Xueba's Sea of ​​Stars

Chapter 274 Greedy Snake (Part [-])
"Continuing to take the particle trajectory as an example, do you know who introduced the mathematical description of the particle trajectory?"

"Professor Clero." Wu Bin replied.

After listening to Wu Bin's answer, Professor Pan Jianwei was obviously taken aback, "Have you read his paper?"

"Yes, I have read his papers on geometric curves and the concept of curvature."

"How did you think of reading such an old paper?" Professor Pan Jianwei asked with interest.

"I once checked a 1935 document when I was studying black phosphorus, but even though it was a paper more than 80 years ago, the research in it still has great guiding significance for me, so I realized that Intellectual wealth is really a very eternal thing, and after that, I became very interested in those classic papers."

"Hahaha." Professor Pan Jianwei couldn't help laughing after hearing this, "No wonder the professors in the school admire you. Now I understand a little bit."

"Then since you know Clero, you should also know something about his academic career, right?"

Wu Bin thought for a while and replied: "Specifically... I don't fully understand it. I only know that he was elected as an academician of the French Academy of Sciences at the age of 18."

Let's talk about how hardcore the academician of the French Academy of Sciences is!

To put it simply, Mrs. Curie, who has won two Nobel Prizes, is not eligible for the selection because she is not knowledgeable enough.

The second-generation de Broglie, the most flamboyant among the top scientists, proposed the concept of matter waves in his doctoral dissertation in 1924, and then won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1929, but it was not until more than ten years later that he relied on him to market Under the operation of the eldest brother, he was finally elected as an academician of the French Academy of Sciences.

This is enough to show how evil Clero, who was elected as an academician of this academy at the age of 18, is.

"Okay, since you know it, I won't introduce any more. Well, let me give you another example. Since you have studied quantum mechanics, you must know that there is an important concept called the Pauli matrix."

This time, Professor Pan Jianwei did not intend to ask Wu Bin any more questions, but went on to speak directly.

"Pauli wrote two papers during the holiday when he finished the college entrance examination and waited for the admission notice, which laid the foundation for him as an expert in the theory of relativity."

"So when he first reported to the University of Munich, Sommerfeld, a famous professor in Munich, directly told him that you are already qualified for a Ph.D. You can apply for a doctorate."

Speaking of this, Professor Pan Jianwei suddenly glanced at Wu Bin, as if implying something.

"Afterwards, Pauli did not graduate early, but Sommerfeld told him that you can't just hang out with me for six semesters, so he found him a job, and that job was to write the theory of relativity for the German Encyclopedia of Mathematics and Physics. this topic."

"So Pauli, who was just a freshman, began to write literature on the theory of relativity, and it was not officially published until his junior year. So far, this 237-page book on relativity is still a classic in this field."

"Well, I've seen it, and it's really excellent." Wu Bin nodded vigorously.

"Okay, I also know that you are also very good." Professor Pan Jianwei smiled and nodded, "Then let me ask you another question, do you know the relationship between the Pauli matrix and the theory of relativity?"

"Do you mean that the Pauli matrix plus the unit 2*2 matrix is ​​the distance formula in the theory of relativity?"

"..."

Professor Pan Jianwei was silent for a while after listening, "Although I used geniuses as an example, if you think about it carefully, these are things that European high school and freshman students should know, but too many people in our country are After more than ten years of teaching, I suddenly understood a little bit."

Seeing Wu Bin nodding seriously, Professor Pan Jianwei smiled helplessly and said, "Actually, I want to give you some warnings. For example, if you devote yourself to a basic science like physics, you should broaden your horizons. Don't think Those who study condensed matter experimental physics don’t need to know a little bit of relativity.”

"Go deeper into it and find out how deep the water is. This may allow you to calm down and do something."

"But it seems to you that these warnings seem superfluous."

After hearing this, Wu Bin waved his hands quickly: "How come, I will keep the professor's golden words in my heart."

"Well... it's not a bad thing to remember a few more words." Professor Pan Jianwei nodded in satisfaction, "Let's talk about my own field with you. We are studying the most microscopic world, but we need the most macroscopic information about the entire universe. knowledge."

"So in my mind, physics is like a snake that eats the snake's tongue. It is a physics problem at the level of the universe. Let it be physics at the level of elementary particles. The most macroscopic head, holding it The most microscopic tail."

After hearing this sentence, Wu Bin couldn't help thinking.

"Physics? Or...philosophy?"

……

Interesting chats can always make time pass very quickly, and Wu Bin, who was waiting for the fifth cup of tea, finally couldn't help but want to go to the toilet.

When Wu Bin came back from the toilet, Professor Pan Jianwei stood up and said to him, "It's almost nine o'clock, let's have a light meal together."

"Okay." Wu Bin nodded happily.

During the meal, Professor Pan Jianwei brought up a new topic, "Physics studies the invariance in change. A simple tim in a mathematics paper clarifies the core idea of ​​physics."

"Do you think mathematics is difficult?" Professor Pan Jianwei asked Wu Bin after taking a bite of braised pork.

"Difficult, but very interesting." Wu Bin raised his head and replied seriously.

Professor Pan Jianwei nodded slowly after listening, "Many people often say that it is really difficult to ask physicists to learn so much mathematics like mathematicians. Even Hilbert is famous enough to say that Very helpless words."

"Physics is so hard for physicists!"

"Do you know why he said that?" Professor Pan Jianwei's interest has changed from these few hours of conversation. What he pursues now is not to ask the big boy in front of him, but to get answers to every question he asks. Seems like a happy thing too.

"Because he knows that physics requires a lot of mathematics, which is difficult for physicists to master. In fact, many people have talked with me about the relationship between mathematics and physics, and I have some ideas of my own."

"Oh? Let's talk about it." Professor Pan Jianwei asked expectantly.

"A lot of mathematical knowledge is indeed difficult for physicists to grasp, but on the other hand, the beauty of equations, or mathematics, is not something that mathematicians can see. The truly beautiful mathematics must reflect our real physical world. So it still needs to use the eyes of physics to see where it is beautiful."

(End of this chapter)