Chapter 284: The Fanatical Outsiders (Additional update 7/10 for the leader Gao Shan Liu Shui, please vote for me)
For academics, if someone else posts a paper that has not been reviewed by a journal on Arxiv, even if they announce that they have proved the seven millennium problems, it will not cause earthquakes in several completely different fields.
After all, in today's academic world, few scholars will submit important papers to preprint websites like Arxiv. Top journals of various types are more in line with the choices of many scholars.
Although there are various conditions for journal submission and various problems such as long review times, being able to publish a paper in a top TOP journal also represents a certain level of academic achievement.
If you can publish a paper in magical journals such as "Annals of Mathematics" and "New Advances in Mathematics", no matter what your original academic qualifications are, you are now qualified to enter a prestigious school and directly become a professor.
Preprint websites like Arxiv don’t have a high reputation in the minds of many scholars.
The reason is simple. There is a mixed bag of good and bad things on this kind of website, and there are not many valuable things.
It is undeniable that there are indeed some interesting or valuable things above, but it is also undeniable that most of the papers or ideas above are basically dross.
There is no peer review and no review mechanism, which means anyone can submit papers and ideas to it.
In this case, those who are very interested in academics, or those who are interested in arguing with others, thinking that they are noble, willing to deny others, extremely confident, first in the universe, that's it, and can't make mistakes, etc. Scholars will definitely rush up like a beehive.
Not to mention the proofs of the seven millennium problems, they dare to put in the proof theory of grand unity, the theory of the ultimate form of the universe, and so on.
It can be said that almost no one has a rigorous scientific theoretical basis, and all the theories and ideas rely on personal imagination, which has almost no value to science.
Of course, sometimes, some special ideas and papers can indeed bring inspiration, but compared with various journal papers that have undergone strict peer review, this probability is too low.
Therefore, many scholars do not like preprint websites such as Arxiv.
But in recent years, a new geek has emerged in the academic world. Just like Perelman before, he likes to first dump his papers on preprint websites like Arxiv.
It would be fine if it were anyone else, but this is a Nobel Prize + Fields Medal winner. And every time he submitted a paper, it was eventually verified successfully and solved various world problems.
There is currently a saying in the academic world about this young master, that is, the papers that this master posted on Arxiv can almost be regarded as peer-reviewed papers.
At least, for now, no matter whether it is mathematics or physics, none of the papers posted by this boss are problematic.
And now, he has reached out to the chemical and material communities, and has uploaded a paper that solves the problem of lithium dendrites. This has shocked many people in the academic circle, and many bigwigs have turned their attention to it, thinking. See what this is all about.
If it is said, the mathematics and physics circles are not very clear about the value of this paper.
Then the chemical world, materials world and battery world are completely different.
They know only too well how much impact the lithium dendrite problem will have on the lithium battery industry.
At the invitation of some friends, industry leaders in the chemical, materials and battery industries turned their attention to this paper.
USA, MIT.
Professor C.T. McMullan, the 1998 Fields Medal winner, is sitting in the office of his friend Coverdale Enoch, waiting for him to read the paper in his hand.
After a long time, the other party finally put down the paper in his hand, and then asked impatiently: "Where did you get this paper?"
Professor McMullan asked curiously: "Is it possible that the things above are true?"
Coverdale Enoch quickly replied: "First tell me where you got this paper."
"On Arxiv."
"This is impossible! How can there be a paper of this level on Arxiv!" Coverdale Enoch retorted excitedly after hearing his friend's answer.
McMullan shrugged and said: "It was indeed downloaded from Arxiv."
"You really didn't lie to me?" Coverdale Enoch stared at his friend suspiciously.
"Is it necessary?"
Hearing this, Coverdale Enoch, who was opposite, looked suspicious of life and muttered to himself: "How is it possible? Why would this kind of paper be lost on a website like Arxiv?"
McMullan looked at his friend in confusion and said: "This is something made by a math colleague I follow, but I can't understand it. After all, I study mathematics and don't know much about chemical materials, so I brought it over. Let me show you.”
"How is it? Is this paper correct?" Coverdale Enoch came back to his senses, took a deep breath, and said: "Judging from this paper, it is indeed very likely to be solved. Lithium dendrite problem ”
"At least, I don't see any problems from above."
"Of course, I will repeat the experiment based on the paper to see if it really has such an effect."
McMullan asked: "How long would it take to repeat the experiment?"
Coverdale Enoch: "It doesn't need to be too long. If you make a complete battery, it may take half a month to test, but if it is just to verify whether this artificial SEI film can solve the generation of lithium dendrites If it’s a difficult problem, three or four hours is enough.”
"I have all the materials in my laboratory. The only troublesome thing is to make some artificial SEI films according to the above method."
"Do you have time now? I want to see the results. I can still afford to wait for three or four hours."
McMullan asked quickly after hearing that it would only take three or four hours to verify, eager to see if the paper was correct.
It would be really incredible if we could successfully solve the lithium dendrite problem.
From mathematics to physics to astronomy, and now chemistry and materials science, is there anything he doesn't understand?
What is even more noteworthy is that the previous research results were basically theoretical, but this time, they are at the application level.
From theory to application, this is a huge gap.
Coverdale Enoch nodded and said: "Of course, I also want to see the results."
"After all, if the lithium dendrite problem is really solved, the battery industry will usher in the biggest change in history."
What happened at MIT is just a microcosm of many universities, research institutes, and laboratories.
Within a few days after Xu Chuan posted the paper on the Arxiv preprint website, as time went by, more and more people noticed the paper, and more and more laboratories began to use the methods in the paper. Replicate the entire experiment.
For papers and research results in the materials community, one of the most important judgment methods is that the research results can be replicated.
This research result is of little significance to the materials community if it cannot be replicated.
Because of the importance of lithium batteries and the name of the published paper, in less than a week, almost 80% of the universities or laboratories studying lithium batteries have carried out repeated experiments on this paper.
For academia, when more than 50% of researchers in a certain field are studying this matter, it means that it is already known to everyone.
And when more than 80% of researchers are invested in it, it can only be said that this is the most crazy change!
The craze in the field of lithium batteries quickly attracted the attention of the press.
As a well-known American technology media and the largest technology blog in the world, TechCrunch will not miss this news.
They quickly arranged for media reporters to come to the Santa Barbara area of the University of California, a top university in the United States, and found Professor Alan Haig, the 2000 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry.
This professor is mainly engaged in research in the fields of organic and conductive polymer materials and devices, and low-dimensional physics. He has been evaluated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences as a "pioneer in international conductive polymer research" and has made great contributions to materials science.
Technology Blog wanted to interview the Nobel Prize winner to see his views on this matter.
Of course, they hope to make big news.
Whether it's negative or positive, it's all very popular.
After all, the person who published the paper was the famous Professor Xu, the first Nophi double-prize winner in history. Since entering the academic circle, he has made countless achievements.
More importantly, the papers published by Professor Xu on Arxiv have all been verified to be successful.
If his myth of 100% success can be broken this time, I believe writing a report focusing on this will definitely be very popular.
If the other party still succeeds, with the popularity of lithium batteries and the focus of 100% success, it will also bring them huge traffic.
Of course, they have to be the first to do so as soon as possible, because there are many other media outlets that are also following up on this matter.
PS: There is another chapter in the evening. Please vote for me. Please vote for me. It’s the last day for double monthly votes this month. Please vote with your monthly votes. I can get 1,000 votes today. I’ll add more tomorrow!