1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 243 The Bible of Physics! Bohr's Notes! Laue Soars to the Sky! The Physics World is Shocked!

Although the discussion of evolution and creationism is becoming increasingly heated, most people are just watching the show.

The biology bigwigs have finished their meeting and set the tone.

The future research direction of biology is also basically clear.

Li Qiwei's gene mutation and gene chain hypothesis is like an ancient prophecy, waiting for some lucky person to prove or realize it.

As for the existence of God, it is too far away.

A certain biology expert once said with great emotion after the creationism research meeting:
Bruce was at least decades ahead of his time, so instead of chasing God, we should chase him.

As soon as these words were spoken, they caused an instant sensation.

At this point, Bruce Lee became a super scientist spanning the three major disciplines of physics, chemistry, and biology.

His name is like a star, engraved in the sky of science, spreading endless brilliance.

Under his influence, countless people have continuously broken through their limits and achieved tremendous results.

Physics, as the first of natural sciences, is Bruce's only major, and its bright future has just begun.

Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Munich, Germany.

In a conference room, Laue was excitedly sharing his latest discoveries with his friends.

They were Sommerfeld's doctoral student Ewald, Sommerfeld's assistant Friedrich, and Röntgen's doctoral student Kneipping.

Laue said excitedly: "Many people think that X-rays are particle streams, but I share the same view as Professor Bruce."

"I think it's electromagnetic waves, but no one has been able to prove it yet."

"But I'll prove it soon!"

Ewald and others were shocked. This was a big deal.

Since X-rays were discovered by Roentgen in 1895, there has been a 15-year debate about their nature.

The first Bruce Conference regarded the discovery of X-rays as a landmark event in modern physics.

So any breakthrough in X-rays will cause a huge sensation in the physics community!

The previous debate between Bakla and Bragg on the nature of X-rays had caused a heated response in the academic community.

Although there was no winner in the end, it allowed all physicists to see the charm of X-rays.

Its value and potential are endless!

Ewald asked excitedly: "Laure, is it possible that your experiment has finally made a breakthrough?"

Since Laue came to the University of Munich, with his cheerful personality, he quickly became good friends with the three of them.

The four of them often get together to discuss the most cutting-edge theories in physics.

So, the three knew about Laue's recent experiments, which had been about X-rays.

Now that Laue excitedly announced that he wanted to prove the nature of X-rays, it must be a breakthrough in the experiment.

Knipping smiled and said, "Congratulations, Laue. I think Professor Roentgen will be very happy about this."

Friedrich also congratulated.

However, Laue's next words stunned the three of them. He smiled and said:

"No, you three guessed wrong. My experiment has not made any progress. Instead, it has gone terribly wrong. I am ready to throw it all away and start over."

Wow!
Ewald, Friedrich and Knipping were all greatly shocked.

"Laure, you are kidding."

"You've been doing this experiment for three years. Are you going to give up just like that?"

"Since your experiment is wrong, why do you swear that you can prove the nature of X-rays?"

"Lao, if it really doesn't work, you should take a rest for a while and try again after you have enough energy."

"Even someone as powerful as Professor Bruce can be silent for six years."

There was no small talk between good friends; the three of them asked Laue directly in surprise.

They were worried that there would be no problems with Laue's thoughts or emotions.

After all, Professor Boltzmann's example is here, which makes Ewald and others a little worried.

Could it be that Laue became stupid from doing experiments?

They knew that Einstein was a close friend of Laue.

However, the other party's current status is already on par with Professor Sommerfeld, or even surpasses him.

After all, he was a powerful figure who was able to attend the first Bruce Conference and publish several important papers.

Ewald was worried that Laue might have suffered a psychological blow or had some inferiority complex.

Lauer felt touched and amused when he saw how his friends cared about him.

"Oh, you guys think too much, I'm fine, I'm not depressed or inferior."

"If one of you wins the Nobel Prize in Physics someday, I will be so happy."

The three of them laughed heartily, being very self-aware of themselves.

At this time, Laue said seriously and excitedly: "I overturned my previous experiment because I found a better experimental method."

"A few days ago, I read Bohr's notes over and over again, and finally I found inspiration."

The three exclaimed, Bohr's notes!
Nowadays, in the physics community, it has an even more impressive name: the Physics Bible! (Translated, not the original word in the Bible)

This book, which records the speeches of all the bigwigs attending the first Bruce Conference, was sought after by countless people on the day it was published.

But the reading threshold of this book is so high that it is frightening.

Knipping clearly remembered that his mentor, Professor Roentgen, once said: Anyone who does not have a bachelor's degree in physics or above will not be able to understand this notebook.

It's scary that a notebook requires at least a bachelor's degree to understand it.

There are not many undergraduate students in the world now, let alone those above that.

Of course, this doesn't mean that other people can't understand it at all.

Rather, this notebook is of no use to them.

No matter what questions they have, without a certain amount of physical accumulation, they will not find any answers in this notebook.

And Laue is obviously not among them.

Every time he read Bohr's notes, he would gain different insights.

