Scientist’s Story 1: The Mystery of the Golden Crown
The King of Farmers asked a goldsmith to make him a pure gold crown. After it was finished, the king suspected that the craftsman had mixed silver into the gold crown. , but the gold crown is indeed as heavy as the pure gold that was originally given to the goldsmith. Did the craftsman do something wrong? Wanting to test the authenticity without destroying the crown, this problem not only stumped the king, but also made the ministers look at each other.
Later, the king gave it to Archimedes. Archimedes tried hard to think of many ways, but they all failed. One day, he went to the bathhouse to take a bath. As he sat in the tub, he saw the water overflowing and felt his body being gently pulled up. He suddenly realized something, jumped out of the bath, and ran straight to the palace without even putting on his clothes, shouting "I know" and "I know" loudly all the way.
It turned out that he thought that if the amount of water discharged after the crown was placed in water was not equal to the amount of water discharged by the same weight of gold, it must be mixed with other metals. This is the famous law of buoyancy, which states that an object immersed in a liquid is subject to an upward buoyant force equal to the weight of the liquid displaced by the object. Later, this law was named Archimedes' law.
Scientist’s Story 2: Cleverly Calculating the Volume of a Light Bulb
One day, the inventor Edison handed a light bulb to his assistant, Upton, a mathematics graduate from Princeton University. Ask him to calculate the volume of a glass bulb.
Upton thought about the light bulb for a long time, then used a measuring tape to measure the left and right, up and down sides of the light bulb for a while, and drew a lot of sketches on the paper, filled with various sizes. I have listed many calculation formulas, but I have not yet come up with a result.
When Edison saw that he was sweating profusely, he said to him: "My God: you should use this method to calculate!" He filled the light bulb with water and handed it to Upton and said: "Pour this water into the measuring cup and look at its volume. It is the volume of the light bulb." The assistant suddenly understood after hearing this, so he quickly calculated it according to the method.
Scientist’s Story 3: The Lost Man
One day when Einstein, the great scientist who understood the world, was going home, he was thinking about a problem while walking and unknowingly walked to a strange place. . When the local found that he was lost, he wanted to ask someone else, but he forgot his home address.
Fortunately, he still remembered the phone number of his office, so he called the office. He was afraid that the secretary would laugh, so he pretended to be someone else and asked: "Excuse me, where does Einstein live?" The secretary didn't. Recognizing Einstein's voice, he said: "I'm sorry, Dr. Einstein doesn't want others to disturb him, and his home address cannot be disclosed."
At this time, Einstein had to say "I am Einstein." His words surprised the secretary.
Nothing is unique. A similar thing happened to the great French writer Balzac.
Balzac often went out for walks. One time, he was afraid that someone would look for him, so he wrote a few words on the door before going out: "Mr. Balzac is not at home, please come here in the afternoon."
He was composing a novel while walking. A few hours later, he got hungry and started walking home. Suddenly he saw the words on the door. He sighed with regret and said, "It turns out Mr. Balzac is not at home." After that, he turned around and walked back. , and continued to conceive of his novel.
One is a great scientist and the other is a great writer. Why do they sometimes not even know about their own family? In fact, if you analyze it carefully, it is not surprising. From a psychological point of view, when a person is jealous and obsessed with something, a great excitement point is generated in the nerve center of his brain, and everything else is temporarily suppressed.
He has entered a state of selflessness at this time, and except for the problems he is thinking about, everything in the world no longer exists. It's entirely possible that they temporarily forgot their home address. Their state of ‘obsession’ is a reflection of the peak of their creative spirit.
Scientist’s Story 4: Unkind People
If you have a guest visiting your home, and you don’t invite him to sit down and let him stand, that is definitely a kind of behavior. It's very rude behavior, and people will say you don't understand human feelings. However, Marie Curie, a world-famous physicist and chemist and two-time Nobel Prize winner, is such an "unhuman" person.
In order to engage in scientific research, Madame Curie and her husband Mr. Curie refused to socialize together and often stayed in the house for dozens of days without going out. Sometimes they forget to cook and eat carrots to satisfy their hunger.
