For a certain discipline of natural science, even Cheng Nuo can't say that he can master it, at most, he knows a little bit about it.

However, as the dean of the Academy of Sciences, what he is best at is knowing people well, knowing which people are suitable for which specific positions, maximizing the value of talents, and always finding suitable people for different disciplines.

In the daily work of the meteorological station, in addition to professional meteorological knowledge, there is also a very important job, that is, the transmission of daily information.

On that day, Cheng Nuo was going to take Nikola Tesla to Zhang's mansion, and then take a car with Zhang Jian to the Xujiahui Meteorological Observatory.

Although there has been a reception dinner before, Tesla has been introduced to celebrities from all walks of life, including Zhang Jian.

Even so, Zhang Jian's interest in Tesla is still very strong, and he drove Cheng Nuo to the passenger seat and pulled Tesla to chat for a while.

When he heard that Tesla was still alone at such an age, Zhang Jian's eyes widened and his beard was cocked in disbelief.

"Zhiyuan, you won't be lying to me, I remember that he is three years younger than me, and now my son is a few years younger than you, according to our rules at that time, after graduation, I will be able to be a grandfather, why is this Mr. Tesla not married?"

At this time, Tesla was looking at the street scene with interest through the car window, still thinking about the new radio, who would have thought that this old man and young man were gossiping about him.

Cheng Nuo, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned half sideways, turned around and said in Chinese: "Elder Zhang, it's not that he doesn't look for it, but it's really busy and he doesn't have time to find it, otherwise with his conditions, how could he not find it." ”

Zhang Jian stroked his beard and said curiously: "I think he is also a very normal person, although what he said just now was translated by you, but the content is also normal people's thinking, how can he be so busy that he is alone, even if he is busy, he really has no time at all?" ”

Cheng Nuo nodded, seeing that Tesla didn't notice the situation here, and whispered: "He said it himself, in order to put the ideas in his mind into practice, he only sleeps two hours a day, and in addition to sleeping, he is thinking, so people are really not available." ”

Zhang Jian paused, almost hurting himself, and after thinking for a while, the ghost came to a strange sentence: "Zhiyuan, Mr. Tesla is now sixty, I said if we can introduce him to a younger one, give him a family in China, and tie his heart, if he can have another baby, it would be better." ”

Hearing this, Cheng Nuo immediately almost couldn't hold back, and said in his heart, Zhang Lao, Zhang Lao, you can really think about it, you want to pull the red line for others and point the local mandarin duck spectrum, and I don't know what Tesla himself feels after hearing it.

If you think about it carefully, if you really let him settle down in China, it is equivalent to another layer of insurance, and it can also allow him to do something of greater national significance in the future, making it more convenient to arouse.

Unconsciously, Cheng Nuo's attitude also began to be ambiguous, and he followed Zhang Jian's idea to go down, and the more he walked, the more he felt that he could, and then Tesla could live alone to the age of 86 under such sanitary conditions, and survive his rival Edison, which is enough to prove that his physical fitness is good, if he can really get married at this age, what can happen in the future, it is not impossible.

However, Cheng Nuo has no experience in this kind of thing, he is still a bachelor, so what qualifications do he have to say about others, and his attitude is a little vague: "This kind of thing, it still depends on personal thoughts, and it is difficult for outsiders to intervene." ”

Zhang Jian's eyebrows rose and he smiled: "It's okay, I'll just ask casually, and you don't have to worry about the rest of the matter." ”

Chen Nuo adjusted his sitting posture and said curiously: "Old Zhang, you don't really want to take it all in, do you?" ”

Zhang Jian also looked at the street scene outside the car window, and said as if he didn't care: "The ancestor said well, if you are not of my race, your heart will be different, instead of worrying about this, it is better to directly turn him into our own people." ”

When asked later, Zhang Jian refused to say anything, but took advantage of the effort of teaching Tesla's Chinese to set up the words, and the other party also stupidly used blunt Chinese to answer there, thinking that it was to teach everyday language.

Cheng Nuo was also helpless about this, and when he saw that he couldn't interject, he simply sat down in the passenger seat, closed his eyes and recuperated.

It doesn't matter, I'll make a move.

The soldiers will block, and the water will cover the earth.

Fortunately, the distance was not too far, and before the eyes squinted for a while, the group arrived at the Xujiahui Observatory in the car.

