HCB Chapter 174 Edmund Halley
Chapter 174 Edmund Halley
Shen Yuxuan recalled an old story from the history of science.
That was in the latter half of the seventeenth century, and the scientific community throughout Europe was shrouded in the shadow of a huge problem.
Kepler devoted half his life to observing and deriving the laws of planetary orbits, but at the time, no one in the world could explain the underlying reasons mathematically.
Edmund Halley, a giant in the scientific community at the time, devoted himself to solving this problem for several years, and almost lost all his hair.
During this period, Halley even had numerous heated discussions with some of the most renowned mathematicians of the time, such as Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke.
And the result? Total annihilation!
The underlying principle remains unknown, and everyone is struggling to break free from this wall of truth.
In the summer of 1684, a desperate Halley, weary and resentful, went to Cambridge University and visited a professor there, Isaac Newton.
"Professor Newton, I have a question for you."
If the gravitational pull on a planet is inversely proportional to the square of its distance from the Sun, then...
What kind of orbit will this planet take?
Faced with this age-old problem that Halley longed to solve his entire life, and even thought he would take with him to his grave, Newton didn't even flinch, offering a single, remarkably casual word:
"oval."
At that moment, the world of Harley-Davidson was absolutely silent.
A nightmarish mystery that no one in the world could prove, yet Newton spoke of it as if "one plus one equals two" were a matter of course.
Harley was so shocked that his worldview was completely blown away.
"Wait a minute! How did you know?!"
"Oh, I did that before when I was bored."
Have you calculated it?
You've ever calculated this before when you had nothing better to do?!
As he spoke, Newton casually rummaged through the dusty bookshelf and surprisingly found a yellowed manuscript of a paper that had been written several years ago among a pile of scraps of paper.
original!
The problem has already been solved!
Moreover, the perfect proof has been written out!
And you just threw this thing on the bookshelf like it was trash!
But that damn thing didn't get published!
This bizarre behavior of wasting resources and treating truth as worthless left the battle-hardened Harley speechless on the spot, almost spitting out a mouthful of blood!
"That……"
Harley clutched Newton's incredibly heavy manuscript tightly, suppressing the raging anger and shock surging within him, and asked through gritted teeth:
"Do you... have any other unpublished papers here?"
"Hmm..." Newton scratched his head and thought about it seriously.
"There were probably some things related to optics, oh right, and a few theorems about simple harmonic motion? I can't quite remember them."
To Halley, Newton's nonchalant expression at the time was as casual as a housewife saying, "I probably have a few potatoes and two onions left in my kitchen!"
Shen Yuxuan was fully able to empathize at this moment.
He was certain that the moment Harley heard those words, his mind was flooded with a million sarcastic comments, and he understood, deep in his soul, the exact same feeling that Harley had when facing Su Hao!
"Aaaaah! We absolutely can't just leave this idiot out of the loop!"
If you didn't keep an eye on him, that bastard would throw away a treasure trove that could propel human civilization forward for a century, treating it like trash!
From that day on, the world-famous Harley willingly stayed by Newton's side, essentially becoming Newton's "personal nanny."
When Newton encountered a bottleneck and sighed, he would respectfully make tea and serve water to him.
When Newton threw a tantrum and threw the discarded manuscript on the ground, he was heartbroken. He would crawl on the ground to collect the manuscript and study and organize it day and night.
Later on, Harley even took care of the grueling tasks, such as running around the streets with proofs of his papers and haggling with cheap printing shop owners for a few pennies.
However, this is far from the full extent of the heartache.
When everything was ready, Newton acted up again.
"What did you say?! You don't have the money to publish?!" Harley was practically going crazy.
Because Newton showed indifference to such mundane matters as publishing, his face seemed to say, "I don't care if it's published or not."
The Royal Society, which was supposed to be responsible for reviewing scientific papers, was at the time mired in a severe financial crisis and was so poor that it was practically bankrupt.
If it were anyone else, they would have given up by now.
But seeing that humanity's greatest scientific work was about to be delayed due to printing costs, the next day, Halley gritted his teeth and ran straight to the printing plant.
He paid all the deposits out of his own pocket, even selling his possessions and using all his savings.
Because Newton completely abandoned his responsibilities, Harley had no choice but to grit his teeth and take charge of all the complicated work, much like a resentful project manager.
In order to save every penny of the budget, he personally proofread page by page, his eyes bloodshot from staying up all night.
He went to great lengths to find skilled craftsmen, just to engrave and print calculus symbols that were unprecedented in the world at the time!
And so, nourished by Harley's blood and tears, the monumental work destined to shake the ages was finally born.
This is the famous "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy".
In 1687, like a blind person groping in the dark for thousands of years, humanity was able to clearly understand the laws governing the universe for the first time.
The entire history of civilization was pushed forward dramatically.
"The apple falling from the tree and the bright moon hanging in the night sky both follow the same law."
This incredibly romantic quote, etched on the monument of human history, would probably never have come to be known if it weren't for Harley's tragic and unwavering dedication.
I wonder how many more years humanity will have to grope in the dark?!
Ultimately, the messes left behind by geniuses are always cleaned up by ordinary people with tears in their eyes.
Shen Yuxuan gripped the steering wheel with one hand, muttering to himself, but a relieved smile appeared on his lips.
In that brilliant book, *Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy*, you can search through all the title pages and footnotes, but you won't find the name "Edmond Halle" anywhere.
But Shen Yuxuan firmly believes that Harley, who was gazing at the stars, never regretted it the moment he closed his eyes!
...........
crunch--
The sound of tires rubbing against the ground filled the air as the sports car came to a smooth stop in the school's open-air parking lot.
An extravagantly large banner fluttered in the breeze outside the auditorium, its gilded characters dazzling the eye:
[Special Recognition Ceremony for Outstanding Student Su Hao]
Shen Yuxuan got out of the car, straightened his sharp suit, and slowly walked towards the grand hall where the ceremony was being held.
The corridor outside the auditorium had already become a massive fan gathering, filled with the students' barely suppressed excitement.
"Holy crap! Holy crap! Did you just see Su Hao? Alive! Alive!"
"Ahhh, I just made eye contact with him for a fraction of a second! He really does look like that!"
This amazing person is actually a classmate from our school! It feels like a dream.
"So, even if he goes abroad in the future, we'll still be his legitimate schoolmates, right?"
"Of course! Not just us, people from other schools outside came all this way like on a pilgrimage to our school today, all just here to soak up some of its magic!"