Xinshun 1730

Chapter 241 Changes in Taixing 16 Years

The west is not bright, the east is bright.

In the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, the "Bubble Act" was issued to curb the establishment of joint-stock companies because of the South Sea bubble; when France experienced an average annual inflation rate of 15.00% and economic chaos due to the bursting of the Mississippi bubble, Songjiang in Dashun established several joint-stock entities and companies. trading company.

At the same time, surrounding Dashun's changes in the past few years, all kinds of wonderful reactions are taking place in the vast world and in distant places.

Russia, Petersburg.

Ola, who survived a serious illness before, was only 28 years old and had to face the cruel reality of being blind in her right eye.

Not long ago, he had just married a female teacher at the High School Attached to the Academy of Sciences. In the first year of marriage, he suffered a tragedy of blindness, which diluted the joy of his child's birth.

Once he was almost going to succeed Bernoulli as a professor of physiology at the Russian Academy of Sciences, and he also served as the chief medical officer of the Russian Navy before.

It's a pity that the medical level at this time, whether it is the professor of physiology or the chief medical officer of the navy, can't save his blind eyes due to fever and inflammation.

Now, Bernoulli, who led him to Petersburg, has returned to Switzerland because of the political chaos in Russia.

His good friend Goldbach served as the executive secretary of the Academy of Sciences and at the same time served in the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The conjecture that originally belonged to Goldbach was brought to Petersburg a few years ago by an embassy returning from Beijing.

Now, in addition to serving as the head of the Department of Mathematics, Euler also served in the Department of Geography of the Academy of Sciences at the suggestion of his friends, and presided over the drawing of the first map of Russia.

Because Russia is finally going to fully demarcate the border with Dashun, and Russia can finally draw a stable map of the eastern border.

But at this time, the issue of demarcation in the northwest of Dashun has not been resolved, and officials from both sides are still negotiating fiercely in the distant Central Asia.

The news from there is not optimistic about Russia.

Dashun's attitude is extremely tough, insisting that Junggar is Dashun's internal affairs. After Junggar surrenders, Dashun will inherit the border of Junggar as a matter of course and ask Russia to back down on the Irtysh River.

Euler can only preside over the drawing of maps in Petersburg, Moscow and other places.

At this time, there were a lot of books and some personal letters on his desk.

One was sent by Bernoulli who left Petersburg, and Bernoulli's latest research results were published on it.

"On Fluid Mechanics, and the Application of Fluid Mechanics to Ship Design"

One pile was a letter sent from Dashun to the Russian Academy of Sciences a few years ago. It contained several formulas, including an identity that fascinated Euler. This identity gave him the feeling that it was from his It was dug out of my brain and written by someone in the far east, and defined the symbolic expression of imaginary numbers.

In addition to these letters, Europe is writing a book "Fundamentals of Algebra", and a basic example is being written on the straw paper: a rich man has N sons, and the rich man will die to divide the inheritance. The first son will be divided into 100 rubles and the rest. The second son received 200 rubles and the remaining [-]%; the third... In the end, each son received the same inheritance. Ask the rich man how many sons he has and how much inheritance he has in total.

This book is his textbook for the mathematics department of the Academy of Sciences, not just the Russian Academy of Sciences, but any academy of sciences in the world.

Before he was born, Leibniz, the superstar in mathematics, had a grand vision.

Popularize the Academy of Sciences all over the world.

Leibniz conceived of five academies of sciences: Petersburg Academy of Sciences; Berlin Academy of Sciences; Dresden Academy of Sciences; Vienna Academy of Sciences; Beijing Academy of Sciences.

Leibniz hoped that the Academy of Sciences should not only study science, but also transform science into technology.

Let the whole world set up academies of science to communicate with each other, so as to lead the progress of science, and finally compile a set of "encyclopedia" that can explain everything, and explain the whole world with pure reason.

The Dresden Academy of Sciences was not completed, and the Vienna Academy of Sciences is nowhere in sight.

But the Petersburg Academy of Sciences is a true inheritance under the influence of Leibniz. Its system and construction ideas are the same as those of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, continuing Leibniz's ideas of the Academy of Sciences.