The name was posted, and soon someone came down and led him upstairs to the director's office.

Seeing Zhang Jian, the director of the observatory and a missionary of the French Catholic Church, Lao Jixun, stepped forward directly to give a warm hug.

"Mr. Zhang, I haven't seen you for a long time, I didn't expect you to be in such good spirits, it seems that God has blessed you a lot during this time."

It's a pity that Zhang Jian doesn't believe in Christianity, he is a serious Buddhist, and he said helplessly when he saw this: "Lao Jixun, I'm sorry, I think the Buddha's credit should be greater." ”

Lo Jixun came to China at the age of 24, initially as an assistant to the former director of the station, Nengs, and later returned to China to study Catholic doctrine and mathematics, and interned at the local observatory.

Later, he accepted the invitation and returned to China, directly serving as the director of the Xujiahui Observatory, during which he was in charge of the observatory until his physical condition deteriorated 30 years later, and he chose to return to China. Because of its excellent meteorological work in China, which provided great convenience for the French Navy to travel in the Far East, the French Concession once named a road after it.

If you want to understand the meteorological history of modern China, he and the observatory he is in charge of are important pages that cannot be ignored.

However, it is precisely because he has been in charge of the observatory for so long that Zhang Jian, who served as the minister of water resources in the middle, has intersected with him, and the friendship between the two has been established from that moment.

After a few greetings, Zhang Jian introduced Cheng Nuo and Tesla on the side.

Hearing the name, Lao Jixun gave Cheng Nuo a deep hug rather exaggeratedly: "Professor Cheng, it is hard to imagine that you are so young, but you have made such great achievements, especially your imagination on the development of class domain theory, which fascinates me deeply, and makes me think of Poincaré in my country, whether God kissed your forehead when you were born, it is really amazing." ”

Cheng Nuo was embarrassed, but also sighed that this guy was too dedicated, and he didn't leave his job in three sentences: "Where and where, at present, I have only made some insignificant small achievements, and it is far from enough." ”

However, when it came to Tesla, Tesla himself was more resistant to this enthusiasm.

First, Tesla has an introverted personality and doesn't like this kind of self-cooked very much.

Second, Tesla's parents are Serbs, his grandfather and father are orthodox priests, although they belong to Christianity with Catholicism, but the internal differences are still quite large, with thousands of years of irresolvable grievances, affected by such a family environment, Tesla can see at a glance what kind of believer the other party is, and it is even more resistant.

After the double factor, Tesla's attitude towards Lao Jixun is not very cold.

However, Lao Jixun didn't care at all, on the way to preach, especially in this land where nature worship is common in China, what kind of people have not seen it, and still gave each other a warm hug.

Since it was a door-to-door request for something, it was naturally impossible for the three of them to come up and ask for it, and it was a step-by-step process.

Slowly, the topic gradually talked about the recent weather forecast, speaking of the Xujiahui Observatory service objects, Lao Jixun couldn't help but be proud: "Don't look at our observatory doesn't seem to be big, but that's just a historical limitation, our current service objects cover the entire Far East Sea, from Siberia in the north, to Manila in the south, to the Indochina Federation in the west (formerly Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia), and to Guam Island (one of the Aleutian Islands) in the east. ”

Cheng Nuo's eyes lit up immediately, and Zhang Jian glanced at each other and nodded to each other, meaning that they have come to the right place, such a large area, the climate is complex and diverse, if they can be collected, if they can be obtained, it will definitely have important reference significance for the development of China's meteorological research.

Zhang Jian pretended to cough and asked knowingly: "The climate is changing rapidly in various places, when did you start contacting each other?" ”

Cheng Nuo also looked very confused, and echoed: "There are so many places, they almost cover half of the Pacific Ocean, how did you do it, is God really on your side?" ”

"Because God is on our side, and we are one of the earliest observatory in the history of the Far East, and the rest of the world is only our students, as early as the last century, the Central Meteorological Observatory in Tokyo, Japan, sent us meteorological telegrams from Kagoshima and Kochi Prefectures. ”

Zhang Jian then asked: "The exchange of information is mutual, and they won't always send it in one direction, right?" ”

Lo Jixun shrugged his shoulders and explained: "Of course, it is not a one-way street, our observatory transmits Guam's weather telegram to Tokyo in exchange. ”

Cheng Nuo had no choice but to sigh in his heart, although Japanese militarism has not yet become a general trend, but people have been collecting meteorological data from our largest city since the last century, and the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression has been prepared for a long time, and we don't know anything about people, and even know more about the local meteorology than the enemy, which is really a bit ironic.

