Director Pickering showed Li Yu the results of the Harvard University Observatory. They have now taken more than 100,000 astronomical photos, classified the spectra of tens of thousands of stars, and have a preliminary spectral classification.
Among the many data and results, Li Yu is more interested in a result that is currently somewhat unpopular.
"This is Cepheid!" Li Yu said in surprise. The woman who made this achievement in front of her did not speak.
Pickering came over and said, "This is Ms. LeWitt. Unfortunately, she has lost her hearing." Li Yu quickly said, "Sorry!" LeWitt saw that Li Yu appreciated her discovery very much and said, " I have discovered many such stars, and their properties are worthy of attention, although I do not know what their uses are." Leavitt lost her hearing only as an adult. After being admitted to Radcliffe College, she has mastered five door language.
However, he contracted a strange disease the year he just graduated and gradually lost his hearing.
"Yes, this is a very noteworthy discovery," Li Yu said. Then he remembered that LeWitt had lost his hearing and he couldn't speak sign language, so he had to give her a thumbs up to show respect.
Pickering didn't think so. He just thought there was a special type of star whose brightness changed over time, and asked LeWitt to conduct relevant research.
In fact, this is not the most important star spectrum classification work at the Harvard University Observatory at this time. It is an unpopular matter.
The most important thing is that no one knows what variable stars are and what their value is. Pickering said: "To be honest, as far as I know, variable stars are not uncommon, and there is nothing special about them." Li Yu said: "But the variable stars discovered by Ms. Leavitt are indeed special." Li Yu certainly knew about the creation of variable stars. The value of a parent variable star is astronomical
A "ruler" that can be used to measure distances from distant stars. Generally speaking, the annual parallax method is used to measure the distance of stars within 300 light-years; the spectral analysis method is used to measure the distance of stars between 300 and 100,000 light-years; and for stars that are particularly far away, such as more than 100,000 light-years, The Cepheid variable star method is used; of course, if the distance reaches hundreds of millions of light years, the red shift method can only be used.
However, the current understanding of the universe by the astronomical community still remains within the Milky Way, or it is believed that the Milky Way is everything.
On the one hand, it is because it is too far away to observe; on the other hand, it is impossible to measure the distance and does not know the distance.
If the distance cannot be measured effectively, a lot of information will be lost, and subsequent astronomical research will be impossible to carry out.
The vigorous development of astronomy and astrophysics actually began in the early twentieth century, so LeWitt was almost the woman who stood behind a large number of great astronomers in the future, but she herself was unknown and died of cancer early.
LeWitt naturally knew Li Yu's identity and was very happy with his appreciation. This is her greatest effort, and she is a woman who is not recognized by the scientific community. She can persevere in such a boring and complicated job because she truly loves astronomy.
Li Yu said to Director Pickering: "Can I use the data from the Harvard Observatory?"
"Of course," said Pickering.
"You only need to indicate the source. Originally, these will be published publicly in the future." Of course, Director Pickering himself hopes that these data can play a greater role in the hands of those who understand them. This will be of great benefit to his own observatory, All good for Harvard University.
Of course, it's really great for Li Yu. High-quality data can save a lot of trouble. So, let’s get started.
The facilities at the Harvard University Observatory are quite advanced and are currently among the best in the United States. However, the Mount Wilson Observatory built by Hale of the American Astronomical Society and the Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago will become even more powerful.
After carefully reading the data from the Harvard University Observatory, Li Yu quickly understood what to do, and what he wanted to do was not just a discovery: first, he could correctly draw the structure of the Milky Way based on various star distances.
A few years ago, some astronomers gave a diagram showing that the Milky Way may be a whirlpool structure. However, it was very wrong. The spiral arms and center of the Milky Way were drawn incorrectly, and even the most familiar position of the solar system was incorrectly drawn.
This is also related to the relatively limited understanding of the current astronomical community. Although people have generally accepted the heliocentric theory, they believe that the sun is the center of the Milky Way, and the Milky Way is the entire universe.
Li Yu can use these data to correctly map the vortex structure of the Milky Way, which will be of great help to astronomy.
In particular, the correct structure of the spiral arms of the Milky Way is definitely a first-rate event in astronomy. Since then, the search for extraterrestrial life has also inspired inspiration, but that involves the material composition near the galactic center. Li Yu does not need to discuss those issues too much now.
This is just the first item. With so much data, more valuable scientific research results must be produced.
In order to have a greater response, Li Yu must make a greater change in people's current understanding. Therefore, in his second research, he wanted to use LeWitt's Cepheid variable star method to find the extragalactic galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, for the first time in human history.
With such practical results, LeWitt, a woman who had some regrets in her life, could gain more respect during her lifetime.
The Andromeda Galaxy is more than two million light-years away. This distance is far beyond the scope of the Milky Way and is a distance that is difficult for humans to imagine at this time.
But Li Yu knew in his heart that for the scale of the universe, millions of light years are as small as a microscopic particle.
This is not over yet. With so much data on hand, the question of spectral redshift on the large scale of the universe must also be raised!
