On a weekend in mid-May 1881, the city of Paris was already starting to get hot and dry, and even the flow of the Seine seemed lazy and sluggish.
However, at Lionel's summer villa in Villeneuve, the situation was quite different.
The terrain here was higher, shaded by green trees, and a gentle cool breeze from a tributary of the Seine isolated it from the hustle and mugginess of Paris.
In the backyard of the "Land of Light" villa, by a garden table under the shade of trees, Lionel was enjoying afternoon tea with Pierre Curie and Henri Poincaré.
The lemonade and freshly baked butter cookies prepared by Peti temporarily dispelled the afternoon drowsiness.
Pierre Curie put down his teacup and asked curiously,
"So, 'Sorel Electric'... Lionel, I still find it incredible. How did you, a man of letters, suddenly develop such a strong interest in the electrical business?
You even poached Nikola Tesla!
I heard that all electrical engineers now highly admire Edison and consider joining his company or laboratory as the highest honor."
Henri Poincaré was also curious:
"You've also taken in almost all the engineers from the Paris Edison Electric Light Company. Edison probably won't be too pleased."
Lionel leaned back in his chair lazily, a smile playing on his lips.
The early summer sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled light spots on his face.
He slowly said,
"I now have renovation contracts for four theaters, each requiring at least a thousand electric lights. How many theaters are there in France?
In the past six months, the Paris Edison Company installed less than two thousand in total. I imagine those engineers are good at math and know how to calculate what's best for them. As for Tesla... actually, it wasn't hard to convince him. I only used one sentence."
Pierre Curie sat up straight, eagerly pressing,
"One sentence? Which sentence has such great magic?"
Lionel was about to speak when footsteps were heard in the yard; it was Sophie.
She was wearing an elegant summer dress, and the breeze ruffled a few strands of hair on her forehead:
"Leon, Mr. Nikola Tesla has arrived."
Lionel immediately stood up and said with a smile to Pierre Curie,
"Look, he's here. Why not let him tell you himself?"
He quickly walked towards the garden gate to greet him.
Soon after, Lionel led a tall, slender young man in.
The young man seemed a bit reserved, but his deep-set eyes were exceptionally bright.
Lionel led him to the table:
"Nikola, welcome. This is Mr. Pierre Curie, and this is Henri Poincaré.
They have made significant contributions in physics and mathematics, and they are also our engineers!"
After brief greetings, Nikola Tesla's gaze immediately locked onto Pierre Curie, instantly lighting up with excitement and admiration.
He almost rushed forward, tightly grasping Pierre Curie's outstretched hand, his voice trembling with excitement:
"Mr. Curie! It's a great honor!
I have read your and your brother Jacques's recently published paper on the 'piezoelectric effect' many times!
That is a groundbreaking discovery that will have an immeasurable impact on the future of electricity!"
Pierre Curie hadn't expected the other party to be so enthusiastic and to highly praise the value of their research; he felt a little embarrassed.
He pushed up his glasses and modestly replied,
"You flatter me, Mr. Tesla. That was just a small, accidental discovery by my brother and me while exploring natural phenomena."
After exchanging pleasantries, the group sat down again.
Pierre Curie hadn't forgotten the previous topic:
"Nikola, Lionel said he impressed you with just one sentence, making you leave Edison's company.
We are truly curious, what was that sentence that could impress such an excellent engineer?"
Nikola Tesla smiled a little shyly.
He glanced at Lionel before saying,
"Mr. Sorel found me then and told me—
'Direct current has no future; alternating current is the future!'"
Pierre Curie was stunned, and Henri Poincaré's body unconsciously leaned forward.
The latter quickly turned to Lionel:
"Alternating current is the future? Leon, why are you so certain?
As far as I know, Edison is promoting his direct current system, and London, Paris, and even New York are building DC power plants."
Lionel did not answer directly but raised his hand, pointing to a faintly visible wisp of smoke column on the distant horizon—
"Do you see that smoke? About two kilometers from here is one of Edison Electric Light Company's DC power plants. The lights in my house are powered by it."
Lionel paused, then continued to explain:
"This is the biggest limitation of direct current. Its voltage drops with distance, and the power loss is astonishing.
This severely restricts the effective power supply range to within two kilometers. Beyond this distance, the voltage is too low, and light bulbs will dim or even fail to light up."
Lionel spread his hands:
"Imagine, to supply power to a large city like Paris, we would need to build a power plant every two kilometers. By then, under the Parisian sky, the chimneys of power plants would be denser than church spires, and all of us would live in a thicker smog than London's."
This depiction of a future scenario made both Pierre Curie and Henri Poincaré feel a sense of suffocation.
Worse than London? That would be more terrifying than hell!
Nikola Tesla picked up the thread:
"Mr. Sorel is absolutely right! And alternating current possesses advantages that direct current cannot match!
We can use a device called a 'transformer' to raise the voltage and transmit electricity tens, or even hundreds, of kilometers away!
A large power plant, built in the suburbs or even in the mountains, would be enough to illuminate an entire city tens of kilometers away!"
Pierre Curie caught an unfamiliar term:
"Transformer?"
Lionel nodded:
"Yes, a transformer. Earlier this year, a device called a 'secondary generator' was publicly demonstrated in London. It is essentially a transformer that can step up and step down voltage. One of its inventors is French, and the other is British.
They were going to sell this technology to Westinghouse in America, but I've already had Mr. Delaroix purchase the patent license for this technology in France."
Nikola Tesla looked at Lionel with admiration:
"Mr. Sorel possesses unparalleled technical intuition and foresight. He has almost illuminated all the key directions for future electrical applications for me, and some of his ideas are even more profound than my own. That's why I am willing to join 'Sorel Electric'!"
Pierre Curie and Henri Poincaré exchanged glances and both nodded in agreement.
They recalled their previous experiences collaborating on improving bicycles and typewriters; Lionel always got straight to the point and proposed practical directions for improvement.
Pierre Curie remarked with emotion,
"Indeed, Leon always manages to find paths to the future in seemingly ordinary things."
Henri Poincaré also echoed,
"Sometimes I even feel like you're an engineer whose talent was sidetracked by literature..."
Lionel felt a bit awkward from their words, quickly waved his hand, and gave a self-deprecating laugh:
"You give me too much credit. I just... from a user's perspective, feel that some things 'shouldn't be that way' and 'should be better'."
He lightly brushed over the topic, then his expression turned serious, and his gaze swept over the three in front of him—
Pierre Curie, a future Nobel laureate, was still a demonstrator in a physics laboratory at the Sorbonne;
Henri Poincaré, a future titan of mathematics, had already joined the Sorbonne and was a senior engineer in the 'Department of Public Works' responsible for northern railway construction;
And of course, Nikola Tesla, the inventor of the modern AC power system and a pioneer in modern wireless communication and radio.
These three young men, who would all become great figures in the future, were now sitting in his garden, having become friends.
Lionel took a deep breath:
"Today I invited the three of you here not just for tea and a chat, or to get acquainted. I will be establishing a systematic electromechanical laboratory of a certain scale, and I hope all of you will join!
The initial investment for this laboratory will exceed 200,000 francs, and the best equipment will be purchased for your research..."
Before Lionel had finished speaking, the eyes of the other three lit up!
(End of chapter)