From top student in college to scientific research powerhouse

Chapter 116: Interesting Anecdotes from the History of Science in the Journal of Nature?
"How's the situation? I just heard them say they detected a drop in resistance inside?"

"91K? Are you sure?"

"Tell me quickly, what happened? Can it be confirmed now?!"

As soon as Xue Kun stepped out of the testing room, Zhu Bingkun and Chen Shuai chased after him, both wanting a definite answer.

Zhang Minghao also looked at Xue Kun, wanting to hear the details.

Xue Kun slowly took off his gloves and work clothes without saying a word, but the expression on his face said it all.

He couldn't hold back his smile, and his face turned bright red.

After washing his hands, he walked over to Zhang Minghao, pressed his hands firmly on the table, took a deep breath, and could no longer contain his excitement as he exclaimed, "You were right!"

"you are right--!"

"High-temperature superconductivity, very clearly high-temperature superconductivity."

"The resistance drops significantly at 91k, and I estimate the critical transition temperature to be between 87k and 90k!"

He added after saying that, "We'll conduct more detailed measurements tomorrow..."

After finishing speaking, Xue Kun let out a soft breath and couldn't help but tense his arms, repeatedly raising and swinging his fists.

Zhang Minghao clenched his fist and slammed it hard on the table, making a loud 'bang' sound.

He was equally excited.

The theoretical research and calculation derivations are correct, as is the material preparation process.

This is certain.

However, it is still impossible to determine whether the material possesses high-temperature superconducting properties. Just like the replication of the Zhang phenomenon, "Correct Perception" has limitations. The theoretical research and analysis calculations applied are all fine, but the properties of a material cannot be directly determined without experimental testing.

Therefore, whether the prepared material has high-temperature superconducting properties still depends on the test results.

It's confirmed now.

The underlying mechanisms of the theories and phenomena he studied are flawless and indeed comprehensive.

Zhu Bingkun and Chen Shuai were also very excited. The two hugged each other excitedly, and Chen Shuai shouted happily, "Ninety percent, it's become a hundred percent!"

"That's amazing!"

"Aluminum-based high-temperature superconductivity is of great significance and even overturns the conventional understanding of high-temperature superconductivity."

Zhu Bingkun said, "Many people know about our research, and they all say that aluminum-based high-temperature superconductivity is simply impossible."

"Let's see what they have to say now!"

He looked at Zhang Minghao as he spoke, his eyes filled with admiration and surprise.

He thought more.

The discovery of aluminum-based high-temperature superconducting materials represents a breakthrough from zero to one in aluminum-based high-temperature superconductivity.

This is only one aspect.

The significance behind this is even greater. Zhang Minghao calculated the molecular formula, then used the molecular formula to prepare the corresponding material, and then reversed the process to perform characteristic testing.

Furthermore, he only calculated one molecular formula and prepared one material.

If you think about it more deeply, you'll realize how incredible it is. The research has reached the point where theory guides material preparation, which is absolutely a groundbreaking advancement in high-temperature superconductivity, or even the field of superconductivity.

Going a step further...

Their research is based on the correlation between the Zhang phenomenon and high-temperature superconductivity.

Now that an aluminum-based high-temperature superconducting material has been verified, doesn't that prove that the Zhang phenomenon and high-temperature superconductivity are indeed related?

Unlike previous studies, the discovery of the Zhang phenomenon, the continuity of flow, and the stable growth of multilayer tinene films are all experimental studies.

The current focus is on studying theoretical mechanisms to guide materials manufacturing, which undoubtedly increases the depth of research and makes it even more significant.

Fang Huimin also came out of the testing room, her whole body tense. As soon as she came out, she excitedly shouted to Zhang Minghao, "Awesome! Amazing!"

"Zhang Minghao, from now on I'll call you God Zhang, you're simply amazing!"

"Aluminum-based high-temperature superconductivity—I never even dared to dream of it. To be honest, I had absolutely no hope before I started testing it..."

"And it really was groundbreaking..."

Zhu Bingkun, Chen Shuai, and Xue Kun exchanged a glance simultaneously.

They shared the same sentiment as Fang Huimin; before the test, they had absolutely no hope.

Therefore, while they were excited about the result, they were also filled with surprise.

……

After their initial excitement, the group calmed down.

Looking at the time, they simply decided to live in the laboratory.

The next morning around 6 a.m., Xue Kun went to the testing room again. He cut off a small piece of material and took it to the laboratory for property testing.

