In February, Washington was covered with ice and snow.
Although it was freezing cold, it couldn't stop Yuan Jialiu and his wife. After a year of separation, they met in New York before the Lantern Festival and drove along the East Coast to have fun. They were quite relaxed along the way.
After meeting with old friends in Washington, they drove back to New York. Although it was already February, the cold current in the north brought a heavy snow. Because there was a lot of snow on the road, Yuan Jialiu drove very carefully.
Looking at her cautious husband, Wu Jianxiong said.
"So George has made great achievements in physics."
"Yes, when we get to New York, if we have time, we can discuss some physics problems together. Some of his views are very novel and even quite groundbreaking."
Then, Yuan Jialiu talked about some topics he talked about with George that time, and soon the couple discussed some of George's assumptions about the quantum field in the car. As scholars, the two people were soon immersed in it and even forgot that they were in the car.
"...If his hypothesis is confirmed, it will definitely cause a sensation in the entire academic community."
When the voice fell, Wu Jianxiong noticed that the speed of the car had increased at some point.
"Jialiu, the road outside is slippery, go slower, pay attention to safety..."
As soon as she finished speaking, she felt the car suddenly spin.
"Jialiu..."
Wu Jianxiong screamed in fear and grabbed Yuan Jialiu's arm. Before she could say anything, she heard the sound of tires skidding, and then something happened. The BMW sports car they were driving rushed off the road and rolled down the hillside...
A few hours later, Yuan Jialiu, who was in the hospital, stared blankly at the operating room with flashing red lights, and his mind was full of regret.
How could this happen? How could he be so careless?
It happened too suddenly, completely catching him off guard. After the car ran out of the road for more than ten feet, it was blocked by a big tree. It did not roll over, burn or explode. This was a great blessing.
Later, a car drove by and saw that his companion had an accident, so it helped to lift the two out of the car. Yuan Jialiu was very lucky. In addition to the scratches, her ribs hit the steering wheel and injured her ribs, but Wu Jianxiong was not so lucky.
The impact of the roll caused her ribs to be fractured in multiple places and her arm was fractured. She is still being rescued.
It was not until the next morning that the doctor came out of the operating room. As soon as he saw the doctor, Yuan Jialiu ran over and asked.
"Doctor, how is my wife? How is her condition?"
"Sir, the operation was successful, but because of multiple fractures, it will take about four months to recover."
It was not until then that Yuan Jialiu breathed a sigh of relief and murmured.
"That's good, that's good, as long as no one is fine,"
...
When George received Yuan Jialiu's call, he was also like this, as long as no one is fine!
If no one is fine, then he will be guilty. His act of borrowing a car actually led to such an accident. He was afraid of what? The Chinese physics community lost a big shot!
"I will never borrow a car again in the future. This is too scary, unless I borrow the driver as well."
After thinking for a while, George said again.
"Send someone to pick them up later. It will take a hundred days to recover from the injuries. Otherwise, let them recuperate in the Hamptons first."
Like many wealthy people in New York, George also has a villa in South Hampton. This is an investment. The seaside villa now only costs more than 10,000 US dollars, but in later generations it will cost tens of millions of US dollars, and it is still difficult to buy.
Thinking of this, George picked up the phone and gave instructions to his secretary. Soon, Ding En sent someone to pick up Yuan Jialiu and his wife.
A week later, in front of Yuan Jialiu's apartment in New York, two Americans wearing coats and hats knocked on the door again, but still no one responded.
"Didn't the school say that the lady lived with her husband in New York after being discharged from the hospital?"
Colonel Nichols frowned and said with some doubt.
"We have come here three times, and no one is home."
Another person was flipping through the letters in his hand and said.
"Colonel, take a look at the bills. These are the utility bills for last month, which means they did not return to New York, at least not to this apartment."
"We can't just keep waiting like this."
Looking at the closed door, Colonel Nichols said. "I don't think there's any need to wait any longer. We've been waiting for a week. I think Mr. Oppenheimer will understand."
A few hours later, Oppenheimer received a long-distance call from New York. After learning that Wu Jianxiong was injured in a traffic accident, he hurriedly asked about her injuries. He didn't breathe a sigh of relief until he confirmed that she was safe.
"It's okay, it's okay. As long as she's fine, it's okay. She should be recuperating somewhere now. We'll contact her again after a while."
Although it was a bit unfortunate, Oppenheimer had no other choice. After hanging up the phone, he looked through Fermi's report again.
"...The chain reaction of a nuclear explosion can never be sustained. The neutrons produced by the impact will disappear inexplicably, thus losing the power to keep the chain reaction going."
The sudden disappearance of neutrons made Oppenheimer, Fermi and other scientists feel extremely difficult. The development of the atomic bomb was facing a major crisis of stagnation.
"...Xenon-135, one of the products of nuclear fission, is very likely the culprit of this failure. We believe that xenon-135 is a "neutron poison". But we are not sure how to solve it."
Looking through the report, Oppenheimer frowned. If this problem cannot be solved, there will be no atomic bomb - without the power of a continuous chain reaction, there will naturally be no atomic bomb.
Who can solve this problem?
In Oppenheimer's view, only Wu Jianxiong, who was also his former student, could solve this problem. As early as 1939, she had completed the experiment of "exploring the fission products of uranium nuclei" alone, and found in her experiment that uranium would produce a large amount of radioactive isotope xenon-135 during nuclear fission, and proposed that this isotope has a certain absorption of neutrons.
It is precisely because her research results in this area are at the forefront of the world that Oppenheimer sent people to find her and even went to Washington in person to solve her confidentiality authorization problem.
However, by chance, she actually had a traffic accident.
There was no other way. Oppenheimer, who had lost his key figure, could only sigh helplessly.
"Well, okay, let's wait a few months until she recovers..."