At the beginning of the 20th century, American astronomical research had reached the top level in the world, and it would become even more powerful.
Of course, this requires conditions. The countless observatories alone are the envy of European countries.
Currently, almost every well-known American university has an observatory.
After the American industry became strong, many entrepreneurs naturally gave back to education and made various donations. The cost of building an observatory was like drizzle to them.
Universities in Europe are the most envious, and they are too willful if they have money!
In addition, Li Yu is now famous and is almost the most popular person in the astronomical circle. As soon as the invitation from Newcomb, President of the American Astronomical Society, was sent out, many university observatories immediately enthusiastically invited him.
On this day, someone came to the hotel early in the morning.
Several middle-aged men in suits entered the hotel and came to the front desk and asked, "Is there a Chinese named Li Yu in your hotel? We are from Johns Hopkins University and would like to meet him."
The front desk was a tall blonde beauty who looked to be less than 20 years old. She replied: "I'm sorry, sir, you are looking for the wrong hotel. Please go to the Wafford Hotel in the next block."
The person from Johns Hopkins University felt that it was unlikely that he had gone astray, so he added: "Isn't it here?"
Li Yu was surprised: "Didn't you send her to find me?"
Sierra smiled and said: "You can finally see that I am about a quarter of Chinese descent."
"Are you a student at Harvard University?" Li Yu asked.
The visitor from Cornell University immediately said gratefully: "Thank you, ma'am!" and then ran out.
When he opened his mouth, he spoke fluent Chinese. Li Yu was surprised: "Who are you?"
Due to the street stall literature of later generations, many people think that Carnegie was a successful scholar. In fact, the Carnegie at the beginning of the 20th century was an absolute great entrepreneur and philanthropist, but his fame was not as good as that of another Carnegie.
"Who?" Li Yu asked.
Because just two years ago, he sold his company to Morgan for $500 million.
After all, the sun is an ideal black body.
Sierra shook her head: "No, my grandmother originally wanted to give me a Chinese name when I was 16 years old, but she passed away early and only had a Chinese nickname, but..."
But Li Yu finally understood Sierra's life experience. There are many declining nobles in Europe, and Americans are rich now, and many are willing to marry the descendants of nobles to increase their wealth.
Sierra chuckled: "Grandpa doesn't have that idea, but he has already founded a university."
For example, sodium's spectrum is just two bright yellow lines.
"No wonder you speak Chinese so well." Li Yu said.
After arriving at the Harvard University Observatory, Li Yu finally understood what Sierra said on the way: they are really all women!
Pickering said: "I only knew you were coming this morning. Who would have thought that a top scholar in the field of astronomy could suddenly visit."
But he never imagined that humans would do it within a few years.
This is a very clever method, and it is the most typical scientific way to interpret nature.
The beauty breathed a sigh of relief. As soon as she relaxed, someone came to her again: "We are looking for a gentleman named Li Yu. We are from Kangnai..."
Now, except for some universities on the West Coast, such as Stanford University and the University of California, which have long been coeducational, these private universities in the eastern United States basically do not recruit women, especially Yale University, which is a super typical example.
Pickering quickly changed the subject: "Come in and take a look at our observatory."
500 million US dollars at the beginning of the 20th century, what a concept!
From then on, Carnegie began to only do charity and slowly dissipated his family wealth.
The star spectrum classification currently being carried out by the Harvard University Observatory is a very remarkable thing. One of the tools that humans rely on most to measure the universe, analyze the composition of stars, and the physical and chemical properties of various stars is actually the stellar spectrum.
This is something that can only be explained by quantum mechanics later.
This kind of life pattern is really indescribable.
Li Yu smiled and said: "I know, I won't ask about this."
This has also become a major feature, and people jokingly call it "Pickering's harem".
The beauty said: "Are you Li Yu?"
But I didn't expect that she actually came from the Carnegie family.
Pickering's salary was 30 cents an hour, which was much better than other jobs, so he gathered almost the best female astronomers in the United States here.
Almost 20 years ago, Director Pickering was preparing to carry out a huge star spectrum classification work, but his assistant was slow and often made mistakes. So Pickering said angrily: "My maids can do better than you."
!”
Then he winked at Pickering.
