Chapter 385: Mathematics Is Difficult
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Success!
The voice of celebration was wonderful.
At this moment, the countless blood, sweat, and tears spent on this project were all worth it. The doubts that the PPPL higher-ups had on this project vanished.
Lu Zhou looked at the flashing signal light and loosened his fists. Due to the adrenaline in his heart, he tightened his fists again.
The experiment wasn’t finished.
After the first successful attempt, then came the second, and the third…
The helium-3 particles were accelerated to the limit of kinetic energy before it penetrated the plasma and crashed into the tungsten-titanium target material.
The series of data was collected, wrangled, and imported into the database in a standard format which was soon to be analyzed by theoretical researchers.
Professor Lazerson looked at the computer screen as he patted Lu Zhou’s arm.
On the other hand, Director Brog was standing in the jubilant crowd. He stared blankly at the data on the screen and didn’t say anything.
“What did I tell you,” Professor Lazerson said as he walked to Director Brog with a smile. He patted his shoulder and said, “I told you this is feasible! You must believe us now.”
Brog came back to life and coughed heavily before he said, “It’s only an in-progress result, this is still too early to tell.”
“Yes, yes, only in-progress result.” Professor Lazerson smiled and joked, “Don’t be jealous when I stand on the podium in Stockholm.”
“Talk when you actually win the Nobel Prize.”
Director Brog stayed silent for a while before he walked toward Lu Zhou.
He then stood next to the young scholar and sighed before he spoke in an apologetic tone.
“For the things that I said before… I have to apologize to you.”
Although Lu Zhou was a bit pissed off at Director Brog’s words, the moment the helium-3 particle hit the target material, all of his anger was diluted by the joy of success.
“There’s nothing to apologize for, you did what you were supposed to do,” Lu Zhou said as he looked at the data on the computer screen. He then said in a relaxing voice, “Just like how we’re doing what we’re supposed to do.”
“Thanks for your understanding… I sincerely wish you all the best.”
Director Brog was grateful. He then left the laboratory without mentioning anything about killing the project.
If the He3 atom probe technology was commercialized, all of the major plasma physics laboratories around the world would be able to “observe” instead of “estimate” the plasma at a high temperature.
Observing and estimating were two completely different things.
This was without a doubt a Nobel Prize-level kind of breakthrough!
If Director Brog really killed this project, although no one would blame him, he would regret it for the rest of his life…
…
On the same day, after Lu Zhou ate his dinner, he walked to Lake Carnegie for his nightly run around the lake path.
His run was euphoric, and he couldn’t help but run faster.
In the end, he ran as fast as he could; it was like he was a horse in the wild.
The only thing that calmed his emotions was the cold wind blowing onto his face.
Although the system’s medication improved his metabolic function, it didn’t make him an athlete.
After sprinting around the walking path for less than five minutes, Lu Zhou stopped by a bench at the park. Panting, he grabbed the armrest before slowly sitting down.
His sweat was dripping down his back and stuck to his sports attire, and the cold wind was piercing through his bones.
The freezing cold made Lu Zhou sneeze, but it didn’t put out the fire in his heart.
Suddenly, Molina, who was jogging around the lake, noticed Lu Zhou sitting on the bench. She slowed down and walked up to the bench.
Molina looked at him weirdly as she asked, “… Are you having a mental breakdown or something?”
“Nope, I’m feeling better than ever,” Lu Zhou said while holding his kneecaps with his hands. He then forced out a smile to show that he was fine.
In fact, Lu Zhou was too happy.
Molina looked at him like he was crazy and didn’t say anything. Instead, she sat down on the other end of the bench.
She took out a bottle of water from her running belt and took a sip of water elegantly. She then looked at Lu Zhou, who was still panting, and asked, “It’s nearly Christmas, do you have any plans?”
“I’ll probably spend it in Princeton. My students want to have a party, then…” Lu Zhou thought for a bit and couldn’t think of any better plans, so he said, “Then, I’ll rest at home.”
Molina was speechless as she stared at Lu Zhou. She then sighed and said, “That’s kind of sad… You don’t plan on finding a girlfriend to spend the holiday together?”
Are you just rubbing it in my face?
However, Lu Zhou didn’t care. After all, he was used to it.
“Mathematics is difficult enough, I’ll deal with females some other time.” Lu Zhou suddenly remembered something and he looked at Molina before he asked, “I almost forgot, aren’t you single as well?”
“I’m not the same, I’m a voluntarily celibate; emotions are a burden for me.” She shook her sweaty blonde hair gently and said, “As you said, mathematics is difficult enough.”
Lu Zhou was amused when he heard this.
“But I haven’t seen any mathematics achievements from you.”
Since knowing Molina, Lu Zhou went from an undergraduate student to a professor, but Molina was still studying under her mentor who was attempting to solve the impossible Riemann’s conjecture. Molina hadn’t even written her PhD thesis yet.
Of course, Lu Zhou wasn’t gloating. In fact, it was the contrary. He had persuaded her many times to choose an easier target.
Obviously, she had never listened to his advice.
Molina looked at him angrily.
She wanted to make a comeback but found out that she had nothing on him.
“You just wait… I’ll make you regret saying that next year at the IMO conference!”
She then stood up and ran away.
“I’ll wait for your good news.”
Lu Zhou shook his head and smiled.
Who’s having a mental breakdown?
But then again, if a mental breakdown can create achievements, then maybe it’s not so bad.
Lu Zhou wiped the sweat off his forehead. He then stood up and began to slowly run along the walking path again…
