Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1374 Every Journal Has Its Troublesome Stories (4k)

Gao Zhendong shook his head. By the time his comrades figured it out on their own, it would be too late. What he needed was speed.

Director Chi looked somewhat bewildered. What did shaking his head mean? Was he going to disregard theory and just go for it? That was unacceptable. If they did it that way, they'd be lucky to get half the results for twice the effort.

"Why not start with theory? Why do research while doing practice?" That could be considered one possible approach.

Gao Zhendong laughed and said, "No need. I've been thinking about distributed computing for a long time and have some experience with it."

"Ah, this..." Director Chi beamed, "Oh dear, look at me, how could I forget? Hehehe." He really had forgotten. When had Chief Engineer Gao ever fought a battle he wasn't confident of winning? When had he ever done anything without a solid foundation?
Under his surprised gaze, Gao Zhendong stood up, turned around and went to the safe, took out a floppy disk, and handed it to Director Chi.

"This is basic theory, nothing secret, so I can hand it over to you directly. This is some of my thoughts on distributed computing, which I've already written down. Take it back and share it with your colleagues. I'll send the random decryption key to your email later."

Although it did not involve classified information, Gao Zhendong still followed the standard procedure of separating the documents and keys.

Director Chi wiped his hands on his clothes before reaching out to take it.

At this moment, he was itching with desire. That's the downside of floppy disks; you can't see anything except Gao Zhendong's bold and powerful calligraphy on the label.

Distributed computing.

This feeling made Director Chi, who was used to getting a sneak peek at anything he received from Gao Zhendong, feel a bit like he was about to burst from holding it in.

Being a leader isn't easy. This must be considered a work-related injury, right? Director Chi thought to himself.

But he didn't stop talking.

"Great! With this, we have even more confidence!"

Gao Zhendong laughed and said, "If I give you this, I'll basically be a hands-off manager. The theory should be complete here, but from the specific project initiation to the code implementation of the cluster software, it's all up to your computing institute!"

Unless something major unexpected happens, Gao Zhendong does not intend to get involved.

Director Chi stuffed the floppy disk into his pocket, and only after he was satisfied with the contents did he laugh and say, "Then don't worry! This team has already been trained by you using several large software programs. As long as we have theoretical guidance, trust us, there will be absolutely no problem!"

Both operating systems and database systems were large-scale software projects, and the colleagues at the Institute of Computing Technology truly made a name for themselves in this regard.

In fact, Gao Zhendong could say that in certain specific coding tasks, he wasn't as good as some of his colleagues. After all, Gao Zhendong's coding skills in his previous life were only slightly above average.

Gao Zhendong nodded: "I believe you, so I've entrusted this matter to you. This software has many things closely related to the underlying system, and in this regard, your experience is unparalleled both domestically and internationally."

Director Chi laughed. If Chief Engineer Gao had said so, then it seemed to be true. This elevated his pride to a new level.

"Chief Engineer Gao, we'll go back and ask the two comrades from the Third Branch Factory who are stationed at our institute to write down the plan and submit it as soon as possible." Gao Zhendong's three junior colleagues—his junior sister had been assigned to work on the real-time operating system (RTOS), and the remaining two were perfect for this task.

Director Chi's arrangement was not to take advantage of Gao Zhendong's people slacking off, but to indicate the hierarchical relationship in this matter and the positions of each party in the project.

Gao Zhendong did not object, but instructed: "After the plan is signed and approved by the 17th Ministry of Machine Building and the 12th Ministry of Machine Building, it should be submitted directly to the National Defense Commission. This is a task for the National Defense Commission, and they will also provide the funding. Make sure to include this in the plan."

As for how to specifically reflect this and implement the position and role of each department in the plan, I won't go into details; the comrades will handle it themselves.

Director Chi was overjoyed; even the funding had been secured! Projects led by Chief Engineer Gao always went so smoothly.

However, on the other hand, even if the funding had not yet been secured, this matter would not have been a problem for the Twelfth Ministry of Machine Building itself. In fact, the Twelfth Ministry of Machine Building might even have some regrets.

