Chapter 47 Perfect Ending
Li Qiwei was stunned when he heard the old man's name, and it took him a few seconds to realize that this was a famous person.
If we were to choose a photo of the world’s smartest people for posterity, then the “Physics All-Star Photo” would definitely be the one to choose.
This photo (pictured above) was taken at the Fifth Solvay Conference in 1927, with Einstein and Bohr at the core, engaged in a war of words over quantum mechanics.
17 of the 29 people who participated in the meeting won the Nobel Prize, which is terrifying.
And that meeting was sponsored by Solvay, the white-bearded old man in front of him.
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 idle).
But he was already over fifty years old and was obviously not up to par in science, so he was ready to spend money.
By chance, he met the German physicist Nernst. At that time, Nernst wanted to convene a group of top physicists to talk about the latest developments in physics.
When Solvay heard that the opportunity had come, he immediately said that he would host the conference at his own expense.
So, he booked a luxury hotel as the conference venue and prepared red envelopes for every scientist who came to the conference. This is how the first Sowell Conference came about.
The boss of Solvay said: I have more money, you can make whatever you want. I just want to hear the crisp sound of the collision of scientific ideas, which is much more fascinating than money.
Li Qiwei looked at Solvay and thought to himself, this is the ideal sponsor in the minds of all scientific researchers. He only gives money and does not give blind orders.
This kind of boss must build a good relationship. If you want to organize a meeting, just find this guy.
So he stretched out his hand, looked very enthusiastic, and said with a smile: "Hello, Mr. Solway, nice to meet you."
Solway was very strange. I don't know why Li Qiwei was so peaceful to him. In his imagination, such a young genius must be extremely arrogant.
At the venue before, he was almost on the verge of becoming a fan of Li Qiwei. Such an exciting physical breakthrough made Solvay feel that the money in his hand was instantly worthless.
A good man must engage in scientific research, seek breakthroughs, and change the world.
If Li Qiwei knew what he was thinking, he would definitely say: There is no other meaning, just because I am interested in my brother's money. If you sponsor the money to me, you can change the world.
The two parties communicated in a friendly atmosphere. Solvay implicitly expressed his financial resources, while Li Qiwei euphemistically expressed his hope to organize some physics conferences frequently in the future to enhance exchanges between scholars.
The two men immediately looked at each other and smiled, feeling as if they had met each other too late, leaving Lord Kelvin beside him confused.
Soon, Li Qiwei and Solvay finished their greetings. He said that he must exchange letters frequently in the future to contribute to the development of physics.
Not long after Solvay left, Sir Lockyer, editor-in-chief of Nature, came over.
"Hey, Bruce, when will the paper on the photoelectric effect be published? The whole magazine is counting on you now, and the boys are working hard."
Li Qiwei casually took a sip of red wine and said with a smile: "Just in the past few days, I have finished writing the first draft, I just need to revise it a little."
Lockyer was very satisfied and patted his shoulder, "In the future With you as the editor-in-chief, I believe that many people will submit their papers to Nature first.”
Li Qiwei said: “That’s really good news, Lockyer. I have a suggestion.”
“It is better to set up several more professional sub-journals under Nature. This will not only reflect professionalism, but also help the company increase its income.”
Lockyer 1. Stunned, he murmured: "Zikan? Bruce, can you tell me in detail?"
Li Qiwei was ready to take over the style of later "Nature", so he said: "We can keep the main journal of "Nature", which mainly publishes the world's most cutting-edge research results, which requires extremely high innovation."
< br>"Then under it, there are sub-journals such as "Nature Physics", "Nature Chemistry", "Nature Biology" and so on."
"The innovation and importance of the sub-journals, It can be slightly inferior to the main journal, but it also needs to undergo strict peer review. "
"In this way, it can not only distinguish between high and low levels, increase the enthusiasm of contributors, but also attract outstanding results in other fields. Isn’t it beautiful?”
After hearing this, Lockyer was stunned. He really couldn't imagine that Li Qiwei was not only extremely gifted in academic ability, but he could also create new magazines. Is it true that geniuses are geniuses in any field they work in?
This idea can be said to be very good, and it is completely in line with the current development status of the "Nature" journal.
As Li Qiwei's paper became more and more famous, the reputation of "Nature" also increased.
It not only attracts British scientific researchers, but also goes abroad to attract the attention of European and even American scientific researchers.
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 in the minority. Although the work of more people is also extremely excellent, it is still slightly inferior.
So, at this time, if the main issue represents the best and the secondary issue represents excellence, it can attract everyone.
What? You said that you can't even publish it in the second issue. Sorry, in the eyes of the boss, you are not a scientific researcher, but can only be regarded as a producer of scientific research garbage.
Lockyer was so excited that he kept gesturing with his hands, wishing he could go back now and start pushing forward this important matter.
Li Qiwei quickly stopped him and told him not to be anxious, but to finish listening to the meeting before leaving.
In the next few days, physicists from all over the world took turns to explain their results.
Applause sounded at any time in the venue, and the various researches were dazzling.
Although there are Li Qiwei’s gems in the forefront, this kind of purely theoretical thing is too high-end and belongs to a very small number of people.
What most physicists study is closely related to real life.
For example, the French physicist Lippmann reported a new color photo technology.
He coated a reflective layer on the surface of the photosensitive plate. When the light is illuminated, it will interfere with the reflected light and produce colored stripes.
Then after latent image processing, it can be printed into color photos.
Historically, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics for the technology he invented.
The focus of Lippmann’s research is how to find a suitable reflective layer and determine the coating parameters to achieve a level of stability that can be commercialized.
Photos in this era were still in black and white, and it was not until 1935 that color cameras were officially introduced to the market.
It can be seen from this that the obstacles and efforts that physics must go through from theoretical realization to commercialization are far from being achieved by just a slogan.
A few days later, the exciting meeting finally came to an end, and everyone left with satisfaction.
You must know that unlike later generations, various conferences are held every day. Today's scholars basically rely on letters to exchange results.
So it is very precious and thankful to be able to get together and participate in a meeting.
And this meeting was so exciting and impressive that many people were ready to go back and brag about it.
The Solvay boss even enthusiastically called for a camera crew, and took a group photo with Li Qiwei and more than a dozen well-known physicists.
It made the little old man smile from ear to ear. In his words, looking at this photo every day makes him wiser.
After Li Qiwei returned to Cambridge University, in addition to going to the Cavendish Laboratory as usual every day, the remaining focus was to contact his family and start the Spark Project.
What he did not expect was that the impact of this meeting would be so far-reaching that it would spread along the telegraph line to the far East.
There, a few passionate young people will change their destiny from now on.
Thank you for your monthly tickets to [Shentu Tea], and thank you to all new and old book friends for your recommendation votes.
(End of this chapter)