Since St. Petersburg is only separated from Stockholm, Sweden by the Baltic Sea, it was one of the first scientific institutions to receive the news.
At the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Russian mathematician Markov finished reading Li Yu's article and couldn't let go for a long time: It's a masterpiece!
Russia is also a country rich in mathematicians. After Peter the Great established the Petersburg Academy of Sciences, he immediately recruited Bernoulli, the master of mathematics, and Bernoulli soon introduced another true god of mathematics - Euler.
Many of Euler's early creative works were completed at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He even found a wife in St. Petersburg. He was truly a winner in life.
Euler directly promoted the development of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and the development of the Academy of Sciences also made the Russian science, which was originally very backward, develop rapidly.
Later, Russia gave birth to talented local mathematicians like Lobachevsky.
However, after the deaths of Lobachevsky and Chebyshev, Russian mathematics is currently in a gap period.
It’s not that Markov is bad. This person has a bunch of models and theories named after him in later statistics. He is a master of statistics and probability theory. It’s just that he is not as dazzling as the previous ones and has no influence.
It’s just the mathematics community all over the world.
Markov had heard of Li Yu a long time ago. He really didn't expect that his mathematical attainments were so high. He immediately cherished his talent. If he were an official of the Academy of Sciences, he would even want to recruit Li Yu.
He quickly set off and rushed to St. Petersburg University and found his junior fellow student Lyapunov. Both of them were disciples of the great mathematician Chebyshev.
"Have you seen "Fractals and Chaos" written by a recent Qing Dynasty writer named Li Yu?" Markov asked.
Lyapunov is now a professor of the Department of Mathematics at St. Petersburg University. He replied: "Of course I have read it! It is really wonderful! I have prepared to purchase another batch and send them to teachers and students in the Department of Mathematics of the university to study together. This is what we need
Groundbreaking ideas.”
"Not only that," Markov said, "I read the news and the Swedish royal family invited Li Yu to Stockholm to present the award. We can take this opportunity to invite him along the way."
"By the way? Invited?" Lyapunov asked three times in succession, "He is going to Sweden. Do you mean after he awards the award?"
"No!" Markov shook his finger, "We can definitely let him pass by us first, and then go to Stockholm through the Baltic Sea. I don't think he will refuse."
Lyapunov was completely confused: "Why did he come to St. Petersburg first? There is no reason. How could he not refuse?"
Lyapunov continued to ask: "Don't tease me anymore, what mysterious thing do you have that can make Li Yu come to St. Petersburg first?"
Markov drew a long horizontal line with his finger: "The Trans-Siberian Railway!"
"I almost forgot about it!" Lyapunov clapped his hands, "It has been ten years since the construction started. Could it be that it has been opened to traffic?"
Markov shook his head and nodded: "It hasn't been officially opened to traffic yet, but the main line has been basically completed. It's just that if you want to get to St. Petersburg, you need to make a few stops on the way. And our emperor can't wait to send troops to the east. The train has already arrived
I started running a few months ago.”
"Great!" Lyapunov said, "No wonder you said Li Yu couldn't refuse. The time taken by this route is less than half of the sea route at most."
Markov is a member of the Academy of Sciences and is often in contact with engineers. News in this regard is much faster than Lyapunov in the ivory tower.
The Trans-Siberian Railway is the world's tallest railway line, the famous first Eurasian Continental Bridge, directly connecting Moscow and Vladivostok.
Historically, construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began in 1891 and was not officially opened to traffic until 1904, but the finishing work continued until 1916.
However, the Tsar understood the significance of the railway very well, and adopted a strategy of building it from the east first, that is, starting from Vladivostok and building it from east to west. Tsar Nicholas II, who was still the crown prince at the time, even came to Vladivostok to preside over the foundation laying ceremony of the railway.
In the second year, construction started from Chelyabinsk from west to east, proceeding in both directions, to speed up the completion of the project as much as possible.
So although the entire Moscow-Vladivostok line is not connected, there is no problem at all from Vladivostok to Chelyabinsk.
Many people may not have heard of Chelyabinsk, but this city is very close to another famous Russian city - Yekaterinburg.
That's why Markov said that just changing trains would make it much easier to go to Moscow or St. Petersburg from Yekaterinburg.
