After arriving in New York, Li Yu first asked Xie Yuxi to apply for the toothpaste patent that had been compiled in China. By the way, I also filed several patents I applied for in Europe with the U.S. Patent Office, which will be more convenient in the future.
Then Li Yu and Lu Bicheng found Collins Publishing House. When editor-in-chief James saw Li Yu taking out the Star Wars manuscript again, everyone was shocked: "OMG! Mr. Academician, you are simply a highly productive tool. I really can't believe you are. How to master such a grand story background and at the same time create a new story so quickly."
Li Yu couldn't tell him that he had watched the movie several times, so he said: "The article is made by nature, and it comes by chance."
James gave a thumbs up: "So cultured!"
He took out another remittance document: "This is the royalties from the previous sales of the original Star Wars movie, totaling US$364,000. Due to the huge amount, it may be remitted to your Citibank account in four installments. "
Li Yu said: "Thank you, Mr. Editor-in-Chief."
James smiled and said: "No hard work, no hard work! You are now the trump card of our Collins Publishing House. It is right to serve you. If you have any questions, I, the editor-in-chief, will help you at any time. You only need to make a phone call. There is no need." Come to me yourself again."
Sure enough, the status of a best-selling author is so high that the editor-in-chief has to personally help with the work.
Li Yu suddenly thought of a documentary he had watched before, which talked about how the weekly shonen editorial department urged Oda Eiichiro to publish, and he did not dare to speak a little harshly on the phone.
Once Oda called the editor to tell him that the manuscript could be picked up, he immediately drove to pick it up in person.
That is always in a developed modern society.
Nowadays, people don’t have any entertainment projects, not to mention WiFi, they don’t even have TV or even radio. Movies have only just started. Reading a few books to open up your imagination is the entertainment for most people. That's why the sales of the Star Wars series are so high.
In fact, if you randomly copy any fantasy or magic works from later generations, you could sell them in large quantities in Europe and the United States at the beginning of the 20th century and become a small millionaire.
If Lu Bicheng can study comics for a few years and draw Star Wars in the form of comic strips, which will also sell well, maybe it will be possible to acquire Shueisha in the island country in advance...
As usual, Li Yu left the publishing-related tasks of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story to Collins Publishing and left.
I feel it is more comfortable to go back to the laboratory and work on physics and mathematics, which I am good at.
By the way, there is also flint, but the difficulty of this thing is actually not that big at all, it is just a matter of materials.
Materials is a very complex subject in later generations, and it is also one of our major weaknesses, the kind that can get stuck.
But materials science in the early 20th century was not that complicated.
Moreover, the research topic of lanthanide metals is also quite hot now, and it only takes a little effort to make the ratio.
The thing is very simple, it is a mixture of persimmon and iron in lanthanide metals.
Anyway, it's not something complicated. Li Yu can handle it by himself without the need for Yu Heqin to take action. It can be done in a day or two.
However, this patent will not bring much profit for the time being.
On the one hand, the price of lighters is very high nowadays. Like pocket watches, they are toys for the rich. Ordinary people prefer to use matches.
Furthermore, lighters also need to solve the fuel problem, which is pure chemistry, not just materials science.
It was around the time of World War I that methane became a lighter fuel. Then because cigarettes became the best stress relief tool for soldiers during the war, lighters and cigarettes became popular together.
Then, the birth of Zippo made lighters a trendy item, and sales increased even more. The fuel used also became cheaper kerosene, which became more widely known with World War II.
Therefore, flint cannot bring much profit in the short term, and it may not be as good as expansion screws and zippers.
However, although flint cannot bring immediate profits, toothpaste can.
Samuel Colgate approached Li Yu directly, eager to use the patent.
Colgate is now considered a major toothpaste manufacturer in the United States. When I saw that it was patented by a big shot in the scientific community, I became even more interested.
Samuel is the second generation head of Colgate. Colgate was founded in 1806. After nearly a hundred years of development, Colgate's sales in the United States have been considerable.
The hotel where Li Yu currently lives in the United States and the laboratory in New York all have Colgate cleansing products.
"Dear Mr. Academician, your status in the scientific community is so high. If possible, our company will place an advertisement in the newspaper in your name to vigorously promote the benefits of toothpaste." Samuel Colgate said.
Li Yu did not reject this kind of propaganda.
