1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 95 Can Chinese also be knighted?

In the following days, Li Qiwei finally returned to his peaceful work and life.

More than a month has passed since the first Nobel Prize was awarded, and everyone's enthusiasm and curiosity have finally faded.

But for the scientific research community, especially the natural science community, the Nobel Prize is just the beginning. The future will be even more exciting and the competition will be even more intense.

And now, in addition to the Nobel Prize, some organizations and individuals are already considering organizing similar awards.

They do not have the courage like the Swedish government to use super high bonuses to select the top scientific achievements.

After all, there are very few people in the world who can win the Nobel Prize.

Although most people’s achievements fall just a little short of success, they still have their merits and need the motivation of bonuses.

The great success of the Nobel Prize has allowed many people to see opportunities and possibilities.

The state can use it to raise the profile of science, and businessmen and capitalists can use it to promote their own companies and products.

For example, Solvay wrote to Ridgeway and said that he was planning to establish a Solvay Science Prize.

Specially awarded to scientists who have made outstanding achievements in the field of science.

The prize money, professional fields of awards, etc. have not yet been determined. I hope Li Qiwei can give some advice.

Li Qiwei had to admit that rich people just know how to have fun.

He expressed his strong agreement and promised to help Solvay promote and increase the visibility of the award.

He was filled with emotion, and the academic exchanges in 1901 were immediately transformed into the style of later generations.

In a few years, when radio becomes fully popularized and scholars communicate more frequently, I'm afraid there will be more conferences and awards.

On November 11, Li Qiwei continued to study the alpha particle scattering experiment in the laboratory.

Through continuous learning and experimentation, he has fully mastered the assembly of experimental equipment.

He has now changed his mind. He had originally planned to publish his special theory of relativity next year as the result of his doctoral graduation.

However, considering the impact of narrow physics on physics and the relative view of space and time, I am afraid no one can accept it.

I probably won’t be able to pass the review of the doctoral dissertation defense committee by then.

Li Qiwei could already foresee that his doctoral thesis defense would be attended by many big names, and he would probably be severely criticized for his narrow-mindedness.

In real history, after Einstein published his theory, Planck claimed that he was talking nonsense.

It would be a joke if you were unable to graduate with a PhD because of your shocking narrow-mindedness.

Therefore, Li Qiwei decided to produce some well-founded results instead of pure theory like the narrow phase.

The alpha particle scattering experiment was his goal.

There are experimental data, theoretical models, and it is also your own doctoral thesis, which makes it a perfect choice for doctoral graduation.

Therefore, he now does experiments very seriously and records each experimental data in detail in preparation for publishing papers in the future.

During this process, Li Qiwei also regained the feeling of being a doctoral student in his previous life, instead of always being like a prophet and losing a lot of fun in scientific research.

Only when doing experiments would his mind calm down and he would not think about those messy things.

Suddenly, someone told him that Professor Thomson asked him to go to his office.

Li Qiwei quickly put down his work. He didn't know why the other party wanted to look for him, as he had just looked for him once a few days ago.

When he arrived at the office, he found that in addition to Thomson, there was another person in the room, who was Lord Rayleigh.

This 59-year-old old man is also a master of physics.

Lord Rayleigh, whose real name was Strat, later inherited the barony titles of his grandfather and father and became the third Baron Rayleigh.

But in the scientific community, he is generally called Lord Rayleigh.

He won the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his studies of the density of gases and his discovery of argon."

He was the second director of the Cavendish Laboratory and Thomson's mentor.

In 1884, Lord Rayleigh left Cambridge and returned to his villa in Essex to continue his experimental research, and passed the position of laboratory director to Thomson.

Now, he is a professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution of the United Kingdom. He has retreated to the second line of academia and focuses on training students.

After all, I am old and don’t have the energy to do experiments, and it is also very dangerous.

This old man also attended the last London Quantum Conference and was the first to ask sharp questions in an attempt to stump Li Qiwei.

Now, seeing each other here again, Li Qiwei was very surprised.

"Hello, Lord Rayleigh, it's nice to see you again."

Lord Rayleigh smiled and said, "I hope you didn't blame me for making things difficult for you at the last quantum conference."

At his signal, Li Qiwei found a seat and sat down, saying with a smile: "My Lord, you are joking. I have to thank you for forcing me to publish the principle of photoelectric effect ahead of schedule!"

Lord Rayleigh and Thomson both laughed.

"Thomson, you are right. This student of yours is not only talented in physics, but also very humorous. He suits our British tastes very well."

