Free Web NovelChapter 946: Chapter 479: Academician Zhao is Truly Great!_2
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Zhao Yi had been busy with the prototype manufacturing of the WZ-A1, encountering numerous issues related to the technical processes and materials. Every time a problem arose, it was reported to him, and he had to come up with a solution or make a decision as quickly as possible.
This work was time-consuming and exhausting, sometimes even frustrating. Some modifications to the original design meant there might be a slight decrease in performance. Although it wasn’t much, what had been a perfect design became less perfect because of manufacturing technology, process, and material issues.
Zhao Yi felt a bit of empathy for the Kunlun engine team.
The Kunlun engine had been proven viable in design, but once the prototype was manufactured, various problems emerged, many of which were related to the manufacturing processes and materials. The original design had to be modified to fit the current technical capabilities, which could lead to even more issues.
Fortunately, most of the components of the WZ-A1 engine prototype had been reviewed once, and most of what remained was the manufacturing process, which simply required waiting.
As Zhao Yi was pondering the prototype’s problems, Qian Hong suddenly stood at the door and knocked.
"Come in!"
Zhao Yi looked up and called out. freewebnoveℓ.com
Qian Hong walked in waving a phone and said, "There’s a call from M Country, the Clay Research Institute, regarding the prize award. They’d like you to return the call. Should I connect you?"
Zhao Yi nodded, "Go ahead."
The call connected quickly. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
On the other end was a staff member from the Clay Research Institute, who congratulated Zhao Yi on completing the proof of the np problem, and then mentioned the million-dollar prize for solving one of the Millennium Prize Problems, asking when Zhao Yi would have time to come and receive the award.
"Sorry, I don’t have time,"
Zhao Yi said, "I’m always very busy with my work. If I must go to M Country to claim the prize money... let’s forget it."
Listening to the tone on the other end, Zhao Yi knew it was just an ordinary staff member who certainly had no authority over the million-dollar prize issue. After speaking, he simply hung up the phone.
On the other end,
Carlson, the director of the Clay Research Institute, stood beside the staff member, having listened to the entire phone conversation. He had intended to take the phone, but the call was abruptly disconnected, leaving him somewhat at a loss, "Why did they just hang up?"
"If they won’t come to receive the award... it’s negotiable!" Carlson muttered in frustration, "But if he doesn’t come to claim it, do we really have to do as Hilbert suggested and just transfer the money?"
Carlson was still very reluctant.
In reality, he had known from the beginning that Hilbert was making sense; it was unlikely that the other party would come to M Country to receive the award. Yet, he still chose to believe Tian Gang because what Tian Gang suggested was beneficial to the Clay Research Institute.
More than a decade ago, the Clay Research Institute announced the seven Millennium Prize Problems and decided to grant a million-dollar prize to the solver of each problem.
This announcement caused a fervent discussion in the mathematical community, as a million-dollar prize was indeed very enticing.
However, the Clay Research Institute only established the rules for awarding the prize, such as the requirement for a paper to be published in academic journals, to be recognized by the Institute, and to be approved by other top mathematical institutions.
And so forth.
They did not specify the method of awarding the prize.
The first to receive the prize should have been Perelman, but he declined the million dollars.
As for the Clay Research Institute, they would undoubtedly prefer the awarding process to also boost their reputation, ideally amid significant media coverage. Simply handing out the prize money quietly would amount to giving away a million dollars for nothing.
Even funding an ordinary mathematical researcher would have made the news; paying out a million dollars without any return felt inherently distressing, let alone being perceived by the outside world as a given.
That’s why Carlson believed in Tian Gang; regardless of Tian Gang’s assertion, he would still have tried to get Zhao Yi to collect the award.
Unfortunately, Zhao Yi refused.
"What should we do now?" Carlson was at a loss but realized it was better to hold onto the money than to give it away. As long as the money was on hand, it could be given away at any time; once given, there was no chance for regret.
Carlson thought, "Maybe... let it be for now. Maybe he’ll change his mind, right? It’s a million dollars after all!"
...
If Zhao Yi knew of Carlson’s thoughts, he would have scoffed with disdain. He had even put the matter out of his mind as soon as he hung up the phone.
A million dollars?
That was just a small uptick in stock prices.
Star Billion Investment Company’s holdings in M Country stocks had risen by about five percent in the last couple of weeks, and the total value of the shares had increased by several tens of millions of dollars.
Adding his domestic assets into the mix, he could confidently declare, "My personal wealth grows by more than a million dollars every single day!"
"Money is just a number, meaningless,"
"I’m not interested in money, only in science. I want to devote my life to the cause of science, to contribute to the progress of human civilization..."
In short.
Zhao Yi considered himself to have a ’noble’ life philosophy; to him, wealth was nothing but dirt.
With this ’noble’ mindset, he discussed the development issues of the electric spindle with Zhou Haoren over the phone, talking about potential problems and how much time they would likely need. Unwittingly, the topic shifted to the stocks they held.
