A Fated Encounter (Part 2)

Creak--

The creaking sound of the carriage stopping quickly drew the attention of the people under the shade of the trees, and even William's expression gradually became solemn.

A moment later.

Whoosh--

With the sound of wind as a door curtain was lifted, a figure slowly walked down from the carriage.

The newcomer was a man in his early thirties, somewhat short and hunched, wearing a powdered wig made of horsehair and a gray, floor-length robe.

It was noteworthy that the fabric of the robe was surprisingly rare silk. Although 17th-century Gaul had a complete silk production system, with Lyon even becoming the center of silk weaving production and design in Europe, silk was still a top-tier luxury item before the invention of the spinning jenny.

If tea at this time was akin to a Rolls-Royce Phantom, then silk was roughly equivalent to a Bentley Continental.

Judging by the map of England at the time, the man was at least the second-generation heir of a borough-level town, or a capable wealthy merchant or dignitary.

Watching the man walk towards them, William frowned slightly, carefully shielding Elula and Lilani behind him. Mrs. William instinctively moved in front of Andrea.

As for Lisa, she was left aside. In this era, under similar circumstances, an adult woman's safety was actually higher than that of a child.

The specific topic is too sensitive to elaborate further.

However, beside Lisa, Little Ox had quietly picked up his holy book, intending to reason with anyone if things went awry.

Gulp--

William watched the approaching man, his Adam's apple bobbing a few times. Before the man revealed his intentions, William maintained a respectful tone:

"Sir, may I ask what brings you here?"

The newcomer raised his eyelids, glanced at him, and a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He raised his hand to press downward, signaling him not to be nervous:

"Please relax, sir. I am not the kind of person you think I am."

He then walked over to Little Ox, staring at the Cambridge University uniform he was wearing for a few moments, with his gaze lingering on the Trinity College crest for a few seconds:

"Cambridge University, Trinity College?"

Perhaps due to his high position, the newcomer's tone carried a hint of questioning, which inexplicably annoyed Little Ox.

However, Little Ox at this time was merely the youthful version of the future hot-tempered old man. The lack of status and position meant he didn't have enough confidence, so he merely replied dryly:

"That's right."

"So you are a student of Isaac Barrow?"

"That's right."

Upon hearing this, the newcomer suddenly let out a cold snort.

"What is your name?"

A shadow flashed in Little Ox's eyes. After a few seconds, he replied:

"Isaac Newton."

The newcomer's eyes narrowed slightly, as if sensing Little Ox's displeasure:

"Isaac Newton? A good name.

Allow me to introduce myself, Robert Hooke, the current Professor of Geometry at Gresham College."

Before Little Ox and the William family could react to this statement, Xu Yun's heart suddenly lurched, almost crushing the bread in his bag!

It was him?!

Anyone who knew a little about Little Ox's life would know.

In Little Ox's 85 years of life, there was one person who was both his teacher and rival, inextricably linked to him.

When Newton is mentioned, this person must also be mentioned.

He was Robert Hooke!

Hooke was born in July 1635, seven and a half years older than Little Ox. He was exceptionally gifted from a young age and later entered the renowned Oxford University.

However, for some reason, Hooke did not graduate with a degree but was fortunate enough to become Boyle's research assistant.

Due to his outstanding scientific insights, in 1662, this exceptionally capable young scientist was recommended to serve as the chief superintendent of the Royal Society of London's laboratory and quickly became a fellow of the Royal Society.

And given that he would have a decades-long love-hate relationship with Little Ox, Hooke's abilities were naturally undeniable.

In mechanics, Hooke proposed Hooke's Law, which is a fundamental law of elasticity and material mechanics with wide applications.

In the American TV series Prison Break, Michael Scofield used Hooke's Law with a whisk to penetrate the steel-reinforced concrete wall of the prison.

In optics, he pioneered the wave theory, equaling Huygens, the head of the French Academy of Sciences.

Furthermore, Hooke was a DIY enthusiast. With his magical hands, he expanded humanity's vision in both the extremely large and extremely small worlds:

He improved the telescope, observing Jupiter's Great Red Spot and lunar craters for the first time, improved the microscope, discovering and naming cells (Leeuwenhoek discovered bacteria), and his magnum opus, Micrographia, was a bestseller.

However, it was quite dramatic that just as Hooke was at the peak of his fame, Little Ox arrived.

In 1668, the young Newton placed the first reflecting telescope on the desk of the Royal Society, which directly angered Hooke.

