Tech Hammer

After a moderate ideological struggle, Edwin George did not choose to be willful in the end. After all, he is over fifty this year and mature in all aspects, while the Chinese guy on the other end of the phone is still very young, not even thirty this year.

Edwin George still remembers that when he was thirty years old, he was still struggling with his doctoral thesis. He even remembered the title of that paper - "Calculation of Kernels by the Lagrangian Method of Spontaneous Breaking of Chiral Symmetry" Quark condensation in matter".

And Ning Wei is less than thirty years old, and his popularity in the academic world has even surpassed that of his mentor at the time...

Thinking of this, he felt mixed emotions, and then felt that everything was boring. He even felt that even if he really hung up the phone, it would be meaningless. Well, Edwin George admitted that he actually wanted to hear what Ning Wei wanted to say to him. There is an inherent element of admiration in human nature, but some people hide it very well, and some people act more straightforwardly.

Edwin George is one of those people who hides well and even has some rebellious psychology, but his subconscious presence can dominate his actions and words at critical moments.

"Dr. Ning Wei, I'm glad to receive your call. When Dr. Wu told me yesterday that you wanted to contact me, I was thinking about when you would call me. I didn't expect to receive the call so soon. I feel deeply pleasure."

Soon a hearty laughter came from the other side: "Haha, Mr. George, you don't need to be honored. I should be honored to talk to you. I think Professor Wu Yufei should have talked to you, but I have something to ask for this time. with you."

Edwin George thought for a while and said carefully: "Yes, Professor Wu did tell me something. He said that you have recently become interested in basic physics and want to verify some ideas through our equipment, but you don't want to pass Formal application channels. To be honest, Dr. Ning, I really want to help you, but if you don’t go through the formal application channels, it will be difficult unless the committee can relent.”

Soon, the young man opposite expressed his thoughts, and he was very simple and crude: "What if you give money? Mr. George, give a lot of money, such as a billion dollars to rent for a period of time, such as a month, or every time you start Are they all pay-per-view? Of course, in addition to the rent to CERN, if you personally have any promising scientific research projects, maybe I can also be an investor to solve part of the funding problem."

This was said very euphemistically, but it already made Edwin George feel excited.

I really can’t blame the CERN executive. After all, the number of people who are willing and able to spend a billion dollars to rent equipment can basically be counted on the palm of a hand. The next sentence is even more heart-warming...

Invest in scientific research projects that he is optimistic about?

For someone who can casually spend a billion dollars, the investment must be not a small amount. Even if it is only one percent of this amount, he can realize many of his ideas. It may even allow him to live a life he never dared to imagine before after retirement.

But he still insisted on principle and asked: "Why? Dr. Ning, in fact, China is also one of the sponsoring countries of CERN. I have also reviewed and approved projects proposed by Chinese colleagues. As long as they comply with scientific understanding and procedures, in fact, most of them It can be passed smoothly. If I have this information, I think I can really contribute to something."

The other person responded quickly: "Professor George, I believe Professor Wu has told you that the direction of my research during this period is about transient matter. How should I put it? You also know that I am a semi-monk. Since then, From undergraduate to graduate school and then about two years ago, my research direction has always been the theory and application of mathematics in artificial intelligence. Compared with this knowledge, my research on the physical level is still at a very early stage."

"So to be honest, I don't have much confidence in my research results. I am just using a mathematical analysis method to judge the transformation process of the particle's instantaneous state. But it is ridiculous that I use this mathematical method to make calculations. The subsequent results may negate the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and the Schrödinger Equation under certain conditions... Please don't laugh at me, Mr. George, in fact, sometimes I think my ideas are too whimsical."

"But I still set up a verification method for this. How should I put it, you should know the persistence of a scientist. I very much hope to use specific experiments to determine whether my theory is correct. But I don't want other people to know that I These research processes, after all, no one wants to be ridiculed. You also know how high my attention is, right? Well, you can say that I am tired of my fame, but after all, people live in this world, who How can we not compromise with this world?”

"So I hope to solve my doubts in this way. If I can spend a little money to solve my puzzles and satisfy my curiosity about science without being laughed at, I think It is definitely worth it. After all, money is valuable when it is spent. For me, solving the confusion in my heart is priceless, and I hope to solve this problem as soon as possible."

"Because as long as my theory is proven wrong through specific experiments, I can change my thinking and study this direction from another angle. It all happened by chance. It happened that I was interested in this aspect, did some research, and then it just happened I am very rich... Do you think this is acceptable?"

…

Edwin George felt that he could really accept this reason.

In fact, he has never had an intuitive understanding of Ning Wei's wealth. Although Ning Wei occasionally appears on the rich list, many people are not sensitive to the so-called rich list, and Edwin George is one of them.

After all, the vast majority of rich people are not interested in discovering new particles. In comparison, the vast majority of rich people are actually more interested in how to extend human life and are willing to spend a lot of money to fund research in this area, even many of which are very private research. , the kind that even if you have some results, you cannot publish a paper and make it public as soon as possible.

Research on high-energy physics still relies more on financial resources. Because it is indeed difficult to see immediate economic effects from such basic research breakthroughs. In fact, modern science's understanding of the world is still very shallow. For example, if you ask ten physicists about the concept of elementary particles, you may get many different answers.

Point-like objects, excitation sources of fields, a spot where pure mathematics shines into reality, irreducible representation of a group, vibrating strings, collapsed wave functions, deformation of the qubit sea... In short, as long as the research directions are different, the understanding of elementary particles Opinions can vary.

