British writer

Bern, Switzerland

Patent Office.

"Potential difference or potential difference is a physical quantity that measures the energy difference produced by a unit charge in an electrostatic field due to the difference in electric potential. The size from one point to another point..."

In the small conference room, a young man was talking.

Whenever he talks about key points, he will frown involuntarily, causing several horizontal grooves to appear on his forehead.

But when he stretched, his forehead was big and smooth, like a smooth wall.

"Pause!"

The interviewer sitting opposite the young man raised his hand and interrupted: "Mr. Einstein, please stop for a moment."

Albert Einstein said "Huh?", a little helpless,

"Sir, from May to July this year, my energy was focused on completing this paper on the thermodynamic theory of electric potential difference. It is the result of my work during this period. I think it is still important to clarify it."

The interviewer smiled brightly.

"I understand. Of course it is important. Our Patent Office needs talents like you."

Einstein was silent.

With its history dating back to 1836, the Bern Patent Office is one of the oldest patent offices in the world and one of the largest in the world.

Working here, you can see the world's most cutting-edge technology and scientific research results.

That's why he sought to work here.

The interviewer smiled gently,

"I have some questions about your resume. Can you answer them?"

Einstein nodded,

"Speaking."

The interviewer glanced at the paper materials in his hand and said: "First of all, I noticed that you have taken the entrance examination of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology twice?"

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Zurich) is actually the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

I didn't expect to ask this,

Einstein looked embarrassed.

He nodded,

"Yes."

This answer is obviously unsatisfactory.

The interviewer's expression remained unchanged and continued to look at Einstein.

The silence speaks.

Einstein was helpless,

"I have to admit that the entrance exam for the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology is very difficult, and I failed it once. At that time, I had just taught myself calculus and was not yet proficient in its application... The 'application' here refers to doing the questions. rather than scientific research.”

The interviewer said "hmm".

His body leaned back, sinking into the armchair, and his face was hidden in the shadows, and his expression could not be seen clearly.

His hands touched each other with their fingertips, facing each other in vain.

Einstein was worried,

"gentlemen?"

The interviewer pondered,

After a moment, he said: "This is not a good record."

Einstein quickly explained: "Sir, I graduated from Aarau State High School the following year, and then took the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology again and succeeded."

The interviewer didn't respond and seemed to be thinking about it.

After a moment, he said: "You don't need to be nervous. As I said just now, I'm just a little confused."

Einstein was speechless;

"..."

Can you not be nervous?

No matter how much people like scientific research, they cannot live by drinking dew.

He needs a stable job.

The interviewer also seemed to notice that the young man had not let go of his nervousness, so he comforted him: "It's not a big deal. I looked at your record and found that your graduation thesis was very successful and was published in the Leipzig "Annals of Physics" journal. "

Speaking of this, Einstein felt a little proud,

""Inferences from Capillary Phenomenon" is a good article."

The interviewer chuckled,

"Haha, I study chemistry."

Einstein touched his nose and cursed himself for getting carried away.

The interviewer put on a serious tone again and said, "The following is the second question. It seems that you only officially obtained federal citizenship this year?"

Einstein said: "Things in March."

The interviewer said "hmm".

"Let's talk."

Einstein swallowed and whispered: "First of all, I am of Jewish descent. I was born in Ulm, Germany, and later moved to Munich with my parents. Because I felt a fanatical love for mathematics, I began to study advanced mathematics on my own."

The interviewer was lost in thought,

After a long while, he said: "You still have to wait. Your time for naturalization is too short."

This is equivalent to a promise,

Einstein was surprised,

"That is to say..."

The interviewer waved his hand and said, "I'll give you a note. Please come back and apply after March next year."

As he spoke, he tore up a piece of paper and wrote his last name on it.

"Huh~"

Einstein let out a sigh of relief,

"Thanks."

The interviewer shook his head and said, "No need to thank me, I didn't promise anything."

As he spoke, he waved his hand to signal Einstein to leave.

Einstein quickly put the note into his pocket, said goodbye to the other party, opened the door and left the small conference room, and then quickly walked out of the patent office.

In October in Bern, the weather is getting cooler, and the fresh air is filled with the breath of autumn.

The sunshine shines through the blue sky and white clouds on the streets and alleys of the city, giving people a warm and peaceful feeling.

Not far away, a woman came up to her,

"Albert, how are you?"

The woman's name is Mileva Marik, a college classmate of Einstein's.

Einstein had a vague feeling that the two would get married.

He shook his head,

"Not yet."

Marik couldn't help but sigh and whispered: "I told you before, there is no need to write down your affairs too clearly. Swiss people are very rigid."

The corners of Einstein's mouth curled up,

In fact, he is not a person who doesn't know how to adapt.

On his resume, he only said that he was Jewish, born in Germany, and became a Swiss citizen in March this year, but he concealed a very important experience——

In 1894, Einstein's family moved to Milan, Italy.

