Chapter 359 Recommend by the Nobel Laureates

When a theory has been explained clearly enough, when a report has won applause on such a scale during the speech, the questioning part seems a bit redundant.

Of course, there are still many people who stand up and ask questions during the questioning session.

As for these questions, Lu Zhou also answered them in detail one by one.

This is certainly an exciting development compared to an MRS meeting where no hands were raised.

This at least shows that the audience present really listened to his theory, not just to cover up their ignorance with applause.

After the report was over, several PhDs from Humboldt University ran up to the podium and excitedly asked Lu Zhou for his autograph, saying that it was to commemorate this moment that might be recorded in the history of chemistry.

Although he didn't think history would record such trivial matters, Lu Zhou still complied with their request and scribbled his name on their textbooks.

From the front of the stage to behind the scenes, Professor Eitel walked over to Lu Zhou and said in a serious voice.

"I will recommend your name to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences whether or not the Nobel Committee agrees with the value of your theory."

Lu Zhou froze for a moment, then smiled.

"thanks."

"You're welcome." Looking at Lu Zhou, Professor Eitel also smiled in relief, "We should say thank you, thank you for bringing this report to Berlin, I haven't heard such an excellent report for a long time ...Although I cannot guarantee that you will be favored by the Nobel Prize, I feel that at least the honor of being nominated for the Nobel Prize belongs to you."

According to the selection rules of the Nobel Prize, former Nobel Prize winners are eligible to recommend candidates.

But this is nothing to be excited about. After all, there are usually 1,000 to 2,000 candidates selected each year. After two rounds of screening, only one can finally win the Nobel Prize.

In principle, referees cannot be disclosed, and nomination information is kept strictly confidential for 50 years.

However, in the initial recommendation process, this rule was not strictly followed.

According to a certain Nobel laureate's acceptance speech, at least for the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine there is a "hey, I recommended you to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences" joke, and the person being teased usually reads it in a fit of fidgeting The longest year of my life until the final results are announced in October.

Of course, there is no need to mention the Peace Prize and the Literature Prize.

Even the bookmakers can "guess" the list of nominees in advance and open the market before the list is announced, and these two awards have already been played badly.

Lu Zhou joked: "You shouldn't tell me, so there won't be any surprises for me."

Etel laughed: "It's just a nomination, don't get too excited. When you reach my age, it would be nice to take home the Nobel medal."

Lu Zhou made a helpless expression.

"This is... too shocking."

It is indeed unrealistic to win the Nobel Prize with a novel theory, and it takes time to test many things.

But he felt that even so, he probably wouldn't have to wait that long...

...

Regarding the Nobel Prize, Lu Zhou was not in a hurry, nor did he feel any anxiety because of Professor Eitel's recommendation.

He feels that for himself, the medal is a recognition of his own research results, but it is not the motivation for him to engage in a certain research.

He is still young and has a long way to go.

Do your own research with peace of mind, and when the fate comes, it should be his things, and sooner or later there will be.

Regardless of how Lu Zhou viewed his own theory and the medal hanging above his head, almost immediately after the report was over, the entire theoretical chemistry community was sensationalized.

This sensational response was far stronger than when Lu Zhou's paper was first published on "JACS".

Like the Millennium Problem in mathematics, there are also unsolved problems in chemistry.

It's just that these problems can't be summed up in simple language like mathematical conjectures, and even the question of "who is more important" is controversial among various universities.

However, even if the controversy exists, there are some places where the international theoretical chemistry community has reached a consensus.

For example, as the first of the four major problems in chemistry in the 21st century, how to establish a time-dependent many-body quantum theory and statistical theory of chemical reactions that are accurate, effective and universally applicable is one of them.

This seems a bit of a mouthful to read, but to describe it in popular language is, how to accurately calculate the rate of a chemical reaction? How to determine the pathway of a chemical reaction? How do you determine which catalyst to use?

And, how to answer all such questions from a theoretical standpoint.

The theoretical model of the electrochemical structure interface corresponds to a certain type of problem in this proposition.

To make an inappropriate but vivid metaphor, the significance of the establishment of this theoretical model to the "four century problems in chemistry" is probably equivalent to the Hardy-Littlewood theorem to the Riemann conjecture.

"Hardy-Littlewood Theorem" determined that "the number of non-trivial zeros of the Riemann function in a certain interval is not less than KT", and "Theoretical Model of Electrochemical Interface Structure" determined that "the microscopic chemistry of a certain type of chemical reaction Reaction Theory".

Just after Lu Zhou's report ended, the interdisciplinary research group established by the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science in Germany on "Theoretical Models of Electrochemical Structural Interfaces" announced their support for the theory.

What is more interesting is that just after Max Planck's position was expressed, Professor Martin Capras, who had previously published a scientific review in "Nature" and was optimistic about the theory, almost followed closely in the field of chemistry A paper was published in the top journal "JACS".

In the paper, Professor Capras cited Lu Zhou's previous paper published on "JACS", and gave a clear explanation of the zero-charge potential of polycrystalline metal electrodes from a theoretical point of view.

Before that, this was regarded as a classic problem in the fields of electrochemistry and theoretical chemistry.

Although the existence of "zero charge potential of polycrystalline metal electrodes" is beyond doubt, there has been no conclusion about its formation mechanism and chemical essence under microscopic conditions.

However, under the framework of "theoretical model of electrochemical interface structure", it does not seem to be a difficult task to solve this problem. At least, it is much easier than studying this problem from the perspective of "first principles calculation".

Obviously, the Nobel laureate had already seen that this theory could eventually succeed two months ago, so he "bet" on it early. That's why this paper can be issued in such a timely manner.

It now appears that he was clearly betting right.

It wasn't just Martin Capras who was interested in this new theory.

With the end of the report meeting, more and more colleagues in the field of theoretical chemistry, and even researchers in the field of application, have shown strong interest in this theory.

Compared with the "Kohn-Sham method" and "density functional theory" where the calculation results are quite different from reality, this theoretical model of electrochemical interface structure is simply tailor-made for the study of electrochemical properties on the surface of materials. , has a strong guidance for the research in the field of polymers.

Especially for PhDs in computational chemistry and computational materials science, the emergence of this new theory is undoubtedly a boon for them.

At least, their bosses now have one more reason to keep them on the research team.

When the outside world speculated whether Lu Zhou would become the youngest Nobel Prize winner because of this theory, the German Chemical Society had already made a decision quietly.

In recognition of the outstanding contribution of this theoretical model to chemistry, the German Chemical Society decided after discussion to award the founder of this theory with an extraordinary medal...