The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1247: Chapter 151: God Said, Let There Be Light_3

The citizens’ laughter fell on the ears of some scholars, making them shake their heads incessantly.

No matter how they looked at it, they still felt that Ohm’s act of involving the middle school students was too ridiculous.

Even William Weber, who was sitting behind Arthur, couldn’t help but pat the Academic Director’s shoulder and whisper in his ear: “Although I support Mr. Ohm, isn’t this a bit inappropriate?”

“Inappropriate? What’s inappropriate about it?” Arthur put down the academic paper in his hand and said: “I learned about current, voltage, and resistance in middle school back in the day.”

Arthur’s words left Weber in a predicament between laughter and tears. He knew for sure that the Academic Director was joking again. Because they both knew that the concept of resistance was proposed by Ohm.

Although when Ohm proposed the concept of resistance in 1825, it was indeed possible that Arthur was in middle school, Weber couldn’t believe that this concept, which was derogatorily received in Germany, had at that time spread to Britain. Especially since the book “Calculation of Current,” which recorded the concept of resistance, had only recently been hurriedly translated into English by Arthur.

Weber muttered to himself: “Hope this won’t cause any problems…”

To his surprise, Arthur, upon hearing this, just knocked lightly on Weber’s table with his knuckle, then pointed subtly to his left.

Following the direction of Arthur’s finger, Weber immediately understood who Arthur was referring to.

It was the trio of Gauss, Faraday, and Ampere, and there was now an additional person, Mr. Hans Oersted, the permanent secretary of the Danish Royal Society.

Just from their expressions, one could see the different personalities of these four great scholars. Gauss maintained his usual calm expression, but having worked with Gauss for many years, Weber knew this was a way Gauss showed approval because he had not seen Gauss frown at any point.

As for Faraday, his face constantly bore his trademark gentle smile. The distinguished scholar known throughout Europe was listening intently to the basic concepts of electricity that Ohm was narrating, showing not a trace of impatience.

Moreover, even Oersted beside him was listening very attentively.

If it weren’t for seeing it with his own eyes, Weber would never have believed that these two pioneers of electromagnetism would be so tolerant, listening silently to naive questions from middle school students and Ohm’s detailed explanations of them.

Even among the four, Ampere, who was visibly the most active, merely took out a stack of calculation papers full of experimental data, simply marked some things on them, then shook his head in exasperation, mumbling: “Why didn’t I think of that?”

The strange reactions of the group were beyond Weber’s expectations, but they were all within Arthur’s predictions.

Even though he didn’t expect Ohm to call upon middle school students for questions, he understood that most of the electromagnetic authorities present would not harbor any discontent with Ohm because of this.

The reason remains the same: because practically all those who achieved initial success in electromagnetism were experimental physicists, which means most of them came from humble backgrounds.

There was Faraday from the family of blacksmiths, Oersted from the family of pharmacists; even the most distinguished among them, Ampere, had a father who was merely a cloth merchant.

As for Mr. Gauss, the academic committee chair, though mainly renowned for his mathematical achievements, he was from one of the lowest rungs among mathematicians in terms of background. Gauss’s father had been a gardener, construction worker, and trader’s assistant, while his mother was the daughter of a stonemason, and the entire family was illiterate.

Not only did these academic committee members find no objection to Ohm’s actions, but the scientists from the Royal Society praised Ohm’s initiatives even more lavishly.

To these Royal Society members, daring to go on stage and directly answer audience questions wasn’t seen as an inappropriate act but rather a display of courage and competence, and moreover, a noble virtue.

After all, organizing scientific lectures to raise funds was a traditional project of the Royal Society, and every one of them had taken the stage to lecture during scientific talks. Even Charles Wheatstone, known as the ‘second in command of the Greenwich’s East District,’ had once ‘made a fool of himself’ on stage.

William Sturgeon, who had always held Ohm in high esteem, didn’t hesitate to offer his lavish praises, saying to Babbage beside him: “The resistance theory established by Mr. Ohm provides such simplicity that I don’t even need to verify the experimental results to know it is correct because it completely aligns with all my previous understanding of the Volta battery phenomena.”

However, the praise of some scholars could not address the doubts of everyone, especially those German scholars who harbored prejudices against Ohm.

Georg Poer, seeing Ohm not naming them, simply stood up and said: “Ohm, please forgive my offense. But I really can’t see any difference in today’s academic report compared to your previous arguments. You can hold onto your views and propose your concept of resistance, but what we’d rather see is direct evidence, not experimental data that no one can guarantee is accurate.”

Poer’s sudden outburst caused the previously noisy venue to instantly fall into silence, and even his friends sitting beside him couldn’t help but advise him: “Georg, you’re being too impulsive.”

Poer shrugged off his friend’s arm, angrily saying: “Enough! My academic integrity does not allow me to tolerate a charlatan spouting nonsense from the podium.”

After saying this, he directly pointed his finger at Ohm: “This venue today is not to evaluate whether you qualify to be a middle school teacher, Ohm, can you, a fraud, bear responsibility for the things you’ve said?!”

Upon these words, the citizens glanced at each other, not understanding what was happening, nor why this scholar who suddenly stood up appeared so different from their impression of the refined professor.

Hearing Poer’s accusation, Ohm did not respond to anger with anger; he merely said calmly: “Poer, I understand your concerns, and one of the goals of my standing here today is precisely to dispel your doubts.”

“Dispel my doubts?” Poer laughed angrily: “You can’t even convince me, so do you also intend to convince Oersted, convince Ampere, convince Michael Faraday?!”

The venue remained dead silent, with not a sound to be heard.

Even Alexander von Humboldt, director of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, found the situation rather embarrassing: “Georg, I hope today’s discourse can be a bit more amicable.”

“Amicable? Director Humboldt, do you expect me to be amicable to a fraud?”

“Georg, you…”

Seeing Poer so unreceptive to persuasion, even the rarely angered Humboldt grew a bit irate.

He had attended the event at the invitation of his friend, Gauss, bringing the Berlin Academy of Sciences along, only to find that such a well-intentioned act didn’t help but threatened to turn the conference into a disaster.

Seated next to him, the Duke of Sussex, President of the Royal Society, also turned visibly pale due to the sudden upheaval.

For the Duke, the University of Gottingen was essentially home ground, and if this grand event were to fall apart, who knew what unpredictable impact it might have on the subsequent political reforms.

At this moment, he couldn’t help but direct his gaze somewhat irritably toward Arthur a short distance away.

If Ohm was indeed, as Poer claimed, an academic fraud, then today, both the Kingdom of Hanover and the University of Gottingen would be utterly disgraced.

Arthur also recognized the seriousness of the issue, and under numerous gazes, Arthur stood up and said: “George, theoretically, I believe that with your explanation, everyone can now understand. Since that is the case, why not proceed with your experimental demonstration? Even if there is no Wheatstone in the Wheatstone Bridge experiment, shouldn’t the bridge alone suffice?”

Ohm, hearing this, slightly bowed and said: “Certainly, as you wish.”