Although Chen Muwu refused for a long time, after Eddington repeatedly "invited" him in a tone that could not be refused, he finally reluctantly sat on the back seat of Eddington's bicycle.
In order to prevent himself from falling off the bicycle seat, Chen Muwu held on to Eddington's waist tightly.
The classic scene from the movie "Roman Holiday" was staged in Cambridgeshire in advance. Unfortunately, the person sitting in the back seat was not Audrey Hepburn. The rider on the bicycle was a gentleman, but he was not Gregory Peck.
During this iron horse trip from the Cavendish Laboratory to the Cambridge University Observatory, Chen Muwu roughly heard the cause and effect of the incident from Eddington's mouth.
In the summer of 1919, astronomers from seven countries: Belgium, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Greece, Japan and the United States, after attending the preparatory meeting of the International Research Council in Brussels, they jointly established an International Astronomy Association. The main purpose of an organization like the Federation is to stay together and promote and maintain astronomy in all aspects through international cooperation.
When Chen Muwu discovered the Yellow Emperor Star before, Eddington was the first to report the situation to the Federation on his behalf.
Because of this incident, the Federation also held a temporary meeting and finally agreed to name the new planet after the Yellow Emperor.
The International Union of Astronomers has agreed to hold a general meeting every three years to allow astronomers around the world to inform each other of the latest research results.
The first meeting was held in Rome, the capital of Italy, in May 1922.
Three years have passed since then, and the second general meeting happened to be held in Cambridgeshire, England.
It stands to reason that as the most famous astronomer and astrophysicist in the world today, Chen Muwu will definitely be invited to attend this general meeting.
But regarding his invitation letter, a big mistake occurred.
Previously, the reason why Eddington notified the International Union of Astronomers on behalf of Chen Muwu about the discovery of new planets in the solar system was because although China had established an astronomical society at that time, it was not connected with the International Union of Astronomers. You are not qualified to send a message to the federation.
At that time, Chen Muwu was not a member of the Royal Astronomical Society, a member association of the Union, so he was not qualified to send messages to the International Union of Astronomers.
After that, he was admitted as a member of the Royal Astronomical Society and was eligible to participate in this year's general meeting of the International Union of Astronomers.
The initial invitation letter was intended to be sent to Chen Muwu through the Royal Astronomical Society.
But at this time, the Chinese Astronomical Society also found an organization and contacted the International Union of Astronomers. They will send people to London to participate in this second general meeting as observers.
Now, which party should be used to invite Chen Muwu became a procedural issue: although Chen Muwu is a member of the Royal Astronomical Society, he is not British after all.
In the end, the Federation decided to invite Chen Muwu to attend the meeting by sending a letter to the Chinese Astronomical Society.
The formality must be such a formality. At worst, we can just inform him in private.
After all, both Eddington and Rutherford's son-in-law Fowler will attend the second conference, and they are also the hosts of Cambridge University and are responsible for preparing this conference in Cambridgeshire.
But there was a mistake. Although the Chinese Astronomical Society contacted the International Union of Astronomers, the Chen University astronomer was not a member of the Chinese Astronomical Society.
When he was in China, he only lectured once at Bei University, and there were very few professionals who actually listened to the scientific content in that lecture. Most of them came to have fun.
Therefore, Chen Muwu's true level was not shown and had nothing to do with astronomy. Naturally, he was not able to connect with the Chinese Astronomical Society.
In addition, in the past six months, Chen Muwu has been at the David Faraday Laboratory in London, and his time in Cambridge is only a handful. He did not know that they were preparing to hold an astronomy conference.
When it comes to Eddington and Fowler, things develop even more chaotically.
Eddington thought that Fowler would appear in the Cavendish Laboratory every day, because his office was here, and he would meet Chen Muwu very often, so he would naturally inform him of such an incident.
Fowler believes that Eddington has a better relationship with Chen Muwu and will definitely come to him as soon as Chen Muwu returns to Cambridge University.
