Chen Muwu just noticed that while Oppenheimer was reading, he would take out his pen and notebook from time to time and write and draw on them.
So he initially thought that what Oppenheimer was reading was either a physics textbook or a mathematics book related to matrices.
But Chen Muwu never expected that it was not a professional book that made Oppenheimer read with gusto, but this one.
This is very embarrassing.
You can't tell Oppenheimer that he is one of the original authors of this book, right?
Chen Muwu asked calmly what his senior disciple thought of this book.
"I see that you seem to be very engaged in reading. What is the content of this book like?"
"It's simply great! It was as if I followed the description in the book and took a train ride, followed this George Chen, and acted as a detective.
"I have been guessing who the murderer is. It wasn't until the end that I discovered that the murderer turned out to be..."
Oppenheimer suddenly felt as if he was a little carried away in front of the teacher, so he quickly closed his mouth.
He secretly rejoiced in his heart. Fortunately, he stopped the car in time, otherwise he would be in the crematorium after graduation.
"But this book is very interesting. Teacher Chen, I think you must know the author of this book, or in other words, the author of this book must know you."
What?
Did my vest just fall off like that?
"Mr. Oppenheimer, why do you say that?"
Chen Muwu remained calm.
"Because I feel that the protagonist of this book, a Chinese international student named George Chen, should be based on you, Mr. Chen.
"He is both from China and a British student, and his surname is Chen. Is this just a coincidence? I don't think so.
"At least, I think this Mr. Chandler York has at least read about your deeds in the newspaper, so he was so inspired."
"Robert, you really know how to joke."
Chen Muwu laughed and covered up the matter.
He took Oppenheimer out of the Cavendish Laboratory, turned a corner along Free School Lane, and entered the Eagle Bar on Benedict Street to continue the conversation between master and apprentice.
…
The journal Nature, which published the first paper on the wave equation, finally went public a few days ago.
At the same time, more than a month after Chen Muwu established quantum mechanics, the German Physical Society held a weekly meeting in Berlin. Born from the University of Göttingen finally took the stage to address some issues related to quantum mechanics and matrix calculations. gave a concluding speech.
"Dr. Chen from the University of Cambridge in the UK recently summarized a new set of laws for the physical movement of the microscopic world.
“He abandoned all previous efforts made by countless physicists to study the microscopic world, the most important of which was abandoning Bohr’s atomic model and denying the existence of electron orbits.
“He started his calculations with resonators and then introduced a new mathematical tool, the matrix.
"..."
Born's speech basically repeated Chen Muwu's paper from beginning to end, interspersed with his own understanding of the paper.
Basically, everyone present had already read Chen Muwu's paper "On Quantum Mechanics", so Born's speech did not cause a greater sensation.
After Born finished speaking, Pauli from Hamburg also asked to speak on the stage.
As soon as he came on stage, he made a very rude sarcasm to Born, who had just finished his speech:
"Thank you Professor Born for reorganizing this paper by Dr. Chen from the University of Cambridge from beginning to end for all of us. If there are members of the Physical Society who have poor vision, I think he will be very grateful for your speech. .
"Dr. Chen is not only advancing bravely in the swimming pool of the Paris Olympics, but he has also made rapid progress in recent physics research in the microscopic world.
"Although he has previously proposed the ridiculous and absurd theory that electrons have the same rotation as the earth, perhaps it cannot be called a 'theory', but should be called a 'heretical theory.'
"But Dr. Chen finally got the idea this time. In his paper called "On Quantum Mechanics," he finally proposed a theory that looks pretty good.
"Although it abandons the existence of electron orbits, Dr. Chen's new theory is simpler and more intuitive, and can better describe the movement of particles and the interaction between particles.
"I was greatly inspired by Dr. Chen's paper, and some time ago, I tried to use the mathematical tool he proposed in the paper, the matrix, to calculate the spectrum of hydrogen atoms.
"It has to be said that this theory is simpler and more direct than the Bohr-Sommerfeld atomic model. Our atomic spectrum no longer has to be based on three unfounded assumptions and four quantum numbers, but can be directly determined by physics. The rules are calculated.
“Next, I will briefly describe how to start with quantum mechanics and use the matrix provided by Dr. Chen to specifically calculate the spectrum of hydrogen atoms.
