Paper Completed

Just as Cecil and Bellam were plotting their schemes, Li Qiwei finally received Professor Planck's paper.

Inside Lane Library at Trinity College, Li Qiwei sat across from Planck.

The revised paper lay on the table, and neither man could suppress the smiles on their faces.

Planck spoke first. "Bruce, take a look at the revisions I made."

"I simplified your equation and arrived at the final expression for energy: E=hv."

"I think you should give this equation a name. After all, it is your achievement."

Li Qiwei picked up the paper, overwhelmed with excitement. His hands even trembled slightly.

From this day onward, he would become the foremost figure in Quantum Mechanics, a great man who had opened up an entirely new theory!

In his previous life, such a thing would have been utterly unimaginable.

But now, everything was ready. All that remained was for him to give it a name.

Li Qiwei slowly said, "Let's call it the [Li-Planck Radiation Formula]."

Hearing this, Planck looked at Li Qiwei in surprise, and a warm current flowed through his heart.

It could be said that this formula was the core of the entire paper.

It showed that the energy radiated or absorbed by matter was not continuous, but came in discrete portions, capable only of taking integer multiples of a minimum value.

And that minimum value was E.

Such an important formula had essentially been completed independently by Li Qiwei.

As for himself, he had merely performed some mathematical transformations and simplifications.

How could he possibly deserve such an honor, to share in this glory?

Planck softly said, "Thank you, Bruce."

Li Qiwei smiled. "Professor, without you, perhaps the formula would not have become so concise."

"And simplicity is the essential beauty of physics. I still hope that one day, I can rival Newton."

Planck smiled knowingly after hearing that. Of course, he knew Li Qiwei was referring to F=ma.

Looking at the mischievous genius before him, Planck felt deeply moved.

Pointing toward the distant bookshelves, he asked with a smile, "Bruce, do you know about Lane Library?"

Li Qiwei froze for a moment, not expecting the question. Then he smiled. "I haven't been in Cambridge long, so I don't."

"Professor, would you be willing to tell me about it?"

Planck withdrew his gaze and looked at Li Qiwei. "Lane Library holds nearly five hundred years of Trinity College's history."

"There are Ancient Egyptian mummies here, Newton's personally preserved first edition of Nature, manuscripts of Milton's poems, a full-body jade statue of Byron, and more."

"It can be said that this place is a treasure trove of classical history."

By then, Planck's tone was growing more and more excited, and Li Qiwei could roughly guess what he was about to say.

Sure enough, Planck continued, "And today, in this very library, Bruce, you and I may very well change the history of physics."

"A hundred years from now, the two of us will be remembered as well."

"What a great and marvelous thing that would be."

After hearing Planck's words, Li Qiwei's heart surged like a tidal wave, his ambitions soaring to the heavens.

This was the first time since his transmigration that he had felt this way.

At the very moment when he was truly about to change history, he realized that he was still too green.

He could not control his excitement, nor the faint, inexplicable dread he felt toward changing the future.

But soon, he steadied himself once more.

He knew the path physics would take over the next hundred years. He was confident that he could create new brilliance.

So he said heavily, "Professor Planck, I am ready."

"Let the two of us open a new future for physics together."

Planck smiled calmly. "Thanks to you, Bruce, I too will leave my name in history."

With that, the two exchanged smiles.

Planck continued, "Bruce, I will be returning to Berlin University this afternoon."

"Once you have finished your exams and begun your holiday, I sincerely invite you to visit Berlin University."

"And while you're there, put a little pressure on my arrogant graduate students."

"That bunch of youngsters argues all day long, yet I have not seen their academic standards improve one bit."

Amused by Planck's teasing, Li Qiwei smiled. "Professor, don't worry. I will definitely come."

"Germany is also a powerhouse of physics. I would like to visit some of the senior masters as well."

Planck smiled. "Rest assured, when the time comes, I will personally introduce you to some people."

After saying that, Planck rose to his feet. After giving Li Qiwei a firm handshake, he prepared to leave.

Next, Li Qiwei found a quiet place, copied the paper out neatly again, and placed it in an envelope.

This time, he did not intend to have his junior brother Chris mail the paper for him.

For something this important, he could only feel at ease doing it himself.

Li Qiwei went to the mailing office at Cambridge University, carefully filled in the address for Nature, and dropped the paper into the mail.

Just as he was about to leave, the administrator suddenly called him back and said there was a letter for him, sent from Switzerland.

This should be Einstein's reply.

For convenience, the address Li Qiwei had left Einstein was Cambridge University.

He hurriedly took the envelope, went somewhere deserted on campus, and began reading the letter carefully.

In the letter, Einstein praised Li Qiwei's genius idea without reservation.

He even stated outright that Quantum Theory was an achievement no less great than Newtonian mechanics.

From the tone of his words, he was only a step away from treating Li Qiwei as the mentor of his life.

He practically wished he could fly over at once and discuss physics with him for three days and three nights.

In addition, Einstein said that Quantum Theory had also inspired him, and that he had finally found the direction for his own research.

He hoped they could correspond often in the future.

After reading the letter, a smile appeared at the corner of Li Qiwei's lips.

Being praised by the god of physics in later generations was even more gratifying than winning the Nobel Prize in Physics.

At the same time, he knew that Einstein's time to display his divine might was about to begin.

He just did not know whether that time would arrive early.

As everyone knew, 1905 was known as "Einstein's Miracle Year."

Because it was in that year that Einstein published five papers in succession and achieved two enormous breakthroughs.

The Photoelectric Effect and Special Relativity.

Among them, the Photoelectric Effect had been inspired by the concept of quanta. Einstein believed that light, too, was quantized—that is, [Photon].

This explained the phenomenon in which shining light onto a metal plate produced an electric current.

This phenomenon had first been discovered by the physicist Hertz.

But the correct explanation had been given by Einstein.

Thus, he won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for the Photoelectric Effect.

As for the Special Relativity published in the same year, it was an independent theory and far too profound.

It was said that when it was published that year, only a handful of people in the entire world could understand the paper.

So the people on Sweden's Nobel Committee had not dared to award this achievement a prize, fearing they might make a mistake.

Thinking of these amusing anecdotes, Li Qiwei could not help laughing aloud.

Relativity and Quantum Mechanics—one explained macroscopic phenomena, the other microscopic phenomena.

The two were mutually incompatible.

Historically, Einstein had never managed to unite them before the end, leaving behind a regret.

He wondered what changes history would undergo in this life, with himself as the fluttering wings of a butterfly.

Li Qiwei was very much looking forward to it!

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