Thomson and his supervisor Lord Rayleigh.

When Thomson saw Ridgway coming, he immediately walked towards him, took his hand and said to everyone: "Our Cavendish hero is here!"

call!
The crowd started cheering.

Li Qiwei was rarely shy and waved his hands quickly.

Fortunately, we are all from the same laboratory here, and everyone is cheering for him sincerely without any ill intentions.

Today, half of the Cavendish Laboratory's fame in the world comes from its own strength, and the other half comes from Li Qiwei.

Many people in the laboratory even predicted that Ridgway would become a legend on par with Cavendish's ancestor Maxwell.

After Li Qiwei greeted everyone in the laboratory one by one, Thomson introduced a few new people to Li Qiwei.

"Bruce, this is Lawrence Bragg who is entering Trinity College this year. His father is Henry Bragg."

"This kid begged his father to let me be his mentor."

When Prague saw Li Qiwei, he was very excited as if he had seen his idol.

"Hello, Professor Bruce, my name is Bragg, and I have read your speech at the first Bruce Conference more than ten times."

"Your ideas about physics are truly amazing."

Li Qiwei felt emotional when he looked at Prague, who had not yet gotten rid of his childishness.

In real history, the other party was the youngest Nobel Prize winner in physics, and he was only 25 years old when he won the award.

However, this record has now been cruelly broken by Li Qiwei, who was only 21 years old when he won the award.

Li Qiwei wanted to tease him, so he turned to Thompson and said, "Professor, I didn't know you had a course on flattery in your curriculum."

Professor Thomson burst into laughter after hearing this, and Bragg scratched his head embarrassedly.

"Bruce, you should be nicer to your fellow apprentices."

"Bragg is very smart. He has done in-depth research on optics and has even recently been teaching himself about X-rays."

Li Qiwei smiled and said, "Oh? That's amazing."

"X-rays are not that easy to study, Bragg. Do you have confidence?"

Bragg was stunned. What confidence?
However, he immediately reacted and said, "I do, Senior Bruce, I also want to become a famous physicist like you."

Li Qiwei smiled and patted his shoulder and said, "Come on, Prague, I'm counting on you."

Then, Thompson introduced another man named Aston to Ridgway.

He was invited by Thomson himself and mainly studied the properties of particles.

Before coming to Cavendish, Aston studied fermentation at a brewing school in Birmingham.

In real history, Aston discovered two isotopes of neon through experiments in the early days of the Cavendish Laboratory.

As his experiments progressed, he invented a magical tool for studying isotopes: the mass spectrometer.

This is because isotopes have the same charge but different masses.

As long as they are placed in the same magnetic field, the isotopes will be subject to the same magnetic field force, but their own masses are different, so their movement trajectories are different, and thus they can be distinguished.

This is the principle of a mass spectrometer.

Using a mass spectrometer, Aston identified more than 200 naturally occurring isotopes.

For this achievement, he was awarded the 1922 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Ridgway shook his hand in a friendly manner, and Aston was flattered.

Li Qiwei's status in the scientific community is too different from his.

But he was not intimidated because this was another rich second-generation.

Aston began studying organic chemistry in his father's private laboratory in 1896. Li Qiwei complained in his heart, fortunately, I am now a first-generation rich man, and I can completely crush you second-generation people who are obsessed with science.

After introducing the new people in the laboratory, the New Year activities officially began.

The usually busy laboratory seems to finally be able to take a break.

The room was filled with delicious food, wine and laughter.

At this moment, everyone was not talking about academics or work, but chatting about some interesting anecdotes.

This is a rare time of year to relax.

In 1909, although the world was in turmoil, at least the British Empire was safe.

Maybe even the best place in the world right now.

When people live and work in peace and contentment, scientists can concentrate on their research without worrying about trivial matters.

Politicians are busy every day wrangling with other countries and dividing up overseas territories.

As for fighting, with the national strength of the British Empire at that time, it would crush anyone it faced.

So the British at this time were very lucky and very happy.

But in a few years, life will not be so good.