Thomson echoed: "Bruce is a very open-minded Qing Chinese. He has no narrow-minded prejudices in his heart."

Lord Rayleigh nodded, then looked at Li Qiwei and asked, "Bruce, I came here today just for you. Can you guess what it is?"

Li Qiwei scratched his head. He really couldn't figure out what important arrangements this great man, who was both a nobleman and a physicist, had made for him.

It's impossible that he came to congratulate himself on winning the Nobel Prize in Physics.

No matter how awesome the Nobel Prize is, it probably doesn't have much appeal in the eyes of this big shot.

So he replied honestly: "My Lord, forgive my stupidity, I can't guess it."

Thomson next to him interrupted: "Bruce, it's a great thing. You are so lucky."

This made Li Qiwei even more confused. What good thing could possibly happen? Was he going to be promoted to professor?

Lord Rayleigh looked at his puzzled expression and smiled, "Bruce, I came here today to discuss with you the matter of conferring you the title of Lord."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Qiwei was so excited that he almost shouted out loud, his face full of disbelief.

"Knighted? Lord, are you kidding me? I am Chinese, can I also be knighted?"

It’s no wonder that Li Qiwei was surprised. In this era, has Britain ever conferred knighthood on Chinese people?

They are not Chinese who have acquired British citizenship, but rather they are of pure Chinese nationality.

In later generations, Li Qiwei knew that there were some industry tycoons who, although not British citizens, were still knighted by the UK.

But it is 1901 now, and his history is very poor, so I really don’t know if there are any similar cases.

Lord Rayleigh couldn't help laughing when he saw his surprised look, "Bruce, I finally see your childish side. I thought you could always be calm and composed."

Li Qiwei didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The news from you was really too frightening and his heart couldn't take it.

If he could get a knighthood in Britain, the Li family wouldn't have to worry about revenge.

Even if the old witch Cixi had ten times the courage, she would not dare to openly attack the family business of a British knight.

When Britain protests, Cixi will be frightened and run away again.

Of course, there are definitely some small actions in private, but as long as they are not absolutely violent, Li Qiwei is not afraid.

His father Li Tingzhao was no pushover either, he was a tough guy who had experienced many ups and downs.

At this time, Lord Rayleigh explained: "Why Thomson said you were lucky, because you caught a good opportunity."

"King Edward VII, who ascended the throne this year, wants to be a great ruler and restore the glory of the royal family in the constitutional monarchy system."

"So, he wants to confer titles on a group of meritorious talents in various fields to demonstrate the majesty and love of the royal family." "In the field of science, Lord Kelvin and I both want to nominate you to see if you will be approved."

"Of course, the only title you can be awarded is the lowest knighthood."

"Don't even think about becoming a baronet. Even a baronet is out of the question."

After listening to Lord Rayleigh's explanation, Li Qiwei breathed rapidly. He didn't expect that Lord Kelvin also supported him.

When I thought about the time when I made a bet with the other party in public at a meeting a year ago, I blushed.

But he did not regret it. If he was young and impatient and did not speak for his country, he would be looked down upon by the big guys.

As for the title of knighthood mentioned by Lord Rayleigh, Li Qiwei knew a little about it.

The title of nobility in Britain originated in the mid-14th century. In ancient times, it was only awarded for political and military merits.

But now it has expanded to other fields such as science, literature, and art, and has evolved into an honor system.

For example, the famous Newton was knighted and called Sir Newton.

To put it bluntly, the title of nobility honors noble character that represents bravery, justice and outstanding contributions.

It is no longer possible to give you fiefdoms, economic benefits, etc. as before.

However, even so, every British person dreams of being knighted, even at the lowest level.

That is a glory engraved in our bones!

The British aristocratic knighthood system is extremely complex.

Apart from the royal family which is a separate system, the British aristocracy is divided into two types: hereditary aristocracy and life aristocracy.

The hereditary nobility is the five familiar ranks of duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron, ranked from high to low.

The title can be passed down from father to son, and will not be downgraded from generation to generation.

A life peerage is a baronial title, but it cannot be inherited.

A baron is not necessarily a life peer, for example, Baron Rayleigh is inherited by hereditary succession; but a life peer must be a baron title.

As for Lord, it is not a specific title, but a general reference to the above titles.

If you don’t have British nationality, don’t even think about the above two types of aristocratic status, as foreigners will never be able to obtain them.

Under the aristocratic system, there are two other titles: baronet and knight.