Markov continued: "But we can't make a decision on this matter yet. It must be approved by the senior management of the Winter Palace."
The current capital of Russia is St. Petersburg, and the political center is the Winter Palace where the Czar lives, not the Kremlin in later generations.
Lyapunov said: "Yes, according to what my brother said, the Siberian Railway currently mainly uses military trains and freight trains. It must be approved by the government before Li Yu can take the train."
Markov's thinking was very clear: "This matter must be conveyed to the Hermitage Palace as soon as possible. I came to St. Petersburg University to find you. Another purpose is to get two seniors to sign together. With them talking, I think the Hermitage Palace will
agree."
"You mean..." Lyapunov quickly guessed it.
Markov smiled and said: "Yes, of course it is Professor Mendeleev and Professor Pavlov! If they can be invited to come forward, the senior management will definitely not refuse."
St. Petersburg University, Department of Chemistry.
Mendeleev has been the director here since 1866.
"Professor Mendeleev, may I excuse you." Lyapunov said respectfully as he entered.
Mendeleev, informal and with a big beard, replied: "Professor Lyapunov, what's the matter?"
"We hope to join hands with you to write a letter to the Winter Palace and strive for a train ticket."
"Train tickets? Do you need to apply to the Winter Palace for this? You should apply to the school office for reimbursement, right?" Mendeleev asked.
"It's not like that. What we want is a train ticket on the Trans-Siberian Railway." Markov said.
"Oh? The Trans-Siberian Railway?" Mendeleev wondered again, "What exactly do you want to do?"
"I don't know if you have seen the news. The Swedish royal family invited Li Yu, a scientist from the Qing Dynasty, to award a mathematics award. We thought that if we could let him take the Trans-Siberian Railway, we could save half of his time and invite him along the way.
Petersburg for advice in person," Markov explained.
Mendeleev put down the book in his hand and said, "It turns out to be Li Yu!"
Lyapunov said: "Yes, professor, he is almost the most popular scientific worker now."
Mendeleev smiled and said: "It's easy to say it's him! In any case, he is also the person our old president likes. Of course I can sign the joint letter."
Mendeleev was elected as a foreign member of the Royal Society as early as 1890.
The two of them did not expect Mendeleev to agree so simply, and said excitedly: "That's great, thank you Professor!"
Mendeleev said: "No thanks, you just need to leave me a copy of the recently popular "Fractals and Chaos". It is said that non-mathematicians can also understand it. I, a math illiterate, also want to learn about the frontiers along the way.
Mathematics.”
Markov smiled and said: "Your request is too simple!"
Mendeleev failed to win the Nobel Prize in his lifetime, which is almost the most shocking and regrettable thing in the history of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
He discovered the periodicity of chemical elements, created the world's first periodic table of elements, and predicted some undiscovered elements based on this. His various contributions almost made him synonymous with "chemistry" and deserved a Nobel Prize.
.
According to Nobel archives, the Nobel Prize Committee had planned to award the 1906 Chemistry Prize to the master, but one of the committee members ultimately kicked Mendeleev off the list.
It is a pity that this great chemist passed away in 1907.
After finishing Mendeleev, the two went to the Biological Laboratory of St. Petersburg University to find Pavlov.
Pavlov's laboratory is probably the busiest place in the entire university because there are so many dogs here!
Pavlov was an absolute dog lover. He not only talked to them and petted them, but also wrote various admonitions, praises and words of encouragement in a special memorial book after each experiment: "John!
Don't be embarrassed!" "My dear, act like before!" "I hope you, Mampus, will also perform meritorious deeds!"
And just last year, Pavlov just established the world-famous conditioned reflex theory. He really loves dogs to the highest level, and he can also obtain top physiological results from dogs.
Pavlov had no reason to reject Markov and Lyapunov's request. He said: "I once read Li Yu's excellent paper on the principle of entropy increase that can be extended to the field of biology. It was very constructive.
Sex. I can say with complete certainty that he is an excellent scientific worker, and it is an honor to be able to sign the joint letter inviting him."
Great, all done!
After the Winter Palace received the letter signed by the two big men, even Tsar Nicholas II was alarmed. After roughly understanding what was going on, he felt that there was no need to categorically reject the two best scientists in his country, and what happened