In recent years, Italy and Switzerland have been somewhat unhappy because of the Alps and Ticino regions.

Einstein would not have been stupid enough to tell the truth.

Of course, there are some disagreements between Germany and Switzerland, but Germany is the country where Einstein was born, so there is no way to hide it.

In this case, why not say it openly,

This also leaves a genuine first impression.

From a historical perspective, few truly great scientists have low emotional intelligence.

Einstein was no exception.

He spread his hands and said: "I only said 'it's not possible now', but I didn't say 'it won't be possible in the future'. The people from the Patent Office asked me to come back in March next year, and it should be fine by then."

Marik showed a surprised expression,

"Really? I already knew you were fine."

Einstein shrugged,

"That's not what you just said."

Maryk was so amused that she laughed, and then she opened her mouth as if she remembered something.

"Ah, that's right! Look at this!"

She handed over a copy of the Mirror.

Einstein was speechless;

"Isn't the serialization of "I Am Cat" finished?"

Because that comic was so popular that the whole of Europe was affected.

Especially the ladies, all look forward to "Mirror", so much so that in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, France and other places, "Mirror" has been sold for a sky-high price ten times the original price.

But even so, it's still hard to find.

Einstein was somewhat disdainful of this.

He also liked "I Am Cat", but he couldn't bear to spend more money on the newspaper than it was actually worth.

Unexpectedly, Marik shook his head and said: "It's not the novel version or the comic version, look at the front page!"

Einstein looked over,

Unexpectedly, the front page this time turned out to be a large table.

Header——

"Global University Rankings".

"Tsk..."

Einstein couldn't help but gasped and whispered: "The editor-in-chief of the Mirror is a little arrogant. He actually thinks he can rank universities around the world? Is he serious..."

Before he finished speaking, Marik immediately interrupted: "The editor-in-chief of "Mirror" is Lu."

Einstein:? ? ?

"What? What 'Lu'?"

He doesn't understand.

Marik helplessly reminded the other party: "Have you forgotten your favorite novel?"

Einstein's favorite novel is of course "The Country Teacher".

And its author...

"Lu!? That Lu!?"

Einstein's eyes widened.

Marik nodded and said, "That's Lu. At the same time, he is also the writer of "No Survivor", "Roger's Mystery", "Roman Holiday" and "The Lord of the Rings"."

Einstein: "..."

I couldn't help but whisper in my heart, the gap between people's tastes is really huge.

Just like Lu’s works,

He likes "The Village Teacher" the most because it deserves the term "science fiction" because of its fantasies about space and civilization;

Secondly, he loves Yes! Prime Minister", the irony is too profound;

Thirdly, he likes "Guns, Germs and Steel". It is obviously a liberal arts work, but it uses a lot of engineering and science thinking to compile it.

But what Marik likes is indeed those fantasy things,

Especially "Roman Holiday\

,"A princess falling in love with a pauper?

How can it be!

Einstein coughed slightly and said, "I would like to take a look at the criteria for global university rankings."

He looked at the instructions on the form,

"Academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty citations, teacher-student ratio, international teacher ratio, international student ratio, revolutionary..."

Marik asked: "How was it?"

Einstein nodded,

"Not bad. Especially the 'Citations per Faculty Paper', which is calculated by dividing the total number of citations of university research papers by the number of teachers at the university within a year. It is indeed a very groundbreaking indicator. However, this kind of data is very difficult to statistically calculate. Trouble, self-introduction must also be ruled out..."

Marik smiled and said: "Then you think you are authoritative?"

Einstein smiled,

"Well, I think it's still okay."

Marik said helplessly: "Then it's over. Our Swiss Federal Institute of Technology is ranked very low."

Einstein was quite tolerant.

"It's normal. Our school can't grant Ph.D.s yet, so the number of citations will naturally not increase. Moreover, we have a small number of colleges. Compared with Cambridge and Oxford, it's not even good enough. Even University College London is no match."

Frankly speaking, Einstein even felt that this ranking was a bit high.

Marik didn't think so,

"Our school isn't that bad, right? It's the 'number one school in Europe' after all~"

Einstein laughed,

"Self-appointed."

What I have to admit is that for many things, faith can help.

Although the current "No. 1 university in Europe" is self-proclaimed by ETH Zurich, with the split of the University of Paris and the defeat of Germany, which led to the decline of the status of each university, "the No. 1 university in Europe" actually became a reality.

Einstein looked at the table,

"Overall, this ranking is relatively objective, and the British are not shameless. The only problem is that American universities are a bit too high. Hmm... I don't know what the weight of each indicator is. Calculated."

Marik asked: "Are you curious?"

Einstein shook his head,

"Forget it~ I'd better read a novel."

Marik immediately started chirping excitedly: "There is no novel version today! However, I heard that Lu is going to start updating the second part of "The Lord of the Rings", and Gandalf will be resurrected..."

