Chapter 598: A Market Created by a Thesis
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
For a Nobel Prize laureate, making money was a very easy task.
Even though most investors had rich investment experience and financial knowledge, they didn’t know much about science. Therefore, this kind of investors usually either avoid investing in esoteric science fields, or they would just consult experts.
When it came to experts, it seemed that in the eyes of ordinary people, there was no better proof than a Nobel Prize winner.
In a situation like this, even if a concept looked quite unreliable, as long as there was a Nobel Prize big-name vouching for it, a ton of investors would be eager to invest… even if they didn’t know what exactly they were investing in.
This didn’t only happen in the controllable fusion field. This type of thing was very common.
For example, blockchain…
Lu Zhou didn’t know that within a day, his thesis caused a lot of people to jump from the small controllable fusion train onto the large miniaturization of controllable fusion train. There were also a lot of smart people that seized this opportunity and doubled their net worths.
In a single day, the concept of controllable fusion batteries had exploded in America, and a multi-billion market had been created.
On the other hand, China didn’t seem to have a lot of movements. After all, controllable fusion was still a sensitive technology. Most private companies and venture capital firms could only look through a window. They couldn’t get the tickets for the show admission, let alone playing on stage.
However, even though there was a lot of noise in the fusion battery field, there was also a lot of action.
Various cooperative research institutes had begun research on the fusion battery project.
Compared to the demonstration reactor project, the miniaturization of controllable fusion wasn’t as urgent. Both the government and Lu Zhou weren’t in a hurry. They had plenty of time to research.
Compared to others, Lu Zhou was mainly responsible for a leadership role.
As for the focus of his current work, it was still on the system reward mission.
Lu Zhou woke up early the next morning.
After he took a shower, he put on his sportswear and ran along the asphalt road outside his mansion toward the golf course.
Springtime came along with March, and winter had already passed. Even though it was six o’clock in the morning, the sky was already bright and the thin morning mist was fading. The Purple Mountain was glowing from the sunshine.
If Lu Zhou wasn’t particularly busy, he would run around his neighborhood either at night or in the morning. He wasn’t interested in the slow-paced game of gold, but he quite enjoyed the greenery here.
Lu Zhou sprinted for a short distance and stopped near a bench. He wiped his sweat with a towel that was draped over his shoulder.
Coincidentally, a man in his fifties was also exercising in the morning. When he saw Lu Zhou sitting here, he smiled and greeted him.
“Oh, Professor Lu is exercising in the morning today?”
In a sense, he was kind of a celebrity in this neighborhood.
When the controllable fusion project was still going on, the army stationed a team that was responsible for his security near the suburbs. Hence, a lot of people had been gossiping about Lu Zhou.
Lu Zhou put the towel back on his shoulder and stood up straight. He said, “Yeah, I have to exercise. Scientific research is hard work. If I don’t exercise, I won’t be able to keep up with the young people.”
The old man laughed and said, “You’re not even in your thirties yet, and you’re already comparing yourself with young people.”
“I’m twenty-six now, nearly in my thirties.”
Zhongshan International was considered to be the wealthiest area in Jinling. Most of the people living here were filthy rich. For example, Zhang Anqiang, who was talking to him, was the CEO of a listed company.
Because Lu Zhou often ran into him, he knew this old man’s name. However, even though this man was worth millions, Lu Zhou was used to working with giant companies that were worth billions.
At least in Lu Zhou’s eyes, this old man was just a normal person who was exercising in the morning.
After some small talk, Lu Zhou stood up and continued his morning run.
The sun on the horizon completely eliminated the morning fog. Lu Zhou ran home and took a bath upstairs.
He was putting on his usual windbreaker when he heard the doorbell. After Xiao Ai confirmed the identity of the visitor, Lu Zhou told it to open the door. He then walked downstairs.
“I brought you breakfast.” Wang Peng placed the soy milk and soup buns on the table. He looked at Lu Zhou and asked, “Are you going to the research institute or the university?”
“University.”
Lu Zhou shook his head to dry off his hair and sat down at the table. As he was eating his soup buns, he took out his phone and began to scroll through the arXiv website.
Seeing how Lu Zhou was occupied, Wang Peng sat on the sofa and picked up a magazine on the coffee table.
When he flipped through some of the magazines, he realized that he couldn’t understand any of them, and so, he gave up on reading them.
“If you’re interested, you can try reading Scientific Reports. It’s more of a scientific mega journal. It’s not as esoteric and most people are able to read the articles.”
Seeing how Lu Zhou suddenly spoke, Wang Peng paused for a second and smiled before he said, “I thought you only read Science or Nature.”