He wasn't wrong. When the report reached the Twelfth Ministry of Machine Building, the leaders of the ministry held a pen, looked at the report, and frowned.

"This won't do, this won't do..."

Director Chi didn't understand; it shouldn't be like that. Supercomputers are crucial national assets, and although they haven't been developed yet, Director Chi could sense that from just the introduction.

Even without Chief Engineer Gao leading the way, the Twelfth Ministry of Machine Building would have wholeheartedly supported this matter as long as there was any progress, let alone with Chief Engineer Gao involved.

Why is it not working?

"Sir, what you mean is..."

The leaders of the Twelfth Ministry of Machine Building were still shaking their heads: "No, no, how can we let the National Defense Commission pay for this? That's too much of a bullying to the National Defense Commission. No way. Here's what we'll do: you change the plan, and we'll pay half of the cost."

It's not much money anyway, and besides, even if there were more money, the significance of this matter would be different.

"A supercomputer capable of performing hundreds of millions of calculations per second, developed by the National Defense Commission." Just imagining this scene made the leaders of the Twelfth Ministry of Machine Building feel like they were about to have a heart attack.

Director Chi truly hadn't expected this turn of events. He'd seen people eager to rob him, but rarely someone eager to spend money.

That's precisely why he submitted the plan directly. Unexpectedly, he ran into trouble here.

However, this kind of reason for being stuck is probably only seen in this type of research topic, and it is rare.

"Okay, I'll go change it right away!" Director Chi readily agreed and turned to leave without saying another word. This was easy enough. It was just a matter of typing a few keys and reprinting. If the comrades who edited and formatted the document were a little more attentive, they could even leave everything else untouched, except for the one or two pages involving funds.

That very afternoon, the leaders of the 17th Ministry of Machine Building held the plan with beaming smiles: "Hmm, this is good. Comrade Zhendong, you've done a great job."

Director Chi watched from the side, feeling a little uneasy. He thought, "I hope you don't say, 'No, no, why should only your two families pay for it...' That would be a real problem, and I'd have to make another trip."

Fortunately, he was overthinking it.

"Yes, that's great! This time, it's another great undertaking for all three of our departments. Let's work together to conquer this mountain of supercomputers!"

The leaders of the 17th Ministry of Machine Building quickly signed their names and returned the plan to Director Chi.

Director Chi took back the plan and inwardly cursed himself for being stupid.

Whatever money the 17th Ministry of Machine Building needs to contribute, that's enough: its personnel. Whether it's in news reports or books on the history of computer development, the 17th Ministry of Machine Building will definitely have a share.

I have a valiant general who can rival a thousand troops. This is the unique advantage of the 17th Ministry of Machine Building, something that other places can only envy.
-
"Two-dimensional materials again! Two-dimensional materials again!" In the editorial office of a scientific journal, an editor kept complaining as he flipped through the manuscript in his hand.

It's not that he has a bad temper; the main reason is that ever since scientists from that ancient Eastern country created a truly meaningful single-layer carbon atom crystal material, and this was confirmed and reproduced by condensed matter physics experts from several major countries, including Russia and the Kingdom, this event has been like a bombshell in the field of condensed matter physics!
Something that was thought to be impossible to exist stably was actually created by a country that had only recently risen from the ashes?!
Is that road really that magical?
For Luo Guo, even if he didn't do it himself, this achievement would still be excellent publicity material.

Yes, I didn't do it, but it was done by my fellow travelers. And it was a country that was over a hundred years behind and had been oppressed for over a hundred years.

Look, as long as you choose the right path, a bright future awaits you.

If the discovery of lasers back then seemed somewhat unconvincing, then a series of achievements, including computers, along with this breakthrough that broke through theoretical constraints, deserve to be celebrated.

Luo Guo even reluctantly became a free promoter, conducting a series of international campaigns on themes such as "the right path, amazing achievements."

There's nothing else to it, the core idea is simple: if you're on the right path, everything else is easy to talk about.

The reason why we say "pinching our noses" is obvious to everyone, but in the face of the power of role models, we might as well just pinch our noses.

This caught us, the colleagues in charge of the relevant work, off guard. It felt like we were sitting at home and the results just fell from the sky.