Even when teaching, most teachers can only tell students that the characteristics of so-called elementary particles are basic. If anyone could really give an accurate definition of elementary particles that would convince most people, winning a Nobel Prize would not be a problem.

It’s hard to believe, but this is the truth of modern science. Even though people in this era can already produce tiny chips at the nanometer scale, their understanding of the microscopic and macroscopic worlds is still extremely shallow.

But there is one thing that Edwin George feels is beyond doubt.

Whether it is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle or the Schrödinger Equation, they have solved a series of problems in quantum physics and have undergone numerous verifications. In other words, he doesn't quite believe that anyone in this era can really subvert this understanding.

Yes, Ning Wei is well-known in academia, but as he said, his fame is based on artificial intelligence number theory, not physics...

So this is easy to understand. If Ning Wei really makes this theory public and conducts experiments through normal channels, and they approve it, then not only Ning Wei will be ridiculed, but even the committee and his supervisor will be scolded for being unscientific. Literacy, wasting limited scientific resources...

As one of them, Edwin George knows very well that not all scientists are gentle, especially when it comes to delaying the progress of his own scientific research. He will scold people much more harshly than ordinary people.

From this point of view, Edwin George can really understand Ning Wei's worries, and he even wants to laugh.

There has never been anyone in this world who is stupid and has a lot of money, so it is actually not easy to make money for fools, because the vast majority of fools really have no money. But the madman's money is really easy to make, because this kind of person is very confident in his own judgment.

For example, the person on the other side of the phone...

"Dr. Ning, do you mean that the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and the Schrödinger equation are wrong under the theoretical system you constructed?"

"Well, it can be understood this way. Of course, there are limitations. It may be correct in most cases, but it may also be wrong in some cases. Who knows?"

"I understand, I understand. If it succeeds, this must be the greatest physics theory of this century. Do you know? Dr. Ning, I have already thought in my mind that a large number of papers have been ruthlessly overturned, and there are tens of thousands of Tutors and students find that everything they study is worthless. Do you know how big a psychological gap this will bring? Oh my god, your theory may cause an earthquake in the entire physics world!" Edwin George said in a sonorous and powerful way the voice said.

Unlike what Wu Yufei was worried about, Edwin George really felt that if a rich madman was willing to spend crazy money on CERN, as the director of CERN, he really felt that this should be encouraged rather than discouraged. Confidence.

Extremely pleasant words came from the microphone: "I'm glad that we can reach an agreement with you."

Edwin George immediately said: "Of course, in fact, every bit of progress in science seemed ridiculous at the time! I can really understand you, Dr. Ning, and I admire your persistence in basic science. Really, just for this reason, I will do my best to help you achieve your wish. Of course, I still need a plan. For example, what equipment is probably needed to test your theory."

"Linac2, Linac3, proton synchrotron, 28 GeV proton synchrotron, super proton synchrotron, online isotope mass separator and antiproton reducer, you don't have to provide me with the detailed usage process. But I need a complete test Plan. As you know, our large particle collider requires maintenance before and after each start-up to ensure absolute safety."

The answer quickly came from the microphone: "I can understand this. I have thoroughly read all the facilities of CERN and formulated detailed plans. I will send these to your email later, but I still hope you can keep it confidential. .You can give me a quotation after reading my test plan. Of course, as I just promised, if you have any scientific research projects that you think are worth investing in, I can also give you some support, um, without asking for anything in return. .”

Edwin George, who was reassured again, was in a very happy mood and replied: "Okay, after receiving your experimental plan, I will report it immediately. Dr. Ning, for your scientific spirit, I will definitely guarantee help." You facilitated this cooperation and I did my best to help you get a good price.”

"Haha, since you said that, how about this? Anyway, my psychological price is one billion dollars to complete the entire experiment. No matter what price you can help me get, I will pay this much, no matter how much is left, How about all the scientific research projects that you are optimistic about?"

"this……"

"Of course, I still have a little request. I hope that all the data collected during the experiment will belong to my laboratory. During the experiment, I hope to receive all the data through a special network. If you can guarantee this If so, we will definitely be able to cooperate very happily. Maybe if I fail this time, I can still cooperate next time. How about it?"

"Dr. Ning, you know, I'm just a supervisor. I can't promise you anything now, but please believe me, I will do my best to facilitate this."

"Thank you so much, Mr. George. I wish you a happy life."

"Thanks, bye."

…

After hanging up the phone, Edwin George felt as if he was almost floating in happiness.

After calming down, the first thing the scientist did was to turn on his phone and start searching Google for the list of the world's richest people released by Hurun last year.

A person who can spend billions of dollars without hesitation must have a place on this list, otherwise he will wonder whether Ning Wei was cheating on that phone call just now...

The judgment was correct, and soon Edwin George found Ning Wei's name on the personal wealth list on the Hurun Wealth List official website.

Personal information: Mr. Ning Wei, industry: scientific research and patent licensing, ranked 1023rd in the world, with wealth of US$6.8 billion. Finally, there is a special note: no fixed assets, multi-year cash income estimates...

This number and annotation made Edwin George feel dizzy for a moment.

He thought that Ning Wei might be very rich, but he really didn't expect that Ning Wei would be so rich...

6.8 billion U.S. dollars. No wonder I dared to spend a billion U.S. dollars to complete this experiment. You must know that the total cost of building the LHC that year was only about 8 billion U.S. dollars. Of course, with the inflation over the years, the $8 billion back then may be worth more, but if this guy had saved up a few years ago, he might not have been able to build one...

If this money is not earned, Edwin George feels that the entire committee will feel sorry...