After sailing at sea for half a month, I finally reached the end of this voyage: San Francisco, also known as San Francisco and San Francisco.

At the time of disembarkation, there are American customs officers who check it. Seeing that it was blonde and blue-eyed, he waved his hand and let it go; If they are yellow-skinned and black-eyed, they are all taken to another room and examined carefully. Sun Yuanqi has a certificate from the US Legation, as well as invitation letters from Yale, MIT, and the American Chemical Society, so he is naturally not afraid of him. The customs officer saw Sun Yuanqi, who was taller than himself, walking up and down with a relaxed face, and saw a few English certificates in his hand. I wanted to say something, but in the end I didn't say anything, waved my hand, and let Sun Yuanqi go.

As soon as I walked out of the dock with my luggage, I saw a group of people picking up people outside, holding various signs with names written on them. Hey, so how do you have your own name? A large card with "YorkJohnson" written on it and the crooked Chinese "Sun Yuanqi" underneath is surrounded by several people, one of whom is Rutherford.

Rutherford chatted with a few people while staring at the exit from the dock. I saw a person waving his hand at this side, and when he fixed his eyes, who was Sun Yuanqi? Seeing Sun Yuanqi wearing a suit, shirt, and tie, Rutherford's eyes were about to fall out.

Among this group of people, Rutherford had seen Sun Yuanqi, and when they saw Rutherford's surprised look, they all followed his line of sight, but saw a handsome young man of about 1.8 meters walking over, wearing a suit shirt, tie, fair skin, well, a very strange hairstyle. There is a little melancholy in his expression, and there is a bookish atmosphere, like a college student in school. If it weren't for the facial contours betraying him, no one would have suspected that he was from a university in the United States.

When he got closer, Rutherford rubbed his eyes vigorously before he tentatively asked, "Excuse me, are you York?" ”

"Yes, Mr. Rutherford." Sun Yuanqi laughed out loud and stretched out his right hand, "I'm very happy to see you again!" ”

Rutherford suddenly jumped up and hugged Sun Yuanqi: "York, it's really you!" You've changed so much that I don't even recognize you! ”

After Sun Yuanqi and Rutherford hugged warmly, he explained: "The so-called 'following the customs' is now in the United States, and there are few changes that must be made." By the way, how did you get to San Francisco? ”

"I received a telegram from you, and I know that you are going to the United States in June, and that there are only one or two ships a month from the Far East to the United States, and I think you will take this one in mid-June, which I took last year." Rutherford said, "It just so happened that McGill University was about to end for the summer, and I had nothing to do, so I came." ”

"Thank you!" Sun Yuanqi was afraid of snubbing his companion, so he reminded him, "You haven't introduced your friend yet." ”

Rutherford patted his head: "I was so happy that I almost forgot!" These are all things I just met, and we all have a common job, and that is to pick you up. Instead of me, why don't you introduce yourself? ”

The first person introduced was a middle-aged man in his forties, who seemed to be a standard American scholar: "This is John Martin, a distinguished professor of chemistry at UC Berkeley, and vice president of the Western Branch of the American Chemical Society." My name is David Lint, a professor of chemistry at the University of San Francisco and secretary of the Western Chapter of the American Chemical Society. ”

John Martin, who was about fifty years old and a little clumsy in words, listened to David's introduction and hurriedly waved his hand: "I'm just an ordinary chemistry teacher......"

Sun Yuanqi took the initiative to shake hands with them. When shaking hands with Professor Martin, Professor Martin was still a little surprised: "Are you YorkJohnson who wrote "Principles of Chemistry"? It's unbelievably young! ”

"Principles of Chemistry?" Sun Yuanqi was a little confused.

