There is a reason why the Carlsberg Foundation can join forces with the University of Copenhagen to send a joint telegram.
Although the name of the Carlsberg Foundation sounds like it belongs to the Carlsberg Company, in fact the foundation has been given to the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences by Jacob, the boss of Carlsberg Beer.
Carlsberg beer can win in the fiercely competitive European beer market because of technology.
At that time, the founder Jacob creatively established a laboratory in the brewery, which is the famous Carlsberg Laboratory. His purpose was to use scientific methods to study brewing instead of relying solely on experience in the past.
After repeated research, the laboratory actually launched an innovative yeast culture process, which completely changed the beer brewing process at that time.
This yeast strain is still used even today, and a considerable amount of beer is produced from the descendants of this original yeast.
In the 1870s, founder Jacob came up with the idea of establishing a foundation after discussions with some scientists and writers, and then transferred ownership to the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences.
Because the Royal Academy of Sciences is the only independently run professional institution in Denmark.
The Chairman of the Foundation is also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Carlsberg Brewery.
When the Carlsberg Foundation was first established, five board members were nominated by the academy. According to regulations, members must be scientists from different disciplines, not just representatives of finance, lawyers and other business fields.
This was Jacob's last wish. The Carlsberg Foundation, which is based on science, can ensure that Carlsberg's beer brewing process can continue to be developed and optimized after his death.
His idea came true.
The largest shareholder of Carlsberg in later generations is still the Carlsberg Foundation under the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences, with 75% of the voting rights.
Since he already belongs to the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences, of course he is very interested in Li Yu, a leader in the scientific community.
After more than a day of sailing, Li Yu and Lu Bicheng arrived at the port of Copenhagen.
The current manager of the Carlsberg Beer Company is Jacob's son Carl, who came to greet Li Yu personally with Sorensen, the director of the Carlsberg Laboratory.
Every time Li Yu has to explain his hairstyle problem.
It's really not easy to change your mindset.
In fact, until the 21st century, Nordic countries such as Denmark and Sweden are not very welcoming to Asians. Not only Asians, but also Southern Europeans are not very welcoming. On the one hand, these countries are really rich and have good welfare.
It's unbelievable that we didn't even bother to join the European Union. On the other hand, it was really cold. People spent a lot of time indoors and were not as enthusiastic as Southern Europeans.
But the overall characteristics of Orientals are still very obvious.
Karl almost recognized Li Yu and the two: "Are you Academician Li Yu?"
Li Yu replied: "Yes, it's me."
"It's really a little different from what I remember." Karl said.
Carl introduced Sorensen, the director of Carlsberg Laboratory, and then they arrived at the location of Carlsberg Company.
Karl quite respected a scientific master like Li Yu, so since it was almost noon, he arranged a lunch first.
The characteristics of Danish diet are that breakfast and dinner are relatively rich, and lunch is relatively simple, with rye sourdough bread and some salmon meat.
Carl also provided a liver pate unique to Denmark, which is a mixture of pork liver, onions, butter, eggs, milk and spices, which can be eaten hot or cold. Only a few people can taste it now because it is very expensive. But later generations have
Available in every restaurant and supermarket in the city at quite low prices.
Karl said: "We admire Academician Li Yu's achievements in mathematics, physics, and astronomy very much. Geniuses like you have not appeared for many years, as if Newton was reincarnated."
Li Yu laughed and said: "Sir, you are exaggerating. Sir Newton is the real morning star."
Carl took out their signature beer to entertain Li Yu: "We started production in China five years ago, and academicians should be able to taste our beer in the future."
Li Yu is a relatively average drinker among Shandong people, and he has drank many times. The beer in front of him feels a bit like the craft beer of later generations. It is thicker and has a refreshing taste, which is much better than common industrial beer.
Li Yu drank a glass of beer and said, "It would be a great pleasure in life if I could drink beer and watch football."
Laboratory director Sorensen said: "The academician is talking about football?"
Li Yu said: "That's right."
Sorensen said: "Academicians can play for a while when they go to the University of Copenhagen, and they happen to be holding a departmental competition."
"It's interesting!" Li Yu was really interested. His playfulness was still severely suppressed after traveling through time. Without the Internet, a more basic thing under the five major needs, it would be too boring.
Karl smiled and said: "It turns out that Mr. Academician is not only passionate about science, but also sports."
Li Yu took another sip of beer: "Exercise."
Carl was interested in showing off his product and opened another bottle of new beer: "Try this taste again."
Li Yu hadn't drank too much, but after taking a sip of this cup, he felt a little different.
Carl guessed it by looking at his expression: "This beer has a bit of astringency, but it has a stronger sense of thickness."
There is not much industrial beer at present, most of it is brewing, and Europe still has a historical tradition in beer and red wine.
Li Yu said: "It seems a little sour."
Sorensen's eyes lit up and he said: "Academicians can also taste wine! It is true, and your statement is more in line with my understanding."
