After a report, Chen Nian can be regarded as familiar with men.

He knew that this man's name was Sebastian, who worked at Max Planck Labs in Germany, and was engaged in the direction of stellarators.

And what he is working on is the famous W7-X project.

In the previous life, around 15 years ago, this stellarite was already able to generate a very precise magnetic field, making a major breakthrough in the field of plasma control.

In some metrics, it has surpassed the tokamak, and if it weren't for the inherent flaws of the stellarator, it might have even risen from marginal status to mainstream.

Clearly, Sebastian played an important role in this.

In fact, he is not a nobody, but a technical power with great potential.

——

Having said that, who can sit here isn't a little unique?

Probably only Chen Nian, one has no papers, and the other has no influence, so he just came to make soy sauce.

However, even after figuring out Chen Nian's "background", Sebastian did not seem to be too disappointed, after all, he did not talk to Chen Nian for the so-called "academic socialization", but purely wanted to pass the boring report time.

When the final question session was over, Sebastian warmly invited Chen Nian to have a cup of coffee, and after hesitating for a moment, Chen Nian still agreed.

It's not that I want to dig up Sasbastian, but I just want to get some information on cutting-edge research and see if I can get some inspiration from their ideas.

So, the two walked out of the venue together and sat down in the coffee shop next to them.

Chen Nian ordered a cup of ice cream presumptuously, while Sebastian meticulously ordered black coffee.

"Sure enough, young people have a sweet tooth – when I was your age, I drank Coke and ate candy every day."

"But now that I'm old, my body can't bear the burden of such a high sugar content."

"But you also have to be careful-—— diabetes is not pleasant."

Sebastian said with a little teasing.

In his cognition, Chen Nian is a young man who has just studied for a doctorate and followed his mentor to rub the meeting-—— this kind of operation is not uncommon in the academic circle, and he did a lot when he was young.

From Chen Nian's body, he can be regarded as finding some memories of his youth.

Hearing his words, Chen Nian replied with a smile:

"I usually eat very little, but since it's already out, it's better to be presumptuous."

"Indeed-—— after all, for children of your age, attending such a meeting is more like a tour, right?"

"I remember when I went to Los Angeles with my mentor for a conference, I wasn't interested in the presentations at all, and my mind was full of striptease bars at night, and malls, casinos, and beaches on weekends."

"Now that I think about it, what a waste of time. But the best time is when it's wasted, isn't it? ”

"That's true."

Chen Nianshen nodded approvingly.

In fact, even if he has been relived for a lifetime, what he misses most is the carefree college years in his previous life.

Blank, empty, but precious time.

As if seeing the fascination in Chen Nian's eyes, Sebastian couldn't help but laugh.

"But it's obviously not time to miss the past, you still have to do a good job!"

"I just heard you say that you are engaged in research in the direction of tokamaks? Why did you choose this direction? ”

He was very careful not to get into the technical side of the discussion, for the simple reason that it was within the territory of Huaxia.

Although nuclear fusion is a common subject of mankind and a shared achievement of mankind, it is impossible to completely eliminate the technical barriers between countries.

The closer it is to its birth, the stronger the barrier will become, until a certain country completes the breakthrough first, and finally forms a monopoly.

Therefore, secrecy measures exist in fact, and he does not want to make trouble for himself.

"Tokamaks are the most mainstream research direction at the moment, aren't they?"

Chen Nian replied with a relaxed expression.

"Yes, but not necessarily the most promising."

"In my opinion, stellarators, which are naturally magnetic confinement devices that can operate continuously for a long time, are the most likely to be the basis for future nuclear fusion technology."

Sebastian had a bit of reverence in his eyes, and it was clear that he was extremely confident, even fanatical, in the direction he had chosen.

And most of the new technologies are born because of the efforts of these fanatics.

Chen Nian respects this, but does not doubt his choice.

——

Nonsense, the tokamak device is the most advantageous scheme that the system has screened out, which is equivalent to some kind of a priori "history".

No matter how promising the prospect of stellarumers is after the birth of room-temperature superconducting materials, after all, its natural engineering difficulty will also bring various problems.

Until both types of technologies mature, it is not known who is superior and who is inferior.

However, Chen Nian didn't intend to argue with him on the academic direction, so he said:

"Yes, judging by the current situation, the stellar simulator is likely to have a long spring."

"However, we chose the tokamak device anyway, and it is clear that the scientists and decision-makers have their own considerations."

"yes, I think they should have taken into account the parts that pure technicians like us can't take into account."

Sebastian chimed in.

And this answer surprised Chen Nian.

I've seen too many white people who either think too highly of themselves or are forced into a dead cow, and the other party's performance is simply too much.

This brother can't know his identity and deliberately approach him, right? ——

Fortunately, Chen Nian's worry only flashed for a second, and Sebastian continued:

"Actually, I was invited by the EAST project, and I could tell from the project fact sheets they wrote that they were confident in their technology, but at the same time ready to give up on the pursuit of perfection."

"This is a project built by a group of extreme utilitarians, and there is no way that they can not think about the big picture."

I see.

Prior to this, Chen Nian already knew that the EAST project was recruiting talents from all over the world, but he didn't expect that a tokamak device would send an invitation letter to the research institute engaged in stellarstellar.

"Utilitarianism. It doesn't sound like a good word, but it sounds like a compliment when you say it. ”

Chen Nian said.

"It is indeed a compliment, in the past few years, the height that Huaxia has reached is obvious to everyone in the world."

"In 2001, when the EAST project had just completed a small renovation, I was invited to visit."