Fang Huimin also arrived early. She went to check on Xue Kun's work and then plunged into the testing room.

Next up was Zhu Bingkun, who also joined Xue Kun in conducting experiments.

By 8 o'clock, many people had already arrived.

The others quickly learned the news, including He Hui and Zhou Jianyong. Feeling surprised and excited, they all joined the measurement work.

Theoretical Research Office.

Du Wei, Zhao Linwei, and Liu Lei also learned of the news.

As soon as Zhao Linwei arrived at the laboratory, she heard He Hui excitedly talking about going to get tested.

She learned the news as soon as she asked.

The laboratory will not disclose major research progress before it is confirmed, but for the researchers in the project team, there is of course no confidentiality issue.

Du Wei was very surprised when he heard this. "It's really true? That molecular formula?"

"I told you it was true!"

Liu Lei swung his arm back hard, his face beaming with joy, and said, "I believed it as soon as the team leader took it out. Why?"

Who is our team leader?

"That's a genius doctoral student, a genius known throughout the entire internet!"

Du Wei covered his nose. He felt awkward when Liu Lei called him "team leader" because he was also a team leader, but now he was called "Team Leader Du".

Zhao Linwei said, "I heard from He Hui that they measured a clear decrease in resistance last night."

"Now we are conducting detailed measurements, and it should be confirmed by now."

"However, don't talk about it everywhere; don't let the news get out for now."

"of course."

"I definitely won't tell you!"

After Du Wei finished speaking, he swallowed hard. He was very excited, but even more so, he was incredulous.

Since arriving at the Applied Electromagnetism Laboratory, he has been following the direction Zhang Minghao suggested, conducting data analysis and theoretical research.

Throughout the process, he remained skeptical about the theoretical foundation, namely the connection between the Zhang phenomenon and the underlying mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity.

Later, with a clear direction, we conducted a series of experiments and even derived a molecular formula based on the data...

He couldn't understand.

"It's actually true?" Du Wei felt that his understanding had been completely overturned.

He looked at Zhao Linwei and Liu Lei again and suddenly felt that he should learn from them and not need to think too much.

"From now on, I'll do the same as them, whatever Zhang Minghao says."

"Easy work, remarkable results!"

He breathed a sigh of relief, a surge of excitement welling up inside him, because the research itself was directly related to the work of the theoretical group.

The discovery of aluminum-based high-temperature superconducting materials is only a stage in the process.

That was the result obtained by Zhang Minghao through calculation and analysis based on theoretical research. Further calculation and analysis can certainly be done, and the theory can be further improved.

After thinking about it, Du Wei suddenly felt highly motivated to work.

"The research direction is genuine! It's correct! The prospects are incredibly promising..."

"It's not just about aluminum-based high-temperature superconductivity; we can explore even deeper theoretical mechanisms in the future..."

……

The back row of the laboratory building contains a large laboratory.

Zhu Bingkun, Chen Shuai, and Zhang Minghao were all present, along with Zhou Jianyong, He Hui, and others. They were all watching Xue Kun and Fang Huimin's discussion on one side.

Xue Kun and Fang Huimin are currently coordinating testing and experimental data.

After waiting a short while, Fang Huimin took out a report and began to speak earnestly, "It's already very clear."

"The critical temperature of barium aluminum oxide materials is between 89K and 90K. When it approaches 90K, the resistance drops significantly."

"The material's properties are not stable, and zero resistance was not detected, which is likely related to the uneven atomic distribution in the bulk material structure."

"However, we detected extremely weak resistance values ​​at several points, which confirms that it is a high-temperature superconducting material."

"Other characteristics also support this conclusion..."

Fang Huimin placed the form on the table as she spoke.

Zhu Bingkun picked it up and took a look.

Xue Kun continued, "The current measurements have reached their limit. If we want to conduct further measurements, we need to wait for the preparation of thin-layer materials."

"I contacted Professor Yang Chunyu of Nanhua University of Science and Technology and asked his team to manufacture thin-layer materials."

"I've spoken with him, and it will take more than two months..."

"But it's okay, the thin-layer material is just for further research."

Zhu Bingkun also confirmed, "The most important thing is the high-temperature superconducting property. Once this is confirmed, everything else is secondary; we can gradually conduct tests." "Now that we have the basic measurement data, we can start preparing to make a summary."

"You can publish a paper first; there's no rush to report the results."