Einstein couldn't help but have a headache,

I shouldn’t have mentioned the novel myself.

…

Berlin, Germany,

University of Berlin.

In the cafeteria, Max Planck was sitting with his student Heinrich Carstens.

Carstens is about to graduate;

He naturally inherited the legacy of his mentor Planck, and his graduation thesis was on the study of blackbody radiation.

The current problem is that Planck published a paper "On the Law of Normal Spectral Energy Distribution" in the "Annals of Physics", proposing that the radiation energy of matter is not infinitely divisible, but consists of the smallest, indivisible energy units. composition,

This "quantum theory" was too advanced, causing Planck to become a great person in the eyes of many people.

Even in the physics group, there are many voices of disapproval.

Both the master and the disciple are not having a good time now.

The two of them lowered their heads, each attacking the bread and crispy pork knuckle, immersed in the meal.

At this moment, there was a sudden uproar behind him,

"professor!"

"Professor Monson! I bought your book, can you sign it for me?"

"History of Rome is a great book!"

…

"here we go again!"

Carstens was speechless.

Planck glanced back,

The person in the cafeteria was an old man who walked tremblingly. Despite his advanced age, he still maintained his demeanor and solemnity, and his behavior showed incomparable composure.

He is none other than Christian Monson, author of "History of Rome\

,"According to the original history, Mommsen would win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1902.

But now that Lu Shiyitong is messing with it, it's definitely out of the question.

Carstens showed a mean expression, winked at Planck subtly, and whispered: "Professor, why did you say Professor Monson returned to Berlin from Chatney? Why do I feel..."

Planck frowned.

"do not talk."

As the saying goes, "Misfortune comes from the mouth." At a time when quantum theory is being criticized, he doesn't want to cause trouble again.

Carstens, on the other hand, was young and energetic, and muttered secretly: "I see, Professor Monson is a little bit embarrassed~"

Originally, the Nobel Prize in Literature wanted to ride on Mommsen’s popularity.

But in the end, it was opposed by writers all over Europe, and was given to Toon, who truly deserved his name.

This would be a huge blow to Munson's reputation, and might even turn him into a laughing stock.

Mommsen ended his retirement and returned to the University of Berlin. There must be a reason for forming a clique and establishing another mountain. Otherwise, his reputation may be ruined.

Academics are a circle, and you can never escape.

Planck glared at the student again and said, "Eat quickly and go back to the laboratory later."

Carstens sighed;

"Professor, why are you... alas..."

He felt that everything about Planck was good, and the only problem was that there was no dispute.

Quantum theory, how advanced a theory it is?

result……

"well……"

Carstens sighed again.

Planck said helplessly: "A man who takes one step is a genius, and a man who takes a hundred steps is a madman. When you really start working on your own project, you will understand how I behave..."

Before he finished speaking, there was another noise from Monson's side.

Plank turned back.

Just listen to Monson saying over there: "It's ridiculous! It's extremely ridiculous! What kind of global university ranking is this? How can our University of Berlin not be able to compare with the University of Munich? I think the editor-in-chief of the Mirror is out of his mind."

Planck was a little confused;

“What global university rankings?”

He looked at the students,

"you know?"

Carstens couldn't help but look embarrassed.

This expression was tantamount to an answer.

Plank said, "You know."

Carstens nodded, looked around, and asked the people at the table next to him: "Friend, do you still read your copy of Mirror? My teacher wants to take a look."

If it was just Carstens himself, that person would definitely not agree.

But it was different after the professor moved out.

He handed over the newspaper,

"Okay, here you go."

Carstens took it with both hands, then unfolded the front page and placed it next to Plank.

Planck glanced at it.

"Well, that's right... hiss..."

He said nothing more.

This is the University of Berlin. To say that the ranking is fair is equivalent to admitting that the University of Munich is better than the University of Berlin.

Carstens whispered: "Professor, I won't show it to you because I'm afraid you will be embarrassed."

Planck understood,

He entered the University of Munich in 1874 to major in mathematics, and later changed to physics.

In 1878, he transferred to the University of Berlin and studied under the physicists von Helmholtz and Kirchhoff and the mathematician Karl Weierstrass.

Therefore, he is considered a person from two schools.

Even though he was elected to the Prussian Academy of Sciences in 1894, he still had to be cautious about speaking on such issues.

The reputation of the school is more important than anything else.

Academicians are not easy to use either!

After the emergence of quantum theory, Planck had a deeper understanding of these "human feelings".

"Tsk..."

He was speechless and felt that it was not suitable to stay here for a long time. He didn't care about the uneaten pork knuckle and quickly got up to clear the tableware.

Carstens returned the newspaper,

"Leave now?"

Planck glared at him and said, "You still have to go back and do experiments."

After that, he will run away.

As a result, someone called him from behind: "Professor Planck, have you read today's Mirror?"