Chapter 473 The Nobel Prize is announced! Questionable! "Whether it is authoritative or not, Professor Bruce has the final say!"
Almost everyone in the physics community has great enthusiasm and expectations for the third Bruce Conference.
However, every once in a while, there will always be one or two people who feel bitter in their hearts.
Because October is also the time when the Nobel Prize is announced.
With the excitement of the Bruce Conference ahead, even the Nobel Prize seems a bit insignificant.
If a big shot wins the Nobel Prize, of course he won’t be too indifferent.
But if you are not a top physicist, it will be really embarrassing for whoever wins.
October 8, 1921.
Paris, France, headquarters of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.
The current director, 60-year-old Guillaume, had a very rich expression on his face after hanging up the phone.
First there was shock, then joy, and then emotion.
For an old man who has experienced many vicissitudes of life to have these expressions shows the importance of the matter.
“Oh! God! I actually won this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics.”
“This is incredible!”
The congratulatory call from the Physics Nobel Prize Committee just now , still echoing in my ears.
Guillaume still feels like he is in a dream.
In real history, Guillaume won the Nobel Prize in 1920, Einstein in 1921, and Bohr in 1922.
Because of Li Qiwei, history changed slightly.
Guillaume won the Nobel Prize, and of course he was very happy.
But then, he showed a wry smile and laughed at himself:
"My results should not be discerned by those physics big guys."
The reason for his award is: the discovery of anomalies in nickel-steel alloys that promoted precision measurement in physics.
Translated into the vernacular: a strange alloy was discovered that does not follow the phenomenon of thermal expansion and contraction.
In real history, this is the only time the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to the field of metallurgy.
So, future generations of students studying mechanics and metallurgy should see hope.
The future is promising!
Guillaume was born in Switzerland. His father was a famous Swiss watchmaker and later founded a watchmaking company in London.
So, Guillaume developed a strong interest in these precision instruments when he was young.
After graduating from ETH Zurich with a PhD, he chose to join the International Bureau of Weights and Measures instead of inheriting his father's business.
The International Bureau of Weights and Measures, as its name suggests, is an international organization established to unify the weights and measures of countries around the world.
How important is the unification of weights and measures? Qin Shihuang has already given the answer.
China’s Liang, British Pounds.
If weights and measures are not unified, trade settlement between the two countries will be very cumbersome.
Similarly, the same is true in the field of scientific research.
I use feet and inches, and you use miles and feet. You have to convert again when reading the paper.
Very time consuming.
So, everyone simply uses standard units such as kilograms and meters.
This saves time and reduces errors.
Just having unified weights and measures is not enough, you also have to give precise values in standard units.
The most important job of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures is measurement, especially precision measurement with precision instruments.
For example, time measurement in high-end watches, pendulum measurement in astronomical clocks, etc.
However, these precision instruments often encounter a problem, which is the error caused by the thermal expansion and contraction of the instrument itself.
For example, the same watch may have different accuracy in Africa and Antarctica, making calibration troublesome.
Because many mechanical parts in watches are made of metal.
Metal expands with heat and contracts with cold, which leads to errors in the mechanical structure.
Therefore, Guillaume wanted to find a special metal material.
It does not expand with heat or shrink with cold, and can keep its volume unchanged no matter what the temperature is.
Eventually, he discovered a special alloy: Invar.
This is a metal alloy formed by combining iron and nickel in a certain proportion.
Invar alloy will not shrink significantly in volume even if it is placed in an extreme environment of more than one hundred degrees below zero.
This excellent and special performance is simply a dream for the field of measurement.
Guillaume first used this alloy in high-end watches and immediately achieved great success.
Later, Invar alloy became more and more widely used, and it was used in various precision instruments.
It is precisely because of this achievement that Guillaume served as director of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures for 20 years.
The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility.
At that time, no physicist could explain the special phenomenon of Invar alloy.
Iron and nickel themselves have normal expansion and contraction effects.
But why do they cancel each other out when combined in a certain proportion?
However, although everyone does not know the specific reason, they can guess that there must be some kind of force resisting thermal expansion and contraction.
