THE natural world

i

Niels was walking towards the Hotel Metropole with his briefcase in one hand and reading a recently published paper in another. He looked up and could see the square that the hotel opened up towards. There were people all around in the Belgian city. At an intersection, Model T’s raced by besides horse and buggies. Niels was no fool. He put the paper he was reading down for a second to look both ways before crossing the street. He was, after all, a scientist. Physics mandated that a collision with an object of greater mass and speed was a momentum conservation problem. One where he would accelerate beyond the elastic limits of his body. Best to look both ways again.

                The first time Niels looked both ways, he saw a Catholic nun in a habit carrying a small crate of books beside him and an oncoming coach that was some distance away. The second time he looked both ways, the nun had stepped into the street and the buggy that was far away had closed the distance between it and the nun in what seemed to be a blink of an eye.

                Moments before, a dastar wearing coach driver had loosely held the reins of the coach with one hand as he used the other to swat at mosquitos near his knee. The whip in his swatting hand had inadvertently struck the horse’s rear commanding it to gallop. As the coach accelerated, the driver struggled to regain control. Seeing the nun, the driver completely dropped the whip and pulled forcibly back on the reins. The horse reared back with its hooves planted in front of it. As the coach skid to a halt, the nun turned towards the oncoming buggy. She dropped the crate on to the street when she reflexively used her hands to cushion herself for the oncoming crash. The sound of the crate breaking and the horse groaning at the pain of its bridle caught the attention of all those in proximity.

                It took half a second for everyone to process the situation and realize that a crisis was averted. The doors of the coach opened. A man wearing a fez stuck his head out of the left door, and a man wearing a white Ghandi cap stuck his head out of the right door. Both asked the driver what the commotion was all about. Niels couldn’t make out what the driver was saying, but saw him pointing at the whip in the street, his knee, and then at the nun. As Niels turned his head towards the nun, he saw a man with a kippah approaching her. Niels did the same. By the time they reached her, the driver and two passengers were already helping pick up books for the woman who had just dodged death.

                The other men collected the books together, and the driver went to ask a nearby produce hawker for any crates he could spare. Niels stood up with the handful of books he had collected and read one of the covers: “Bringing Jesus to the Heathens of the Orient”. Niels watched as all of the men who had helped her made sure she was okay before returning about their business, the driver was especially apologetic. She said “Bless you” to each one of them for their concern and help. As all the other men walked away, Niels approached with his handful of books and deposited them one by one in the crate she was holding. He made sure the last one he placed on top of the pile was facing her so she could read the title.

                “Mam, I’m happy you’re okay, but I guess I’m sorry no Protestants were here to help,” Niels chided.

                “Excuse me?” The nun replied. She was taken aback by the comment and looked at each man that had helped her. The comment did not make any sense to her.

                As Niels continued on, the nun looked down at the book on top of the pile and read the title. She stopped and said, “I will pray for you sir, even if you are Protestant!”

                Niels turned around and said “I’m not a Protestant and neither were the others mam. Be careful in the streets.”

                The nun could still not make sense of the comment. Regardless, the event had her running behind, so she continued on with her day.

                When Niels got to the doors of the Hotel Metropole, he was greeted by a longtime friend.

                “Niels, I am so glad you could make it. It’s not every day we can get together with others that value the natural sciences as much as we do,” Albert said.

                “1927 is a good a year as any. I can’t wait to get started. Now please tell me where we are to meet.” Niels responded. Albert escorted Niels to the maître d’s station so all the accommodation logistics could be resolved. The fellow scientist wanted to be sure that the conference would have Niels’s undivided attention.

ii

“Dr. Planck, so glad to see you again,” said Niels.

                Max was quick to reply, “Dr. Bohr, still using my work to prove yours I see.”

                “Based off that logic, we all need to cite Newton in our papers,” Niels rebutted, thinking he had been insulted.

                “Niels, I believe in your paper on radiation because you built your theory off my quanta,” replied Max. The emphasis was not lost on Niels.

                Sensing the tension due to scientific egos, Albert tried to ease everyone’s nerves, “It’s all relative anyway isn’t it?”

                Max and Niels looked at Albert then at each other. The visual exchange resulted in laughter.

