The sun is shining in Paris in spring, and the breeze gently rippling the sycamore leaves on the banks of the Seine.

In the lecture hall of the French Academy of Sciences, the lights are brilliant, and the splendid decorations and solemn marble statues complement each other, creating a strong grand atmosphere.

Backstage in the lecture hall, Arthur was talking to some of the most important figures in the Academy of Sciences.

But the scene of the scientists' encounter is not as happy as Arthur imagined, on the contrary, they are blushing over the letter Faraday brought.

The discussion focused on whether light is a particle or a wave.

The gang dragged on and on, and naturally it came to the 1819 annual call for papers from the French Academy of Sciences, which they all remembered as "Determining the diffraction of light by means of sophisticated experiments and deducing the motion of light as it passes near an object."

Fresnel was awarded the winning essay for this momentous discovery and was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences.

In 1795, the Girondists and Jacobins fell, and the relatively moderate Thermidorian Directory came to power.

In 1814, when the anti-French coalition troops approached the city, all the teachers and students of the Polytechnique took the initiative to ask Napoleon to fight, but Napoleon directly refused, and the emperor bluntly said: "I don't want to kill my old hen in order to get the golden egg!" ’

Arthur saw that these well-mannered scientists surrounded Arago like lions, and while lamenting that the lifelong secretary of the Academy of Sciences was not good, he was also a little happy.

A large number of researchers from the Académie Française were placed on the faculty of the university, and Napoleon himself set the guidelines for the training of the university - to disseminate mathematics, physics, chemistry and other sciences and cartography techniques, especially to send students to the technical public colleges of artillery, engineering, road and bridge, shipbuilding, military and civil engineering, mining and geography.

For this reason, Lagrange, who was also working at the Academy of Sciences at the time, could only lament: "It only takes a blink of an eye to cut off his head, but a hundred years is not enough to grow a brain like his." ”

Arthur heard the tone of the other man's voice, and immediately realized which textbook character this gentleman who seemed to be older than Faraday was again.

He even said to Fresnel in person: "I looked at your theory and did some calculations, and I found that your theory would come to such a ridiculous conclusion: how is it possible that if an opaque plate is placed on the propagation path of the beam, due to the diffraction of light at the edge of the plate, a bright spot should appear in the center of the shadow behind the plate at a certain distance from the plate?" ”

There is no doubt that Napoleon made the right decision this time, because among these teachers and students who volunteered to fight were many familiar names, such as Gabriel Lamei, Emile Claperon, Auguste Comte, Nicolas Carnot, André Marie Ampère.

If Arago hadn't been surrounded at this time, he would probably have started talking to Arthur about the latest research on British electromagnetism.

When Monge, who had served as Minister of the Navy and president of École Polytechnique, died, the authorities did not even allow the students to attend his funeral, so that they had to form a team to go to the cemetery to mourn the teacher the day after his burial.

However, Napoleon's decision did not dampen the general support of the French scientific community, and even when Napoleon was exiled for the first time, sighs could be heard everywhere in the French Academy of Sciences. When they learned that Napoleon had fled from exile and had re-landed in France, the scientists made no secret of their support for the Emperor.

Arthur was thinking about these things when suddenly a slight cough sounded in his ears.

But Lagrange lamented that after Lavoisier's execution, the Académie Française, a group of researchers who were both scientific and political, quickly switched sides.

It was with his encouragement and help that Ampère perfected his study of electromagnetism and derived the basic formulas of electrodynamics.

In this thesis, Fresnel revolutionized the idea that light is a transverse wave. Taking this as a starting point, the diffraction problem of light was rigorously proved, and some other problems that had long plagued the wave theory were solved.

When the other party heard this, he laughed heartily and said: "Actually, I don't disagree with his way of working, I'm just sorry why he suddenly switched to electromagnetism?" Since the death of Sir Humphrey Davy, I thought he would follow in the mantle of his mentor and fight with me in the field of chemical analysis. But I didn't expect him to make a sharp turn and shake me so hard that I can't come back to my senses now. ”

After making a breakthrough in the application of technology, these gentlemen almost without exception got rid of the original social class and became factory owners specializing in mechanical processing and production.

This was undoubtedly good news for the French Academy of Sciences, because when the first consul of Corsican origin was studying at the Artillery Academy, his teacher was none other than Laplace, a scholar of the Academy of Sciences.

In Britain, scientists are usually rarely involved in politics, and they do it either out of interest or because they want to apply scientific progress to improve production technology.

