Tech Hammer

After reporting Asmail's invitation to be the chief scientist, Ning Wei accompanied Jiang in the afternoon to enjoy some shopping in the commercial district of Geneva.

This is probably the first time the two of them have spent a lot of money. Most merchants in Geneva support UnionPay card purchases, which greatly unleashes their shopping desire. Seven figures were spent in one afternoon.

But mainly I buy various gifts for my relatives and friends in China.

I ordered more than ten watches just for Ning’s father, Ning’s mother, Jiang’s mother, sister-in-law, Tian Yanzhen, Lu Dongyi, Lucy Ron, Brother Zhou, and the old man who took good care of Ningwei on weekdays. Academicians are all included.

But I would rather think that I am not interested in these things.

Compared with the mechanical watches that Europeans are proud of, he prefers various smart watches with full functions. Compared with these international big brands, it is not only cheaper, but also has more functions and is more cost-effective. Moreover, the various smart watches that manufacturers have given him over the years allow him to wear a different model every week without repeating the same one.

After walking around in the business district, Ning Wei once again experienced the distress caused by low desire. This afternoon, he still didn't come across any product that made his eyes light up and aroused his desire to shop. He was unable to get the feeling of pleasure brought by consumption. , the direct pleasure of life is doubled.

However, it was an unexpected gain. Ning Wei discovered that he was actually quite interested in dressing up Classmate Jiang.

So I had many more sets of women's clothes on the way back.

All in all, the day was very enjoyable. The only thing that surprised Ningwei was that Edwin George didn't call him, and he didn't know how the conversation with the person in charge of AMS went. Are you willing to access the March data analysis system? Of course, Ning Wei would not take the initiative to ask. Since the other party came to him first, it was best not to appear too enthusiastic.

After being out all day and having a good night's sleep, Edwin George showed up at the hotel at nine o'clock in the morning on time the next day.

"How was your rest yesterday? Are you satisfied here?" the CERN director asked enthusiastically upon meeting.

"Very good! But I hope that the next work will be satisfying." Ning Wei replied.

"Haha, believe me, it will definitely happen. Why don't we set off now."

Edwin George was at least a bit honest. The hotel was indeed very close to the CERN headquarters. He got on the bus at the hotel door and entered the gate of the CERN headquarters in less than five minutes.

In fact, Ning Wei had been very close to this place when he took classmate Jiang for a stroll yesterday morning, but he just didn't walk in.

After getting out of the car, Edwin George did not take Ning Wei directly to Building 2, the main location for the experiment, but first took Ning Wei to Building 1 of CERN.

This decades-old research center building has long ceased its scientific research functions and has been transformed into a museum witnessing the history of CERN for visitors. Most people need to buy tickets, but for big customers like Ning Wei, they can obviously skip these cumbersome steps and be taken directly into the building by Edwin George.

In the words of the director, the scholars and staff who had previously contacted the researchers responsible for the experiment had a meeting, and they could use this time to learn about the history of CERN.

Ning Wei still has the attitude of being a guest and doing as he pleases.

After all, it takes a long time to collect various data this time, and I don't care about such a small amount of time. And no matter how Ning Wei feels about CERN, this scientific research institution is indeed worthy of respect.

Many people know this place because of the world's largest hadron collider. What many people don't know is that the Internet on which modern people rely for survival was also born here, and that was back in the 1980s.

In 1983, the CERN Data Processing Department established a data communication group and gave this group a task to authorize the unification of network affairs throughout CERN and establish a framework covering the entire CERN infrastructure network facilities.

After five years of long exploration, the data communication group finally decided to use the TCP/IP protocol to start networking, and the following year CERN opened its connection to the external network for the first time. It was also this year that the world's first website, first browser, and first Internet server were born here, which greatly accelerated the efficiency of communication among scientists.

Of course, scientists of that era probably did not expect that this technology, which was originally intended to facilitate everyone's academic exchanges, would directly lead the world's third industrial revolution. Almost all technology companies that rank high in the world now have something to do with Internet technology.

In order to show his recognition for this holy land of scientific research, Ning Wei specially took Edwin George and Liu Wei to take a photo together in front of the commemorative plaque of the birthplace of the Internet in the building.

