The first time he met his new roommate that night, Chen Muwu couldn't recognize who this guy standing in front of him was who was even more silent and shy than Blackett.

After the two sides exchanged names, both of them showed a little surprised expression on their faces.

However, Chen Muwu's expression only stayed on his face for a few tenths of a second, because he immediately reacted, as if he was surprised too early.

In other words, the person opposite will be very famous in the future, but now, he is just an unknown graduate student at Cambridge University, a poor boy from the country Bristolshire, who has not even the slightest bit of fame.

Chen Muwu felt that if he made that exaggerated expression just now, if he was seen by others, he might feel that he was a little abnormal.

His new roommate is one of the mainstays of quantum mechanics in the future, Paul Adrian Maurice Dirac.

Chen Muwu thought that maybe it was because Dirac didn't have his slightly iconic beard on his mouth now, and the hair on the top of his head was still relatively thick, and his hairline hadn't moved back yet, so he didn't recognize him.

Today, Dirac is just an undergraduate who has just graduated from the University of Bristol with a double degree in mathematics, and in the eyes of Tianlong, an aristocratic student at Cambridge University, he is undoubtedly the kind of hometown from other places, only a level higher than Chen Muwu, a yellow-skinned foreigner.

Like Chen, Dirac started out as an engineering student.

Not only them, but even Capitsa and Blackett were more or less trained in engineering.

Perhaps in the eyes of the older generation of experimental physicists, a certain knowledge of engineering is a plus.

Two years ago, Dirac graduated from the University of Bristol with a bachelor's degree in engineering and passed the entrance exams at St John's College, Cambridge, receiving a scholarship of £70 a year.

In comparison, Trinity College's scholarship to Chen Muwu is 300 pounds per year, and 70 pounds is really not worth mentioning compared to this figure.

The scholarship was on average less than four shillings a day, far enough to support Dirac to complete his studies at Cambridge, so he returned to Bristol to study a double degree in mathematics.

After graduating again this year, Dirac was awarded a £140 a year scholarship from the University of Bristol, plus £70 from St John's College, to finally be able to study at Cambridge University.

Dirac had read about Chen Muwu in the newspapers, so he seemed happy to learn that his new roommate was actually Chen from China.

The two of them think that the other is the big guy, so they get along very stiffly at the beginning.

Mrs. Brown, however, was a little unhappy with the nationality of her new tenant.

When Capitsa lived in his own house, he was like a pistachio, and the whole house was filled with cheerful air.

After a few months of getting along, Mrs. Brown's perception of Chen Muwu, who lives in her own home, has also improved a lot.

Not only was this Chinese Chen generous, but she received a tip of a few pennies every time she sent him the laundry.

From time to time, Chen Muwu also brought another Chinese to his kitchen to cook a few delicious Chinese dishes, and always invited himself to taste them together.

The first time, Mrs. Brown was still cautious, for fear that Ye Gongchao would bring a pot of stewed mice.

But seeing that both Capitsa and Blackett, who had also come as a guest, were eating with relish, and the aroma coming from the kitchen made her index fingers flutter, Mrs. Brown finally did not resist the temptation and accepted Chen Muwu's invitation.

After that meal, Mrs. Brown was ashamed of being an Englishman, and she felt that her country had opened up so many colonies and plundered countless spices from all over the world, but the taste of English food was still very difficult to describe.

I have to say that Chinese food tastes far better than English food, and in Mrs. Brown's mind, it is probably similar to French food she has never tasted.

From then on, Mrs. Brown's love for Chinese cuisine was so uncontrollable that she even thought about encouraging Chen Muwu to fool another Chinese man with better cooking skills to move out of the college where she originally lived and come to live in her own home.

If he had the time to teach himself how to cook a few Chinese dishes, Mrs. Brown would not be unable to consider giving him some rent relief.

As a result, the new tenant is not the Chinese man who can cook, but a stupid boy who looks like a fool, much to Mrs. Brown's disappointment.

Chen Muwu was speechless at first: "Paul, who is your mentor?" ”

He had been selected by Rutherford as the only PhD student to be admitted this year, and as for the other freshmen in Cavendis's lab, he was all promoted by Rutherford to several of his professors.

"My mentor is Professor Fowler, Mr. Chen."

Dirac replied with a serious face, and in his name, he also strictly followed the British tradition, only calling other people's surnames and never calling them by their first names.

Chen Muwu's shouting from Peter and Patrick every day was purely distorted by Kapitsa.

It is estimated that Patrick has already been numb from shouting, so he doesn't mind Chen Muwu's shouting.

Chen Muwu continued to put on a close look: "Well, since we are both freshmen in the laboratory, we must help each other and take care of each other in the future." ”

Dirac looked puzzled: "Laboratory? What laboratory? ”

"Cavendish Labs, of course! Mr. Dirac, it's funny that you're pretending to be serious. Chen Muwu also changed his name in time.

"I'm sorry, I'm not a freshman in Cavendish Labs."

Although Dirac's tone was a little puzzled, his face remained expressionless.

With his top-level level of facial paralysis, Blackett will be ashamed of himself.

