The Entrepreneurial Era of Nobel Prize Winners

Author: Li Zhen / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: The Nobel laureates, day in and day out, followed their hearts' direction, inspired by humanitarianism, immersed themselves in monotonous experimental research, and ultimately achieved success. Every time you read the entrepreneurial story of a master, you will gain new insights and a fresh understanding of your career, gathering energy to strive again, and regaining confidence in life. When you feel lonely and helpless, when you are scarred, when you lose your direction, why not temporarily set aside your worries and read the entrepreneurial stories of these masters? Perhaps, the next success will be you. This book selects 38 masters from the 106 Nobel laureates and focuses on their entrepreneurial paths, seeking the factors behind their success. Among the myriad factors of success, we still find a common thread, subtly present in each story, yet possessing a magical force that propels these masters step by step toward success. This is the sacred mission.
The Nobel laureates, day in and day out, followed their hearts' direction, inspired by humanitarianism, immersed themselves in monotonous experimental research, and ultimately achieved success. Every time you read the entrepreneurial story of a master, you will gain new insights and a fresh understanding of your career, gathering energy to strive again, and regaining confidence in life. When you feel lonely and helpless, when you are scarred, when you lose your direction, why not temporarily set aside your worries and read the entrepreneurial stories of these masters? Perhaps, the next success will be you. This book selects 38 masters from the 106 Nobel laureates and focuses on their entrepreneurial paths, seeking the factors behind their success. Among the myriad factors of success, we still find a common thread, subtly present in each story, yet possessing a magical force that propels these masters step by step toward success. This is the sacred mission.
The Mysterious Green Light
The story begins on a cold evening in November 1895. On the campus of the University of Würzburg in Germany, a professor in his fifties was walking alone toward a laboratory at the physics institute. He was the university's president and a renowned physicist, Wilhelm R?ntgen. After years of diligent effort, R?ntgen had made outstanding contributions to physics and was already well-known, yet he never relaxed his commitment to scientific research. Because of numerous administrative tasks and teaching duties during the day, he had to conduct experiments at night.
As early as 1836, Faraday had discovered that discharging in rarefied gas produced beautiful light. In 1876, the German physicist Goldstein formally coined this discharge as "cathode rays." At the time, the European academic community was embroiled in a long and fierce debate over what cathode rays were, and R?ntgen was also involved, conducting systematic research.
That day, R?ntgen walked to the laboratory, took off his thick coat, changed into a work uniform, and sat down at the experiment bench. First, he carefully wrapped a vacuum discharge tube in thick black paper to prevent any visible light from leaking out. Then, he stood up, carefully closed all the doors and windows, and drew the curtains before connecting the power supply and bending down to check if the black paper was leaking light. Suddenly, he observed a strange phenomenon: a green glow was emitted from a workbench less than one meter away from the discharge tube!
"Where did this light come from?" R?ntgen wondered. He looked around curiously but saw nothing. So, he cut off the power supply, and the glow disappeared. When he looked again, the green light was gone. He tried repeatedly, and every time the power was turned on and the glow appeared. Then, he struck a match to see what was on the workbench. It turned out to be a piece of cardboard coated with a crystal material of barium platinocyanide, which was emitting the mysterious light!
"Why is this cardboard glowing?" R?ntgen could not figure it out. "Could it be that there is some unknown ray in the phototube that is causing the cardboard to glow?" Thinking this, he picked up a book and placed it between the phototube and the cardboard to test his hypothesis. To his astonishment, the cardboard still glowed even with the book in place. He then moved the cardboard farther away, and it still glowed.
"God! This ray can penetrate solid matter!" R?ntgen was overjoyed and couldn't contain his excitement, forgetting everything around him. He immediately used wood and hard rubber as obstacles to conduct repeated experiments, but found that these objects could not block the ray.
And so, without realizing it, the next morning had arrived.
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