Except for Liu Wei, who was standing on the far right, still expressionless, Ning Wei and Edwin George were smiling happily, which probably shows that this cooperation is indeed a win-win situation for both parties.

It took about forty minutes to complete the visit to Building 1. Edwin George finally stopped wasting time and took Ning Wei to Building 2 where he was working. Ning Wei also finally met the team he had previously contacted in China - members of the working groups at CERN from many universities, including the Yanbei University High Energy Physics Group.

As one of CERN's partner countries, there are also many Chinese high-energy physicists working here at the CERN headquarters to train master's and doctoral students.

Most of the experimental projects carried out by Ningwei this time were completed with the cooperation of these Chinese scholars.

For example, Professor Luo Qiang of Yanbei University, the team he leads only needs to do research on the vector boson fusion or scattering process at CERN, and hopes to use this as a breakthrough point to develop a new asymmetric energy lepton collider project. .

In addition, there is also the opposite team of Shuimu Huaqing.

These domestic teams will become the main force in Ningwei’s experiments.

It's not that Ningwei doesn't trust foreign scientists at all, it's mainly because most of the scientists working here have their own research projects. It is unrealistic to ask others to stop what they are doing to help you.

Domestic professors are easier to talk to. More importantly, it’s more comfortable to communicate.

…

The first step before testing is still to have a meeting.

In fact, before coming, Ning Wei had already discussed with everyone the work they were responsible for, but it was still necessary to communicate on the spot through meetings.

Carrying out a large-scale verification project at CERN is a huge undertaking. In the process of particle acceleration and collision, from low energy to high energy, too many detectors will produce too much data. Coupled with the uncertainty of particle collisions, it is difficult to say which area of ​​detectors will give results before the results are obtained. required results.

Therefore, the team is often divided into groups. Each group is responsible for different areas to count and preprocess the data in their respective areas. After classification, they are uploaded to the March Data Center in an orderly manner. These tasks are not difficult, but very tedious.

This is also the reason why the signature of a CERN heavyweight paper can even reach four digits. Since everyone participated in the laboratory, it was natural to add their names.

But this is also the reason for choosing a local team directly. After all, there are almost no experiments here that are not tedious. Presumably everyone is already used to it.

Of course, this kind of meeting is also very efficient, taking a total of fifteen minutes. The main reason was that Ning Wei got to know a circle of people, and both parties once again determined their respective areas of responsibility. The meeting came to an end.

The pre-planned test process also officially started.

…

To outsiders, this place is very mysterious, but to insiders, the start of experiments here is actually very boring.

Particles accelerate, collide, and are captured by detectors, and then generate countless data. Researchers stare at the data fluctuations in front of computers, hoping to find the operating rules of the microscopic world in these data fluctuations through mathematical analysis.

If you are lucky, new particles can be discovered from this data. For example, the Higgs boson, the God particle that was widely reported by the media, was discovered in this way.

This time it's actually no different.

However, the current experiments do not actually require such a high energy level, and about 6Gev is enough. Especially when the LHC is not ready yet, there is actually no need for Ning Wei to stay here. But Ning Wei felt that it was not convenient for him to leave on the first day.

Fortunately, the professors were free at the beginning of the experiment, so they could just leave the data recording to their students, and everyone just had a chance to chat.

"Academician Ning, I heard that you spent nearly 700 million, or US dollars, to build this laboratory?" Professor Luo Zhiqiang from the High Energy Physics Group of Yanbei University asked after everyone else went to prepare to start the experiment. .

The conference room also has a large screen that can be connected to multiple monitors in the workroom for collecting data. It can also be used as a control center in large projects. While asking, Luo Zhiqiang opened the screen.

"Uh... seven hundred million dollars, Professor Luo, who did you listen to?"

"The laboratory was completely worn out yesterday. Professor Ning, you are at a huge loss. Do you know what the combined budget of all CERN projects this year is? It's less than 1.6 billion Swiss francs, so it's probably only 1.6 billion." U.S. dollars, you just spent almost 700 million U.S. dollars in one move... What a huge loss! I saw the pilot plan you ordered, it's up to 300 million U.S. dollars, and they can make a lot of money!"