The reflecting telescope was the most advanced telescope design at the time, directly encroaching on two of Hooke's areas of expertise at the Society:

Optics and instrument design.

When this small, exquisite model, whose performance surpassed all previous refracting telescopes, appeared, Hooke felt his position was challenged. So, instead of joining the chorus praising the reflecting telescope, he loudly declared himself to be the first person to create a practical reflecting telescope.

Hooke emphasized at the meeting that he had made a 3 cm reflecting telescope seven years before Little Ox, and its performance was superior to other telescopes up to 15 meters long.

He even had smaller designs that could fit in a pocket watch, but further research was delayed only due to the spread of the Black Death and the reconstruction work after the Great Fire of London.

This debate caused great harm to Little Ox. It evoked his childhood experiences of being severely bullied, and he even threatened to withdraw from the Royal Society of London.

Finally, with the mediation of the Royal Society's secretary, Henry Oldenburg, both parties reached a "reconciliation."

But from then on, Little Ox began to "live in seclusion" in Cambridge, no longer publishing his academic achievements to the outside world.

However, the feud between Little Ox and Hooke was not over. In 1679, Hooke wrote a letter to Newton.

After a series of discussions about mechanics, Hooke told Newton that he believed there was a gravitational force between any two objects, and this force was inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. This is the so-called inverse square law.

To put it simply, Hooke generously pointed out Newton's mistake without hiding it and watching him go down the wrong path.

But at the same time, he arrogantly said that such calculations required a new tool, so Newton, knowing where he was wrong, still couldn't calculate it, teehee~

This tool was actually Calculus, which Newton called Fluxions, and it was already nearing completion at the time.

But Newton was cunning; he didn't tell Hooke about it and secretly worked out the formula for Universal Gravitation himself.

In 1687, with the funding of the English astronomer Halley, Little Ox published one of the greatest works in human scientific history, Principia Mathematica, later simply referred to as Principia.

In this book, Little Ox proposed the famous Newton's Laws of Motion and the law of Universal Gravitation. Using the Calculus he invented, he proved that Kepler's Three Laws could be derived from the inverse square law of gravitation.

The publication of this book made Little Ox world-famous. Not only did it solve a world problem at the time, but he also invented Calculus, one of the most powerful tools in mathematical history.

In Halley's words, he became "the closest person to God in the world." With the exception of being single, his life was complete.

And at this point, Hooke wrote another letter to Little Ox, demanding that Little Ox revise Principia and admit that he was the discoverer of the inverse square law.

This demand completely enraged Little Ox. He replied to Hooke, stating that this law was not proposed by Hooke at all but was common knowledge.

In his anger, Little Ox directly deleted all the text related to Hooke from Principia, intending to make Hooke disappear from history.

Furthermore, speaking of Little Ox and Hooke, we must mention another truly little-known fact.

Earlier, we mentioned the anecdote of Tao Yuanming refusing to bow for five pecks of rice. This letter involves another sentence that ruined childhoods.

Many people know that Little Ox once said:

"If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants."

Many people believe this statement by Little Ox was a humble expression of encouragement, but it was actually a jab at Hooke.

It's known that Hooke himself was not tall and had a hunchback.

Therefore, Little Ox's reply was not meant to be an inspirational quote at all. The subtext was, "My achievements have nothing to do with you, Hooke, a short, hunched-over man!"

Of course.

The context of this quote was when Little Ox was discussing the color of thin plates in a letter. At that time, Henry Oldenburg, the same old man who mediated their first meeting, fanned the flames.

Therefore, the details of this quote are not as dramatic, and it has nothing to do with Universal Gravitation, but it was indeed a sarcastic remark.

Then, after Hooke's death, Little Ox was elected as the new President of the Royal Society of London. In the first year of his tenure, Hooke's laboratory and library were dissolved on the spot, and the experimental equipment left by Hooke was either dispersed or destroyed.

Even during the relocation of the Royal Society's headquarters in 1710, Hooke's only portrait was 'accidentally lost' during the move, and Hooke's true appearance remains unknown to this day.

Therefore, it's not an exaggeration to say that the dispute between Little Ox and Hooke was a life-or-death struggle between academic giants from beginning to end.

However, what puzzled Xu Yun was.

Setting aside how Hooke appeared here, the dispute between Little Ox and Hooke should have occurred thirteen years later. Why were these two men already exchanging barbs upon meeting?