Chapter 1,077 Building the Transatlantic Telegraph
"You scientific workers all say you are indifferent to fame and fortune, but in fact you care about reputation more than anyone else!"
If Jérôme Bonaparte was reprimanding a "student", then the "student" would not feel any shame, but would smile and say that His Majesty was right.
However, after all, William Thomson is still just a newcomer who has just entered the scientific research world. He has been engaged in scientific research for only 14 years now.
Therefore, the stubbornness and shame of a science and engineering man still remain in him.
Seeing that Jerome Bonaparte bluntly exposed his own little thoughts, William Thomson had no choice but to lower his head and apologize to Jerome Bonaparte in shame.
"Your Majesty, thank you for your recognition of me, and please forgive me for my selfishness!" William Thomson paused, and then said sincerely to Jerome Bonaparte: "I still want to rely on my own efforts.
Become a foreign academician of the Collège de France!
Only in this way will I not be ashamed of my passion for scientific research!"
Jérôme Bonaparte did not respond immediately to William Thomson, but quietly looked at the overly stubborn scientist in front of him.
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became extremely anxious, which made another guest in the room silently complain about William Thomson's lack of knowledge.
The emperor's invitation to you, William Thomson, to serve as a foreign academician of the Collège de France is in itself a recognition of your scientific research work.
Unexpectedly, you rejected the emperor's kindness over and over again, making it impossible for the emperor to step down!
You must know that the power of the person in front of you is greater than that of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Her Majesty Queen Victoria cannot decide a person's life or death with a single word in the Kingdom of Britain, but he can do it in France.
William Thomson, are you really not afraid of death?
Although another guest wanted to greet all of William Thomson's ancestors, he still wanted to help William Thomson.
After all, William Thomson is now serving as a consultant to their company, and he came to France at his invitation.
If something goes wrong with William Thomson in France, he and his company will inevitably suffer a greater impact.
For the sake of him and the company, Field thought he should say something, but now he didn't know what to do to ease the increasingly anxious atmosphere.
Burbasky, who was standing opposite the guest, also believed that the atmosphere in front of him was indeed not conducive to the subsequent conversation, and he was also silently brewing words to ease the atmosphere in his heart.
Just as Burbaski and another guest were racking their brains to think of ways to break the deadlock, Jérôme Bonaparte suddenly chuckled. In the eyes of everyone with surprise, he applauded William Tom to himself.
Sen said, "Mr. Thomson, you are a scholar who is not afraid of power!
I admire your character very much!"
"Your Majesty, thank you for your magnanimity!" William Thomson smiled bitterly. He felt a little regretful that his rejection just now was too straightforward, leaving the emperor with no steps to go down.
"There is no magnanimity!" Jerome Bonaparte shrugged his shoulders and said bluntly, "You have done nothing wrong. Relying on your own efforts to become a foreign academician of the French Academy is the right path!
On the contrary, being invited by me to enter the French Academy is the wrong path!"
William Thomson did not dare to say anything. There are some things that a monarch can discuss without restraint, but as a minister/guest, it is enough to just listen quietly.
"Now there is a chance for you to be invited to the Académie Française!"
Having said this, Jerome Bonaparte turned his attention to another guest who was traveling with William Thomson, "I'm right! Mr. Serret West Field!"
Serrett Westfield was stunned for a moment when his name was called, and then quickly understood what Jerome Bonaparte meant, and quickly echoed and said to Jerome Bonaparte, "Your Majesty, you said it."
That’s right!”
"Mr. Thomson, as long as you can help France build a telegraph connecting French Guiana, then I believe your name will be recorded in history forever!
The door of the French Academy will also be opened for you!" Jerome Bonaparte said to William Thomson in a persuasive way.
"French Guiana???" William Thomson whispered.
William Thomson didn't understand why the end of the telegraph line became French Guiana. He clearly remembered Field saying that the purpose of their trip was to help France build a telegraph line to Africa.
Therefore, William Thomson subconsciously looked at Serrett West Field, his eyes seemed to be asking Sylert West Field what was going on.
Seilet Westfield was obviously a little confused. He also remembered that the emperor's request was only to build a telegraph line to Africa, so why did the re-export become a trans-oceanic telegraph line!
