Chapter 737: The Absurd Graduation Defense

Chang Haonan's defense meeting was not arranged inside Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Instead, it was held in a conference room in Torch Group.

Because there would be more than just a thesis defense.

It is rare to defend a doctoral degree for the general manager of another company on someone else's territory, even in the process of awarding degrees around the world.

But compared with Chang Haonan's situation, it doesn't seem so rare...

"Xiao Chang, long time no see."

Tang Lintian, who had been promoted to acting principal at a speed close to triple jump, called Chang Haonan at the door of the building:

"After today, there will be no chance to call you that again."

"Principal Tang, I just graduated, and there will be plenty of opportunities to meet in the future..."

Chang Haonan turned his head and saw three other people behind him.

Du Yishan and Liu Zhenxiang were naturally among them.

But the one standing at the end was a stranger, who should be a teacher from another school invited according to the review mechanism.

As for Fang Zhen, who was a review expert when Chang Haonan defended his undergraduate thesis...

Considering that he is currently working at Torch Group and is considered a subordinate of the former, according to the principle of avoidance, he cannot participate in any case.

Perhaps seeing Chang Haonan's slightly puzzled look, Du Yishan signaled everyone to make way for that person, and then introduced:

"Xiao Chang, this is Professor Yuan Xiangya, Vice President of the Institute of Mathematics and Systems Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences."

Hearing this name, Chang Haonan suddenly understood.

Although he was unfamiliar with the other party's face, Chang Haonan had heard of Yuan Xiangya's name.

In fact, if you want to study the theory of nonlinear programming algorithms, it is basically impossible to bypass him.

In 1985, while studying for a doctorate, 25-year-old Yuan Xiangya and others jointly proved the "1/2 conjecture" of the truncated conjugate gradient method, which is one of the important achievements of the theory of nonlinear programming algorithms in the 1980s.

In addition, he also systematically proposed a series of new algorithms that use the combination of trust region method and traditional line search method to solve nonlinear programming problems.

Some people have even begun to call this series of results "Yuan's Lemma".

Although this term has not been widely accepted, it is only a matter of time given the current momentum.

Although a lemma in a non-prominent field is certainly not as influential and prestigious as those famous theorems, there is no doubt that being able to put one's name on it is definitely at the top of the applied mathematics field.

In short, he is also a player who can be compared to cheating.

Chang Haonan took two steps forward and shook hands with the other party:

"Professor Yuan, I am honored that you can come to participate in my graduation defense. In my previous research process, your research methods and results have given me a lot of inspiration."

Yuan Xiangya is less than 40 years old this year. Standing among several people, he is actually closer to Chang Haonan's age.

"Learn from each other, learn from each other."

The other party smiled modestly:

"TORCH Multiphysics software, and of course the algorithms behind the software, can be said to be the greatest achievements in the application of computational mathematics in recent years."

"If nothing else, now those of us who are engaged in applied mathematics can speak more confidently when we go to meetings..."

Although this statement is a bit exaggerated, the atmosphere in the corridor has become relaxed because of it.

"In fact, if your defense is open, I will definitely let half of my students come to participate."

"Not all?"

Du Yishan next to him interrupted and asked jokingly.

But Yuan Xiangya shook his head very solemnly:

"Not all, because the other half can't understand it, so there is no need to waste time. It is better to leave the position to those who need it more..."

After saying this, even Chang Haonan himself almost laughed out loud.

But considering that he is a student today, he finally held it back.

After a round of greetings, Chang Haonan prepared to take everyone upstairs.

It was only at this time that he suddenly realized that only four people had come.

"Teacher Du, there should be at least five reviewers for the graduation review. Are we... still short of one?"

"Don't worry, we'll be there soon."

Du Yishan raised his wrist and looked at his watch:

"The old man is quite old, and a special person and car were arranged to pick him up, so he didn't come with us."

"Old..."

You have to know that Du Yishan is already 70 years old. The only people who can be called old are probably the old predecessors of the early founding of the People's Republic of China...

Just when he began to guess who the visitor might be, he saw a minibus slowly driving into the company compound from the direction of the gate, then making a half circle, and driving straight to the few people waiting here from the vehicle ramp on the side.

The door opened, and the first to get off were naturally a few staff members.

But soon, a gray-haired old man in a Zhongshan suit appeared at the door of the car.

?

Chang Haonan was stunned for a moment.

There was no need for any introduction.

He had seen him countless times on TV and in the media.

"Mr. Qian..."

Several people hurried to greet him.

In front of this aerodynamic master of applied mechanics and the founder of engineering cybernetics, no matter whether they were in their seventies, thirty or twenty, they were all juniors.

After shaking hands one by one, Mr. Qian finally came to Chang Haonan:

"I have heard about you from the young people in the Academy of Sciences for several years. This time I have seen you in person."

Although he is already 90 years old, Mr. Qian's speech and thinking are still relatively smooth, and his physique does not look too old.

"Xiao Chang, Mr. Qian took the initiative to apply to be the chairman of your defense committee this time."

