A short story of a scientist

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Mendeleev

Discovery of periodic law of elements

1867, a young chemistry professor came from St. Petersburg University in Russia. He is Mendeleev. As a chemistry professor, Mendeleev spent most of his time not in the laboratory, but in research. Always holding a deck of cards, tossing and turning, rearranging and rearranging. Don't invite card friends, and don't go to other people's tables.

One day two years later, the Russian Chemical Society specially invited experts for academic discussion. Some scholars brought papers and some samples, only Mendeleev was empty-handed. The academic discussion lasted for three days. During the three days, everyone expressed their opinions and it was very lively. Mendeleev was the only one who kept silent, just staring at a pair of big eyes, pricking up his ears and sometimes frowning.

Seeing that the discussion was coming to an end, the host bowed down and said, "Mr. Mendeleev, do you have any suggestions?" Mendeleev didn't speak, got up and walked to the center of the table, took out his right hand from his pocket, and then threw a deck of cards on the table, which surprised everyone present. Mendeleev loves playing cards, and friends in the chemical field have heard about it for a long time, but it's not that bad. Why not make a joke on such a serious occasion?

I saw Mendeleev holding a messy card in his hand, sorting it out three times and two times for everyone to see. At this time, everyone discovered that this is not an ordinary poker. Each card is written with the name, nature and atomic weight of an element. There are 63 cards, representing 63 elements that have been discovered at that time. What's more strange is that this deck has seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and purple.

Mendeleev is really an old hand at playing cards. After a while, he arranged a card array on the table: vertically, it was red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and purple; horizontally, it was like a drawn spectrum segment, which was repeated regularly every seven cards. Then Mendeleev mumbled about the nature of each element and knew it like the back of his hand. People around you are dumbfounded. They have been drilling in the laboratory for more than ten years and decades, but they never thought that a young man could draw this truth by playing cards. It seems reasonable to say that he is not convinced, but he is somewhat reluctant to say so.

At this time, Mendeleev's teacher, bearded and angry, stood up and said in the harsh voice of the teacher, "Put away your magic quickly. As a professor and scientist, you don't do experiments honestly in the laboratory, but you are whimsical, and you will find some rules when you put on your cards. Are these elements just at your mercy? ..... "The more the old man said, the more excited he became. While packing his things and preparing to leave, others stood up one after another, and the discussion was dropped.

Mendeleev firmly believes that he is right. After returning home, he continued to push this deck of cards. When he met something that could not be connected, he decided that there were still new elements that had not been discovered. He made up an empty card temporarily, so he predicted 1 1 unknown element in one breath, deck 74. This is the earliest periodic table of elements.

In the following years, the element 1 1 predicted by Mendeleev was discovered one after another and lived in his periodic table, especially the discovery of helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon, which added a new family to the periodic table. The world of elements is clear at a glance, it is like a big map, and the future chemistry study depends on this guide map.

Niudun

Newton in his youth did not show outstanding scientific genius in his early years like Gauss and Wiener. Nor did he show amazing artistic talent like Mozart. Like ordinary people, he spent his middle school days easily and happily.

If there is anything different between him and other children, it is that his hands-on ability is quite strong. He is a movable waterwheel; Made a water clock that can measure accurate time; A linkage device of waterwheel and windmill is also made, so that the windmill can be driven by water power when there is no wind.

/kloc-At the age of 0/5, a rare storm hit England. The wind roared, and Newton's house wobbled as if it were going to fall down. Newton was fascinated by the power of nature. He wanted to test the power of hurricanes. He braved the storm and came to the backyard, running against the wind and jumping with the wind. In order to receive more wind, he simply lifted his cloak and jumped up, determined the starting point and landing point, carefully measured the distance and saw how far the wind blew him.

Newton 166 1 was admitted to Cambridge University. Although he was an excellent student in middle school, Cambridge University concentrated top students from all over the world, and his academic performance could not catch up with others, especially mathematics. But he was not discouraged, just like when he was a teenager, he liked to think about problems and studied slowly until he understood them thoroughly.

