Chapter 140: The Spark Trio graduates and has a bright future!
With the publication of Li Qiwei’s Declaration of Genius, physics has since ushered in fundamental changes.
Physicists are a little more reserved. Although they are turbulent in their hearts, they are calm and calm on the surface.
But their behavior revealed their ambitions. The papers became thicker and thicker, the experiments became deeper and deeper, and the more meetings they attended, the more they attended.
The big guys are racing against time, trying to gain a place in the world of physics.
And a large number of physicists are even more crazy.
Nowadays, with the rapid development of theory and experimental equipment, even people with lower level of skills can make good results.
So physicists have almost forgotten all sleep and food, and sleeping in the laboratory is commonplace.
According to them, what if the experimental phenomenon occurs at night.
Wouldn’t it be better to go home and sleep?
At first glance, it really makes sense.
In the history of physics, there are many examples of major phenomena discovered by accident.
The largest group in the field of physics is neither physicists nor physicists, it is always students.
Whether they are undergraduates or doctoral students, they are the future of physics and the hope of physics.
Physics will always move forward only if each generation of students becomes stronger than the next.
Genius points out the direction for physics, but the road leading there is paved by countless ordinary physicists.
Maybe some students will never reach the height of publishing the theory of relativity, but they may become a good teacher and cultivate a genius.
Therefore, no university in the world will neglect the education and training of students.
On December 1, 1902, Trinity College officially held its undergraduate defense.
There are about 15 people in total for this defense, and the names of He Yujie, Xia Yuanzhen and Xu Qitai are prominently listed.
Li Qiwei's original undergraduate graduation defense has now become a legend of Trinity College and is talked about by countless people.
This has directly led to an increase in the thresholds of many teachers and students.
Ordinary defense can no longer arouse their mood swings.
But the atmosphere at the graduation defense scene still made everyone show serious expressions.
This is not a casual occasion, but a sacred and pure academic exchange site.
Real knowledge needs to be respected. If a piece of knowledge makes you feel problematic, then it may not be real knowledge.
The number of people attending this graduation defense was about 80, which was far less than Li Qiwei’s time.
But when Li Qiwei saw He Yujie and the others, his body was still trembling slightly, and his face was flushed with excitement.
Extremely nervous.
He smiled at the three and encouraged them through his eyes.
Professor Keyes originally wanted to bring Li Qiwei to the jury, but he refused on the grounds of avoiding suspicion.
So now Li Qiwei is sitting in the corner of the back row.
However, his reputation was so great that everyone in the venue couldn't help but look at him inadvertently, with envy in their eyes.
This also made He Yujie and the others relieved. It seemed that everyone's attention was on Brother Li.
The first person to appear was Xia Yuanxi. His undergraduate thesis was in the field of optics.
The main content is to study the conditions required for light diffraction to occur under various circumstances and prove it through mathematical formulas.
The overall difficulty level is quite satisfactory and it is a good graduation thesis.
Because his thesis involved light, this instantly awakened Professor Case. The wave-particle duality that Li Qiwei told him back then still lingered in his ears.
This is what Professor Case regrets the most. He did not do in-depth research and thus missed the opportunity to discover a major theory.
For this reason, Professor Case often mentioned this example in class and warned his students:
"Never let go of any detail. The truth of physics is often hidden in the simplest phenomena."
"I think back then, I"
If I say too much, let the students They were speechless.
Young people often say privately that Professor Case is not very capable and likes to feed others chicken soup.
Today, when Professor Case saw Xia Yuanwei's paper, he thought again of that afternoon and that beam of light.
As a result, Xia Yuanzhen was miserable.
Professor Case seemed to be on stimulants and asked several questions in succession.
They are all aimed at the unclear parts of the paper, either experimental steps or calculation formulas.
And these questions are to the point. Not only do the respondents need to have sufficient knowledge, but they also need to be able to think divergently.
If you just do experiments and mechanically record data without analysis or your own thinking, you will basically not be able to answer these questions.
It requires the respondent to have a system-level perspective and breadth of their own research from beginning to end.
Of course, even if you can’t answer the question, it doesn’t mean you can’t graduate.
After all, as long as you do the experiments yourself and write the thesis yourself, then there will be no problem with graduation.
But in front of so many people, no one, as long as they are a normal young man, can bear the humiliation of not being able to answer the question.
One is fine, but if you can’t answer several questions in a row, you’ll have to find a crack in the ground and crawl in.
Xia Yuanxi's mouth went dry after being asked. His brain was running wildly, and the derivation process flashed quickly in his eyes.
From the reasons for initiating the topic to the problems that occurred in the intermediate experiments, how he discovered and analyzed them.