Although the general theory of relativity has not yet been born, red shift cannot yet be used to explain the expansion of the universe, and the subsequent distance measurement of many other extragalactic galaxies will take many, many more years - by then the value of red shift will be more slowly realized.
But this head start can make Li Yu's status very transcendent. These three things, one after another, are all heavyweight astronomical research results.
However, after finishing these things, Li Yu was not in a hurry to announce it, because now he still had someone to meet.
At the same time, the British side had received Li Yu's paper on the derivation of the blackbody radiation formula.
"Oh my god!" In the Royal Society, Lord Kelvin's hands almost trembled when he looked at the paper in front of him.
"Mr. Lord, although you are excited every time you see a paper from Li Yu, this time it is a bit too much." said Huggins, President of the Royal Society.
Lord Kelvin read it carefully again. He was too familiar with the problem of black body radiation.
"Two dark clouds" was what he said himself.
"Is Planck right?!" Lord Kelvin said to himself. The current research on blackbody radiation in the physics community shows that only high frequencies are in good agreement with Wien, and only low frequencies are in good agreement with Baron Rayleigh. They basically use thermodynamic methods.
But Li Yu completely broke away from their shackles and conducted real theoretical derivation based on quantum concepts.
The key point is that Li Yu once again used his mathematical ability. The derivation process was extremely rigorous and it was impossible to find faults.
President Huggins saw that Lord Kelvin was deep in thought and did not answer himself, so he directly took Li Yu's paper and read it.
Huggins' professional field is astronomy and he is not good at theoretical physics, but of course he has heard of the problem of such hot black body radiation.
"Are they all right?" Huggins asked. Lord Kelvin took a long time to answer: "I don't see the problem, but I really can't imagine that after he has made such a great contribution to the field of thermodynamics, he would break away from thermodynamics at this time." Li Yu previously published the second law of thermodynamics and the second law of thermodynamics. The papers on the Three Laws are all in the field of thermodynamics.
In fact, the blackbody radiation problem is now considered to be a thermodynamic problem. Huggins said: "I don't understand what you mean." Lord Kelvin said: "His argument process is so novel that I can't fully explain it. I'm afraid I have to let Planck himself in Germany take a look. "
"Planck?" President Huggins thought for a while before finding this person in his mind.
"Professor Planck of the University of Berlin?" Lord Kelvin nodded: "That's him." President Huggins said: "Shouldn't it be sent to our Baron Rayleigh? He is now at the University of Cambridge." Kelvin The Lord said: "He should also take a look, but the main review opinion of the paper must be listened to by Professor Planck." Of course, President Huggins respected Lord Kelvin's views more in this field of pure physics, so he called over the editor Joel Sen, asked him to transcribe two papers as soon as possible and send them to Planck and Rayleigh respectively.
But Lord Kelvin said: "I should take the paper for Baron Rayleigh personally and show it to him." Cambridge University is right next to London, only 70 or 80 kilometers away.
The Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge is world-famous. Its founder was Maxwell, the master of electromagnetics and the first director of the laboratory.
The second director of the Cavendish Laboratory was Baron Rayleigh, but he had already voluntarily resigned, giving way to Thomson, who was only 28 years old at the time.
This move was very sensational at the time. After all, Thomson was too young and many people did not approve of it. However, Baron Rayleigh saw Thomson's talent early and resolutely gave up his position to him.
Afterwards, Thomson also used practical actions to prove that Baron Rayleigh's vision was correct. Therefore, Baron Rayleigh has absolutely nothing to say in terms of scientific conduct and is very generous.
Lord Kelvin is of course more famous, but in the current world of physics, Baron Rayleigh's status is not much weaker.
After all, Baron Rayleigh is also the person who will win the Nobel Prize in Physics next year, and the Nobel Prize is not based on Wien's wrong black body radiation formula, which is somewhat watery.
In this era, the Nobel Prize is also divided into
"Level": The Physics Award is the absolute crown level, much higher than the others. So when Rutherford was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for no apparent reason, he was a little unhappy.
He himself said: "Science only has one subject: physics, and the rest is just collecting stamps." In addition, the binaural effect of why the human ear can distinguish the location of sounds, and why the sky is blue, are all Rayleigh's The earliest explanation given by Baron.
Lord Kelvin and Baron Rayleigh are both people with titles. Don't underestimate them by thinking that they are just the youngest barons among the princes and uncles. Barons are not simple either.
"Mr. Lord, why are you here?" Baron Riley was quite surprised when he saw Kelvin. People of their status had less and less private communication.
Lord Kelvin held the paper manuscript in his hand and said: "I don't know whether I should make you happy or disappointed. I must bring it to you to see in person." Baron Rayleigh said in surprise: "What article is worthy of your lord coming here in person?" ?”
"Remember Planck's weird formula?" Kelvin asked.
"Of course," said Lord Rayleigh,
"He simply added Wien's formula to the denominator
"-1" actually matches the blackbody radiation curve exactly, but a discerning person will know that it is just made up, because how can the blackbody radiation problem be so simple? "This is the view of the vast majority of scientists now.
Planck's formula is indeed very similar to Wien's formula. The only difference is that the denominator has been increased.
