Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1219 Epilogue : The whole audience took off their hats to pay tribute to the young scholar Xie
Chemistry Congress.

The meeting had been going on for most of the day, and the chemists attending the meeting were still arguing over the three definitions given by Xie Yan.

Because those three definitions cannot be falsified or confirmed with current scientific means.

It can explain all current chemical experimental results, but that's all.

"I think the three definitions proposed by Xie Xuesheng can be used as chemical postulates first."

A Rose Bachelor named Xue Jiawen said: "Until they are disproven, we can continue to use them, and even teach them to students. However, they cannot be verified, so they cannot be used as definitions!"

"I second the motion!" said another Rose Maester named Shan Ting.

"I also agree."

“I support that these three points should be used as public facilities.”

"..."

The chemists present expressed their opinions one after another.

After all, Xie Yan was too young, and no matter how great his academic achievements were, these academic seniors were still secretly dissatisfied.

What's more, it cannot be confirmed at this stage, and they cannot directly admit it either publicly or privately.

But this thing is really useful and can be used to explain various chemical experiments. Therefore, they have to accept it temporarily and must use these three points to guide research and teaching.

Therefore, characterizing it as a "chemical postulate" is a result that everyone can accept.

Xie Yan smiled without saying anything, knowing what these people were thinking.

A definition is not a theorem and does not need to be proved. These people are just trying to confuse the concepts.

The reason why they took so much trouble to pronounce words and turn "definition" into "postulate" was simply to erase as much trace of Xie Yan as possible.

If we take the word "public assumption" literally, it is easy to understand that it is set by everyone together. Can it reduce Xie Yan's influence?

Who would want to be the disciple of a 17-year-old boy?
But no matter how hard they try, they are just trying to cover up their own mistakes.

Ma Changnian, president of the Chemistry Society, saw that more than half of the scholars had expressed their opinions, so he asked Xie Yan: "Mr. Xie, are you willing to change these three definitions into postulates?"

"I don't care." Xie Yan laughed.

Xie Yan's nonchalant reaction made some scholars feel ashamed.

Zhu Shirong corresponded with Xie Yan almost every month. At this moment, he stood up and said, "Does the definition need to be proved? I have defined it more than once in my paper, and no one has opposed it. Why should we go to the trouble of changing it to a postulate?"

The chemist named Xue Jiawen coughed twice in embarrassment: "Definition is a personal act. If it cannot be recognized by the public, it will always lack persuasiveness."

Zhu Shirong sneered: "You have so many thoughts, why not spend more time on academics."

Chairman Ma Changnian is also old and has not been involved in the matter for many years. He doesn't want everyone to quarrel, so he simply gives everyone fifty lashes: "Since everyone agrees, how about calling these three points proposed by Master Xie the 'Three Public Provisions of the Prince Consort'?"

When these words were spoken, everyone was stunned.

I have only heard of adding personal titles before theorems, but I have never heard of adding personal titles before postulates.

If the word "prince consort" is added and the story behind it is spread, these people will become a huge joke. Not only a joke now, but also a joke hundreds of years later.

Xue Jiawen quickly changed his words: "It would be more appropriate to call it a definition."

"Yes, yes, I also think the definition is more appropriate."

“There’s no need to change it to a public setting.”

"..."

Seeing that everyone changed their minds, Ma Changnian said, "Well, these three definitions of Mr. Xie can be included in chemistry textbooks in the future until the day they are disproven."

Xie Yan looked at Ma Changnian carefully and felt that this president of the Chemistry Society was quite interesting.

Before this, he had always been submissive and had no say in anything, leaving all matters to the Vice President Wei Renfu.

Now, because Wei Renfu's achievements in his youth were overturned, he chose to retire and go home to take care of his grandchildren. Chairman Ma is actually starting to get angry again.

"Is there no need to discuss Mr. Xie's particle conjecture anymore?" Ma Changnian asked.

A chemist named Miao Wenqing raised his hand and said, "Mr. Xie's particle conjecture conflicts with the paper I published this time."

This person is the one who deduced the relative atomic mass of an unknown element based on experimental results.

Ma Changnian said: "Your paper is an inference, and Xie Xueshi's is a conjecture, neither of which has been proven. If there is a conflict, you can discuss it after the meeting."

Xie Yan said: "Just continue to test the inference made by Master Miao."

A scholar named Hu Siqi said: "I have measured the relative mass of the iron atom to be 55.6 (with a slight error), and you can round it up or down. According to Miao's method, the relative mass of the iron atom should be 52."

"Maybe your experimental data is wrong." Miao Wenqing said.

Hu Siqi smiled and said, "Anyway, my paper has been submitted. If you don't believe it, go and test it yourself."

Miao Wenqing felt a little guilty and stopped talking immediately, planning to go back and do the experiment.

Ma Changnian asked again: "Does anyone have any objection to Mr. Xie's molecular formula? If you have any objection, please raise your hand."

No one raised their hands. Ma Changnian said again: "Those who agree, please raise your hands."

Everyone raised their hands and the motion was passed unanimously.

Ma Changnian continued to ask: "Does anyone have any objection to Mr. Xie's expression of the chemical equation? Please raise your hands if you agree."