Li Yu just said it casually, so he asked: "What are you referring to?"
Sorenson said: "Although I am the director of the Carlsberg laboratory, I don't like to drink. I don't fully understand the words such as thickness and astringency that many wine tasting masters use, but the acidity you mentioned is what I want most.
It is expressed, but it cannot be scientifically quantified.”
Li Yu wondered: "Acidity? Isn't there a ph value?"
Sorensen asked back: "PH value? What does it mean?"
Li Yu slapped his forehead and said, "I'll go! It turns out that this very basic concept has not yet been born in the chemical world."
Li Yu thought for a while and said: "To understand this, we need to first accept the atomic hypothesis, the molecular hypothesis, and then we need to accept the ionization theory."
Sorensen was also a professional and said: "I can accept the atomic and molecular hypotheses. The ionization theory you are talking about must be the theory of Professor Arrhenius, right?"
Arrhenius will win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year for his ionization theory. He is a Swede, so it makes sense that he would win the prize.
Although Mendeleev was also eligible to win the Nobel Prize in previous years, there were a few people, such as this one, who were quite qualified. What was a pity was that in 1906, Mendeleev unfortunately missed out on the Nobel Prize by one vote.
, died in early 1907.
Li Yu said: "Yes, in fact, the so-called pH value is the concentration of hydrogen ions in the solution. It can be used to quantify the pH very intuitively."
This theory, which everyone who has studied junior high school chemistry knows, really needs to be explained from the beginning.
Sorensen could almost understand Li Yu's explanation, but he still hesitated: "There is no conclusion yet. Is the ionization theory really reliable?"
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry will not be announced until the end of this year. Although it does not convince everyone (after all, there are still a large number of people who do not believe in atomic theory), it still gives many people a reassurance.
Li Yu said: "Of course it is reliable. It can be verified by experiments, as long as the corresponding relationship can be established."
Sorensen is a person who is obsessed with chemistry. He actually took out a pen and paper with him: "Academician, can you continue to talk in depth."
Li Yu was very familiar with it. It was basically the content of the high school entrance examination in chemistry, so he listed the Ph value grading from 1 to 14 and the corresponding logarithmic relationship in detail.
The more Sorensen listened, the more excited he became: "Isn't this the theory I dream of!"
Li Yudao: "It's just a theory. As for how to measure it, it's still a small problem."
The birth of the pH meter was even later.
Sorensen didn't even bother to eat: "Why haven't I seen this academician's theory? Could it be that you created it?"
"Um..." Li Yu didn't know how to explain it for a moment, so he had to say, "It was... I accidentally thought of it when I was discussing Andersen's fairy tales with Miss Bicheng on the ship."
Karl said: "It turns out that this beautiful oriental lady also has such a talent, which is admirable!"
Lu Bicheng looked like a question mark: "What are you talking about?"
Sorensen couldn't wait to go to the laboratory to do experiments now, but he still asked: "This theory is yours, sir. Why don't you publish it in a magazine and then I can study it again."
It turns out he didn't want to keep the results for himself.
But in fact, history is the pH value theory created by Sørensen at Carlsberg Laboratory in 1909.
It's just that his name is not very well-known, and it is even difficult to find it.
Moreover, the pH value theory was not taken seriously for many years to come. It was not until around 1930 that this theory was truly widely accepted in the fields of chemistry and biology.
It’s hard to imagine that it was so important but was born so late.
Li Yu said with a smile: "I just proposed a framework. The specific experiments need to be done by my husband. To be honest, my understanding of chemistry is not particularly deep."
Sorenson said: "But I once heard that Mendeleev specifically mentioned that you were the inspiration when he published the new periodic table of chemistry."
Even if Mendeleev did not win the Nobel Prize, he still had the status of the God of Chemistry. Sorensen had to pay attention to the words of appreciation coming from his mouth.
Li Yu said: "It was an unintentional move. Regarding this theory, I won't be of much help from now on."
Sorensen said: "You have been of great help! Let's do this. After I prepare the experimental data, I will list you as the first author when I publish it."
Li Yu smiled and said: "You don't have to be so polite. You are the real operator of the experiment, and of course you are the first author."
"No, no, no!" Sorensen insisted, "I know that it is more difficult to propose a theoretical framework. Besides, your framework is already very complete. It just lacks a little experimental data. I must make you the first author."
Karl also said: "As soon as the academician came here, he solved the big problem in the laboratory! As expected, it is said that if I can invite you, there will always be big surprises. The few glasses of beer I have are really worth it, and I will not hesitate to send you ten more barrels!"
As for the first author, please stop insisting!"
Li Yu had no choice but to accept the first author's proposal.
It is said that he himself has forgotten that the pH value has not yet appeared. He has always felt that the key thing is too basic, and he even ignored that it also involves atomic theory and ionization theory.
Sure enough, the closer we get to modern times, the deeper the intrinsic connection between chemistry and physics becomes.