In the first two years of college, he not only studied arithmetic, algebra and trigonometry, but also studied Euclid's Elements of Geometry, which made up for the shortcomings in the past. He studied Cartesian geometry and mastered coordinate method. These mathematical knowledge laid a solid foundation for Newton's later scientific research.

Four years later, he graduated from Cambridge University. /kloc-one day in 0/666, Newton invited his mother and brothers and sisters to his room. The room was dark, only a ray of sunlight shone through a small hole in the window and reflected a white spot on the wall. Newton told them to pay attention to the light spot on the wall. He put a homemade prism in his hand at the entrance of the light, let the light refract to the opposite wall, and suddenly reflected a magnificent light band near the light spot. Like a rainbow in a clear sky after a rain, this ribbon consists of seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and purple. Newton and his relatives watched the artificial reproduction of natural scenes. Later, Newton used a second prism to synthesize seven monochromatic lights into white light. He announced the birth of spectroscopy with white light decomposition experiment.

Newton is exploring the mystery of light and color, and at the same time he is exploring the mystery of gravity. He discovered the law of gravity from the fact that the apple fell from the tree, and mathematically demonstrated the law of gravity, establishing mechanics as a complete, rigorous and systematic discipline. On the basis of summarizing the previous research results, he put forward the "three laws of motion" through his own observation and experiments. These three laws are isomorphic with the law of universal gravitation and become the main pillars of the magnificent mechanical building. This mechanical building is the base for the development of modern astronomy and mechanics, the base for the development of engineering technology such as machinery and architecture, and the base for mechanical materialism to rule the natural science field. Built a magnificent mechanical building.

tile

Watt was born in Greenock, England. Because his family is poor, he has no chance to go to school. He first worked as an apprentice in a watch shop, and then as an instrument repairman at Glasgow University. Watt is clever and studious. He often takes time to listen to professors' lectures. Plus, he plays with those musical instruments all day, and he has a lot of knowledge.

1764, Glasgow University received a newcomen steam engine to be repaired, and the task was given to Watt. After Watt repaired it, I watched how hard he worked, just like an old man panting and walking with a heavy load, and felt that it should be improved.

He noticed that the main problem was that the cylinder body was hot and cold with the steam every time, which wasted a lot of heat. Can you keep the temperature low and the piston work as usual? So he rented a cellar at his own expense, collected several scrapped steam engines and decided to build a new machine.

From then on, Watt fiddled with these machines all day, and after two years, he finally took on a new look. But when trying to light the fire, the tank leaked everywhere. Watt tried to wrap it in felt and tarpaulin. Months passed, but he still failed to solve the problem.

One day, he squatted in front of the cylinder to observe the cause of air leakage. He accidentally rushed out with hot air. He hurriedly dodged, and his right shoulder was red and swollen, as if he had been cut by a hot knife, which made him feel terrible. He's really depressed. At this time, it was his wife who gave him courage, and her spur aroused her ambition to continue her research.

He went back to the underground laboratory, browsed the past data again, pulled himself together and went on working. Tired, I always let the stove boil a pot of water and drink tea. One day, while drinking tea, he looked at the moving lid of the pot. He looked at the pot on the stove and the cup in his hand, and suddenly he was inspired: the tea is getting cold, so pour it into the cup; If the steam is cold, why not pour it out of the cylinder?

Taking this into account, Watt immediately designed a condenser separated from the cylinder, which increased the thermal efficiency by three times, while using only one quarter of the original coal. As soon as this key place broke through, Watt suddenly felt that the future was bright. He went to the university to ask Professor Black some theoretical questions, and the professor introduced him to Wilkin, the technician who invented the boring machine. Technicians immediately made the cylinder and piston by boring the barrel, which solved the most troublesome air leakage problem.

1784, Watt's steam engine was equipped with a crankshaft and a flywheel. The piston can be continuously driven by steam coming from both sides, and the valve does not need manual adjustment, so the world's first real steam engine was born.

