Chapter 446 Endless shock! Measuring ruler! "Only it can accurately measure the scale of the universe!"
This century's debate in astronomy has been full of twists and turns.
Shapley and Curtis are equally matched in strength, making the outcome of this game full of suspense.
In the end, the debate ended in a shocking draw.
This made the thousands of spectators present cheered.
This kind of battle that is not one-sided is undoubtedly the most exciting.
However, what no one expected was that Professor Bruce’s summary pushed the debate to its peak again.
"Because, they are both wrong."
Shapley and Curtis' distance measurement method turned out to be problematic.
This shocked countless people.
The question of whether the Milky Way is the entire universe has become even more confusing.
At this moment, everyone in the hall was extremely curious about the answer.
They can't wait to find out.
Even if it is a feasible method.
So, the first person shouted:
"Professor Bruce, can you give me a correct measurement method?"
boom!
These words are like sparks falling into a pan of oil, causing it to boil instantly!
More and more people began to boo.
No matter who is present, he may not know much about astronomy, but he must know the famous Professor Bruce.
The man who is known as the world's number one in science.
He is a living scientific myth.
Under this communication effect, ordinary people have only one imagination about Li Qiwei.
omniscient!
omnipotent!
It is difficult for the general public to distinguish the difference between physicists and scientists.
In their eyes, Professor Bruce is a great scientist who has insight into everything.
Astronomy is certainly not out of the question.
Soon, the atmosphere in the hall reached its peak.
Yu Qingsong felt this shocking influence.
A flush appeared on his face involuntarily.
It was an expression of extreme excitement.
"He is Professor Li of China."
"But he is the god of science all over the world!"
At this moment, even the astronomy experts in the front row were moved.
Because this issue is so critical.
As long as the problem of the Milky Way is solved, astronomy can completely enter the next stage.
Galaxy astronomy!
From stars to galaxies, this will be a huge leap.
Different from the blind and ignorant beliefs of ordinary people, astronomers all worship Professor Bruce.
But they admire the indisputable results.
It is almost universally acknowledged in the scientific community that Professor Bruce hates doing experiments.
Surveying in astronomy is probably the most tedious and torturous experiment.
Will the other party really conduct research in this area?
Everyone couldn't believe it.
Eddington and Hubble's eyes sparkled.
Especially Hubble, who himself has recently been studying the problem of the Milky Way.
And he had an idea.
But there is no complete certainty.
"It would be great if Professor Bruce could give some advice!"
Haer, Dyson and other big guys also looked forward with burning eyes.
Is that man really okay?
Li Qiwei looked at the enthusiastic eyes of thousands of people in the hall, and the corners of his mouth raised slightly.
Suddenly, a wave of coercion swept across the entire place!
Everyone felt their hearts tremble.
Yu Qingsong said excitedly:
"Professor Li can definitely do it!"
"He's starting!"
Sure enough, the next moment, Li Qiwei spoke:
"I just said that Herschel's method is of great reference significance."
"Because in principle, this method is completely correct."
"As long as the brightness we observe is the true brightness of the star, then the measured distance will be accurate."
"But unfortunately, the environment in the universe is too complicated."
"Measurement errors are impossible to avoid."
"So we have only one option, and that is to minimize the error."
"So, I have a preliminary idea."
"Choose a very stable stellar light source and use it as a standard candle."
"And this kind of candlelight is [Cepheid variable star]."
Wow!
As soon as Li Qiwei finished speaking, only some people in the hall exclaimed.
They are all astronomers.
Ordinary people, on the other hand, were confused and couldn't understand it at all.
How come changing to a star as the standard solves the problem?
The expressions on the faces of Hale, Dyson, Hubble, Eddington and others are extremely wonderful.
Of course they knew about Cepheids.
There's even an expert on Cepheids: Ms. Leavitt.
She is even often mistakenly called, or respectfully, the discoverer of Cepheids.
This is preferential treatment for female scientists.
But why do Cepheids reduce errors?
These astronomy big guys are also confused.
Li Qiwei did not let everyone continue to discuss, he continued:
"Regarding this method, I would first like to thank Ms. Leavitt."
After saying that, Li Qiwei nodded towards the other party.
The crowd was also attracted by his words, and then they discovered that there was a woman in the position of the astronomy boss.
