African Nationhood

Chapter 224 Noble Scholar

Entering the door, what you see in front of you is a middle-aged and elderly man with a broad forehead, deep eye sockets and a full beard.

Generally speaking, with such an image, it is easy for people to think that he is a scholar rather than a senior politician.

Robert Gascoigne Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury, smiled directly at Shi Jintang.

"Please take a seat, young man. My place is a little dilapidated. I hope you won't mind."

Shi Jintang also had a smile on his face, "Thank you for your candor. Your Excellency, please forgive me, the conditions here are too crude. You should live in a better place, such as No. 10 Downing Street."

The Marquis of Salisbury shook his head, "That place is really old-fashioned. Living there would make me feel depressed."

What this aristocratic scholar said is not a lie. He has not lived in No. 10 Downing Street for more than ten years since he was in power.

Either he works in the office of the Foreign Office (he was also the Foreign Secretary when he was in power), or he returns to this old apartment in Arlington Street to rest, or he stays in his hometown of Hatfield to do scientific research.

"Oh, that's right, your opinion is quite weird!"

The scholar-politician was not displeased with Shi Jintang's straightforward communication style. On the contrary, he thought such a person was straightforward.

"Mary, please bring us some coffee, thank you!"

The old maid nodded and left, and Shi Jintang sat down on a wicker chair.

"Your Excellency, do you mind if I smoke?"

The noble scholar shook his head and said, "Smoke it. I heard that you are very familiar with Hertz and Tesla?"

Shi Jintang nodded, "Your Excellency, Marquis, you are very well-informed. They and I are very good friends. I think electromagnetism has great development prospects, so I am funding them. No, the two of them are working together to create something new." achieved some results.”

After hearing this, the noble scholars also became interested.

“Well, I also had ideas about electromagnetic waves, but after learning about Maxwell’s equations, I gave up.

That requires difficult mathematical knowledge, which is a bit difficult for me. "

This politician with high scientific literacy is very obsessed with electromagnetism.

When Queen Victoria invited him to form a cabinet last year (1885), he was staying in Hatfield's laboratory discussing electromagnetic problems with friends.

Shi Jintang took a puff of cigarette and blew out the smoke lightly, "Actually, electromagnetic waves are not complicated. According to the results of my exchanges with Dr. Hertz and Tesla, electromagnetic waves have the same characteristics as light. They can both reflect, refract and diffract. .

They can both penetrate some less dense media, such as air and clouds, but their penetration rates are different.

In addition, these two substances have a high transmission speed. The specific speed has not been tested accurately, but it will be certain soon..."

Shi Jintang's words were eloquent, but the Marquis of Salisbury listened with gusto. He would even make a sound of approval when he heard something happy.

Finally, he smiled and said to Shi Jintang: "At first I didn't believe it when I heard that you cured Prince Leopold's strange disease.

But after meeting you, I believe that you are indeed smarter and wiser than your compatriots in the Qing Dynasty. You should be the only genius in that decadent and ignorant country.

Moreover, your scientific literacy is very good and your vision is very unique. You just randomly found two young people and solved a problem that has plagued the scientific community for a long time. "

Shi Jintang couldn't accept the praise from the future prime minister. He was obviously praising himself, but secretly he was belittling the Chinese.

Shi Jintang still had a smile on his face, "Thank you for your compliment. My success is a coincidence. Dr. Hertz was a person I interviewed when I established the institute. I thought he had a quick mind, great ambition, and a good understanding of Maxwell's equations." His understanding is closer to mine, so I support him and let him do his best.

As for Mr. Tesla, because of his unique insights into alternating current, I discovered that alternating current was a promising project, so I brought him back from the United States.

And his genius intuition and attainments in electromagnetism made me think that he and Dr. Hertz should be able to create different sparks together, so I let them meet. After meeting with me, they did not disappoint me and actually produced results. This was an unexpected surprise. "

The Marquis of Salisbury nodded, "Well, it seems you are also very lucky."

As he spoke, the old maid opened the door, brought coffee, and then slowly backed out.

Shi Jintang took a sip of coffee and frowned, "The coffee you have here is the worst I have ever tasted."

The Marquis of Salisbury laughed, "This is because I don't like to socialize very much, so every time I come to guests, I will serve them bad coffee. After making them uncomfortable, they will want to leave quickly."

Seeing this aristocratic scholar sharing his hospitality skills unscrupulously, Shi Jintang did not feel slighted. Instead, he felt that this future prime minister, who treated everyone equally, had a straightforward character.

"I appreciate your conversation very much. Mary should bring you sugar and milk later."

There is actually special treatment?

Shi Jintang felt a little more comfortable, "Then I want to thank you for your hospitality."

The Marquis of Salisbury waved his hand, "Tell me about Tesla, I am also very interested in electromagnetism.

The alternating current generator that Lord Kelvin and his team built before was not very effective and was far less useful than the direct current generator. "

In the past ten years or so, both direct current and alternating current have developed, and direct current has developed more smoothly.

Therefore, American capital and electric power practitioners all favored direct current, and the performance of Edison's Electric Lighting Company was very stable.

If Boss Shi hadn't bought Edison to vent his anger on Tesla, their development would have been smoother.

On the other hand, the development of alternating current can only be said to be stagnant. Low-frequency alternating current generators cannot solve the problems of low power and long-distance transmission, and their commercial development is extremely unsatisfactory.

Tesla came out of nowhere and invented the high-frequency generator.

He directly increased the frequency of alternating current from 300 Hz to 15000 Hz, so that high-frequency alternating current voltage could be transmitted over long distances with less loss, and he also invented the high-frequency transformer.

In this way, it has brought dawn to the development of alternating current and laid a solid foundation for the development of electrification around the world.

"Well, Mr. Tesla's talent can only be described as genius. It is not an exaggeration to describe him. He is the most talented man I have ever seen. I believe in my vision, and I also believe that he can continue to guide me." Come for a surprise.”

The Marquis of Salisbury was not satisfied with Shi Jintang's answer, "Tell me about his genius in detail. My understanding of him is still very superficial."

"Well, he talked to me about his vision of inventing a high-frequency alternating current generator. In his vision, the rotor of the generator should be able to change the cutting coil at high frequency while maintaining a stable speed.

This is a very complex structure, I can draw you a schematic diagram. "

After speaking, Shi Jintang stood up and came to the future prime minister, taking a pen and a blank piece of official paper from his hand.

With a few strokes, Shi Jintang sketched out a schematic diagram of the generator's interior.

There are main components such as rotors, stators, coils, brushes and slip rings. He explained the working principles of these components while drawing, and the future Prime Minister nodded while smiling unconsciously...

The old maid who came in to deliver milk and sugar was shocked. She had never seen her master communicate with guests in such an intimate way.

This special guest is so special!

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  (End of this chapter)