Yang Zhenning

Yang Zhenning was born in Hefei, Anhui. When he was in primary school, he got good grades in math and Chinese. Before graduating from high school, he was admitted to the National The National SouthWest Associated University, when he was only 16 years old. After graduating from university at the age of 20, he immediately entered the National Southwest Associated University for postgraduate study. Two years later, he got a master's degree with honors and was allowed to study in the United States at public expense. He went to the United States to study at the University of Chicago on 1945, and received his doctorate on 1948. From 65438 to 0949, Yang Zhenning entered the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies as a postdoctoral fellow and began to cooperate with Li Zhengdao to study particle physics.

Yang Zhenning is a theoretical physicist. His contribution to theoretical physics covers a wide range, including elementary particles, statistical mechanics and condensed matter physics, among which particle physics has the greatest contribution.

In the field of particle physics, his most outstanding contribution is the Young-Mills field theory put forward by/kloc-0 and Mills in 1954, which opened up a new research field of non-Abelian gauge fields and laid a solid foundation for modern gauge field theories, including weak current unified theory, quantum chromodynamics theory, grand unified theory and gravitational field gauge theory.

Another outstanding contribution is that in 1956, he cooperated with Li Zhengdao to deeply study the puzzling mystery of θ-τ at that time, that is, the so-called k meson later decayed in two different ways, one decayed into an even parity state and the other decayed into an odd parity state; If the parity of weak decay processes is conserved, then they must be two K mesons with different parity states. But in terms of mass and lifetime, they should be the same meson.

Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao realized that parity may not be conserved in weak interaction through analysis. They carefully examined all the past experiments and confirmed that these experiments did not prove parity conservation in weak interactions. On this basis, they further put forward several experimental methods to test parity non-conservation in weak interaction. The following year, this theoretical prediction was confirmed by the experiment of Wu Jianxiong's group, and they won the 1957 Nobel Prize in physics.

In particle physics, Yang Zhenning's contributions include: Fermi-Yang model in cooperation with Li Zhengdao, two-component neutrino theory, yoke transformation and exchange non-conservation in cooperation with Li Zhengdao and R. O 'Hemei, experimental analysis of high-energy neutrinos in cooperation with Li Zhengdao and research on W particles. Parity conservation analysis cooperates with Wu Dajun, standardizes the theory of field integral form, and standardizes the relationship between field and fiber bundle. High-energy collision theory in cooperation with Zou Zude and so on.

Yang Zhenning remembers the legacy of his father Yang Wuzhi: When you are alive, you should remember the grace of your country. He was the first American scientist to visit China in the summer of 197 1. He said: "As a Chinese-American scientist, I have the responsibility to help these two countries that are closely related to me build a bridge of understanding and friendship. On the road of China's scientific and technological development, I should contribute some strength. " . Yang Zhenning said this and did the same. For more than 20 years, he frequently shuttled between China and the United States and made many fruitful academic contacts.

David

David was a famous prodigal son when he was a child. Clever as he is, he just doesn't want to learn. When he was at school, he always had a hook and fishing line in one pocket and a slingshot in the other. Before going to school, he always goes to the river to shoot birds and catch fish.

After my father died, my mother couldn't live with her five children, so she had to send David to a pharmacy as an apprentice. By the end of the month, others got their salaries, but David didn't get his share. David reached out to the boss for money, but the boss gave David a hard blow in front of everyone and said, "How dare you reach out and ask for money?" The master and apprentice in the shop burst into laughter.

Where has David been so humiliated? From then on, he made up his mind to return to the prodigal son and study hard. He used the conditions of pharmacy to study chemistry. At this time, Professor Bedoz set up a gas sanatorium, and David was invited to work together. Here, David found a kind of "laughing gas", and David became famous.

1803, David was elected as a member of the Royal Society. He knows that opportunities are rare, so he studies harder. Among many research topics, David is particularly interested in the electrolysis of voltaic cells. He thinks that electric energy can decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen, so it must also decompose other substances into new elements. Caustic alkali is commonly used in chemistry. Try it.

