Michelson goes on to say, "The universe is full of a medium, and that medium is the ether. The earth swims in the vast ocean of the ether, and the light vibrations can be seen as elastic pulses in the ether......"

Most of the students listened quietly, with expressions of intoxication.

However, Li Kangping couldn't listen to it anymore, and he said secretly, Mr. Michelson, you are openly propagating fallacies and heresies!

It's 1920, and you, Mr. Michelson, are still thinking about the ether, but you don't say a word about the theory of relativity.

Let's not kneel and lick Einstein, what we kneel and lick is the truth revealed by Einstein.

Li Kangping took the case, and he said in a loud voice: "Mr. Michelson, I don't mean to offend you, but the aether drift observation experiment you and Mr. Morey did not succeed!" ”

One stone stirs up a thousand waves.

After a brief silence, the auditorium resounded with a tumultuous hustle and bustle.

"Who is this guy, he actually confronted Mr. Michelson!"

"For God's sake, shut up for me!"

Some students emotionally accused Li Kangping, this guy is too rude! Not only rude, but also very ignorant!

The pressure of public opinion is so great, Li Kangping is a little panicked.

"Lee, you have stated the scientific facts that have happened, you have done nothing wrong, and I support you." Alan whispered.

Good brother, see the truth in adversity.

You fanned the flames, I lit the fire, good brother, since you support me, then you also stand up and say a few words.

Li Kangping patted Allen's thigh and cast an encouraging look.

"You know, I'm not as smart as you." Allen unilaterally supported Li Kangping, but Allen did not make a formal statement.

"Quiet."

Michelson made a gesture of silence, not annoyed by an unknown person who publicly refuted his academic ideas, and he smiled slightly: "This young gentleman is right, the fringe spacing measured by me and Mr. Morey's aether drift observation experiment did not exceed 0.01, and our expectation was 0.4, which means that our experiment failed. We were so disappointed that we cancelled our plans to observe in different seasons. ”

"Mr. Sanders of England – he is a staunch supporter of the aether theory and a good friend of mine and Mr. Morey. Mr. Sanders had a heart attack on the day he heard that our experiment had failed and unfortunately left us. I've always felt guilty about Mr. Sanders, but science is science, experimental data is in front of you, failure is failure, and there is no need to make excuses. ”

When Mr. Michelson said this, his smile turned into a bitter smile, and his bitter smile was a sad reminiscence of his old friends in the academic world.

Li Kangping let out a long breath, and the large stone pressing on his chest turned into powder.

A recipient of a promise must have excellent wisdom and a broad heart.

The most basic quality of a scientist is to respect scientific facts and dare to admit academic mistakes.

Mr. Michelson frankly admitted that he had failed in the past, which is the attitude of the Nobel winner and APS president.

Our dearest physics, after the summary of failures again and again, is moving towards the temple of eternal greatness.

Mr. Michelson won the respect of Li Kangping, who felt that the trip was worthwhile.

"And yet ......"

Mr. Michelson's speech was not over, he said firmly: "The failure of our aether drift observation experiment shows that there are problems with our experimental design or experimental operation and experimental equipment, but there is no problem with the aether theory itself, and I believe that someone will prove the correctness of the aether theory through more exquisite experiments." And in relativity, it's a monster. ”

Li Kangping: "......"

The theory of relativity proposes a new view of space-time, and if the theory of relativity is true, then the theory of ether is untenable.

Mindset change doesn't happen overnight. At the Solvay Conference in 1911, Einstein's special theory of relativity, published in 1905, was noticed due to his achievements in the study of specific heat in solids.

It was not until 1919 that the general theory of relativity was verified by Eddington's total solar eclipse observation team, and Einstein became a scientific star in the spotlight, and his special theory of relativity began to be taken seriously.

Regrettably, Mr. Michelson, a leading figure in the American physics community, has always rejected the theory of relativity.

Li Kangping 200 percent agreed with the scientific value of the Michelson interferometer, and this scientific achievement is worthy of the Nobel Prize.

What Li Kangping refuted was Michelson's refutation of the theory of relativity.

Throughout the history of modern physics, physicists who focused on a certain or series of physical applications have often achieved fame and gone down in history. Most of the physicists who want to unify basic theories and academic ideas and then dominate the global physics community have failed to do so, and even died of grief and indignation.

It was an honor that Li Kangping had the opportunity to contact Michelson alone because he dared to refute Michelson in public.

After the speech, Michelson said to Li Kangping: "Young man, I will give you half an hour, and you can ask me any question in this half hour." ”

Li Kangping immediately asked: "Since the light rays are bent under the gravitational pull of the sun, then the general theory of relativity is valid!" Mr. Michelson, I would like to know why a great physicist like you could not accept the observations of the Eddington Observation team. ”

"Young man, you're stealing concepts." Michelson said calmly, he asked, "What's your name?" ”

"My name is K.P. Lee, a student at Columbia College."

"Mr. Li, you see, I'm almost 70 years old, and my brain doesn't turn as fast as you, but I'm not old and confused. What I'm trying to say is that I accept total solar eclipse observations, and those results are actually measured, and everybody will accept their observations. ”

"Huh?"

"If I'm not mistaken, the declination data observed in Principe is 1.61''±0.30''' and Sobral's is 1.98''±0.12''. During last year's total solar eclipse, the declination observations of Principe and Sobral were too rough to prove the theory of relativity. Michelson said seriously.

Li Kangping asked again: "What about Mercury's perihelion precession?" It's flawless! ”

"Please, Mercury's perihelion precession is Einstein's self-justifying paper article."

"Mr. Michelson, what would you say if the next time, next time, the next total solar eclipse observation data was accurate and correct enough?"

Michelson smiled: "If the theory of relativity is true, then I will swallow a whole barrel of glass shards." ”

Li Kangping was anxious: "Don't do this, Mr. Michelson!" ”

"Alright, Lee, it's time, that's all for today's chat. Overall, you're the cutest young man I've ever met in recent years. I'm the president of APS, but I rarely go to Ferdinand House, so if you still have questions, you can write to me and send it to the physics department at the University of Chicago. Goodbye, lovely young man. ”

"Goodbye, Mr. Michelson."

In this day and age, physics is in a phase of alternating between the old and the new. The so-called replacement of the old and the new does not mean that the old classical theories are completely replaced by new physics, but that physics expands on the basis of the original.

It is impossible to expect everyone to quickly accept new theories, and some people will not accept them until they die.

The fact that a college student like Li Kangping, who has not graduated from a bachelor's degree, can argue academically with a Nobel Prize bigwig like Michelson for half an hour shows that the academic atmosphere in the United States is relatively free.

Michelson wears many hats, one of which is APS's president. Mr. Michelson, who is busy with his business, must not have had time to review every manuscript of Physical Review.

The core idea of "Blackbody Radiation and Light Quantum" is based on the theory of relativity, but fortunately, Michelson did not see this paper, otherwise Li Kangping would probably not receive the proof of the paper from the editorial department.

……

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