I Can Meet with Dead Scientists

Chapter 436 - 221 So Where’s the Mission? (6000 Words)

"William Thomson?"

Upon hearing this name.

Xu Yun’s expression momentarily stiffened imperceptibly.

Even his breath skipped a beat.

Initially, he once thought that this Thomson might very well be the JJ Thomson who discovered the electron.

But who could have thought.....

This person turned out to be the fellow scientist William Thomson?

In fact, compared to the name William Thomson, another title of his might be more widely known:

Lord Kelvin.

Exactly!

The very inventor of the thermodynamic temperature scale, the famed father of thermodynamics.

The Kelvin temperature mentioned frequently in physics textbooks is indeed the work of this man.

William Thomson was born on June 26, 1824, in Belfast, Ireland. His father James was a math professor at the Belfast Royal Academy, and the family moved to Glasgow, Scotland when Thomson was eight years old.

In truth, during his early years, William Thomson’s performance could only be described as average, with nothing particularly remarkable about him.

But upon arriving in Glasgow.

Thomson suddenly seemed to have unlocked some kind of cheat mode, setting a series of extraordinarily outrageous records:

He entered the University of Glasgow’s preparatory course at the age of 10.

Began studying university-level courses at fourteen.

At fifteen, he won the Scottish Society’s Calm Gold Medal, which was open to all universities in the country, with an article titled ’The Shape of the Earth’...

However, due to a year lost to a fracture and family circumstances.

Thomson only entered the University of Cambridge at the age of 16, opting for a 4+1 standard degree, and graduated from the university at the age of 21.

After graduation, Thomson was appointed as a Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow in 1846, holding the position until his death in 1907.

During this period.

He established the first university physics research laboratory in the United Kingdom and was the first to propose the popularization of physics experiments among college students.

He also used the precision measurement results from the laboratory to assist in planning the laying of the Atlantic Ocean’s submarine cables, resulting in breakthrough developments in communication between the United Kingdom and America.

By 1848.

He had established the thermodynamic temperature scale.

In 1851.

He proposed the second law of thermodynamics:

"It is impossible to extract heat from a single heat source and convert it entirely into useful work without producing any other effect."

This is the standard formulation of the second law of thermodynamics, which he used to assert that energy dissipation is a universal trend.

Later on, he also predicted the Thomson effect, invented electrical imaging, and defined absolute temperature, among other accomplishments.

Later, in 1866, the British government knighted him, and in 1892, he was elevated to Baron Kelvin.

It was from there that the name Kelvin began.

However, in later generations.

The name Kelvin, aside from absolute temperature, is often associated with the anecdote about two dark clouds over physics.

Many students must have heard this anecdote, although there is some context that requires clarification... or correction.

Those who have lived two hundred years without dying should know.

In the 19th century... that is, between 1800 and 1900, physics made incredibly rapid advancements.

At the time, many believed that the edifice of physics had been completely constructed and would never be shaken.

Successors’ tasks were only to look up at the predecessors from the ground, giving tall praise and admiration.

In this context.

On April 27, 1900.

At the Royal Institute on Albemarle Street in London, Baron Kelvin delivered a speech titled "Nineteenth-Century Clouds Over the Dynamical Theory of Heat and Light".

In fact.

Kelvin’s original words were:

"The beauty and clearness of the dynamical theory, which asserts heat and light to be modes of motion, is at present obscured by two clouds..."

The first cloud Kelvin mentioned was the Michelson-Morley Experiment.

Which concerns the Earth’s motion through the ether.

At the time, the concept of ether represented an absolutely stationary reference frame.

And the Earth moving through ether in space was akin to a ship moving at high speed, facing a strong "ether wind."

So, Michelson conducted an experiment in 1881, attempting to measure this relative velocity, but the results were not very satisfactory.

Thus, he collaborated with another physicist, Morey, arranging a second experiment in 1886.

This became, up until 1886, the most precise experiment ever conducted in the history of physics:

They employed the most advanced interferometer to enhance system sensitivity and stability, going as far as acquiring a marble slab placed atop a mercury trough.

This significantly minimized interference factors.

However, the experimental results left them utterly shocked and disappointed:

The two beams of light showed no time difference whatsoever, and ether seemed to have no influence on light passing through it.

This experiment created a sensation in the physics community because the concept of "ether" as a representation of absolute motion was a fundamental pillar of classical physics and classical space-time views.

And this beam supporting the edifice of classical physics was unceremoniously negated by an experimental result, which obviously was a phenomenon that shook the cornerstone.

Moreover, in later generations.

The Michelson-Morley Experiment has been catalogued as one of the most famous "failed experiments" in the history of physics.