Chapter 17 - Fudie Demon's Thesis (3)

　Joseph wore an excited expression as he greeted them one by one. However, when facing Laplace, he couldn't help but quietly clench his fists and beat him up in his heart - this was also a common wish that later generations of science and engineering students would hurry up to make when they were faced with a difficult problem on a paper and looked hopelessly out of the window, only to just happen to see a shooting star flying through there.

　　Back then Joseph didn't have the chance to beat up Laplace, now this damned guy actually stood in front of his eyes, but Joseph still couldn't beat him up, and could only greet him with incomparable enthusiasm and said: ''Mr. Laplace, I've read some of your writings, and those things have inspired me a lot. It's so fortunate to be able to meet you!" While saying that, he also stretched out both of his hands and shook his hand, just like President Trump shaking Macron's hand, first squeezing it hard, then violently pulling the other party's hand towards his side, pulling Laplace to a stagger and almost falling down.

　　"Mr. Laplace, it's such an honor to meet you, I have a lot of questions I'd like to ask you, such as ..." Joseph said this while gritting his back teeth with a full smile on his face, while using his whole body's strength, he squeezed Laplace's hands fiercely with both hands s hands.

　　"Ah ... Mr. Bonaparte ... Mr. Bonaparte ... you are so . ...better sit down first and then ... then talk slowly ... slowly ..." Laplace's right shoulder rose in a high shrugged, and he broke off as he endeavored to pull his hand back.

　　"Ah, Mr. Bonaparte, let us sit down and talk. You are so enthusiastic that you have perhaps hurt Pierre's hand." Seeing Joseph so enthusiastic, and Laplace's face contorting a little in pain from his grip, Lavoisier could not help but feel a little inclined to laugh, but he called out to Joseph.

　　"Huh?" Joseph made a startled appearance and hurriedly let go of Laplace's hand like an electric shock, and kept apologizing, "Mr. Laplace, I'm really sorry, I'm really sorry, I'm really too excited to see you ... This is really... . you're not hurt are you ..."

　　Laplace moved his right hand around a bit, then said, "Mr. Bonaparte, how did you get so much power."

　　"Pain and hatred gave me strength." Joseph thought this, but said, "I often help Father Jean Jacques with carpentry, so the strength in my hands is probably slightly greater."

　　"That's not slightly greater." Laplace said, "But we won't discuss that now - you know, we saw that paper of yours, which Mr. Lavoisier and Mr. Condorcet admired, but you know that your paper tried to disprove a universally supported and backed up by many experimental phenomena theory, which is a big thing, and everyone thought it would be better to be cautious, so Monsieur Lavoisier and Monsieur Condorcet, and a number of other gentlemen, would like to talk to you face to face about a few things about the paper ..."

　　"To be honest," Condorcet said with a gentle smile towards Joseph, "Mr. Bonaparte, this thesis of yours is one of the few high level theses that have been written over the years, and other than that, those few mathematical tools in the thesis alone are enough to win you the competition. But there are some people and not so much in agreement with your conclusions. Well, at least Cullen and Monge didn't really like that conclusion of yours. They're on their way over, and maybe they'll have a bunch of questions for you. You need to be prepared for that."

　　"Mr. Condorcet, you guys can just call me Joseph." Joseph said, "I considered this before I wrote this article. And to be honest, when I came to this conclusion, I was worried that I had gotten it wrong. And I wrote this essay precisely so that I could discuss this issue with others."

　　"Haha, young people these days are really good." Lavoisier said, "Joseph, you mean you're ready? Well, you don't have to be nervous, actually ..."

　　Only halfway through his sentence, he heard the door to the small living room being pushed open.

　　Joseph saw a few more people walk in, and he rushed to his feet.

　　The others followed suit and stood up. The one who led the way in was His Royal Highness, Duke Louis-Philippe Joseph of Orleans, whom Joseph had met once before in the café. Behind him followed two men in military uniforms, one was older, looking to be about fifty years old; the other was slightly shorter, with a bronze-colored face and a pair of gleaming eyes under a pair of thick eyebrows.

　　"Your Highness the Duke, why are you here as well?" Condorcet said.

　　"Ah, Mr. Condorcet, I passed by here on my way today, originally came to pay a visit to Monge, listened to him talk about the things here, and found out that the Mr. Bonaparte who started the controversy seems to be a little friend I know who is called Joseph like me, so I came over to take a look. As a result ... Joseph, it really is you ah." Duke Charlie said as he walked over, extended his hand, and shook Joseph's hand. Laplace stared at their hands with wide eyes, however ...

