Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Lu Zhou and Professor Klitzing didn’t stay in Greifswald for long. The day after their visit to Wendelstein 7-X, they returned to Berlin.
Lu Zhou had been in Germany for a month now, and he had received a lot of gains. However, there was a bunch of stuff in Princeton that he had to do, so it was about time to go back.
Lu Zhou booked a weekend flight ticket. He went to the University of Bonn for a visit. After that, President Stratmann of the Max Planck Institute drove him to Berlin Tegel Airport.
The old man shook Lu Zhou’s hand and said, “Thank you for bringing your speech to Berlin. We look forward to your next visit and watching you climb to an even higher level of academic success.”
“For sure,” Lu Zhou said as he shook Stratmann’s hand. With a smile, he added, “I will definitely continue on this road.”
Lu Zhou said goodbye to Stratmann and dragged his suitcase into the airport.
After a ten-hour flight, the plane landed at JFK airport in New York.
Lu Zhou didn’t tell anyone that he was coming back. He got to experience riding a train.
The train went all the way to the familiar Princeton town where his students welcomed him back.
In order to celebrate his Hoffman Prize, Hardy suggested a party in Lu Zhou’s house.
This time, the food at the party wasn’t Hardy’s authentic Brazilian barbecue, it was traditional Chinese food— skewers.
This was the first time Lu Zhou had Chinese kebab overseas.
Unfortunately, there was no beer in the fridge. They only had fruity champagne; it was just not the same.
As Lu Zhou sat on the lawn eating skewers, he started to think of his three buddies back in Dorm 201.
Ever since Lu Zhou graduated, they hadn’t stayed in contact. He wondered how they were doing.
Hardy grinned and walked over with a bottle of champagne.
“Professor, can I interview you?”
Lu Zhou said, “As long as the question is normal.”
“Don’t worry, it’s definitely a normal question.” Hardy coughed and said, “What does it feel like to excel in both mathematics and chemistry?”
Lu Zhou said, “It’s something you’ll never experience.”
“Professor, that’s hurtful. I’m one of your good students.” Hardy acted like he was hurt as he said, “Can’t you be more confident in me?”
Lu Zhou was feeling sad as well.
However, he wasn’t sad for the kid, he was sad for himself.
He wondered what he saw in this kid, why did he give him an offer?
Lu Zhou didn’t know the answer to this question.
The party had been going on for a while. Luo Wenxuan, who just got a girlfriend, finally came.
However, this time he didn’t just bring his girlfriend. He also brought a piece of good news.
After several months of hard work, with the help of Wei Wen, he finally completed his graduation thesis.
His “Research on the Coherent State of the Q-Distorted Harmonic Oscillator in a Finite-Dimensional Hilbert Space” thesis was finally accepted by Physics Today, and it would be published in six months.
Although this journal’s impact factor of 4.3 wasn’t high, for a PhD student, especially one in theoretical physics, this wasn’t bad at all.
Also, the impact factor wasn’t the only factor in measuring academic influence as even his boss, Witten, submitted to Physics Today.
If everything went well, he should be able to receive his PhD degree by early next year.
“Thank you so much, you are my savior!” Luo Wenxuan said to Lu Zhou. He patted Lu Zhou on the back and said, “I’ll buy you a drink someday!”
“Don’t thank me, thank Wei Wen.” Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Of course, I won’t refuse your drink.”
“Actually, I didn’t help that much.” Wei Wen coughed; he didn’t seem to care about recognition. Instead, he said, “I only did some computing work, but my name is on the thesis. Are you sure it’s fine?”
“No, no, no, I disagree,” Luo Wenxuan said as he shook his head. He then added, “Mathematical physics is studying physics using mathematical methods. You made up for my shortcomings. Without your help, I wouldn’t have been able to complete my thesis until the end of the year.”
Lu Zhou saw that Luo Wenxuan admitted that his mathematics skills were lacking. He then sighed and asked, “Old Tang would be hurt by your statement, did you really major in applied mathematics?”
How the hell did this guy get an offer from Princeton?
No less an offer from Witten.
Luo Wenxuan scratched his head and smiled.
“No worries, Old Tang has always criticized me.”
Lu Zhou: “…”
…
The next day, Lu Zhou went back to the Institute for Advanced Study. He didn’t immediately start researching. Instead, he went to find Edward Witten to ask some questions.
The designer of the stellarator, Lyman Spitzer, worked at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study for a while. The original concept of the stellarator was created by him.
Spitzer had to have left some evidence at his old workplace.
“Congratulations, the Hoffman Prize is a great honor,” Edward Witten said to Lu Zhou. He then smiled and asked, “How was Germany? Did you see Faltings?”
Lu Zhou replied, “I saw him, but I feel like he doesn’t like me.”
Edward Witten smiled as he said, “Don’t worry, that old man treats everyone that way. Even Deligne can’t stand him. But I’m glad to hear you say this… At least, this means he’s in good health, good enough health to dislike you.”
“I don’t care,” Lu Zhou said as he shrugged. He then continued, “Actually, this time I didn’t only stay in Berlin, I also went to Greifswald.”
“Greifswald?” Witten was interested, and he asked, “Did you go to the Wendelstein 7-X laboratory?”
“Yes.” Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Professor Klitzing and I took a tour of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator. Not only that, but I was lucky enough to see a live experiment.”
Professor Witten said, “You are lucky. I’ve been to Europe five times in the past 2 years, two of which I was in Germany. However, every time I went there, I missed out on the Wendelstein 7-X experiment. Especially the one in 2016.”
Lu Zhou then coughed and revealed his true intention behind the visit.
“I want to ask you something about the stellarator.”
Witten said, “What?”
Lu Zhou said, “About Lyman Spitzer’s manuscript…”
