Chapter 207 Invitation From PPPL Laboratory

In Princeton, Xu Chuan didn't know what kind of "surprise" Feferman had brought him. At this time, he was instructing several students' homework in the office.

Suddenly, the door of the office was pushed open, and Feferman with a thick beard walked in.

Xu Chuan instructed the students for a few words, stood up and walked towards this good friend.

"Xu, I have a job offer here, I wonder if you are interested." Feferman asked straight to the point.

"What job?" Xu Chuan asked curiously.

"About the invitation from PPPL Laboratory for plasma turbulence modeling, maybe you will be interested?"

Xu Chuan: ? ? ? ?

When this close friend of different ages said the specific content, his first reaction was: 'Fuck, there are people who want to harm me! '

The second reaction was: "When did Feferman learn mind reading?"

Plasma turbulence modeling, this thing is indeed one of his ultimate goals in coming to Princeton.

But can he touch this thing now?

Not to mention touching it, it involves the knowledge of this kind of nuclear physics application field, and he will probably be in trouble if he touches it.

In his previous life, he was stuck here for more than ten years because he was exposed to the application of nuclear fission physics.

It would be stupid to fail again in this life.

In the office, Feferman looked at Xu Chuan with a changing face and asked curiously: "What's wrong with you?"

Hearing the question, Xu Chuan came back to his senses and asked in surprise: "Why are you studying this? I remember you seem to be a distinguished professor at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory? How do you have a connection with the PPPL laboratory?"

Feferman: "They took the initiative to find me. They encountered some troubles in the control of plasma turbulence and needed a mathematician to help solve some problems."

"But to be honest, I am not sure about that problem alone. If you can help, maybe you can solve it. You are more sensitive to mathematics than any professor in Princeton."

Xu Chuan shook his head decisively and said: "Nuclear physics is not within my research scope, and I have my own research next. I am afraid I can't help with this invitation."

He decisively rejected Feferman's invitation and declined the application of nuclear energy physics.

If he didn't know this friend well enough, he would probably think that this friend was someone arranged by the United States to ask him to stay in the United States.

And in his opinion, Feferman thought a little too much. It was almost impossible for a purely Chinese scholar to participate in the nuclear energy research in the United States.

He had almost never heard of other purely Chinese scholars participating in such experiments.

If the PPPL Ion Physics Laboratory invited him to participate in the experiment, it would inevitably mention things like nationality. PPPL, which is under the management of the Office of Science of the University of Energy of the United States, would not allow a Chinese to enter their laboratory. Especially when it comes to such a key project as controlled nuclear fusion.

After seeing Feferman off, Xu Chuan sighed helplessly.

It seems that it is time to arrange the journey back to China in advance.

He was suddenly pitted by his friend. Although it was Feferman's good intentions, he still felt quite helpless.

Originally, he planned to take advantage of the remaining more than a month before the International Mathematical Congress to quietly find some other physics professors, such as Lazersson, Frank, Carl, etc. to talk.

But now this plan is probably ruined.

Let's prepare for the return first.

Shaking his head, Xu Chuan gave a few words to the four students who were studying in the office, and turned back to his villa.

Since he was going to return home early, some precious manuscripts accumulated in the villa over the past two years, such as the letters left by Professor Mirzakhani, such as his own manuscripts of the process of proving the NS equation, etc.

These precious manuscripts and documents have important commemorative significance and value to him, and they must be taken away.

After thinking about it, Xu Chuan picked out the manuscript proving the Hodge conjecture.

This manuscript is his gift to Princeton and Flint Library.

Although he doesn't like the country under his feet, he still has feelings for Princeton.

Like Nanjing University, Princeton's training for him is real. Whether in the previous life or this life, he has learned a lot from here.

And leaving such a manuscript is also a tradition of scholars who have walked out of Princeton.

The reason why Flint Library is called the "Treasure Library" among libraries is that it contains many original manuscripts of famous scholars, thinking handwriting and other things.

These things are often lost outside and cannot be found at all.

Only here can you see them through the stubborn old man.

After simply sorting out the manuscripts in the villa, Xu Chuan looked at the large number of manuscripts and materials, at least two suitcases, and he was a little headache.

How to transport these things back to China? Express delivery?

I'm afraid it's not realistic. Although I don't know whether the United States has started monitoring me, I must keep an eye on it.

The things he mailed back might be noticed, and then these manuscripts would become a signal that he wanted to return to China.

Although the risk is not very big, the lesson in his previous life was too painful, and he had to try to reduce the impact of this aspect.

If you don't mail it, should you ask someone to take it back, or wait until you return home and ask someone here to mail it back?

Just as he was thinking, the doorbell of the villa was suddenly rang.

