A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 350 New Papers in Astronomy
After arriving in New York, Li Yu first asked Xie Yuxi to apply for the toothpaste patent that had been sorted out in China.By the way, several patents applied for in Europe should be filed in the U.S. patent office, which will be more convenient in the future.

Then Li Yu and Lu Bicheng found Collins Publishing House. When the editor-in-chief James saw that Li Yu took out the Star Wars manuscript, everyone was shocked: "OMG! How can you create a new story so quickly while mastering such a grand story background."

Li Yu couldn't tell him that he had watched the movie several times, so he said: "Articles are made naturally, and you can get them by chance."

James gave a thumbs up: "Too cultured!"

He took out another remittance document: "This is the royalties from the previous sales of Star Wars, a total of 36 US dollars. Due to the huge amount, it may be remitted to your Citibank account in four installments."

Li Yu said: "Thank you, Mr. Editor-in-Chief."

James smiled and said: "No hard work, no hard work! You are the trump card of our Collins Publishing House now, and it is right to serve you. If there is any problem, I, the editor-in-chief, will call you at any time. You only need a phone call, there is no need Run to me again yourself."

Sure enough, the status of a best-selling author is high, and the editor-in-chief must personally help with the work.

Li Yu suddenly thought of a documentary he watched before, about how the editorial department of Weekly Shonen urged Eiichiro Oda to write, and he dared not speak a little louder on the phone.

Once Oda called the editor to tell the editor that the manuscript could be picked up, he immediately drove to pick it up in person.

That is always in a developed modern society.

Nowadays, people don’t have any entertainment items, let alone WiFi, they don’t even have TVs or even radios, and movies are just in their infancy. Reading a few novels that open your mind is the entertainment for most people.That's why the sales of the Star Wars series can be so high.

In fact, if you just copy some fantasy or magic works from later generations, they can be sold well in Europe and the United States at the beginning of the [-]th century, and you will become a small rich man.

If Lu Bicheng can study comics for a few years, and draw Star Wars in the form of comic strips, it will also sell well, maybe it is possible to buy Shueisha in the island country in advance...

As usual, Li Yu left the publication-related tasks of A Star Wars Story: Rogue One to Collins Publishing House.

I feel that it is more comfortable to go back to the laboratory to do physics and mathematics that I am good at.

By the way, there is also flint, but the difficulty of this thing is actually not that big at all, it is just a matter of materials.

Material is a very complicated subject in later generations, and it can be regarded as one of our major weaknesses, the kind that can be stuck.

But materials science in the early [-]th century was not that complicated.

Moreover, the research topic of lanthanide metals is quite hot now, so just do a little mixing.

The thing is very simple, it is a mixture of persimmon and iron in lanthanide metals.

Anyway, it wasn't anything complicated, and Li Yu could handle it by himself without Yu Heqin's help.It can be done in a day or two.

However, this patent will not bring much benefit for the time being.

On the one hand, the price of lighters is really high now. Like pocket watches, they are toys for the rich. Ordinary people prefer to use matches.

Furthermore, lighters also need to solve the fuel problem, which is pure chemistry, not just materials science.

It was almost during World War I that methane became the fuel for lighters, and then because cigarettes became the best decompression artifact for soldiers during the war, lighters and cigarettes became hot together.

Then, the birth of Zippo made lighters a trendy item, and sales increased even more.The fuel used also became cheap kerosene, which became more well known with World War II.

Therefore, Flint can't bring much profit in a short time, and it may not be as good as expansion screws and zippers.

However, although flint cannot bring immediate benefits, toothpaste can.

Samuel Colgate approached Li Yu directly, eager to use the patent.

Now Colgate is considered a major toothpaste manufacturer in the United States, and it seems that it is a patent launched by a big figure in the scientific community, and it is even more concerned.

Samuel is the second generation head of Colgate. Colgate was established in 1806. After nearly a hundred years of development, Colgate's sales in the United States have not been low.

Li Yu now lives in a hotel in the United States and in a laboratory in New York, and there are Colgate cleaning products.

"Dear academician, you have such a high status in the scientific community. If possible, our company will advertise the benefits of toothpaste in the newspaper in your name." Samuel Colgate said.

Li Yu does not reject this kind of publicity.