Although the Curies are world-famous scientists, their family is very poor. One day, they received a letter from their father asking them what furniture they wanted to buy.
Mr. Curie said: "We only have two chairs. There is no place to sit when the guests come. Let's add another chair."
Mrs. Curie said: "But they Once I sit down, I don’t want to leave.” So the two agreed that in order not to have guests occupying their scientific research time, they would not add a single chair.
Look, how inhumane this is! However, there will be people who are even more unkind than them. When guests come, they won't even let them in. The Russian musician Tchaikovsky was like this when he was composing.
Once, Tchaikovsky was writing at his desk. The doorbell rang quickly, and the servant came in and announced: "Sir, a gentleman is visiting."
Tchaikovsky Ski said without hesitation: "Please tell him that I am working and don't want to see anyone."
The servant said: "That is a socialite, and I am not afraid of your identity. ”
Tchaikovsky was immersed in his creation and ignored his servants. But the doorbell still kept ringing. Tchaikovsky had to stop his work, frowned and went to open the door.
As expected, there was a well-dressed gentleman standing at the door: "Excuse me, is Mr. Tchaikovsky at home?"
It turned out that this man did not know him. Tchaikovsky immediately said: "Not here."
The gentleman said: "I have visited many times and have never met him. Can you tell me when he will be here?"
"It's hard to say." Tchaikovsky said coldly. After the guests left, Tchaikovsky quickly closed the door and resumed his creation.
People like Marie Curie and Tchaikovsky do seem a bit unhuman, but this is also their greatness.
Scientist’s Story 5: The Missing Groom
The French microbiologist and chemist Pasteur was keen on conducting experiments. He was always confused and abnormal in his life. People called it For crazy people. On the day of "Crazy" Pasteur's wedding, the house was packed with guests.
The bride, Miss Mary, accompanied by her parents, arrived early at the church where the wedding was held. When the pastor announced the start of the ceremony, everyone's eyes flashed with questions. Why was there no shadow of the groom?
People looked around, but all came back disappointed. Miss Mary burst into tears at such a cold reception. Finally, a good friend of Pasteur found him in the laboratory. It turned out that Pasteur was conducting an experiment, and his friend asked him: "Hey, have you forgotten what day today is?"
Pasteur replied: "I definitely haven't forgotten, sir. But I can't Stop my experiment, you see, he will succeed." In this way, he didn't even have time to change his clothes until the end of the experiment. Although Miss Mary felt sad, wasn't it because he admired Pasteur's dedication to science that he decided to marry him? So he forgave his husband.
Scientist’s Story 6: Persistence in Returning to China
Zhou Peiyuan, a famous contemporary Chinese physicist, was invited to participate in the research work of the United States Wartime Agency for Scientific Research and Development in 1945. With the end of World War II, the U.S. Department of the Navy established the Naval Military Experiment Station and hoped that Zhou Peiyuan would work at the station and receive excellent treatment.
However, the Department of the Navy is a government department of the United States. Those who serve in units affiliated to the Department of the Navy become civil servants of the U.S. government. Foreigners must become U.S. citizens to participate. Zhou Peiyuan immediately proposed three conditions to the United States: first, he would not become a U.S. citizen; second, he would only undertake temporary research tasks; third, he could leave at any time.
In February 1947, Zhou Peiyuan resolutely left the United States with his wife and children and returned to the embrace of his motherland.
Scientist’s Story Seven: Regardless of Safety
Qian Sanqiang, the founder of my country’s atomic energy science industry, went to France to study atomic theory in 1937. He was considered the best by the Curies and his wife. of scientific researchers. In 1948, Qian Sanqiang and his wife He Zehui proposed to return to China, but their mentors and colleagues repeatedly persuaded them to stay.
The Kuomintang government’s ambassador to France viciously threatened: “It would be strange if he could reach the mainland!” The meaning was very clear. If Qian Sanqiang insists on returning to the motherland, Kuomintang agents will kill him halfway.
Qian Sanqiang disregarded personal safety and life and death. He and his wife held their half-year-old daughter in their arms and returned to the motherland decisively and tactfully. He made a significant contribution to the development of my country's atomic energy industry and was recognized as Known as China's "Father of Nuclear Bombs".