What about Kagoshima, how can the navy have the strength to go on an expedition, not to mention that this meteorological data is still kept in the hands of the French, and nominally has nothing to do with China, with the urine of the Beiyang government or the national government, how can it be possible to "anger foreign guests".

However, fortunately, after the liberation, the Xujiahui Observatory was accepted by the state, so that it can continue to play a role, and it is based on this continuous observation record that the temperature change curve of Xujiahui single station in the past 100 years can be accurately drawn, and it is also based on this continuous observation record that Xujiahui was selected by the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom as the only station in China to participate in the reconstruction of the global average temperature series of land and sea in the past 200 years.

Although Tesla didn't know much about meteorology, he quickly caught a key place and asked directly.

"According to the diversity of climates, with so many cooperative weather stations, how many telegrams do you send in a day?"

Lao Jixun pondered for a while and said: "At present, there are more than 60 meteorological stations that have contacted us, and they send 2~3 meteorological telegrams, so the number of telegrams distributed in a day is more than 200. ”

Cheng Nuo secretly said to himself, it had cost a lot to send one or two hundred telegrams abroad last time, but he didn't expect this small weather station to send so many telegrams a day, and this kind of work has been started since the middle of the last century, how much does it cost in total? However, according to international conventions, the calculation of the tariff for meteorological exchanges should be a different matter.

Perhaps knowing everyone's doubts, Lao Jixun continued: "Although the cost of the telegram is high, because it is a matter of public welfare, all telegraph companies in various countries that deliver the news of the Xujiahui Observatory are free of charge, and they are delivered at any time without delay. ”

Also, everyone is busy making money in China, how can it be possible to ask for money from foreign organizations that serve their own interests, and it is not difficult for them to get along with themselves.

Historically, it is with the guarantee of this communication system that the Xujiahui Observatory can gain insight into the weather forecast, so that the sea and land transporters can praise each other.

If it was before, Cheng Nuo would still believe it, but since the last time he sent a telegram overseas and saw the urine sex of those people in the China Telegraph Administration, things must not be so simple.

For a long time, because the transmission distance of wireless telegraphy was too close, the fastest and most convenient medium for information transmission had to be wired telegraph, which meant that individuals first sent the telegram to the local telegraph office, which sent it to the destination, and then distributed by the local telegraph office, which was still very troublesome to use.

Recognizing the importance of meteorological information and providing rapid and free communication services, it was mainly foreign telegraph companies that provided free of charge, and the free services provided by the State Administration of Telegraph of China were not only much late, but also had a requirement that no more than twice a day be reported, and the quota was pitifully small.

Not only that, during the entire period of the Republic of China, China failed to form a system of meteorological telegrams on demand, and according to Zhu Kezhen, it took more than 24 hours for the Central Station to receive the national weather telegrams, and by the time the telegrams were received, the weather that they wanted to predict had long been in the past.

"Chinese telegrams are limited to 10 words or 50 letters at a time, so this is not enough at all, right?"

"That's what I have the most headache about" Lao Jixun smiled bitterly, shook his head and said: "It's not enough at all, it's difficult to condense this information into just one sentence." ”

Zhang Jian thought so: "It's a pity that with the current Chinese system, if you want to waive the telegraph fee for meteorological news in accordance with international practice, you still can't do it." ”

Since the problem has been exposed, it has also come to the circle drawn by Cheng Nuo.