In fact, any company will claim that its products are harmful but not beneficial, and heroin can be packaged as a "miracle medicine" by Bayer.

But toothpaste is indeed worth promoting.Later generations seem to have listed dental caries, cancer, and cardiovascular disease as the three major human diseases to prevent and treat.

So Li Yu finally agreed: "I accept your suggestion, but please show me the article before publishing it."

Samuel Colgate immediately agreed: "Don't worry, sir, we will never do anything to jeopardize your reputation. In fact, we need your reputation to make sales."

Of course Li Yu knew what he meant. Colgate needed the support of big figures in the scientific community, so that the products would be easier to sell.

The beginning of the [-]th century was the period when toiletry products first entered the public households, but due to years of habits, many Europeans and Americans did not accept them that way.

Even the promotion of soap took a lot of effort, and those advertisements seemed to be well-meaning.

Toothpaste is something that has just come out in the past few years. If you want to promote it, you must first have the approval of great scientists, and second, you must have advertisements in top newspapers.

Fortunately, in the 100 years from the second half of the nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century, the status of science was very high, and some extreme "Scientology" even appeared in some places in Europe and America.

Otherwise, many countries would not classify the Faculty of Arts under the Academy of Sciences.

In fact, even if it is pushed back 100 years, China has begun to rise and still attaches great importance to the status of science and engineering.There have even been some confrontational situations on the Internet, but there is no need to worry.

In my impression, Zhang Xuefeng has also repeatedly advised everyone to study science and engineering, especially ordinary people.Because art and literature are, after all, more like what rich people play.

Furthermore, China has never been weak in art and literature.

The way of heaven is to make up for what is not enough if there is more damage. It is definitely right to continue to develop weak science and engineering.

However, the situation in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China was a bit different. Science and engineering were actually more costly for study and scientific research, so it was very difficult to promote.

Li Yu naturally knew this truth, so not earning a few taels of extra money would not change anything at all.

For many years to come, Colgate can only develop in the United States.

Li Yu can continue to produce toothpaste in China in the future.

Not long after Samuel Colgate left, Haier, a member of the American Astronomical Society, visited Li Yu again.

In fact, he has been here several times, but Li Yu was still in St. Louis at that time.

Haier just took the first sunspot spectrum this year, and proved that the temperature near the sunspot is lower than other areas, and also obtained the 11-year cycle of the sunspot.

This is a good result, so Haier's status in the American Astronomical Society is also rapidly rising.

Although Haier is not well-known in the entire history of astronomy, he is particularly good at organizing and building large-scale observatories. He is the one who started construction of the famous Wilson Observatory in modern times next year.

After exchanging pleasantries, Haier took out a paper: "Academician Li Yu, we recently saw a very interesting paper, I think you will be very interested."

Li Yu took it over and looked at it. It was written by the Dutch astronomer Captan.

The general content is that through long-term observation, he found that after eliminating the effect caused by the movement of the sun, he found that the movement of stars did not move randomly as expected, but proved that most of the stars were distributed in two star streams, pointing to the sky Two directions at a great distance.

Haier pointed to the content inside and said: "The situation mentioned by Mr. Kaptan has been verified by many famous observatories including the Greenwich Observatory to be correct. It reminds me of Mr. Academician’s theory of chaos and order, so I’m here to ask for advice.”

Li Yu said: "It's a very good question, but I don't have any good evidence to explain it."

Haier asked: "Evidence? According to Mr. Academician, you can solve this problem?"

Li Yu nodded and said, "I can solve it, but I need to go to the observatory to observe and produce a lot of data."

Haier asked again: "Mr. Academician, can you tell us about your thinking?"

Li Yu said: "You can refer to an astronomy paper I wrote before, about the spiral arm structure of the Milky Way."

"The spiral arm structure?" Haier wondered, "What does it matter?"

Li Yu said: "Mr. Haier thinks why the structure of the Milky Way is like this, a disk with huge spiral arms around it?"

Haier thought for a while, and came up with an idea: "I have an idea, but it's too bold."

Li Yu smiled and said, "Just say it."

Haier said: "Could it be that the Milky Way as a whole is rotating?"

Li Yu said, "Your idea is very reasonable."

Haier asked in surprise, "You think so too?"