In fact, any company will claim that its products are harmful but useless, and heroin can be packaged as a "miracle drug" by Bayer.
But toothpaste is indeed worth promoting. Later generations seem to have listed dental caries, cancer and cardiovascular disease as the three most important diseases to prevent and treat in humans.
So Li Yu agreed: "I accept your suggestion, but please let me read the article before publishing it."
Samuel Colgate immediately agreed: "Don't worry, sir, we will never do anything to harm your reputation. In fact, we still need your reputation to make sales."
Of course Li Yu knew what he meant. Colgate needed the support of big figures in the scientific community so that its products would be easier to sell.
The beginning of the 20th century was the period when toiletries first entered popular households. However, due to years of habit, many Europeans and Americans were not so accepting.
Even the promotion of soap took a lot of effort, and those advertisements feel like they are sincere.
Toothpaste is something that has just come out in the past few years. If you want to promote it, you must first have the approval of big scientists, and secondly, have advertisements in top newspapers.
Fortunately, in the hundred years from the second half of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century, the status of science was very high, and some extreme "Scientology" even appeared in some places in Europe and the United States.
Otherwise, many countries would not group liberal arts colleges under the academies of sciences.
In fact, even if we push it back a hundred years, China has begun to rise and still attaches great importance to the status of science and engineering. There have even been some confrontations on the Internet, but there is no need to worry.
I have the impression that Zhang Xuefeng has repeatedly advised everyone to study science and engineering, especially ordinary people. Because after all, art and literature are more for the rich.
Furthermore, China has never been weak in the fields of art and literature.
The way of heaven is to make up for the losses and make up for the deficiencies. It is definitely right to continue to develop the weak areas of science and engineering.
However, the situation was a little different at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China. Science and engineering were actually more expensive to study and research, so it was very difficult to promote them.
Li Yu naturally knew this truth, so if he didn't earn a few more taels of spare silver, he wouldn't be able to change any situation at all.
Colgate Company could only develop in the United States for many years to come.
Li Yu can continue to produce toothpaste domestically.
Not long after Samuel Colgate left, Hale, a member of the American Astronomical Society, visited Li Yu again.
In fact, he had been here several times, but Li Yu was still in St. Louis at that time.
Haier just took the first sunspot spectrum this year, and proved that the temperature near the sunspot is lower than other areas, and also obtained the 11-year cycle pattern of sunspots.
This is a good result, so Haier's current status in the American Astronomical Society has also risen rapidly.
Although Haier is not very well-known in the history of astronomy, he is particularly good at organizing and building large-scale observatories. He started construction of the famous Wilson Observatory in modern times next year.
After greetings, Haier took out a paper: "Academician Li Yu, we recently saw a very interesting article, I think you will be very interested."
Li Yu took it over and looked at it. It was written by the Dutch astronomer Kaptan.
The general content is that through long-term observation, he found that after eliminating the effects caused by the movement of the sun, he found that the movement of stars did not move irregularly as expected, but proved that most stars were distributed in two star streams pointing toward the sky. Medium distance in both directions.
Haier pointed to the content inside and said: "The situation mentioned by Mr. Kaptan has been verified by many famous observatories, including the Greenwich Observatory, and is correct. After I saw it, I studied it for a long time, but I couldn't find the reason. Even for a while It reminds me of Mr. Academician’s chaos theory of order in chaos, so I came here to ask for advice.”
Li Yu said: "It's a very good question, but if I want to explain it, I don't have good evidence at the moment."
Haier asked: "Evidence? According to Mr. Academician, can you solve this problem?"
Li Yu nodded and said, "I can solve it, but I need to go to the observatory to conduct observations and come up with a lot of data."
Haier asked again: "Mr. Academician, can you tell me your thoughts?"
Li Yu said: "You can refer to an astronomy paper I wrote before, about the structure of the spiral arms of the Milky Way."
"Spiral arm structure?" Haier wondered, "What does this have to do with it?"
Li Yu said: "Mr. Haier thinks, why is the structure of the Milky Way like this, a disk with huge spiral arm structures around it?"
Haier thought for a while and came up with an idea: "I have an idea, but it's too bold."
Li Yu smiled and said, "Just say it."
Hale said: "Is it possible that the Milky Way as a whole is rotating?"
Li Yu said: "Your idea is very reasonable."
