The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 864: Chapter 6 The Commission of the Royal Society_3

Arthur gently shook his head and said, “This kind of question is too difficult for me; I’ll leave it for you to solve. As someone who isn’t all that clever, I prefer solving simple and straightforward problems.”

Saying this, Arthur took a stack of stock certificates out of his pocket and placed them on the committee’s table.

“Gentlemen, have you heard that Parliament recently appointed Mr. Isambard Brunel as Chief Engineer to commence the construction of the Great Western Railway? Actually, it’s a bit coincidental, but I happened to purchase some of their company’s shares. Here are ten stock certificates of Brunel’s Bridge Construction Company; these shares are now trading at 1600 pounds on the London Stock Exchange. You can choose to sell them or hold onto them for dividends.”

The committee members exchanged glances and then directed their attention back to Arthur: “What do you mean?”

Arthur removed his white gloves and replied with a smile, “I heard that the Royal Society accepts private sponsorship for its scientific lectures, so I intend to sponsor a lecture on electromagnetism and electrochemistry. Back when I was impoverished, it was through the various lectures of the Royal Society that I learned about scientific progress. Now that I have the ability, I naturally want to support the Royal Society to continue hosting these lectures for the benefit of the public. I wonder if the committee would accept my presumptuous request?”

Upon hearing this, the academic committee members all stood up, and the chairman of the committee directly grasped Arthur’s hand, a smile almost overflowing from his face: “Sir, we have absolutely no reason to refuse your offer. If you agree, the Hastings Lecture can start as early as tomorrow. Ah, to be honest, we called you here today to ask if you could help bring this year’s Copley Medal to Paris, which was already a significant request, and we hadn’t even thanked you before burdening you with this as well.”

After saying this, the chairman of the committee suggested to the other members: “I propose that we immediately grant Sir Arthur Hastings membership in the Royal Society. There should be no objections, right?”

The committee members applauded and said, “Of course not, granting Sir Hastings membership is absolutely well-deserved.”

The chairman turned back, still laughing. He had thought Arthur would naturally accept the honor, just as many great figures had done before.

But to his surprise, Arthur raised his hand to stop him and said, “Sir, membership in the Royal Society is certainly a high honor, but I don’t wish to join in this manner, and the timing isn’t right either.”

The academic committee chairman, being a shrewd person, immediately understood Arthur’s meaning, even before the other members reacted.

The chairman asked softly, “You mean Fleet Street?”

Arthur nodded and jokingly said, “Journalists have noses like magnets, and they run much faster than the speed of current.”

Upon hearing this, the chairman immediately stated, “In that case, let’s discuss your membership after you return from Hanover.”

As soon as the chairman finished speaking, Faraday’s interest was piqued.

However, it was clear that his concern was not about the journalists, but Arthur’s trip to Paris.

Faraday asked, “So, the Royal Society plans to entrust Arthur with bringing this year’s Copley Medal to Paris to present it to Mr. Simeon Denis Poisson at the French Academy of Sciences?”

The chairman nodded and said, “That’s right. We believe Mr. Poisson’s report on ‘The General Equations of Equilibrium and Motion of Elastic Solids and Fluids’ is absolutely deserving of the Copley Medal; this report has opened up a whole new world of viscous fluid research.”

Upon hearing this, Faraday pondered slightly before saying, “If I’m not mistaken, Mr. Poisson works with the French Academy of Sciences, right?”

The chairman nodded and said, “Yes, Michael, do you have business with him?”

Faraday smiled and shook his head, “I don’t have any business with Mr. Poisson, but I do have a few experimental reports I want Mr. Andre Marie Ampere, who also works with the French Academy of Sciences, to look at. I hope they could provide a bit of inspiration for his research, and I also hope he could give me some advice on my studies. Also, you could visit Mr. Augustin-Louis Cauchy; he has made quite some achievements in fluid mechanics and mathematics. I have some questions about the propagation of surface waves in liquids that I want to consult him on…”

At this point, it seemed that Faraday suddenly remembered something, and he hurriedly said, “Arthur, when are you leaving? I’ll go home and write the letters now. If you have other things to take care of, you can go ahead; I’ll have someone deliver the letters to your home by this evening.”

With that, Faraday hurriedly ran out of the hall, leaving behind his usual gentlemanly demeanor without a trace.

Seeing this, the chairman had no choice but to stand there and apologize to their benefactor: “Sir, I am deeply sorry, but you know how Michael is.”

Hearing this, Arthur just stood there with his cane: “I don’t blame Mr. Faraday; after all, I’ve known him long enough to understand his character. But…if I had known you wanted me to see Poisson, Ampere, and Cauchy, I might not have come to the Royal Society today.”

The committee members were stunned, “Why?”

Arthur struck a match, silently took a puff of his cigarette, and said, “I don’t know. Whenever I see these names together, something bad usually happens. Of course, I don’t mean any disrespect to these esteemed gentlemen; they are all accomplished researchers in Natural Philosophy. But I often dream of myself in an exam, and these gentlemen are standing beside me, pulling money out of my pocket. Thinking about it now, it turns out my sponsorship of scientific research has quite a tradition.”