Even though lithium-air batteries had yet to exist, its news had already blinded people’s eyes. When an earthquake like this hit the industry, it was bound to affect the academic community.
Some people were amazed, some were unconvinced.
Some people were overjoyed, others were furious.
This affected billions of scientific research funding and countless people’s ability to complete their graduation thesis.
After all, most of the projects related to lithium-ion batteries had been cut. Even professors in this field were having a difficult time, much less their students…
At the North American materials science conference held in downtown Boston, Massachusetts.
Materials science experts from all over the world gathered here.
The main topic of this conference was going to be the latest research on molybdenum disulfide monolayer material, which was funded by Microsoft, Intel, and other companies. This material was favored by the academic community to be the future semiconductor material.
However, clearly something more significant had happened.
Lithium-air batteries overshadowed everything else.
During the first report at the conference, Professor Stanley walked on stage wearing a tuxedo. He announced the advent of the lithium-air battery era with a passionate tone, and how amazing his caged carbon molecule was…
This year’s materials science conference went wild.
Most people thought this guy was being a pretentious prick.
Even though no one threw their shoe on stage, the entire report was in chaos.
Most research competitors were furious, and they placed all of their anger on Professor Stanley.
For example, Dr. Curtis from the Argonne National Laboratory.
In collaboration with Professor Amin Salehi Khojin from the University of Illinois, Chicago, they successfully created a method that achieved a 700-cycle lithium-air battery.
After the lithium dendrites problem was solved, they were able to increase this number to 900. Now, this number was in the 1000s.
If it weren’t for the caged carbon molecules, they could have been the ones on stage presenting!
Even Professor Curtis, who was normally calm and collected, was boiling with rage. Curtis asked numerous questions during the Qu0026A session, in hopes of finding a problem with Stanley’s caged carbon molecules.
Of course, Curtis knew that nothing would come of this…
The evening banquet was held in a five-star hotel next to the venue.
Professor Stanley was wearing a tuxedo, and his hair was shiny and slicked backward. He smiled arrogantly toward his peers and exchanged business cards with industry leaders.
The report went wonderfully for him.
Because Lu Zhou didn’t personally come to the conference, as the inventor of the material, he was the center of attention.
Even though other scholars were unhappy at him, why should he care?
They were his enemies.
His priority was to network with these powerful industry leaders. They were the ones that could fund his research. All his peers did was laugh at him when he failed.
Actually, Professor Stanley had an epiphany.
He thought about it carefully and realized that other than humiliating him, Lu Zhou didn’t do anything malicious.
The patent?
That was ExxonMobil’s property anyway. He was the one who signed the research and development agreement.
Ruining his relationship with ExxonMobil?
His reputation in the industry?
He had indeed suffered quite a lot over the past six years, but now he was the center of attention among major companies.
So, why should he hold any grudges against Lu Zhou?
Stanley listened to people’s compliments and watched as those that once abandoned him crawled back to him. He couldn’t describe how happy he was.
The dean of the chemistry department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was an old professor who used to work with him in the battery field. The professor firmly shook his hand and said enthusiastically, “Congratulations, Professor Stanley! After lithium-air batteries enter the market, the Nobel Prize Committee will definitely consider you and Professor Lu for an award… Why don’t you come to MIT? I think we can provide the resources and environment for your next project! I promise you’ll be satisfied.”
When Professor Stanley heard the name Professor Lu, his eyebrows twitched.
However, he wasn’t new in the academic community.
Even though there was a twinge in his heart, he was able to control his emotions and speak gently with his old friend.
“Thanks… but Binghamton University has already promised to make me the head of the chemistry department… I don’t plan on moving in the short term.”
Even though the MIT professor was a little disappointed, he had nothing else to offer Stanley. It wasn’t like he could give his job title to Stanley.
The MIT professor nodded and spoke.
“I understand. I mean, for us scholars, a stable environment is more important than anything… If you ever want to come to MIT, be sure to contact me.”
Stanley nodded lightly.
“I definitely will.”
Normally, he wouldn’t speak this casually to the head of chemistry at MIT; after all, this person was also a board member of the American Chemical Society.
However, he was at the same level as this professor, or even a level higher.
While Professor Stanley was indulging in the attention, someone quickly walked into the banquet hall and found him.
Stanley saw the person and spoke with surprise.
“Woods? My dear friend, what… happened to you?”
Long gone was the sharp and bright person Stanley once knew; instead, the person standing in front of him looked aged and decrepit.
“Something happened.” Woods took a deep breath and looked into Professor Stanley’s eyes as he said, “Listen, we had some misunderstandings before, we cut off your research project, but now—”
“Stop right there,” Professor Stanley said. “Just tell me, what do you want?”
“ExxonMobil wants you to come back,” Woods said sincerely. “You are the inventor of the caged carbon molecules. We all know that this honor should belong to you, not that Chinese guy. We need a similar compound, something that won’t conflict with their patent…”
After hearing Woods, Professor Stanley went silent for a while and sighed.
“Just give up, Woods, I know you don’t want to, but he is not our enemy.”
Woods froze for a second before he spoke anxiously.
“We’re just going to watch them rise to the top? Control the future of our energy industry? The nuclear power plant in California is about to be built, the lithium-air battery will crush the market! Everyone wants cleaner and cheaper energy. But think about how many jobs will be lost if oil prices plummet! If we don’t have the patent for lithium-air batteries, we have no room to fight back!”
Countless jobs lost…
Isn’t that what you greedy capitalists want?
Of course, Stanley would never say this out loud.
Professor Stanley paused for a second and looked at Woods.
“Listen, I know what you’re feeling right now, but what can we do? The patent clearly states the terms, unless you can convince Lu Zhou to sell you the patent… My advice is to forget about it.
“Also, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been doing very well over the past six years. A few days ago, I was angry, and I wanted to strangle that little sh*t, but now…
“My eyes are open.”
In reality, Stanley was scared.
He didn’t know if Lu Zhou planned all of these six years ahead, but he did know that his academic career was nearly ruined because of Lu Zhou.
Now that he had finally risen again, mostly due to Lu Zhou’s research, he never wanted to go against Lu Zhou again.
After all, he wasn’t young anymore.
He didn’t have any more time to waste in his career!
Professor Stanley shrugged and stared at Woods.
“As for the jobs lost, that’s Congress’ problem, not ours.”
Woods watched Stanley pat his shoulder and walk away. Stanley turned around and began chatting with the big names in the industry.
Woods stood there motionlessly for a while.
Suddenly, he looked down at the floor.
He muttered to himself, “Congress…
“That is Congress’ problem…
“He’s right!”
