I was the Founding Father of the United States

Chapter 94

The Robin battery is actually a voltaic battery.

This type of battery consists of multiple voltaic stacks connected in series. Each stack has a sandwich structure of "zinc sheet - cardboard soaked in salt water/dilute acid - copper sheet/silver sheet". The metal sheets come into contact with the electrolyte and undergo a redox reaction, which can form a continuous flow of charge.

He developed this battery for two reasons. First, to use the electrolysis of water to produce oxygen for VIP patients.

Secondly, it was also to solidify his status as the founder of electromagnetism, enhance his reputation, and attract enough outstanding scientists when he later established a university in North America.

Eighteenth-century scientists were a top-tier strategic resource, and with their guidance, they could quickly create enormous value and tangible progress in productivity.

Chen Wenbin is, after all, just one person with limited energy, and it is impossible for him to be thorough in every aspect. Only by making full use of European intellectual resources can he leverage more resources and build technological barriers.

After explaining bioelectricity to George III, Chen Wenbin talked about his upcoming trip to France.

Eight days ago, he received a joint invitation from the French Academy of Sciences, inviting him to give a lecture at the Academy and the University of Paris in March, and also to be elected as a member of the French Academy of Sciences.

The invitation was signed by a host of prominent French scientists, including Charles Condamin, the rotating president of the French Academy of Sciences, Jean-Baptiste Leroy, an academician of the French Academy of Chemistry, and Jean-François Morand, an academician of the French Academy of Medicine.

With such a warm invitation, Chen Wenbin naturally had to go and take a look. Besides, the level of French scientists was not much worse than that of British scientists. Establishing connections in the French scientific community now would make it easier to recruit people in the future.

"The French...they can't be trusted!"

King George III shook his head and said earnestly to Chen Wenbin, "Robin, I can't stop you from going to France, but you must not be fooled by those Frenchmen!"

The French are all tech thieves!

They stole the mirror-making technique from the Venetians, the flying shuttle technique from the English, and the silk-twisting technique from the Italians!

"You've already made many inventions; they'll definitely try to steal them!"

Technology thieves… Chen Wenbin shook his head inwardly. It wasn’t just the French who were technology thieves; the British had stolen a lot of technology too. In the future, the British would also steal tea and porcelain from the Qing Dynasty.

Which powerful European country doesn't have something to hide?

He smiled and nodded, saying, "I'll be careful. I'm only going to France at the invitation of the French Academy of Sciences; I won't leak any technology... Surely the French wouldn't kidnap a British scientist and a baron?"

King George III thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "I will write a letter to King Louis XV in advance; they shouldn't dare to do anything..."

As he said this, he glanced at Diana and then whispered a reminder: "You should also be careful of those French women!"

I've heard that many French socialites have syphilis, and I don't want you to come back with it!

"Ahem!"

Chen Wenbin coughed awkwardly twice, about to say something, when Diana spoke first: "Your Majesty! I believe Robin will restrain himself; he is not a man who likes to have affairs!"

"Yeah?"

King George III glanced at Lord Chen sideways, not believing it at all, but he didn't call him out on it. He just smiled at Diana and said, "Then you really are a lucky girl. I heard that your wedding is next Wednesday. Sophie and I can't attend, so I'm sending my best wishes for your marriage in advance!"

Sophie has an Elizabethan-era jewelry box, which I've brought with me. I'll give it to you as a wedding gift.

Robin, you come from the East. There are some books from China in the library of St. James's Palace. Pick two sets to take with you and study them!

If you have time, you can translate them into English and study them; just keep the translations.

Books from China!

Chen Wenbin perked up and quickly agreed.

He then chatted with George III for a while, mainly discussing the expansion and profit sharing of Robin's Pharmacy, as well as the development plans of the Southern Expansion Company... Upon hearing that he was going to transport immigrants from the East all the way to North America, George III was surprised but didn't say anything.

Chen Wenbin is willing to spend his own money on immigration, that's his own business. Anyway, North America is such a big place, what difference would a few hundred or a few thousand more Asians make?

Knowing that Chen Wenbin was a very busy man and would have to return to the hospital to see patients later, George III did not stay long. After they had talked enough, he returned to Buckingham Palace with the Earl of Butt, leaving only a court attendant to take Chen Wenbin to the library to retrieve books.

The library in St. James's Palace is small, just a room of less than 30 square meters, and there is only one bookshelf for books on the East.

However, when Chen Wenbin picked up a thread-bound book and wiped away the dust, his eyes widened in surprise. On the yellowed cover, four large characters were written in traditional Chinese characters: "Complete Treatise on Agriculture"!

Let's look at the inscription on the west side—compiled by Xu Wending, a scholar from Yunjian!

The bottom left corner contains the "Hirurodo Collection Plate".

This Xu Wending Gong... should be Xu Guangqi, the scientist and Grand Secretary of the late Ming Dynasty, right?

Seeing Chen Wenbin pick up a book and start reading, a court attendant asked, "Sir, would you like to choose this set of books?"

"Hmm! Include this!"

Chen Wenbin thought for a moment, then said to the attendant, "His Majesty promised I could take two sets of books; I'll choose another one!"

"Of course, you can choose whatever you like."

Next, Chen Wenbin went through the bookshelves one by one. He recognized some of the books, and they were very famous, such as the Book of Changes, the Book of Rites, the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Zuo Zhuan, the Analects, and the Complete Tang Poems, etc.

He didn't recognize some of them, such as Fang Mangong's "A Brief Introduction to Physics" and "Tongya".

Chen Wenbin wasn't interested in studying the Book of Changes or the Analects for the time being, but he was very curious about the Book of Physics, which seemed to be an ancient Chinese encyclopedia, so he chose that book.

He simply couldn't recall who this Fang Mangong was, and could only regard him as a sage who had been lost to history.

Having chosen the two sets of books, Chen Wenbin led Diana and the others back to Robin's mansion. After announcing that a celebration banquet would be held at the mansion that evening, he took one of the books from "Physics Tidbits" to Robin's Hospital.

He plans to slack off at work to study these two sets of books, and then compile an English-Chinese dictionary and Chinese Pinyin to make it easier for Chinese immigrants to North America to learn English.

In addition, a simplified Chinese character comparison table should also be included. Traditional characters have many strokes, making them inefficient to learn. Moreover, the Kangxi Dictionary has deliberately made the already simplified Chinese characters more complicated, increasing the difficulty of learning. This will not be convenient for future literacy education for immigrants.