Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Not everyone in the audience was researching theoretical chemistry. Other than chemistry scholars, there were many people who did research on applied mathematics, condensed matter physics, and even materials science.
Professor Stanley from Binghamton University was one of them.
He wore a long trench coat and sat quietly in the corner of the venue. With his hat covering his face, it looked like he didn’t want to be recognized.
But even if he didn’t dress like this, few people would have recognized him.
It looked like he had aged ten years; his face was no longer full of energy.
Professor Stanley didn’t know what his mood should be.
He randomly bought a ticket to Berlin and came to his venue. He wasn’t sure what he should expect from this report.
“Come on…
“Let me see how you defeated me.”
Professor Stanley’s lips trembled as he stared at the projector screen.
He whispered to himself, “Let me see what you were really researching…”
Finally, it was ten o’clock.
The whispers that filled the venue disappeared.
It was like they were silenced by some mysterious power.
No one had to maintain the orderliness of the venue; no one had to announce the beginning of the report.
Because suddenly, the PowerPoint turned to the first page, showing the title.
[Theoretical Model of the Electrochemical Interface Structure]
Lu Zhou looked at the crowd and adjusted the microphone. He then cleared his throat and spoke.
“The theoretical model of the electrochemical interface structure has been a problem in the theoretical chemistry community for many years.
“Unless we understand the nature of the interface, we cannot thoroughly clarify the microscopic essence of various electrochemical processes.
“From a mathematical point of view, I tried to establish a theoretical model from the collected data and observed phenomena. This mathematical model has been tested on the Anton supercomputer.
“Now, I will elaborate on the theoretical model I proposed.
“If there are mistakes, I hope I can be corrected.”
Lu Zhou spoke slowly.
He continued his speech.
He had been preparing for this report for two months.
When he was designing the PowerPoint, not only did he elaborate on the difficult parts of the theoretical model, but he also explained the complicated theory in a language that made it as simple as possible.
Of course, he didn’t over-simplify the theory itself.
The reason for an academic conference was to spread knowledge. However, the academic report wasn’t for the public. It wasn’t Lu Zhou’s responsibility to make other people understand his report.
There was no room for compromise.
Everyone in the venue listened intently.
Although they couldn’t understand everything, no one wanted to miss any details.
Missing one detail could mean everything.
“All of the ground state properties of multi-particle systems are the only density functions. With this, we can calculate the total energy of multi-particle systems as the sum of kinetic energy, general coulomb energy, and multi-body effects…
“All of these three energy values can be calculated.”
While speaking, Lu Zhou used a marker to write on a whiteboard.
Part of the theorem was derived by the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem, it wasn’t particularly difficult.
The next part was the calculations, which was the main part of the theoretical model.
There were more and more equations appearing on the whiteboard. Many people were lost as they were unable to keep up with Lu Zhou’s speed.
Professor Stanley stared at the whiteboard and muttered to himself, “What is he writing?”
Even though Stanley did his homework and read the thesis many times, he still couldn’t understand the report.
However, he was still an outstanding scholar.
Although he was far from a Nobel Prize, he was still much stronger than the average scholar.
Professor Stanley gently tapped his pen on his laptop.
Suddenly, his brain made a connection…
What connection?
He didn’t know either.
He couldn’t understand the connection…
Some of the audience was becoming more and more focused on the talk.
Professor Ertl was one of them.
As a Nobel Prize winner, he had a deep understanding of computational chemistry.
Although he had many questions about Lu Zhou’s theoretical model, most of the questions were from the mathematical side.
But now, Lu Zhou’s detailed explanation laid out every formula and derivation.
His original doubts had disappeared.
Lu Zhou’s voice echoed through the quiet venue.
Time quickly flew by.
Without knowing it, Lu Zhou had already filled five whiteboards. He turned his attention to the next one and began writing.
Lu Zhou finished writing on the sixth whiteboard and took two steps back.
“Using this theorem, the result is obvious…”
He looked at the six whiteboards and suddenly stopped talking. He started to think.
The venue was dead silent while everyone looked at him.
A minute passed.
This minute felt like an hour.
Professor Ertl looked at the lines of calculations on the whiteboard and said, “No doubt…”
President Stratmann immediately said, “No doubt what?”
Ertl suddenly smiled and put down his pen.
“There is no doubt that this is a new generation of chemistry.”
Professor Stanley, who was sitting at the corner of the venue, took off his glasses and frowned.
Undoubtedly.
He had lost.
A complete defeat…
He wasn’t even worthy to be his opponent.
However, Professor Stanley felt relief.
His question was finally answered…
There was a commotion in the crowd.
More and more people began to understand the theoretical model.
At last, Lu Zhou came back to life.
He smiled at the whiteboards.
He then turned around and gently placed the marker down on the podium.
Finally, he made an announcement.
“… As you can see, our conclusion is correct!”
The moment he finished his announcement, the venue was filled with thunderous applause.
Applause of approval.
Applause of celebration.
They were also applauding this historic moment…
