After receiving explicit recognition from Born and Jordan in the Department of Physics, von Neumann returned to his residence in high spirits.
He couldn't wait to compile the ideas on the draft paper into a paper, and then publish it in the "Journal of Physics" as soon as possible.
Although it was a topic given by his teacher, Alexander Hilbert in the field of mathematics, if this paper was published in any mathematics journal, the consequence would be that no one would care about it.
Mathematicians rarely read physics papers!
So von Neumann finally decided to follow Born's advice and submit a manuscript to a physics journal.
A fiercely anti-Semitic review by Jordan, or rather a new critic named Ernst Domeier, appeared in the Göttingen Zeitung before von Neumann's paper appeared. Much earlier.
Ernst is the first name in Jordan's full name, Ernst Pascual Jordan, but no one can compare the pen name of this new critic with the humble and polite one who worked for Born at the University of Göttingen. Assistants should be contacted together.
A few days later, von Neumann came to Born's office again with the paper he had written.
Born and Jordan read his paper in a sincere manner, and both felt that there was no problem with the proof and logic in the content.
So as agreed, Born wrote a letter of recommendation for this paper, which was full of mathematics disguised as physics, and sent it together with the paper to Karl Schell, managing director and secretary of the German Physical Society in Berlin, the capital. He is also one of the editors-in-chief of the Journal of Physics.
In fact, Born has a closer relationship with Hans Geiger, the other editor-in-chief of the Journal of Physics, than Scheer, who is mainly responsible for administrative work, whether in the German Physical Society or in the journal editorial department. It was better, except that Geiger was not in Berlin, where the magazine was published, but at Kiel University in Kiel.
If it were sent to Geiger and he thought it could be published and then forwarded to Berlin, it would take a lot of time to transfer it.
Moreover, Geiger himself was an experimental physicist who came from the Cavendish Laboratory and did experiments with Rutherford. He knew nothing about theory, let alone a mathematical paper that even Born had a hard time reading.
If compared with academic achievements and reputation, then these two editors, Geiger and Serge, together, are not as good as a hair of Planck.
However, unlike the "Annals of Physics" edited by Planck, the "Journal of Physics" has adopted a reviewer system since its inception, rather than making decisions easily based on the personal likes and dislikes of several editors in the editorial department. An essay will live and die without knowing whether its content is right or wrong.
It may be that Planck is a remnant of the old era and cannot understand papers of the new era, or it may be that the rigorous Germans prefer the review system of the Journal of Physics.
Therefore, German physicists are still more willing to contribute to this newly emerging magazine.
Born himself is also one of the reviewers of the Journal of Physics, and he can recommend articles directly to the editorial board.
Moreover, von Neumann was still Hilbert's student, and the topic of this thesis was researched on the latter's recommendation.
Born looked at the Buddha without looking at the monk's face. He was very confident. He felt that Scheer would not reject such a high-quality paper no matter what.
The postman in Göttingen was still so diligent. While taking away a large number of letters from the mailbox, including Born's letter of recommendation and von Neumann's papers, he also delivered overseas letters to the University of Göttingen. Crossing the sea to the European continent, the latest issue of "Transactions of the Natural Sciences".
Because in the previous issue, Dr. Chen from Cambridge University published a mathematical paper that subverted the work of most mathematicians around the world.
Therefore, most scientific practitioners at the University of Göttingen, regardless of discipline, want to open this issue of the "Proceedings of the Royal Society" to see if there is any follow-up to this matter, or whether Dr. Chen has continued to do it on his own whim. New papers have been published in the professional field.
But the result disappointed most people. No one could find the four-letter Chinese surname on the catalog page. There was only one paper with the mailing address of Cambridge University.
There is neither Chen Muwu's paper nor any paper related to the subject or of interest to him, so these disappointed people basically re-closed this issue of "Transactions of the Natural Science", or put it aside, or handed it to their students. , and ask them to outline each paper.
Only a very small number of people opened the physics paper from Cambridge University according to the page number in the table of contents.
Jordan is one of them.
He remembered the name Dirac because of the Dirac-Chan statistics.
In the final analysis, it is still because of Chen Muwu.
That person published a paper with Chen Muwu two years ago, and then disappeared like a flash in the pan.
Dirac was also from Cambridge University, and he could publish papers with Chen Muwu, so the relationship between the two people was definitely not bad.
After two years of dormancy, he came back with a new paper, and judging from the title, the content of this paper is still related to quantum mechanics.
I wonder if his paper had any guidance from Chen Muwu? Will it bring some surprises?
With this mentality in mind, Jordan began to read Dirac's papers.
Although there was no era of DeepL and Google Translate, it was very difficult for Jordan, a native German speaker, to read an English paper.
But the further down he looked, the more delighted Jordan's face became.
Isn't the content of this paper exactly the same idea that von Neumann brought to Born's office a few days ago?
The Jew was so arrogant a few days ago, thinking he had written such an amazing paper, but what about now?
You've done a great job with this British guy you've never met before!
He would rather be with his friends than his own family, and Jordan felt a little sickly in his heart.
As now, in the original historical process, Dirac did try to prove the equivalence of matrix mechanics and wave mechanics earlier than von Neumann.
Both are generalists in mathematics and physics, but their focuses are somewhat different.
Dirac was more interested in physics, while von Neumann was more mathematical.
After reading "Principles of Quantum Mechanics", von Neumann pointed out that the unified mathematical expression of quantum mechanics given by Dirac was correct, but it could be more correct.