Luo Zhiqiang shook his head and sighed, obviously thinking that Ning Wei had spent so much money and it was not worth it.

These words made Ning Wei embarrassed.

After all, he spent more than 700 million US dollars, so he thought about changing the topic: "Ahem, Professor Luo, if I give you more, your project allocation should be more abundant, right?"

But Luo Zhiqiang shook his head and became more frustrated: "Don't mention it, Academician Ning. It doesn't exist. In recent years, it has become more and more difficult to approve our projects, and people are guarding us. A simulation process of detection strip data, now You have to apply repeatedly to get the information. I am now looking forward to our CEPC being built as scheduled, so that I can go back to China to continue research in the Year of the Monkey, and I am too lazy to suffer from the nonsense here!"

"Oh? Is there something else like this? Isn't China also one of the cooperating countries?"

"Yes, I don't want to pay too much! After all, spending money to start this machine is just like playing. Not to mention various maintenance costs, the electricity bill alone is an astronomical figure. The European economy has been in recession in the past two years. , now the landlords don’t have enough food left, so I hope everyone can share more. I’m not angry about this, I’m angry because these people obviously want to take money from us, and they also take great precautions against our students... ..." Luo Zhiqiang said very depressed.

Probably because I was too frustrated during this period, I guess I had a lot of quarrels with the administrative directors at CERN, and there was a hint of resentment in my words.

"Then what if I say that I actually spent one billion US dollars to conduct this experiment and data?" Ning Wei thought for a while and said.

Luo Zhiqiang blinked and looked at Ning Wei in surprise: "Academician Ning, don't be joking."

"Seriously...it's really one billion...it's indeed US dollars." Ning Wei was more serious, although he was embarrassed to admit that he was taken advantage of.

"This..." Luo Zhiqiang seemed not to know what to say.

Ning Wei suggested: "So I can be considered a big customer. Now that you know this, you can find a chance to talk to that director Edwin later. I remember that the term of the director of CERN is five years, right? He He will stay here for at least three years. In two years, our CEPC should be completed. Using this as a bargaining chip, although he does not have the final say on this matter alone. But after all, he is the supervisor and can be accommodating. He should still be taken care of, and I’ll talk to him later.”

"Yes, yes, this money can't be wasted!" Luo Zhiqiang immediately nodded fiercely, but still couldn't help but asked curiously: "This money is..."

"I have saved up the patents on the turbulence algorithm over the years. This is what I thought at the time. If I pay more, I will save myself from having to talk to them, which is not only tiring but also wastes time. The effect is quite good. Once I quoted the price, That Edwin took the initiative to help me get this done. At least it saves me the time of wrangling, right?" Ning Wei said with a smile.

It's really not a show off of wealth, because it's not necessary for Ning Wei, and the opponent is not a good person to show off his wealth.

Eight years ago, people all over the country knew that he was very wealthy. After all, his tax return that was exposed looked very unique.

Of course, there are still sighs.

After all, we are all scientists, so the difference is quite big in comparison...

"Does this mean that men are afraid of getting into the wrong profession?" Luo Zhiqiang smiled bitterly and mocked himself: "Actually, my math scores were pretty good back then..."

"Haha, Professor Luo, stop joking. When you return to China in the future, if you are short of money for any project, tell me, as long as it is suitable, I will definitely invest." Ning Wei said with a smile.

These words also made Luo Zhiqiang's eyes light up. As we all know, researching high-energy physics does require spending money, but it is basic research. It is difficult to say what economic value will be produced immediately. It has always been difficult to attract investment. Basically All are carried out with R\u0026D funds allocated by the state.

It’s just that there is only so much funding allocated, and all aspects have to be taken care of, so the difficulty of applying can be imagined. If you have the sponsorship of a wealthy person, it is definitely a rare thing.

"Academician Ning, I have written this down!"

"Don't worry, Professor Luo. As long as the amount is not particularly exaggerated and the project is really useful, I will definitely invest."

The two were chatting happily, and the image on the screen started to move, and the detector began to send back data...