Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 447: Scientific Research

As the sun set, the colorful clouds rose on the horizon, making Vienna even more vibrant and beautiful.

The busy people had no time to appreciate this picturesque scene. Olabiv was an exception; the lab had recently assigned him an easy task, giving him a sort of vacation.

Basking in the sunset, Olabiv didn’t forget his work. He picked up something that looked like both a receiver and a microphone and shouted into it.

Yes, this was his daily task. Since it was a vacation, there wasn’t much to do. His job was to perform three call tests a day.

Initially, he did this just outside the lab, but the distance gradually increased. Now, Olabiv was over twenty kilometers away from the lab; if he went any farther, he would be outside Vienna.

Olabiv had been working at the Royal Academy of Sciences for five years, and unsurprisingly, working overtime was commonplace in research institutions.

In five years, Olabiv’s longest vacation had been less than three days. The so-called long vacation was merely a position adjustment to a less demanding role to relieve some stress.

Telephone research had always been one of the lab’s key projects. The term “telephone” had been used in Europe as early as the 18th century, and in 1860, Antonio Meucci of Italy invented the telephone.

However, it was not very useful or even completely unusable. Historically, it was generally accepted that Bell invented the telephone in 1876, simply because Bell’s improvements made it practical.

The testing distance clearly shows that the Royal Academy of Sciences has made the first step in telephone research and is close to success.

If call quality is not considered, the telephone can now facilitate “same-city voice calls,” which has some commercial value.

The birth of the telephone was originally intended to make communication more convenient for people. Achieving coverage over just a few dozen kilometers is obviously not enough to meet Franz’s demands.

Improving call quality has also become the biggest challenge. Once the technology for voice transmission is perfected, extending the call range will be relatively easy.

Manual switching is always an option. Franz does not have such high expectations to assume that it can achieve intelligent switching in one go.

On the other end of the phone, Oscar complained excitedly, “Olabiv, keep your voice down, I’m not deaf.”

Olabiv was delighted; the call quality had improved. They were almost daily replacing new equipment, testing all sorts of random ideas.

Invention and creation are often very tedious processes. It takes the creative ideas of researchers and a lot of experimentation to achieve the final results.

Of course, the most important factor is luck. Almost all scientists agree that research relies on luck, and those who are unlucky are not suited for scientific research.

In high spirits, Olabiv retorted, “Got it, Oscar. If you were deaf, you wouldn’t be complaining about my loud voice.

However, I think your focus should be on something else right now. It seems the call quality has improved, and success is just around the corner.”

Improved call quality doesn’t equate to success. After all, this is just a dedicated line phone, which doesn’t have economic value in practical applications.

However, the advantage of the lab is that tasks can be divided, allowing multiple technologies to be researched simultaneously, with even each technology being studied by several teams.

This quantity-driven approach offers a significant advantage over individual researchers.

For instance, in telephone research, a key project, there are over a hundred participants. This includes groups focused on voice quality, telephone switches, telephone lines, and so on, divided into more than a dozen teams conducting simultaneous research.

Any technological advancement is crucial for this project. Naturally, bonuses are inevitable, and Franz has always been generous in this regard.

Research can’t run on passion alone; that small spark can’t sustain the entire industry. In recent years, Austria’s scientific research field has developed quite well, with the Royal Academy of Sciences playing a significant role.

The annual investment of millions of guilders has become the driving force behind Austria’s scientific and technological progress.

Compared to the telephone, phonograph technology is more mature, with related patents already fully registered. It is expected to be on the market for sale after this Christmas.

Well, having snatched yet another of Edison’s patents, Franz was beginning to seriously doubt what new tricks this inventor could come up with if things continued this way.

These inventions and creations made Franz less fixated on famous individuals. The fact is, as long as you are willing to invest, these technically feasible inventions, which are just short of conceptual innovation, can be produced through sheer effort.

Given this, Edison’s value greatly diminished. It is far easier to attract a scientist than a businessman. Instead of spending a large amount of money to chase successful “businessmen,” it is better to use the same money to support hundreds of researchers.