Patting Tesla on the shoulder, Cheng Nuo said: "This is an expert in the radio industry next to me, at present, our Academy of Sciences is preparing for the Electrical Association, of which wireless telegraphy is our most important work, at present, with the establishment of the Electrical Association, radio research is also being carried out simultaneously, and it is entirely possible to open up another way in addition to cable telegraph in the future." ”

Lao Jixun was excited, at the moment his biggest headache is the telegraph, if this problem can be solved, then the development of the Xujiahui Meteorological Observatory will be on a higher level, he hurriedly grabbed Cheng Nuo's arm: "Professor Cheng, are you inviting us to become the first user of your wireless telegraphy?" ”

Looking at the pair of arms that looked like they were wearing a sweater, Cheng Nuo pushed them off without a trace, and said with a smile: "Of course, Mr. Lao Jixun, this is the purpose of our visit, the purpose is to support the development of meteorology." ”

Speaking of this, Cheng Nuo deliberately bumped Tesla's arm, and Tesla understood when he saw this: "Yes, our Academy of Applied Engineering is studying this work, and the finished product will be launched immediately, and then we will be able to establish a transceiver base in important cities, and the transmission speed will be faster, and the content is not limited, including meteorology and other public welfare undertakings, we will not charge a penny." ”

When he saw his performance, Zhang Jian said with a smile: "But we are also very interested in weather forecasting, and we want to collect some information to help the local weather forecast, but it's a pity"

Poor Lao Jixun didn't know that he had taken the bait, and he was still concerned: "It's a pity, if you help us, God will definitely let us help you." ”

Cheng Nuo stood up and said: "It's a pity that we have just started, and the meteorological stations in various places have not yet been established, resulting in too little meteorological data in hand, and it is difficult to carry out the work." ”

Seeing this, Lao Jixun breathed a sigh of relief, and said: "This, the most important thing that our Xujiahui Meteorological Observatory lacks is meteorological data, how much and how much we want." ”

In order to completely dispel the "worries" of the three people, Lao Jixun took them to the reference room.

Pushing open the door, there are more than a dozen bookshelves, sorted one by one according to specific years, regions, etc.

Open the roster, there are Guangzhou, Xi'an, Tianjin, Zhenjiang, Hankou, Yichang and other cities in China alone, basically covering the cities with relatively strong domestic economic strength at that time, the east longitude and north latitude are in the register, basically covering the east longitude 76°50'~ 142°7', north latitude 10°20'~ 58°8' of the vast area.

With these information, when Zhu Kezhen comes back at the end of the year, he can bring a few strong men from Peking University to work, and he can put into work in the shortest possible time.

However, in these materials, Cheng Nuo found that in addition to meteorological data, there were also records of geomagnetic surveying work, and this was the favorite of Little Japan, claiming to help us do this kind of work.

Geomagnetism is closely related to our lives and has important applications in earth science, aerospace, resource exploration, transportation and communication, etc., and the magnetic image often varies from place to place, such as the Shanghai magnetic needle is three degrees east, and the Hubei magnetic needle is due south.

The little devil obviously didn't have such a good intention to help us do this drudgery, and maybe he would come to China to survey for minerals under this banner to facilitate the subsequent war of aggression.

Therefore, Cheng Nuo's opening of meteorological observatories in various places seems to have deepened another layer of meaning.

In addition to basic meteorology, astronomy, seismic, and geomagnetic fields must be added.

Looking at it this way, it hurts Zhu Kezhen's junior brother to come back and carry such a heavy burden.

In this way, the Academy of Sciences reached a preliminary cooperation with the Xujiahui Observatory, waiting for Tesla's progress on the wireless telegraphy while arranging for people to manually transcribe the data.

After all, this thing is very precious, and it is impossible for people to give it away directly, and it is not easy to open the data room.

It's a pity that hand-copying is slow, not to mention, and it's easy to have problems, it seems that the best way is to take photos, but it's a pity that after seeing the technology of this era, hand-copying has become not unacceptable.

Before leaving, remembering Little Japan's deeds, Cheng Nuo deliberately borrowed a copy of information first.

"Mr. Lo Jixun, I remember that we have meteorological data for Tokyo and Nagasaki, right?"

"Yes, it's on the XX bookshelf in XX District, you can look for it, what, didn't you create a domestic weather forecasting system?"

"Yes, it's just that our neighbors are also interested, but unfortunately there is no Hiroshima."

"In this way, I will use the name of Xujiahui Observatory to invite the Japanese side to increase the observation area, and I think they will agree."

"Then thank you, Mr. Lao Jixun, this meteorological data will definitely be useful."

In this way, Cheng Nuo walked and watched, and actually ran into an acquaintance - Wu Changshuo of Xiling Seal Society.

"It seems that the person next to him is the 'Master Hongyi' who has not yet become a monk, no, no, it should be called Mr. Li Shutong."

(End of chapter)