Everyone thought that the other party would do such a thing, but the result was that no one could do it well.
When the conference was signed in the day before the opening, someone finally realized that something was wrong.
The staff prepared an invitation letter for Chen Muwu to attend a higher-level banquet, but he was told by the visitor that the Chinese Astronomical Society only sent him, not Chen Muwu - and although Chen Muwu is now the most famous person in the world Chinese scientist, but he is not a member of the Chinese Astronomical Society.
This was embarrassing, and the staff quickly reported it to Eddington.
Eddington was preparing for the next activity at the time. After hearing this, he immediately put down all the work at hand, got on his bicycle and rushed to the Cavendish Laboratory.
After talking about these things, Eddington did not forget to complain to Chen Muwu, complaining that his junior student Fowler from Trinity College was unreliable.
"Is it true that Ralph is in the laboratory every day, but he never informed you of such a big event?"
"Well, Professor Eddington, although I have been in the Cavendish Laboratory these days, I have always stayed in my room. I have not shown much face, and I have never met Professor Fowler. You Don’t accuse him wrongly. Since the conference hasn’t started yet and I know about it, it’s not too late, right?”
Eddington could scold Fowler, but Chen Muwu could not agree. He could only share some of the responsibility on himself and acted as a peacemaker between the two senior brothers.
After experiencing bumps along the way, the two finally arrived at their destination.
Sitting on the back seat of a bicycle made of welded metal pipes, his young waist was almost not broken.
Chen Muwu once again lamented that it was an incredible feat for Eddington to reach 84 under such car and road conditions.
There is a very common misunderstanding, that is, to increase the Eddington number from 80 to 84, you only need to ride four more long-distance trips of more than 84 miles in a single day.
In fact, moving E from 80 to 84 would, in the worst-case scenario, require an additional eighty-four more long-distance trips of more than 84 miles in a single day, i.e. starting from scratch.
"Professor Eddington, your riding skills are very good, but the riding experience of your bicycle is really unflattering.
"After this period of time, after I finish my work in the Cavendish Laboratory, I will help you upgrade this bicycle. How about it?"
However, Chen Muwu didn't plan to do it himself. The most he could do was draw a few drawings and then find a craftsman to help him build a shock absorber on the bicycle.
If possible, add a transmission system.
Eddington did not doubt Chen Muwu's hands-on ability. Anyone who could do experiments in the Cavendish Laboratory for several years would not be too bad at hand skills.
After graduating from Trinity College, he entered the Cavendish Laboratory and studied thermal radiation for a period of time under the old Thomson.
But Eddington himself was not good at playing with the machines on the experimental bench, so within a few days of entering the laboratory, he was persuaded by Old Thomson to quit, and he could only go to the Greenwich Observatory in London to analyze the asteroid Eros. parallax.
That was Eddington's first exposure to astronomy. Old Thomson's personnel selection made the Cavendish Laboratory less of a mediocre staff member, but it also gave Britain an outstanding person. astronomer.
He just didn't understand that his bicycle was already the best on the British market. Chen Muwu said he wanted to upgrade it, but what kind of upgrade could it be?
Chen Muwu briefly told him his idea, using hard springs to slightly increase the riding comfort on bumpy roads, and then using a gear set to make riding up and down slopes more effortless.
Eddington nodded after hearing this, thinking that he could give it a try.
"But Professor Eddington, didn't you just need to inform me today? Why did you bring me here?"
At the end of his explanation, Chen Muwu raised his own questions.
What appeared in front of him now was the Cambridge University Observatory, which he had not seen for nearly two years.
The telescope dome not far away was where he originally discovered the Yellow Emperor Star.
"Well, Dr. Chen, that's what happened. In the past, when we held any academic exchange activities at the University of Cambridge, we would organize participants to visit Trinity College and the Cavendish Laboratory to take everyone to experience Newton firsthand. Where Sir Sir and Professor Maxwell worked.
“Originally, for our meeting this time, we wanted to take them to the two places mentioned above as usual.
