Chapter 275 Scientists (2)
In Vienna, a lavishly decorated temporary conference room of the Royal Austrian Scientific Society was filled with guests. The monthly scientific symposium was being held here, and this was the twenty-fourth time that Avogadro borrowed the scientist's room. stage to present the results of his research.
He had been rejected in the previous twenty-three meetings. If it were an ordinary person, he would have left the meeting because he could not bear the cold looks and ridicule.
The person who had a negative attitude towards his views was not an ordinary person, but the absolute authority in the European chemical community at this time, the British Dalton.
But this outspoken man from Apennine was not deterred, especially when he believed that the truth was in his own hands.
Avogadro had never been a submissive person who dared not speak out against authority.
I remember that when he was still a young boy, he dared to stand up and openly challenge the theory of "King of Mathematics" Gauss, and used his own method to argue to silence the other party.
At that time, Gauss had supreme authority in the mathematical community and was hailed by all his colleagues as "the man closest to the truth."
This person did make an unparalleled contribution to the development of mathematics. However, even such a person is not perfect and will make mistakes.
“Scientific laws exist only in mathematics, and chemistry is not among the exact sciences.”
Many people wanted to refute Gauss's assertion, but they were afraid of humiliating themselves when facing the unprecedented genius.
At this time, Avogadro, a physics student who was halfway through becoming a monk, boldly put forward a different view from Gauss. He believed that mathematics is the king of natural sciences, but without other natural sciences, mathematics will lose its true value. .
Gauss was already successful at that time, while Avogadro was a tax collector in the countryside of Turin a year ago. What's more, the latter majored in physics, and chemistry was just his side job. He was a typical physicist who didn't understand chemistry. Scholars are not good tax collectors.
Gauss did not have a good temper and humiliated Avogadro on the spot.
"Chemistry is just a maid to mathematics." (The translations are different, but the meaning is the same.)
Avogadro did not get angry when faced with the humiliation, but responded with an experiment.
He put two liters of hydrogen into one liter of oxygen and burned it in front of Gauss, and obtained two liters of water vapor.
"Please see, in chemistry, I can do 2+1 equals 2, can you do it in mathematics?"
Although Avogadro's reply was wonderful, it only earned himself the title of "daredevil".
Later, he unintentionally offended Dalton, who continued to suppress him. He even lost his position as a professor at the University of Turin and had to rely on family support for a time.
Historically, Avogadro never pursued fame and status throughout his life, but quietly immersed himself in scientific research work, and proposed the molecular hypothesis in 1811, which should have advanced people's understanding of the structure of matter a big step forward.
Unfortunately, Avogadro's outstanding insights were not recognized by the chemical community for a long time. Instead, they were opposed by many scientists and were left out in the cold for nearly half a century.
But things are different now. With the full support and funding of Franz, a "materialist" who respects science and knowledge, this neglected scientific giant has gained the opportunity to communicate and discuss with the best chemists in Central Europe. A valuable opportunity.
This allowed him to greatly improve his own theory, and at the same time, it also allowed those geniuses who look at people with their nostrils upward to re-examine themselves.
This allowed him to greatly improve his own theory, and also allowed geniuses who had once dismissed Avogadro's theory to re-examine this theory.
The chemical experts present at this time are:
Fuchs, a Bavarian mineralogist, was one of the founders of analytical chemistry.
Debelena, a self-taught genius, created an inflatable gas lighting lamp composed of a hydrogenation device, which greatly influenced the public lighting projects at that time and in later generations. He was also an expert in testing atomic weights. However, due to lack of money and power, he did not obtain the patent for the technology he invented, and his life was very difficult.
Fisher, a Bohemian, was recorded in the history of inorganic chemistry with his discovery of "Fisher's salt". He was also one of the pioneers of the Voda battery and established a method for detecting poisoning.
(Votaic cells, early batteries, had poor practicality.)
Gemelin (also known as Gemelin), a Hanoverian and cyanide expert, wrote many introductory books on chemistry and trained a number of chemists who will be famous for later generations.
Michelich, a native of Oldenburg and an expert in crystal chemistry, synthesized "nitrobenzene" and made outstanding contributions in fuel, gunpowder, and sucrose fermentation.
Freeman Runge, a native of Hamburg, extracted phenol, nitrogen and other substances from coal tar and developed paper chromatography. He was also a pioneer in paper chromatography measurement technology and a master of dye chemistry.
Schönbein, a native of Baden, is a typical example of an all-rounder who knows everything from astronomy to geography. His most important discoveries are auto-oxidation, induced reactions, collodion (nitrocellulose, taken off from Wuhu), electrochemistry and passivation. iron. Although he devoted his life to treating diseases and saving people, most of his inventions later became weapons for killing people.
Wheeler, a student of Gmelin and one of the greatest chemists in human history.
Liebig, the founder of agricultural chemistry, synthesized urea with Wheeler.
(The last two are giants. If they were to be discussed in detail, one chapter would not be enough, so I won’t write them down.)
etc.
These people who have left a profound mark on the history of human chemistry are by no means mediocre. The main reason why Avogadro's theory has not been welcomed is not the pressure of authority. The main reason is that the natural science at that time could not distinguish between molecules and atoms.
At the same time, due to the dissociation phenomenon of some molecules, it is difficult for Avogadro's hypothesis to give a convincing empirical explanation.
However, because a certain butterfly flapped its wings a few times, some minor obstacles were solved, so they naturally had no reason to continue to hold a negative attitude towards this theory.
At the same time, these people also know that the establishment of this theory will bring about earth-shaking changes to the entire chemical world.
After 30 years of hard work, Avogadro finally got his wish, but he didn't have much time to celebrate. Because there are still people who plan to show and demonstrate their new results later.
In fact, Avogadro was very lucky at this time, because his results were recognized twenty years earlier. Historically, he did not even survive to wait for that day.
With Franz's encouragement, new theories, new inventions, and new methods were proposed one after another. These exciting things will eventually change the entire world.
For scientists at the Royal Society, this constant iteration of knowledge is also refreshing.
Of course, there are also monsters that give scientists headaches, such as the steam-powered computer developed by Babbage and Ada.
Previously, the two people advanced the accuracy of the difference engine to seven decimal places, and simplified the use method to calculate the accuracy up to 21 digits.
This saves many physicists and chemists from having to spend a lot of time and energy on repeated calculations.
In fact, thanks to the high-power hydraulic press developed by Franz's group of madmen, the Austrian Empire has precision parts manufacturing capabilities that far exceed this era.
At this time, a 20-bit differential engine that took three months to build and cost up to 20,000 pounds only cost one week and 3,000 florins in Vienna.
The latest 21-bit differential engine costs only 10,000 florins, and the occurrence rate of defective products is low.
As a result, Babbage and Ada swelled, in every sense of the word. Because they often tasted students' works and even packed them back to the laboratory, their weight and confidence increased rapidly.
Babbage planned to develop a new, time-unique analytical engine.
Thanks to book friends Zhan Liu Jiang and Zi Mu for the reward.
Let’s put the colony aside for a while and write a few episodes to restore the health of the protagonist and Austria.