Building a transatlantic telegraph is not an easy task. There are many preparations that need to be made, such as surveying the terrain, manufacturing telegraph lines, etc. Even if you have made preparations, you may not be able to succeed.
So far, no country has been able to actually build a transatlantic telegraph line.
"Your Majesty, French Guiana is too far away from the French mainland. The huge impedance in Morse code transmission will seriously attenuate and delay the signal!" William Thomson proposed long-distance telegram transmission to Jerome Bonaparte.
The problem.
"Is this the result of the British Commission of Inquiry's investigation into the previous interruption of the Atlantic telegraph?" Jérôme Bonaparte asked William Thomson.
The Atlantic Telegraph mentioned by Jérôme Bonaparte was the failure of Field Company a year ago. The entire transatlantic telegraph consumed a lot of money and manpower, but achieved minimal results.
If we look at economic benefits alone, the economic benefits of the transatlantic telegraph could have been negative at the moment of failure, and Field's company could have directly declared bankruptcy.
However, sometimes when you do something, you cannot just look at the immediate economic benefits without looking at the future.
At the government level, although the transatlantic telegraph has failed, this does not mean that the transatlantic telegraph cannot succeed.
Although the message Queen Victoria sent to President Buchanan only contained a few words, it was enough for the government to find the reasons for its failure.
Only by summarizing the experience of failure as soon as possible can we regain our strength in the shortest possible time.
This is the purpose of the "Inquiry Committee"!
"Yes!" William Thomson didn't know where the emperor got the news, but he responded calmly to Jerome Bonaparte, "Mr. Charles Wheatstone proposed that the voltage could be increased by using
Ways to boost your signal!”
"How many volts are needed?" Jérôme Bonaparte then asked William Thomson.
"According to Mr. Wheatstone's calculations, a voltage of about 2,000 volts is needed!" William Thomson replied helplessly to Jerome Bonaparte.
"Two thousand volts! Oh my God!" Jérôme Bonaparte responded to William Thomson in an exaggerated tone. "Doesn't Mr. Wheatstone know that such a voltage is enough to directly breakdown the cable insulation?"
"So this is just an idea of Mr. Wheatstone's, and it has no feasibility at all!
Mr. Wheatstone himself complained to me privately that in order to build a transatlantic telegraph, we must have an insulating material that can withstand 2,000 volts. I am afraid that there is no material in the world that can withstand 2,000 volts!
"William Thomson replied helplessly to Jerome Bonaparte.
"Perhaps... Mr. Wheatstone's direction is wrong!" Jerome Bonaparte smacked his lips and smiled meaningfully at William Thomson. "If there is a machine that can accurately detect the signal current, and
If the method can be made a hundred times, or even the instrument a thousand times, then can it replace the solution of increasing the voltage?"
After William Thomson heard Jerome Bonaparte's plan, his eyes showed joy. He never thought that someone would agree with him.
What is even more surprising is that the person who has such an idea is not a scientist, but a monarch of a country.
"Your Majesty, how did you know?" William Thomson asked Jerome Bonaparte excitedly, as if he had seen his confidant.
"Mr. Thomson, what do I know?" Jerome Bonaparte asked Thomson pretending to be ignorant.
William Thomson then realized that he had not informed Jérôme Bonaparte of his previous invention.
Therefore, William Thomson hurriedly informed Jerome Bonaparte of his invention of the "mirror galvanometer" and explained the principle to Jerome Bonaparte.
"Such a good invention, why wasn't it used at that time?" Jérôme Bonaparte made a fist with his right hand and knocked the palm of his hand, looking very sad.
Then, he subconsciously glanced at Field and said to himself, "Could it be that you just made this instrument?"
William Thomson didn't care about his boss's reputation and bluntly stated that the "mirror current needle" was invented in 1857.
Field, who was standing nearby, lowered his head and showed a hint of blush on his face when he heard Jerome Bonaparte's words.
It turned out that the reason why William Thomson's "mirror current needle" was not used was because the company listened to the advice of the first chief electrical technician Edward Whitehouse and chose another path, which led to the conflict with William Thomson.
Plan error.
At the same time, Field also understood why the emperor invited William Thomson instead of Edward Whitehouse. It turned out that the emperor had already liked William Thomson's plan.