But note that they were commoners, not nobles.

Therefore, if people who are not British nationals have made outstanding contributions, they have a certain chance of obtaining these two titles.

Among them, the title of baronet is lower than the title of baron, but higher than most of the titles of knighthood.

The wife of a baronet can be given the title of "Lady" and be respectfully addressed as "Sir Lady".

The title of knight can be divided into two types: one is to obtain the knight medal of the Sir level, and the other is to obtain the lower title of Sir.

For the first kind of knighthood of the Order of Knighthood, according to the different levels of the Order of Knighthood, it can be divided into:
Order of the Garter, Order of the Thistle, Order of the Bath, Order of Merit, Order of St Michael and St George, Order of Victoria. (From high to low)

The above medals have strict requirements for obtaining and are extremely rare.

In real history, Edward VII's successor, George V, added the Order of the British Empire in 1917, ranking last as a supplement.

The Order of the British Empire consists of five levels: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE), Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE, DBE for women), Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

Among them, only those who have been awarded GBE and KBE can be given the title of knight, that is, "Sir" is added before their name.

The latter three do not count as obtaining the title of knight, but only as having the medal of knighthood.

As for the second lower-level honor, Sir, it is the oldest knighthood in the UK.

But it is not a type of knighthood medal, but a lower level of knighthood, roughly the same level as KBE, so it can also be honored as Sir.

Mr. Shaw, the famous founder of TVB in later generations, is a knight of the lower order.

To sum up, the five ranks of nobility, duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron, are called corresponding titles or lord; while the titles of baronet and knight are called knight.

The above is the British aristocratic title system. Of course, there are certainly more details and changes due to historical factors.

However, that was not something Li Qiwei could know.

Lord Kelvin and Lord Rayleigh nominated Ridgway for the rank of Knight Commander of the Order of the Companions.

Once he is able to pass the canonization, he can be honored as "Sir" by others, although it is the lowest level of Sir.

For a moment, Li Qiwei's heart was burning with anger, and the look in his eyes when he looked at Lord Rayleigh changed.

However, he still asked worriedly, "Lord, are you sure there is no problem with my identity?"

Lord Rayleigh thought for a moment and said, "Given your achievements in the field of physics, and as a student at Cambridge University."

"Lord Kelvin and I both think that a lowest-ranking knighthood shouldn't be a problem."

"King Edward VII may want to show the world the tolerance and style of the British Empire by knighting you."

"Of course, if you are willing to take British citizenship now, I think it is possible for you to become a baronet."

Li Qiwei smiled awkwardly, that was absolutely impossible.

To be honest, he did not regard the British title as something great.

Judging from his future achievements, Britain is probably not qualified enough to canonize him.

But now, he urgently needs such a tiger skin to cover himself so that the Qing Dynasty would not dare to act rashly and he could better implement the Spark Plan.

Then he asked, "My Lord, is there anything I need to do?"

Lord Rayleigh suddenly felt a little embarrassed, but finally said, "Bruce, you know, although being knighted is an honor, it also requires some connections."

"If you can get £1 to work with, I think it will increase your chances of success."

Li Qiwei found this point easy to accept. It was the same in the East and the West throughout history.

The almighty Edward VII signed his name and knighted him without even meeting Ridgway.

There are all kinds of tedious work here, and the people below need to run around to do it, and of course they have to give others some benefits.

Lord Rayleigh added: "The coronation ceremony is expected to be held at Buckingham Palace in January next year."

"At that time, there will be high-ranking nobles who will be conferred titles."

"You can choose to go to the scene, or you can refuse to go. A knighthood will not have much impact."

Li Qiwei was speechless for a moment, thinking that his ranking was too low.

Moreover, before 1926, knights of lower ranks did not have their own insignia, only medals.

But this is normal. Unlike in later generations, the conferment of a KBE would probably be very grand, with the Queen personally presenting the medal to the recipient on the spot.

During this period, the British Empire was colonizing everywhere and going to war with the natives and other countries.

Every once in a while, there are quite a few people who achieve enough military merit to be awarded a title, and can go directly to the title of baron and become a noble.

In comparison, Li Qiwei's junior title of Knight seems insignificant.

Finally, he couldn't help but ask: "My Lord, why do you go to such great lengths to help me?"

Lord Rayleigh thought for a while and said, "I am preparing for Thomson's knighthood in the future and familiarizing myself with the process in advance."

After that, hearty laughter from three people rang out in the room.

(End of this chapter)