Chapter 210 Arriving in California

On December 11th, a major event happened in the academic circle.

But not in mathematics, but in medicine.

Just three days ago in the afternoon, Professor Tu Youyou delivered a speech in Chinese on the theme of "Discovery of Artemisinin: A Gift of Traditional Chinese Medicine to the World" at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. During the award ceremony, the medal of "Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine" was received!

Also awarded are William Campbell and Satoshi Omura, who will share the 8 million Swedish kronor prize (approximately $920,000).

As a result, the first Nobel Prize winner of Chinese nationality other than peace and literature prizes was finally born!

Apart from being happy for Huaguo's academic community, Lu Zhou couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

The first Nobel Prize of Chinese nationality has been born, and it is time for me to work harder towards the Fields Prize.

But what is interesting is that just a few days after the Nobel Prize was awarded, the official website of the State Intellectual Property Bureau published an article titled "The Revelation of the Artemisinin Patent", which told the story behind the Nobel Prize. .

Although due to the times, there was no intellectual property system established in China at that time, and publishing the research results in international journals was the only option, but later the Huaguo Academy of Military Medical Sciences developed a derivative based on artemisinin, "Compartem", The patent rights are also not in the hands of Hua Guo, but were taken by the Swiss company Novartis to establish a patent barrier.

There are many reasons for this, but in the final analysis it is the neglect of patent issues.

It is embarrassing that something that is obviously invented by oneself has to be controlled by others in the end.

What is even more embarrassing is that although Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize, this research result has nothing to do with the elderly. Many departments have relevant technical materials, and everyone is rushing to cooperate with foreign companies, except hers. thing.

The highest reward for this hero was only a second prize in the National Invention Award in 1979, with a bonus of 5,000 yuan, and only 200 yuan was allocated to her.

In contrast, Satoshi Omura, who won the award in the same year, has accumulated a personal wealth of nearly 30 billion yen by relying on various patent fees in the field of microorganisms. At the age of 80, he has gained both fame and fortune, and he no longer even engages in scientific research, but spends his old age peacefully playing with collected artworks.

Visible, the importance of intellectual property protection.

Because he was paying attention to patents recently, Lu Zhou happened to see this article on the official website of the State Intellectual Property Bureau.

For him, this is also a wake-up call.

...

The end-of-year academic meeting was finally scheduled for the week before Christmas.

On the early morning of the 18th, a flight landed at the California airport.

After leaving the airport with his suitcase, Lu Zhou took a taxi and headed to the University of California at Berkeley.

The annual end-of-year academic exchange meeting organized by the Federal Mathematical Society will be held at Berkeley.

At that time, the Cole Prize will be announced at the opening ceremony.

Although he, the winner, was spoiled two months in advance, and he knew the news of his award before the official written document was discovered, but the excitement of this advance payment is certainly not as exciting as holding a medal and a check An intense moment.

After getting off the car at the gate of Berkeley, Lu Zhou met Senior Brother Luo who was waiting for him.

When they met, they gave him a warm hug. Brother Luo smiled and said, "Why didn't you call me in advance? I'll pick you up at the airport."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Your car is on the east coast, why don't you take a taxi with me when you come here, why don't you take a taxi here by yourself."

Before coming to the United States, he didn't inform anyone in advance, and he called Brother Luo after he got off the plane.

As a member of the Federal Mathematical Society, Edward Witten naturally would not miss this kind of meeting. And Luo Wenxuan was studying for a Ph.D. under Witten, so it was reasonable to follow him to join in the fun. Lu Zhou guessed this without even asking.

Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was getting late, Senior Brother Luo said, "Let's go, I'll take you to the place where you live. This time the organizer has prepared a five-star hotel for us... Although it is called a five-star hotel Level, but I feel it’s around four stars.”

Lu Zhou: "Compared to the Princeton Hotel?"

Luo Wenxuan grinned: "Princeton Hotel? You mean the one opposite Palmer Square? Compared to that, the living conditions here are better, but the academic atmosphere is much less."

Berkeley is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is the second largest metropolitan area in California after the greater Los Angeles area. Compared with Princeton, which is located in a quiet town, the atmosphere here is undoubtedly much more impetuous.

Walking on the road, the two chatted about what happened some time ago, and Senior Brother Luo couldn't help feeling emotional again.

"Sure, Junior Brother Lu, this year is not over yet, and before the end of the year, I made you pretend to be a big bully."

Lu Zhou coughed lightly, and said in a low-key manner: "What are you pretending to be? Can learning be called pretending?"

"Yes, your tone is becoming more and more like Old Tang," Senior Brother Luo sighed, paused, and continued, "Then, as the winner of this year's Cole Prize in Number Theory, may I ask Lu, who never pretends to be aggressive?" Zhou, how do you feel now?"

"I don't have any feelings, I haven't even written my horoscope yet."

Although the award will be presented in a few days, but the email said to keep it secret, Lu Zhou felt that he still had to put on a show.

However, Senior Brother Luo saw through it at a glance, and didn't believe his trick at all. He rolled his eyes and said, "It's alright, alright, don't pretend, the written notice should come down a month in advance, you must already know."

Lu Zhou: "Okay... I have indeed received a written notice, but the email also said that it needs to be kept secret before the official award."

"OK, OK, I won't talk nonsense," Senior Brother Luo patted Lu Zhao on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "When you get the bonus, just remember to buy me a drink!"

Recalling the unpleasant experience last time, Lu Zhou hurriedly said: "Drinking is fine, but this time let's go to a normal bar."

Brother Luo waved his hand and said with a smile: "Don't worry, this is near the university, the nearby bars are very formal, and many professors will come. By the way, did you handle the beauty last time? Are you still in touch now? "

Lu Zhou froze for a moment, not understanding what he was talking about: "...what beauty?"

Seeing Lu Zhou's reaction, Senior Brother Luo was also stunned: "It's at CERN... No way, it's less than half a year, so you forget about him."

Thinking of that, Lu Zhou was speechless for a while.

"You said that? I didn't do anything to her."

Senior Brother Luo squeezed his eyebrows: "Wait, I don't quite understand what you mean...You mean, you dragged her into the room, then covered her with a quilt, and left without doing anything?"

Lu Zhou looked at him speechlessly: "I didn't cover the quilt, but drew the curtains... Otherwise, what else can I do? Wait for her to wake up?"

Staring at Lu Zhou for a while, Senior Brother Luo was silent for a while, then suddenly sighed.

"Junior Brother..."

Lu Zhou: "...what's wrong?"

Brother Luo sighed, and continued: "Brother thought that there is nothing to teach you, but I didn't expect that it's not that there is nothing to teach you, but that you have to learn from the beginning..."

Lu Zhou: "...?"