This is amazing.
In this era, even in the United States, women's status is not as high as imagined.
In most industries, women are not seen at all.
Not to mention the scientific field.
However, today, a female astronomer was present.
In other words, LeWitt is a little older, otherwise countless whistles would have sounded.
"In 1784, the Dutch astronomer Gudlick discovered a very special kind of star."
"The special thing about this star is that its brightness changes periodically."
"In our normal understanding, the brightness of a star should be fixed."
"But the universe is so vast and full of wonders."
"This star is named [Delta Cephei]."
"It is a star, and it also has a common name called [Cepheus 1]." (Chinese name, there are language bugs here, don't worry about it.)
"Later, astronomers discovered several similar stars."
"So these variable stars whose brightness changes from the periodic table are collectively called [Cepheid variables]."
"In more than a hundred years, astronomers have discovered only a dozen Cepheids."
"Therefore, in the early days, the discovery of this kind of star did not have any substantial impact on astronomy."
“At best, it’s just a discovery of a special celestial body.”
"This kind of thing is very common in the field of astronomy."
"Maybe all of you here and your children will discover a strange celestial body tonight."
Everyone laughed when they heard this.
They like the sense of humor.
"However, the reason why scientists are scientists is because they can discover the most unusual laws from the most common phenomena."
"We know that each Cepheid variable star has its own [light changing period]."
"It refers to the brightness of a Cepheid variable star, from the brightest to the dimmest, and then to the brightest, and the time it takes to complete such a cycle."
"According to the observations of astronomers, the light-changing period of some Cepheids is as short as a few hours."
“And some can even take up to several years.”
"Therefore, the dimming period of each Cepheid variable star is unique and very stable."
"Ms. LeWitt from Harvard University became interested in the [period-light relationship] of Cepheids."
"She wanted to study the relationship between the variable light period and brightness of Cepheids."
"After taking thousands of photos, she discovered a surprising pattern."
"This law is so important in my opinion, but it is not taken seriously enough in the astronomical community."
"Ms. LeWitt discovered that the longer the light-changing period of a Cepheid variable star, the greater its average brightness."
"The brightness here refers to [visual brightness]."
"What Shapley and Curtis just said about brightness actually refers to visual brightness."
"That's how bright it looks."
"For example, we look at the candlelight of the same candle at one meter and ten meters away."
"Then the brightness we see must be different."
"This brightness is the apparent brightness of the candle, which changes with the viewing distance."
"Sometimes the visual brightness changes due to obstruction by gas, dust and other factors."
"The real brightness of a candle is its [intrinsic brightness]."
"It can be understood vividly as the brightness observed when the distance between the naked eye and the candle is zero."
"So suppose now, we already know the intrinsic brightness of a certain star in advance."
"Then, we saw the apparent brightness of this star through the telescope."
"According to the attenuation relationship between brightness and distance, the distance between the star and the observer can be easily determined."
"This is the mathematics of the standard candling method."
"The more accurate the intrinsic brightness, the more accurate the measured distance."
"The problem for Shapley and Curtis was that they could not find stars of known intrinsic brightness."
"So using the standard candlelight method, the measured data will have a large error."
"Now, Cepheids make up for this shortcoming."
"I thought of such a method."
"There are now more than a dozen types of Cepheids known."
"The parallax method can be used to measure the distance of these known Cepheids."
"With distance and apparent brightness, we can reversely calculate the intrinsic brightness of these Cepheids."
"Then, based on the rules discovered by Ms. LeWitt, we can summarize the relationship between the variable light period and the intrinsic brightness of Cepheids."
"We will get a constant coefficient."
"You can simply understand that the universal gravitational constant G has been measured."
"In this way, if we discover a new Cepheid variable star, we can know its intrinsic brightness based on its light changing period."
"Then by measuring its apparent brightness, we can finally calculate the distance of the Cepheid variable star from us."
"The benefit of this method is that we know exactly the intrinsic brightness of the star."
“Therefore, the measured results are more reliable than the traditional candlelight method.”
"With this method, we can more accurately measure the distance of the nebula from the Earth."
"As long as we can find a Cepheid variable star in the Spiral Nebula, we can directly calculate its distance."
"This proves that the Milky Way is not the only galaxy."