"Didn't you say you were a graduate student of Professor Fowler? Isn't he Cavendish the one who is there? ”

"Yes, that's right, but Professor Fowler is a teacher in the mathematics department, and I am also a freshman in the mathematics department."

？

Wasn't Dirac a famous physicist?

How did you go to the mathematics department?

Could it be because of the butterfly effect that I brought over through my own crossing?

After being regarded as a god-like figure by others for a long time, it was finally Chen Muwu's turn to be amorous.

Dirac already had a double degree in mathematics from the University of Bristol, so it was natural for him to enter the mathematics department of Cambridge University for graduate school.

At this time, Dirac's mind was full of mathematics, and he didn't even know much about Maxwell's equations, so he didn't care much about which photon or electron was a particle and which was a wave.

And the reason why he can become the backbone of quantum mechanics depends on another opportunity in the future.

Chen Muwu had never read Dirac's biography, so there was a misunderstanding in this regard.

While he was taken aback, Dirac was equally confused.

It took a long time for the two to clarify the misunderstanding between each other.

Perhaps because the two sides gradually became acquainted, Dirac also took the initiative to ask Chen Muwu a question: "Chen, I read in the newspaper that it is said that you have a good relationship with Professor Eddington?" ”

In physics, Dirac's only interest was Einstein's theory of relativity.

This is because when he was in college, he read Eddington's popular science book on general relativity, "Space, Time and Gravity", written in English.

Therefore, Dirac's choice to study at Cambridge University has a lot to do with Eddington's influence on him.

Speaking of Eddington, Chen Muwu's face turned red, because he finally remembered that he still had such an acquaintance at Cambridge University.

It seems that when I first met Eddington in April this year, I seemed to have promised him that it would not be long before I would go to the observatory to ask him about astronomy, right?

"Yes, I do know Mr. Eddington. Why, do you want to meet him? ”

Chen Muwu said a joke, but Dirac took it seriously.

"Can I? That's just a lot of good! ”

During the six months he came to Cambridge University, Chen Muwu stayed in the Cavendish laboratory almost every day.

The pigeons had been released for so long that he was even a little embarrassed to see Eddington again.

But no one expected that Dirac in front of him would be so interested in Eddington.

Chen Muwu's cowhide has been blown out, and now it is difficult to recover.

He could only promise Dirac that when the busy period of the beginning of the school year had passed and everything was settled, he would take Dirac to the observatory to meet Eddington.

……

After the start of school, Chen Muwu went to London again, not to attend the opening ball organized by the London Chinese Student Union, but because of a business matter.

Fan Yuanlian resigned from the post of chief of education the year before last and went overseas to the United States to inspect rural education.

Not long ago, he received a telegram from Huang Yin, the general director of the Ministry of Education.

Huang Ying, also known as Chen Muwu's fellow countryman, has now stepped down as foreign minister and instead become education minister after several cabinet changes.

He took over as Minister of Foreign Affairs Gu Weijun, who also has another identity, that is, Minister to the United Kingdom.

It was only after a few days in London that he returned to China to participate in politics, so the first secretary of the legation, Zhu Zhaoxin, served as the chargé d'affaires for several years.

After Gu Weijun took office, he did not stop the special official fee that Huang Yan waved out with a wave of his hand, which made Chen Muwu's previous worries come to naught.

Huang Yin sent a telegram from China, asking Fan Yuanlian to go to the UK as a representative of the Chinese government to discuss with relevant people in the British government about the use of Gengzi's indemnity for education.

After coming to the UK, Fan Yuanlian specially asked Zhu Zhaoxin, chargé d'affaires of the embassy in the UK, who received him, if there was any kind of representative of international students with excellent character and learning, who could give him some leverage for this difficult negotiation.

didn't even hesitate, Zhu Zhaoxin directly recommended Chen Muwu, who showed a big face in the UK.

Compared with the group of international students who spend all day in the streets of London, playing cards, dancing, and patting their mothers-in-law, the gap between the two is really a heaven and an underground.

After Fan Yuanlian agreed, Zhu Zhaoxin hurriedly sent a telegram to Chen Muwu and asked him to come to London to help support the field.

"The life and death of the country is profitable", Chen Muwu will certainly not shirk this kind of thing that is beneficial to the country, he came to London according to the time on the letter, and appeared on time at the scene of the first negotiation.

Chen Muwu thought that he did not understand diplomacy or politics, and that he should be here to play the role of a mascot.

His presence should be to show the British people on the other side of the negotiating table that the people can also cultivate internationally renowned talents, and tilt the Gengzi indemnity to education, and more Chen Muwu will come to the UK to study.

Who knew that he had become the focus of the audience, and every ghost wanted to see what this Chinese man who had recently turned physics upside down looked like.

Seeing that Chen Muwu's presence was so high-profile, Fan Yuanlian felt that Zhu Zhaoxin had indeed recommended a good helper to him.

He took advantage of the victory to pursue, and behind the originally planned conditions, he put forward some more chips.

However, in the negotiations, each side wants to gain more interests for itself, so of course no agreement will be reached at the first meeting, and a long tug-of-war will have to be conducted.

As he still had his studies, Chen Muwu only attended the first meeting, and he had to take the evening bus back to Cambridge that day.