Such a simple step as "subtract 1" is difficult for anyone to accept. Lord Kelvin said: "I thought so too at the beginning, but I didn't know how to say it. Take a look for yourself." Lord Kelvin handed Li Yu's manuscript to Baron Rayleigh.
Riley looked at the name on the cover
"Li Yu" seems a bit interesting.
"It turned out to be him." Looking at the specific content of the article, it is even more subversive. Rayleigh has studied the problem of black body radiation for a long time, and he has long been familiar with it. After reading it for a long time, he realized that there is no problem with the argument process, but the use of Planck's quantum hypothesis is indeed very strange.
"Out of line". Rayleigh said: "You also believe that this world is discontinuous? How is it possible!" Lord Kelvin said: "I don't know whether I should believe it or not. This reminds me of Li Yu's influential book "Fractals and Chaos" Those fractal figures mentioned in are not differentiable everywhere, which is equally bizarre. But no matter how bizarre, it is undeniable that his proof process is so perfect." Rayleigh is not against new science, but how long has it been since the second mathematical crisis passed? , the scientific community has just accepted the concept of infinitesimals in mathematics.
Now physics suddenly says that there is no infinitesimal, which really makes everyone feel awkward. Rayleigh also asked this question: "Mr. Lord also knows that no matter what, mathematics is the forerunner and the crown, and it cannot conflict with mathematics in any way." Lord Kelvin nodded: "Your question is very accurate, but this Li Yu's mathematics is really good. He obviously knows this contradiction, so his mathematical argumentation process is so perfect that you can't find any faults at all. I even suspect that my mathematical knowledge is out of date and I should make up for it. "
"So," Riley looked at the paper carefully again,
"The problem isn't math, it's physics."
"Yes," said Lord Kelvin,
"I think the core lies in the quantum hypothesis at the beginning." Rayleigh exhaled: "This is something incredible." People in later generations will have to work hard to accept quantum mechanics, let alone the enlightenment period of quantum mechanics.
Lord Kelvin asked: "What do you think of this article? I mean, are there any flaws?"
"Wait a moment, my lord, I want to verify it carefully." Baron Rayleigh sat at the table, concentrating on every word, and then said after a long time: "I can only say that his argument process is perfect, without any problems. "Lord Kelvin smiled and said: "I agree with you. It seems that we have to wait and see what Planck of Germany says." Planck also received the letter soon. He had already known Li Yu's name, and he had known it since. Li Yu's previous paper had captured a hint of quantum theory. He had long felt that Li Yu recognized his point of view. Now this paper pointed directly at his black body radiation formula. He didn't need to read the content, he knew it just by looking at the name. The core is quantum.
Planck did not read the article immediately. He stood up and looked at the sky, feeling as if he had met a close friend but was afraid of being disappointed after reading it.
Planck took a few puffs of his cigarette, took a deep breath, sat back and unfolded Li Yu's paper. He was an expert in this field, and seemed to be much faster than Baron Rayleigh. He soon discovered that Li Yu's theoretical foundation was terrifyingly solid, and his understanding of quantum theory was also astonishingly deep, not even inferior to his own.
"What kind of person is this!" Planck couldn't help but exclaimed,
"What kind of person can write such a sharp article! Between the lines, every number and every symbol seems to be shouting out the correctness of quantum theory!" Of course, he also raised questions: "Why can he stand so firmly on my side?" On the side of quantum theory?" Looking at the entire scientific community, there are really few people who can support quantum theory so strongly, which of course makes Planck feel incredible.
Planck read the paper several times in a row and couldn't help but exclaim that it was wonderful.
"Although they are all based on my quantum hypothesis, it is obvious that his proof process is much better than mine." Lord Kelvin has already declared Planck as a reviewer in his letter. What else is there to say!
Planck immediately wrote a reply eloquently: "This is a very groundbreaking paper. There is no doubt that Mr. Li Yu is already at the forefront of mathematical science. Whether it is from a mathematical or physical perspective, you cannot Pick out even one flaw. It's hard to imagine that this is just a first draft, but I can definitely say that it doesn't need to be revised a word, and not a word can be changed, and it is worthy of being remembered by the whole world!" Well, Plan. Ke's praise really gives me enough face.
Although Planck is now far less famous than Lord Kelvin, nor is he as famous as Baron Rayleigh. But after all, Planck was a university physics professor and an academician of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. As a reviewer, his opinions must be respected.
So after getting the approval of several big bosses at the forefront of black body radiation, Lord Kelvin also made up his mind.
"Publish it," said Lord Kelvin;
"We didn't expect that Li Yu would send us such an extraordinary article." President Huggins said, "Does that mean we have to send him an authorization at the same time?"
"No problem!" Lord Kelvin affirmed,
"The importance of this paper is indescribable. He should definitely be granted the status of a foreign academician of the Royal Society. I am even worried that if we invite him too late, other academies of science will issue applications." President Huggins felt that Lord Kelvin was right. He immediately said: "Yes, I will write the authorization letter in my own hand right now!" Lord Kelvin smiled and said: "Send a telegram first. After reading Li Yu's letter, he is in the United States, so send it to the Qing Embassy in the United States. "
