Quatrième campus

Chapitre 18

Before Leibniz could finish speaking, George's proud and spirited voice came from outside: "Mom, I learned a lot today, Isaac..."

Charlotte rushed out from somewhere after hearing her brother's voice. She knew her brother would tell her many strange and wonderful stories about Isaac.

Before even sitting down, George, panting, exclaimed, “Charlotte, Isaac made a model of a mill! He tied a little mouse to a wheeled cart, and then put a kernel of corn in front of the wheel, just out of the mouse’s reach. The mouse wanted to eat the corn, so it kept running, and the wheel kept turning. How fun!” George gestured with his plump fingers as he spoke. Charlotte’s eyes widened like saucers, and she didn’t move an inch. To her, the idea of the little mouse turning the millstone itself was infinitesimally interesting.

"He held a triangular glass lens in the sun, and the sunlight transformed into a myriad of colors. When he brought another triangular glass lens closer, those seven colors merged into one. Isaac said he could even calculate that the stars in the sky rotate in elliptical orbits, and he even wrote the formula on the blackboard, what's it called..." George breathlessly recounted everything he had seen, then looked at Charlotte with a smug expression, as if to say, "Look at you, you know nothing!"

Leibniz wasn't interested in any of this. He said listlessly to George, "I asked you to ask Isaac what he thought of Aristotle, not to watch a little mouse spin a windmill."

George then remembered the important matter at hand, and after rummaging through his pockets for a while, he finally pulled out a note: "This is a letter from Mr. Isaac to you."

Mrs. Sophie noticed that Leibniz's expression was uncertain as he read the letter, and he seemed rather listless after finishing it. She asked with concern, "William, what's wrong? You don't look well. Have you been working too hard lately?"

Leibniz shook his head.

"Is there something wrong with Aristotle?"

Leibniz shook his head.

"That……"

“Isaac is right. Aristotle is nothing special. It’s just a more rigorous and larger addition than Pascal’s, with two more multiplier wheels. It’s certainly not a groundbreaking new creation.” Leibniz’s dark, deep eyes dimmed, and he muttered to himself.

Mrs. Sophie felt a pang of heartache seeing Leibniz so dejected.

“Well, perhaps there is another way, William.”

Leibniz remained motionless, seemingly lost in thought.

"Then, regarding binary code, can it be combined with machines?"

As if struck by lightning, Leibniz shuddered. A thought flashed through his mind like lightning, and the mystery hidden in his inner world for his entire life was finally solved. He raised his head, his eyes radiating an unprecedented and strange light.

"I've found it!" Leibniz burst into laughter. "If we combine Aristotle with binary code, wouldn't that be an unprecedented creation?"

Charlotte was terrified by her teacher's almost insane behavior and hid behind Mrs. Sophie, peeking out to watch her teacher.

Leibniz turned to Sophie and said, “Madam, I need to revise Aristotle, which will take several more months. I also need to build a watermill on the upper reaches of the Seine. The future Aristotle will not be able to rely solely on manpower.”

Lady Sophie paused for a moment, a hint of difficulty showing in her brows: "William has spent a considerable amount of money on Aristotle Rulf, and he wants to retaliate against the Lüneburg family in the New Year. If we are to reform Aristotle, I'm afraid, I'm afraid..."

Leibniz gradually calmed down. He understood the Duchess's predicament. Aristotle's large structure was built in Paris, and the overall installation was completed in Hanover. The precision instruments inside came from Great Britain, Switzerland, and many other European countries. If it were to be remodeled, it would cost an unknown amount of money.

Mrs. Sophie couldn't bear to see Leibniz looking so dejected. She thought for a moment and said, "The New Year is coming soon. Why don't you write a letter to Rulf explaining your reasons for improving Aristotle?" Her face flushed slightly. "Of course, I'll help you explain as well."

Leibniz lowered his head, no longer daring to look directly at Madame Sophie's graceful, dignified, elegant, and radiant face.

Note:

① Shao Yong was one of the Five Masters of the Northern Song Dynasty. He, along with Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, and the Cheng brothers, were founders of Neo-Confucianism during the Song Dynasty. His system of symbolic numerology attempted to explain the entire process of cosmic evolution, society, and human life using a complete diagram. Although this system was derived subjectively, it also possessed some rational elements. Shao Yong was the first Neo-Confucian scholar to combine the theories and methods of symbolic numerology with Neo-Confucian thought, and he authored the *Xiantian Tu* (also known as the *Fuxi Bagua Tu*).

②Aristotle was the philosopher Leibniz respected most, so he named the calculator he made "Aristotle".

③In 1638, the Duchy of Brunswick-Kalundborg-Göttingen was established in Germany, with Hanover as its capital. It was later renamed the Duchy of Hanover. In 1692, it was designated an Electorate, and its Duke Ernst August married Sophie, daughter of Elector Frederick the Palatine and granddaughter of King James I of England. Their son, George, was an Elector.

④ In reality, it is the dispersion of light.