Chapter 274 Greedy Snake (Third Update)

"Continuing to take the particle trajectory as an example, do you know who introduced the mathematical description of particle trajectory?"

"Professor Kelero." Wu Bin replied.

After hearing Wu Bin's answer, Professor Pan Jianwei was obviously taken aback, "Have you read his paper?"

"Yes, I have read his research papers on geometric curves and the concept of curvature."

"Why did you think of reading such an old paper?" Professor Pan Jianwei asked with interest.

"I once looked up a document from 1935 when I was studying the material black phosphorus. But even though it was a paper written more than 80 years ago, the research in it still has great guiding significance for me, so I After realizing that the wealth of knowledge is really a very eternal thing, I became very interested in those classic papers."

"Hahaha." Professor Pan Jianwei couldn't help laughing after hearing this, "No wonder the professors in the school praise you. Now I understand a little bit more."

"Then since you know Colello, you should also know something about his academic career, right?"

Wu Bin thought for a while and replied: "To be specific...I don't fully understand it. I only know that he was elected as an academician of the French Academy of Sciences at the age of 18."

How hard-core are the academicians of the French Academy of Sciences?

To put it simply, Marie Curie, who has won two Nobel Prizes, is not eligible for selection because she is not knowledgeable enough.

De Broglie, the second-generation official who was the most arrogant among the top scientists, proposed the concept of matter waves in his doctoral thesis in 1924. He later won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1929, but it was not until more than ten years later that he succeeded in developing the concept of matter waves. Thanks to the help of his eldest brother, he was finally elected as an academician of the French Academy of Sciences.

This is enough to show how evil Kelero is, who was elected as an academician of this academy at the age of 18.

"Okay, since you know it, I won't introduce it any more. Well, let me give you another analogy. Since you have studied quantum mechanics, you must know that there is an important concept called the Pauli matrix."

This time, Professor Pan Jianwei did not intend to ask Wu Bin any more questions, but continued directly.

"During the vacation after his college entrance examination and waiting for the admission notice, Pauli wrote two papers that laid the foundation for him as an expert in the theory of relativity."

"So when he first reported to the University of Munich, Sommerfeld, a famous professor in Munich, told him directly that you were already qualified for a doctorate degree, but according to German regulations, a person must go through at least six semesters after entering the university. You can apply for a PhD.”

Speaking of this, Professor Pan Jianwei suddenly glanced at Wu Bin, as if to imply something.

"Pauli did not graduate early after that, but Sommerfeld told him that you can't just hang around here for six semesters, so he found him some job, and that job was for a German mathematical encyclopedia to write the theory of relativity. This is a special topic.”

"So Pauli, who was just a freshman, began to write documents on the theory of relativity until he officially published it in his junior year. To this day, this 237-page text on relativity is still a classic in this field."

"Well, I've seen it, and it's indeed very good." Wu Bin nodded vigorously.

"Okay, I also know that you are also very good." Professor Pan Jianwei smiled and nodded, "Then let me ask you another question, do you know the relationship between the Pauli matrix and the theory of relativity?"

"Are you saying that the Pauli matrix plus the unit 2*2 matrix is ​​the distance formula in the theory of relativity?"

"..."

Professor Pan Jianwei was silent for a while after listening, "Although I used genius as an example, if you think about it carefully, these are things that European high school and freshman students should know, but there are too many people in our country who It was only after being a professor for more than ten years that I suddenly understood a little bit."

Seeing Wu Bin nodding seriously, Professor Pan Jianwei smiled helplessly and said: "Actually, I want to give you some warnings. For example, if you devote yourself to a basic science like physics, you should broaden your horizons. Don't think Those who study condensed matter experimental physics don’t need to know anything about relativity.”

"Go deeper into it to understand a little more and find out how deep the water is. This may allow you to calm down and do something."

"But it seems like these warnings seem a bit redundant to you."

After hearing this, Wu Bin waved his hands quickly: "How come? I will keep the professor's words of wisdom in mind."

"Well... it's not a bad thing to memorize a few more sentences." Professor Pan Jianwei nodded with satisfaction, "Let me talk to you about my own field. What we are studying now is the most microscopic world, but we need the most macroscopic knowledge about the entire universe. knowledge."

"So in my mind, physics is like a greedy snake. The snake's tongue is a physical problem at the cosmic level. If it is , it is physics at the level of elementary particles. The most macroscopic head holds it. The most microscopic tail.”

After hearing this sentence, Wu Bin couldn't help but fall into thinking.

"Physics? Or... philosophy?"

…

Interesting chats always make time pass very quickly. After finishing his fifth cup of tea, Wu Bin finally couldn't help but want to go to the toilet.

When Wu Bin came back from the toilet, Professor Pan Jianwei stood up and said to him: "It's almost nine o'clock, let's have a light meal together."

"Okay." Wu Bin nodded happily.

During the meal, Professor Pan Jianwei raised a new topic, "Physics studies the invariance within changes. A simple review of a mathematics paper can clearly explain the core idea of ​​physics."

"Do you think mathematics is difficult?" Professor Pan Jianwei asked Wu Bin while taking a bite of braised pork.

"Difficult, but very interesting." Wu Bin raised his head and replied seriously.

Professor Pan Jianwei nodded slowly twice after listening, "Many people often say that it is very difficult for physicists to learn so much mathematics like mathematicians. Even Hilbert famously said, Very helpless words.”

"Physics is too difficult for physicists!"

"Do you know why he said that?" Professor Pan Jianwei's interest has changed from these few hours of conversation. What he pursues now is not to question the big boy in front of him, but to get a response to every question he throws. It also seems to be a happy thing.

"Because he knows that physics requires a lot of mathematics, which is difficult for physicists to master. In fact, many people have talked to me about the relationship between mathematics and physics, and I also have some ideas of my own."

"Oh? Tell me." Professor Pan Jianwei asked with a little anticipation.

"A lot of mathematical knowledge is indeed difficult for physicists to master, but on the other hand, equations, or the beauty of mathematics, are really not something that mathematicians can see. Really beautiful mathematics must reflect our real physical world. So you still need to use the perspective of physics to see what’s so beautiful about it.”