These are the ones who can truly enhance national strength. Behind every powerful nation in modern times, there has always been a group of researchers and engineers holding it up.

Without industrial support, the great ideas of scientists will always remain ideas. To turn them into reality, a solid industrial foundation is essential.

Even scientific and technological progress are closely related. While people focus on giants like Edison and Einstein, they often overlook the unsung heroes of basic scientific research.

These individuals have no fame and no inventions that directly impact daily life, yet all inventions and creations depend on them.

Since the 19th century, most scientific inventions and creations have been concentrated on the European continent, which reveals the issue.

It’s not that other regions lack geniuses, but the absence of basic industry prevents these geniuses from inventing and creating, forcing them onto other paths.

In a corner of the research institute, the internal combustion engine project team was still working hard.

This technology has very early origins. In the 17th century, Dutch physicist Christiaan HuygensChristiaan Huygens conducted research on obtaining power from gunpowder explosions, but due to the immaturity of gunpowder technology and the difficulty in controlling the results, the research failed.

In 1794, the British inventor Robert Street proposed obtaining power from fuel combustion and, for the first time, introduced the concept of mixing fuel with air.

In 1833, another Briton, Wright, proposed a design that directly utilized combustion pressure to drive a piston.

By the mid-19th century, scientists had developed theories for converting the heat generated by burning gas, gasoline, and diesel into mechanical power, laying the foundation for the invention of the internal combustion engine.

Since the introduction of the piston internal combustion engine in the 1860s, it has undergone continuous improvements and development, becoming a relatively perfected machine.

In 1860, the Frenchman Lenoir designed and manufactured the first practical gas engine, modeled after the structure of a steam engine.

These external factors led to the establishment of the internal combustion engine project. Given that the foundation was already laid, Franz naturally did not overlook this epoch-making invention.

Technically speaking, internal combustion engine technology could have emerged in the 18th century. Of course, scientific research is not easy, and in the original timeline, breakthroughs were delayed until the late 19th century.

Franz’s promotion merely accelerated this process. Two years ago, the internal combustion engine was already born in the laboratory.

However, due to its very small power output, it had no practical value and could only be displayed in a museum for public viewing. The current model is the second-generation internal combustion engine.

When this technology can be applied to everyday life depends on luck. After all, laboratory results and commercial applications are two different concepts.

The Royal Academy of Sciences has many advanced technologies that, for various reasons, cannot be released to the public. Among them, medicine and biology are the most prevalent fields, with many highly effective drugs that cannot be industrially produced.

It’s not just that industrial technology can’t keep up; many materials are simply too scarce. Especially those drugs made from herbs that take hundreds of years to grow—the lab itself often lacks the raw materials for research.

There’s no doubt that Franz is the main supporter behind these various research projects.

The projects being researched in Vienna are relatively safe but some of the ones in African laboratories are much more dangerous. There was even an incident where laboratory wastewater led to the extinction of several African tribes.

This can be considered the earliest form of biochemical weapons. Fortunately, Franz had the foresight to place the lab in Africa, or the consequences would have been disastrous.

Franz has always believed that every excellent scientist is also a bit of a daredevil. They dare to research many things they don’t fully understand, which is quite admirable.

Many of these random research projects have led to unimaginable consequences. If Franz wanted, he could produce biochemical weapons now.

Obviously, his peace-loving nature prevents him from doing so. No one knows how severe the consequences of releasing scientific by-products could be, and Franz is not willing to find out.

Given the limited medical technology of this era, releasing an unknown virus that could wipe out humanity is not impossible.

Scientists are aware of these risks and handle the waste from their experiments with great care after collecting data.

If someone intended to play a mean joke, rounding up this waste and sending it over for storage would definitely work. That said, Franz would never indulge in such unscrupulous behavior.

To dispose of laboratory waste, he has made significant investments. Typically, the waste is first incinerated at high temperatures and then buried in remote areas, never within the country.