The Rise of Australia

Chapter 410 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

At the request of Britain, France and Russia, Arthur sold more than 300 old first-generation military aircraft in the inventory of the Aviation Research Laboratory to them, and sold them the complete first-generation military aircraft technology.

Although the technology was transferred, it was not a loss at all for Arthur. Judging from the current talent pool of aerodynamics and aircraft manufacturing professionals in Australasia, it is basically impossible for a single country to catch up with Australasia's progress in aircraft.

As early as a few years ago, Australasia had a reserve of nearly one-third of the world's relevant talents, and now it will only grow more.

Unless Europe's remaining experts can unite, Australasia's advantage in aircraft cannot be made up in a short time.

Without Australia's intervention and participation, it would have taken at least ten years for European countries to develop military aircraft at the level of the current Australasian fourth-generation aircraft.

The aircraft in Australasia can be updated at least twice in this decade. As the performance of the aircraft becomes better and better from generation to generation, the gap between Australasia and other countries in terms of aircraft will only become wider and wider.

This is actually the benefit of talent reserve. It is precisely because Arthur understands this that he uses the Victoria Awards to buy a large number of top talents from around the world for his own and Australasia's use.

At present, Australasia has a very rich talent pool, and the top talent pool in some industries is no less than that of the European powers.

Rough statistics show that by 1915, Australasia had recruited at least a thousand physics and chemistry experts from Europe, at least hundreds of internationally renowned experts, and countless industry-famous experts.

Although the Royal Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Australasia uses at least 5 million Australian dollars in research funds every year, the results of these experts have made Australasia make considerable progress in various aspects.

This also led to the Victoria Prize being still held as usual in Europe. The brutal European war did not affect the awarding of this award, which has been recognized as the highest award in academia.

Of course, it’s not yet time for the new year’s Victoria Awards. But Arthur's actions to attract talents will not stop at any time.

On July 1, 1915, Batty, the director of the Royal Security Intelligence Service, reported good news to Arthur, that is, there were a lot of talents among the new round of 200,000 Russian immigrants.

Although Russia cannot compare with top powers such as Britain, France, and Germany in terms of scientific research, this does not mean that Russia in general lacks talents.

On the contrary, Russia has a lot of talented people, but a considerable part of them are not reused by the current Russian government.

If Russia does not have talents, the Soviet Union will not quickly become a superpower alongside the United States in the future.

It took a while to investigate this group of 200,000 Russian immigrants, but the time spent was nothing compared to the reporting after the investigation.

The new batch of Russian immigrants include talents in agriculture, industry, physics, chemistry, and even aerodynamics, airship and aircraft manufacturing.

The most noteworthy name is undoubtedly Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who is well-known in Russia.

Arthur also knew something about this famous name. In later generations, Tsiolkovsky was called the founder of modern astronautics and the father of aerospace.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was born in 1857 and is currently 58 years old.

Tsiolkovsky was born in an ordinary peasant family in Ryazan Province, Russia. Because the family living environment was not good, and when Tsiolkovsky was ten years old, he caught a severe cold, which led to scarlet fever and eventually almost total death. He lost his hearing, so his parents sent him to Moscow to study until he was 16 years old.

Speaking of which, I have to mention European education during that period. Different from the Unified College Entrance Examination, which is well known in later generations, most Western education at this time was based on the application system. Universities conducted examinations based on their own admissions conditions, and the best candidates were admitted.

Of course, Tsiolkovsky, who only received education at the age of 16, was naturally unable to enter university for study. In order to learn more knowledge, Tsiolkovsky spent three years completely immersed in the library, taught himself analytic geometry, advanced algebra and calculus, learned about physics, chemistry and mechanics, and was very fond of astronomy. novels and magazines.

The 16-year-old boy who had no education taught himself advanced algebra and calculus, and had to praise Tsiolkovsky's intelligence.

After returning from his studies, Tsiolkovsky passed the rural middle school examination and became a mathematics teacher in a small city middle school.

On the premise of teaching and educating people at the same time, Tsiolkovsky set up a laboratory by himself and started independent research while teaching.

During this period, Tsiolkovsky published dozens of papers. Not only were his papers frequently sent to the Society of Physics and Chemistry in St. Petersburg, they were also praised by the famous Russian scientist Mendeleev.

In the later stages of his research, Tsiolkovsky shifted his interest to airships and proposed the idea of ​​an all-metal rigid airship.

