Chapter 206 There are actually masters in King’s College?
On March 1, 1909, Li Qiwei officially reported to the school as professor of physics and head of the physics department at King's College London.
His arrival made the teachers and students of the Physics Department very happy.
Li Qiwei greeted everyone with a smile and gave an impassioned speech.
He expressed his intention to lead the Physics Department of King's College to a higher level.
It immediately caused a burst of applause from the audience.
Next, he visited the current lecturers and professors of the Department of Physics individually.
One of them surprised Li Qiwei. He didn't expect that there was a hidden master in King's College.
“Hello, Professor Bakla.”
“I have long admired your name.”
The 32-year-old Bakla did not expect that the famous Bruce would know about him.
He felt flattered and quickly returned the favor.
"Hello, Professor Bruce."
"You are very welcome."
"I am very excited now."
Li Qiwei smiled and said gently: "Professor Bakla, the debate between you and Professor Henry Bragg on the nature of X-rays in the past two years was very exciting."
"Professor Bragg was also my doctoral defense review teacher. "
"I have a deep understanding of his sharpness. Anyone who can compete with him must be a master."
Bakla was a little embarrassed to be praised by Li Qiwei. His face turned red and he was obviously very excited.
Who is Li Qiweina?
The number one genius in physics, founder of quantum theory and relativity, and winner of the first Nobel Prize in Physics.
There are also top results such as the photoelectric effect, the wave-particle duality of light, the mass-energy equation, the atomic structure planetary model, etc.
Being praised by the other party is like eating honey for Bakla.
This is the influence of top physics figures.
Li Qiwei looked at the other party with a smile and sighed in his heart.
Unconsciously, I have grown to this point.
Just a few words can flatter the future boss.
Bakla is not a little Karami. In real history, he was also a big shot who won the Nobel Prize.
The controversy in Li Qiwei's mouth is also related to X-rays.
If we say that in the first three decades of the twentieth century, the pinnacle achievements of physics were the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.
Then the next level is the three major directions of X-ray, radioactivity, atomic and electronic research.
Among them, X-rays attracted the most attention in the early days. In less than twenty years, there were 5 Nobel Prizes related to them.
In 1901, Roentgen won the Nobel Prize in Physics for being the first to discover X-rays.
Since then, physicists have been studying the nature of X-rays.
Is it a wave or a particle?
Note that the distinction between waves and particles here is not the same concept as the wave-particle duality of light.
Even though light can exhibit particle properties, physicists at this time still believed that its essence was a wave, and that particle properties were just a certain behavior of it.
There is an essential difference between light and material entities such as electrons and atoms.
Physicists debate the nature of X-rays, with particles referring to entities like atomic electrons rather than waves.
At the European Radiology Conference, Li Qiwei boldly predicted that X-rays are a wave.
Of course, because there was no experimental support, those present just regarded that prediction as the boss’s intuition.
Bakla joined King's College in 1900 and began studying X-rays in 1902.
By studying the scattering and polarization phenomena of X-rays, he tended to believe that X-rays are a kind of wave.
But this evidence is insufficient.
Hundreds of years ago, Newton and a group of optical giants debated the nature of light.
If it is just scattering and polarization, the particle theory can also explain it.
Note that at this time physicists did not know that X-rays were a type of light, otherwise there would be no need to argue.
So Professor Henry Bragg, who supports the X-ray particle theory, stood up.
He not only explained scattering with the particle theory, but also assumed that X-ray particles have rotation, which can explain the polarization phenomenon.
As a result, both sides held their own opinions and launched a fierce debate from 1907 to 1908.
The main battlefield for the debate is Nature magazine.
Both parties go back and forth and publish papers every once in a while to prove their respective views.
Bakla insists on the volatility of X-rays.
Henry Bragg insisted that X-rays are composed of electrons and positive charges forming a neutral electric dipole.
The two of them expressed their own opinions, and no one could convince the other because their theories were supported by their own experimental facts.
Although this debate has no clear conclusion, it has left a deep impression on the scientific community.
In real history, Laue was influenced by Bachla's views on X-ray polarization and fluctuations and published the crystal diffraction phenomenon of X-rays in 1912.
Laue discovered that X-rays will produce diffraction patterns when passing through a special crystal material.
This experimental result strongly proves that X-rays are a kind of wave, thus ending a decade-long debate on the nature of X-rays.
For this, Laue won the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Next, Henry Bragg and his son Lawrence Bragg conducted more in-depth research on the crystal diffraction phenomenon of X-rays.
Proposed the crystal diffraction theory and established the famous Bragg formula (Bragg theorem).
This has opened up a new field of using X-rays to analyze crystal structures.
This technology also laid a solid theoretical foundation for the subsequent discovery of the DNA double helix structure. (This story is also very exciting and closely related to King's College London.)
