In low-temperature physics, human exploration of temperature is basically a V-shaped process.

From dry ice to liquid oxygen, to liquid nitrogen, to liquid hydrogen, the main credit for the British to remain at the forefront of low-temperature physics is due to Sir Dewar, the former director of David Faraday's laboratory.

Unfortunately, for various reasons, when he was one foot away from the lowest temperature, Dewar was preempted by others.

At the same time before and after Dewar successfully liquefied hydrogen, helium, the "solar element" found in the solar spectrum, which was previously thought to exist only in the universe, was also successfully found and isolated from the earth.

As the last gas on Earth that has not yet been liquefied, liquid helium is the end of this cryogenic race.

Whoever finds liquid helium first will win the final victory.

Professor Onnes of Leiden University in the Netherlands became the one who had the last laugh.

He liquefied helium first, intending to continue to move to lower temperatures on the basis of liquid helium.

Then, in his experiments, he stumbled upon the superconductivity of mercury.

As a result, mankind's exploration of low-temperature physics has taken a turning point.

Before, everyone just wanted to compare and see who could reach the lower temperature.

However, due to the limitations of equipment and other factors, and the lower the temperature, the more difficult the experiment becomes, most scientists have begun to change their thinking and look for materials that exceed the critical temperature.

But unlike in the original cryogenic competition, this time the goal was given, and it was up to who could liquefy the helium first.

And this time, it is purely better luck than anyone, on the periodic table composed of so many elements, to find the one with the highest superconducting critical temperature is tantamount to looking for a needle in a haystack.

In 1911, when Onnes discovered the superconductivity effect, he had already found mercury with a critical temperature of 4.2 Kelvin.

Two years later, in 1913, he found lead with a critical temperature of 7.2 Kelvin.

However, more than ten years have passed since then, and the element with the highest superconducting critical temperature that humans can find is still the 7.2 Kelvin lead.

However, in the past ten years, people's exploration of superconducting materials has always achieved results around the 80th element mercury and 82nd element lead, and the superconducting critical temperatures of tin, cadmium and zinc have been found in the range of these main group elements.

However, some common metals, such as gold, silver, copper, iron, sodium, magnesium, potassium, calcium, etc., have never been found to have superconducting effects in them under normal pressure.

Chen Muwu previously suggested that Yoshio Nishina explore the superconducting effect of thallium sandwiched between mercury and lead, which is also very consistent with the logic of physicists now exploring the critical temperature of superconductivity.

It may be because materials are difficult to find and not very common, and no one has set their sights on transition metals yet, so Chen Muwu became the first person to eat crabs and asked Old Prague to help him find a bunch of transition metals back.

Although five of the six metal materials that were painstakingly found from various relationships failed to find superconducting effects in the experimental environment of 3 Kelvin, the old Prague was still overjoyed.

Because it was none other than Dr. Chen who stayed in the Davy-Ferrari laboratory to do low-temperature superconductivity research.

Not to mention his whimsical ideas in theoretical physics, some of which have been experimentally verified, while others are still being debated.

Let's just say that in the nearly three years that Dr. Chen has been in the UK, as long as he has participated in the physics experiment, no matter which branch of the experiment is in the field, then it will definitely be successful and will not taste defeat.

This is still the case in the study of the superconductivity effect of materials.

Even though five of the six materials failed, Dr. Chen and his colleagues succeeded in discovering the existence of superconductivity on the only remaining niobium.

Moreover, the superconducting critical temperature of niobium successfully surpassed the 7.2 Kelvin of the lead element, breaking the record he had held for more than ten years, and the "high temperature" of 9.2 Kelvin was very close to the 10 Kelvin mark.

Niob, who had always been sad, finally smiled this time.

Prague Sr. always felt that luck had come back to Dr. Chan since he came to the Davy Ferrari laboratory.

Not only did he bring enough money to support the rebuilding of the laboratory, but he also seemed to have snatched back the world's center of low-temperature physics research from the Dutch.

If Sir Dewar had lived a few more years, he would have been glad to see what he was doing.

