"Letter, is the paper written?" It has been half a month since the experiment, the experiment went very smoothly, and the subsequent repeated experiments were also completed very well, and after the experiment reached the number of times required by the statistical standard, Junxin stopped the experiment and began to complete his paper, so there was this question from Gu Mengxue.

"Well, it has been handed over to Professor Chen, but I think it is still very difficult to find this substance, although I proposed the direction of looking for alloys, but it is still very difficult."

The object that Junxin is talking about is the most famous quasicrystal in the chemical world. Solid matter is generally divided into crystalline or amorphous, and this concept is extended to the entire material system. However, in 1982, when the famous Israeli chemist Daniel Shechtman was observing an aluminum-manganese alloy, he accidentally discovered a substance with symmetry but no repetition and periodicity, thus unveiling another veil of human research materials.

The reason why Junxin knows quasicrystals is because in 08 Dyson's speech, this substance was mentioned, Junxin after seeing Dyson's views on quasicrystals, has carefully studied some mathematical distribution function problems of quasicrystals, and even this is the research direction of his graduation thesis when he graduated from university.

At the time of the discovery of quasicrystals (which were not yet called at the time), Shechtman was a substance that had not yet been confirmed and recognized by others, for which he was even expelled by his research team, believing that he had brought shame to the team. It wasn't until 1984 that another team discovered the same phenomenon in molten aluminum-manganese alloys cooled at high speeds, and a world-shattering paper was published, "A long-range ordered but non-periodic phase of metals." Humans gradually came to understand the existence of quasicrystals. As a result, in 2011 Shechtman was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with a prize of 10 million Swedish kronor, or about $1.4 million.

But it wasn't until 1987 that French and Japanese scientists made amorphous crystals in the lab, and it wasn't until 2009 that natural quasicrystals were discovered in Lake Hatelka in eastern Russia. As of 2011, only a few hundred types of quasicrystals have been manufactured. It can be seen that the discovery and preparation of quasicrystals is actually very difficult.

"And is the substance you're talking about really existing?" Gu Mengxue asked with great interest.

"The mathematical prediction of this is true, and I think that even if the operation of chemical experiments is demanding, it should eventually be discovered." "Professor Chen is not very interested in this project, he thinks that mathematics is mathematics, but he wants me to join his team, and frankly says that as long as I solve the funding problem by myself, he can let me continue the project!" ”

In fact, there are two reasons why Professor Chen is reluctant to do this, the first is that international scholars in crystal research believe that this substance will not exist, so there is no research data and opinions on this. The second is that China is currently in a period of vigorous economic development, and the investment in infrastructure construction is much lower than the investment in applied technology, which leads to Professor Chen's funding is not very large, and he has other projects to complete.

"And what do you want to do?" Gu Mengxue asked worriedly.

"Find a way to get a little funding, not too much, just a few thousand yuan, enough for me to carry out this project and project." Junxin thought for a while and said, "Recently, in addition to researching this, I have also been studying some mathematical problems, and I just took time out to write some papers, and I can earn a little manuscript fee if I submit my papers!" ”

"Come on!" Gu Mengxue smiled at Junxin and sandwiched a piece of lean meat from her bowl into Junxin's bowl.

"Mengxue, you should eat more!" Although Junxin said this, he didn't make any moves, because when he was caught back the first few times, Gu Mengxue was always able to dodge, and over time, Junxin let him go.

"Where's your latebe? Any good ideas that you don't have? Junxin ended his topic and began to ask Gu Mengxue.

"I've finished reading the book "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", and I've been thinking about something lately, and I want to summarize things, but I always feel that something is wrong, so I'm a little distressed!"

"Tell me about it?"

"You say that humans manipulate technology, but what does the power of technology mean to human beings?"

"It's a philosophical question, isn't it?" Although it was a question sentence, the tone was quite affirmative, "Mengxue, I have an idea, you can listen to it." ”

"Speak quickly!" This is what Gu Mengxue admires most about Junxin, no matter what it is, he has his own opinions and opinions on it, and occasionally has some unique ideas of his own, even Gu Mengxue, who is a literature major, has a certain help after listening to it.

"Technological progress is inevitable, and in that case, the question of what technology means for humanity is of little use!" Junxin wiped his mouth and said, "I think you can try to think about it from a different angle, if one day human technology produces self-thinking, what will happen to the human world?" ”

"This ......"

"It's just an idea, although computer technology has not yet been popularized, but in 1976 the four-color theorem has just been proven, showing that programming can make machines complete certain instructions, with the development of science and technology, my idea may not become a reality, I think you can try to imagine what kind of situation human beings will be in when that day comes?"

"I... I need to digest it well! Gu Mengxue felt a little chaotic in her brain, and the food in front of her was a little difficult to swallow.

"Hurry up and finish eating, if you can't finish eating, the group of people in the student union will be punished!" In the '80s, the ban on waste was prevalent, and the CD-ROM campaign was at least louder than the slogans of later generations. At least there is a group of people in the university cafeteria staring at it every day, wanting to waste? Hehe, wait for the punishment!

After eating, Junxin sent Gu Mengxue to the door of the girls' dormitory, and walked leisurely towards his dormitory under the aunt's thief-like eyes.

As soon as I returned to the dormitory, I saw the other three people in the dormitory standing around their desks, and I couldn't help but be curious, and quietly came behind the three of them. I saw a large envelope on his desk, which seemed to be a book or magazine, but the article he sent to "Progress in Mathematics" had been published, which was one of the reasons why he could apply for a non-class class, and the sample issue of "Progress in Mathematics" had already been sent, what could it be?

Junxin suddenly thought of what Hua Lao said about two months ago, and his heart moved, and he thought of a possibility.

"Wu Zhe, Yang Wei, Dong Wei, who sent this?"

"Junxin, are you back?" The three of them turned their heads to look, and it turned out that Jun Xin was already standing behind the three of them unconsciously.

"It was sent by a senior named Hao Peng from the School of Mathematics, and he said that Professor Hu asked him to hand it over to you. But, fourth, this should be a foreign mail, right? Wu Zhe asked, and the other two nodded as well.

"Haha, don't you just open it and take a look?" Junxin said with a smile.

"That's right, but why are we embarrassed to touch your stuff if you don't come back?"

"Then I'll open it!" Junxin nodded, carefully opened the package of the mail with a knife, and then pulled out a book and a letter from it.

The cover is in English, and even mathematics students who are not familiar with English will know these words and know the gold content of these words "Annalsof Mathematics", that is, the Annals of Mathematics, one of the highest journals in the field of mathematics founded by Princeton University.