Rutherford explained: "The name you gave me "From Atoms, Atomic Structure to Elements, the Periodic Table, Molecules and the Nature of Chemical Reactions" was too long, so when it was reprinted, it had to be renamed "Principles of Chemistry." ”

David was very scholarly, and when he shook hands, he gave a general introduction to their purpose and plan: "Mr. Johnson, at the end of last month, the American Chemical Society received a telegram from you, knowing that you had been invited to visit this month, and called our Western Branch earlier this month to arrange a reception. We, the Western Chapter, are very honored to have him here. Members who have read Mr. Wang's masterpiece strongly request that the Society can arrange a lecture by Mr. so that Mr. can introduce to us your understanding of the principles of chemistry, and I hope that Mr. can take the time to agree. ”

Sun Yuanqi was a little helpless, his understanding of chemistry was limited to what he had learned before graduate school, and his specialty physics did not seem to be valued: "Okay, that's my honor!" ”

Next was a young man from Yale University, who could not be said to be young, and was estimated to be in his thirties: "Hello, Mr. Johnson, I'm Mike Donaldson of the Yale Alumni Association, and I'm welcome to Yale from the Far East to America. ”

Sun Yuanqi bowed: "Thank you" alma mater " ! Thank you, Mr. Donaldson! ”

The last two, presumably from MIT, are middle-aged people in their forties and fifties, with a girl of seventeen or eighteen, but I don't know if they are his daughters or students. The middle-aged man introduced himself: "Nice to meet you, Mr. Johnson. I'm Mexe Rossi from MIT College of Science, and this is my daughter, Elena Rossi. ”

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Rossi and beautiful Miss Rosie." Sun Yuanqi shook hands with them one by one.

The seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl's eyes were full of curiosity, but the strangeness of the first meeting prevented her from asking strange questions: "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Johnson." ”

After talking to each other for a while, nothing more than the weather, the journey, and so on, and discussed the itinerary for the next few days. According to the plan, Sun Yuanqi will take a day off in San Francisco, then give a lecture at the University of San Francisco tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow at the University of San Francisco, which is not far from here, and then give a lecture again the next day. In this way, end the journey west and take the train to the American Chemical Society in New York in the east, and visit Yale University in Connecticut and MIT in Massachusetts.

The plan has been decided, everyone goes out, ready to take a rickshaw. At this time, Elena, who was already a little familiar, finally couldn't suppress her curiosity: "Mr. Johnson, are you really Chinese?" ”

"Yes, I'm sure I'm Chinese!" Sun Yuanqi has never been confused by this kind of issue.

"But you look completely different from them!" Following Elena's fingers, you can see Chinese drivers carrying packages coming and going on the docks, Chinese coachmen waiting to solicit customers on the street, and Chinese beggars huddled in the shadows of the street—they all drag their braids, which is easy to distinguish from other ethnic groups, "Look! They were dark-skinned, small in stature, dragged in braids, and wore robes; And you, fair-skinned, tall, with short hair, a suit, shirt, leather shoes, tie...... It's not at all! ”

Since the Opium War, the American bourgeoisie has lured a large number of Chinese laborers from China. These Chinese laborers cultivated wasteland, built roads, and opened mines in the United States, shouldering extremely heavy labor, and promoting the prosperity of the United States. In many large cities, "Chinatown" and other Chinese settlements have been formed, especially in San Francisco. During the Tongzhi and Guangxu years, there was an economic crisis in the United States, and the American bourgeoisie, in order to get out of the predicament, began to incite anti-Chinese exclusion. In the twentieth year of Guangxu (1894), the United States forced the Qing court to sign the "Treaty on the Prohibition of Chinese Workers in the United States to Protect Chinese in the United States", which imposed various harsh restrictions on working in the United States and China. Various states in the United States have also issued various anti-Chinese laws, and the crimes of persecution of Chinese workers and overseas Chinese have intensified, which has greatly restricted the job search and employment of Chinese, and many Chinese shops have been forced to close, making the lives of Chinese people increasingly difficult. Sun Yuanqi, as a science student, naturally didn't know about these. When I saw this group of compatriots working hard for food and clothing, it was like seeing the refugees in that alley in Dashilar, and my heart was shocked.

Mr. Rossi felt that his daughter's words had embarrassed the guests, so he scolded, "Ella, what nonsense! …… I'm sorry, Mr. Johnson, Ilena is young and unsensible, and I beg your pardon. ”

Sun Yuanqi shook his head: "Mr. Rosie, there is no need to apologize, Miss Rosie is telling the truth." But even so, I am still Chinese! As he spoke, he even regretted in his heart why it was so easy to cut off his hair on a steamer: although in the kingdoms of other powers, this braid was regarded as a pig's tail; But in the eyes of these Chinese who live in other places, dragging a braid is not a kind of affirmation and identification with their own country and nation?