This idea pleased the St. Petersburg government and hired Tsiolkovsky as an airship expert.

In fact, before the outbreak of World War I, Tsiolkovsky had already led a petty bourgeoisie life. As a Russian airship expert, he can receive a salary of about 1,200 rubles per year. Although it is not much, it is completely enough.

But the good times didn't last long. After the outbreak of World War I, the airship built under Tsiolkovsky's supervision entered the battlefield and was quickly destroyed by Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Although Russia also destroyed airships from Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the news that a large amount of investment in airships failed caused Russia to quickly abandon the entire airship research laboratory. As an airship expert, Tsiolkovsky also successfully became unemployed. The homeless people have lost their golden jobs.

Although Tsiolkovsky can return to middle school as his ordinary teacher, the seeds of Tsiolkovsky's space flight have already been planted when he was an airship expert. At this time, he is asked to stop Research is impossible.

This is like taking off his pants halfway and being told that relatives are here. Tsiolkovsky was so anxious that he scratched his head. Finally, under the persuasion of his family, he chose to look for new research opportunities abroad.

Australasia became Tsiolkovsky's first goal. For no other reason, one of Tsiolkovsky's friends was employed at a university in Australia. At the friend's invitation, Tsiolkovsky decided to submit his resume to a university in Australasia, looking for a position at a certain university. opportunity as a university professor.

Tsiolkovsky has published many papers on rocket theory and space flight in scientific reports. It was these famous papers that made Director Barty quickly notice Tsiolkovsky. , and reported it to Arthur.

For an expert in rocket theory and spaceflight, Arthur was undoubtedly a welcome addition.

What's more, the other party still came to invest with his whole family. For such an expert who has no background and is dedicated to scientific research, Arthur is willing to accept anyone who comes.

In early July, Arthur met Tsiolkovsky at the Sydney Palace and had a pleasant long conversation with Tsiolkovsky on rocket theory.

Tsiolkovsky, who was later praised as the founder of modern space navigation and the father of aviation, had no doubt about his ability and many of his unconstrained ideas.

It is these unique ideas that lay a solid foundation for future space navigation and aerospace.

Arthur was very satisfied with Tsiolkovsky's ideas and abilities, and immediately promised to give Tsiolkovsky an honorary professorship at the School of Aeronautics, Royal Military College, Sydney, and a name at the Royal Australasian Institute of Physics and Chemistry. Research Association.

After all, Tsiolkovsky is already 58 years old. Arthur's greatest expectation is to recommend the foundation of Australasian space navigation and aerospace, and to study rockets by the way.

The purpose of joining the Physical and Chemical Research Association was to allow Tsiolkovsky to obtain more research funds and to use more advanced research laboratories.

As for his appointment at the Royal Military College Aviation School in Sydney, Arthur also hopes that Tsiolkovsky can cultivate more talents for Australasia and promote the development of Australasia's aerospace navigation and aerospace industry in a more practical way.

This can be regarded as a plan for the future, although it is impossible to develop rockets and realize space navigation in a short time.

But at least it can lay a solid foundation for the future and be one step ahead of other countries in this regard.

After all, other countries are still busy with World War I at this time, and the simplest and most basic military aircraft are already the pinnacle of their current aviation.

Other countries are researching aircraft, and Australasia is researching rockets. This is already a lead on a huge level.

Tsiolkovsky was also very satisfied with Arthur's arrangements. He came to Australasia just to find a job opportunity, an opportunity to continue his theoretical research in rocketry and space navigation.

Unexpectedly, he was appreciated by Arthur as soon as he arrived in Australasia. Not only did he successfully enter the Royal Military Academy in Sydney, the top university in Australasia, but he also entered the Royal Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Australasia.

Of course, Arthur's rewards for Tsiolkovsky did not stop there. A property in Sydney and the work of Tsiolkovsky's family were all solved by Arthur with one sentence.

Arthur even promised that as long as Tsiolkovsky made good progress in theoretical research, the aviation laboratory would be handed over to Tsiolkovsky in the future and he would truly invest in aviation research.

At present, the main business of the aviation laboratory is to research and manufacture aircraft. As the importance of aircraft becomes more and more important, it becomes necessary to build independent aircraft research and manufacturing factories.

The aviation laboratory can be divided into aircraft and aviation. The aircraft business establishes a new aircraft manufacturing plant, while the aviation laboratory is engaged in aviation research.

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