"..."
Everyone in the audience was shocked.
But what surprised them was not that while everyone was still struggling with linear algebra, Pauli could already use matrices and quantum mechanics to calculate the spectrum of hydrogen atoms.
It's that this talented student under Sommerfeld, who has a high self-esteem, can actually show such recognition to a peer.
You must know that Pauli was a guy who even Einstein looked down upon. It was a great compliment that Chen Muwu could get a "looks good" comment from him.
Pauli wrote down all kinds of weird matrix calculation formulas on the blackboard on the wall of the podium, which once again made many physicists sitting in the audience feel dizzy.
But there were also many people who probably understood what Pauli was talking about. Among them was Einstein, who was looked down upon by Pauli and whose hair was a little messy.
After Pauli's speech ended, Einstein, who was sitting next to Planck in the first row, raised his hand: "Wolfgang, do you really agree with Chen Muwu that the orbit of electrons does not exist?"
"Yes, Professor Einstein, didn't I just say that? As Chen said in the paper, you cannot actually observe the orbital motion of electrons..."
“Are there only observable physical quantities in physics?”
Of course, Einstein also knew how Pauli evaluated himself to others in private, so the tone of his questions gradually became somewhat tit-for-tat.
Pauli became famous at a young age because he accepted a task assigned to him by his teacher Sommerfeld to write the theory of relativity for a mathematical encyclopedia.
Sommerfeld's original intention was to be lazy and let this extremely smart and arrogant student who went to the bar at night and slept in class write a first draft, then make significant revisions himself, and then jointly publish it with the student.
But a few months later, Pauli submitted a manuscript of more than 200 pages and nearly 400 annotations. After reading it, Sommerfeld felt that there was nothing worth revising, so he submitted the manuscript directly to the publisher. , and only Pauli’s name was signed in the author column.
At that time, after Einstein read the manuscript of this book, he also gave a high evaluation: "No one who has studied this mature and majestic work will believe that the author is a young man who is only 21 years old."
As a result, after Pauli learned about the evaluation of himself by this mainstay of the German physics community, instead of being grateful and crying, he instead said something like this: "It seems that what Einstein said , and not all of them are stupid.”
These manuscripts written by Pauli were finally collected into a single volume and published.
And his book soon replaced Einstein's original "A Brief Introduction to Special and General Relativity" and became the first choice textbook for people to learn the theory of relativity in the next few decades.
So Pauli knew of course that the reason why Einstein was able to propose the theory of relativity was because he also adopted Mach's philosophical ideas and abandoned the unobservable absolute view of space and time.
So he retorted equally unceremoniously: "Isn't that the basic idea when you created the theory of relativity?"
Facing Pauli's new round of attacks, Einstein chose to use softness to overcome strength.
He chuckled: "It's exactly what you said. But a joke should never be told to everyone twice."
After saying this, Einstein unilaterally ended the conversation between him and Pauli on the stage, and then turned to complain to Planck, who was sitting next to him: "Chen Muwu recently laid a big quantum duck egg. Brother. Born in Tingen, Pauli in Hamburg, and Bohr in Copenhagen all seemed to believe in this thing. But I don’t believe it.”
Planck was a little surprised. In his eyes, from photons to electron spin, in more than a year, Chen Muwu published countless papers in the "Annals of Physics" he edited.
However, after each of Chen Muwu's papers came out, Einstein would always stand up and support him immediately.
Although there is no master-disciple name between the two, anyone with a discerning eye can see that there is a tacit master-disciple relationship between them.
Only this time, why did Einstein oppose Chen Muwu's new theory so firmly?
Planck asked cautiously: "Albert, do you think Chen Muwu's new theory is a mistake this time?"
"Of course, his mistake this time is ridiculous, Professor Planck. To describe the position of a particle, only one number is enough.
"However, Chen Muwu had to use a square number to replace a simple number, which is really unbelievable.
"In my opinion, what Chen Muwu proposed should not be called a matrix at all, but a 'witchcraft multiplication table' written by a witch on a parchment with black magic potion. It won't take long for me to If you can prove that his theory is wrong, Professor Planck, remember to leave a few pages for me to publish this paper in the Annals of Physics."
