Chapter 207 Invitation from PPPL Laboratory
At Princeton, Xu Chuan still didn’t know what kind of ‘surprise’ Fefferman had brought to him. At this time, he was in the office instructing several students on their homework.
Suddenly, the office door was pushed open, and Fefferman with a thick beard walked in.
Xu Chuan gave some instructions to the students, then stood up and walked towards his friend.
"Xu, I have a job offer here. I wonder if you are interested." Fefferman asked straight to the point.
"What job?" Xu Chuan asked curiously.
"About modeling plasma turbulence, maybe you will be interested in the invitation from PPPL Laboratory?"
Xu Chuan:? ? ? ?
When this old friend told the specific content, his first reaction was: 'Damn it, there are some unscrupulous people who want to harm me! ’
The second reaction was: "When did Fefferman become a mind reader?"
Modeling plasma turbulence was indeed one of his ultimate goals in coming to Princeton.
But is this something he can touch now?
Not to mention touching it, when it comes to knowledge in the application field of nuclear physics, he will probably be in trouble if he comes into contact with it.
In his previous life, he was exposed to the application of nuclear fission physics, which led to him being stranded here for more than ten years.
It would be stupid to fall on it once in this life.
In the office, Fefferman looked at Xu Chuan whose expression was changing and asked curiously: "What's wrong with you?"
After hearing the inquiry, Xu Chuan came back to his senses and asked in surprise: "How did you come to study this area? I remember you seem to be a distinguished professor at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, right? How do you have any connection with the PPPL laboratory? ”
Fefferman: "They came here proactively. They encountered some troubles in controlling plasma turbulence and needed a mathematician to help solve some problems."
"But to be honest, I am not sure about that problem. If you can help, maybe it can be solved. You are more sensitive to mathematics than any professor at Princeton."
Xu Chuan shook his head decisively and said: "Nuclear physics is not within the scope of my research, and I have my own research next. I'm afraid I won't be able to help you much with this invitation."
He decisively rejected Fefferman's invitation and was not sensitive to the application of nuclear energy physics.
If he didn't know this friend well enough, he might think that this friend was someone arranged by the United States to invite him to stay in the United States.
And in his opinion, Fefferman took it for granted. It was almost impossible for a purely Chinese scholar to participate in nuclear energy research in the United States.
He had almost never heard of other purely Chinese scholars participating in such experiments.
If the PPPL Ion Physics Laboratory invites him to participate in an experiment, it will inevitably bring up matters such as nationality. PPPL, which is managed by the Science Office of the University of Energy in the United States, is unlikely to let a Chinese into their laboratory. In particular, it involves key projects such as controllable nuclear fusion.
After sending Fefferman away, Xu Chuan sighed helplessly.
It seems that it is time to arrange the journey back to China in advance.
Fefferman was suddenly tricked by his friend, and despite Fefferman's good intentions, he still felt quite helpless.
Originally, he planned to take advantage of the more than a month left before the International Mathematics Conference to quietly talk to some other physics professors, such as Razelson, Franck, Karl and others.
But now this plan is probably in ruins.
Let’s get ready to go back first.
Shaking his head, Xu Chuan gave some instructions to the four students who were studying in the office, then turned and returned to his villa.
Now that I am preparing to return to China early, there are some precious manuscripts accumulated in the past two years in the villa, such as the letters left by Professor Mirzakhani, and the manuscript of his own process for proving the NS equation.
These precious manuscripts and documents have important commemorative significance and value to him, and they must all be taken away.
After thinking about it, Xu Chuan selected the manuscript that proved Hodge's conjecture.
This manuscript was his gift to Princeton and the Flint Library.
Although he disliked the country at his feet, he still had feelings for the school Princeton.
Like Nanjing University, Princeton has truly nurtured him. He has learned a lot from here, both in his previous life and in this life.
And leaving such a manuscript can be regarded as a tradition for scholars who left Princeton.
The reason why the Flintstone Library is called the 'treasure library' among libraries is that it contains many original manuscripts, thinking handwritings and other things of well-known scholars.
These things are often lost outside and cannot be found at all.
Only here can you get a glimpse through the stubborn old man.
After briefly sorting out the manuscripts in the villa, Xu Chuan felt a little headache looking at the large number of manuscripts and materials, which included at least two suitcases.
How should these things be transported back to the country? Take express delivery?
I'm afraid that's not very realistic. Although I don't know if the United States has launched surveillance on itself, it is definitely possible to keep an eye on it. The things he mailed back may attract attention, and then these manuscripts will become a signal revealing that he wants to return to the country.
Although the risk is not very high, the lessons learned in his previous life were too painful, and he must try to reduce the impact of this as much as possible.
If you don't want to send it by mail, should you have someone take it back to you, or should you wait until you get back to your country and then ask someone here to send it back?
Just as he was thinking about it, the doorbell of the villa suddenly rang.
Through the secret surveillance video installed at the door, Xu Chuan saw a familiar figure. Halifax Bruce, director of the PPPL Plasma Laboratory in Preston.
