Chapter 133: Fantasies of Electrification (Happy New Year!)

Chapter 133: Chapter 133: Fantasies of Electrification (Happy New Year!)

Arthur acted swiftly, and just the next day, he allocated hundreds of Indigenous Peoples to help Theodore Korbel and Ludwig Durrell establish new laboratories and research bases while also handing them £100,000 in start-up funds for the purchase of research equipment and expenses.

At the same time, Arthur asked Hunter Steward for assistance, procuring and dispatching a large number of books on aviation and aerodynamics from Australian National University and even Europe for Theodore Korbel and Ludwig Durrell, as well as for future aviation experts to study.

If it were not for the current shortage of manpower, Arthur would even want to open an aviation major at the Australian National University to train more talents in the Australian aviation industry.

There is no need to rush this for now, as once more aviation professionals are attracted from Europe, there will be enough manpower to start the program.

In order to make other countries and forces believe that Theodore Korbel and Ludwig Dorrell’s Aeronautical Research Institute is researching airships, Arthur even mobilized a large number of Australian workers to build new airships, not only announcing the airship construction plans to the outside world but even boasting that a public experiment would be conducted in Australia after the successful construction of the airship.

This move aroused the curiosity of many Australians and successfully made the Aerospace Laboratory, which was still under construction, and the yet-to-be- built Airship well known in Australia.

Of course, this was indeed what Arthur wanted to see. Although Australia seems peaceful now, no one can guarantee that there will be no spies from other countries within Australia.

If Australia’s airship construction has achieved certain achievements, it will naturally attract the attention of the Powers.

If they can attract most of the Powers’ investment in the aviation sector to focus on airships, then Australia can occupy a part of the initiative in the development of airplanes.

On October 19,1902, after more than five months of preparation, Australia’s diplomatic visiting group set sail, aiming straight for Europe.

This diplomatic visiting group was smaller than the last time, and Foreign Minister Andrews was the only person in charge, accompanied by officials from some other departments.

Naturally, Arthur could not tolerate the limitations that technological gaps posed to Australian industrial development, so Australia’s next plan is to fully implement electrification.

Although there is currently a lack of expertise in electrification, deploying electrification in Australia is relatively simple.

At present, the two most widely adopted power generation methods are thermal power and hydropower. Among them, thermal power generation is more extensive due to the absence of terrain restrictions.

Of course, thermal power generation is not without its flaws. It requires a large amount of coal as an energy source, which also limits the power grid deployment in many coal-scarce countries.

However, Australia happens to have abundant coal mines, which also provides a natural advantage for the development of electrification.

Arthur’s preferred talent was Tesla, a great man forgotten by the times.

Unfortunately, Tesla had already become an American by this time and had already achieved success in electrification.

Even after several attempts by Australia to lure Tesla, he only agreed to go to Australia as an American expert to guide the lay of the alternating current network.

Nevertheless, this was enough. Tesla’s alternating current patents were completely free, which could also save a considerable amount of money for Australia in laying the electrical network.

As for Edison’s direct current, Arthur did not even think about it. In addition to the controversial issue of Edison’s status as an inventor, the huge flaws exposed by direct current alone meant that Arthur would not adopt it.

Because Arthur wanted to implement comprehensive electrification in Australia, the diplomatic visiting group had another purpose this time: to draw some electrical experts and talents in Europe.

Of course, this is not difficult. There are many electrical experts in England alone, but British capitalists have not paid much attention to these technologies.