Zhao Zhongyao and von Kármán knew each other because Zhao Zhongyao’s teacher, Nobel Prize scholar Millikan, acted as a link between them.
There are frequent academic meetings and banquets in the school. It was at a banquet that Zhao Zhongyao met the world's top aerodynamics master. After going back and forth, the relationship between the two parties gradually became familiar, which can be said to be a long-lasting friendship.
Before Zhao Zhongyao returned to China, Feng Karmen knew about the misfortune that had happened to Zhao Zhongyao and personally wrote a letter to Zhao Zhongyao, who was already teaching at Tsinghua University, expressing his protest against this incident.
This is the darkness in the history of the Nobel Prize.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences completely ignored the paper published by Zhao Zhongyao and awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of antimatter phenomena to Anderson. The reason was simply because Zhao Zhongyao came from a weak China.
As a Chinese, he was unable to win the Nobel Prize!
For a scholar who has made Nobel Prize-level achievements but failed to receive the honor he deserves, it is undoubtedly a devastating blow.
After Rutherford, the father of nuclear physics, learned about this incident, he also publicly protested, and before Zhao Zhongyao returned to China, he specially presented 50 mg of radium, which was the source of 50 mg of radium in the laboratory.
You must know that radium, a radioactive substance, is a basic material for the study of nuclear physics. It is embargoed by countries around the world and is one of the highest-level controlled resources.
At this moment, the laboratory was filled with an atmosphere of joy.
After a brief surprise and shock, Professor Zhao Zhongyao immediately reacted and quickly stepped forward to meet Feng Karmen, who had gray hair on his temples and a smile on his face. The two sides hugged each other politely and extended the greetings between top scholars.
However, Yu Hua was still in a confused state. What was going on? Why did Professor von Kármán appear here?
Yu Hua was very aware of Professor Kamen's valuable and academic status in the field of aviation, but he had no idea about von Kamen's daily life and experience, nor about von Kamen's two trips to China.
Yu Hua was very surprised to see Professor von Kármán appearing in the laboratory now.
Wait, now Professor von Kármán is here, then...
Where is Senior Brother Qian?
Yu Hua moved his eyes away from Zhao Zhongyao and Feng Karmen, and hurriedly looked at the crowd behind him. After careful screening, he found that except for Professor Ye Qisun, all the people accompanying him were strangers, and he did not see any familiar young faces from history.
There was some regret in his heart, but Yu Hua suddenly remembered the experience of Senior Brother Qian. In September 1935, he entered the Department of Aeronautics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study. A year later, he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in September 1936 with a bachelor's degree.
Master's degree in aeronautical engineering, and then easily passed the California Institute of Technology entrance exam, considered the most difficult exam for American students, and studied with von Kármán.
According to the timeline, Brother Qian, who received a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from MIT, entered Caltech less than a year ago, so it is common sense that he did not follow.
"Professor Kamen, why did you come to Tsinghua University?" Zhao Zhongyao hugged Feng Kamen, took a step back, collected his emotions, and spoke with respect.
"My first stop for the academic visit was Europe, the second stop was Moscow, and the third stop was China. It has been eight years since I last came to Tsinghua University. I came to see the development level of your aviation industry and conduct academic exchanges.
."
With a peaceful and charitable smile on his face, Von Kármán looked at Zhao Zhongyao, who was thirty-five years old and at his peak as a scientist, and explained the purpose and reason of his visit: "Before leaving, Chairman Millikan asked me to give a gift to his favorite Chinese student, Dr. Zhao Zhongyao.
Bring a word."
"Professor Carmen, what did the teacher say?" Zhao Zhongyao held his breath, a little nervous.
Fon Karmen took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Zhao Zhongyao with a smile.
Zhao Zhongyao took it and opened it, and found only one sentence in the letter.
To dear Zhao:
It has been seven years since you left school. I heard that you are teaching in your home country. This is a good thing, but I hope you can return to the college and engage in cutting-edge nuclear physics research. The college has the best academic environment and hardware.
Basically, your talent lies in the field of scientific research, not meaningless teaching in the classroom.
Robert Andrew Millikan, May 1, 1937.
He folded the letter and put it into his arms. After reading it, Zhao Zhongyao was filled with complex meanings, moved and entangled at the same time. For a physicist with top talent like him, going to the United States to conduct nuclear physics research is indeed the best option.
A good choice, because China does not have this kind of environment and foundation.
The age of thirty-five is the golden age for a scientist to make achievements.
But as a Chinese... Zhao Zhongyao could not let go of his motherland, which was in suffering.
"Professor Carmen, thank you." Zhao Zhongyao did not make a decision in a hurry, collected his emotions, and expressed his sincere gratitude to von Carmen.
"This is what I should do, Professor Zhao, this student is..." Feng Karmen smiled and said it was okay, and then looked at Yu Hua standing behind him. Out of the scholar's keen awareness, he could feel that this student was...
The way Chinese students look at me is very different.
"I'm sorry, Yu Sheng, please come here." Upon hearing this, Zhao Zhongyao knew the meaning, turned around and waved to Yu Hua, motioning to come forward.
Suddenly, everyone in the laboratory focused their attention on Yu Hua. Yu Hua let out a breath of turbid air, held his breath, straightened his collar subconsciously, and walked towards the two of them, stopping next to Zhao Zhongyao.
This is an opportunity.
A sudden and very rare opportunity.
Yu Hua's choice is... to seize it.
"His name is Yu Hua. He is an assistant I hired and a student from the Department of Mathematics at Tsinghua University to assist me in conducting nuclear physics experiments. His mathematical calculation ability is very good." Zhao Zhongyao introduced Yu Hua to Feng Karmen.
"Hello, Professor Kamen." Yu Hua greeted von Kamen in fluent and standard German and extended his right hand.
"Hello, classmate Yu Hua, my name is von Kármán, a professor at the Department of Aeronautics at California Institute of Technology. Your German is very standard. Can you tell me how you learned it?" Fon Kármán was stunned when he heard the standard German spoken by Yu Hua.
For a moment, I was a little surprised. I didn't expect to hear such kind German in the country of China. I smiled and extended my right hand.
Hold the two right hands together and then release them naturally.
"When I was in high school, I had a very good foreign language teacher. She knew five foreign languages. There was also a German physics teacher who often told me various stories about Germany. My German came from these two teachers.
"Yu Hua spoke calmly and elegantly, and answered with a smile.
Von Karmen praised: "It seems that you have a very good language talent."
"Thank you for your compliment, Professor Kamen." Yu Hua accepted the compliment from von Kamen with a smile.
Standing aside, Zhao Zhongyao was slightly confused, watching Feng Karmen and Yu Hua communicate fluently in German, and was once again surprised by the performance of his 'student assistant'.
Not only Zhao Zhongyao, but also Ye Qisun and the school staff behind him were equally confused about the smooth communication between Yu Hua and Fon Karman.
As a Hungarian, von Kármán had studied at the University of Göttingen and the University of Paris, and later taught at the RWTH Aachen University in Germany. For him, German was far more intimate than English and Hungarian. Yu Hua used German to communicate.
For this reason.
"Yu, Professor Zhao said that your mathematical calculation ability is very good. Do you like aeronautical engineering?"