1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 47 Perfect Ending
Hearing the old man's name, Li Qiwei was stunned. It took him a few seconds to realize that this was a famous person.

If we were to choose the smartest photo in the world from future generations, the "Physics All-Star Photo" would definitely be the one.

This photo (with caption above) was taken at the Fifth Solvay Conference in 1927, which saw a heated debate over quantum mechanics between Einstein and Bohr.

It is terrifying that 29 out of the 17 people who attended the conference won the Nobel Prize.

And that meeting was sponsored by the white-bearded old man in front of him, Solvay.

In real history, the first Solvay Conference was held in Brussels, Belgium in 1911, and was held every three years thereafter.

Solvay was an industrial chemist and an industrialist. He made a lot of money by opening factories, but he always had a scientific dream in his heart (actually he was just idle).

But he was already over fifty and clearly incapable of scientific endeavor, so he decided to spend money.

By chance, he met the German physicist Nernst, who wanted to gather a group of top physicists to discuss the latest developments in physics.

When Solvay heard this, he thought it was an opportunity and immediately expressed his willingness to host the meeting at his own expense.

So he booked a luxury hotel as the meeting venue and prepared red envelopes for every scientist attending the meeting. This is the origin of the first Sowell Conference.

The boss of Solvay said: I have a lot of money, you can build it however you want, I just want to hear the crisp sound of the collision of scientific ideas, which is much more attractive than money.

Li Qiwei looked at Solvay and thought, this is the ideal sponsor in the hearts of all scientific researchers, who only gives money and does not give blind orders.

You must have a good relationship with this kind of boss. If you want to organize a meeting next time, just find this brother.

So he extended his hand, appeared very enthusiastic, and said with a smile: "Hello, Mr. Solvay, nice to meet you."

Solvay was very surprised. He didn't know why Ridgeway was so calm towards him. In his imagination, such a young genius must be extremely arrogant.

Before at the conference, he almost became a fan of Li Qiwei. Such an exciting breakthrough in physics made Solvay feel that the money in his hands was no longer worth it.

A good man should engage in scientific research, seek breakthroughs, and change the world.

If Li Qiwei knew what he was thinking, he would definitely say: I don't have any other intentions, I just like your money. If you sponsor the money to me, you will also be changing the world.

The two sides communicated in a friendly atmosphere. Solvay implicitly stated his financial resources, and Ridgeway tactfully expressed his hope to organize some physics conferences frequently in the future to enhance exchanges among scholars.

The two smiled at each other, feeling that they had met too late, leaving Lord Kelvin at a loss.

Ridgway soon finished his greetings with Solvay and said that they would definitely exchange letters frequently in the future and contribute to the development of physics.

Not long after Solvay left, Sir John Lockyer, editor-in-chief of Nature, came over.

"Hey, Bruce, when are you going to publish the paper on the photoelectric effect? ​​The whole magazine is counting on you now, and the guys are working hard."

Li Qiwei took a sip of red wine and said with a smile: "Just in the next few days, I have already finished the first draft, just a little revision will be fine."

Lockyer was very satisfied and patted him on the shoulder. He said, "With you as the editor-in-chief, I believe many people will choose Nature as their first choice when submitting papers."

Li Qiwei said, "That's great news. Since the journal is accepting more and more manuscripts, Lockyer, I have a suggestion."

“It would be better to set up more professional sub-journals under Nature, which would not only demonstrate professionalism but also help the company increase revenue.”

Lockyer was stunned and murmured, "Sub-publication? Bruce, can you tell me more about it?"

Ridgwell was ready to bring over the system of the future Nature, so he said: "We can keep Nature as the main journal, which mainly publishes the world's most cutting-edge research results, which require extremely high innovation."

“Then under it, there are sub-journals such as Nature Physics, Nature Chemistry, and Nature Biology.”

“The innovation and importance of a sub-journal can be slightly less than that of the main journal, but it also needs to undergo rigorous peer review.”

"In this way, we can distinguish between high and low levels, increase the enthusiasm of contributors, and attract excellent results in other fields. Isn't it wonderful?"

Lockyer was stunned after hearing this. He really couldn't imagine that Li Qiwei was not only extremely talented in academics, but also able to innovate in publishing magazines. Are geniuses geniuses in all fields?

This idea can be said to be very good and is completely in line with the current development status of Nature journal.

As the reputation of Ridgwell's papers grew, so did the reputation of Nature.

It not only attracts scientific researchers in the UK, but also goes abroad to attract the attention of scientific researchers in Europe and even America.

Nature is the journal of choice for more and more people, as it represents authority and innovation.

However, the most innovative and cutting-edge results are always a minority, and the work of many more people, although also extremely excellent, is after all slightly inferior.

Therefore, at this time, if the main publication represents the best and the secondary publication represents excellence, it can attract everyone.

What? You said you can’t even publish in a minor journal. Sorry, in the eyes of the big guys, you are not a scientific researcher, but a scientific garbage maker.

Lockyer was extremely excited and even kept gesturing with his hands. He wished he could go back right away and start pushing forward this important matter.

Li Qiwei quickly grabbed him and told him not to be anxious and to finish listening to the meeting before leaving.

In the next few days, physicists from all over the world took turns to present their results.

There was applause at all times in the conference hall, and the various studies were dazzling.

Although there is Li Qiwei's work as a good example, this kind of purely theoretical stuff is too advanced and belongs to a very small number of people.

Most of the things that physicists study are closely related to real life.

For example, French physicist Lippmann reported a new type of color photography technology.

He coated a reflective layer on the surface of the photographic plate. When light shone on it, it interfered with the reflected light and produced colored stripes.

Then after latent image processing, it can be printed into color photos.

Historically, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing this technology.

The focus of Lipman's research is how to find a suitable reflective layer and determine the coating parameters to achieve a stable level that can be commercialized.

Photos of this era were still in black and white, and color cameras were not officially launched on the market until 1935.

From this we can see how many obstacles and efforts are involved in the transition of physics from theoretical realization to commercialization, and it is far from being achieved with just a slogan.

A few days later, the exciting meeting finally came to an end and everyone left with satisfaction.

You have to know that nowadays, unlike later times, various conferences are held every day. Today's scholars basically rely on letters to communicate their results.

So being able to get together and attend a meeting is something very precious and worth celebrating.

Moreover, this conference was so wonderful and impressive that many people were ready to go back and brag about it.

Mr. Solvay was even more enthusiastic and called for photographers, and took a group photo with more than a dozen well-known physicists including Li Qiwei.

The old man was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. In his words, looking at this photo every day can make him wiser.

After Li Qiwei returned to Cambridge University, apart from going to the Cavendish Laboratory as usual every day, the rest of his focus was to contact his family and launch the Spark Project.

What he didn't expect was that this meeting would have such a far-reaching impact that it spread along the telegraph lines to the distant East.

There, a few passionate young people will change their destiny from then on.

Thanks to [Shentuzhicha] for the monthly ticket, and thanks to all new and old book friends for their recommendation votes.

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(End of this chapter)