1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 272 Time is like a knife that cuts down the genius! The physical inheritance will never end!
Time quietly entered the year 1911.

From the perspective of world history, this year has been an ordinary one.

But for China, an epoch-making event is about to happen.

Li Qiwei was in London, looking far into the east, his mood was as turbulent as the waves.

He could only do his best to help the creation of China by donating money and materials.

But when physics was created, he would become a god, in charge of the universe and overlooking the world.

It is a pity that Sir Newton is slightly inferior in literary talent, and Maxwell is slightly inferior in style.

The genius of his time, Einstein, only knew how to smile and bend over.

On January 1911, 1, as the holidays of major universities ended, teachers and students returned home one after another.

Physics has also returned from a brief period of calm to its bustling and vibrant scene.

Department of Physics, King's College London.

Recently students discovered something strange.

Bo Shao, who used to love playing football and bragging, seems to have become a different person since he came back from vacation.

He spent every day in the library, writing furiously, oblivious to the people around him.

Let the people around you feel the breath of God spreading.

A girl who admired Bohr came up to him and asked sweetly, "Bohr, I'm alone at home tonight. Can you come and teach me physics?"

Bohr turned a deaf ear and ignored it, constantly drawing circles on the paper.

The girl stomped her feet in anger and walked away with the book.

Seeing this scene, the other brothers beat their chests and stamped their feet, crying and howling.

Girls in college these days are even rarer than radium. Bohr is really wasting such a rare talent.

But who can blame him for being a rich second-generation with good looks, high education and good health?

He has seen a lot of women, and physics is not as fun as them.

Even Bohr's fellow students, such as Master Qian Wu, were very curious and had the deepest feelings.

Because Bohr doesn't even come to group discussions now.

After asking, I found out that it was specially authorized by Teacher Bruce.

At this point, everyone understood that Bohr’s research had reached a critical period and he was planning something big.

When Master Qian Wu was working on superconductivity, he was also very crazy and didn't even have time to eat.

Everyone suddenly remembered what Bohr said before the holiday, that he wanted to strive for a seat in the second Bruce Conference.

"Oh my God, Master Bo is not serious."

"Even Professor Bruce has given him special care. I guess he has made a major breakthrough in his research."

"Bohr's research topic is the study of atomic structure. If there is a breakthrough, it will shock the physics community."

"I felt bad when Bohr didn't publish a paper; I felt even worse when Bohr was going to win the Nobel Prize."

"Let's disperse, let's disperse. I also want to work hard secretly and surprise everyone."

So, the young men from the Department of Physics at King's College began to engage in scientific research crazily.

I will never believe in the smoke screens of my good brothers again.

When professors such as Ridgeway and Bakla saw the influence brought by Bohr, they all smiled knowingly, thinking that this feeling is still good.

The competition inside King's College is fierce, and the situation outside is even more turbulent.

On January 1, Rutherford's doctoral student, Charles Darwin, published an article in Nature.

He studied the loss of kinetic energy after alpha particles interacted with gold foil.

By analyzing the experimental results, Charles believed that it was an interaction between alpha particles and electrons.

This triggered his thinking about electrons.

The paper almost comes to the issue of electronic discontinuity.

Bohr also secretly paid attention to this paper and was scared to death. He had to speed up.

On January 1, Ridgwell published a review of physics in Nature.

Given Li Qiwei's current status, he will no longer publish professional papers easily.

It mainly focuses on comments and reviews to grasp the macro-development trends of physics.

In this article, he summarized and evaluated the achievements of modern physics in recent times.

It highlighted a paper by Professor Caius of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Li Qiwei believes that the discovery of electron angular momentum is another proof of quantum theory and it has great potential.

Wow!
The article immediately caused an uproar.

Countless people have specifically taken out Professor Case's paper for research.

Because Professor Bruce never praises anyone easily.

After reading it carefully, many people realized that this paper was indeed underestimated.

The angular momentum of an electron can only be an integer multiple of [h/2π], where h is the [Lee Planck constant].

This conclusion surprised everyone, and they felt that there was some key information hidden behind it.

But no one could catch it.

"Professor Case is indeed the man who is closest to a physicist."

“Anyone who had a good relationship with Professor Bruce eventually took off.”

Some old professors were also deeply moved and crazy about Case.

"Keith is really a role model for us old guys."

"Who says that modern physics is the domain of young people? We, the older generation of scholars, disagree!"

"Professor Case has shown us that old trees can also have a second life."

This was of course done intentionally by Ridgway, with the purpose of building momentum for Bohr.

He was not worried at all that Bohr's theory would be surpassed by others.

Because the cutting-edge results of atomic research in the current physics community are almost all from the Cavendish School, which has monopolized the market.

Professor Thomson, director of the Cavendish Laboratory, discovered the electron, proposed the date cake model, and opened up research into the interior of the atom.

Then, Ridgway discovered the atomic nucleus, proposed the planetary model, and negated the theory of his mentor Thomson.

Rutherford then determined the nature of radioactivity, proposed the theory of element transmutation, and guided his assistant Soddy to improve the periodic table.

Now, Rutherford's student, Charles, has published another related paper.

This group of people is conducting in-depth research on atoms.

Even Professor Case can be strictly considered a member of the Cavendish School, after all, they are both from Cambridge.

Therefore, there is a consensus in the physics community that Cavendish is the authority on atomic research.