Through the secret surveillance video installed at the door, Xu Chuan saw a familiar figure. Halifax Bruce, the director of Princeton PPPL Plasma Laboratory.

Seeing the person coming, he frowned slightly, locked the room where the data was stored, and walked out.

At the gate of the villa, Halifax Bruce, the director of PPPL Plasma Laboratory, waited quietly and respectfully.

Putting aside age, the people living in this villa are the top talents even in the United States.

Although the young age makes people look down on it from the bottom of their hearts, no matter what, the people who can solve the seven millennium problems must have real talents.

What's more, he is now asking for help, so he must show his attitude.

"Hello, who are you?"

Xu Chuan opened the door and looked at the man outside the door with a "confused" face.

Although he was very familiar with the director of PPPL in his previous life, this was the first time they met in this life.

Seeing Xu Chuan, the pot-bellied Halifax Bruce smiled brightly, as if he saw the green Franklin.

"Hello, Professor Xu, I'm sorry to bother you. My name is Halifax Bruce, and I'm the director of the PPPL Plasma Physics Laboratory at Princeton University."

Xu Chuan nodded and said, "Hello, Director Bruce, what do you want to do with me?"

After letting the person in, Xu Chuan handed a glass of water to Halifax Bruce. No matter what, he still had to show his presence.

"It's like this, Professor Xu, we want to invite you to join PPPL. Our PPPL Physics Laboratory is the greatest plasma laboratory in the world. Its mission is to lay the scientific foundation for creating fusion energy, the power source of the sun and stars."

When they met for the first time, Bruce briefly introduced the glorious history and famous achievements of the PPPL Plasma Laboratory, hoping to arouse Xu Chuan's interest.

Bruce talked a lot, and Xu Chuan felt a little sleepy listening to him.

He was not more familiar with the situation and future development of PPPL than the supervisor in front of him, but he was not much worse. After all, his theoretical research on controlled nuclear fusion in his previous life was conducted at PPPL.

"Professor Xu, we are currently conducting plasma turbulence control experiments in cooperation with the Turbulence Laboratory of Purdue University at PPPL, and we have invited Professor Fefferman to join us."

"At the same time, we hope to cooperate with great scholars like you to jointly complete the control of plasma turbulence."

Finally, Bruce ended his boasting about the great and glorious history, and looked up at Xu Chuan with hope. But when he saw the man opposite him yawning and wanting to sleep, his heart suddenly sank.

Seeing that the other party had finished speaking, Xu Chuan yawned and said, "Professor Feferman came to me this morning, and it was what you said."

"But I'm sorry, I'm not interested in nuclear physics, and I have my own research going on here, so I can't spare the time."

Bruce: "One million dollars a year! You just need to cooperate with Professor Feferman to complete the data analysis work, and you don't need to go to work on time."

"You can accept this job in Princeton while continuing your research. This is not a conflict, it just requires you to spend some time occasionally."

Xu Chuan shrugged and said, "It sounds tempting, but I haven't even received the one million dollars from the Clay Institute."

His words only meant that he was not short of money and didn't care about money.

But to the ears of the director of the PPPL laboratory, it became "you have to pay more!"

"One million and two hundred thousand dollars! One million and two hundred thousand dollars a year! As long as you agree, PPPL can advance all the salaries in advance." Halifax Bruce gritted his teeth and said.

His heart was bleeding. An annual salary of 1.2 million Mikin was almost as much as inviting Feferman, who was a Fields Medal winner with decades of scientific research experience.

If Feferman hadn't said that he was indispensable, and PPPL had been stuck at the control temperature of ion temperature gradient turbulence at the tens of millions level for some time, and now they were in urgent need of new breakthroughs to keep the financial backers from investing in them, he would never have offered such a figure.

Xu Chuan smiled and said, "Unfortunately, this is not about money. In my opinion, it is more appropriate to complete my own research than to waste time on a job that has no hope."

In the end, Bruce left with a disappointed look on his face. After walking out of the lawn, he turned his head and looked at the villa behind him, and had a headache. He really couldn't understand why someone would refuse a full 1.5 million Mikin.

This money could be piled up into a green mountain on the ground.

Shaking his head, Bruce breathed a sigh of relief. If money couldn't make the other party make a move, what about other things?

Immigrating to become a citizen of the United States? The fame and fortune of an American academician? Top scientific research resources? Or status? Or something else?

But these things were not something he could decide. He had to discuss it with the energy department, the head of the PPPL laboratory.

Of course, he also had to find other professors at Princeton to learn about the ability of Professor Xu Chuan.

If this young professor is really capable of solving the problem of plasma turbulence control, what does it matter if he pays a little profit?

Compared with the gains from solving the problem of plasma turbulence, the benefits paid are nothing.

This is one of the biggest problems in controlled nuclear fusion. The value of solving this problem cannot be described in money.