In addition, members of the Royal Society, such as Sir Thomson, who confirmed the existence of electrons through experiments, and Baccar, who experimentally proved the wavy properties of X-rays for the first time, were also visited. There is a certain degree of overlap between these scientists and Sun Yuanqi's research fields.

Subsequently, the host and the host had a friendly academic exchange. Of course, the mode of communication is that many times the guest asks a question, Sun Yuanqi answers: the guest asks, Sun Yuanqi answers: and then the questioner falls into deep thought. It lasted until late in the evening, when the exchange came to an end. After Lord Rayleigh informed Sun Yuanqi of the arrangements for tomorrow's award ceremony, he got up to take his leave.

Out of the door, James and his father, Lord Rayleigh, were in a carriage. As soon as he sat down, his son, who was still excited, said, "Today is really worth the trip." Not only did I see Dr. Johnson in person, but I was able to ask him questions and get answers. It's a great feeling! Thank you, Father, for giving me this opportunity. ”。

Lord Rayleigh was not in a high mood, and replied lightly, "You're welcome." …”

"By the way, father, what do you think of Dr. Johnson's theories, such as the theory of atomic structure, the quantum theory of light, the theory of antimatter, and even the latest theory of the Big Bang universe? I know that he has received mixed reviews from the European academic community, and there is still a lot of debate. However, my scholars admire him very much, and I believe that he has completely subverted the conclusions and understandings that have been circulating in the natural sciences for many years by himself, and he is worthy of being the most outstanding scientist in the new century. Father, what do you think? I'd like to hear from you. ”。

Lord Rayleigh was silent for a moment before he said, "When I was young, I was convinced of many ideas. One of them is that after the age of sixty, one should not make casual remarks about some new ideas of modern times. Although I admit that I am not so convinced of this view today, it is enough to keep me above the debate. ”。

This answer clearly displeased James: "Father, have you read Dr. Johnson's papers on these new theories?" ”。

Lord Rayleigh replied honestly, "I have seen it. I see it doesn't work for me though. I don't think that these theories will make impossible discoveries, on the contrary, it is quite possible. However, it doesn't fit my spleen and stomach. …”

"Bad for the spleen? Why? ”。

"It's like different perceptions of beauty in different eras." Lord Rayleigh made an analogy "

"Take your mother, for example. When I knew her, her looks, her manners, her tastes, were so beautiful at the time that all young men were fascinated. Luckily, I got her heart. So we got married, lived happily ever after, and had three of you, brothers.

"Decades have passed, and now suddenly a new standard of beauty has been proposed. According to this standard, your mother's looks, manners, and tastes are "not only not beautiful, but vulgar and vulgar." Although you young people have touted this new standard, and I realize that there is some truth to it, I still cherish my wife who has been with me through ups and downs in my heart, and I cannot tolerate the attacks of others.

"Johnson's new theory" is exactly the same as the one I gave me. So I said, it doesn't fit my stomach. ”。

James understood his father's feelings.

After a while, Lord Rayleigh sighed faintly: "In such a period, there is no longer any standard for truth, and I have no idea what science is now. I regret that I didn't die in the five years that these new theories came out. In that case, at least I'll be happy. ”。

At present, in the British academic community, and even more widely in the European and American academic circles, at least more than half of the scientists share this kind of thinking and sleepiness with Lord Rayleigh. "Ultimately" is because the birthplace of natural science is in England, and the British way of thinking has unconsciously created their way of thinking.

British science is characterised by a particular emphasis on practicality and analogy, and a particular preference for the use of sensory knowledge rather than mental reasoning. Faraday, for example, saw force as a tube, and according to their imagination, force resembled a rubber product: Rutherford studied the atom as a game of coconut throwing at a village fair, throwing particles at the atom and seeing what pieces fall......... This habit of pragmatism and sound common sense" played an important role in the early development of science, and even pushed classical physics, which emphasized the mechanical model method, to its peak.

The so-called "pros and cons are born together" and "good and bad are served". By the time there was a hole in classical physics, a great catastrophe began for those physicists of the old style. Because the development of physics has entered a completely new field, in this new field "new methods of thinking and research should be used, and the old ones are becoming less and less effective." However, as a researcher who grew up with an old-fashioned education, especially a scientist who has tasted the great sweetness of using the old way of thinking, the method of mechanical modeling has become their inherent thinking: "How can it be so easy to change suddenly?" What's more, "some people don't want to change at all, and they turn around and pick their noses at new theories."

Like Lord Rayleigh, out of his demeanor and sleek attitude, he will only show his true thoughts in front of his son, and he will never be vague in public, and will never express his position clearly. Of course, there are die-hards such as Lord Kelvin, the old and stalwart former president of the Royal Society, who seized the opportunity to criticize Sun Yuanqi, and even saw the emergence of new theories as a huge conspiracy, a huge conspiracy of the Oriental boys to subvert Western orthodox science. In this regard, Sun Yuanqi naturally laughed and laughed. They scolded fiercely, and only responded with a proverb from the Arab world: the dog is barking, but the caravan is still moving.

