The Shadow of Great Britain

He searched around nearby, but couldn't find anyone who looked like a professor.

Ohm clutched the few papers he had published, gazing at the sun high above, feeling quite anxious from the wait.

Suddenly, he saw the conference hall doors open in the distance, and a group of seemingly fifty-year-old scholars walked out.

Ohm approached them joyfully, but as soon as he got close to the professors, he couldn't help but feel some fear, as over the years he had been harshly criticized by these people.

He hesitated for a long time, then found a friendly-looking young person among the crowd: "Excuse me, do you know where Sir Arthur Hastings is?"

"Are you looking for the Academic Director?" The young professor, who appeared to be under thirty, glanced at Ohm: "The director is quite busy. Do you have something to discuss with him?"

"Ah… um…" Ohm's palms were sweaty, and the papers he held were damp: "I… am, have you heard of George Ohm?"

"George Ohm!"

The young professor exclaimed, catching the attention of the surrounding professors.

Some professors couldn't help but frown and ask, "Weber, can't you stop alarming us like that? You're scaring the birds in the woods away."

Weber laughed heartily, apologizing to that professor: "Sorry, Mr. Elman, I got too excited. Look who this is, George Ohm, weren't we just talking about him?"

"Ohm?" Professor Elman glanced at Ohm, then shook his head, addressing the colleagues around him: "Let's head back, we have classes in the morning."

Weber noticed their reaction and couldn't help but smirk, then turned around to comfort Ohm: "Mr. Ohm, don't take it too seriously. You have to know, there are always such relics in academia. The school director showed me your paper, although the mathematical expressions and arguments were a bit messy, overall it's still viable."

"You… you believe me?" Ohm was ready to be mocked, but Weber's friendly attitude surprised him greatly.

Weber winked at him: "Whether I believe you or not, I can't say now because I haven't verified your experimental process. However, at least for now, I haven't spotted any mistakes on paper."

"I… I'm so grateful to you!"

Ohm excitedly shook Weber's hand: "You can conduct the experiment at any time, if there's even the slightest discrepancy, you could chop off my head with a sword, and I wouldn't have any complaints."

"Oh… I'm not that rude." Weber replied with a smile, "Besides, I don't know much about swordsmanship, that's Sir Hastings' specialty. Let me introduce myself, Wilhelm Weber, Professor of Physics at the University of Gottingen, and I'm also the assistant to Mr. Gauss, the director of our observatory."

The mention of Weber's name immediately astonished Ohm.

Wilhelm Weber's fame in the German electromagnetism research circle was well-known, a true genius, earning a doctorate at Halle University at the age of 22 and being appointed a physics professor there the following year. While Ohm's reputation suffered from publishing "The Calculation of Current," Weber's career flourished as he moved from Halle University to become a professor at Gottingen University at 27.

Standing before such a figure, the 44-year-old Ohm couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed.

"I…"

He wanted to say something polite, but didn't know what to say.

After all, someone like Wilhelm Weber doesn't need flattery from a mere high school teacher like himself, seen as a scam in the academic world.

Ohm hesitated to speak, but before he could open his mouth, he heard a sigh from behind.

"Mr. Gauss, I've already reported to the Ministry of Culture and Education about the geomagnetic monitoring station. As for you and Weber wanting to set up a telegraph line at the observatory, I can allocate funds for you right away, but asking me how to lay the wire, this is…"

"Sir, you're just brushing me off, I clearly heard you were involved in Mr. Wheatstone's telegraph machine line project, weren't you?"

"Yes, I was involved, but that doesn't mean I installed that wire! How about this, I'm quite close with Mr. Wheatstone, next month there's an all-European electromagnetism conference in Gottingen, I'll write Mr. Wheatstone a letter inviting him to join the scholars from the Royal Society. Then, under the pretext of friendship, I'll keep him in Gottingen to guide the construction of Gottingen's telegraph lines. How do you feel about my suggestion?"

"Can you really persuade Mr. Wheatstone?"

"Of course, I'm very close with Mr. Wheatstone, he said himself he'd go through fire and water for me."

Arthur said while suddenly spotting Weber ahead, quickly making an excuse to slip away from Gauss: "Mr. Weber, do you need any help over there?"

Weber, having a good impression of the new young school director, glanced at Ohm beside him and replied with a smile: "It's such a coincidence, I do have something I need your help with."