This further amplified the impact of the event, and some of its influence has even spilled over from academic circles into the lives of ordinary people.

A beautiful structure, the shortest distance

How can you feel the thickness of an atom with your own hands?

Is God knitting a sweater too?

"..."

The headlines of the reports are becoming increasingly outrageous.

If this happens to ordinary people, it naturally causes a greater sensation in academic circles.

The direct consequence of this sensation was that everyone, from top figures to nobody, flocked to this latest discovery.

Everyone knows that first come, first served. A brand new, groundbreaking discovery, a completely new material—even a fool could know how much profit it could bring.

Even if you're not interested in economic benefits, wouldn't you be tempted by academic gains?

The result was a dramatic increase in the number of articles submitted to related journals.

“Stop complaining. This level of achievement deserves such enthusiasm from people,” his colleague laughed.

"Yes, yes, I know. They could just make this thing and boil it in water and they'd be able to publish a paper titled 'Study on the Physical Properties of Two-Dimensional Graphene Materials at 100 Degrees Celsius'." The editor who complained was extremely sarcastic, but his words, though crude, were not without merit.

The potential profits from a new field are just that outrageous.

"Maybe there are some articles here that are worth publishing. This is part of our daily work. Okay, stop complaining and get to work."

"You're right, but truly publishable manuscripts won't be submitted to us! Finding gold in the shit is the ultimate torture." This editor probably isn't very popular; his mouth is even more rude than Sha Zhu's.

His rant not only insulted the author of the manuscript, but also thoroughly entangled his own journal in the mess.

Research results vary in quality, and so do journals. As a small journal with a relatively low standing in academia, it naturally cannot be compared to journals like *Nature* and *Science*. It is extremely difficult for truly good articles to find their way into their journals.

Saying this in the office is no different from pointing at a monk and calling him a bald monk.

"Get your job done! Shut your stinking mouth!" came the editor-in-chief's roar from his office.

Small journals have their own troubles, and large journals have their own problems.

There are too many good submissions; it's a bit overwhelming to keep up.

What's even more troublesome is that many people's research findings are the same.

After all, it's just a new material, and there are only so many ways to use it. When people get their hands on it, they'll definitely focus on the most traditional properties and parameters.

This results in a very high rate of duplication in the manuscripts.

The key point is that many of these people are not ordinary people; they are so extraordinary that even major journals are unwilling to offend them.

"Editor-in-Chief, what should we do?" Several editors, holding manuscripts, crowded into their editor-in-chief's office.

The editor-in-chief is the editor-in-chief. His decisiveness, methods, and information channels are far superior to those of ordinary editors. He threw out a list.

"First compare it with these results; if it is completely consistent with them, then don't consider it."

"What is this, Editor-in-Chief?"

"These are articles related to graphene published by Dongfang Ren and Luo Guo. They are closer to this achievement and have a greater advantage, so their progress is naturally faster. While the authors of the manuscripts in your hands are still busy with experiments, these results have already been plucked from the tree by Dongfang Ren and Luo Guo." The editor-in-chief shrugged. It's their luck; there's nothing that can be done about it.

"What about the others?" The Easterners, who were closest to this achievement, had limited research conditions, so even if they started first, their final gains were still limited.

"Remove all papers that overlap with these two." The editor-in-chief then presented two more papers, whose authors, judging from their names and styles, were clearly of East Asian descent.

"Why? Editor-in-Chief, they have indeed published it first, and we have no way to make changes. But for those that haven't been published yet, I think..."

Why should we cater to Asians? Even if we follow the order in which these articles arrived at the editorial office, who knows which article actually came first?
The editor-in-chief glanced at the person who spoke: "Fine, you owe me two pounds in tuition fees..."

Kid, let me teach you a lesson.

"First of all, take a closer look at these two articles and see who recommended them."

ZhenDong.Gao.

The editor-in-chief's words were very clear: we should give face to the pioneers.

“But he may not deserve our respect,” the editor argued. After all, he was a scientist from the other side of the spectrum, and given the current circumstances, he might not bring much benefit to the journal.

(End of this chapter)