When war breaks out, ordinary people are worried about their future and are terrified.

Scientists had no choice but to put down their pens and papers and pick up their guns to go to the battlefield.

Everyone was caught up in it, and even so-called scientific research had to give way to the war.

Physicists no longer study the structure of atoms, but the trajectory of artillery shells and the parameters of submarines of enemy countries.

That was a period of time that no one could forget.

Just as Li Qiwei was thinking about these sad things, he was suddenly patted on the back.

Without even turning around, he guessed it must be Wilson. Sure enough, the other party said in a very arrogant tone:
"Bruce, even though you didn't invite me to the first Bruce meeting, I don't care anymore."

"Because soon, my cloud chamber will become a tool for many physicists."

"The professorship is just around the corner for me."

Li Qiwei said with a smile: "Wilson, congratulations to you."

In real history, Wilson did not become a professor at Cambridge University until 1925.

"I think the professor is not worthy of you at all. I think you should win the Nobel Prize in Physics."

Wilson was shocked and believed it. "Really, Bruce, do you think I can win the Nobel Prize?"

Ridgway certainly would not tease Wilson on this New Year's Day occasion. He said:

“In fact, the functions of the cloud chamber are already very comprehensive.”

"I saw in your paper that you installed a camera in the cloud chamber to photograph charged particles?"

Wilson was very proud and touched, proud that he was the one who came up with this feature.

Because he felt that it was easy to overlook those momentary phenomena when observing with the human eye.

But it is different when taking pictures with photographic equipment. Experimenters can watch them repeatedly and study the trajectory of particles, which greatly enhances the usability of data.

Wilson was moved because all his papers were published in Nature's sub-journals. There are too many great authors at present, and his cloud chamber cannot get a place, so he can only publish in the sub-journals.

The fact that Li Qiwei could state his new function right away showed that he had read the paper carefully.

How could Wilson not be moved.

With Li Qiwei's current status and position, there is no need for him to pay attention to the Cloud Room because it is of no use to him.

Li Qiwei is a high-level theoretical physicist, and he is not on the same level as those who work with experimental instruments.

Wilson knew that Li Qiwei must be unable to let him go, so he always paid attention to him.

Therefore, his eyes were full of emotion.

Li Qiwei didn't know what he was thinking, and thought he was looking forward to how to win the Nobel Prize.

If he knew, he would have said to Wilson earnestly: Brother Wilson, you think too much. I haven't read a single word of your paper. It was my doctoral students who happened to share your paper at the weekly paper interpretation.

"It is a bit too simple to expect a cloud chamber to win a Nobel Prize, after all, its structure and principle are relatively simple."

“So, you need to come up with an innovative experiment that can only be done with your cloud chamber, so that maybe you and the other person can win the Nobel Prize together.”

Wilson felt like he had found a treasure after hearing this. He wrote down this perspective and prepared to keep an eye on the latest developments in the physics community.

In real history, when Compton was studying the interaction between X-rays and matter, he used a cloud chamber to prove the existence of recoil electrons, thus verifying the correctness of the Compton effect.

Therefore, Compton and Wilson jointly won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics.

When the two of them were about to continue chatting, Rutherford pulled them out for a drink.

The New Year's party lasted from 10 am to 5 pm.

Almost everyone was a little tipsy.

Since the journey is long, I might as well find a hotel in Cambridgeshire and stay for one night.

Li Qiwei chose to take the train directly back to London.

Before leaving, Richardson pulled him aside and told him that if he went to the United States, he must go to Princeton University first, and he would treat him well.

Li Qiwei agreed with a smile. It seemed that Richardson was having a hard time in Princeton and he needed his own support.

In addition, Thomson told him about the 2th British Association for the Advancement of Science in February this year and asked him to attend.

Li Qiwei readily agreed, believing that having such an opportunity to communicate with top figures in different fields would be of great benefit to his own development.

Mr. Li has been active in the physics community for ten years. It's time for him to cross the border and show off... not to communicate.

(End of this chapter)