The beauty said: "Sir, this is not Baltimore, but Washington. Of course, I am more familiar with it."
This situation is not particularly uncommon. After all, there are too many British people in places like Singapore and India nowadays, and there are also many people who choose to settle there.
It just so happened that Carnegie himself was from England (Scotland to be exact), and he had a high sense of identification with the British aristocracy.
Li Yu must have known this, and blurted out: "It must be Carnegie Mellon University."
Of course, Carnegie Mellon University will be great for future generations.
"Okay, you're ahead of me." Li Yu said.
The element can then emit its own emission spectrum, or simultaneously absorb the spectrum it emits.
Sierra said: "What's wrong?"
Li Yu felt that this girl was too talkative. Although she was influenced by American culture, the American culture at this time was still very different from the American culture 100 years later, that is, in Li Yu's previous life.
The beauty smiled slightly, revealing her white teeth, "My name is Sierra, from Radcliffe College of Harvard University. I heard that you want to use the observatory, so I am here to invite you on behalf of the Harvard University Observatory."
Sierra is very confident in Carnegie: "I believe that sooner or later it will be a university."
If we talk about the top four conglomerates in the United States at this time, steel magnate Carnegie is definitely on the list. Although his assets are not necessarily comparable to those of Rockefeller and Morgan, at this time, in terms of the US dollar cash on hand, Carnegie is definitely not far behind.
The beauty said directly: "I'm sorry, sir, you guys are on the wrong track too. People from Johns Hopkins University have just gone to the Walford Hotel in the next block. I think it's too late for you to catch up earlier."
Although Li Yu felt a little weird, he put it aside for the time being. After all, it was the real Harvard University Observatory.
Sierra also smiled and said: "Thank you."
If sodium vapor is placed around the desk lamp, the spectrum obtained will be missing those two lines.
"This!" Sierra said, "When you get to the Harvard University Observatory, you will understand that there is no man except the director."
Sierra said: "That's my uncle."
In the end, Pickering actually called his maid Fleming, and it turned out that Fleming was really capable, rigorous and meticulous in her work, much better than the previous male assistant.
Of course, spectroscopy has to be mentioned by Fraunhofer and Kirchhoff. Although these two gentlemen have passed away, they used practical actions to tell the world that humans can explore the distant universe through science! Their contribution is indispensable.
The research results of the Harvard University Observatory are mainly that the temperature and color of the star can be known through the spectral type of the star.
Sierra said: "My grandfather was a physics professor at Cambridge University, and I started to learn physics when I was six years old."
To elaborate a little more, the so-called spectrum can be easily understood:
First of all, the continuous spectrum is the complete spectrum, which is what is emitted by an ideal black body, and is also emitted by a hot solid, such as a desk lamp.
Then Pickering fired the male assistant.
They thought about it and it seemed to make sense, so they apologized and said, "Sorry, ma'am, let's go to another block right now."
The Harvard University Observatory is even more ambitious. They want to classify the spectra of more than 200,000 stars!
This was an era before computers, and all was done by naked eyes and manual classification, basically done by these female astronomers.
"I see."
A dozen women from behind applauded together, and Li Yu said with a smile: "The director is so polite, I'm honored too."
Through this method, people can know the elemental composition of stars.
After all, only in 1830, Comte, the founder of French positivist philosophy, said in his book: "Human beings can never know the chemical composition of stars, because you can't go to the stars to detect them."
The female astronomers at the Harvard University Observatory returned to their stations and continued their classification work.
Sierra said: "And my maternal grandfather also inherited the title of Baron Raleigh, but he had declined by then."
Although what these female astronomers from the Harvard University Observatory have drawn is only the earliest unary classification method in star spectral classification, it has already revealed the relationship between star temperature and color.
Sierra shook her head: "No, I'm at Radcliffe College. Although the professors are all from Harvard, it can only be regarded as a women's branch."
Surrounded by women all around, Li Yu felt a little uncomfortable.
Sierra coughed: "I'm overstepping my bounds, but it's still a good thing."
Harvard University also did not accept female students, but some professors began to teach some women at Radcliffe College outside, so Harvard had no choice but to accept the existence of this dedicated women's branch.
Li Yu murmured in a low voice: "This station director is so happy."
