Eddington was a little disappointed when he saw Chen Muwu's long list of thesis titles and found that the content was not about general relativity, but about Raochon light and electrons.
However, when entrusted by others, one must act loyally, and the matters assigned to Einstein must be handled beautifully by him.
So he still took the paper, returned to the editor on duty and asked: "Did this paper fail your review?"
The editor on duty looked at Eddington like a monster: "Why should I review a paper written by a monkey? The ones on that shelf are all scraps. Once a certain number is accumulated, they will be discarded together."
Founded in 1798, the Philosophical Magazine is one of the oldest scientific journals in the UK.
Because of its long history and great reputation, it has attracted many great scientists to publish papers on it.
Because more and more scientists are publishing papers on it, its reputation has further expanded.
The two complement each other, making the "Journal of Philosophy" gradually reach the status of Mount Tai and Beidou in the academic circle.
Not to mention China, India, and Malaya, even American physicists find it difficult to publish a paper on it.
American physicist Van Vleck once recalled: “In 1922, when I learned that my doctoral thesis was accepted by the British Journal of Philosophy, I was very happy because more people would read my paper. article."
After all, the reason is that the Second World War has not yet begun. Although the United States is rich, it is still the inferior Anglo-Saxon cousin on the other side of the Atlantic.
The academic center of the world is the authentic old Europe with its blue flag inlaid with twelve gold stars, especially the United Kingdom and Germany.
That's why the editor on duty has such a loud tone. He has a rich ancestor and has crazy capital.
Eddington had no choice but to reveal his identity: "I am Arthur Eddington, a fellow of the Royal Society and director of the Cambridge University Observatory. I was entrusted by Dr. Einstein to recommend this paper for publication. You should at least find a few reviewers to review it before deciding whether this paper will live or die, right?"
"Okay, Fellow Eddington (FRS) [1], if you insist, we will review this paper," the editor on duty took the paper from Eddington's hands, and then changed the subject, " But we can’t waste the reviewers’ time, so it must pass our preliminary review.”
After all, he is the editor of a well-known journal, and his academic foundation is not weak. Reading an academic article is not stressful.
He flipped through Chen Muwu's paper, then raised his head, smiled thoughtfully, and said to Eddington: "I'm sorry, Fellow Eddington, I'm afraid this paper won't even pass my preliminary review.
"Dr. Einstein explained the photoelectric effect by saying that the energy of light is light quanta one by one like thermal radiation. At least Millikan's experiment verified this. I have nothing to say.
“However, the Chinese person you recommended actually swore in his paper that light is a kind of particle. This is really ridiculous!
"I really don't know. Did he deliberately say such crazy remarks to attract attention, or did he say that China is really barbaric, ignorant and uncivilized, and they don't know Huygens's wave theory at all?
"How much benefit did you and that Einstein receive from the Chinese to help him recommend this paper so hard?"
Being ridiculed by such an unknown person, Eddington, who has always had a high self-esteem, had never been insulted like this, and an unknown fire suddenly shot up.
The remaining gentlemanly demeanor in his body prevented him from reaching out and slapping the other person on the face. Instead, he changed the path of the palm, slammed the table, picked up the paper, pointed his finger at the editor's nose and cursed: "Okay, okay! All right! You’re not the only journal in the UK, let’s wait and see!”
Come with good fortune and return with bad luck.
Because he had failed Einstein's instructions, Eddington felt that he was so shameless that he didn't even go to the Royal Society. He went back the same way and took the train north to Cambridge at King's Cross Station.
On the train back, a frustrated Eddington passed the time by reading the papers of this Chinese man he had never met.
Although he is an astronomer by profession, he also has good literacy in physics. In addition, the physics knowledge involved in Chen Muwu's paper is not advanced, so Eddington is relatively easy to read.
Before getting off the train, he finally understood that this Chinese man had proposed a very new theory, but there was a lack of experiments to verify whether this theory was correct or not.
As long as his theory can be proven correct through experiments, then publication of the paper should be smooth.
Speaking of experiments, the University of Cambridge has the most famous physics laboratory in the world today, the Cavendish Laboratory, founded in 1874.
After Eddington received a master's degree from Trinity College in 1905, his first job was to enter the Cavendish Laboratory to study issues related to thermal radiation.
Although he soon left experimental physics and turned to astronomy, the Cavendish Laboratory was half of his natal family.
Returning to Cambridgeshire, after leaving the train station, Eddington did not go back to his observatory. Instead, he took Chen Muwu's thesis and went straight to Trinity College on the River Cam.
He was coming to visit his laboratory director at Cavendish and now Dean of Trinity College, Sir Joseph Thomson [2].
As a graduate of Trinity College and a former researcher at the Cavendish Laboratory, Eddington can be said to be a double direct descendant of Thomson, and the relationship between the two is naturally very harmonious.
There was no need for too many pleasantries after the meeting, so Eddington got straight to the point: "Sir, I went to London today and came back very angry."
Then he briefly recounted to Thomson what he saw and heard in the editorial office of the "Journal of Philosophy" during the day, emphasizing how arrogant and arrogant the editor was.
Then he said that this paper was recommended for publication by Einstein, who was lecturing in the Far East, and that the content in it was full of real talent and practical knowledge. He put forward a very novel theory, which made Chen Muwu, who had never met him, become famous.
Finally, Eddington finally came up with the purpose of his trip, which was to ask Thomson if he could provide help in designing experiments to verify this theory.
Thomson himself was an experimental physicist. In addition to discovering electrons and proposing the atomic structure of the plum pudding model, his main contribution was Thomson scattering.
What is Thomson scattering?
To put it simply, it is a collision between a low-energy photon and a non-relativistic free charged particle.
And what does Chen Muwu write in this paper?
It is a high-energy photon that collides with a non-relativistic free electron.
It can be said that Chen Muwu's paper extends Thomson scattering to high-frequency levels to a certain extent. It is difficult not to attract the attention of Thomson, a great scientist.
*****
[1] Author's note: Fellowship of the Royal Society (English: Fellowship of the Royal Society, referred to as FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is recognized by the Royal Society of the United Kingdom as "for those who study nature, including mathematics, engineering physics, and medicine." Honorary title for individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of science. The British "Guardian" calls membership of the Royal Society "an honor comparable to the Oscar Lifetime Achievement Award." Every year, many institutions hold celebration ceremonies for the award of the title of fellow. The canonized person does not have the honorific title "Sir" or "Dame", but can add the English abbreviation "FRS" of the honorary title after the name. At this time, Eddington had not yet been knighted as a knight, so the only title after his name was FRS.
【2】Author’s note: That is J.J. Thomson.
