"As one of the best companies in the United States, IBM certainly has more than one academician of the Academy of Sciences! In fact, there are four IBM academicians I know, and I met one just now. ”

Professor Douglas said proudly. However, after finishing speaking, Professor Douglas frowned and asked in surprise: "Professor Tian, why did you suddenly ask about IBM? Although their research on medical informatization is fruitful, there is a 。。。。。。 between them and your research field ”

Just as the dinner was about to end, Tian Lu suddenly asked Professor Douglas about IBM and asked him to help introduce one or two academicians of this company to each other, which made the old professor a little strange.

"Hehe, it's just that there are some things I want to consult them!"

Tian Lu hurriedly smiled.

"Ugh。。。。。。 All right. ”

Although he was still puzzled in his heart, Douglas didn't want to ask any more, and after taking Tian Lu around the huge banquet hall for a few minutes, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he turned around and said with a low smile: "Professor Tian, your luck is good, Professor Henry is also here for dinner today, please come with me!"

Tian Lu hurriedly followed, and walked with Professor Douglas to the three or four well-dressed gentlemen.

"Hi Henry!"

Before he could stand still, Professor Douglas had already greeted happily.

A white man in his fifties immediately turned his head and smiled when he saw Douglas: "Hi, Douglas, long time no see!"

As the chair of the Neurobiology Committee, there are obviously many people who know Professor Douglas. The other three also greeted him. However, to Tian Lu's surprise, before Professor Douglas introduced, Professor Henry had already stretched out his right hand to him: "Hello, Professor Tian Lu, I am Henries from IBM Research Laboratories. Henry, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Thank you, and I'm glad to meet you, Dear Professor Henry!"

Although he was a little surprised, Tian Lu still smiled and shook hands with the other party, and then got to know the other three people. What made Tian Lu even more surprising was that. Judging by the expressions and tones of these three professors. Everyone seems to know him too!

As a new foreign academician, Tian Lu would not have been so well known to these experts in non-medical fields, but he forgot one thing, as a new academician with the highest number of votes. Plus he is still the youngest one. Naturally, everyone should pay more attention to it.

"Henry. Professor Tian has something to consult you, do you have time?"

After everyone had introduced each other, Professor Douglas asked with a smile.

"Absolutely!"

I was surprised to see the same as Tian Lu. Professor Henry nodded immediately.

Including Professor Douglas, the other four left politely, and soon only Henry and Tian Lu were left, this rather straightforward white scholar picked up two glasses of champagne casually, handed Tian Lu a glass and said with a smile: "Although it is a little late, but I still want to congratulate you on being elected to the National Academy of Sciences, I am not a medical scientist, but I also know the significance of your series of research, congratulations again!"

"Thank you very much!"

Tian Lu's eyebrows raised, and he nodded with a smile.

After the two of them took a sip each, Professor Henry stopped talking nonsense and said with a straightforward smile: "Professor Tian, I don't know what questions you want to ask? If it's about neurobiology, I can tell you right now that I really don't understand it at all!"

"Haha. ”

Tian Lu expressed Professor Henry's joke appropriately, and then said with a smile: "Don't worry, I am consulting you about computers, well, to be precise, it should be supercomputers!"

"Supercomputer?"

Professor Henry was stunned for a moment, his face suddenly showed surprise, and he asked in wonder, "This is indeed one of our IBM's strengths, but 。。。。。。 Professor Tian, are you interested in supercomputers?"

"Yes, very interested!"

Tian Lu nodded again and smiled: "So I want to have a general understanding of the situation, such as which is the fastest supercomputer now, what are the companies that can produce and manufacture supercomputers, and so on." ”

After hearing this, Professor Henry's gaze at Tian Lu became more and more curious.

Supercomputers are widely used in the country's high-tech fields and cutting-edge technology research, and it can be said that to a certain extent represents a country's level of scientific and technological development and comprehensive national strength. If Tian Lu was a computer expert, it would certainly be normal to talk to Henry, but as a neurobiologist, he asked himself about this issue so seriously。。。。。。

After thinking about it for a while, Professor Henry said simply: "As for supercomputers, in fact, the most powerful thing in the world now should be the Hummingbird supercomputer built by IBM for the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory!

At this, Professor Henry's face was full of pride.

Although I don't quite understand what this so-called continuous operation test means, when he heard that order of magnitude, Tian Lu couldn't help but be shocked in his heart!