"Similarly, using this method, we can find Cepheids in the Milky Way and accurately measure the diameter of the Milky Way."
"This is my opinion on this issue."
"In my opinion, the value of Cepheids has been greatly underestimated."
"It is the real measuring stick!"
"Only it can accurately measure the scale of the universe!"
quiet!
Terrible silence!
The sound of a pindrop could be heard throughout the hall.
Everyone was in endless shock.
Everyone's mouths dropped open and their eyes widened. The astronomers in the front row are just like ordinary people at this moment.
In addition to being shocked, it is still shocking.
I don’t know how much time has passed.
boom!
Like a magnitude 18 earthquake, the entire hall went completely crazy.
"Oh! God! This is incredible!"
"Measuring Heavenly Ruler! What a domineering and revealing name!"
"Only Professor Bruce can come up with such a bold name."
"It turns out there are such strange stars in the universe."
"Cepheid variable star? This name is really unique!"
Most ordinary viewers were attracted by Li Qiwei's naming.
Just by virtue of the name, Professor Bruce’s method is unmistakable.
Of course, it couldn't have been wrong.
Because Li Qiwei's method is actually a variant of the standard candlelight method.
The real core is the special case of Cepheids.
In fact, many people present did not really understand what Li Qiwei said.
If they can understand it, they are unlikely to be ordinary people.
However, these did not affect the crazy worship of everyone.
Because they knew that since Professor Bruce dared to say it so domineeringly.
That shows that he has absolute confidence.
Can ordinary people's belief or disbelief compare to Professor Bruce's confidence?
Therefore, everyone cheered.
At the same time, Li Qiwei's method also made the debate more valuable.
From exciting to shocking!
And according to this method, the secrets of the Milky Way will be cracked in the near future.
Universe island theory vs galactic cosmology!
Which one is right and which one is wrong will soon be known.
How could everyone not be excited to witness such an astronomical event with their own eyes.
If we talk about the carnival of ordinary people, it is simply the excitement of this debate.
Then, astronomers, it is like a pilgrimage!
Because of Professor Bruce, he created a new method of astronomical distance measurement out of thin air.
Moreover, it is better than all previous methods.
This is something that makes all astronomers absolutely delighted.
Cepheid variable star!
Measuring ruler!
It will start a new revolution in astronomy!
"Oh God! It's unbelievable!"
"Professor Bruce was able to come up with such a method just by analyzing Ms. LeWitt's paper."
"He didn't even really measure the distance of a celestial body once."
"Is this the kind of dimensionality reduction attack described in "Bugs"?"
"Professor Bruce is no different from an alien to us, and he is the kind of alien from an advanced civilization."
Among the crowd, LeWitt still had shock on his face.
But soon, her heart was filled with emotion.
Today, she came with pain.
In real history, LeWitt would die of cancer at the end of next year.
Before her death, she suffered from many illnesses.
However, these still did not prevent her from going to the observatory to work every day.
It is this spirit that allowed her to achieve her previous achievements.
However, today, with Li Qiwei's blessing, her fame will reach its peak in an instant.
It not only resounds throughout the astronomical community, but will also be remembered by ordinary people.
Because her results inspired Professor Bruce to invent a brand new distance measurement method.
This kind of achievement is enough to make her famous in history.
Therefore, there were already faint tears in LeWitt's eyes at this moment.
What she cares about is not leaving a name in history, but being respected for her achievements.
Although she was already famous before.
But it has more to do with her gender and health issues.
But now, she relies on pure astronomical results.
LeWitt murmured: "Thank you, Professor Bruce."
If LeWitt is moved.
Then Hubble is excited.
No one can understand his mood at this moment.
Because his original plan was to use Cepheid variable stars as candlelight.
To this end, he has even found a dozen.
This is the advantage of awesome telescopes.
Hubble can find stars that others can find.
Hubble can also find stars that others cannot find.
It's just that he has never studied it systematically.
Because he doesn't know the principle behind it.
Li Qiwei's analysis made Hubble suddenly enlightened, as if he had been opened up to the second line of Ren and Du.
"Next, as long as I find more Cepheids, I can prove whether the M31 nebula and others are galaxies."
"I must measure these data before the first plenary meeting of the Astronomical Union."