I don't know if it was a coincidence or fate, on the night that Lord Rayleigh and his entourage visited Sun Yuanqi, and on the eve of Sun Yuanqi's second Copley Award, Lord Kelvin died of illness in Netherhall, Scotland. Later generations of British historians of science, when referring to this period of history, wrote in a sentimental tone:

"On a cold and wet winter night on December 17, 1907, the life of Lord Kelvin, a master of physics, came to an end. Later, his remains were laid to rest next to Newton's tomb at Westminster Abbey in London.

"Lord Kelvin was one of the main founders of thermodynamics, and was one of the greatest scientists in the world at the time. After his death, he was mourned by scientists almost all over the UK and around the world. This is also the most brilliant glory of the British scientific community after Newton, Faraday, and Maxwell. Since then, the British scientific community has slipped from the top and never returned to that coveted altar.

The morning after Kelvin's death, Dr. Johnson, whom he had so strongly criticized, stood on the podium of the Royal Society to receive his second Copley Medal. In the dark, God used this cruel reality to show that classical physics research has entered the grave of history, and can only be relied on in the future: new theories have been transmitted from the far East, and they are solemnly proclaimed on the podium, and European scientists can only sit under the stage and listen reverently and passively accept them. As for us, the British, in view of the excellent experimental environment and outstanding operational ability, in the next division of labor, we will be honored to become qualified experimental verification personnel under the baton of the new theory.

"Every Englishman, especially those who do research, should go to the cemetery at Westminster Abbey in the afternoon. On the left is the tomb of Sir Newton, which marks the beginning of classical physics, and is the great starting point of Britain's glorious history of science, and on the right, the tomb of Lord Kelvin, which marks the end of classical physics, and the last peak of Britain's glorious history of science. All this is bathed in the faint afterglow of the sun, and at this time, we can imagine the despair and sadness in the hearts of scholars such as Lord Kelvin, Sir Hagens, and Lord Rayleigh. ”

But in the history of science in China, no one will ever associate Kelvin's death with Sun Yuanqi's award, and at most someone will say, "Hey, what a coincidence!" Mr. Baixi was also in England at that time, I wonder if he sent a message of condolence to Kelvin? ”

In fact, Sun Yuanqi really sent a message of condolence to Kelvin.

By this time, telegraph technology in Britain was very mature, and within a few hours of Kelvin's death, news quickly reached London. As a former president, the news of his death was naturally informed of the Royal Society. Therefore, before the award ceremony on the second day, all the participants stood up and mourned him in silence.

As a foreign member of the Royal Society, Sun Yuanqi, out of courtesy, sent a message of condolence on behalf of his family, the University of Jingshi, and the Chinese scientific community, recalling the great achievements of the Lord's life. Kelvin's bereaved family apparently knew about the feud between the two, so they hid the telegram and kept it a secret. It wasn't until the New World that the scholar who compiled the Complete Works of Sun Yuanqi found Kelvin's descendants, and found this telegram in a large number of documents and materials, so that it could see the light of day.

In the next few days, Sun Yuanqi was invited by major research institutions in the United Kingdom to travel around giving lectures and holding seminars. Sun Yuan was busy, and the group of students were not idle, "first spent two days sending hundreds of telegrams to Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and other countries, and then began to contact places for accommodation, meals, and meetings.

Originally, Sun Yuanqi thought that during the Christmas holiday, "Chinese students will inevitably have some arrangements for their own four: as for coming all the way to London for a meeting, there shouldn't be much enthusiasm? The fact is much beyond Sun Yuanqi's expectations: "As long as the international students receive the telegram, almost none of them will appear in London!"

As mentioned earlier, most of the students studying abroad in the late Qing Dynasty were children of poor families. Their expenses for studying abroad are mainly funded by the government, and the shortfall is made up by their own families. How much money can a poor family have to subsidize?

Some people may ask: why not work-study? Later, many international students did this. First, under the influence of traditional thinking, poor people are also readers, and naturally they can't put down the shelf to work and make money: second, European society generally regards the Far East as a wild land, and Chinese with long braids as dirty and unclean people, and few people are willing to hire international students to do things.

Therefore, the life of the tour students in Europe is very poor, and they can save money on weekdays, and even rarely go out. For example, Li Fuji in real history relied on subleasing his bicycle to subsidize his daily use.

Nowadays, during the holidays, some people pay for room and board, take care of the round-trip fare, and invite themselves to London for a walk, so why not do such a good thing? So everyone called for friends and flocked to it.