Seeing the person coming, he frowned slightly, locked the room where the information was stored, and walked out.
At the gate of the villa, Halifax Bruce, the director of the PPPL Plasma Laboratory, was waiting quietly and respectfully.
Regardless of age, the people living in this villa are among the top talents even in the United States.
Although being too young makes people look down upon him from the bottom of his heart, no matter what, there are definitely people who can solve the seven millennium problems and are truly qualified.
What's more, he is asking for help now, so he must show off his attitude.
"Hello, who are you?"
Xu Chuan opened the door and looked at the man's questions outside the door with a 'confused' look on his face.
Although he was very familiar with the director of PPPL in his previous life, this was the first time he met him in this life.
Seeing Xu Chuan, the pot-bellied Halifax Bruce showed a bright smile on his face, as if he had seen the green Franklin.
"Hello, Professor Xu, I'm sorry to bother you. My name is Halifax Bruce, and I am the director of the PPPL Plasma Physics Laboratory at Princeton University."
Xu Chuan nodded and said: "Hello, Director Bruce, do you have anything to do with me?"
After letting the person in, Xu Chuan handed a glass of water to Halifax Bruce. No matter what, it must have been done.
"That's right, Professor Xu, we would like to invite you to join PPPL. Our PPPL Physics Laboratory is the greatest plasma laboratory in the world. Its mission is to lay a scientific foundation for creating fusion energy, the power source of the sun and stars."
When meeting for the first time, Bruce briefly introduced the glorious history and famous achievements of PPPL Plasma Laboratory, hoping to arouse Xu Chuan's interest.
Bruce talked a lot, while Xu Chuan felt sleepy while listening.
Regarding the situation and future development of PPPL, he is not much more familiar with it than the supervisor in front of him, but he is not much different. After all, his theoretical research on controllable nuclear fusion was conducted at PPPL in his previous life.
"Professor Xu, our PPPL and the Turbulence Laboratory of Purdue University are currently conducting plasma turbulence control experiments, and we have invited Professor Fefferman to join us."
"At the same time, we hope to cooperate with great scholars like you to jointly complete the control of plasma turbulence."
Finally, Bruce finished bragging about the great and glorious history and looked up at Xu Chuan expectantly. But when he saw the person opposite him yawning and trying to sleep, his heart suddenly went cold.
Seeing that the other party had finished speaking, Xu Chuan yawned and said, "Professor Fefferman came to see me this morning, and it was what you said."
"But I'm sorry, I'm not interested in nuclear physics, and I have my own research going on here, so I can't spare the time."
Bruce: "The annual salary is one million meters! It's enough that you cooperate with Professor Fefferman to complete the data analysis work. You don't need to come to work on time."
"You can definitely continue your research while accepting this job at Princeton. There is no conflict, it just requires you to devote some time occasionally."
Xu Chuan shrugged and said: "It sounds very tempting, but I haven't even gone to claim the one million meters of gold from the Clay Research Institute."
His words just meant that he was not short of money and didn't care about money.
But when it came to the ears of the director of the PPPL laboratory, it became "Money needs to be added!"
"1.2 million! An annual salary of 1.2 million gold! As long as you agree, PPPL can advance all the salary in advance." Halifax Bruce gritted his teeth.
His heart was bleeding. His annual salary of 1.2 million yuan was almost as much as inviting Fefferman. Fefferman was a Fields Medal winner with decades of scientific research experience.
If Fefferman hadn't said that he had to do it, and PPPL had been stuck in controlling the temperature of tens of millions of ion temperature gradient turbulence for some time, and now they were in urgent need of a new breakthrough to allow the funders behind the scenes to continue to invest budget in them. , it is impossible for him to give such a number.
Xu Chuan smiled and said: "Unfortunately, this is not a matter of money. In my opinion, it is more appropriate to complete your own research than to waste time on a job with little hope."
In the end, Bruce left with a disappointed look on his face. After walking out of the lawn, he turned his head and looked at the villa behind him, feeling a little headache. He really couldn't understand why someone would refuse a full 1.5 million meters of gold.
If you put this money on the ground, you can pile it up into a green mountain.
Shaking his head, Bruce breathed a sigh of relief. If money couldn't make the other party take action, what about other things?
Immigrants become citizens of the United States? Fame and fortune for American academicians? Top scientific research resources? Or status? Or something else?
It's just that these things are not something he can decide. He has to discuss it with the Energy Bu, his immediate boss of PPPL Laboratory.
Of course, he had to find other professors at Princeton to find out about Professor Xu Chuan's abilities.
If this young professor is really capable enough to solve the problem of controlling plasma turbulence, what does it matter if he pays some profit?
Compared with the gains brought by solving the plasma turbulence problem, the benefits paid are nothing but a drop in the bucket.
This is one of the biggest problems in controllable nuclear fusion. The value of solving this problem cannot be described in terms of money.
(End of chapter)