This time, the weekly meeting of the German Physics Society broke up amidst the bickering between Einstein and Pauli.
After leaving the meeting and returning to his home in Berlin, Einstein took out the latest issue of Nature from his mailbox.
He opened the magazine and saw the title of Chen Muwu's new paper in the catalog, "Quantization as an Eigenvalue Problem."
…
A week later, the German Physical Society once again held a new week's regular meeting in Berlin.
However, at this week's regular meeting, there was no scene of contention like the one a week ago.
Even Pauli and Einstein, who were incompatible at the last meeting, rarely stood on the same front.
Because this week's regular meeting basically has only one topic, which is to criticize Chen Muwu's new paper "Quantization as an Eigenvalue Problem" published in "Nature" weekly.
Pauli felt betrayed by Chen Muwu, who was far away at Cambridge University in England and had never met.
At the weekly meeting a week ago, he brilliantly demonstrated to German physicists how to use matrices to calculate the spectrum of hydrogen atoms, which won a lot of applause.
Those applause encouraged him to continue climbing to other peaks of quantum mechanics.
Pauli planned to continue to use this very useful mathematical method proposed by Chen Muwu to calculate the photoelectric effect and Chen effect after he returned.
As a result, like Einstein, he received a new issue of "Nature" containing Chen Muwu's wave equation shortly after returning home.
Chen Muwu is really stubborn. He had already proposed a heresy about electron spin before, but unexpectedly he has come up with a new one now.
What made Pauli excited was not how outrageous Chen Muwu's wave equation was.
But he quickly realized after reading the paper that it had taken him more than a month to solve the hydrogen atom using matrix mechanics.
But now if Chen Muwu's new wave method is used, it will be easy to obtain the spectrum of hydrogen atoms.
This was what made Pauli very angry. Except for his two old mentors, Sommerfeld and Bohr, he was unwilling to accept that there were people in the world who were smarter than him, and who was a genius and who was even more genius.
But obviously, Chen Muwu is the one Pauli is least willing to face now.
Chen Muwu always walked in front of him. He tried his best to catch up and surpass him, and then he would find even more despairingly that not only could he not catch up with Chen Muwu, but the gap between the two was also getting farther and farther.
However, Pauli, who refused to admit defeat, quickly found the weakness in Chen Muwu's new equation.
That is, this new wave equation cannot explain the photoelectric effect and Chern scattering, which happen to be what he is currently working on.
So Pauli had to step up his pace, and the emperor paid off. Sure enough, he got the result before the regular meeting of the German Physical Society started next week.
So at today's regular meeting, Pauli used the photoelectric effect and Chen scattering as a breakthrough point to severely attack the new wave equation proposed by Chen Muwu.
Chen scattering was the first important theory proposed by Chen Muwu after entering physics, and the wave equation was also created by Chen Muwu.
But if there is a contradiction between them, does it mean that one of them must be wrong?
The more Pauli spoke on the podium, the more confident he became. He felt that he had defeated Chen Muwu again and was still the smartest physicist in the world.
Unlike Pauli, who firmly believed that the matrix mechanics proposed by Chen Muwu before was the correct answer, and that the wave mechanics proposed later would destroy the Great Wall, Einstein was very dissatisfied with the two theories about the microscopic world proposed by Chen Muwu more than a month later. New theories, but all hold the same attitude.
Pauli droned on at the podium about how matrix mechanics was right and wave mechanics was wrong.
His long speeches made Einstein sitting in the audience very impatient.
As a well-respected figure in German physics, he rarely raised his hand and spoke once at the weekly meeting.
It’s just that Einstein only spoke a few words: “From Sir Thomson’s discovery of electrons and the plum pudding model, to Sir Rutherford’s discovery of the atomic nucleus and the atomic solar system model, to Bohr and Professor Sommerfeld and, of course, Chen Muwu, they proposed and perfected the latest atomic model. Until now, we have not had a sufficiently accurate quantum mechanics.
“But now Cavendish has given us a double-yolked egg, and suddenly there are two kinds of quantum mechanics in the world.
“Anyone with eyesight can see that these two theories are incompatible with each other.
"Which of these two theories is correct? Perhaps neither of them is correct at all."
The speeches of Pauli and Einstein represented the views of most physicists present at the meeting.
