Chapter 437: Coach, I Want To Sell Drones
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The meeting started again.
Professor Keriber stepped foot into the conference room and placed a stack of paper on the desk. He made a gesture to his a.s.sistant, who was also holding a stack of papers, telling him to pa.s.s the theses around the table.
The professors and engineers sitting around the table didn’t know what Professor Keriber was doing.
Edor took a copy of the thesis and frowned.
“What is this?”
Professor Keriber placed his hands on the table before he spoke with a twinkle in his eye.
“This is what we’ve been waiting for!”
Edor was somewhat uncomfortable at how excited Keriber was, and he hesitated for a second before asking, “Are you sure this thing is reliable?”
Professor Keriber spoke in a confident manner, “The author of the thesis is Professor Lu from Princeton; this year’s Fields Medal winner. If his mathematical model isn’t reliable, then I’m afraid no mathematical model in the world is reliable.”
A plasma physicist threw the thesis on the conference table and said, “Plasma turbulence… turbulence… the word turbulence gives me a headache.” He pinched his glabella and said, “I’m a plasma physicist; I’m not here to discuss fluid mechanics with you.”
Some professors didn’t say a word as they were concentrating on the thesis in their hands, trying to comprehend the complicated calculations in the thesis. There were a lot of big names in the Max Planck Inst.i.tute; there were also visiting scholars from all over the world.
There were bound to be some people who were proficient in mathematics.
However, it didn’t matter if someone wasn’t proficient.
They were just like Keriber.
Even though Keriber couldn’t understand the body of the thesis, but like most people, he could still understand the mathematical model results and conclusion of the thesis.
Keriber stared at Hesinger and said in a serious manner, “I know this sounds outrageous since it is well known within the physics community that the turbulence problem is unsolvable. However, if this model is reliable, we can use it to change our fusion control scheme, and reduce the amount of plasma collision on the first wall material.”
Professor Hesinger went silent for a long time before he finally made a decision.
“Then let’s give it a go.”
The best way to test the truth was through experiments.
Just like how their phenomenological model was built using the c.u.mulative experience from countless experiments.
Edor looked at Hesinger in disbelief. “Are you sure you want to change the control scheme? Just because of this unpublished thesis?”
Professor Hesinger looked at him.
“Do we have another choice?”
Changing the control scheme wasn’t an easy task.
However, this type of procedural modification was much easier than a large systematic modification…
…
Once Lu Zhou submitted the thesis, he left it alone.
Interestingly, he posted the thesis onto arXiv’s website, sharing it with his peers. However, it didn’t trigger the system mission completion.
It seemed like the rules for this type of application-based thesis was different than mathematics proof theses. Making the thesis available to the public wasn’t the only criteria for mission completion.
Lu Zhou remembered the mission description said he had to “establish a mathematical model for the plasma turbulence phenomenon in a stellarator”.
Maybe the mission also required at least one stellarator to apply his model?
If that was the case, this mission would be a little more difficult…
Even top journals like PRX were unlikely to be adopted by research inst.i.tutes.
More importantly, there were only a few stellarators in the world…
Of course, there could also be a problem with Lu Zhou’s thesis.
But Lu Zhou felt like the probability of that was very low…
After confirming the thesis had entered into the peer review stage, Lu Zhou’s work had slowed down a little.
From the Navier–Stokes equation to plasma turbulence, apart from the few days he went to the Brazil conference, he basically hadn’t taken a break.
After all, he wasn’t a machine; he still needed to rest…
A group of undergraduate boys was testing their drone near Lake Carnegie.
The annual autumn compet.i.tion was about to begin, so this was the most important time for practice.
As their consultant, Lu Zhou would occasionally join them when he wasn’t busy.
On the one hand, he would give the boys advice on technical problems. On the other hand, he would also use this opportunity to hang out around the lake and get some suns.h.i.+ne.
The club leader, Jimmy, sat next to Lu Zhou. He grabbed the gra.s.s on the ground and suddenly said, “Professor, I’m graduating next year.”
“Oh? Maybe I can give you some good advice, like some reliable professors you can study under.”
Lu Zhou had a good impression of the boy with freckles.
Although Lu Zhou didn’t know a lot of engineering professors, he could still consult some of his professor friends for suggestions.
However, to Lu Zhou’s surprise, Jimmy shook his head.
“I don’t want to study anymore, I want to graduate.”
Lu Zhou looked at him in surprise.
“Graduate? Have you thought of what you want to do?”
“Drones!” Jimmy stared at the little guy flying in the sky and said, “I want to open a drone company. That’s my dream.”
Lu Zhou said, “This sounds… interesting. But Jimmy, what do you plan on using drones to do?”
Jimmy smiled and said, “There’s a lot of things it can do…. like delivering packages or pizza.”
Package delivery drone?
This word makes me nostalgic…
Lu Zhou looked at the drone hovering in the sky and thought back to the first few theses he published in his university days.
He also remembered his Shunfeng offer.
Lu Zhou couldn’t help but think. What if he didn’t refuse the offer, chose to give up on academia, and went to research drone logistics in a laboratory instead? What would his life be like?
Life really is amazing…
Jimmy: “Professor?”
Lu Zhou said, “What?”
Jimmy looked at Lu Zhou seriously and said, “What do you think of the drone delivery idea?”
“A good idea. I’m optimistic about this project, but I don’t have any plans to invest…”
Jimmy smiled and said, “No, you’re misunderstanding me, I don’t need your investment. My father agreed to lend me five million dollars in venture capital; it should be enough.”
Lu Zhou: “…”
Okay, I guess I was over-thinking.
But speaking of which, how come other than my own students, all the students I’m friends with are filthy rich…
“In this case, good luck with your venture. I can’t help you with anything else, but I can recommend you some good theses to read… However, it only outlines a general framework. It is far from complete.” Lu Zhou paused for a second before he said, “However, they’re in the General Journal, and I’m not sure if the database of Firestone Library has them, so you might have to be a little patient when you’re looking for them…”
That was how the General Journal worked. Even if someone produced a top tier result, it would be treated poorly.
Lu Zhou spent general points in order to complete the mission. Therefore, it was actually the system that wrote the theses.
Objectively speaking, Lu Zhou felt like the quality of those theses were pretty good. Although they were somewhat sub-par, using it as a framework would be pretty decent.
However, Jimmy was keen. His eyes lit up as he immediately said, “Please recommend them to me!”
Lu Zhou took out a small notebook from his pocket.
He couldn’t remember which academic conference he got this notebook from. He mainly used it to record inspirational thoughts. He was the only one that could understand the symbols and calculations written within.
Lu Zhou tore off a blank sheet of paper and wrote down the name of the journal and approximate publication date before he gave it to Jimmy.
“Take it.”
“Thank you!”
Jimmy took the piece of paper from Lu Zhou and shoved it in his pocket like it was a piece of treasure.
Although the theses were useless for Lu Zhou, he hoped Jimmy would find them useful.
Suddenly, the phone in his pocket vibrated.
Lu Zhou stood up and patted the gra.s.s off his pants. He then walked next to the lake and took out his phone.
Xiao Ai: [Master, you have mail!]
Lu Zhou looked at the notification on his screen and clicked on the link. He instantly logged into his email.
Coincidentally, there were two unread emails in his inbox.
One was from PRX, informing him that the peer review had ended and that the thesis would be published in the latest PRX issue.
The other was from the Max Planck Inst.i.tute for Plasma Physics…