Chapter 532 - 250: "About the Subtlety of - Numbers So the Author Didn’t Want to Give It a Name"_4

He first explained light as a stream of high-speed particles, making the phenomenon of straight-line propagation reasonable.

Then he proposed a hypothesis:

The particles that make up light enter a special temporary state when passing through an interface.

In the process of transmission, they periodically recover, and when recovering, it becomes easier to pass through the next interface. However, between two recoveries, it becomes easier to reflect...

Quite mysterious, isn’t it?

The particles periodically recover, pass through when recovering, and reflect when not recovering...

This indeed can explain the phenomenon of Newton’s Rings, but this explanation makes particles sound too much like waves.

According to the wave theory.

This periodicity is the wavelength, same-phase interference makes it easy to pass, and out-of-phase interference makes it easy to reflect...

So whether it’s Newton Rings or the phenomenon of dispersion.

They are basically explained from the perspective of wave theory.

However, in this timeline.

Little Niu, influenced by Xu Yun, has become much more humble, lacking the arrogance of ’my theory is the truth’.

Therefore, after receiving Xu Yun’s letter, he gradually admitted that some of his explanations were rather far-fetched.

And so.

The academic world of this parallel universe witnessed such a situation:

Little Niu proposed the theory of light’s wave-particle duality, where the phenomena explained by the wave theory are few but very convincing.

In contrast, phenomena that can serve as evidence for the particle theory are numerous but fail to provide sufficient support for the theory.

"And Mr. Luo Feng, as a descendant of Mr. Feiyu, you must be capable of proving the particle nature of light, right?"

At the ceremony, Angus Roman stood up and spoke word by word:

"After all, Sir Newton wrote a passage in his memoirs in his later years, which was so widely circulated that it swept across Europe."

"That sentence is very concise, I can even recite it backwards..."

"!hsiF taF fo hcaepyt fo sa eratigorp eht ybrabmurk dehcord ,yaw htiwnednik emerus eht fo epyt hguorht esahpahs sihtaW "

........

William Whewell identified this mastermind, gaining a rough understanding of the situation’s context. Purim. This person was the old man Xu Yun encountered outside Whewell’s office upon first arriving at the University of Cambridge, together with Wheat and Thomson. At that time, he had a fierce argument with Whewell and even threw Wheat’s axe at Whewell’s door. The cause of the argument was naturally an issue regarding staffing. Purim had worked at the University of Cambridge for more than thirty years, but it wasn’t until 1848 when Cambridge established the Moral Sciences Honorary Degree—chaired by Tennyson—that political economy formally gained recognition. However, due to ideological differences, Whewell believed that Purim was unqualified to hold this position and that the University of Cambridge should dismiss him. As a result, the argument occurred that day. In fact. Before the opening of the matriculation ceremony, Whewell had always had a suspicion in his heart: why wasn’t Purim reacting to his actions? This was evidently out of character for him. It must be realized that Whewell not only removed Purim from the teaching list of Trinity College, but even convinced the deans of several other Divinity Schools to hand over all political economy lectures to McCarthy. It’s akin to two teachers in similar fields from later generations, one teaching a top class with exceptional students, while the other can only occasionally show up in a regular class. And this particular teacher happens to be the most senior one in the school, with the first batch of students already having grandchildren. Therefore. How could he stand for this? Hence Whewell was prepared for Purim to protest and file grievances, even making arrangements with the board of directors. But after the course timetable was published, Purim remained silent. As if the entire matter had nothing to do with him. Little did Whewell expect.....that this old secretive man would shoot a cold arrow just as Xu Yun was about to step onto the stage? From a strict standpoint, William Whewell’s initial actions were certainly not meticulous and had some errors. But the problem was that regardless of the meticulousness, no one would seriously challenge this issue, right? Any normal person would understand that confirming Xu Yun’s identity was secondary; the primary focus was the authenticity of Little Niu’s letter. Yet when this issue was isolated and magnified in the current setting, it became a powerful tool for accusation! Now with the expansion of the UK, Prince Albert might soon step down as principal. And as the dean of Trinity College, Whewell is among the potential successors for the position of university president once Prince Albert retires. If he were tainted with the label of ’eager for quick success’ in public opinion, it would undoubtedly offer his political opponents a knife! Realizing this. On the stage, sweat immediately beaded on William Whewell’s forehead. What should he do? If Prince Albert and Faraday were absent, it might have been manageable. He might still have used his authority as principal to forcibly conclude the matter, but now with so many important figures present...it was going to cause trouble! Just as William Whewell was racking his brain, unsure of how to respond, he suddenly heard a faint chuckle. Without waiting to verify whether this chuckle was real, the voice beside him abruptly sounded: "Senior Angus Roman...is that the correct name?" William Whewell turned his head and saw Xu Yun smilingly addressing Angus Roman, saying: "Senior Roman, what you said does make sense, so there’s no problem. How do you wish to verify my identity?" "Ruo Feng, you..." Whewell instinctively opened his mouth to stop this action but found himself tongue-tied. It was easy to shut Xu Yun up, but what next? Without providing an accurate result, the current situation could not be alleviated. As for Xu Yun’s true identity... In all honesty. Even Whewell himself did not truly believe that Xu Yun was a descendant of Mr. Feiyu. Otherwise, he would not have used that bill to tease Xu Yun earlier. After all, someone so capable, even a couple of generations later, should easily establish connections with Little Niu or the British Royal Family, and certainly not struggle to obtain even a basic school certificate—that is equivalent to a junior high school graduation certificate in later generations. Contemplating this, William Whewell sighed. So be it. At this point, there was no other way. Let’s see if this alleged descendant of Mr. Feiyu could develop some tacit understanding with him. If he handles it tactfully, chooses not to deny it despite the pressure, losing face is inevitable, but at least he can preserve his pride, and afterwards, Whewell would find a way to repay him. While Whewell was deep in these thoughts, Angus Roman below was visibly pleased, loudly declaring: "Mr. Luo Feng, since you are a descendant of Mr. Feiyu, your family should possess the memoirs left by Mr. Feiyu, right?" "Let me share a piece of news with you—two days ago, the Royal Society of the United Kingdom secretly declassified a batch of long-sealed letters personally penned by Sir Newton." "Some letters document the little-known interactions during Sir Newton’s time with Mr. Feiyu, but William Whewell identified this mastermind, gaining a rough understanding of the situation’s context. Purim. This person was the old man Xu Yun encountered outside Whewell’s office upon first arriving at the University of Cambridge, together with Wheat and Thomson. At that time, he had a fierce argument with Whewell and even threw Wheat’s axe at Whewell’s door. The cause of the argument was naturally an issue regarding staffing. Purim had worked at the University of Cambridge for more than thirty years, but it wasn’t until 1848 when Cambridge established the Moral Sciences Honorary Degree—chaired by Tennyson—that political economy formally gained recognition. However, due to ideological differences, Whewell believed that Purim was unqualified to hold this position,