That night, Sun Yuanqi stayed in a villa at the University of San Francisco, preparing for the next day's speech.

The next day, when Sun Yuanqi appeared in front of everyone, the strange hairstyle was gone - last night, he found a barber and cut his dog-like hair into a standard size, and he was wearing a long shirt instead of a suit. Although everyone was surprised, the habit of respecting others was a gentleman's etiquette, so no one said anything.

In mid-June, universities in the United States had not yet closed for the holidays. Sun Yuanqi, accompanied by Rutherford and David, walked into the synagogue and saw a lot of teachers sitting around, more students. In San Francisco, in addition to the University of San Francisco, there are also universities such as San Francisco State University, but the level of chemistry education is naturally not as high as that of UC Berkeley. Originally, Sun Yuanqi didn't know exactly who he was facing, so he prepared two plans for ordinary students and university professors. Now it seems that last night's preparation worked.

Professor David Lint from the Department of Chemistry at the University was the natural moderator of the presentation. He walked into the lecture hall: "Today, we are honored to have Professor Yank Johnson, a famous chemist from the Far East, to present to us his latest research results. When Professor Johnson was young – and of course he is very, very young now – he is jealous enough to make everyone here jealous – he studied in the United States, then returned to China, founded the IPRT, and published a series of influential papers that caused great repercussions around the world, and is known as the first person in natural science research in the Far East. Recently, he has been invited by the American Chemical Society, MIT, Yale University, and other academic institutions to give lectures. We stopped San Francisco as we passed by, and then we had today's speech. Now, I have Professor Yank Johnson. ”

When Sun Yuanqi stepped onto the podium, many people below opened their mouths wide, probably chanting "OhmyGod" or something, right? Whether it is caused by his own caftan or his own youth, this is not what Sun Yuanqi cares about. After standing still, Sun Yuanqi began today's speech: "It is an honor for me to be able to stand on the podium of the University of San Francisco and give a speech. Before I speak, I would like to make some scientific corrections to what the Honourable Professor David Lint has just said. In the last few years, I have published several papers, which have indeed caused a lot of repercussions, but they are more negative, such as rebuke, rebuttal, contempt, and so on. Well, in general, I should belong to Judas among the researchers of classical physics. ”

There was a chuckle below.

"Still, I stand by my opinion. Naturally, you can also stick to your own views and refute my views. That's what I'm happy to see. Except, of course, personal attacks. ”

There was another chuckle underneath.

"When I first met the esteemed Professor Rutherford last year," Rutherford bowed slightly from the audience, "he encouraged me to write down what I thought and give everyone a new perspective." Inspired by him, I mustered up the courage to write a booklet entitled "From Atoms and Atomic Structure to Elements, the Periodic Table, Molecules and the Nature of Chemical Reactions", which he brought to McGill University in Canada for publication. Allow me to express my gratitude to the Honourable Professor Rutherford! ”

Rutherford stood up from the audience and bowed around. Warm applause rang out all around, paying tribute to this venerable gentleman.

"The name of the book is so long that some people have complained that the name could go around the playground for three weeks. Therefore, when it was reprinted, it was renamed "Principles of Chemistry". The name is so big that the book is far from being able to carry it. However, I believe that the ideas in this book can provide a new perspective on the study of chemistry. Sun Yuanqi said this, his heart was indeed full of confidence, "Today, many professors and students come to listen to the lecture, I want to make a general statement on the "Principles of Chemistry" - for the time being, let's use this more familiar name, I admit that the original name is too long - the main ideas and the ins and outs. ”

"First, let's talk about atomic ......"

Sun Yuanqi talked endlessly for nearly three hours, his mouth was dry, but fortunately, someone kept bringing him coffee. Because it is mainly for college students, it is relatively simple to understand, and the students in the audience are all aware and full of interest. It's just that most of these are mentioned in the book "Principles of Chemistry", and they are slightly refined and expanded. I'm afraid that the professors who have read this book in the audience will find it a little boring: "In the traditional field of natural science, chemical reactions and physical reactions are completely separate, and each has a clear definition. In my recent thinking, I found an interesting problem, which is a completely new mode of reaction, similar to ancient alchemy, or ancient alchemy. Progress in this area will involve more problems, and I believe that it will become the focus of academic research in the future. If you're interested, you'll hear about it at Berkeley the day after tomorrow. Okay, that's all for today's talk. Thank you for your attendance. ”

A round of applause applauds followed.