In fact, people originally wanted to study such a simple thing. Unexpectedly, they gradually developed quantum mechanics for this purpose.
Sierra frowned: "No, it should be Carnegie Institute of Technology."
There was a knock on the door, and Li Yu opened the door. Standing outside was a tall American woman with blond hair, fair but not so white skin, and black eyes, giving her a mixture of things.
And even if it declined, Baron Raleigh was at least a professor of physics at Cambridge University at that time. The Carnegie family at that time was not as prominent as it is now. After all, the Carnegie family rose too fast.
The element helium was even discovered by analyzing the solar spectrum. Even in 1895, the Scottish chemist Ramsay actually found helium on the earth.
The blonde beauty suddenly stuck out her tongue, smiled secretly, and then left the front desk.
Carnegie has very few descendants, but his brother Tom, who co-founded the Carnegie Steel Company with him, has many descendants.
Some people have started to classify stellar spectra before, but the classifications made are very few and not very representative.
Li Yu's mind turned for a moment, but suddenly he felt a little unable to move, "Carnegie?! Are you from the Carnegie family?"
Li Yu said: "Sierra is your first name, right? I wonder what your last name is?"
It seems that the Mellon Group has not yet invested in the shares. Li Yu said: "I heard wrong."
Sierra asked: "What did you say?"
Sure enough, he is of Chinese descent, and Sierra can still distinguish between these generations. If he is an American, his brother who is called grandpa is still called grandpa. There are not so many titles.
On the way, Li Yu asked: "Why do you feel a little bit oriental?"
"Is it Andrew Carnegie?" Li Yu asked.
Li Yu must have known Carnegie and said with a smile: "If Harvard doesn't want you, just buy it!"
Sierra said: "Don't worry, let's leave soon."
In fact, not only astronomy, but also the problem of blackbody radiation in two dark clouds, is also studying the problem of temperature and color:
"It came really fast," Li Yu said, "Harvard University? Since you are the first to come, it's okay, then Harvard University Observatory."
The radiation curves of blackbodies at different temperatures correspond to different peak wavelengths. To put it simply, it can also be understood as judging color by temperature, or conversely judging temperature by color.
In addition to several observatories on the West Coast in the United States, the Harvard Observatory is indeed quite good.
Li Yu added: "I really didn't expect that the person sent by Harvard would be a female student this morning."
Sierra said: "Carnegie."
The director of the Harvard University Observatory, named Pickering, personally came out to shake hands with Li Yu and said, "Welcome! All the staff at the Harvard University Observatory would like to send our highest blessings!"
However, although Kirchhoff understood spectroscopy, he did not understand why elements have the property of emitting a specific spectrum and absorbing a spectrum.
That is, there are two corresponding dark lines on a continuous spectrum.
"Of course, I was born in Singapore. My mother is British and my maternal grandmother is Chinese. She taught me Chinese since I was a child," Sierra said.
The current facilities of the Harvard University Observatory are relatively advanced, and the personnel are also really advanced!
This is quite interesting to talk about.
This is incredible! Looking at all the observatories in the world now, I am afraid there is no such thing.
Of course, women's salaries were much lower than men's at this time.
Although Fleming didn't understand astronomy, it didn't matter. Pickering would take the spectral photos and let Fleming classify and summarize them. In short, the work went much better.
Li Yu waved his hand: "Nothing, I mean, why do you want to study astronomy?"
Affected by this, Pickering later hired only female workers.
Sierra said: "Then let's set off as soon as possible, otherwise many people will come looking for us soon."
"Dong dong dong!"
"One more little thing, do you have a Chinese name?" Li Yu asked.
Harvard University is in Boston, and it takes more than half a day to get there by train.
Arriving at the hotel door, they got into a carriage and headed to the train station.
Astrophysics is attracting a lot of attention now, and Li Yu can just use the Harvard Observatory to make some big moves and do something on their territory, so as to persuade the Americans to obediently withdraw the Boxer Indemnity as early as possible.
A year early is a good thing.
Anyway, Li Yu's most competitive thing now is his brain, and he can only rely on this.
It just so happens that he has rich reserves of astrophysics or astronomy in his mind, which is also one of his special skills.