Free Web NovelChapter 887: Chapter 459: This is My Stance!_2
Lu Yuanhua only noticed the deferential nods from people passing by and blushed slightly in embarrassment, hurriedly turning back to feign a serious demeanor.
Zhao Yi also attempted to listen attentively for a few minutes but found he couldn’t continue. The various leaders, academicians, and scholars who took the stage were reading lengthy ’papers’ that had nothing to do with him.
He noticed his Study Coin balance had dwindled to ’zero’ and decisively chose to continue resting.
An extra rest still costs two Study Coins!
Still, that’s better than none!
Zhao Yi looked around and simply propped his chin with his hand, slowly closing his eyes.
When Lu Yuanhua turned back to say something to Qiu Chengwen, he saw Zhao Yi ’huffing’ and sleeping soundly; his expression instantly darkened, and he fixed his scrutinizing gaze on Qiu Chengwen as if to say, "Why don’t you make him more alert?"
Qiu Chengwen spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness.
Zhao Yi had just had a substantial sleep and had caught the attention of some senior officials. Their looks seemed to convey, "Academician Zhao must be tired. It’s good to rest more during irrelevant topics."
Can that be the same?
...
Zhao Yi didn’t rest for much longer.
About half an hour later, the plenary meeting akin to an ’opening ceremony’ concluded.
What followed were separate discussions.
Zhao Yi’s primary engagement was in the collider topic. He went with Qiu Chengwen, Lu Yuanhua, and others to an adjacent small conference room, which saw an entrance of about thirty to forty people.
The Minister of Science and Technology, Zhan Gang, sat in the central position, with the rest evenly seated on both sides.
Zhao Yi’s seat was near the front, just one person away from Zhan Gang’s left side, while Qiu Chengwen’s position was a bit further back but still prominent compared to the others.
Zhan Gang initiated the meeting and went straight into the topics. He instructed an aide to discuss international microphysics research and development trends and mentioned the continuous surge of the domestic economy’s international influence, implying that since the domestic economy was catching up, the scientific research sector also needed to keep pace. It’s extremely challenging to overtake in all areas of scientific research in a short time, so they needed to identify certain research areas to focus on and make breakthroughs.
The collider was one of these key areas.
Many domestic scholars voiced their support while quite a few opposed. The Department of Science and Technology was at a standstill about making a decision.
The gathering comprised top-notch domestic mathematical physics scholars and leaders of physics-related research institutions. By discussing together, they could arrive at the final decision.
Next, it was the supporters’ turn to report.
The main supporting institution for the collider was the Physics Department of the Science Academy. Rising to report was a familiar figure, the head of the department, Zhang Hongzhi, who was connected to Zhao Yi beyond the collider construction issue. For instance, Zhao Yi’s ’Supersymmetry’ argument was reviewed by Zhang Hongzhi, who was embarrassingly exposed for allegedly ’commenting without actually reviewing the paper’.
To salvage his reputation, Zhang Hongzhi told reporters directly, "I trust Zhao Yi because he is a top-tier mathematician and physicist. I am far behind his level, so there’s no need to review, just giving approval is sufficient."
He added a classic statement, "With Zhao Yi’s caliber, does a paper submitted to a domestic journal even need to be reviewed? As for me, direct approval is all it takes."
His words resonated with many people.
Even now, academia may look down on Zhang Hongzhi’s character, but his academic achievements, contributions to the development of domestic physical academia, and influence within the national physical community, the Science Academy, and even at the state level could not be denied.
Zhang Hongzhi was the first to speak at the decision-making meeting chaired by the Department of Science and Technology. He outlined the current state of international physical academic development and stressed that domestic scientific research facilities and environments were far behind international developments. "For instance, Professor Ruan, Ruan Wenye, has to rely on data from Europe for his research in microphysics, but the Europeans are not friendly towards us. Our team’s access to data and participation in experimental projects are restricted."
"If we had our own large collider, we could conduct our own experiments and research, and our exploration into microphysics might overtake the world while attracting top physicists from around the globe."
"The economic and peripheral benefits that the collider project construction can bring need not be elaborated by me. The large collider itself can play a foundational role in the research and development of domestic microphysics." ƒrēewebnovel.com
Zhang Hongzhi went on at length, essentially arguing that building a large collider would enable domestic microphysics research to soar and easily catch up with the world.
In a way, what Zhang Hongzhi said was quite reasonable; with a large collider as the foundation, each experiment could lead to numerous discoveries. At the very least, it would allow the involved personnel to write many papers, giving the large collider significant importance in research findings, as well as the quantity and quality of scholarly papers.
Furthermore, the large collider would create many professional physics academic job positions and would surely prompt more physics talents to pursue theoretical physics research instead of transitioning to applied physics or other fields.
After Zhang Hongzhi spoke, two more supporters discussed the benefits of constructing the collider.