Until a while ago, he suddenly saw a sentence Li Qiwei said in his notes:

"Perhaps there are natural materials in nature, such as crystals, that can act as finer gratings."

This was a deliberate remark made by Li Qiwei when discussing X-rays.

However, Bohr did not feel much when he heard this because he was not interested in X-rays.

So when he recorded it, he did not give it an important position.

Bohr's notes are recorded in a form similar to a drama script.

What each person said, or some insignificant words, will also be recorded.

Bohr did not miss a single word of Ridgway's words. But this also creates a reading problem.

It is easy for careless people to skip over a post that is filled with chat conversations.

Who would have thought that the true essence of the sentence was hidden in it.

That's what Laue did.

If he hadn't read it over and over again, he would have really ignored this sentence.

It was this sentence that made Laoe feel like he had found a treasure. He was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night.

Because X-rays have strong penetrating power, if X-rays are waves, their wavelength must be very short, only about one thousandth of visible light.

The condition for diffraction to occur is that the wavelength must be of the same order of magnitude as the size of the grating.

It is impossible to produce such a fine grating based on existing technology.

But crystals are different.

Laue was the first to prove theoretically that if the size of the three-dimensional structure of a crystal really matches the wavelength of X-rays, then diffraction will definitely occur.

This proves that X-rays are electromagnetic waves.

When Laue told his three friends the source of his idea, there was an immediate exclamation of surprise.

Ewald was surprised and said, "What a genius idea, but I have never seen Professor Bruce say this before."

Knipping laughed and said, "You are so rough, how could you possibly notice such details?"

Friedrich sighed: "Professor Bruce is really terrible. Just one sentence from him made Laue give up several years of accumulation."

“And it also points to the right research direction.”

"I decided to read Bohr's notebooks again tonight."

Friedrich's words made several people feel the same and sigh.

At this time, Laue suddenly smiled and said, "Okay, stop sighing there."

"I need the help of my brothers now."

"Since all my previous experiments were scrapped, I want to speed it up this time."

"I'm worried that sooner or later someone else will discover this, too."

"If someone else gets there first, I'll be really depressed. I can only learn from Professor Boltzmann."

Laue's words made the three of them smile, and they quickly patted their chests to make assurances.

"Laure, just tell us what you want us to do, and we'll work for you all night long!"

Laue was very touched and said, "Ewald, please help me find some crystals that are easier to prepare."

"It's better to have more than 10, so that people won't say we are just a coincidence."

"Friedrich, Knipping, the two of you help me prepare a light source that can continuously emit X-rays, and also a photographic device."

"I'll write down the steps for you. I've done this before."

“My next major task is to design experiments.”

"Everyone, please!"

After saying this, Laoe thanked him profusely.

In the following time, the four of them worked all night long, forgetting to eat and sleep.

Sommerfeld was very pleased to see the boys working so hard.

Laue even calculated repeatedly on draft paper to make sure there were no problems.

March 1910, 3, in the physics laboratory of the University of Munich.

Lauer suddenly shouted excitedly: "Look!"

Ewald and the other two quickly moved closer to look at the photographic film.

When the X-rays passed through the copper sulfate crystals, they actually produced diffraction spots on the film.

Laue's experiment was successful!

X-rays are actually electromagnetic waves!

"Wow, Laue, you are such a genius."

“The Nobel Prize in Physics has been booked.”

"Oh my God, am I going to witness the birth of a Nobel Prize winner?"

The three of them danced excitedly, hugged Laue and shouted loudly.

Although Laue was in extreme excitement, he remained calm.

"Quick, let me try a few more crystals."

Next, Laue experimented with lead sulfide crystals and sodium chloride crystals, and saw diffraction spots in all of them.

Finally, Lauer shouted, "I succeeded! I succeeded!"

He cried with joy.

The three Ewalds held him in their center.

Although Laue appeared to be very open-minded and did not take anything seriously in front of outsiders.

But no one knew how much pressure he was under.

As someone who was once personally invited by Li Qiwei to attend the Brussels Young Scholars Conference, Laue has always been a genius in the eyes of people around him.

Nonsense, if you’re not a genius, how can you get Bruce’s favor?

However, as Li Qiwei's position grew, the pressure on Laue grew.

When his close friend of the same age, Einstein, rose to prominence in an unstoppable manner, Laue reached the lowest point in his life.

He studied under physics giants such as Roentgen and Planck.

The evaluations received were all excellent and smart.

But this is far from enough in Laue's view.

Physics has always been about strength.

And now, Laoe can finally raise his head confidently and chat and laugh with other big guys.

"I, Laoe, have never been inferior to anyone in my life!"

Just half a month later, it was March 3th.

Laue's paper "Study of the diffraction phenomenon of X-rays by crystals" was published on the cover of Nature journal.

In the paper, Laue used precise and exquisite experiments to perfectly and powerfully prove that X-rays are a type of electromagnetic waves.

This ended a 15-year debate about the nature of X-rays.

boom!
The physics community was shocked!

(End of this chapter)