chsdbacks Chapter 8 requires finding a backer.
Chapter 8 requires finding a backer.
Han Zhenhua finally breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the newspaper boy's announcement of "The National Army's Great Victory at Quangongting!" He was on his way back to his villa when he suddenly saw a "familiar figure"—it was none other than the British physics professor with gold-rimmed glasses and the vice-chancellor of St. John's University, "Mr. Albert Cole," who had "interviewed" him when he first arrived at St. John's University. Although the professor was over fifty years old, he was still tall and upright, with a vigorous posture and a steady gait.
Beside him was a slender young woman, also around 1.8 meters tall, with long, shapely legs that moved with a light and graceful gait. She had long, flowing brown hair that cascaded naturally, fair skin, a delicate face, and gentle yet expressive brown eyes. A faint smile always played on her lips.
Upon seeing this, Han Zhenhua quickly stepped forward, smiled, and greeted him, "Hello, Professor Cole. I'm really surprised to see you here."
Professor Cole: "Oh, it's you... I remember you. You were a wartime student at the university, and I even interviewed you. Your math and physics knowledge was quite solid; you left a deep impression on me. I'm also quite surprised. Why are you here?"
Han Zhenhua: "I live here, at No. 169."
Professor Cole: "What a coincidence! I live here too, at No. 167. We're neighbors. Let me introduce my daughter to you. This is Susan Cole."
Susan Cole: "Nice to meet you, Mr. Han. I also study at St. John's University; we're classmates."
Han Zhenhua: "Nice to meet you too, Miss Cole.............."
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While the two were chatting happily during their evening stroll after dinner, Han Zhenhua suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He realized that he needed to find a powerful backer in this society. Before the Pacific War between Japan and the United States in 1942, Britain was still the world's leading power. The Japanese dared to arrest people and cause damage in the French Concession, but they never dared to do anything in the British Concession!
That's because Britain is still the "empire on which the sun never sets," with 4300 million square kilometers of land, a third of the world's economy, and the ability to mobilize an army of 800 million!
Although this behemoth collapsed and became "SX Province" after World War II (the maps of the British Isles and SX Province are basically the same), before 1942, the British were absolutely in a position of power over the Japanese because the Anglo-Japanese Alliance was still in effect!
Thinking of this, Han Zhenhua immediately said to Professor Cole, "Professor Cole (all subsequent English parts omitted)... (Professor Cole, I have some research findings in physics that I would like to ask for your guidance on. I wonder if you have time tomorrow? I'd like to come to your office to find you)?"
Upon hearing the words "research results," Professor Cole and his daughter Susan were visibly surprised. However, after a moment's thought, they couldn't help but smile, thinking to themselves, "What kind of 'research results' could a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth like you possibly have, especially in China, a physics wasteland?!"
However, due to the "gentlemanly" education he received since childhood, he jokingly nodded in agreement!
However, Han Zhenhua knew that when he went to see Professor Cole with "half a paper" tomorrow, it was hard to imagine how the professor would look at him!
After returning to the villa from his walk, Han Zhenhua turned on his phone and searched for "1939 Nobel Prize in Physics papers"... Instantly, the full text of Enrico Fermi's paper "Studies on Radioactivity Induced by Neutron Radiation" appeared!
And it was all translated into Chinese using AI on my phone, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to understand a single sentence!
Even after translating it entirely into Chinese, Han Zhenhua was still only half-understanding it (in fact, completely confused). That very night, he meticulously copied down the entire first half of the paper, which contained purely theoretical content, as well as the experimental parts that could be conducted in the St. John's University laboratory. He then read it carefully more than a dozen times, combining it with the "Junior and Senior High School Physics" he had learned in the era of the knowledge explosion of the future. For the parts he didn't understand, he used his mobile phone's AI to search again and again until the next morning, when he finally understood most of the content!
When he arrived at Professor Cole's office the following afternoon in a rickshaw, Professor Cole was organizing the lab reports on his desk. Seeing him enter, Professor Cole put down his pen and asked with a lingering smile from the previous day, "Han, did you bring your 'research results'?"
Han Zhenhua handed over the notebook filled with formulas and derivations, his palms slightly sweaty.
Professor Cole took the notebook, his initially casual gaze suddenly freezing after scanning the first few lines. His fingers unconsciously pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and began to study it word by word.
The only sound in the office was the rustling of papers turning. The coffee Susan brought had grown cold, but Professor Cole seemed oblivious. He would sometimes furrow his brow as he drew annotations on the manuscript, sometimes look out the window and mutter to himself. Finally, he slammed his hand on the table, his eyes gleaming with disbelief: "My God... this theoretical model of neutron moderation... how did you come up with the idea of using graphite as a moderator?"
Han Zhenhua suppressed his racing heart and, drawing on the knowledge he had crammed on his phone the night before, explained (though he himself didn't quite understand): "According to Bohr's physical model, the reaction cross-section between a slow neutron and the target nucleus is larger, and the carbon molecule mass of graphite is close to that of a neutron, resulting in a collision energy loss rate..." Before he could finish speaking, Professor Cole excitedly stood up and paced back and forth in the small office: "Fantastic! St. John's University's lab happens to have purified graphite samples; let's go verify them now!"
If your theory is true, oh my god... Han... you are a physics genius. I think this achievement is enough to compete for this year's 'Nobel Prize in Physics'... my God...
Just as Professor Cole was going crazy over it, Han Zhenhua suddenly said, "Professor Cole, I want to become your student. Under your guidance, we can complete this project together!"