But at the same time, there are also some people who are beating a drum in their hearts.
Although the latest wave function proposed by Chen Muwu is somewhat absurd, there is no need to adopt Bohr's assumptions and rules out of thin air, nor does it need to artificially create a "witchcraft multiplication table" like the previous matrix.
Quantum discontinuities appear naturally in the form of eigenstates and eigenvalues in this wave equation and do not require any human intervention.
And like Pauli, they all realized the same thing, that is, although the wave equation is nonsense, its mathematical convenience is incomparable to complex matrix mechanics.
…
Chen Muwu's latest paper not only caused a bloody storm throughout Germany.
Professor Debye of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich was also troubled by Chen Muwu's wave equation.
One of his assistants, Erich Hückel, even composed a limerick about this equation that had tortured his boss for a long time:
"Gar Manches rechnet Chen schon
“Mit seiner Wellenfunktion.
"Nur wissen mcht' man gerne wohl
"Was man sich dabei vorstell'n soll.
"Chen Muwu and his Ψ,
“It’s really smart in calculations.
"But what exactly is it?
"No one can tell.)"
…
Bohr, who was far away in Copenhagen, Denmark, followed suit. Now that he had a more accurate new theory, he did not hesitate to abandon the atomic model named after himself.
In the past month, Bohr, Heisenberg, and students and staff at the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen, like Pauli, have basically accepted the matrix mechanics proposed by Chen Muwu.
Although this mathematical tool is difficult to get started, once you master it, you will find that it is very useful in calculating and explaining many physical phenomena.
When Xia Tian had just come into contact with this new theory and had not yet fully accepted it, Bohr once wrote a letter to his teacher Rutherford. In the letter, he complained harshly that Chen Muwu, his younger brother, was a bit unkind: He had just proposed The fourth quantum number helped to finally establish a complete theory of electron orbits, but then turned around and ruthlessly abandoned electron orbits, proposing a seemingly new and complex theory.
In Rutherford's reply to Bohr, he not only comforted his beloved disciple, but also specifically asked Bohr to nominate the Nobel Prize jury of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and Chen Muwu to participate in this year's Nobel Prize in Physics. this matter.
Moreover, Bohr also got another useful information from the teacher's letter, that is, in just one year, Chen Muwu had graduated with a Ph.D. and was staying in the Cavendish Laboratory. , as an experimenter.
Bohr felt that it was a waste of talent for his junior brother to repeat experiments day after day in the laboratory. He should be in Copenhagen more than the Cavendish Laboratory.
Since its establishment, his Institute of Theoretical Physics has aimed to attract young talents from European academic circles and create a youthful scientific research team.
And his younger brother Chen Muwu is, of course, the undoubted leader among young physicists today.
By then, with Heisenberg on his left and Chen Muwu on his right, will his Institute of Theoretical Physics naturally become one of the famous physics centers in Europe?
So Bohr started poaching his teacher Rutherford again.
It was just that Bohr had not fully accepted matrix mechanics at that time and was still a little angry with Chen Muwu, so he did not wield his little hoe in the end.
Now the whole of Copenhagen has finally accepted Chen Muwu's matrix mechanics. Unexpectedly, this talented young man has created an even more genius way, making it easier and more direct to calculate the spectrum of hydrogen atoms.
Therefore, Bohr could no longer restrain his desire for talent and wrote a personal letter to his junior brother.
Of course, he did not directly address Chen Muwu in the letter, inviting him to leave Cambridge University and come to the University of Copenhagen to study abroad.
Bohr chose to retreat in order to advance. Just like when he invited Heisenberg before, he first invited Chen Muwu to come to the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Denmark for a short visit during the summer vacation.
The wishful thinking he had in mind was that he must let his wife, Margaret, choose some of the most beautiful girls in Copenhagen, and he would keep his little junior brother who was inexperienced in the world no matter what.
In order to express his welcome to Chen Muwu, Bohr even adapted a line from "Hamlet" in his letter: "In Copenhagen, we expect something from British visitors."
However, Chen Muwu, who had little talent and little knowledge, had not read Shakespeare much.
Thank you for your support over the past month and wish everyone a happy May Day! (Only one chapter today)
(End of chapter)