Professor David Lint stepped up to the podium, shook hands with Sun Yuanqi, and thanked him for his presentation. Then turned around: "Let's thank Professor Johnson for his wonderful presentation." ”

After the applause, David continued: "Professor Johnson's presentation was very good, and the analysis of the nature of the elements, the periodic table, and the chemical reactions were all unique and convincing. Do you have any questions about the presentation? ”

One student raised his hand: "Hello, Professor Johnson, your presentation was really great and the points you made were very convincing. As I listened, I had a question that kept bothering me: you said that the outer electrons of the nucleus are 2 electrons in the first stable state, 8 in the second shell, 8 in the third shell, and 18 in the fourth and fifth shells. But why is that? And electrons don't know to queue up like humans, they don't get disordered, collide and so on? ”

This is the question that almost everyone wants to ask: why is there such a regular distribution of electrons? Even 21st-century students will ask this question when they are first exposed to this knowledge.

"Originally, when I was writing the booklet Principles of Chemistry, the distribution pattern of electrons in the outer shell of the nucleus was based on a conjecture from the periodic table. In other words, if this is the case, many things can be easily solved and explained reasonably. Sun Yuanqi's words are nonsense, because no one understands what is going on better than him, "Recently, I found that this conjecture is completely correct and can be proved by experiments and rigorous reasoning, but it is more complicated and has not yet been written into a paper, which will take one to two years." For now, you just have to trust that the distribution pattern is correct. ”

The professors and students below were in an uproar, especially the professors, who behaved even more violently. David also turned his head sideways: "Professor Johnson, congratulations!" If you can prove it, the current natural science textbooks need to be rewritten! ”

Sun Yuanqi smiled and nodded at him, thanking him for the compliment.

The next questions are very simple, after all, not many people have a relatively in-depth understanding of this knowledge. To a large extent, their questions are using traditional chemical theories to verify the correctness of new theories.

When the speech was over, Rutherford was very excited and pulled Sun Yuanqi over: "York, if you need time to verify the distribution pattern of electrons in the outer shell of the nucleus, I think McGill University will provide a good position for you to do this great work!" ”

"It would be my greatest honor to work with you to discover and verify the structure of atoms!" Sun Yuanqi has always had a very good impression of Lu Daniu, "......" what else Sun Yuanqi wants to say, Rutherford can't wait: "Okay!" In the next few days, let's discuss what preparations are needed. And then when you get to MIT, Yale, I'll go to McGill to prepare. As soon as McGill University agrees, I will send you a telegram asking you to come to McGill University to complete this work! ”

On June 21, 1900, Sun Yuan got up and went to the University of California, Berkeley, one of the most famous universities in the United States.

Berkeley is not very far from San Francisco, and with the tail left by Sun Yuanqi when he gave a speech at the University of San Francisco, when Sun Yuanqi walked into Berkeley's auditorium accompanied by two professors, John Martin and David Lint, it was full of people, and the students were in the back, and there were not enough seats, so many people stood there; In front are some professors and researchers, many of whom have gray hair and wear glasses with pinched noses; There were also a couple of journalists, which could be seen because they were holding huge cameras with pen and paper in their hands.

Professor John Martin, as a professor of chemistry at Berkeley, was naturally the host of the show, and he was the first to take the stage: "The day before yesterday, Professor Yank Johnson, a young and brilliant scientist, gave a lecture on the principles of chemistry at the University of San Francisco, which inspired many colleagues. At the end of his speech, he revealed two major scientific advances: first, it is possible to verify the distribution pattern of electrons in the outer shell of the atomic nucleus mentioned in his "Principles of Chemistry", and the results will be published within one or two years, which is a great achievement in rewriting natural science textbooks; The second is the discovery of a completely new mode of reaction, which is different from the traditional physical and chemical reactions, in his own words, 'alchemy'. Today, we are announcing here the second item. Now, Professor Yanker Johnson, please. ”