Lu Zhou sipped the remaining soy milk before wiping his hands with a napkin.
“Occasionally I’ll read some layman articles.”
Wang Peng said, “Trying to leave no stone unturned?”
Lu Zhou: “No, there are some mind-blowing articles that I find interesting.”
Wang Peng: “…”
Lu Zhou looked at his watch and saw that it was about time. “I’m done eating, let’s go.”
“I’ll get the car.” Wang Peng got up from the sofa. He suddenly remembered something, and he said, “Oh yeah, Doctor Yan told me to tell you something.”
“What?”
“Don’t forget the medical check-up tomorrow.”
Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Okay, got it.”
The car ride took around twenty minutes.
A black car with a mounted national flag was parked near the mathematics building.
Lu Zhou greeted Old Tang, who was on his way to give a lecture. He then went straight to his office.
Lin Yuxiang, who was sitting at her table, yawned while studying for the National Public Servant Exam. When she saw Lu Zhou appear at the door, her eyes immediately lit up, and she walked toward the coffee machine. After a while, she held a warm cup of coffee and gently placed it on Lu Zhou’s desk.
“I put some milk in your coffee. Apparently, it helps with fatigue.”
“Thanks.”
Lu Zhou took a sip and put down the cup.
“Is it good?”
“Is it freshly brewed?”
Lin Yuxiang stared at Lu Zhou with her fingers behind her back as she said, “Yeah, my boyfriend got it from Brazil. If you like it, I can tell him to bring more next time.”
Lu Zhou: “No, thanks, I prefer instant coffee.”
Lin Yuxiang: “…?”
Kong Jie was sitting at her desk nearby. She wanted to laugh but decided not to.
The office door was opened.
A girl with a ponytail walked through the door.
Han Mengqi looked at the lady standing near Lu Zhou’s desk and walked toward Lu Zhou. She then asked quietly, “Teacher, can I steal some of your time?”
“Call me professor.” Lu Zhou coughed and looked at Lin Yuxiang as he said, “You can head off.”
“Oh… Okay.”
Lin Yuxiang nodded and walked away.
Han Mengqi looked at her and couldn’t help but frown. When she noticed Lu Zhou looking at her, she remembered why she came here.
She blushed, and she quickly took out the thesis she was holding. She then pointed toward some highlighted areas as she said softly, “I finished the tasks you gave me… There are just a few parts that I haven’t been able to figure out.”
Lu Zhou glanced at the highlighted parts.
“They’re all calculation-based?”
“Yeah.” Han Mengqi nodded awkwardly and looked down as she murmured, “Is it because I’m too stupid?”
“No way, you’re quite talented. No one is born with knowledge, learning is everything.”
Lu Zhou took out a piece of draft paper from his drawer and picked up the pen. He did some calculations on the paper and began to tutor his little student.
After Lu Zhou explained the calculation process, he paused for a second before he continued, “In short, you did a good job, but you have to get better at calculations.
“If you plan to innovate on top of my theory, I suggest you choose the semiconductor-electrolyte solution interface as your starting point.”
Han Mengqi: “Semiconductor-electrolyte solution interface?”
Lu Zhou nodded and said, “As far as the phenomenological model is concerned, the physical image of the semiconductor-electrolyte solution interface is more complicated than the metal-electrolyte solution interface. The existing theory of this interface mainly focuses on the analysis of the potential distribution of the space charge layer. However, when it comes to the surface interface, the impact of interface energy level, etc, those haven’t been deeply investigated.”
Han Mengqi tilted her head and asked, “Does your Theoretical Model of Electrochemical Interface Structure not explain this?”
Lu Zhou: “It explains it to a certain extent, but it isn’t perfect. My theoretical model mainly applies to the electronic-conductor-electrolyte-solution interface, it’s not involved in the semiconductor interface.
“I’m working on a project for carbon-based computer chips. If you are interested, you can try to research in this area.”
Carbon-based chips had always been one of the key projects of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study. Some progress had been made, but a few key technical bottlenecks had not yet been solved.
If everything went well, it should be solved within a couple of years.
Han Mengqi took note of Lu Zhou’s words as she nodded and said, “Ok!”
Liu Siyuan, who was studying, heard Han Mengqi and Lu Zhou’s conversation, and he felt anxious.
Is this the world of geniuses?
He finally understood why Hang Mengqi was so eager to talk with Lu Zhou…
Suddenly, the office door was pushed open again.
Lu Zhou thought that another one of his students had come. When he looked up and saw a familiar face, he was stunned.
Han Mengqi was also stunned.
She looked at the person. “Sis?!”