Before leaving, Chen Muwu also specially inquired with Fan Yuanlian about how the work was going at his younger brother Fan Xudong's Yongli Alkali Factory.

Fan Yuanlian was a little surprised, he didn't expect Chen Muwu to know his younger brother.

He honestly told Chen Muwu that he had heard that Hou Debang's engineer had improved a new method with higher utilization rate and lower cost of raw materials on the basis of the Solvay alkali production method that he bought at a large price, but it seemed that because Ammonia could not supply it in large quantities, it could only be trial-produced in a small range in the laboratory at present, and could not be mass-produced.

It seems that the Yongli alkali plant should have completely mastered the Hou's alkali production method, and now there is only one synthetic ammonia factory left missing.

Now, a synthetic ammonia factory with process equipment, Chen Muwu estimates that it will cost about 30,000 pounds.

Moreover, the point is that this thing is still priceless.

In fact, until the twenties, ammonia synthesis was a high-tech technology monopolized by Germany.

It's just that because of the defeat, Germany not only lost a large part of the country, lost the Ruhr industrial area, but even the German technology patents were all opened to the League of Nations.

In order to continue to secure its monopoly position, the great powers will not easily sell the patented technology that has been snatched up.

As the victorious country of "the victory of justice over power", China was deflated at the "Paris Peace Conference" in which the spoils were divided, and it was even more wishful thinking to want to get its hands on this kind of sophisticated technology.

However, there is a good opportunity for them to fish in troubled waters while Germany is in the midst of inflation.

Today's most advanced method of ammonia synthesis was invented by the German scientist Fritz Haber, for which he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918.

And this Mr. Haber is also a good friend of Albert Einstein.

Chen Muwu plans to write a letter to Einstein after he returns, to see if he can get him to connect with Haber, and maybe he can contact the BASF factory in Germany and purchase a set of equipment from them.

Chen Muwu refused the invitation to stay for dinner, said goodbye to Fan Yuanlian and Zhu Zhaoxin, and hurriedly left London and returned to Cambridge by afternoon train.

Because he had promised Dirac to take him to the Cambridge Observatory this afternoon to visit Eddington.

……

"Yo, yo, yo, let's see, who's here?"

Seeing Chen Muwu again after half a year, Eddington's glasses revealed an extremely resentful gaze.

He crossed his arms over his chest, unconsciously assuming a defensive stance.

Psychologically speaking, this is a manifestation of unconfidence in front of strangers.

Of course, this stranger was obviously not Chen Muwu, it should be Dirac who was following him.

Chen Muwu cheekily smiled: "Mr. Eddington, long time no see, I'm Chen Muwu." ”

"Chen, you have another paper detained in the editorial office of the Journal of Philosophy, do you want to ask me to go out of the mountains again?"

may have been afraid of the stranger who followed Chen Muwu, Eddington's yin and yang weird skills were not in full swing.

"I'm sorry, sir, I've been so busy with things at the Cavendish lab lately that I haven't been able to spare time to ask you about astronomy.

"But before I ask a question, let me introduce you that this is my new roommate, Paul Dirac, who is a graduate student at St. John's College this year, and has loved reading your books since middle school, so after learning that my husband and I know each other, I asked him to bring him to meet you."

"Just know, you'll never come to me if you're fine."

The last trace of gentlemanly air in Eddington made him resist the urge to roll his eyes.

But when he walked up to Dirac, he put on an amiable expression and stretched out his hand to him: "Hello, Monsieur Dirac, I am Eddington, thank you for liking the book I wrote." ”

Flattered, Dirac shook his hand with Eddington's.

He was even so shocked that he spoke a little intermittently: "Edin, Professor Dynton, it's an honor to meet you." ”

Eddington let the two of them on the couch, and then the topic returned to Chen Muwu.

"Tell me, Chen, what is the astronomical question that you had in mind on the ship in March this year? Please don't tell me that you think that the moon that orbits the earth is a wave, and the earth that orbits the sun is also a wave! ”

The sharp-toothed Eddington still felt unrelieved, so he sarcastically ridiculed Chen Muwu on the issue that electrons are a wave.

"Of course not, of course not, how can the moon be a wave?"

Chen Muwu said.

Of course it is, of course it is, the moon is also a kind of wave!

Chen Muwu thought in his heart.

According to the theory of matter waves, everything in the world is a wave, but the wavelength corresponding to macroscopic objects is too small to be observed in daily life.

"So what kind of new idea do you have? No, after half a year, even the new ideas become old. Could it be that you have made new progress in the general theory of relativity? ”

Hearing Eddington mention the topic of relativity that interested him, Dirac, who was still at a loss on the sofa a second ago, thinking that he might have strayed into the research scene of the bigwigs, immediately cheered up and straightened up.

"This ...... No, sir, I have only come this time to ask for a purely astronomical question, which has nothing to do with general relativity. ”

Before Chen Muwu's words fell, Dirac's body quickly withered again.

Such a short period of time together is enough to show that everything in the world is a wave, and Dirac is no exception.

He is also a wave, a wave with a higher frequency.

(End of chapter)