"Yes," Li Yu said, "but ideas are just ideas, and scientific research needs data to speak."

After all, Haier is specialized in astronomy, and if you think about it for a while, you will know that it is a shocking thing. Once the result is obtained, it will be the same as Copernicus discovering the heliocentric theory.

But the problem now is how to find the center of the Milky Way's rotation.

Haier thought: If, really only if, the center of the Milky Way is found not to be the sun again, it would simply shock the entire human society.

At that time, the church probably will not be happy again.

Li Yu doesn't care what the church thinks anyway, China is a generally atheistic society (it seems to be the only one in the world).

In addition, Laomei is a Protestant Christianity, and has a high tolerance for science.

No matter how unhappy the Holy See of Rome is, it can only endure it.

It just so happens that "Science" lacks manuscripts, and Li Yu will post them when the time comes, which is expected to boost its influence again.

Now if you want to make observations, and you need someone who is good at data processing, the best place is the Harvard Observatory.The group of female assistants recruited by the director of Harvard Observatory Pickering are too powerful.

Li Yu left for Boston the next day.

Pickering welcomed Li Yu very much, knowing that as soon as this guy showed up, something big would happen.

After asking, Li Yu asked straight to the point: "Director Pickering, can I use your observatory?"

Pickering said with a smile: "When you set off from New York, I knew you would use it, so I prepared for you early. The principal specifically instructed you to use the resources and personnel in the station as you like. We will do our best Cooperate."

Li Yu felt embarrassed after hearing this: "Isn't this delaying your work?"

"No way!" Pickering quickly waved his hands, "Academician, you are welcome! As long as you can make some achievements, the principal said, I will definitely give you a professorship."

Li Yu said, "But I don't think there is much teaching time."

Pickering said: "You just do scientific research, don't worry about teaching, you just need to give a lecture every year."

This is a good condition.

Li Yu is now using the observatory of others, and it is hard to refuse, so he can only say, "I hope I won't disappoint your school."

When Li Yu came to Taiwan, he immediately saw LeWitt who discovered the relationship between Cepheid variables.

Li Yu bowed to her gentlemanly: "Madam, can I invite you to help me sort out the data?"

Leavitt had lost her hearing, so she didn't hear Li Yu's words.

After Pickering expressed to her in sign language, LeWitt said happily: "I am extremely happy! Actually, I am also very willing to assist you. I am very good at observation and data collation."

Pickering knew that she was not enough alone, so he arranged two more female assistants for Li Yu.

At night, Li Yu began to observe.

Finding the rotation of the Milky Way was really difficult for other astronomers at that time, the sky was full of stars, and the data was truly vast.

And astronomy is different from the common perception of the public.

You may think that the celestial body movement data is so large that there should be a large error.But in fact, astronomy has very high requirements for mathematics, and its observation accuracy is also very high.

The light from stars tens of thousands of light-years away is already very weak when it reaches the earth. Because of the distance and angle, although its motion is very large, it is very subtle when viewed from the earth, and it is not easy to measure and calculate.

Astronomical calculations can be a pain in the ass, the numbers are really big and often use very cumbersome trigonometric functions, not to mention!Many early astronomers actually spent most of their time analyzing data, and they may not be able to analyze why.

However, as a time traveler, these are not difficult for Li Yu.

First of all, although observation is very difficult, Li Yu already knew where the center of the Milky Way is.

——It’s the famous Sagittarius A!
It is estimated that everyone reads a certain sound or something, especially when it comes to the issue of black holes with very high flow, they will say that the center of the Milky Way is a supermassive black hole located in Sagittarius A.

So Li Yu knew the location.

In addition, regarding calculations, don't forget that Li Yu also has a super killer - a calculator.

Although it is just a very ordinary scientific calculator, there are chips inside anyway, this is an integrated circuit!
Therefore, this matter was not difficult for Li Yu. In addition, the Harvard Observatory already had a large amount of observation data. It took only a few days, with the help of LeWitt and others, to reach a conclusion supported by sufficient data.

Then Li Yu spent another two days sorting out the thesis.

The main part of the paper is not particularly long, mainly because there are more data listed later.Because Li Yu is very clear that once this conclusion is released, observatories all over the world will be eager to verify it, and it will definitely be more helpful to provide more data.

(End of this chapter)