Then he wrote an article "The Mathematical Foundation of Quantum Mechanics", which finally rigorously proved the equivalence of the two mechanics mathematically in Hilbert space.
This time and space is different, and it's because of Chen Muwu.
He had already pointed out to Dirac and Fowler that his previous proofs were sufficient for physicists, but not rigorous for mathematicians.
To strictly prove this point, the final battlefield is in Hilbert space.
Chen Muwu just mentioned it, but Dirac really took it in.
Therefore, his current paper, from the idea to the final proof process, is completely different from von Neumann's, and the latter cannot find any faults in it.
Jodang, who was already happy in his heart, suppressed a smile and shared the unfortunate result published in the "Proceedings of the Natural Sciences" with his teacher Born expressionlessly.
"Professor Born, the paper that Dr. von Neumann just sent has been published in this British journal.
"Judging from the time of receipt, there is no possibility that this paper has been plagiarized. It should be the British Mr. Dirac and von Neumann who thought of going together and took the lead in solving this problem."
While speaking, Jordan placed the spread journals on the desk and pushed them in front of Born.
After a short period of emotional adjustment, there was even a trace of regret on his face.
Unlike Jordan, Born's English is very good.
After graduating from the Ph.D., he went to the University of Cambridge for a brief exchange visit, and had academic exchanges with Larmore, the Lucasian professor of mathematics, and Sr. Thomson, the director of the Cavendish Laboratory at the time. .
Moreover, he was invited by Michelson, the chairman of the physics department of the University of Chicago, to teach the theory of relativity in the United States for several years.
Compared with Jordan, who could only rely on English-German dictionaries and physics formulas to guess the content of Dirac's paper, Born read "Transactions of the Natural Sciences" without any pressure.
The content of the paper is exactly what Jordan said. It is almost identical to the one von Neumann just sent to the Journal of Physics, except for the language used.
Because he had participated in some thesis work before and after, but now someone was the first to get there, Born felt a faint sense of disappointment in his heart.
But after all, he was not the author of the paper. After thinking about it, Born decided to invite von Neumann to his office again and announce the academic "bad news" to him face to face.
"Pascual, could you please make a trip and invite Dr. von Neumann over, and we can discuss how to deal with this matter."
Jordan accepted Born's request without hesitation and even trotted out of the office.
After learning the news, von Neumann fell from heaven to hell in an instant.
He once again accepted Born's suggestion and did not withdraw the paper. Instead, he wrote a supplementary letter to the editorial board of the Journal of Physics, stating that at the time of writing this paper, he had not seen Dirac of Cambridge University. paper, and did not draw any inspiration from it.
Born and Hilbert also endorsed this statement in their letters, using their personalities to prove that the two papers in front of each other were completely academic coincidences.
But the second place is the second place. From Germany, to the University of Göttingen, to von Neumann, they all lost in this small academic competition.
The University of Cambridge should not be underestimated. In addition to the long-established Cavendish Laboratory, except for the sudden rise of Chen Muwu, even the little-known Dirac can give him a fatal blow academically.
Von Neumann's desire to go to Cambridge University became stronger after meeting these talented colleagues. He expressed his inner thoughts to his teacher Hilbert.
Hilbert supported this decision and asked him to communicate for a year and a half, which was totally fine.
He specifically told his new assistant that after arriving in the UK, he must communicate more with people there, especially Dr. Chen.
If there is an opportunity, we must invite him to the University of Göttingen.
Although Hilbert is old, his ambition is still young.
If Chen Muwu really comes to him, he will definitely make his research even more powerful.
With this right-hand man, the two of them can rebuild the mathematics building and make a big splash in physics.
That little Albert in Berlin is nothing to be afraid of. Let’s see if he dares to criticize himself in the newspaper?
Hilbert valued this trip to Cambridge so much that he wrote a letter to his colleague Fowler, asking him to take more care of von Neumann, who was unfamiliar with the place at Cambridge University.
In Göttingen, it goes without saying that von Neumann bought tickets, packed his luggage, and asked passers-by about various precautions in Britain.
At the destination of his trip, Cambridge University, Chen Muwu's path integral paper was almost finished.
From the particle accelerator that has been stagnant for a long time, there is also some good news.
Cockcroft said that he had received a telegram from the manufacturer. The previously ordered spherical electrodes and insulating glass supports have been produced and will be transported to Cambridge Railway Station via rail freight in the near future. You can go to the station to pick up the goods when the time comes.
The inconvenience caused by the wrong location of Cambridge railway station has once again been reflected.
One can walk a few miles and take a train outside of Cambridgeshire, which is tolerable.
But transporting these precious accelerator parts from the countryside to the city is still quite troublesome.
Because of this incident, Chen Muwu had to find Chief Supervisor Chadwick and ask him to help contact a freight truck. When the agreed time was reached, he would go to the train station and pull the goods to the particle accelerator room.
Until now, Chen Muwu still thought that Cockcroft said that the problem with the accelerator parts was caused by one of the electrodes and the insulating pillars. He still did not think about the silk that transports the charge.
Now that these two most expensive and important parts are available, it seems that the production process of the particle accelerator can finally be accelerated.
Chadwick found the truck to deliver the goods at the agreed time.
Chen Muwu and Cockcroft also escorted the car out of Cambridgeshire early in the morning and arrived at the train station outside the city.
They asked the staff whether the freight train mentioned in the telegram by the manufacturer had arrived in Cambridgeshire on time and whether the goods had been unloaded safely.
However, a new problem has arisen.
There was a general strike in support of coal miners across the UK, and the railway system was no exception.
The goods were not delivered.
(End of chapter)