Because of this, most of the mainstream scientific researchers in Britain are from technicians and engineers, and their achievements in scientific applications can be said to be unbeatable in the world. And most of these technicians and engineers will immediately put them into the industrial field to realize the results of scientific research.

The tradition of scientists in politics has continued in this land for many years, and the Académie Française evaluates outstanding scientists not only for their scientific ability, but also for their flexibility.

When the French Academy of Sciences was founded in 1699, its founder and main patron was the then King of France, Louis XIV, the 'Sun King', so since then, almost all the members of the French Academy of Sciences have acted as royal advisors to the French royal family, in addition to developing new technologies for the government.

But to everyone's surprise, an unknown engineer, Augustin Jean Fresnel, took advantage of the competition and submitted a paper to the organizing committee of the competition entitled "On the interaction of polarized rays".

Arago thought that he could uncover this matter like mud, but what he didn't expect was that his words would simply stir up a thousand waves.

After the results of the experiment were revealed, it is not known whether the proponents of the wave theory were trying to tease Poisson, or whether the French Academy of Sciences intended to give Poisson a step down, all in all, they were rather uninteresting and humorously named this bright spot 'Poisson bright spot'.

In particular, researchers from the lower backgrounds, such as Laplace and Lagrange, preserved their heads that could not grow for a hundred years by making guns and ammunition for the National Assembly during the Revolution.

And Napoleon took care of them in every detail. In order to ensure the safety of this group of scientific researchers, Napoleon even gave a famous order on the march: "Let the donkeys and scholars walk in the middle of the procession."

After saying this, Poisson couldn't wait to announce that this call for essays was a unilateral victory for the particle theory.

For this reason, the French Academy of Sciences immediately held an experiment, and the results of the experiment surprised everyone, Fresnel's theory was correct, and there was indeed a bright spot in the shadow center.

The previous cabinet wanted to provide Faraday with an annuity, but if it wasn't for Arthur's persuasion, Faraday probably wouldn't have agreed. And before King William IV wanted to give Faraday a medal at the coronation, he also decisively refused.

This large advisory board of scholars includes 21 mathematicians, 3 astronomers, 17 civil engineers, 13 naturalists and mining engineers, 13 geographers, 3 gunpowder engineers, and more.

He himself has always attached great importance to the application of science in the military field, and even when he went to Egypt, he brought with him 26,000 soldiers, 2,000 cannons, and 400 ships, 175 scholars, and hundreds of boxes of books and research equipment.

"That's right, as you can see from Mr. Faraday's letter, he is now trying to find out the connection between light and magnetism, and if he misunderstands the nature of light from the very beginning, will we not lead him astray?"

Arthur turned his head to see a French gentleman with crutches, white sideburns, glasses, and a bookish appearance: "Is Mr. Faraday okay lately?" I've heard that he's been working a lot lately, just like I did when I first met him. ”

Napoleon Bonaparte, with the support of Talleyrand, Fouché and others, secretly returned to Paris from Egypt, successfully staged a coup d'état to seize control of the Directory, and assumed the position of first consul of the French Republic.

Although many British scientists have served as councillors, it is because they are themselves noble, so it is natural that they occupy a seat in the House of Lords. As for those who came from civilian backgrounds, the greatest goal of most of them was to become decent and wealthy people, and a few of them did it because they loved it, but none of them studied science in order to elect parliamentarians.

But after receiving Fresnel's paper, Poisson, the chairman of the essay organizing committee, did not believe it, he felt that Fresnel's paper was simply funny.

And in 1799, a cannon rang out on the streets of Paris, and the Demon King of Corsica appeared.

They reactivated the Académie Française, which had been closed for several years, and called back the expelled scientists so that they could continue their research, of course, in the direction of military science.

Seeing that Poisson was on a good day, his colleagues still couldn't stop wanting to make fun of his troubles, and Arago, the lifelong secretary of the Academy of Sciences in charge of the day-to-day affairs of the French Academy of Sciences and the winner of the Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 1825, hurried up to play the round.

Naturally, this behavior greatly encouraged the students of the university and the researchers of the Academy of Sciences who taught at the university, and since then, 'Fatherland, Science, Honor' has naturally become their motto.

Among them, Lavoisier, the leader of the French Academy of Sciences and the lifelong secretary of the Academy, was identified as one of the representatives of the old forces because of his status as a bonded person and was pushed to the guillotine.

"Mr. Arago, we don't disrespect your opinion, but research questions are no joke."

Therefore, as soon as Napoleon seized power, he appointed his teacher Laplace as director of the French Longitude Bureau, and later even made him Minister of the Interior for six months. In addition, in the year he seized power, he ordered the establishment of the best university in France, the École Polytechnique de Paris.

