Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
While Lu Zhou was taking a lunch break in his hotel room, Wang Haifeng was carefully reading a document in the laboratory building.
Ever since the meeting, he had been waiting for the summary document. Now, it was finally in his hands.
Only the real leaders of the field could ignore external factors such as politics or the market and focus on their own research.
But normal bosses still paid attention to political news.
After all, this was closely related to funding.
Money was needed for everything in this “cruel” world.
The price difference between domestic equipment and imported equipment was a factor of 10. Some raw materials were more expensive than gold. Once the personnel expenses, third-party testing fees, and even business trip expenses were added in, the costs were astronomical.
These were the difficulties one had to face when trying to become a big name.
Other than those successful academicians, most scholars had to consider these real-life problems.
Wang Haifeng read the summary report from beginning to end and started to smile.
He was very satisfied that carbon-sulfur composites were mentioned at the conference.
But soon, his smile turned into a frown.
In the document, the argument for hollow carbon spheres as positive sulfur materials was exactly the same as Lu Zhou’s argument.
Obviously, the research group from Beijing accepted Lu Zhou’s opinions.
This wasn’t the worst part.
Wang Haifeng always thought that Director Lu from Beijing paid too much attention to Lu Zhou.
Even though Lu Zhou was a genius who won the Crafoord Prize, that was in mathematics, it had nothing to do with materials science.
And even though Lu Zhou’s thesis in Nature shocked the whole industry, Wang Haifeng interpreted it as luck as opposed to ability.
After all, scientific research was like gambling. No matter how beautiful the theory or graphs were, it still depended on reputation.
However, Wang Haifeng couldn’t completely ignore Lu Zhou’s opinions.
After all, he was in the field of carbon-sulfur composite materials, and the hollow carbon spheres could bring great benefits to him.
Wang Haifeng placed the document on the table and looked at Liu Hong, who was sitting at the desk next to him. He then asked, “Have you researched the thesis yet?”
He was obviously talking about Lu Zhou’s writings during the meeting.
Although Lu Zhou’s writings at the meeting were not officially submitted to a journal, the organizers of the meeting edited Lu Zhou’s proof process according to academic standards.
Of course, the meeting wasn’t as formal as the MRS Conference, so the standard of the thesis was still relatively low.
After Lu Zhou agreed, the thesis was published in the latest edition of the journal by Shuimu University, Natural Sciences.
The impact factor of this journal was low, but it had a large following and could be found in the libraries of many universities.
After the journal was published, Wang Haifeng immediately bought a copy for himself and gave it to his PhD student to read.
Liu Hong scratched his head and pulled out the thesis from his drawer before he said, “I have consulted the mathematics professor, Professor Liu, about this, and there is nothing wrong with the proof…”
Wang Haifeng said, “No sh*t! I know there is nothing wrong with it, I’m asking what do you think of it?”
Lu Zhou is a mathematics professor at Princeton. Of course you won’t be able to find a problem.
Who would write bullsh*t at a conference like that?
Liu Hong couldn’t help but complain.
I’m only a PhD student, why are you asking for my opinion?
Wang Haifeng felt a little better after releasing his anger on his student.
He looked at the other master’s student in his office and spoke with a calmer voice.
“You are not able to evaluate the thesis with your current ability. I am only asking your opinion on the hollow carbon spheres; you can say anything you want.”
Liu Hong suddenly had a thought and said, “Professor, I think that the hollow carbon sphere is a promising direction. Since we are also in the field of carbon-sulfur composites, why don’t we try to develop in this direction?”
As expected, Professor Wang changed his tone and criticized, “What are you trying to say? How many times have I told you that the most important thing in scientific research is to be down-to-earth?! The hollow carbon sphere has gotten popular recently, but we can’t jump on the bandwagon like others. Otherwise, what are we even researching here?”
After being criticized, Liu Hong wasn’t depressed. Instead, he felt relieved.
This old man’s temper was quite strange, and he would often do illogical things.
However, the old man was also gullible.
Liu Hong continued to speak, “Professor, you are right! We have our own research, we cannot be influenced by other newly rising topics!”
Liu Hong spoke in a polite tone, “However, we are in the field of carbon-sulfur composites, and the hollow carbon sphere is in the scope of our research. Making minor adjustments to our research isn’t jumping on the bandwagon, but instead, it means that other people are jumping on our bandwagon.”
Wang Haifeng nodded and smiled.
This was what he wanted to hear.
Like Liu Hong guessed, Wang Haifeng only wanted a reason to change the research topic.
After all, Wang Haifeng had been talking sh*t about Lu Zhou to his students, so it would be embarrassing for him to suddenly switch to researching hollow carbon spheres.
How could he still be a leader to his students?
Wang Haifeng sighed and said, “You’re right, this topic is important, I’ll have to do more research.”
Wang Haifeng was talking about hollow carbon spheres.
He paused for a second before he said, “Oh yeah, time is ticking, you can start writing the opening report. I’ll hand this matter to you.”
Liu Hong asked, “How much should I apply for the research fund?”
Wang Haifeng said, “Try 10 million yuan for now.”
Normally his projects wouldn’t get funded for this much.
But this was a special time; the country was vigorously developing new energy technologies, and research projects in related fields were being heavily funded.
Coincidentally, Wang Haifeng’s laboratory was planning on buying a new scanning electron telescope.
He could use this opportunity to upgrade his equipment.