The name Prague has also become synonymous with crystallography.
For this reason, the Braggs won the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics.
There is only one year difference between him and Laue's award, which shows the importance of this research.
And Bakla’s work has also been recognized. Without his early accumulation, there would be no subsequent crystal diffraction by Laue.
So, he won the 1917 Nobel Prize in Physics for his research on X-ray scattering and polarization. Later, Swedish physicist Sigbarn won the 1924 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering the characteristic spectrum of X-rays.
The above is the ins and outs of the five physics Nobel Prizes related to X-rays in the first 30 years of the 20th century.
From any point of view, Bakla's contribution to X-rays is indelible.
Of course, the other person now is just an ordinary professor in the Department of Physics, King's College London.
Although his dispute with Professor Henry Bragg made him famous.
But it is far inferior to Li Qiwei, Planck, Thomson and others.
Even if he won the Nobel Prize, according to Li Qiwei's classification in Chapter 115, Bakla could only be regarded as an ordinary physicist.
It is still far behind Li Qiwei.
If Li Qiwei hadn’t seen him in person and heard his name, he wouldn’t have known that he was also at King’s College.
After all, although this work is very impressive and Nobel Prize-level, it pales in comparison to the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.
So, he didn’t pay too much attention.
Unconsciously, our old Li has become so awesome that he doesn’t even pay attention to the Nobel Prize.
But he certainly won't be stupid enough to show it.
"Professor Bakla, although I was in China before, I have always paid attention to the development of the European physics community."
"Your work is very exciting. To be honest, I personally think that Ray is a kind of wave.”
Bakla was shocked after hearing this, “Really?”
"You also support the X-ray wave theory?"
Li Qiwei shrugged, "I already spoke publicly at a certain meeting."
"It's too late to regret it now. "
"Hahaha", Bakla couldn't help laughing. As a member of X-ray research, he certainly knew what happened at the European Radiology Conference.
I thought it was just a joke, but I didn't expect Bruce to be serious.
This time, Bakla liked Li Qiwei even more.
Under a department head who understands me, I feel more motivated to work.
So, with Bakla’s introduction, Li Qiwei learned in detail about the current situation of the Department of Physics.
Then he was a little bit shocked.
It’s really incomparable to Cavendish Laboratory.
Both the teaching staff and experimental equipment are mediocre and barely qualified.
To be able to produce a talent like Bakla is like a blind cat meeting a dead mouse.
However, Li Qiwei quickly thought about it and it didn’t matter.
His brain is the most powerful laboratory in the world.
However, for the sake of future students, he also had to find ways to improve the hardware level of the laboratory.
As the dean of the physics department, Li Qiwei, in addition to teaching undergraduate students and mentoring master's and doctoral students, his other main job is to be responsible for the development of the physics department.
Of course, these are not problems.
As soon as his report is published, King's College London will immediately become world-famous.
Isn’t the funding easily available?
Not to mention the quantum mechanics behind it, it is a battlefield exclusive to great gods.
Nobel laureates like Bakla can only clap their hands and watch the show.
After thinking about this, Li Qiwei became very calm.
His next major tasks are several.
First, publish the general theory of relativity, officially announcing the arrival of his first genius in physics. Mortals should be prepared to tremble.
He has not been out for six years. Although the physics community still remembers him, it has begun to doubt whether he has exhausted his talents.
Now even previously unknown scholars like Bakla are beginning to rise.
Laue is gearing up even more, trying to make a splash.
His arrival may allow Laue to publish X-ray crystal diffraction results in advance.
Bohr was eyeing the planetary model. Maybe one day he would be enlightened and the quantum orbit would be revealed, and then there would be another bloody storm.
Rutherford worked in Manchester, and his students would inevitably continue to study the atomic structure. When protons came out, physics shook.
The Braggs have been extremely active recently, with young Bragg entering Trinity College soon.
Schrödinger, Born, Lang Zhiwan and others are also in high spirits.
The future is unknown.
Second, train a group of doctoral students.
As a professor, if you don’t have students all over the world, you are not qualified.
Like Thomson, he also wanted to bring out several students who won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Third, remote control the development of Borneo City of Science.
Think about it, wireless telegraphy will be put into use soon.
Marconi should win this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics.
Previously, Li Qiwei wanted to secretly develop electronic tubes and triodes, but later he found that he had thought too much.
China's domestic situation at this time is not sufficient to carry out such research.
So, he just let nature take its course.
Not surprisingly, after the triode was invented in 1906, electronics should have flourished now.
Airplanes, radar, wireless telegraphy; television, radio.
Whether it is for civilian or military use, electronic tubes will change the world.
A few decades later, the transistor based on it subverted the world.
What Li Qiwei can do is to develop the most important things first.
(End of this chapter)