Chapter 338: At the Critical Moment, You Still Have to Rely on Your Opponent

The red signal light keeps flashing.

Under the busyness of the engineers, the faulty program was forcibly terminated, and the temperature of the processor finally dropped.

However, as the calculation program terminated, the azure blue light that symbolized "hope" also dimmed.

"The 31st experiment."

Staring at the chassis located in the radiation-proof isolation room, David, whose nose was almost poking against the floor-to-ceiling glass, had a gloomy and heavy gaze.

Experiment 31.

There is no doubt that it is still a failure.

The atmosphere in the research institute was solemn, except for the parallel computing engineer in charge of operating the supercomputer who was whispering technical issues, everyone was quite listless. I don't want to say a word.

It's not just the supercomputers that are exhausted, but also all the researchers who have worked hard on this project.

During this month, the D.E. Shaw Institute has burned at least 10 million dollars for this mathematical model.

During this period, the D.E.Shaw Research Institute continued to improve the calculation program, and Lu Zhou continued to modify the details of the theoretical model through the collected calculation data.

However, apart from a few blackboards filled with writing and piles of waste paper, no unexpected results were obtained.

"Sure enough..." Looking at the engineers entering the isolation room, David sighed softly.

"Otherwise, I should pay the money." Lu Zhou said with some regret.

"It's okay, this little money is nothing. Scientific research is like a gamble, so I will take a trip to Las Vegas." Compared with those dignified engineers and frustrated computational chemistry Ph.D.s, David Although his face was full of distress, his tone was still relaxed.

I don’t know if it’s true that people with too much money have nowhere to spend it, or if their scientific intuition tells him that this line of thinking must have the value of digging deeper.

Therefore, he is willing to spend the money.

But after saying this, he couldn't help but add later, "Although I never lost so much when I went to Las Vegas."

After the end of the experiment, there is a routine wrap-up meeting.

At the meeting, everyone behaved in silence.

After Lu Zhou briefly stated his point of view, the rest of the time was basically spent speaking by the leaders of the two experimental groups.

As for David, he remained silent until the end of the meeting.

"Perform maintenance work on Anton, and the 32nd experiment will start in three days." Without saying anything, David looked at the engineer closest to him, and simply ordered, "I hope that before the start of the next experiment, you can Make sure Anton is running at its best."

The engineer nodded and said, "Yes, boss!"

"It's not just supercalculation, I also need to rest, I believe you are the same." Taking off the glasses on the bridge of the nose, David rubbed his brows, "That's it, the meeting is over."

...

For scientific research, a little setback is nothing.

Even after 31 failures, no one mentioned the word giving up.

After all, everyone knows very well that there is no truth that can be obtained in smooth sailing.

In order to perfect his theoretical model, Lu Zhou has been prepared to fail a hundred times.

However, if there is still no result after the 50th experiment, he will not let David bear the research expenses alone.

Even though the money may not really mean anything to David, it still makes him feel a little sorry.

After the meeting, Lu Zhou who came out of the research institute did not return to the dormitory immediately, but took a walk on the campus of Columbia University.

Not only Anton needs to rest, he also needs some time to relax his overheated brain after an intense mental exercise.

At least, during these three days of rest, he intends to take a day off to not think about those difficult problems for the time being.

Walking aimlessly across the square in front of the library, Lu Zhou subconsciously avoided all places related to academics.

So I don't know how long I walked.

When he came to his senses, he was already standing downstairs in the philosophy building of Columbia University.

Looking at the information marked on the phone map, Lu Zhou couldn't help but shook his head with a smile.

"Should I say this is fate?"

Such a relationship with philosophy did not cheer him up at all.

On the lawn in front of the Philosophy Building, a bronze statue sits quietly there.

Its right fist was half clenched and pressed against its jaw. The muscles of the whole body were tense, and they were integrated with the furrowed brows, just like a living person, immersed in depressing thinking.

It is said that this statue is one of the four most realistic "thinkers" in the world today.

But compared to the other three brothers, this thinker is much colder. Except for Lu Zhou standing in front of it, what he faced was just a lawn that no one cares about.

Stretching out his hand to press the bronze statue, feeling the coldness of the fingertips, Lu Zhou sighed.

"From you, I seem to see myself."

Thought is a painful thing.

Especially when thoughts can't find a way out.

For some reason, Lu Zhou suddenly had an unrealistic idea.

It would be great if anyone could come out of nowhere and provide myself with a little inspiration.

Even if it's just a little bit...

But soon, Lu Zhou smiled and shook his head.

If inspiration is so easy to come by, then the price is too cheap.

This is a theory that is about to change chemistry, and it's not cheap.

However, just when he was thinking this way, an accident happened suddenly.

There was no warning, not even a greeting.

The light blue dialog box popped out of his field of vision so abruptly...

[Congratulations to the host, you have completed the reward task. 】

Lu Zhou: ...?

What the hell? !

...

Unlike the gloomy clouds in the D.E. Shaw Institute, the Materials Institute of Binghamton University is cheering at this moment.

"Now is not the time to celebrate, the experiment has been successful, don't overturn at the last moment," Stanley told his assistant, restraining the surge of joy, "Apply for a patent immediately, we need to get it in the shortest possible time." Patent No!"

"Yes, Professor!" The assistant nodded excitedly, and walked out of the laboratory quickly.

Back in front of the scanning electron microscope, looking at the images collected on the screen, Professor Stanley finally couldn't restrain himself anymore, showing a bright smile.

Preliminary analysis proves that this cage-like carbon molecule has been identified, which can inhibit the diffusion of polysulfide compounds to a certain extent, and the industrial production cost is barely acceptable.

However, the effect of applying it to a specific lithium-sulfur battery still needs further experiments.

For example, they need to find a suitable mixing ratio and mechanical dispersion method to mix sulfur element with this caged carbon molecule. At the same time, they have to quantitatively test to what extent this inhibitory effect can be achieved.

However, this does not affect the application of patents, nor does it affect the publication of papers.

The moment they managed to make this caged carbon molecule, they had already achieved success.

There is no doubt that they won!

Get ahead of that man and win the first place in the lithium-sulfur battery project!