In ancient times, how to measure whether a person is a "scholar" or a "scum"?
If you can "pass five levels and slash six generals" in the imperial examination and successfully pass the entrance examination, you must be a scholar; if you are frustrated in the field of science and technology, you will not even be able to pass the xiucai exam for a lifetime, and you must be a scum of learning.
Xu Shou is such a scum.
On February 26, 1818, Xu Shou was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, to a peasant family. Xu Shou's grandfather, Xu Zhenfa, while working as a farmer, did some small business and made some money, so that Xu Shou's father, Xu Wenbiao, could study. Unfortunately, Xu Wenbiao died unexpectedly at the age of 26, leaving the family without a pillar. Xu Wenbiao's wife, Song Shi, a handful of and a handful of urine pulled several children to grow up.
Xu Shou is the only man in the family, who has been reading books for several years and undertakes the important mission of "Guangzong Yaozu". However, Xu Shou did not even pass the first pass of the examination for the boy of the imperial examination, and failed to obtain the name of Xiucai. In ancient times, taking the imperial examination was a very expensive thing. Xu Shou did not dare, nor was he interested in continuing on this road, so he gave up his studies and, like his grandfather Xu Zhenfa, engaged in business while working as a farmer.
For a family with a fragile foundation for survival, survival is the first priority.
Fortunately, Xu Shou did not give up his pursuit of knowledge while working in agriculture and business for survival. However, what he pursues is not the poetry and articles of the wind and snow, but a more practical science and technology.
Wuxi, located in jiangnan, has been the home of fish and rice since ancient times, and it is also a gathering place for skilled craftsmen. Xu Shou has loved craft production since he was a child, has a strong interest in science and technology, and in a self-taught way, he has read a large number of Western scientific and technological works translated from Europe in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, such astronomy, calendar, mathematics, physics, musical rhythm, medicine, mining, etc., to see everything and learn everything.
At that time, Xu Shou had a fellow villager named Hua Xiangfang. Hua Xiangfang is also a science and technology fan and has the same hobbies and interests as Xu Shou. The two hit it off and often got together to discuss difficult problems. One year, they also went to Shanghai together to visit Li Shanlan, a well-known modern scientist, and received the latter's teachings and guidance. While in Shanghai, they bought quite a few books. Through these books, they have mastered a certain level of modern scientific and technological knowledge.
If scientific and technological knowledge is not used, it is no different from empty talk. The prosperity of the western affairs movement made Xu Shou soon have a place to play.
In 1861, Zeng Guofan founded the first new arsenal in modern China, the Anqingnei Ordnance Institute, which opened the prelude to the foreign affairs movement. The establishment of an arsenal requires a large number of scientific and technological talents. Zeng Guofan had already heard of Xu Shou's name, and in March 1862 he was recruited to the Anqingnei Ordnance Institute along with Hua Xiangfang.
Strictly speaking, the Anqingnei Ordnance Institute was only a slightly larger handicraft workshop, mainly producing bullets, gunpowder and imitation guns to provide weapons and equipment for the Xiang Army. Xu Shou put forward a higher pursuit - to make ships.
Since the First Opium War, the "strong ships and sharp guns" of the Western powers have left a deep impression on the Chinese people. Xu Shou wanted to produce his own ships. But how easy is that? After all, at that time, China could not even produce steam engines. Without the steam engine, ships would not have been able to speak.
Xu Shou said just do it. Under the leadership of him and Hua Xiangfang, the technical workers of the Anqingnei Ordnance Institute built China's first steam engine in just three months.
Zeng Guofan said happily, "I can do it Chinese I like the wisdom of foreigners, and he cannot be proud of what I don't know." "This means that what foreigners can do, we can do Chinese."
They continued to work hard, and in more than three years, they successfully built China's first steam-powered ship, the Yellow Crane, in April 1866. When the Steam Steamship Huanghu was sailing on the Yangtze River, the countercurrent speed was about 16 miles per hour and the downcurrent speed was about 28 miles per hour, leaving the sailing ship departing at the same time far behind.
Since then, Xu Shou and Hua Xiangfang have successively designed and manufactured ships such as Huiji, Caojiang, Haihai, Chengqing, and Yiyuan, opening a new chapter in China's modern shipbuilding industry.
Xu Shou was self-taught and well aware of the importance of scientific and technical books, and suggested to Zeng Guofan to set up a translation hall. In 1867, when Xu Shou went to Shanghai on the orders of Zeng Guofan to prepare for the establishment of the Jiangnan Machine Manufacturing Bureau, he organized the Translation Hall. The Translation Museum invited the British missionaries Wei Lieali and Fu Lanya to assist, and translated and published a total of 13 scientific and technological works, including 6 63 volumes of modern Western chemistry.
Xu Shou also personally translated chemistry books, and creatively adopted the principle of creating new characters in the first syllable of Spanish to name the periodic table of elements, such as sodium, potassium, calcium, nickel, etc., which have been used to this day. When reciting the periodic table, don't forget Xu Shou's contribution.
Xu Shou was even the first Chinese to publish an article in nature, a top international academic journal.
In 1881, the British magazine Nature published a letter from the missionary Fu Lanya to the famous physicist Tindor under the title of "Acoustics in China". The letter translates Xu Shou's review of Tindor's work Acoustics, pointing out errors in the traditional acoustic law "The VibrationAl pattern of the column of air" (Bernoulli's law).
This is the first time Chinese have published an article in Nature. Although it was translated by others, the main content of the article was completed by Xu Shou alone.
Unfortunately, although Xu Shou made great contributions to China in various fields of science and technology, he could not obtain the "entry ticket" to enter the official field because he did not obtain the title of jinshi, and he was not reused throughout his life, and he assisted officials in his work as a craftsman, equivalent to a temporary worker. It wasn't until 1873 that the 55-year-old Xu Shou was appointed to the Jiangnan General Bureau of Manufacturing — the equivalent of a dispatch in a company.
Xu Shou's life experience is the epitome of the fate of countless scientific and technological personnel in the late Qing Dynasty.