Ridgway and Rutherford, two of Thomson's most proud students, have now set up their own schools.

Continue to spread Cavendish's reputation in the physics community.

At this moment, Li Qiwei received an invitation from Professor Case to go to Cambridge University for a chat. At Trinity College, Li Qiwei saw that Professor Case was older, but his face was vigorous.

It seems that the publication of the paper put him in a very good mood.

Now the president of Trinity College is no longer Sanders, but someone whom Li Qiwei does not know.

After both parties greeted each other politely, Professor Case started talking to Li Qiwei non-stop.

"Bruce, thank you so much. Without you, my paper would probably be ignored."

"Now those little guys won't dare to laugh at me, haha."

Li Qiwei smiled and said, "Professor, with this paper, you are a physicist."

Professor Case laughed, "Really? Bruce, you are kidding me."

"I'm going to retire soon, and I didn't expect that I could get excited again before retirement."

“I felt like I was ten years younger.”

"But that's useless. The future of physics will definitely belong to young people like you."

"You, Rutherford, Wilson, Richardson, and Bragg will surely carry forward modern physics."

After listening to Professor Case's words, Li Qiwei's heart was suddenly touched.

Professor Case is really old.

He is no longer the righteous old man who was full of curiosity.

The years have left deep marks on him, and even if he wants to continue his research, he is unable to do so.

In fact, it’s not just Professor Case.

This is true for the older generation of physicists, including Lord Rayleigh, Roentgen, Lorentz, Thomson, and Planck.

In recent years, they have not been seen except at important meetings.

And they hardly publish any papers anymore.

Because they are old, they can no longer carry out the ultra-high-intensity frontline research in person.

I can only guide my graduate students and give them high-level guidance.

The power of time is ruthless and unstoppable.

No matter how talented you are, you will eventually grow old.

After bidding farewell to Professor Case, Li Qiwei walked to the Cavendish Laboratory.

He is going to visit Professor Thomson.

Although Thomson is still the director of Cavendish today, he has shifted his focus from academic research to academic construction.

In recent years, he has written several professional books on physics.

For example, "The Structure of Light", "Electricity Conduction in Gases", "Particle Theory of Matter", etc.

These books are of very high research value.

In any case, Li Qiwei sent the books back to China as soon as possible and had He Yujie and others translate them for use as teaching materials or popular science materials.

Thomson also made large-scale improvements to the laboratory to make it more in line with the requirements of a modern laboratory.

Finally, what Thomson was most concerned about was the training of Wilson, Bragg Jr. and others.

Moreover, he has recently recruited several doctoral students. Li Qiwei met them and they should be talents in future specialized fields.

In the office, Thompson, Wilson and Li Qiwei were chatting as before.

Wilson asked, "Bruce, atomic research is so hot these days, why haven't you made any moves yet?"

"You're the one who came up with the planetary model."

Li Qiwei smiled and said, "Soon. Bohr has made a breakthrough in his research recently and it should be published soon."

Wilson joked, "Oh? Is that the silly young man Bohr?"

"Bruce, you're amazing. In just a few years, you've already trained Bohr into a talented person."

Thomson smiled when he heard this. He still vividly remembered the time when Bohr came to see him.

However, by accident, the other party became Bruce's student.

But no matter what, they are all from the Cavendish system. It's really fate.

"Bruce, I heard that Bohr's research is going to overturn your planetary model."

"This is a big deal in atomic research."

Li Qiwei smiled bitterly, "I overturned your model at the beginning, and now I am being overturned by my own students."

"This won't become a tradition for us at Cavendish."

The three of them laughed.

However, Ridgway was not wrong. In essence, Bohr's theory was indeed overturned by his students.

Soon, Ridgway also bid farewell to Thomson and left Cambridge University.

On the train to London, Li Qiwei was filled with emotion, his thoughts were in a mess, and he even felt a little lost.

In real history, Old Bragg once commented on Thomson:
Thomson was a strange link between the old and new physics; he had opened the door to the new physics without ever having entered it himself.

These older generation physicists opened the door to modern physics, but unfortunately they are now in their twilight years.

Throughout history, the great scientific figures all achieved earth-shaking achievements when they were young, and then spent their entire lives savoring them.

This is especially true for physicists and mathematicians.

This is because the human brain is most active and imaginative when it is young.

When you get older and have seen more, you tend to be bound by rules and regulations and no longer be able to follow your creative ideas.

If you are a little more talkative and like to educate young people at every turn, you will become a complete old immortal.

But fortunately, physicists like Thomson have only accumulated wisdom.

Perhaps from another perspective, they are not in retirement and are not concerned with worldly affairs.

Instead, he stood quietly out of sight of the young people and watched their breakthroughs.

The passion of youth is rekindled in my heart.

At this moment, Li Qiwei finally stopped being sentimental and instead burst into endless vitality again.

Time is like a knife that cuts down the genius.

But the geniuses cannot be killed completely.

Next, he and Bohr continued to break new ground in physics.

At this moment, Li Qiwei suddenly understood the meaning of inheritance.

Although the human body is limited and fragile, the human spirit is eternal.

The research results of our predecessors will be transformed into the wisdom of today's people, and we will continue to climb to the highest peak of science.

The achievements of today's people are the wisdom of future generations, which will continue endlessly.

One day, humankind's descendants will uncover the mysteries of the universe for themselves.

Then say: Creator, I finally found you.

(End of this chapter)