This problem was not perfectly explained until quantum mechanics was perfected.
A simple understanding is related to electron spin.
In a low-temperature environment, metal shrinks in overall volume due to the reduction in the vibration range of metal atoms.
But the electrons in the Invar alloy will change their spin due to the decrease in temperature.
The spin states of electrons tend to be unified, and because of their magnetism, they are repulsive to each other.
This causes the distance between atoms to increase, which just offsets the contraction of thermal motion.
So the macroscopic expression is that the volume remains unchanged.
In a high temperature environment, the spin state of the electron flips again.
Atoms no longer repel but attract each other, which just offsets the expansion of thermal motion.
The above is the microscopic mechanism that Invar alloy does not expand with heat and shrink with cold.
As long as the principle is understood, scientists can artificially create various alloys with the same properties.
This is a perfect example of theory guiding practice.
But at this moment, Guillaume didn't know that the alloy he accidentally discovered was actually related to the awesome quantum theory.
After the announcement of the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, it instantly caused quite a commotion in the physics community.
The third Bruce Conference is about to be held, and high-end topics such as atoms and quantum will be discussed soon.
As a result, the Nobel Prize was awarded to such a seemingly low-end result.
Many people are sour and a little unconvinced.
"Why do Nobel Prize winners always do this kind of thing? They just gave awards to lighthouse valves before, but now there is another one who works on alloys."
"What kind of technical content does this have? I feel like You can do it with me.”
“Although Invar alloy has important applications in precision instruments, it shouldn’t be worthy of the Nobel Prize, right?”
“.”
< br>
Everyone was talking about it.
But Guillaume did not personally come forward to defend himself.
The result of this is that there are more and more doubts.
However, physics masters have different views on this.
Many physicists congratulated Guillaume.
Einstein was the first to publicly post a message to support his senior fellow students.
“The reason why Invar alloy resists thermal expansion and contraction is still unknown.”
“This may be a special phenomenon similar to superconductivity.”
< br>Wow!
As soon as the article came out, it caused an even greater sensation.
Einstein is no unknown figure in the world of physics today.
He has achieved very important results in various fields.
His support instantly silenced those doubting voices.
Everyone knows very well about superconductivity.
That kind of magical phenomenon, until now, physicists still can’t figure out the specific cause.
If Invar alloy is really similar to superconducting, it will be more than enough to win the Nobel Prize.
Everyone also began to truly understand what Guillaume's achievements were.
The other party is not the blacksmith as imagined.
However, this still does not allow everyone to fully recognize the authority of this Nobel Prize.
“Perhaps it is just caused by the different ratio of materials.”
"There is no special mechanism." Just as everyone was happily discussing this.
Soon, Li Qiwei also issued a congratulatory letter in the name of the Quantum Institute.
But everyone didn’t take it seriously at first.
Because everyone knows that Professor Bruce publicly writes letters of congratulations to all Nobel Prize winners every year.
This has become a routine, nothing special.
However, immediately afterwards, Li Qiwei wrote another short review specifically analyzing the problems of Invar alloy.
The title of the article is: "The relationship between the expansion coefficient of Invar alloy and electron spin".
Boom!
As soon as the article was published, it instantly shocked the physics community.
Everyone's jaw dropped.
Good guy.
Isn’t it a black alloy?
How is it related to the high electron spin?
This work is organized and uploaded by Liujiu Book Bar~~
"Oh my God! The properties of Invar alloy are actually related to the electron spin?"
"It is a concept that has just been proposed. Professor Bruce can think of it immediately."
“Simply a god Average."
"Does anyone know if it can really be explained according to Professor Bruce's point of view?"
"If this is true, then Dr. Guillaume will win the Nobel Prize. It’s worthy of its name.”
At this moment, everyone was confused by this sudden turn.
What everyone sees as low-end and inadequate results, in the eyes of Professor Bruce, is actually so closely related to quantum theory.
I feel instantly superior and awesome.
If this is true, then Guillaume definitely deserves the Nobel Prize.
