Christmas is a holiday for everyone, and if you stay in the laboratory of St. Petersburg University as usual, you will really become a crazy person in the eyes of others.

I came to the USSR in August and missed the annual "White Nights". I have to go back to Hong Kong next year and can't miss the aurora again. Although St. Petersburg is already at a high latitude, it is still isolated from the Arctic Circle, and after some weighing, the charter finally decided to go to Murmansk, the closest city to the North Pole in Russia, with Xia Yao to experience the unusual winter there.

Time and space are often relative.

For example, for the same distance of more than 1,000 kilometers, it takes only 3 hours by plane, and for safety, it takes 27 hours to travel from St. Petersburg to Murmansk by train.

After a day and night, wrapped in a green sleeper covered with ice, surrounded by all kinds of skiers, a 21-year-old mother who took her children back to her parents' home, a violinist, a fat Russian aunt who can block the entire aisle by one person, the air was filled with the smell of black tea, roast chicken, pickled cucumber and heating steaming human body, and the sound of squeaky and uneven machinery lingered in my ears. Gasping for breath, he crawled into the barely wake-up night of more than minus 30 degrees Celsius in the North Pole.

minus 30 degrees, 14 degrees lower than the lowest temperature during the New Year in St. Petersburg, which also suffered from a cold snap, the coldness of the polar region soon gave Xia Yaoxiao a color, and a strand of hair that was unfortunately exposed outside the hat and scarf immediately formed a layer of frost under the double pressure of breathing and cold, and became a veritable "white-haired girl".

According to local custom, the charter takes a big breath of air from the Arctic Ocean. It is said that this will eliminate the worries of the year. Looking back and asking, "Is it cold or not?" ”

In the polar night in Murmansk. It's a wonderful thing to enjoy the night view, take the only tram in the city, drive to the city's commanding heights, and look down at the city, which is lit up with lights and neon lights.

Xia Yao tilted his head, hoping to be extremely lucky to see the "God Fireworks" - Aurora, and looked at it for a while before shaking his head and saying, "Wear so much." It's not cold at all. ”

It's not a simple trip, and there's something important to do.

So in addition to Magdalena and Jan Joseph, the two bodyguards who never left the country, they were accompanied by Leo, a special assistant for European companies, and Dr. Pol, who had just arrived from Ukraine.

"Legend has it that the colors of the aurora are colorful, but the one I saw was a single green."

Dr. Pol took the lead and explained in English: "Like the color of the snake's eyes that often appear in ancient Greek mythology—jumping, faint, thin, all the way to the sky." Gradually, that beautiful curve spreads out, like a firework, like fog and fog, until it disappears into the vast night. ”

Leo, a former East German diplomat, was very knowledgeable and added with a smile: "For a long time. There are many legends about the aurora. The Eskimos believed that the aurora was a torch for spirits to guide the souls of the dead to heaven; In Greek mythology, however, the aurora is the embodiment of dawn.

Xia Yao smiled and said, "I also think it's the embodiment of Dawn?" ”

Dr. Pol smiled. Said meaningfully: "Zhang definitely doesn't think so. ”

"For what?"

"Because he will tell you that the aurora is just a stream of high-energy charged particles from the Earth's magnetosphere or the sun, which is often referred to as the solar wind, which excites molecules or atoms in the upper atmosphere."

There is no doubt that he means that he didn't care about anything during this time, and just focused on doing experiments and research. How could he not know that he didn't have the heart to look at the aurora at all, and smiled back: "Doctor, don't worry, what should be yours is yours, and no one can snatch it away." ”

"Zhang, I'm not as optimistic as you, you must know that it is a Karhu-class icebreaker built for the Soviet Union by the Finnish Kvarna-Massa shipyard, which was only commissioned in 87 years, and it can be said that it is a new ship!"

If NB Lab wants to develop, it must attract talents from all over the world.

Hiring with a high salary is one thing, but it's not particularly useful. Both universities and research institutes are willing to spend money on this issue, and in fact, it is precisely because of this that the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, which is now being criticized by Hong Kong people, will be able to become the number one research university in Asia in the future.

Several other universities in Hong Kong, the University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and several universities in Taiwan are similar, and in order to be able to recruit top scientists, one is more paid than the other.

In Taiwan, in particular, Taiwan, Chengdu, Qingzhou, and Jiaotong have all spent hundreds of millions of yuan to hire internationally renowned teachers, of which National Taiwan University has spent several billion yuan to formulate a method of "specially appointed research lectures", giving priority to Nobel Prize scholars and academician-level scholars from advanced countries, and paying them according to the length of stay.

It is estimated that it will spend about 300 million yuan to hire famous teachers, and the annual salary of Nobel famous teachers is 10 million! Even listed 40 famous teachers for each college to recruit.