                “Don’t get me started Albert,” Niels grinned.

                The three were at the entrance of a large conference room. The room had ornate carvings and moldings on the walls. The herringbone floor was partially covered by a patterned rug. A large central table could seat all of the scientists and had enough room for trays of snacks to be placed in the middle. A side table set up as a tea station was next to the entrance. There was another set of double doors leading towards an adjacent conference room, but one room was enough. The density of intellect in that conference room was more than any library could ever hold. 

                “Doctors, I want you both to meet someone.” Albert gestured to a younger man who carried himself with royal elegance as he walked towards them.

                In a thick French accent, the man said “I am Louis de Broglie. It is my pleasure to meet you Dr. Planck and Dr. Bohr.”

                “de Broglie? You wouldn’t happen to have written a paper on electron masses having waves would you?” Bohr asked excitedly.

                “Indeed that is I,” replied Louis.

                “Dr. Planck, I believe this man just proved my theory on radiation right which proves your theory on quanta right,” said Niels.

                “Yet another scientist stealing my work,” sighed Max.

                Louis was unsure about the sarcasm in Max’s statement until Niels and Albert both laughed. Louis’s initial uncertainty turned into a chuckle.

                Louis himself made a joke, “Isn’t this conference for stealing each other’s work so we can have others steal our work?”

                Max understood the imperfect analogy coming from the Frenchman. “Even Newton stole a phrase from a philosopher I believe: ‘We stand on the shoulders of giants.’”

                “Indeed we do. Indeed we do,” said Niels as Albert and Louis shook their heads in agreement.

                “So Dr. Planck, if what I think is true, then the radiation that Dr. Bohr refers to can be measured through gaps in a lattice structure. My experiments show that this is the case. What’s even more interesting is that the gap spacing is a function of the wavelength the light and particles exhibit,” said Louis.

                “If that’s true, we might be able to recreate what you’re saying in an experiment in this room,” replied Niels. “We’ll need a source of radiation of course.”

                “I actually have something in my mind for that. I don’t believe in miracles,” said Max.

                Albert did not understand the response, “I don’t believe Madame Curie brought any samples.”

                “If what Louis is saying is true, then Dr. Geiger’s and Dr. Rutherford’s invention should be able to detect particles and waves. If that’s true then my source of radiation may also be detectable by their invention depending on the frequency,” explained Max. 

                “So we need their invention?” asked Niels.

                “Not necessarily.” Max pointed at Louis. “But we do need Louis to acquire a lattice.”

                “I brought some samples but I’d need to know what frequency and wavelength your source emits to get a good starting point,” said Louis.

                “I’m not sure exactly.” Max thought for a moment. “It is likely frequencies above visible light, maybe ultraviolet.”

                Albert chimed in, “Well, with everyone here in such a large city, I’m sure we can come up with the materials we need to run the experiment,” Albert interjected.

                “If the experiment proves Dr. Bohr to be correct, Dr. Planck and I are also correct. To be fair, the experiment I am talking about is actually the same experiment Thomas Young did and…” Louis was cut off.

                Planck, Niels, and Albert all said in unison, “We know.”

                Louis, having recognized that the giants that he stood on were the giants that they stood on, continued, “If the frequency of your emitting object is faster than the visible spectrum we’ll need a detector capable of registering the emission, otherwise, any setup we come up with won’t matter.”

                 “I have at least one detector, but we’ll have to shield ourselves and the entire room from outside influence if we’re going to do the experiment correctly. It will take some time,” said Max.

                Albert cut in, “Dr. Planck, I had thought that it would only have taken a few hours. If this is going to take a significant amount of time away from the conference discussions, I beg that you ask everyone here before you commandeer their time and resources.”

                Niels told Max, “You have my approval.”

                “Mine as well,” said Louis.