This may also be the reason why Euler chose to go to the Berlin Academy of Sciences after the political chaos in Russia in the future.

Under the Leibniz system, Euler also upheld this idea of ​​science without borders.

This "Fundamentals of Algebra" was written by him, hoping to become a textbook for the mathematics departments of academies of sciences all over the world.

For this reason, he unified the chaotic mathematical symbols and standardized all kinds of symbols, hoping to draw algebra out of the shadow rule of geometry, so that algebra can truly compete with geometry.

Even though he was blind in his right eye, he was still working hard on the compilation work, and entrusted Goldbach, hoping to temporarily resign from his work as a professor of geography and Russian map surveying and compilation.

Because Duke Qi of Dashun and the huge mission he led had already returned to Petersburg from Paris, he hoped that before these people left Petersburg, the Chinese duke’s mission could bring this book back to Beijing. As a gift for that "pen pal" you've never met.

In the letter, the pen pal, whom he had never met, hoped that Euler could help solve the problem of lunar orbit calculation, and proposed a conjecture of "a special solution to the three-body problem of three-point plane orbit".

Euler's reply letter has already been drawn up. Regarding this question, he said that it may take him ten or 20 or even 30 years to find the answer, at least for the time being.

There was a knock on the door, and Goldbach's visit interrupted Euler's thoughts.

The hostess boiled water in a copper pot from the Tula Arsenal, and took out the tea leaves presented by the envoys. The fragrance of tea wafted throughout the room.

When the mission came to attend the enthronement ceremony of Peter II, it visited the Academy of Sciences and presented a large number of gifts to the professors of the Academy of Sciences.

Most of the gifts were given by Liu Yu personally. The price may not be expensive in Dashun, but it is very expensive when brought here.

These high-quality tea leaves were specially delivered to Euler. At that time, Euler was very surprised, and couldn't believe that a young man in his early 20s would receive such treatment.

It was as if someone had been guided by "God" in the dark, knowing that Euler would have a great achievement.In the Academy of Sciences at that time, long-established big figures abound, and Euler was not even a professor of mathematics at that time, and almost became a professor of physiology.

Soon, the hot tea was boiling. Goldbach flipped through Euler's notes casually and asked, "Are you going to resign from the Department of Geography?"

"Yes. There are still too many problems to be solved in mathematics. There is no need for a full-time mathematician to draw maps, at least not at this time. The boys of the Academy of Sciences can do such work alone. My right I am already blind in one eye, God does not know when I will take away my left eye, and such work as drawing maps is not suitable for people who are blind in the right eye like me."

"I have dedicated my right eye to geography, and I hope to keep my left eye for mathematics."

Goldbach was a little embarrassed. Euler always thought that his eyes were blind because he was busy drawing and observing, which was too exhausting for his eyes.

Goldbach is not a full-time mathematician, but just a fancier who plays games in mathematics, but his admiration and understanding of mathematics is quite high among fanciers.

Euler's explanation is very reasonable, plus he felt a little guilty in his heart, and he also knew Euler's current situation, nodded and said: "I will solve it. By the way, the Chinese envoys are leaving soon. They collected more than a dozen Wagon books. You read the list they brought before, didn't you?"

Thinking of the must-get list of star catalogs, numerical tables, etc., Euler also thought of the problem of the moon's orbit, and said with a smile: "I have seen it. It seems that the Chinese are supporters of the astronomy school, and Not technocrats. They think that calculating the orbit of the moon will predate accurate marine clocks."

"I think so too. Under the conditions of wind and waves and salt water erosion and thermal expansion and contraction, there will be no accurate clocks at all."

The dispute between the astronomy school and the mathematics school has been going on for a long time. The metaphysical school that relies on the telepathy of a group of dogs with multiple births to navigate and calculate time and longitude is not recognized by anyone in the Academy of Sciences.

The school of astronomy can be traced back to Galileo, including the timing and longitude method of Jupiter's satellites used in surveying and mapping maps at this time, all of which are extensions.

Later Newton, Halley, Leibniz and others were all supporters of the astronomical school.But now it seems that the astronomical school may lose to the technical school.

Goldbach thought about the news he had just received. Although he couldn't bear to be shocked, he still told Euler a very bad news.