"As for the companies that can produce supercomputers, there are many. ”

Professor Henry continued: "As far as the country is concerned, at present, we in the United States, as well as Europe, Japan, and you China are able to produce supercomputers with relatively strong performance, and of course, we in the United States are definitely the strongest, and the United States accounts for more than half of the 500 fastest supercomputers in the world! ”

After the pride, Professor Henry's small compliment also made Tian Lu feel comfortable.

Then Tian Lu kept asking some questions, including many aspects of the supercomputer, which made Professor Henry more and more strange and secretly guessed his intentions. Until ten minutes later. Professor Henry finally couldn't bear it anymore, blinked his eyes and asked, "Professor Tian, with all due respect, you are a neurobiologist, why are you so interested in supercomputers?"

"Hmm。。。。。。。 ”

After a slight groan, Tian Lu smiled and said, "Professor Henry, in fact, I am not just interested in supercomputers, and I am asking you these questions today because I want to customize a few supercomputers!"

"How many custom supercomputers?"

After hearing Tian Lu's answer, Professor Henry's mouth suddenly opened. And then it won't close!

After a long time. Professor Henry smiled and said, "Professor Tian, you're not joking with me, are you?"

"Of course not!"

Tian Lu smiled slightly and said solemnly: "In the future, I will definitely need a few supercomputers." That's why I'm going to ask you about that now!, Professor Henry. Not sure if I place an order like IBM. Is your company able to accept it?"

The Future Bio Building now has a high-energy computing center, and the computing power in it is sufficient, at least for the next three or four years. But after that。。。。。。

Seeing that the expression on Tian Lu's face definitely didn't look like he was joking, Professor Henry's heart was shocked, and the expression on his face suddenly became serious. After thinking for a moment, Professor Henry shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Professor Tian, I think you may know too little about supercomputers. First of all, as a commodity, the price of supercomputers is extremely high, and the cost of ordinary models is more than 100 million US dollars, and the cost of powerful ones is hundreds of millions of dollars, just like the hummingbird that IBM just completed last year, the cost is even more than 800 million US dollars! Second, the manufacturing cycle of supercomputers is also very long, and if you count application development, it often takes up to several years。。。。。。。 ”

"I know all of this. ”

When Professor Henry said about a place, Tian Lu said: "First of all, you don't have to worry about funding, my plan is to invest at least two billion dollars to customize two or three supercomputers, and secondly, I don't need them right away, if everything goes well, I may use them in six to seven years, or even eight to nine years!

"Huh?"

Tian Lu's words shocked Professor Henry again!

"Does medical research require such a huge amount of computation?"

Professor Henry's mind immediately came to this thought, and then he was amazed at Tian Lu's huge investment of money and such a long time of preparation.

However, after pondering for a moment again, Professor Henry still shook his head regretfully and said: "Professor Tian, as a commercial company, of course we hope to receive your order, but we are very sorry, supercomputer technology is one of the core technologies of a country, and in view of the competition between our two countries, I am afraid that it will be difficult for the Congress to approve this order!"

"Sure enough!"

Hearing Professor Henry say this, the last bit of hope in Tian Lu's heart was also shattered.

Since he wanted to buy a supercomputer, of course, it was impossible for Tian Lu not to know about it in advance, but because of this, he knew that it was unlikely that he would still want to try it. China's supercomputer strength is also quite strong, with more than 40 of them, second only to the United States, and when it comes to top supercomputers, it is definitely not behind in terms of speed.

However, the gap in application is a bit bigger.

Having built a supercomputer, it also needs to have the ability to use it, and how to apply supercomputers in high-tech experiments is also a difficult problem, and China's strength in this regard is relatively weak.

"Professor Tian, can I give you a suggestion?"

Seeing the disappointment on Tian Lu's face, Professor Henry was also a little unbearable, and said with a smile after thinking about it.

"Oh, Professor Henry, please!"

Although it was inevitable to lose in his heart, Tian Lu still said with a strong smile.

"In fact, supercomputers are a money-burning project. ”

After a while, Professor Henry said with a smile: "Whether it is the manufacture of hardware or the development of software, including the research of application, it requires a lot of capital investment, since you are willing to invest such a huge amount of money, why not cooperate with the domestic manufacturers in your country? You know, they occupy an absolute advantage in terms of cost, as for software and application, you can invest the money you save in, so long, presumably the final result will not be bad!"

"This 。。。。。。 ”

Hearing Professor Henry's words, Tian Lu's heart moved, and after pondering it carefully, a glimmer of hope gradually began to flash in his eyes。。。。。。 (To be continued.) )