But Arago, who is also a judge, suggested: "Isn't it easy to know if this conclusion is correct?" Let's do an experiment to verify it. ”

Typical examples are the Jenny spinning machine invented by the weaver James Hargreaves, the steam engine improved by the instrumentalist James Watt, and the steam locomotive invented by the mechanic George Stephenson.

The gentleman's reply to the messenger sent by the Cabinet at that time was a simple smile and a humble tone: "I am grateful for the grace of His Majesty, but I am proud to have been born as a commoner, and I do not want to become a nobleman." ”

Although this tradition led to the Academy of Sciences being attacked by the National Assembly during the Revolution, famous academicians such as Lavoisier, Laplace, and Coulomb were expelled from the Academy by order.

In the 19th century, the main battlefield of the dispute between the two doctrines shifted from the Royal Society to France. Ripple says it's Marius, Fresnel, and so on that side, and Particle says it's Laplace, Poisson, and Bio on the other side.

Although it has been more than a decade since the paper was published, there is still no way to discuss whether light is a particle or a wave. Mr. Faraday's letter only politely asks us about the relevant nature of waves, so why should you be so anxious to state your position on the relationship between the particle theory and the wave theory? ”

And Poisson didn't suffer, he was given the title of the discoverer of Poisson's bright spot, although he didn't really want to get the honor of naming this bright spot.

In France, there are many stories of people who started from the bottom and eventually made the leap to class, but unlike Britain, French researchers prefer theoretical research, and their goal after becoming famous is not to become a wealthy businessman, but to use their influence in the scientific community as a springboard to enter the political arena.

At least Arthur had never heard Faraday say that he wanted to go into politics, and on the contrary, Faraday seemed to hate being too involved in politics, and he was also opposed to war, not wanting his research to be used to kill people.

This could lead to a stagnation in the direction for years or decades, and Mr. Faraday would be left useless for a long time because of the wrong direction. This would not only tarnish the reputation of the Academy of Sciences, but would also be unforgivable from a research point of view! ”

He took off his top hat and saluted, "I also want to persuade Mr. Faraday to rest more, but you know, he has a favorite subject, and he can't stop without understanding it." But God has left us with so many puzzles that his gears have never stopped turning since he stepped into the field of natural philosophy. ”

"Gentlemen, we have been arguing for many years about the theory of particles and the theory of fluctuations, first between Newton and Hooke, and because of this matter the Royal Society was in a rage, and the two great scholars of natural philosophy were at enmity.

The reason why the French Academy of Sciences proposed this title was because the proponents of the particle theory in the Academy of Sciences hoped to use social forces to write some papers that could explain the phenomenon of light interference and diffraction with the particle theory, and use this to combat the wave theory.

Because as far as he knew, Arago had already turned to electromagnetism as early as 1820 because he was inspired by Oster.

However, it was because of this support that when Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo and the Hundred Days Dynasty fell, many people in the French Academy of Sciences were expelled for their support for Napoleon.

In the grand military parade held in 1804, the students of the Polytechnique also participated in the review, and what is even more unexpected is that Napoleon personally ordered their passage to be ranked after the honor guards of the three armies and before the phalanx of all the armies. And when they passed, Napoleon walked up to the queue and personally presented a pennant embroidered with the words 'For the Fatherland, Science and Honor' to the graduates of the school who graduated first in the class of 1804.

It was only then that they suddenly realized what a luxury it was for France to have a group of scientists with 'heads that would not grow in a hundred years'.

However, what made Arthur most curious about Arago was not Arago's academic achievements and his penchant for promoting his juniors, but that this gentleman was not only able to succeed Fourier as the lifelong secretary of the academy, but also served as the director of the Paris Observatory.

What makes Arthur even more unbelievable is that this multi-flowering academic boss is actually a parliamentarian who is left and right.

Since arriving in France, Arthur has discovered many phenomena that are very different from Britain.

In any case, it can also be seen from these deeds that French scientists are definitely much more involved in politics than Britain. Many of them have been elected to parliament, some have served as heads of cabinet ministries, and what is even more surprising is that most of them are also from civilian backgrounds.

When Arthur heard this, he thought for a moment, he seemed to know who the other party was.

Arthur smiled and held out his hand and asked, "I've heard Mr. Faraday talk about you a lot in London. The experiences of both of you are very similar, both of you were apprenticed as young people and then gradually developed your own research work, Mr. Faraday with Sir Davy and you with Mr. Bertore. So, similar experiences have led to a lot of affection for each other. Am I right? Mr. Guy Lussac? ”

(End of chapter)