Chapter 1186 The Golden Age of Scientists (First Update, Please Subscribe)
At the end of every year, a feast for scientists would be held in Daming.
Since November, scientists from all over the world have been holding academic seminars in Zhongdu's most luxurious Imperial Guest House and Zhongdu Imperial University, where they discussed and exchanged their latest research results.
In the next few months, scientists will be the undisputed traffic stars, and their every word and action will always attract the attention of the whole world.
Well, Ming Dynasty is the whole world.
There are always journalists from all over the world gathered inside and outside the Imperial Guest House, and of course Ming scholars from all over the world, who are eager to communicate and learn with the world's top scholars.
In fact, this is also the reason why Emperor Zhu announced the candidates for the "Emperor Award" in October and then sent out invitations to invite the candidates and their families to Zhongdu, in order to give full play to the value of these scientists.
Even if they don't want to be visiting scholars, it doesn't matter. For many scholars, being able to have a short exchange with world-class scholars is also very beneficial. And one thing is certain: the active academic exchange activities in the empire will make many scientists fascinated, they will involuntarily indulge in it, and even take the initiative to stay.
After all, in this era, no other event can bring together the world's top scholars. When so many scientists discuss and study academic issues together, sometimes unexpected gains will be produced.
Who knows?
The empire's millions of troops are always science.
What is the core competitiveness of the empire?
Of course it is also science.
Science and technology are the foundation of the Ming Empire!
As an ordinary associate professor at Zhongdu University, Lin Hai witnessed the rise of the empire's education. When he first came to Ming Dynasty, there was not even the University of South China, and even the middle school was makeshift. He had only studied in a private school for a few years in his hometown in southern Jiangsu, and then started from primary school in South China, two years of primary school, six years of middle school, and then the University of South China. After graduating from university, he went to study in Germany.
Four years ago, I was offered a teaching position in the Department of Physics at Zhongdu University.
Like many people, he cherishes the precious communication opportunities during the Emperor Prize period. After all, it is an exchange with world-class scholars, and such an opportunity only comes once a year.
However, communication is communication, and research is research. After the communication, he still threw himself into the experiment. Two years ago, he established a cryogenic research laboratory specializing in cryogenic research. Research in the field of cryogenics is a global competition.
As early as ten years ago, Nanhua University achieved the liquefaction of oxygen and began to mass produce liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen. The liquefaction machine developed by it has become the basic equipment of cryogenic technology. This also marks the leading position of the Empire in the field of cryogenic research. A few years later, Professor Du Liangpei of Yingtian University achieved the liquefaction and solidification of hydrogen. He thought he had reached the limit of low temperature, but then found that helium still remained in the residual gas. However, after years of hard work and many methods, he failed to achieve the liquefaction of helium.
It was from that time that Lin Hai, who was determined to conquer this low-temperature fortress, first started with low-temperature equipment and invested almost all his energy to improve the laboratory equipment, so that it could develop from a small scale to a later stage. For this purpose, he even founded a technical school, allowing students to study at night and work in the laboratory during the day. The glass technicians trained in the school not only met the needs of the laboratory, but were also hired to work in many physical laboratories in China, further promoting domestic low-temperature physics and vacuum technology. The talents trained by the technical school also had a certain impact on the development of related industrial fields in the empire.
Under his organization and leadership, the Low Temperature Laboratory established a factory and an experimental building capable of mass production of liquid hydrogen and other gases including helium at the beginning of the year. Unlike other physicists, he established a laboratory on an industrial scale, which was the first time. It was from here that physics moved from a handicraft to a modern large-scale level.
On this day, Lin Hai, as usual, and his colleagues once again started the helium liquefaction experiment after careful preparation.
In order to carry out this experiment well, Lin Hai prepared for almost several months and did the preparation work very carefully.
"I preliminarily estimated that the liquefaction temperature of helium should be between 5K and 6K. To liquefy it, we must first reserve a large amount of helium to ensure sufficient supply for the experiment..."
At about 5 a.m., 20L of liquid hydrogen was ready and gradually poured into the helium liquefier under the guidance of Lin Hai. When precooling with liquid hydrogen, the students were extremely careful, as even a small amount of air would mix into the system and all the previous efforts would be wasted.
It was not until 1:30 pm that the helium liquefier was fully filled and the helium circulation began. The thermostat at the center of the liquefier began to reach a temperature never reached before, and this temperature could only be indicated by the helium thermometer.
"Professor, the indicator is still not showing."
"Wait a little longer,"
Lin Hai frowned, however, they waited for several hours and still saw no changes on the indicator.
“Could it be that the liquefier is not working properly?”
Thinking about this, Lin Hai instructed his assistants and students to use various possible measures to promote the operation of the liquefier by adjusting the pressure and changing the expansion piston.
Even if all means are exhausted, the thermometer still seems to be moving, making it difficult to make a judgment.
"Professor, we've run out of liquid hydrogen!"
The news that the liquid hydrogen was running out made Lin Hai feel depressed. In order to carry out this experiment, he specially prepared 75 liters of liquid hydrogen.
But the liquid hydrogen was used up and no signs of liquid helium were observed.
It was already 7:30 in the evening. Seeing that the experiment was about to fail, his assistant Song Shiwei whispered,
"Professor, is it possible that the helium in the helium thermometer itself has also liquefied?"
"The helium in the helium thermometer itself has also liquefied?"
Surprised, he then heard what the assistant said.
"Is it possible to illuminate the container from below and see what's going on?"
Lin Hai immediately followed his instructions, and the result made him so overjoyed that he shouted excitedly.
“It’s true!”
It turned out that the central thermostat was almost full of liquid, and the reflection of light allowed people to see the liquid surface. This time, Lin Hai obtained a total of 60cm of liquid helium, reaching a low temperature of 4.3K.
The next morning, in the conference room of the Imperial Guest House, Lin Hai presented their experimental results to scholars from various countries. Although the production of liquid helium caused a sensation in the academic community, that was all.
However, no one knew that Lin Hai’s goal was not only to obtain a lower temperature to achieve the liquefaction and solidification of gases, but he also paid more attention to exploring the various properties of substances under extremely low temperature conditions. The electrical resistance of metals was one of his research objects.
At that time, there were many different opinions and speculations about the change of metal resistance when approaching absolute zero. According to classical theory, the resistance of pure metal should gradually decrease as the temperature decreases, reaching zero at absolute zero. Some people believe that this theory may not be applicable to extremely low temperatures. When the temperature decreases, the metal resistance may first reach a minimum value and then increase again, because free electrons may condense on atoms. According to this view, the metal resistance at absolute zero may increase infinitely. The predictions of the two views are completely opposite. Only experiments can determine which one is right.
In the next few years, Lin Hai and his laboratory continued to experiment with low-temperature resistance methods. Five years later, he discovered in experiments that mercury exhibits superconductivity at around minus 168°C. When the temperature approaches absolute zero, the conductor actually loses all resistance.
His discovery shocked the whole world. He then discovered that the resistance of tin suddenly dropped to zero at 3.8K, and later found that lead also had a similar effect. The following year, Lin Hai declared that these materials "entered a new state with special electrical properties" at low temperatures, and he proposed the term "superconductivity".
For his outstanding contributions to low-temperature physics, Lin Hai won the Emperor Seidel Prize in Physics in 1890.
But at the end of 1884 and the beginning of the next year, who could predict the future...
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