Du Yishan added beside him after Mr. Qian finished speaking.

"Thank you, Mr. Qian!"

In this situation, Chang Haonan really had nothing else to say:

"It's a bit windy outside, let's go in and talk first..."

In fact, the composition of Chang Haonan's defense committee is very clear.

The so-called review is mainly to examine whether the research results that match the requirements of a "doctor" have been made during the degree study.

But this is for ordinary people.

The results of Chang Haonan's doctoral studies have been placed in the factory, or have flown to the sky, and there is no need to reflect them through papers.

Therefore, the focus of this defense committee is not on the defense itself, but on the fact that the members must have enough influence-

Not everyone is qualified to grant a degree to Chang Haonan.

If an ordinary doctoral supervisor comes, when signing Chang Haonan's review opinion, wouldn't his hands tremble?

Besides, the appearance is not enough.

And now this lineup, Du Yishan and Qian Lao, two academicians of the two academies, Liu Zhenxiang, the first academician in the field of aviation power, Tang Lintian, the president of Beijing Aviation University and estimated to be not far from the academician, and Yuan Xiangya, one of the best young scholars in the field of applied mathematics in China, who is just a little bit away from the academician...

Basically, it is the strongest group that the Chinese academic community can pull out.

...

Half an hour later, Chang Haonan, dressed in formal clothes, walked behind the podium.

Other staff members have been excluded from this conference room.

Therefore, there was only Chang Haonan standing in the room, five sitting big men, and a trembling defense secretary.

If it were someone else, facing such a luxurious lineup, I am afraid they might not even be able to stand steadily.

However, Chang Haonan has seen a lot after all. Although he was a little stressed when facing Qian Lao at the beginning, he quickly adjusted his mood.

"Thank you all for coming here today to listen to my report on some of the achievements I have made in the past two years of my doctoral studies."

"My speech will be divided into two parts. One is a new algorithm that uses the time-space separation method to solve nonlinear partial differential equations. The other is the computational tool TORCH Multiphysics that is generated based on this algorithm, as well as examples of using this tool to solve practical problems."

"The content of my thesis, as well as TORCH Teachers should have seen and used the Multiphysics software itself, so I will omit some steps that are not very important to save space and time..."

"..."

"First, I need to introduce a principal component analysis method for nonlinear autonomous dynamic systems..."

In the 1990s, laser pens had not yet been widely used in the fields of demonstration and teaching, so Chang Haonan still held a traditional telescopic pointer in his hand, and walked on the screen as he introduced:

"Assume that there is a high-dimensional nonlinear ordinary differential equation autonomous system x(t)=f(x(t), t), where the state x(t)=[x1(t), x2(t)xn(t)]^T, this equation represents the dynamic behavior of the state x(t) in the n-dimensional state space without system input..."

From an academic perspective, the algorithm construction of the first one-third of the article is actually the core content, because it is the cornerstone of all subsequent work.

As an audience, the process of this part of the content also requires the most effort.

If this is a normal review, then if you want to find faults, it is most likely in this part.

But today's situation is different.

TORCH Multiphysics' powerful performance has been recognized by peers all over the world.

If you find that there is a problem with the algorithm built by Chang Haonan...

Then it is better to find your own problem first...

In fact, Yuan Xiangya, who is closest to this research field, did not even find any questions to ask.

Although Chang Haonan simplified many complicated steps, he gave full and detailed explanations for all the key points that may cause questions.

After listening to this part, his first feeling was -

The "half of the students" mentioned before is still too high.

His own students know that there are no more than three who can follow here without any obstacles.

Chang Haonan on the stage glanced at the five big guys below. Obviously, for Tang Lintian and Liu Zhenxiang, whose research direction focuses on engineering applications, this part of the content is a bit beyond the scope.

Du Yishan and Qian Lao have enough theoretical foundation, but due to their advanced age, they were fine at the beginning, but now after 40 minutes, they are a little exhausted.

Fortunately, judging from Yuan Xiangya's performance, he has completely followed the train of thought.

"Based on this algorithm, we have developed a new set of multi-physics coupling calculation tools for strongly coupled multi-physics problems, namely TORCH Multiphysics. So far, I have used this tool in the WS-10 aero-engine project, the 75,000-ton heavy die forging press project, and in the process of improving the supersonic inlet without boundary layer for Project No. 10..."

"..."

The last two-thirds of the article is more of a report on the results than a paper.

Even a brief explanation took a full hour and a half.

There was a break in the middle.

In fact, even Chang Haonan himself realized that he had done so many things in the past few years since his rebirth when he was doing this summary.

Not to mention others.

Therefore, when he said "My report is over, please criticize and correct me", the six people below did not even react at the first time.

It was not until he returned to the podium and turned to the last page of the PPT that the applause rang out.

This was the most sparse applause Chang Haonan had ever heard, but it was also the most significant one.

Below the stage were researchers of all ages since the founding of China.

On the stage were… no, it should be said that they were the rising stars of the future.

The torch was passed on from one generation to the next, and life continued uninterruptedly.