Hubble suddenly became ambitious.
That grand event in the field of astronomy will be held in Rome, Italy in 1922.
It's only 2 years from now.
Hubble's time is still very tight.
Without Li Qiwei’s sharing today, he would never have been able to complete it.
But now, everything is different.
Hubble has decided that after today's activities are over, he will visit Professor Bruce as soon as possible.
Let’s discuss together the details of Cepheid variable star ranging.
I'm afraid no one in the audience had more complicated emotions than Shapley and Curtis.
After Li Qiwei finished explaining his method, the two of them were in shock.
No one can describe that feeling.
It's like the result of years of hard work and something you are proud of.
In the end, he was defeated by someone else's random scribblings on the manuscript paper.
No matter how strong a person is, I'm afraid he won't be able to withstand this kind of blow.
As proud as Shapley, he could only smile bitterly at this moment.
What he thought before was right.
"Fortunately Professor Bruce did not participate in the debate."
"Otherwise, we can just admit defeat."
But now, it seems to be no different from admitting defeat.
However, it turned out that both sides of the debate admitted defeat at the same time.
The two of them argued for more than an hour, but neither of them was as shocking as Professor Bruce's speech of more than ten minutes.
This is the terrible thing about the world's first scientific person.
Big bosses such as Haier and Dyson could not hide their shock.
They never expected that Professor Bruce would find crucial evidence from clues.
The horror of theoretical physicists is vividly reflected at this moment.
The two lost interest in bickering and were immersed in this shock.
"Old Dai, do you think it's possible? This is the paper Professor Bruce was preparing to publish."
Dyson said leisurely: "It's definitely impossible."
"Didn't you realize that this was Professor Bruce's impromptu idea?"
"It's just that he didn't say it clearly, because it would be too shocking."
"I believe the paper he is going to publish will be more shocking than this!"
Hearing this, Haier was shocked.
"Oh God! How can a person be so genius?"
"He easily solved a centuries-old problem in astronomy?"
Dyson shook his head.
"It is not so much that Professor Bruce is strong as that he is extremely insightful."
“The core of his approach remains the same.”
"If you say it's difficult, that's a bit much."
"With so many astronomers present, who wouldn't?"
"But people can see the potential of Cepheids at a glance."
"Digging out important information."
"How do you describe this ability?"
"It's a bit mysterious indeed."
"Maybe this is talent."
"Thinking about his achievements in the field of physics, this little trick is actually not worth mentioning."
"It's just important for astronomy."
Although Dyson said this, the shock in his heart was no less than that of Haer.
There are many simple things in this world.
But why weren’t you the one who discovered or created it?
As an astronomy expert, everyone knows that the simpler something is, the easier it is to be ignored.
Because people naturally like to pursue high things.
At this moment, many big bosses are recalling the glass problem a few days ago.
"Professor Bruce is great not without reason."
At this moment, on the high platform, Li Qiwei looked like a god and a devil.
He calmly looked at the cheers and admiration of everyone.
What happened today was completely unexpected.
But that’s fine too.
His method will completely kick off the research boom in galaxy astronomy.
Then publish a stellar paper, which will start another boom in stellar research.
In addition to his own growing influence in the field of astronomy.
He can also bring incredible changes to Chinese literature.
In the past few days, after his training, Yu Qingsong can be said to have been completely transformed.
After he returns, he will definitely be able to take over the banner from Gao Lu.
Taking Chinese literature into a new journey.
Finally, the debate of the century is over.
But it will always be in everyone's mind.
And soon, the results of this debate will spread throughout the scientific community.
Everyone was once again impressed by Professor Bruce's talent.
Now, the other party is a worthy astronomer.
Next, the astronomical community will embark on a carnival to find Cepheids.
Maybe some lucky person can use this to explain the scale of the universe and soar into the sky.
At this moment, astronomers suddenly thought of it again.
Professor Bruce is also going to publish a paper on stellar energy.
This will be another theory that shocks the academic world.
"Astronomy will change because of Professor Bruce."
However, what no one expected was.
This paper is not just about astronomy, its impact on physics is even more profound.
Even years later, when people looked back at the history of world science, they discovered this.
Professor Bruce's paper, to some extent, changed the direction of the world.
(End of chapter)