The entire Garden project was divided into three phases.
The first phase of the project was the foundation. Welded stainless steel was used to isolate the ground of the enclosed area. The second phase of the project was mainly regarding the construction part of it. A six-grid steel skeleton would be supported by compression-resistant steel for the entire hemispherical artificial biosphere. As for the third phase of the project, the hemisphere would be equipped with double-layered special glass, where the outer layer would be coated with a special coating material to control the temperature.
There would also be biosphere B, C, D, etc. This would be to simulate other special outer-space environments, such as Mars. It could also be used for developing life support devices for people to use on other planets.
Because any small amount of interference could lead to unpredictable results in the experiment, the biosphere must be built in a life-restricted zone, away from living things.
Fortunately, China was quite big, so it was easy to find a place like this.
There wasn’t a better place for this artificial biosphere than the middle of the desert in the basin.
It took three days for Lu Zhou to inspect the nearby geological environment. After consulting Professor Hu and other geologists, Lu Zhou finally made a decision and chose the location of the Garden Biosphere to be near a road and a sand dune.
The total investment of the project was 1.5 billion yuan; 1.3 billion of which would be supported by 41 different government project funds, and the remaining 200 million yuan would be provided by Star Sky Technology. This funding was small compared to the entire moon landing project, but it was still significant.
After Lu Zhou finished planning the general outline for the Garden project, he didn’t stay in the desert for too long. He still had things to do in Jinling. The next day he left the camp and boarded a train in Wushi, returning to Jinling.
Coincidentally, the second he got off the train, Lu Zhou received emails from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Engineering, and Jin Ling University. He read that his name was on the primary election list for the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Academy of Engineering.
Lu Zhou looked at these three emails and didn’t know what to do.
His original idea was to be an academician at the Academy of Science. After all, he was a mathematician. However, he didn’t expect that the old folks at the Academy of Engineering nominated his name.
According to the academician selection process, after the recommendation stage, the committees of the academic departments will review and select the candidates.
This selection process was standardized; it had to fairly and objectively evaluate one’s scientific results.
As long as someone didn’t violate academic conduct or break major laws, they should be able to pass the review process. After the review process was the anonymous voting stage. As long as the person received more than two-thirds of the votes, and there was space in the faculty, they would be elected.
The election results would then be checked and confirmed by the standing committees of the respective academic departments, which was the so-called “final review”. After being reviewed and approved by the leadership team of the Academician Assembly, all of the successful academicians would be notified in writing.
Jin University hadn’t had a new academician for many years, and the few academicians from the physics department were more than 70 years old. This time, Lu Zhou’s name was nominated for two different academies; this was undoubtedly something worthy of Jin University’s celebration.
Even though it was worthy of celebration, Lu Zhou didn’t put much attention to the academician selection. He replied to the congratulation emails from Wang Zengguang, Li Jiangang, and several other old academicians from the Fuyang Institute Construction Material Laboratory.
There was no doubt that these people were the ones who nominated him.
Even though he didn’t really care about the nomination, he still had to thank the people who nominated him.
Lu Zhou placed most of his attention on the space shuttle.
Even though the Skyglow launch was successful, there were still many things that needed to be improved.
The next launch was scheduled to be before the Chinese New Year, which was around two months away. He didn’t have any time to waste.
Even though Lu Zhou casually placed the academician selection matter aside, a lot of other people were tangled with this issue.
Lu Zhou was in Jinling, conducting a meeting with the Skyglow designers. On the other hand, Academician Wang Shicheng, the director of the mathematical physics department, who was responsible for the academician elections, was inside the Chinese Academy of Sciences human resource department office.
Director Qian, who was sitting behind his desk, stopped writing and asked his assistant to pour a cup of tea for Academician Wang.
“What brings you here today?”
Wang Shicheng sipped some tea and sighed.
“What else can it be?”
“Let me guess…” Director Qian smiled and said, “It’s because of Lu Zhou?”
Wang Shicheng didn’t say anything. He placed the teacup on the table and spoke.
“This matter is not easy to deal with.”
The academician elections were a troublesome matter for the standing committees of various academic departments.
The Chinese academic community was relatively isolated and had its own system. For most Chinese-grown scholars, it was quite difficult for them to obtain an international honor that was higher than the academician title. Therefore, the title of academician was the ultimate goal of 99% of domestic scholars.
Having the title of an academician doubled their power and status, and they could basically work at any research institute or university they wanted.
Not to mention that there were only a small number of academician spots available.
Therefore, there was a lot of fierce competition between the candidates.
However…
Lu Zhou’s situation was different.
All of the candidates left him alone. In theory, this should be a good thing. Everyone would vote for him, and the title would be his.
However, the thing was that this guy was too nutty. He was on the primary election list for both the Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Science.
It went without saying that the chief designer of the fusion energy project should be in the Department of Energy. If everything went well, Lu Zhou would be the department’s head after a few years, or at least the director.
After that, the problem was that, since the Academy of Engineering was definitely going to give him the academician title, was there still a point for the Academy of Science to give him one as well?
There had been scholars who held two academician titles, but to be awarded two in the same year…
That was a bit ridiculous.
There were many accomplished old professors still waiting in line, and some of them had produced major research results. It was a bit inappropriate to let someone else take two academician titles at once.
Wang Shicheng looked at Director Qian, who was sitting behind his desk, and said, “I heard that the people from the Academy of Engineering also elected his name. I wonder if we should ask them to stay low this year and elect Lu Zhou next time instead. This way, Lu Zhou won’t receive both titles at once.”
“Oh,” Director Qian smiled and said, “then tell me, what young talent from Yan University is a better choice than Professor Lu?”
Wang Shicheng didn’t say anything.
This was the other thing that was giving him trouble.
Deferring Lu Zhou for a term was a good idea…
But the Fields Medal and the Nobel Prize were too big to be ignored. Not to mention the Ling Yun medal. Lu Zhou couldn’t be replaced. Forget about the domestic community, there wasn’t anyone in the world that was a better candidate than him.
“I don’t know what to do, so I’m here discussing with you. We’ll do whatever you think is appropriate,” Wang Shicheng said.
Director Qian shook his head and said, “I think you’re overcomplicating this issue.”
Wang Shicheng: “Overcomplicating?”
“That’s right.” Director Qian nodded and said, “This academician title isn’t important for him. His opinions are highly regarded by the government. The academician title is at most the icing on the cake.”
There was a flash in Wang Shicheng’s eyes, and he said, “You mean… It’s fine if we defer it until the next term?”
Director Qian: “No I mean… This doesn’t matter to him, but it matters a lot to us.”
Wang Shicheng: “…”