Scholar's Advanced Technological System - Chapter 313
Chapter 313: Party For This Great Moment
Ever since 1995, the Roger Adams Award had been given out to scholars who had made outstanding contributions to the field of organic chemistry. The award was awarded twice a year by the American Chemical Society.
Many world-class chemists had won both the Nobel Prize and Roger Adams Award.
This was one of the top awards in the field of organic synthesis.
Among the 29 winners of the Roger Adams Award, 11 of them won Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Although the Adams Chemistry Prize was only in the field of organic synthesis, people still thought highly as if it were at the level of a Nobel Prize.
The first reaction after Lu Zhou received this letter was, “Thank god I checked my mail.”
The second reaction was…
F*ck, they’re not actually going to give a prize, right?!
Lu Zhou was confused and excited. Suddenly his office door opened, and Hardy walked in with Jerick and Wei Wen.
Hardy looked at the letter in Lu Zhou’s hand. He then looked at Lu Zhou’s face and suddenly shouted, “Oh my god, Professor Lu, did you receive a love letter?”
Lu Zhou nearly ripped the letter.
What the f*ck?
Vera came back holding a bacon sandwich. When she heard Hardy mentioning a love letter, she walked to the door nervously.
Fortunately, it was a false alarm…
Lu Zhou stared at Hardy and spoke in a rude manner, “If you joke about my personal life again, I promise you’ll have a very busy spring break.”
Hardy suddenly looked uncomfortable.
“Oh, please don’t be like this, I already have plans with my…”
Qin Yue coughed and tapped Hardy’s arm.
Qin Yue knew that nothing good would come out of Hardy’s mouth.
Hardy originally wanted to say that he planned to go for a vacation with his girlfriend in the Great Rift Valley over the spring break and to enjoy a taste of Southern East Africa.
Vera felt relieved after hearing that there was no love letter, and she curiously asked, “Professor, what is that?”
Lu Zhou: “Nothing, it’s from the American Chemical Society.”
Hardy whispered, “Jesus, there are still people that physically send mail?”
Wei Wen had a different focus, and he said, “American Chemical Society?”
Lu Zhou placed the letter in his drawer and said, “Yeah, remember my Nature thesis a while ago? They plan on giving me the Adams Chemistry Prize.”
The office was suddenly quiet.
Everyone stood frozen to the spot as they stared at Lu Zhou.
Especially Wei Wen, his mouth was wide open.
There wasn’t a higher mathematical award that could be given to Lu Zhou. Even if he won the Ramanujan gold medal, it would only be the icing on the cake.
However, this Adams Chemistry Prize was obviously not in the field of mathematics.
Wei Wen didn’t know chemistry that well, he didn’t know what lithium dendrites were. But now, he knew that not only was Lu Zhou a god in the field of pure mathematics, but Lu Zhou’s skills in applied mathematics was also godly.
He didn’t know why; having a nutty supervisor was suppose to be a good thing, but he felt a sense of distaste in his heart.
Jerick gulped and asked, “Professor, do you plan on opening a class? Can I apply?”
Applied mathematics was one of the strongest fields at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Jerick had a double degree in organic chemistry and applied mathematics.
The reason why he applied to the field of functional analysis was that he wanted to study under Lu Zhou.
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “If you carefully complete the tasks that I have given you, I can tell you some insider information. However, I haven’t perfected my theory yet, so my help will be limited.”
There was no one in the entire materials science field that could understand Lu Zhou’s theory, and not many mathematicians were interested in this field.
Thus, Lu Zhou was happy to distribute his knowledge.
However, it would be a waste of time trying to teach this knowledge to Jerick.
Jerick said, “Professor, you’re too humble. If you think that your theory isn’t perfect, then no one can claim to really understand the field of computational Materials.”
“I’m not humble, this is only the thoroughness of science,” said Lu Zhou. He then continued, “The mathematical model of the modified PDMS film is the only example, and this theory isn’t applicable to the other fields. A perfect computational materials science theory should be capable of being applied to all materials.
“A theory that cannot be applied, no matter how strong, is not perfect.”
This wasn’t only the goal of computational materials, this was also the goal of computational chemistry.
A mathematical approximation could be used to calculate the properties of molecules. Properties such as energy, dipole moment, quadrupole moment, vibration frequency, reactivity, etc… These could be used to explain chemistry problems.
If someone made a mathematical model on this scale, the impact on the entire industry would be huge. The experimenter would only need to input the properties of the required materials, and he or she could deduce the molecular structure through complex calculations. Even if the model provided hundreds of possibilities or only a general direction, it would save millions of dollars in research.
This might sound unfeasible, but with the current rate of computer development, it wasn’t impossible.
Perhaps in the near future, supercomputers would become the standard for every large material science laboratory, and every small and medium-sized research institutes would purchase computing credits.
Jerick was shocked by Lu Zhou’s words.
It was almost like Lu Zhou had just opened a door and showed Jerick a completely new world.
If Lu Zhou succeeded, he would undoubtedly change the chemistry industry.
Jerick was now even more appreciative that he had Lu Zhou as his supervisor.
Wei Wen had a complicated expression on his face.
He had been studying applied mathematics, but he had never thought about extending a mathematical theory to another field. He was only interested in mathematics.
Maybe it was time for Wei Wen to make some changes…
“A theory that cannot be applied, no matter how strong, isn’t perfect,” Vera quietly whispered to herself. Her blue eyes shined with excitement.
She didn’t know if she found her inspiration from Lu Zhou or if she felt that this was her mission, but she was suddenly more motivated than ever before.
The students in the office were lost in deep thought.
Hardy was the one to break this silence.
He came up with a conclusion and spoke in a serious manner, “A famous mathematician just won a chemistry award, and this is no doubt a great moment.
“I think we need to party and celebrate!”