                “I guess it would be naïve of me to think that a room full of scientists would not want to do an experiment. I’ll put it on the agenda for today and we’ll discuss it then,” replied Albert.

iii

                The ornate table that had once sat in the middle of the conference room was now taken apart. The double doors that connected the conference room with the other were now open. The other conference room merely worked as a storage room. The scientists had all voted to do the experiment if there was time at the end of the conference because everyone there had a certain topic they wanted to discuss. The goal of which was to ensure all matters of conflict or disagreeing theories were properly articulated and understood by all parties. Once arguments were understood by all, everyone would be equipped to correspond to each other over time because physics took more than a few days to debunk or disprove. The beauty of the Solvay Conference was that more than one viewpoint had support from another scientist that went against the other viewpoint that had support of more than one other scientist. That meant that egos could be held in check in theory when an older prominent physicist stayed stalwart about his opinion on a subject that a handful of younger scientists believed to be dated material.

                Albert asked, “Everything going to plan?”

                “So far so good,” replied Max as he watched pairs of scientists build and erect lead and wood screens around the conference room.  “Louis’s theory may be correct, but I know for sure that Young’s experiments are repeatable. That means if this should work, we’ll have furthered our understanding of the Natural World.”

                Albert was convinced of the project’s success when he heard the confidence in Max’s voice. “Where is Louis anyway?”

                Max pointed behind Albert.

                “Doctor, the conference room above us has been covered too. It was a good catch by Marie,” said Louis.

                “For the last time Louis, everyone in this damn room is a doctor. Use my first name please or it gets confusing.”

                “Pardon me Doctor…er…. Max. Right. Max,” said Louis.

                So the experiment was set. Thick lead panels covered each wall and in front of the thick lead panels were wooden panels. In the center of the room were two flat, thick lead panels. The two panels were notched to make a head level central gap in between them. The gap was covered with a very thin transparent sheet.

                “I think we’re ready to go Louis. Please get everyone to line up on that wall.” Max pointed at the wall that a flashlight would have illuminated through the thin transparent sheet.

                “I don’t understand. What is your source of radiation?” Louis asked.

                Niels figured it out before Max could answer, “You are going to have people up in arms Max.”

                Max turned to Niels and said, “Well, we’re shielded from the outside world right now. The only people who know what’s about to happen and what the outcome of this experiment will be are all in this room. Most of us are atheists and the ones who aren’t value science. The belief in miracles must retreat step by step before relentlessly and reliably progressing science and we cannot doubt that sooner or later it must vanish completely.”

                Bohr rebutted, “You better be sure Albert is in agreement because he does not like what Erwin and Werner are saying about probability.”

                Max stared at Niels, “I thought you were just as close to him as I was?”

                Niels was confused. “He disagrees with me. He said it to my face and yours even though you support me.”

                Max gave his counterpart a look of astonishment. Then he called Albert over, “Albert!” Doctor Einstein came as beckoned.

                “Yes Max?”

                “You disagree with Niels, Erwin, and Werner on quantum theory right?”

                “Of course.”

                “Brownian motion.”

                Albert paused. He looked towards Niels for a moment before looking back at Max. “Warhum hier mein Freund?”

                Without hesitation, Max replied, “A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.”

                “My God does not play dice but everything is relative,” said Albert.

                With that, Max called all of the scientists in the room together and told them his plan. They were all shielded from the outside world, free to practice the scientific method amongst themselves. Whatever data or conclusion they came up with from the experiment would stay in the room. They would take it to their graves because if the experiment proved a theory, then they all would be validated. All of them agreed, even Albert.

                The scientists stood in a line along the wall behind the thin sheet. Max stood on the other side of the central panels and thin sheet. They would turn the lights off before each test, then turn them back on. The scientists that perceived Max would raise their hands. If that happened, then the scientists that raised their hands would switch places with others who did not raise their hands to confirm the results. If the location was significant, it would rule out the human variable. The emission would then have been light after all. They would repeat the experiment with other people standing where Max stood to see if the locations of where one could be perceived were consistent. That would help them determine if different people had different frequencies.  

                After the experiment, Albert made sure to tell them about the Lausanna Conference that took place in Switzerland and that the Cristero War in Mexico was very real. No one was truly safe from religious prosecution. Behind the veil of metal panel shielding, the scientists understood the dangers of the outside world that their experiment could invite.

                No results were ever published. No papers were ever credited. No conclusions were ever leaked. All that ever happened was that every scientist in that room made it a point to show up to the next conference and push the limits of human knowledge further than the world had ever known. Whether it was a result of the experiment or the result of an egoless collaborative setting, any layman’s guess was as good as another.  

The End

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