Not long ago, Dr. Chen's discovery of hydrogen-2, the isotope of hydrogen, in his laboratory has already shocked most of the world's physicists and chemists.

It's just that the credit for that time was taken away by the gang that came from Cambridge.

It was obviously discovered in the Davy Ferrari laboratory, but at the meeting of the Royal Society, Sir Rutherford announced it to all the attendees, and was confirmed and endorsed by Professor Aston, and Dr. Chen, the discoverer of heavy hydrogen, is also a well-known Rutherford top student.

Many people who don't know the truth still think that Dr. Chen discovered heavy hydrogen in the Cavendish laboratory of Cambridge University.

"Picking a hundred flowers to make honey, for whom it is hard and sweet for whom", he was busy for so long in old Prague, but the results of the experiment were snatched away by others, and it was uncomfortable for anyone to change it.

Fortunately, this time, Rutherford and his side don't seem to pay much attention to the critical temperature of niobium superconductivity, and the elder Prague decided to make a big fuss about this topic and help the Davy Ferrari laboratory raise its profile, and maybe even attract more sponsorship.

But what should be done?

Instead of racking your brains to break your scalp, you should ask the smartest person in the entire lab.

So the old Prague took advantage of the inspection work to enter Chen Muwu's low-temperature physics laboratory again.

Chen Muwu's laboratory career is very nourishing, after all, he has just received funds for new renovation and repair, and the windows in David Faraday's laboratory are much better than the conference room he was huddled in all day, which makes him a little happy.

The discovery of niobium, which has a critical temperature of 9.2 Kelvin for superconductivity, is also something to write about, so now they are writing a new paper.

At the same time, the variety of frozen fruits in the laboratory is much richer than before.

In addition to the liquid nitrogen frozen strawberries that old Prague had tasted before, they have recently developed liquid nitrogen frozen bananas and lotus leaf egg frozen pineapples.

In the temperate zone of the United Kingdom, there is no way to produce two tropical fruits, bananas and pineapples.

Although they are occasionally available in the market, they are imported fruits that the United Fruit Company has gone through a lot of painstaking efforts to harvest from plantations in South America and then ship them to England by sea, which is very expensive.

Although Chen Muwu is already very rich, he will not spend a high price to be the wrongdoer.

This is just because when he used to freeze strawberries with liquid nitrogen, he occasionally mentioned that liquid nitrogen-frozen bananas are more delicious, and then Oppenheimer remembered them.

Oppenheimer, the son of a wealthy businessman, was certainly not bad for money, and he remembered what Chen Muwu said before, so he went to the market to buy bananas and picked a few pineapples at the same time, just to thank the teacher for taking him with him to discover heavy hydrogen and a higher superconducting critical temperature.

When old Prague came in, Shi Ruwei and Oppenheimer were working together on how to write a new paper, and Chen Muwu did not continue to be his hands-off shopkeeper, but also crouched at the table, crackling on the typewriter.

"I was just lucky this time and discovered the superconductivity of niobium with a critical temperature of 9.2 Kelvin.

"But even so, whether it is low-temperature physics or superconductivity, it is still an unknown sea for us, waiting for us to conquer.

"I am very much looking forward to the day when the results of Renkejun's superconductivity research will be achieved, and I hope that you and I will work together for the benefit of mankind and win glory for East Asia!"

After striking the last exclamation mark, Chen Muwu raised his head and pretended to have just found the old Prague who had already come in: "Sir, why are you here?" Eat fruit, eat fruit! ”

Owenheimer also hurriedly cooperated with his teacher, poured liquid nitrogen from the thermos flask, and poured it on the banana that had been prepared long ago.

When people get older, it is inevitable that their teeth and mouth are not very good.

The frozen bananas were so hard that old Prague was intimidated.

He politely declined Dr. Chen's offer and instead directly stated to him his recent troubles.

"Dr. Chen, I would like to invite a few reporters to interview you in the laboratory and help us to promote the Davy Ferrari laboratory. When is the last time you have time? ”

After listening to the old Prague describe the problem, Chen Muwu was surprised that he actually had such a mind a hundred years ago and could think of marketing.

It's just that he's not going the right way, what's the matter with interviewing himself?

