Research starts with PhD students

Chapter 182 If you can apply for the project, the laboratory director will do it for you!

The Science Foundation supports projects of young scholars, including "Outstanding Young Scholars", "Excellent Young Scholars" and "National Young Scholars".

"Young Elite Scientist", the full name of which is "Recipient of the National Outstanding Youth Fund", is the grant with the highest funding from the Natural Science Foundation and is also the most difficult to apply for. Over the years, the probability of approval of the "Young Elite Scientist" project application has been only about 5%.

The probability of passing the Outstanding Youth Program is very low because the requirements are too high.

At the same time, the support costs are also high.

The unified support funding for this year's Young Elite Mathematics Project is 280 million yuan.

This number is very shocking.

Generally speaking, the funding for youth support projects in mathematics is only 100,000 or 200,000 yuan at most, and the funding for outstanding young talents projects is only between 500,000 and 1 million yuan.

Jie Qing, jumping to nearly three million in one go, can be said to be a qualitative leap.

The Young Elite Scientists Program has another benefit – the lump-sum contract system.

The lump-sum system stipulates that the unit or project team can use the funds independently within the approved funding quota. The surplus can be retained, and the overspending shall be borne by the unit.

In other words, after the funds for the Young Elite Scientists are received, they will be directly transferred to the school’s account, and the school will generally transfer large sums of funds to the project team’s account.

Then, you can spend as you please.

These funds will not be recovered. Even if the research project is completed in a short time and not much funds are spent, the remaining funds can still remain in the account.

For the Young Elite Scientists Program, just being admitted is an honor.

Many universities will make a big fuss about the Young Elite Scientists Program that you have applied for, and some will even send a congratulatory letter. When the college publicizes itself to the outside world, you will be placed first in the Young Elite Scientists Program.

Zhang Shuo's application for the Young Elite Scientists Program also set a record, and he became the youngest "Outstanding Youth".

At the same time, there is a lot to talk about in the project you applied for.

The study of incompressible fluids is a broad category, which can be either mathematics or applied mathematics. Since the project is titled as the NS equation, it is obviously in the direction of pure mathematics.

The projects that can be applied for in the pure mathematics field of NS equation research are already very unusual, and the application for the Outstanding Youth Project is the first in history.

This also became the first project supported by the National Science Foundation that explicitly stated that it would study one of the Millennium Mathematical Conjectures.

The Millennium Mathematical Conjecture, the research itself is much more advanced than the Outstanding Young Scholars Program.

If you can complete the Millennium Mathematical Conjecture, you will first receive a $100 million prize from the Clay Institute and will immediately become recognized as one of the world's top mathematicians.

So far, only one of the Millennium Mathematical Conjectures has been proved, namely the three papers posted by Perelman on the website, which successfully cracked the Poincare conjecture, one of the seven conjectures.

Needless to say, it is very difficult.

Because of this, almost no scholar would indicate in their project application that they want to study the seven major mathematical conjectures, otherwise the project review would definitely not pass.

When it comes to Zhang Shuo, this matter seems to become a matter of course.

Zhang Shuo is a top mathematician. He has made great progress in the study of the NS equation and won the highest mathematics award, Fields, for his research on "numerical simulation of the NS equation."

At the International Congress of Mathematicians, Zhang Shuo also used purely mathematical reasoning to prove that there is no singularity at the position where the swallowing flow changes.

Combining the two, many people saw hope in Zhang Shuo for completing the analytical proof of the NS equations.

“It’s just hope.”

At the headquarters building of the Science Foundation, Academician Zhou Qiang of the Department of Mathematics and Physics and his colleagues said, "The proof of the NS equation is very difficult."

"Zhang Shuo completed the research on numerical simulation and used a new method to prove the singularity of the turbulent position, but he did not even complete 50% of the overall proof of the NS equations."

"The reason why the foundation approved this project is because the other party is Zhang Shuo."

Zhou Qiang said seriously, "It is because of this that he is very familiar with the NS equations, and there may be other progress in the research."

"However, this is to complete the entire argument, and there are still great obstacles. One difficulty that can be seen is the continuous argument."

"Turbulence is just a special point within a fixed boundary range. Even if we demonstrate it at more points, the boundary definitions are different. How can we put these movements together?"

"There is another greater difficulty that I have no idea about, which is the argument for the natural boundaries and your infinite values."

"The difficulty will suddenly become much higher!"

Academician Zhou Qiang has spent his entire life studying partial differential equations. He has a deep understanding of incompressible fluids and has even devoted himself to studying the proof of the NS equations.

He is very familiar with the NS equations and the problems he pointed out are also facts.

Zhang Shuo also thinks so.

The difference is that Zhang Shuo is very confident in his research, and he is not in a hurry to complete it quickly.

After being confirmed as having been selected for the Outstanding Youth Program, the first thing Zhang Shuo did was to recruit people. He didn't want to do the research alone.

A-level difficulty, research requiring 7000 scientific research coins, takes too long to complete.

The most efficient way is to form a team.

Zhang Shuo first found Luo Yongjun and explained the problem with the project application.

Luo Yongjun agreed immediately.

Then I went to find Li Weihua, who had a deep understanding of second-order partial differential equations and had also conducted research in the field of incompressible fluids.

Li Weihua was much more excited than Luo Yongjun. When he heard Zhang Shuo invite him to join the project, he even jumped up with joy.

He held Zhang Shuo's hand tightly. "When I first saw you in class, I felt that you were very special!"

“It’s great to be able to work with you now, let’s work together to complete this great research!”

With the two generals, Luo Yongjun and Li Weihua, and their doctoral students, the research team was quickly formed.