Jiaotong University also wants to hire Nobel Prize scholars, with no upper limit on annual salaries, and the rest of the international professors, with an annual salary of 5 million yuan, will establish laboratories for famous teachers if they can stay at Jiaotong University for three years.

NB Labs is clearly unable to compete with these government-backed universities, and has no choice but to use other methods to increase its prestige and attract the world's best scientists.

The USSR has fallen, Lao Ye is engaged in privatization, and the Murmansk shipping company has idle a dozen icebreakers, if they can be bought at a low price and modernized and refitted, then the NB laboratory will be able to have its own polar research ship.

With polar research vessels, it is also possible to carry out marine physical, marine chemical, biological, climatic and environmental research on the Arctic and North poles. This is an event that can only be organized by countries with strong economies, and there are so many places at a time, so you can imagine how attractive it will be for those scientists if NB Labs can provide such an opportunity.

What's more, the economy couldn't have been worse, and Russia couldn't have done anything to the Arctic, as it did in the Soviet era.

The last time I went to Moscow, the charter had reached a consensus with Dr. Vladislav Kolyagin, Honorary Polar Surveyor of Russia and member of the Russian Geographical Society, that as long as the NB laboratory can invest the necessary funds for the scientific expedition, the Russian side will contribute a lot of scientific research experience accumulated during the Soviet period and open several climate observatories in the Arctic of the former Soviet Union.

Sergei Dobrolyubov, deputy head of geography at Moscow University, also believes that international cooperation is necessary if Russia wants to continue to conduct extensive research and exploration of the Arctic.

Not to mention the government, Lao Ye agreed to this proposal of the president of NB Electric (Russia) Co., Ltd., and even personally called the mayor of Murmansk and the commander of the Northern Fleet stationed in Murmansk, asking them to fully cooperate with this first international academic cooperation since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

There are two options, one is to rent a nuclear-powered icebreaker built by the Soviet Union, including the first and first to reach the North Pole, "Lenin", and the other is to sell a conventionally powered icebreaker.

It is impossible to conduct scientific expeditions only once, let alone to the North Pole, and the charter finally chose the latter. After all, only if the ship is its own, can the NB laboratory grasp the initiative of scientific expedition and establish the image of the laboratory through polar scientific expedition activities.

For Dr. Pol, the boat is life.

But in Leo's opinion, cost performance is the first thing, and seeing that the two of them talked about business, they lost no time in reporting: "Mr. Zhang, the ship that the doctor said, the Murmansk Shipping Company offered 4.5 million US dollars. In comparison, I think the one of the Northern Fleet is more suitable. ”

The money of the NB laboratory is not blown by the wind, and the NB Electric Group wants to fund half of it, and if it can be saved, it will be saved, and the charter asks with interest: "How many tons, how thick of ice can it break?" ”

"The full load displacement is 9,200 tons, the total length is 99 meters, the width is 24.2 meters, the draft is 8 meters, the establishment is 28 people, the diesel-electric power is 48,000 horsepower, and the speed is 18.5 knots."

Interlaced like a mountain, the charter did not have a clear concept of the full load displacement of 9,200 tons, frowned and asked: "Establishment of 28 people?" ”

"But we can retrofit it, and before that, it was used to dredge the channel, not for scientific investigations."

"There's plenty of space after the retrofit?"

"There's no doubt about it."

Professional matters still have to ask for professional advice, and the charter goes back: "Doctor, what do you think?" ”

"9,200 tons, it should meet your requirements," Dr. Pol thought for a moment, and continued, "I know that the ship that Mr. Daurio is talking about, with enough time and money, can be converted into a research ship with laboratories, swimming pools, libraries, gymnasiums, helipads, karaoke, laundry rooms, and even operating rooms." ”

"How many people can you carry at that time?"

"150 people should be fine, if the expedition lasts for a long time, then a supply ship with icebreaking function is needed."

Time was of the essence to NB Labs, and the charter asked, "How long will it take to complete the retrofit?" ”

Dr. Pol pondered for a moment, then looked up and said, "At least half a year, and it needs to be built on site in Murmansk." ”

This was the most important scientific research activity of NB Lab in 1991, and President Gao had high expectations for it, and even reached an agreement of intent for academic exchange with several universities in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan.

Time did not wait for me, and the charter did not want to waste even a little time, so he resolutely said: "Gentlemen, the purchase of which ship must be determined as soon as possible. So, after dawn we'll go and see the two icebreakers. ”

Dr. Pol was amused, and suddenly he laughed and said, "Zhang, my dear friend, this is Murmansk, the closest place to Santa Claus, and you won't see the light of day for at least two months." (To be continued......)