It is true that he Chen Muwu has made a lot of achievements, but in the final analysis, he is still a Chinese.

Although those solid achievements cannot be denied, they are not very likely to attract the approval of the British.

What's more, the discovery of niobium superconductivity this time, the name written on the first author of the paper is not Chen Muwu, but Shi Ruwei.

He didn't want to take the credit for being interviewed by a reporter from old Prague.

For David Faraday Labs to become famous in the UK, it is necessary to capture the pride of the British people.

Having just returned to the gold standard, the British still consider themselves to be the Celestial Empire.

But such a country in the Celestial Empire, in the research of low-temperature physics, was ruthlessly left behind by the Netherlands, a small country on the European continent, for twenty or thirty years.

How should I write a cool article?

Let the supporting characters jump their faces first, suppress the protagonist, and let the reader's emotions be suppressed together.

Then the protagonist begins to pretend to be slapped in the face, so that the readers' suppressed emotions can explode in an instant, which can produce a huge sense of coolness.

The Dutch and the British have fought several battles over the past few hundred years, and this is a natural villain.

A small villain, who has been at the top of the cryogenic physics list for more than 30 years, and then under the leadership of Sir Bragg Sr., all the colleagues of Davy Ferrari Lab have been disgraced and finally regained the top spot.

If such a story could be published in a British newspaper, then the people who read the news would definitely think of old Prague and David Ferrari Lab as big heroes.

At that time, not to mention getting more sponsorship for the laboratory, old Prague may be able to accept the royal canonization, from a knight to a titled lord, like his predecessors Rayleigh and Kelvin, how honorable!

A hundred years after him, Prague the Younger will also be able to inherit his title and become II.

"Dr. Chen, is this really the kind of practice you are talking about?"

Although Chen Muwu flickered very hard, Old Prague still couldn't make up his mind.

"Sir, please believe me. Having me interviewed, not only is it not helpful for me, but it may also invite some trouble.

"I have enough aura on me now, and the discovery of the superconductivity of niobium is inherently dispensable to me.

"And we have a saying in China, 'things must be opposed', and if I continue to expose them frequently in public, not only will I not gain more respect, but I may attract the disgust of others.

"Please don't give the example of Ramanujan, who became a great story in England because of his unfortunate untimely death, and although he was famous, his achievements were not outstanding.

"I hope you will do what I say, as the director of the lab, and give interviews to reporters. And it must be emphasized that these recent achievements are the credit of all the staff in the laboratory, which has brought the UK back to the top of the world in low-temperature physics. As for my trivial achievements, let's just mention them in one sentence, and it's better not to mention them at all. ”

"But isn't it bad to smear the Dutch like this?"

Looking at Old Prague's uncertain appearance, Chen Muwu thought to himself, weren't you still cursing those Dutchmen who sold me instruments and gas at a high price a few days ago? Why are you worrying about this again?

"Sir, how can this be considered a smear? It is just a statement of the fact that the Dutch have indeed gone ahead of the British in the last few decades. ”

The discovery of the critical temperature of superconductivity of niobium metal is close to 10 Kelvin, which is not a significant discovery in physics.

The paper by Shi Ruwei, Chen Muwu and Oppenheimer only made a small splash at Leiden University and the University of Toronto, two universities that mainly study superconductivity.

Niobium is the elemental element with the highest critical temperature, but once the research target shifts from elemental to compound, this record can be easily broken.

However, this incident has caused a huge repercussion in British public opinion circles.

The reporters added to their reports a bleak description of Sir Dewar's evening.

He lost the patent lawsuit with thermos about thermos, and although thermos made a lot of money for the production of thermoses, Dewar, as the discoverer of the dewar insulation system, did not get a penny of royalties.

He said goodbye to low-temperature physics research because he had no money, and finally died of depression.

The description was so successful that many readers cursed the German company for being too bad.

Overnight, he led David Faraday Lab back to the top of the world in Old Prague and became a national hero of the United Kingdom.

Even the heat of low-temperature physics and superconductivity is rising, no less than Chen Muwu's quantum mechanics and Einstein's theory of relativity.

(End of chapter)