"A carpenter in England has already made a nautical clock, which can keep accurate time despite the wind and waves at sea and thermal expansion and contraction. It is said that the daily error at sea is only four seconds."

"The UK has patents, and the technology has not been disclosed."

"It seems that this carpenter who has not gone to college is going to defeat Newton."

Ola was a little stunned, and blinked the remaining left eye a few times, unable to believe it.

In such an era, someone actually made a nautical clock that can resist sea bumps, salt water, and thermal expansion and contraction?

The news came not long ago, and Goldbach also just learned of it.

He is now working in the Russian foreign ministry, as court tutor to the late Tsar, and is another German.

After Anna's coup, he had great status in Russia, where the German party was growing stronger, and he got the news earlier than Euler, who had been doing research in the Academy of Sciences.

This news made Euler very depressed.

Things are already obvious.

The astronomy school wants to defeat the technical school because of the accurate calculation of the moon's orbit.

Although Euler didn't know the term "give it up to me", his extreme confidence in his mathematics level still gave him a feeling of giving it up to him.

If the problem of the orbit of the moon is not resolved, it is impossible for the school of astronomical navigation to have breakthrough results.

Now, the accurate star catalogs of the northern and southern hemispheres have been accumulated for more than a hundred years, and because of the death of Newton, a scholar, they are finally made public.

All the preparatory work has been prepared, and the last step is left, which is the lunar orbit.

As long as this mathematical problem is solved, a person who understands mathematics can rely on an astronomical calendar and look up at the starry sky and the moon to know the longitude and latitude of this place.

Only then can people say, I know where I am.

Goldbach knew that Liu Yu had written a letter to ask for advice on the orbit of the moon, so he asked about Euler's research progress, and Euler could only shake his head.

"It's hard work, and it will take at least a few years. But I think the celestial navigation school will eventually win in longitude measurement. Because, a good craftsman's craft is very difficult to generalize. Mathematics, however, can Promotion. In the end, navigating the sea still depends on mathematics.”

Euler didn't know that the astronomical school was defeated in the end, and it was hard to imagine that clocks with a daily error of microseconds would become popular one day.

So now, he is full of confidence.

Goldbach is also full of admiration for mathematics, and of course he does not want the top mathematicians to lose to a British carpenter who has never been educated.

After comforting his old friend for a few words, Goldbach talked about the Dashun Mission, which was his business in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"This time, the Chinese side was very tough on the border demarcation issue, and even proposed to go to Ottoman by detour, and even to meet the leader of the Kalmyk people."

"Her Majesty knows that this is blackmail, but she has to make concessions. The Chinese war in Central Asia is amazing. You can't imagine that they were an army at the level of a 30-year war five years ago, but now they have It suits their tactics well. They have a bigger population, higher taxes, and it's easy to reform."

"The special envoy brought back an oil painting, maybe you should take a look at it. Liu Yu's crossing of the Altai Mountains is too political, but it has to be said to be very exciting."

"He was riding on a war horse, pointing at the cloudy sky, surrounded by soldiers pushing cannons. This is more like a declaration of the rights and interests of Central Asia."

"Your pen pal, like me, is not a pure mathematician, but more like a person in the officialdom. However, his mathematics level is very high. I read the letter to you. The one about prime numbers It's fun to guess."

"The earl of China is still mediating relations with France. Perhaps it is for intimidation. The envoys they returned from Paris did not hide the news that France will send a mission to China."

"Russia's diplomatic disaster."

Goldbach thought anxiously of the war of Polish succession that had just ended tentatively, and of Russia's imminent declaration of war against Turkey.

Euler didn't care about these, but thought of another thing.

If the political situation in Russia becomes chaotic again, I might be able to go to China. Judging from the letter, there is a strong atmosphere of mathematics there... At least, according to the letter, that is the case.

Moreover, in private letters, Liu Yu offered a high price, which was enough to guarantee a good life for him, his wife and children.

As for the French, they were conducting diplomacy with Dashun, and Euler didn't pay attention.

After sending Goldbach away, Euler continued to bury his head, hoping to finish revising this "Fundamentals of Algebra" as soon as possible, and to publish and deliver it to Dashun before the return of Dashun's envoys.

(End of this chapter)