In the end, the derivation of the results, the innovation of the paper, etc. are very comprehensive.
Fortunately, he was well prepared and received Li Qiwei’s advance guidance, so he managed to do it with ease. After answering Professor Case’s question.
The latter nodded with satisfaction and wrote an excellent comment on the paper.
Obviously, if the other party cannot answer these questions, then Professor Case will only give a qualified evaluation.
If you can’t answer even simpler questions, then you can only reject it.
The question of just ten minutes seemed to last as long as a century in Xia Yuanzhen's eyes. He now finally realized Li Qiwei's good intentions.
The graduation defense is a summary of one's achievements.
If you can't answer the review teacher's questions, it means your learning is still superficial.
I don’t have a deep understanding of my own research, I know what is happening but I don’t know why.
This defense experience has also deeply affected Xia Yuanwei’s future teaching style.
Many years later, many students who graduated from Xia Yuanwei's defense have become leaders in their respective fields and are highly respected.
But when they have the opportunity to get together, they will be like children, competing for a certain result with great interest:
During my graduation defense, I insisted on several questions from Professor Xia.
“I only persisted in 3 questions.”
“That’s not good, I’m too good.”
“Nonsense, I answered the most questions in that session ”
“I insisted on 6 questions”
"Awesome! Disrespectful, I dare to ask where the boss is currently employed."
"No prizes, no prizes, I am temporarily a first-level professor at Qiwei Institute of Technology."
"Wow! "
"I insisted on 9 questions."
"Big brother! Please accept my knee, are you at least an academician?"
"Yeah."
"I insisted on 12 questions."
"Hiss!" Everyone took a breath.
"Unfortunately, I have only won one Nobel Prize in Physics, and the results are mediocre."
"God! You are our senior brother!"
The last person.
“I insisted on 15 questions.”
“.” Everyone was silent.
At this moment, Professor Xia, who was admired by countless students in later generations, was just like them, tortured by the defense.
Xia Yuanwei breathed a long sigh of relief, it was finally over.
Then he looked at He Yujie and Xu Qitai maliciously, showing a gloating smile.
It made the two of them tremble. They were also shocked just now, but now their minds are still blank.
Soon, it was He Yujie’s turn. His undergraduate thesis was in the field of thermal science.
The main research content is about the second law of thermodynamics and its application analysis in specific practice.
Like Xia Yuanwei, He Yujie also experienced the baptism of questions and left indelible memories.
Next, there was Xu Qitai. His undergraduate thesis was about the study of radioactivity of uranium, which immediately caused an exclamation.
Because this direction is a bit high-end and not a field that undergraduates can study.
But after Li Qiwei came forward to explain briefly, everyone understood.
Good guy, this Xu Qitai is actually half a student of Rutherford.
As a result, more questions were asked to him, far more than He Xia and He Xia.
Xu Qitai wanted to cry but had no tears.
Watching the three people on the stage changing from nervous to high-spirited before and after the defense, Li Qiwei was filled with emotions.
He did not choose to give the Spark trio their Nobel Prize-level achievements, and he felt a little guilty.
When Xu Qitai and Wang Luyao were discussing X-ray diffraction on the train, they only had to mention it a little.
With Xu Qitai’s hands-on ability, he will definitely be able to discover the diffraction phenomenon of X-rays, and he will easily win the Nobel Prize in Physics in the future.
But Ridgway chose not to do this.
As for the Spark trio, he is confident that each of them can win the Nobel Prize in Physics.
But this may not be a good thing for them.
The three of them certainly belong to the elite level in China at this moment, but they are still far away from the real physics geniuses.
If you give them Nobel Prize-level results, it will be tantamount to encouraging others, and it will affect their original intention to return to implement the Spark Project.
Li Qiwei positioned the three of them as the founders and pioneers of Chinese physics.
Let them take root and sprout as seeds to cultivate more scientific talents for China.
So the three people are destined to focus on education rather than personal research.
He didn't know if what he did was selfish, but he would definitely compensate the three of them.
Because they will devote their whole lives to domestic science and engineering education, such people deserve a bright future.
So, when the defense was over, Li Qiwei came on stage and praised the three people.
The three of them are very excited now. After passing the defense, they feel like they have been transformed.
Even the horizons are different from before.
From today on, they are no longer ordinary people, but physics undergraduates graduated from Cambridge University.
Li Qiwei patted the three of them and said with a smile: "You are all good."
"When you return to China, it will be your time."
"Gentlemen, the future is promising!"
The right hands of the three people, with Li Qiwei as the core, were tightly clasped into The triangle will support the future of Chinese science!
(End of this chapter)