"At that time, Huaxia was not what it is now-—— of course, there were many new things, but those new things were very simple."

"Ugly buildings, ugly cars, ugly roads."

"Frankly, I look down on you."

"I don't think human beings have to strive for perfection, but at least they should be as good as they can be."

"But at that time, you seemed to have only one creed: enough is enough."

"This philosophy. In Europe, perhaps only the peasants of the Middle Ages would have believed in it. ”

Speaking of this, Sebastian paused, then said self-deprecatingly:

"But now, we all know what's going on."

"I've thought about it many times, but recently I realized that it is not the Chinese people who choose this creed, but the era in which China lives."

"You were born in the mire, and you cannot seek purity."

"Only by biting the muddy reeds with your teeth, stepping on the toad buried under the mud with your feet, dripping through the rotten and smelly swamp with your body, and swallowing the sewage that chokes in your mouth, can you climb out of the mud and pursue the so-called 'decency' of those who are already outside the mud."

"Luckily, you did."

"At this point, my respect is sincere."

Sebastian's words made Chen Nian also quite touched, but at the same time, he was also puzzled, where did this brother's feelings come from?

It sounded as if he had really seen a story of a country that didn't struggle out of the mud and end up drowning in the mud.

White man's country. Have you had this experience?

He asked his question curiously, and Sebastian's answer surprised him.

"Of course I haven't seen it — you know, there was a country in history, but its choice was to kill its neighbors and use their neighbors' corpses to put their feet on it."

"It's a shame for our family that my grandfather once participated in this, so I can feel your strength even more."

Got it.

Chen Nian didn't ask any further, but in his heart, he secretly gave the man opposite a score above the passing line.

At least he knew shame.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that he will be able to enter the EAST project.

After all, according to his understanding, this thing also needs to be reviewed, and family background can sometimes become an obstacle.

The two talked until lunchtime, and no matter how cautious they were, the topic inevitably involved some technical details.

Sebastian was amazed by Chen Nian's professionalism and familiarity with cutting-edge fields.

"Unbelievable. Are you really just a PhD student? ”

"I can tell you don't know much about some of the technical details, especially when it comes to relatively complex theories."

"However, your control of the overall situation and your macro cognition have reached a considerable height."

"How is this done? Has higher education in China advanced to this extent? ”

Chen Nian smiled slightly, but did not answer immediately.

Kidding yourself, where did you get all this knowledge and information?

That's the crystallization of the technology of dozens or hundreds of top scholars!

If at this level, you still behave like a novice, then you really have to look at your brain.

"Maybe it's some kind of talent."

He replied casually.

Sebastian looked at him deeply and nodded silently.

At lunchtime, the teams of each country had their own arrangements, so Sebastian did not invite Chen Nian to join him again.

When he returned to the group, everyone was curious about where he was going.

And to these questions, he simply answered them uniformly:

"I met a very interesting kid and had a cup of coffee with him."

"Interesting kid? Coming to the conference? ”

Someone on the side asked curiously.

"Yes, young, but smart."

"It's a pity that he's doing the tokamak, otherwise I'd love to have him on my team."

As soon as he finished saying this, Sebastian suddenly reacted:

Although he can be regarded as an elite in the field, compared with Huaxia's current scientific research strength and resource investment, Max Planck Lab is still not enough to see.

Why do people give up a good future and come to work with you instead?

The flow of talent has long since changed.

Sure enough, everyone around him laughed, and some people ridiculed the unreality of his idea.

However, Sebastian didn't care, he just finished his lunch silently, and kept recalling a few questions mentioned in his mind when he communicated with Chen Nian before.

On the one hand, the biggest advantage of the stellarator, that is, the stability advantage of the magnetic field, is declining due to the emergence of superconducting materials at room temperature.

On the one hand, it is Huaxia that has invested a huge amount of resources and intends to give it a go in the tokamak, and it has also given all scholars in the same field a common opportunity.

What they need most at the moment is talent in the field of plasma confinement.

Yourself is not. Should you consider a change of direction?

After all, whether you put your research topic on an imitator or a tokamak, the utility is not much worse.

It's a tough question.

However, just after lunch, something happened that caught him off guard.

Eichendorf, an old opponent who also delved into the theory of asymmetry breaking, approached him and asked the same question.

And, judging by Eichingdorf's performances, it seems that he really intends to join the EAST project.

I think you should be aware that the EAST program has a lot of restrictions on co-authors, and if you want to participate in the core areas, you need to go through multiple vettings."

"It is very likely that in the end, you also exist as a marginal researcher and witness."

"Is it really worth it? I mean, the stellarite is moving slowly, the cake is small, but it can be shared with each and every one of us."

Hearing his words, Echendorf shook his head.

He didn't answer directly, but asked rhetorically:

"Old man, how old are you?"

".55 years old."

"Can you live until the stellarum is born?"

These words directly stunned Sebastian in place.

yes, will you be able to survive that time?

What kind of scientific researcher can resist the temptation to witness and participate in the evolution of human beings?

Perhaps, I should be selfish for once?

After a long silence, Sebastian finally replied:

"I'll think about it."

"What about you? Have you already made your decision? ”

"Yes."

Aichendorf nodded solemnly, and then said:

"I hope to see you there."

"I've heard that there's a lot of delicious river fresh on Science Island, where EAST is located, and I thought we should try it."

Eichingdorf is not the only scholar who has made this choice.

And this was only the first day of the fusion conference.

Obviously, the direction of the wind has completely changed, and from such a change, Chen Nian vaguely seems to be able to see the shadow of a certain era that has long gone.

(End of chapter)