It was passed unanimously again.

Only a fool would oppose these two things.

First, it does make the expression of molecules and chemical reactions more concise and intuitive.

Second, once it is determined, many results can be produced. If someone can determine a molecular formula or a chemical equation, it will be enough to make a name for themselves and publish a paper.

Of course, those simple molecular formulas and chemical equations can probably be quickly determined by a large number of people. It is impossible to snatch the results away, as a large number of people submit papers at the same time.

We have to determine more complex molecular formulas and chemical equations!
Xie Yan didn't care about it and was too lazy to compete with everyone else.

Anyway, he was the one who laid the foundation. The more achievements others made, the taller the house built on his foundation would be. When it became a tall building in the future, Mr. Xie could be called the "founder".

"The meeting is dismissed!"

Ma Changnian was already very tired as he was old and had been in a meeting for almost a whole day.

Just as everyone was about to leave, Ma Changnian took off his hat and suddenly bowed to Xie Yan.

Xie Yan quickly took off his hat to return the greeting.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, the way to express respect was to take off shoes and socks.

After the Tang Dynasty, tables and benches became popular, and people no longer needed to sit on the ground, so the ground was no longer kept clean all the time. Therefore, taking off shoes and socks would make the feet dirty, and some people even had smelly feet, so the greeting etiquette changed accordingly.

Hat-off now has four meanings:
One is to apologize; two is to be grateful; three is to pay tribute; and four is to express one’s unrestrained nature.

For example, Liu Zhiji's "Shi Tong·Narrative" in the Tang Dynasty recorded: "Wang Shao's "Qi Zhi" recorded that Luo Gan took off his hat in gratitude."

At this moment, Ma Changnian took off his hat and bowed to express his respect to Xie Yan.

It doesn't matter to this old man. Instead of being laughed at for doing so, he will be regarded as respecting knowledge.

Moreover, it can please the princess!
But he caught the scholars present off guard. Even the president of the Chemistry Society took off his hat to salute him. Isn't it petty of him to pretend he didn't see it?
But I always felt awkward taking off my hat and bowing to a 17-year-old boy.

Forget it, just take off your hat, after all, he has made huge contributions.

One by one, the scholars took off their hats and bowed to Xie Yan.

Xie Yan had no choice but to continue returning the gifts.

Reporter Han Chengyi, who was almost yawning at the conference, finally perked up at this moment. It was a pity that there was no camera at the moment, otherwise he would definitely take a photo, and the scene of many scholars taking off their hats would become a famous one.

Of course, text descriptions are also acceptable.

Han Chengyi had interviewed many scholars during the lunch break. He stopped Xie Yan and said, "Mr. Xie, can you stop and chat for a few minutes?"

Xie Yan smiled and replied, "Reporter Han, please go ahead."

"Mr. Xie still remembers me?" Han Chengyi was quite happy.

Xie Yan said, "Who doesn't know Han Da, the reporter from the cultural and educational section of the Ming Daily?"

Journalist is a profession named by Emperor Taizong himself. At that time, the official newspaper was called "Da Ming Yuebao".

Han Cheng invited Xie Yan to sit in a corner of the venue, took out a small notebook and asked, "How did Mr. Xie come up with the three major definitions and molecular formulas and chemical equations?"

Xie Yan was polite and modest in front of the reporter: "I am just a junior in the chemical world. I am grateful for the chemical experiments of my predecessors. In the past four months, countless scholars have made experimental breakthroughs. I have benefited a lot from their papers and summarized a set of my own ideas."

"Why can't other scholars summarize and conclude?" Han Chengyi asked.

Xie Yan replied: "They have too many experiments piled up. When the agate balance was suddenly invented, they wanted to redo all the experiments immediately. How could they have time to summarize? In fact, even if I didn't come up with these things, my predecessors would have come up with them in the next one or two years. I'm just trying to please them."

"Mr. Xie is too modest," Han Chengyi asked again, "Mr. Xie, do you know that Qin's cement will soon be used in railway bridge construction?"

Xie Yan said: "I have heard of this. So I plan to invent a ball mill to make cement production faster. This ball mill can also be used to crush ore in mines and to manufacture glass, porcelain and other industries."

Han Chengyi said happily: "Can you tell me more about it?"

Xie Yan shook his head: "I just have some ideas now, and I still need to make real products to continuously adjust and improve them."

"Then I wish Mr. Xie success in inventing the ball...ball..." Han Chengyi forgot the name.

Xie Yan said: "Ball mill."

Han Cheng said, "Yes, ball mill. I wish Mr. Xie success."

"I'd like to thank Mr. Han for his good words." Xie Yan said with a smile.

Han Chengyi was filled with emotion. He was so humble even though he became famous at such a young age. If it were someone else, they would have become arrogant. No wonder the princess fell in love with him. Scholar Xie was indeed extraordinary.

He plans to write an article in the next issue of "Da Ming Weekly" to talk about how Mr. Xie is modest, prudent, and polite, and how his words and deeds are so impressive.

Xie Yan was also very happy at this moment. It was great to have a reporter to help him establish his persona. He could pretend to be more and more sophisticated in the future.

(End of this chapter)