So he made a piece of caustic soda into an aqueous solution and then electrified it. The solution immediately boiled and heated, and bubbles appeared near the two wires. David thought that the caustic soda was decomposed at first, but later he found that the gases coming out were hydrogen and oxygen, which means that only water was decomposed, and the caustic soda didn't move at all.

David's stubbornness is about to appear. If water attack doesn't work, then fire attack. This time, after he melted the caustic soda, he turned on the power. Hey! There is a small flame in the place where the conductor contacts with caustic soda, which is lavender. This made David very happy, but he soon became worried again. How to collect this substance? The melt temperature is too high and flammable. It will catch fire when it decomposes. It seems that fire attack is not a good idea either.

165438+1October 19 is the annual Bekkerel lecture day of the Royal Society. David is full of hope that this time he can bring a newly discovered element. But the reporting date is coming, and there is still no clue of electrolytic caustic soda. He thought hard for more than ten days, and suddenly came up with a good idea that day: slightly wet the caustic soda to make it just conductive and contain no residual water.

Wet caustic soda is simple. As long as it is left in the air for a while, it will automatically absorb water and form a wet layer on the surface. David really succeeded this time. He electrolyzes metallic potassium.

qian sanqiang

While studying in France, Qian Sanqiang worked in Curie Laboratory of Radium Science Institute of Paris University and Nuclear Chemistry Laboratory of French Institute. During this period, Qian Sanqiang has made many achievements in the field of nuclear physics.

First, he cooperated with Iorio Curie to hit uranium and thorium with neutrons to obtain radioactive lanthanum isotopes, which were proved to be the same isotope by their β -ray energy spectra. This is a strong support to explain the phenomenon of nuclear fission discovered soon at that time.

He also theoretically and experimentally determined for the first time the relationship between the range and energy of low-energy electrons below 50,000 electron volts. In cooperation with Bouysiai and Bachle, the fine structure of praseodymium α ray was measured for the first time, which was in good agreement with the gamma ray spectrum of electron internal conversion.

His greatest achievement was that he cooperated with his wife He Huize, two French graduate students, Sastre Le and Veneron, and discovered the three-point and four-point phenomena of uranium. They were very excited about this discovery, but it was not published immediately, because scientists agreed at that time that nuclear fission was only possible with binary fission. According to the experiment, Qian Sanqiang continued to analyze and study, and finally got the relationship between energy and angular distribution, and made a comprehensive discussion on the dichotomy phenomenon from both experimental and theoretical aspects.

After more than ten years of testing, this discovery has been recognized, especially since the new experimental means were obtained in the 1950s. Judging from the isotope mass spectrum, range and emission angle of the second lobe, his explanation is consistent with experimental evidence and computer calculation results. This discovery is considered to be the first important achievement of Curie Laboratory and Nuclear Chemistry Laboratory of French Academy of Sciences after World War II.

When Qian Sanqiang was about to return to the motherland, Mr. and Mrs. Aurio Curie gave him an appraisal, which read: During these ten years, Qian Sanqiang was the best among his contemporaries who came to our laboratory to guide the work. It is no exaggeration to say so.

After returning to China, Qian Sanqiang trained a group of talents engaged in nuclear science research and established a nuclear science research base in China. Since 1955, he has participated in the establishment and organization of the atomic energy cause, transformed the Institute of Modern Physics into the Institute of Atomic Energy, led and promoted the development of this cause and related scientific and technological work, and made contributions to the construction, planning and academic leadership of the atomic energy cause of China Academy of Sciences and China.

Nobel

Nobel's father is a talented inventor who devoted himself to chemical research, especially explosives. Influenced by his father, Nobel showed a tenacious and brave character from an early age. He often goes to test explosives with his father. Years of studying explosives with his father also made his interest quickly turn to applied chemistry.

1in the summer of 862, he began to study nitroglycerin. This is a difficult journey full of danger and sacrifice. Death has always been with him. An explosion experiment exploded and the laboratory was blown up without a trace. All five assistants were killed, even his youngest brother. This amazing explosion gave Nobel's father a very heavy blow and died soon. His neighbors, out of fear, also sued Nobel to the government. Since then, the government has not allowed Nobel to conduct experiments in this city.