With a team, the research speed will be greatly accelerated.

Zhang Shuo decided to take the lead in the direction and let other people in the team do the detailed research.

Luo Yongjun and Li Weihua are not extremely talented scholars, but they have extensive knowledge, rich experience, and are very focused on research. As long as a definite direction is given, there is basically no need to worry about the research.

Of course, both of them have shortcomings, for example, they are not innovative enough.

However, Zhang Shuo grasps the general direction of the research and does not require high "innovation ability" from team members. Broad knowledge and rich research experience are more important.

After deciding to join Zhang Shuo's team, Luo Yongjun and Li Weihua had completely different reactions.

Luo Yongjun was very low-key. He did not tell anyone about this matter. It seemed as if he had not joined Zhang Shuo's team.

Is this because he has always claimed to be Zhang Shuo’s teacher, but ended up joining the student’s project team?
I feel a little embarrassed!

Li Weihua didn't have such worries. When he arrived at the office, he laughed and said, "Zhang Shuo invited me to join his NS project team. Now I have a research direction and I don't have to worry about funding!"

"The Young Elite Scientists Program has 280 million this year. What a huge amount of funding!"

"I also took classes with him before, so I can also say that he was Zhang Shuo's teacher, right?"

"Now the teacher has to follow the students, haha..."

The last sentence is a joke.

Li Weihua didn't care at all. He was the kind of mathematics professor who was extremely short of funds and could not even afford to pay allowances to his doctoral students.

When it comes to funding, what's wrong with teachers following students?
That's the youngest Fields winner!

"Zhang Shuo also has a project under him that is supported by the Science and Technology Department and is worth several million. He is not short of funds."

"That's a relief..."

That’s what Li Weihua thought.

But in fact, Zhang Shuo was also troubled by the funding issue. When he started planning the next research direction, he really began to lack funds.

The projects supported by the Department of Science and Technology and the Young Elite Mathematics Project only have a funding of several million yuan, which can be said to be a drop in the bucket compared to the extremely demanding physics experiments.

The correlation model between electromagnetic force and gravitational theory has been completed. The subsequent research on the solution of the model must be supported by corresponding physical experiments.

However, it is almost impossible to apply for high experimental funds with only a mathematical model derived from theoretical research.

Zhang Shuo did not make any unnecessary application preparations, but went to the School of Physics first and found the electromagnetic laboratory in Physics Laboratory Building No. 3.

The electromagnetics laboratory is very large, occupying an entire experimental building, but more than half of the area is used for students to do experiments. It can be said that it is an experimental institution supporting teaching.

The director of the laboratory is Yao Qiming.

When Zhang Shuo arrived at the laboratory, Yao Qiming was in the office. He was surprised to see Zhang Shuo, "Professor Zhang Shuo, what are you doing...?"

He couldn't understand why Zhang Shuo came to the laboratory.

"I'm here to take a look." Zhang Shuo replied, and continued, "Director Yao, can you introduce me to the electromagnetic laboratory?"

"Of course, of course."

Yao Qiming felt flattered, as the electromagnetics laboratory was just a supporting teaching institution.

Who is Zhang Shuo?

He is the latest Fields Medalist. In physics research, he also guides large-scale experiments at the Institute of High Energy Physics and provides theoretical support for the CP group's discovery of new physical phenomena.

Such a person comes to visit the small electromagnetic laboratory?
Yao Qiming really couldn't understand, but he still gave a serious introduction.

The electromagnetics laboratory is just a school-level laboratory. Most of its work is supporting teaching, and most of the equipment in the laboratory is just basic experimental equipment.

There is only one researcher, Yao Qiming himself.

In addition, there are four nominal associate researchers who are also associate professors in the school.

The laboratory can perform some basic physical measurements and has very few high-end equipment.

Zhang Shuo followed Yao Qiming to visit the laboratory building, and also went into several classrooms where students were doing experiments. Later, he visited the so-called high-end equipment.
A device that generates a strong electromagnetic field.

He only took a look at the equipment parameters and immediately lost interest.

After the visit, Zhang Shuo asked carefully, "Director Yao, can you create a vacuum electromagnetic environment above 5T?"

"Continued 5T?"

Yao Qiming was stunned. He grinned and shook his head, "Then superconductivity is required, right?"

"Vacuum, I don't have the technology..."

Zhang Shuo continued to ask, "Is there a neutron generator?"

"No."

Yao Qiming shook his head like a rattle. "Professor Zhang Shuo, if you want to do any difficult experiments, you should go to the Institute of High Energy Physics. We can only do basic electromagnetic experiments here."

"……All right."

Zhang Shuo knew that this was a bit unreasonable, but he still wanted to do his experimental research in school.

The experimental group at the Institute of High Energy Physics Center may not necessarily cooperate, and even if they do, there will be many inconveniences. If large-scale research is conducted, confidentiality may be a problem.

When doing research, you have to do it in-house, not in a big way.

Zhang Shuo walked around thinking about it, and he found that one advantage of the electromagnetic laboratory was that it was large enough, occupying the entire laboratory building. Except for the classrooms where students did experiments, many rooms were empty.

He asked Yao Qiming, "If I want to form a large experimental team and do some high-intensity electromagnetic experiments, can it be completed in your laboratory?"

"Or, apply for a project in the name of the Electromagnetic Laboratory?"

Yao Qiming stared at him, "Professor Zhang Shuo, if you can apply for a large-scale experimental project in the name of our laboratory, the laboratory director will do it for you!"

"Forehead……"

"That's not necessary, I'm just asking."

Zhang Shuo and Yao Qiming talked for a few more words and then left the electromagnetics laboratory.

(End of this chapter)