Haier was surprised: "You think so too?"
"Yes," Li Yu said, "but ideas are just ideas, and scientific research needs to speak with data."
After all, Haier specializes in astronomy. If you think about it for a moment, you will know that it is something shocking. Once the result is obtained, it will be the same as Copernicus' discovery of heliocentric theory.
But the problem now is how to find the center of the Milky Way.
Haier thought: If, really just if, we discover again that the center of the Milky Way is not the sun, it would be such a shock to the entire human society.
Then the church will probably be unhappy again.
Li Yu doesn't care what the church thinks anyway. China is a generally atheistic society (it seems to be the only one in the world).
In addition, Lao America is a Protestant Christian and has a high tolerance for science.
No matter how unhappy the Holy See in Rome is, it can only endure it.
It just so happens that "Science" is short of manuscripts. Li Yu will post them when the time comes, and it is estimated that his influence will be boosted again.
Now if you want to make observations and have people who are good at data compilation, the best place is the Harvard Observatory. The group of female assistants hired by Pickering, director of the Harvard Observatory, are amazing.
Li Yu left for Boston the next day.
Pickering welcomed Li Yu very much, knowing that as soon as this guy showed up, something big would happen.
After asking, Li Yu got straight to the point and asked: "Director Pickering, can I use your observatory?"
Pickering smiled and said: "When you set off from New York, I knew you would use it, so I made preparations for you early. The principal specifically asked you to use the resources and personnel in the station as you wish. We will do our best. Cooperate."
Li Yu felt embarrassed after hearing this: "Isn't this delaying your work?"
"No way!" Pickering hurriedly waved his hand, "Academician, you're welcome! As long as you can make some more achievements, the principal has said that you will be given a professorship."
Li Yu said: "But I guess I don't have much teaching time."
Pickering said: "You only need to do scientific research, and you don't have to worry about teaching. You only need to give a lecture every year."
This is a good condition.
Li Yu is now using someone else's observatory. He can't refuse because of his softness, so he can only say: "I hope I won't disappoint your school."
When Li Yu came to the stage, he immediately saw LeWitt, who discovered the relationship between Cepheids.
Li Yu bowed to her gentlemanly: "Madam, can you please help me organize the data?"
LeWitt had lost her hearing and she did not hear Li Yu's words.
After Pickering expressed it to her in sign language, LeWitt said happily: "I'm extremely happy! In fact, I am also very willing to assist you. I am very good at observation and data collection."
Pickering knew that she alone was not enough, so he arranged two more female assistants for Li Yu.
At night, Li Yu began to observe.
Finding the rotation of the Milky Way was indeed difficult for other astronomers at this time. The sky was filled with stars and the data was truly overwhelming.
And astronomy is different from the general public perception.
You may think that the celestial movement data is so large that there should be a large error. But in fact, astronomy has very high requirements for mathematics, and its observation accuracy is also very high.
The light from stars tens of thousands of light years away is already very weak when it reaches the earth. Because of the distance and angle, although its motion is very large, it is very subtle when viewed from the earth, making it difficult to measure and calculate.
Astronomical calculations are very troublesome, the numbers are really too big, and trigonometric functions are often used which are very troublesome, not to mention! Many early astronomers actually spent most of their time analyzing data, and they were not necessarily able to analyze the reasons.
But as a time traveler, these are not difficult for Li Yu.
First of all, although observation is difficult, Li Yu has long known where the center of the Milky Way is.
——It’s the famous Sagittarius A!
I guess everyone, especially when talking about the very high-flow black hole problem, will say that the center of the Milky Way is a supermassive black hole located in Sagittarius A.
So Li Yu knows the location.
In addition, regarding calculations, don’t forget that Li Yu also has a super killer tool - a calculator.
Although it is just a very ordinary scientific calculator, there are chips inside anyway. This is an integrated circuit!
Therefore, this matter was not difficult for Li Yu. In addition, the Harvard Observatory already had a large amount of observation data. It only took a few days, with the help of LeWitt and others, to draw a conclusion supported by sufficient data.
Then Li Yu spent another two days sorting out the paper.
The main body of the paper is not particularly long, mainly because there are many data enumerations at the end. Because Li Yu knew very well that once this conclusion is released, observatories around the world will be eager to verify it. It will definitely be more helpful to provide more data.
(End of chapter)
