Chapter 330 Great Change
More than a dozen scientists from different countries attended the Solvay Conference, including Rutherford and Jeans from Britain; Madame Curie, Poincare, Langevin, Perrin, and Brillouin from France; Lorentz and Onnes from the Netherlands; Krusen from Denmark; Hasenel from Austria-Hungary; Nernst, Planck, Wien, Sommerfeld, Warburg, and Rubens from Germany.
Of course, there is also Zhang Xingjiu, who replaced Einstein. Although Einstein's IQ is unquestionable, most of his important achievements were published first by Zhang Xingjiu. In this case, Einstein's status naturally cannot be compared with the original history, so he was not invited.
With Zhang Xingjiu's qualifications, there would be no problem for him to serve as the chairman of the meeting. However, considering that he had been staying in Shanghai and was too far away from Europe, it would be inconvenient for him to be responsible for many things, he declined Solvay's kindness and left this opportunity to Lorenz.
The last group of scholars attending the meeting had just arrived today, so the discussion did not begin immediately. After dinner, everyone went back to their rooms to rest, and the meeting officially began the next day.
The conference chairman Lorentz announced the topic of the conference: radiation and quantum theory.
At this time, everyone has three confusions about atomic radiation: The first problem: Atomic radiation seems to be able to radiate energy continuously, which seems to violate the first law of thermodynamics, that is, the law of conservation of energy.
Becquerel discovered that one gram of radium could boil one gram of water, and the energy released by radioactive elements was amazing; Marie Curie was also confused because these elements did not seem to change much after emitting radiation. So could they continue to radiate?
The second question is the half-life problem. As early as 1900, people discovered that radioactive elements were unstable. Half of them would decay into other substances every once in a while. People couldn't understand why they didn't change from one element to another all at once, but only changed half at a time.
The third question is related to the second one: Why are some elements radioactive and some not? Or, can we assume that those seemingly stable elements have a frighteningly long half-life, with only a few atoms decaying in tens of millions of years, so they cannot be seen?
The progress of civilization lies in communication. Many of the world's top scholars gathered together to express their views on these three issues, sparking many sparks of inspiration. Zhang Xingjiu also carefully talked about his own views. Until the end of the meeting, many people felt that they had not yet had enough.
Upon seeing this, Solvay announced that the Solvay Conference would continue and that he would continue to invite the world's top scientists to gather together to discuss current hot issues. The scholars attending the conference were also very welcoming.
Now is an era of great changes in the field of physics. The old physics building has been shrouded in dark clouds, and new theories such as relativity and quantum theory have begun to emerge. It is undoubtedly very interesting to see many top scholars getting together to argue and debate at this time.
So soon after the conference ended, quantum theory began to prevail in the academic community, which is also an important reason why the Solvay Conference was able to go down in history.
It’s just that Zhang Xingjiu had a headache. In the original history, the Solvay Conference enjoyed great reputation because at the fifth Solvay Conference in 1927, Einstein and Bohr had a very famous debate.
Bohr mentioned in quantum mechanics that at the microscopic level, there is discontinuity and the uncertainty principle, which is a quantum theory prevalent in the physics world: God is also throwing dice! Since Bohr came from Copenhagen, they were called the Copenhagen School.
The other group, represented by Einstein, questioned this. Einstein said: "Bohr, God never plays dice!"
Bohr shot back: "Einstein, don't tell God what to do!"
This conversation was the famous "Does God also play dice?" debate in the history of science. After the meeting every day, Einstein would come up with an example to refute Bohr's idea, and Bohr would find an explanation to defend his own idea in response to Einstein's doubts the next day. In the end, no one could convince anyone. However, later, more and more people in the entire physics community began to accept the quantum theory of Bohr and others, that is to say, God also plays dice.
Now that Einstein is gone, Zhang Xingjiu will definitely propose Bohr's theory before Bohr, so who will play the role of the opposition? If there is no equally matched debate opponent, wouldn't the Solvay Conference lose a lot of its luster? After a little thought, Zhang Xingjiu put these things behind his mind. Let Solvay worry about these things. He has too many things to worry about, so there is no need to waste energy on these details.
As soon as the meeting ended, Zhang Xingjiu received an urgent telegram from Shanghai. Ma Xiangbo told him in the telegram that the new army in Wuchang had taken the lead in launching an uprising some time ago and quickly took control of the three towns of Wuhan. Li Yuanhong was elected as the governor and the country's name was changed to the Republic of China.
Subsequently, people from all over the country responded. There was no other way. The Qing government's actions in the past two years had lost the support of the people. The world had long been divided and once the spark of the Wuchang Uprising broke out, the whole world was set on fire.
Shanghai was no exception. Relying on students, secret societies, merchant corps and other forces, they quickly took control of Shanghai. The Shanghai Military Governor's Office was established, with Chen Qimei as the governor. They removed the dragon flag, replaced it with the five-color flag and announced the liberation of Shanghai.
This liberation was of extraordinary significance, and directly led to the liberation of Zhejiang, connecting Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. Since the largest arsenal in the Jiangnan region fell into the hands of the revolutionaries, the power balance in the Jiangnan region has undergone fundamental changes.
Ma Xiangbo believed that overthrowing the Qing Dynasty was only a matter of time and that China would usher in new opportunities for development, so he urged him to return to China to participate in this great change.
Before he finished reading this telegram, Zhang Xingjiu received another telegram, this time from Sun Yat-sen who was far away in the United States. He also warmly invited him to return to China and said that he would return as soon as possible to participate in the construction of the Republic of China.
In the next two days, many people sent telegrams to Zhang Xingjiu, including old friends and students. The telegrams were filled with optimism, as if once the Qing Dynasty abdicated and the Republic of China was established, all would be well with the world and China would soon become prosperous and strong.
Zhang Xingjiu disagrees. Inertia exists not only in the physical world, but also in the social field. The old system has lasted for thousands of years, and those backward forces will not automatically withdraw from the stage of history.
This transformation is just the beginning, and there is still a long way to go in the future.
Oh, New Year means drinking every day, so annoying, I have to drink in the afternoon
(End of this chapter)
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