But Nobel is indomitable. He moved his laboratory to a boat in a suburban lake to continue his experiment. After long-term research, he finally found a substance that is very easy to cause explosion-mercury fulminate. He used mercury fulminate to make explosive detonator, which successfully solved the problem of explosive detonation. This is the invention of detonator. This is a major breakthrough on Nobel's scientific road.

Mine development, river excavation, railway construction and tunnel excavation all need a large number of high explosives, so the advent of nitroglycerin explosives has been widely welcomed. Nobel built the world's first nitroglycerin factory in Sweden, and then set up a joint venture abroad to produce explosives. However, the explosive itself has many imperfections. It will decompose when stored for a long time, and strong vibration will also cause explosion. Many accidents occurred during transportation and storage. In view of these circumstances, the governments of Sweden and other countries have repeatedly issued bans to prohibit anyone from transporting explosives invented by Nobel, and clearly put forward that Nobel should be investigated for legal responsibility.

In the face of these tests, Nobel was not intimidated. On the basis of repeated research, he invented a safe explosive with diatomite as absorbent. This kind of safe explosive, called yellow explosive, shows great safety under the action of fire and hammer. This completely dispelled people's doubts about Nobel explosives, Nobel regained its credibility, and the explosive industry also developed rapidly.

On the basis of the successful development of safe explosives, Nobel began to improve old explosives and research and produce new explosives. Two years later, a new colloidal explosive made of gunpowder cotton and nitroglycerin was successfully developed. This new explosive is not only powerful, but also safer. It can be rolled between hot rollers or pressed into rope shape under hot air. The invention of colloidal explosives has been widely concerned by the scientific and technological circles. In the face of his achievements, Nobel did not stop. When he learned the advantages of smokeless powder, he devoted himself to the research and development of mixed smokeless powder and developed a new type of smokeless powder in a short time.

Nobel made many inventions in his life and obtained 255 patents, including 129 kinds of explosives. As he lay dying, he was still obsessed with the research of new explosives.

Lizheng avenue

Li Zhengdao was born in Shanghai. He likes reading since he was a child. He can't put down his books all day. He even took his book to the bathroom. Sometimes he doesn't bring toilet paper, but he never forgets them. During the Anti-Japanese War, he went to the southwest to study, and lost all his clothes along the way, but he didn't lose any books, and he lost more and more every time.

1946, 20-year-old Li Zhengdao went to the United States to study. He was only a sophomore at that time, but after a rigorous examination, he was admitted to the graduate school of the University of Chicago. Three years later, he passed the defense of his doctoral thesis with "special insights and achievements" and was known as "Dr. Child prodigy" at the age of 23.

Li Zhengdao's outstanding contribution to modern physics is: 1956. In cooperation with Yang Zhenning, he deeply studied the puzzling mystery of θ-τ at that time and put forward the "Li Yiyang hypothesis", that is, parity may not be conserved in the weak interaction of elementary particles. Later, this hypothesis was confirmed by the experiment of Wu Jianxiong, a female physicist in China, thus overthrowing the law of parity conservation, which was regarded as the golden rule in the physics field in the past, and exploring the micro for mankind. He also won the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics.

This is the first time that a scientific work won the Nobel Prize in the second year after its publication. Prior to this, Li Zhengdao was the second youngest Nobel Prize winner in history.

Li Zhengdao's important work in other aspects includes:

1949 cooperated with M. Rosenblat and Yang Zhenning to propose the universal Fermi weak interaction and the existence of intermediate bosons.

195 1 points out that there is no turbulence in two-dimensional space in hydraulics.

1952 cooperated with D. Piness to study the structure of polaron in solid state physics. In the same year, he cooperated with Yang Zhenning to put forward Yang Zhenning-Li Zhengdao Theorem and Li Yang Monocycle Theorem about phase transition in statistical physics.