　　"Ah, Joseph, the last time I met you, I thought we would have another playwright in France, but I didn't expect to have a mathematician instead. However, Mr. Monge does not seem to share some of your views. Wanted to discuss them with you, but of course, I know absolutely nothing about these things. I'm just here to have a good time." The Duke of Orleans let go of Joseph's hand and added, "By the way Joseph, let me introduce you to these two friends of mine."

　　He pointed to the older one and said, "This is Mr. Cullen, he is an authority on electricity." Then he pointed to the shorter, younger one and introduced him, "This is Mr. Monge, he is an authority on geometry."

　　Joseph hurried forward and greeted Cullen and Monge. Duke Charles, on the other hand, found himself a chair and sat down, "As you know, I know very little about science, but I am very interested. Monge, you have quite a few questions for Joseph, so you may begin now."

　　Monge was a dry man, and hearing this, he immediately spoke, "Mr. Bonaparte, in your paper you determined that light is a transverse wave, and the mathematical derivation is impressive, but you should know that both Ren and waves propagate in a medium, so if light is really a wave, what characteristics do you need to have for this medium, this light ether, have you thought about it? "

　　To this question, Joseph was prepared, because the later history of the development of the various questions about the "light ether" is the particle theory supporters used to oppose the main weapon of the fluctuation theory.

　　"To this question, I think so ..." Joseph spoke.

　　Joseph knew that the so-called "light ether" was discarded by scientists in later times. But at this time, he could not directly say that the Ether does not exist, because it requires a lot of scientific discoveries and scientific experiments as a foundation. So he could only put some of the conjectures of the supporters of those fluctuation sayings before this to deal with Monge's question.

　　"The question about the hardness of the Ether also involves what the speed of light really is, and I envisioned an experiment that could be used to measure the speed of light more accurately. Considering that the Earth is in constant motion, then it should also be in constant motion relative to the Ether, so the measured speed of light might be different from different directions ..."

　　"A more accurate way to measure the speed of light?" Condorcet came interested.

　　"We use an eight-sided mirror that can be rotated ..." Joseph said. The method he was referring to was the Mykelsun rotating prism method. It is a relatively simple and accurate means of measurement.

　　As Joseph described the experimental concept, he took a piece of paper and a pen in his hand and began to draw the design of the equipment needed for the experiment.

　　Joseph habitually depicted those equipments in the way of drawing three-sided projection diagrams that were common in the latter days. But as soon as he saw those drawings he made, Monge's eyes snapped open.

　　"Mr. Bonaparte, where did you learn this way of drawing?" Mon Ri opened his mouth and asked.

　　"Huh?" Joseph was taken aback, he originally thought that this kind of drawing method should be a very common technique, at this moment, hearing Meng Ri ask this question, and seeing the extraordinarily serious expression on Meng Ri's face, he immediately realized that, perhaps, in this era, this kind of drawing method didn't appear at all.

　　"This is my own random drawing, I think this drawing, more intuitive and easy to understand. Why, is there a problem here?" Joseph said.

　　Monge thought for a moment and replied, "Mr. Bonaparte, you may, no, you certainly don't know that I started using a similar drafting method almost twenty years ago. But because this method of drawing is of great military significance-and I think, with your intelligence, it would not be difficult to understand this-this method of drawing was kept in strict secrecy. It can only be taught in military academies, and, all officers who have learned them must take an oath not to pass on this technique. Back then, I expressed to the above that it might not be long before someone else independently studies out of this similar technique, just as Newton and Leibniz invented calculus respectively. However, since your method of drawing is so similar to that of secrecy, I am afraid that you will need to keep this achievement secret as well. Mr. Bonaparte, you have not taught this method of drawing to others, have you?"

　　"I have taught this technique only to my brother Napoleon, who is now in his first year at the Paris Officers' School. Well, he's good at math, too."

　　"First grade, first grade doesn't have access to pictorial geometry." Monge said, "Monsieur Bonaparte, you will have to remind him that such skills are not to be passed on."

　　"There is such a thing?" Duke Charles was interested, "Monge, science should belong to all mankind. It's not good to keep it secret like this."

　　"Duke, this is not my intention, this is the decision of the Royal Government. I can only obey it as well." Monge replied. He then turned to Joseph and said, "Monsieur Bonaparte, this discovery should have brought you honor and status, but now, you must hide it. It is a necessary sacrifice for the sake of France, and I hope you will understand."

　　Joseph nodded, "I understand, although science has no borders, scientists have a nationality."

　　"Just like Leibniz's calculus is still quite a bit different from Newton's. Mr. Bonaparte, I think there should also be some differences between your painting style and Monge's." Cullen suddenly spoke up, "Can you tell us about your drawing?"