early morning.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Professor Stanley, who was standing on the podium, took classes as usual with undergraduates in the classroom.

Since losing to Lu Zhou in the last "running race" on patents for lithium-sulfur battery electrode materials, he has lost the support of Exxon Mobil, leaving the industry warily and returning to academia.

However, it may be considered a blessing.

Because of his research on lithium batteries, he, together with Prof. Goodnaf and Prof. Akira Yoshino, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

After receiving this honorary hanging crown, his current academic path can be described as a smooth journey. Not only did Exxon Mobil have the intention to repair the relationship with him, but even the number of students in his usual classes in the classroom less.

Of course, in fact, to be able to win this award, there are still some lucky elements in it.

If not for the recent years, lithium batteries have become more and more widely used, or even become the cornerstone of the new electrical era, the Nobel Jury may not consider their work so early.

It is for this reason that, if it hadn't been for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alone, many people think that Lu Zhou is more qualified to receive the honor for the research of lithium batteries.

That matter has been going on for many years, and so many things have happened. Professor Stanley's view of Lu Zhou has changed dramatically compared to before.

Science changes the world, and mathematics changes science.

He acknowledged that his research philosophy was somewhat influenced by that man.

Perhaps as his friends commented on him, Lu Zhou's horrible computing power left such a deep impression on him that he has been studying computational materials science for years, hoping to use it as a breakthrough. It is a breakthrough that also serves as a breakthrough to break through the bottleneck of modern materials science ...

"... Discovering, exploring phenomena and summarizing and explaining the principles is the process of creating knowledge and the nature of science."

"In traditional materials science research, the discovery of new materials is mostly the result of accidental discoveries by researchers, or the result of countless repeated attempts. Among them, it is obvious that there is great blindness until modern computers. The emergence of people, according to the experimental results, summarized a variety of empirical models, so that the experimental design changed from groping based on experience to rational design, so that this discipline truly became a 'science'. "

"Yes, before that, I didn't think that materials science was a science, but more like an engineer's" craftsmanship. "Your homework today revolves around the density functional theory I talked about earlier in the class. , Write a review paper. "

"After class."

After announcing the end of the class, Professor Stanley put away the textbooks, left the professor in a stride, and returned to his office. Just as he had just dropped the lesson plan on his desk and was preparing to check the mailboxes that he hadn't had time to check this morning, the student and assistant Dr. Jons, who was sitting in his office, suddenly stood up, holding a The stack of printed papers came over to him.

"Professor, I want to show you something."

Noticing the strange expression on his student's face, Professor Stanley raised his eyebrows and put on the glasses he had just taken off.

"what?"

"This thesis ..." The paper in his hand was passed to the teacher, and Dr. Jons continued with an odd expression, "I just saw it on arxiv ..."

It seemed that he was not shocked enough to say that, and he added another sentence after this sentence.

"It was uploaded by Professor Lu."

Sure enough, the moment the sentence came out, the expression on Professor Stanley's face suddenly became serious.

I saw him sitting upright on the office chair, and reached out to draw a ball-point pen from the pen holder. Starting from the first page of the paper, he looked at it line by line.

However, the moment he saw the title of the dissertation, the whole person was there.

Implicit density functional method?

Brows gradually frowned.

About half an hour ago, he just said in a class that implicit density functional theory is one of the major problems in the field of computational materials science, which is still unsolved.

In particular, the promotion from simple systems to complex systems is extremely difficult for people and computers at the current level.

This guy hasn't studied materials for so many years.

As soon as I come back, I have made such a big news.

real or fake?

Looking at the silent Professor Stanley, Dr. Jons, who was standing next to him, waited quietly, and the atmosphere was afraid to breathe, fearing to disturb the mentor's thinking.

In this way, time passes by every minute.

Just as he was about to fall asleep, Professor Stanley, turning to the last page, suddenly took a breath and closed the paper in his hand.

He noticed the shocked expression on the teacher's face, and Jonce froze a little before he asked immediately.

"How about a professor? That paper ..."

"Well-written," answered the question succinctly, but seemed to feel that it was not convincing enough. Professor Stanley then couldn't help but add a sentence, "Good makes it difficult Imagine. "

Okay unimaginable ...

When he heard this, Jons swallowed subconsciously.

He has never heard his mentor boast so much since worshiping at the door of this big man. Not to mention that he hadn't done that before he won the Nobel Prize, and it was even more impossible to do it after receiving the Nobel Prize.

This was probably his first time, seeing the old man's face mixed with shock, disbelief, and a look of admiration that was almost impossible.

Returning the paper in hand to his students, looking at him in surprise, Professor Stanley remained silent for a while and continued.

"Implicit functional density theory is one of the most advanced research in materials science today. Due to the inability to accurately describe Van der Waals interactions and fatal flaws such as metals, it is difficult to use it for solid materials ... at least until today . "

"He used some special mathematical methods in his thesis to supplement the implicit functional density theory. Although the modified implicit density functional theory still has some limitations, it has been able to at least van der Waals force For accurate description, its application range has also been extended from simple systems to the research of more complex carbon composite materials. "

With that said, a deep admiration appeared from the eyes of Professor Stanley's face.

"At the current rate of development in the field of computational materials science, let alone a few years, that is, months without contact with the most cutting-edge research, it may be completely thrown away."

"I thought he had left the material science world for so many years, and even if his strength did not regress, he would definitely not make any progress, but he did not expect ..."

Looking at the expression on the professor's face, Jons swallowed again.

"……did not expect?"

Professor Stanley nodded heavily.

"Yes."

"I did not expect."

"He is still so terrible!"