Sun Yuanqi took a deep breath, then stepped up to the podium and began today's speech: "Thank you very much for the opportunity to present my insights and findings at UC Berkeley. The so-called 'alchemy' is the method of attempting to turn ordinary metals into gold, silver, or 'elixir'. It can be found in ancient China, India, Egypt, Assyria, Arabia and other places. Turning one metal into another may naturally bring to mind the displacement reaction. This is one of the chemical reactions. The so-called chemical reaction, according to the definition in the book "Principles of Chemistry", is actually the process of breaking molecules, rearranging atoms, and forming new substances. The traditional physical reaction is the process by which an object changes its form without changing its essence. But what kind of reaction should one element become another and one atom into another atom through certain techniques and means? This is what we are going to call 'alchemy' today: nuclear reaction. ”

There was a slight commotion in the audience below when they heard "one element becomes another" and "one atom becomes another". And the term "nuclear reaction" is also unheard of.

"This matter should first start with the discovery of the radioactivity of uranium salts by the French physicist Becquerel in 1896......

Later, the famous Curies discovered polonium and radium, both of which are radioactive. For more information on their research, see my article "Experimental Studies of Uranium, Polonium, and Radium Radiation Rays," published in the Scinece in 1898. From that article, we can conclude the theory of transmutation of radioactive elements......"

"The reflectivity of uranium, polonium, and radium is done in natural conditions. But through analysis, we know that atoms can change. What can change? This is what we are going to study and explore in the coming period. Below, I am mentioned in my 1898 "Experiments and Conjectures on the Structure of Atoms" published in Nature, in which I consider ......"

"At the beginning of this talk, the Honourable Professor John Martin had already mentioned that the distribution pattern of electrons in the outer shell of the nucleus would be published in a year or two, so there was no need to dispute about the structure of the atom. For all of you, you may have read my book "From the Atom, Atomic Structure to the Elements, the Periodic Table, Molecules, and the Nature of Chemical Reactions" published at McGill University in 1899, which was later renamed "Principles of Chemistry". In the book, I proposed that the atomic structure of different elements is roughly like this......"

Based on the above discussion, we can see that if the nucleus of one or two elements changes through a certain technology or means, will it become another element or elements? So, 'I' did an interesting experiment......" Sun Yuanqi drew a sketch of the experiment on the blackboard

Sun Yuanqi is talking about the first artificial nuclear reaction in human history, which was completed by Rutherford in 1919. In the experiment, α particles released by polonium (Po) were used as bullets to shoot nitrogen, and the result was a 1 in 50,000 probability that the α particles reacted with nitrogen (N) and turned into oxygen (O) and protons. This is the first time in human history that "alchemy" has been artificially realized, so that one element becomes another.

When Sun Yuanqi finished reporting the results of this experiment, the professors and students below were shocked: Oh my God, it turns out that one element can be transformed into another element through this method!

"Of course, I think this is just one type of nuclear reaction, and there are many more nuclear reactions waiting to be explored. It is up to all of you here to discover these unknown nuclear reactions! Sun Yuanqi bowed and ended the speech.

There was silence below.

When Professor John Martin took the podium, the audience below erupted in applause.

Professor John Martin was excited: "Thank you very much Professor Johnson for presenting his latest research results from the podium at Berkeley, which is an honor and pride for Berkeley. If Professor Johnson's experimental results are proven to be reliable, then our understanding of matter itself will undoubtedly be a big step forward, which is a milestone in the progress and development of human science and technology! At Berkeley, we will repeat Professor Johnson's experiment in the shortest possible time and publish the results as soon as possible. Now, it's free time to ask questions, please raise your hand and ask questions? ”

Perhaps the content is far beyond people's knowledge, and many people have lost their voices. Only one man raised his hand: "Excuse me, Dear Professor Johnson, how did you come up with this experiment?" ”

This question made Sun Yuanqi scratch his head very much, and the book didn't say why, so he had to say nonsense: "Then because nitrogen is the most abundant in the air." ”

"In other words, you think the oxygen in the air may come from nitrogen?" The man asked rhetorically.

"I think it's a possibility, but it's not the only one. Because some legumes can adsorb nitrogen, and then photosynthesis produces oxygen. Sun Yuanqi replied.

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