“But, after all, the people who came to the meeting this time were all astronomers, and our Cambridge University Observatory made a major astronomical discovery not long ago, so we temporarily moved the location of the visit here.
"And the reason why I invite you here so eagerly is because I want you to be a guest of this visit."
The major event that Eddington did not specify was Chen Muwu's discovery of the Yellow Emperor Star.
This is indeed a hot topic in astronomy recently, but at the end of last year, Chen Muwu first mentioned in his Nobel lecture that Andromeda is outside the Milky Way, and that the Milky Way is not the whole picture of the universe, and then pointed out that the universe is not static but is constantly expanding. After that, the astronomers turned their attention to the wider places above everyone's heads.
But no matter what, the discovery of Planet X, which astronomers have been searching for for decades, is considered a big event.
Now that you have arrived at the University of Cambridge, you must visit the place where the Yellow Emperor Star was discovered.
Stromgren, director of the University of Copenhagen Observatory, imagined when Chen Muwu visited the observatory that if Chen Muwu discovered the tenth planet in the solar system there, he would put up a sign next to the telescope indicating that it was the "tenth planet." "Planet Discovery Place", and then let astronomy enthusiasts and tourists from all over the world buy tickets to visit and earn a certain amount of money to supplement the expenses of the observatory.
Although the first half of his idea unfortunately did not come true, the second half became a reality at the Cambridge University Observatory.
Eddington really did it this time, but as a British gentleman, he didn't have the nerve to collect money from his astronomical colleagues from all over the world.
After the two arrived at the observatory, they took a short rest and prepared themselves before welcoming a small visiting group.
Chen Muwu felt that this visiting group should be all important people attending the conference, because he discovered that the person accompanying these people was actually the Chancellor of Cambridge University, Arthur Balfour.
Lord Balfour was also an aristocratic student who went straight from Eton to Trinity College, Cambridge. He served as the British Prime Minister for three years from 1903 to 1905, and served as the Admiralty Secretary and the Foreign Secretary during World War I. Then he became the Minister of Irish Affairs. In order to suppress the Irish independence movement, he adopted many bloody methods and was known as "Bloody Balfour".
Although he was cruel to the Irish in his own country, Balfour supported the Jews.
The "Balfour Declaration" named after his surname is the government's public guarantee that it agrees with the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. It is also the source of continued chaos in the Middle East for decades to come.
When Dai Ying signed this declaration, he just hoped that the wealthy Jews could financially support the Allied Powers who were fighting against the Allies.
After being introduced by Eddington, Chen Muwu realized that this was actually the school supervisor he had met for the first time.
However, Chen Muwu was not interested in this person because Belfort also appeared at the Paris Peace Conference after the end of World War I.
To the Chinese, Balfour was a villain. In order to gain more benefits for Britain, he began to talk nonsense, saying that China had not spent a single shilling on the war and not a single person had died.
This completely ignores the contribution of the Chinese workers on the battlefields of World War I!
After returning to the UK after the peace conference, Balfour went to great lengths to deport the Chinese workers back home on the pretext that they were "impeding local stability."
Before he traveled back in time, he had only read a few vague sentences in his school history books, saying that China was treated unfairly at the Paris Peace Conference, so the diplomats refused to sign the peace treaty. , to show dissatisfaction.
Until the Olympic Games in Paris last year, Xie Dongfa, the Chinese in France who had been the leader of the Republic of China delegation and had served as an external reporter for Ta Kung Pao during the Paris Peace Conference, told him about these dirty things in international relations. Only then did Chen Muwu experience first-hand such a period of humiliating modern history.
After Eddington's introduction, Chen Muwu shook hands with Belfort politely.
Then, before the school supervisor could begin to praise him, Chen Muwu said directly and somewhat disrespectfully: "Lord Balfour, I'm glad to see you! I don't know if I, as a Chinese, should also be deported immediately. Deported back to the country?”
(End of chapter)