Einstein had previously participated in a quantum theory seminar, and he also had a deep understanding of materials science.
He immediately gave a more in-depth and detailed analysis.
From the perspective of the relationship between electron spin and magnetism, the properties of Invar alloy can really be explained.
Although it's not perfect yet.
But at least it proves that the special nature of Invar alloy is not as simple as it seems on the surface, and involves a very profound truth.
Soon, even Kroenig, Uhlenbeck, and Gudsmit joined in.
They also tried to explain it from the perspective of electron spin.
This is a disguised proof of the correctness of electron spin.
You can imagine the excitement of the three brothers!
Wow!
This dramatic change has simply made many melon-eating people addicted.
Everyone had high respect for Professor Bruce.
He did not underestimate any scientific results.
Instead, he goes back to the source and tries to use his theory to explain everything in nature.
Some people even joked:
“Professor Bruce has the final say whether the Nobel Prize is authoritative or not!”
"Who is in favor? Who is against?"
Inside the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.
Colleagues and friends congratulated Dr. Guillaume.
Their eyes were full of envy.
"Even Professor Bruce strongly supports you."
"Dr. Ji keeps getting stronger!"
Guillaume smiled slightly.
He didn't care about the previous rumors.
He also doesn't care about congratulations and compliments now.
What he cares about is that sunny day twelve years ago.
At that time, Professor Bruce visited Switzerland.
The two officially met for the first time.
At that time, he was just the deputy director, while the other party was already a world-famous physicist.
Guillaume still clearly remembers that after he introduced his research field, Professor Bruce showed great interest.
And the other party said jokingly:
"If one day I am no longer a theoretical physicist, I want to be a blacksmith."
Guillaume asked curiously: "Why?"
Professor Bruce replied: " I want to build myself a full-body metal armor.”
“I want to be Iron Man!”
Everyone laughed after hearing this.
Professor Bruce's humor left a deep impression on everyone.
Guillaume smiled and joked:
"Professor Bruce, making armor is too easy for you."
Li Qiwei shook his head and said:
“Metal materials are much more complicated than imagined.”
"We still know too little about it."
"I think Dr. Ji's research is very interesting. Maybe one day he will win the Nobel Prize."
Everyone does. A smile.
Guillaume also smiled happily at that time, but he didn't care.
At this moment, he looked into the distance and murmured:
"It was just normal at the time."
"Bruce, thank you."
~~~
Just a dozen days after the Nobel Prize in Physics was announced.
A paper from the University of Göttingen once again shocked the physics community.
Professor Born's doctoral student Hundt discovered another major law of electron arrangement outside the nucleus.
This is a great complement to the Pauli-Bruce Exclusion Principle.
The physics community quickly dubbed it "Hundt's Rule."
After seeing this paper, Pauli rarely deliberately found fault, but was very excited.
Because of the side evidence of Invar alloy on electron spin, he felt a little uncomfortable and could not save his face.
He even dreamed that the three Kronigs were smiling at him.
"Hey hey hey~"
"We are right!"
And now, based on his foundation, Hongte has discovered new knowledge of quantum theory.
Make Pauli feel like he has become a giant.
He regained a little face.
“Brothers Hundt are standing on the shoulders of someone I picked up.”
University of Göttingen.
Born looked at his students and sighed:
“What a pity.”
“If you had published this paper earlier, you might have received an invitation from Professor Bruce.”
“I don’t know if there will be such a good opportunity next time.”
Hunt was shy. He smiled and said:
"Professor, it's okay."
"Even if I can't be a participant, I still want to be a good note-taker."
"I am very satisfied to be born in the same era as Professor Bruce and great physicists like you."
After hearing this, Born laughed.
This flattery is a bit too much.
But it does taste good.
Exclusion principle, electron spin, Hundt's rule.
These are the final additions to quantum theory.
Physics is in full swing and prosperous, making all physicists obsessed.
With the theory of relativity and quantum theory in hand, physicists are confident that they can explain everything in the world.
In the context of this crazy prosperous age.
The third blues conference has finally begun!
(End of this chapter)