Zhu Bingkun spoke with a hint of impatience, as he was well aware of the 'rumors' circulating in academic circles.

In the condensed matter physics community, many people treat aluminum-based high-temperature superconducting materials as a joke, and almost no one is optimistic about their direction.

Now that we've achieved results, let's see what they have to say!
After the summary was finished, everyone looked at Zhang Minghao.

Current research uses experiments to explore theoretical mechanisms, and Zhang Minghao has derived an aluminum-based high-temperature superconducting material based on the study of theoretical mechanisms.

What’s next?

Zhang Minghao nodded and stepped forward, saying, "Next, we still need to continue to study and verify the theory."

"My team and I will continue our analysis based on the existing foundation. We might even calculate and analyze other molecular formulas, and try to prepare them..."

"But it may not be correct, because the theory is not yet perfect."

Everyone else was a little confused. Could other molecular formulas be calculated?
Normally, if you can calculate one, you can definitely calculate the second, but...

This is a high-temperature superconducting material!
Each discovery of a material can be considered a significant achievement, and while it may not be as good as the first one, it is not far behind.

If it can be calculated continuously, it would, to some extent, unlock the theoretical mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity.

This is the case for at least aluminum-based high-temperature materials...

They dared not think about it any further.

Zhang Minghao continued, "In terms of experiments, we need to continue measuring material data and continue previous experiments, including the determination of nickel/alumina metal ceramic thin films."

"More data can help improve the theoretical framework!"

"That's about all the work I have to do."

Zhang Minghao didn't say much; he hadn't quite gotten into the role of a leader yet. He would just give whatever data he needed.

Let Zhu Bingkun and Xue Kun lead the specific experimental work.

……

In the following days, everyone in the lab was full of energy.

Everyone is busy with their own work.

The task of summarizing the results was assigned to Chen Shuai, an expert in writing research reports and laboratory papers.

This study is very important, but the paper is much simpler than before because it only describes the material properties and does not include theoretical mechanisms or experimental work.

Chen Shuai completed the thesis in three days.

After some discussion, they ultimately decided to submit their work to the journal Nature.

According to Zhu Bingkun, "A few years ago, domestic research papers on nickel oxide high-temperature superconducting materials were also submitted to the journal Nature."

"Moreover, we have never submitted to CNS, only PRL or Chinese Physics Letters."

"Let's give it a try this time, there's no rush to publish anyway."

Zhu Bingkun said he wasn't in a hurry to publish because the research was still ongoing.

The current results are a 'small-scale study', based only on Zhang Minghao's analysis and calculations. Further analysis and calculations will certainly follow.

The review process for Nature magazine takes 1 to 3 months, and the review and publication speed is also quite fast.

If you want to publish quickly, you can only submit to "Chinese Physics Letters", which greatly reduces your international influence.

However, what Zhu Bingkun and the others did not expect was that the influence of the Applied Electromagnetic Laboratory and Zhang Minghao personally had become completely different.

Previously, any major achievements of the applied electromagnetics laboratory had to be reported to the higher authorities and then accepted by the acceptance team.

For example, the discovery of the Zhang phenomenon.

The discovery of a new physics concept is certainly a very significant achievement, but it is simply beyond the capacity of a city-level laboratory.

Without the backing of a national or large institution, even submitting to a top domestic journal might result in a direct rejection.

It's different now.

After completing several major research projects, the Jiangzhou University Applied Electromagnetism Laboratory and the name of Zhang Minghao have spread throughout the international academic community.

Once you gain fame, the treatment you receive when submitting to top journals will be very different.

early morning.

London, Clinan Street, Nature editorial building, three floors, physical sciences editorial office.

Rupert-Worth is a long-time editor of the Physical Sciences editorial board.

He received his PhD in physics from the University of Manchester and later conducted research in astrophysics. After working for several years, he found that he did not like scientific research, so he resigned and applied for a position as a physical science peer editor at the journal Nature.

With his research experience, Rupert-Worth was perfectly suited to be a peer editor in the physical sciences.

He also enjoys this job.

After arriving at the office, Rupert first made himself a cup of coffee, then slowly walked to his workstation to begin his day's work.

The editorial board of the Physical Sciences department does not review manuscripts one by one. Instead, they prioritize the manuscripts they want to read and set aside the ones they don't want to read.

Rupert glanced at the title of the manuscript. It had been uninteresting for several days in a row, and the content was neither novel nor innovative. It certainly did not meet the acceptance criteria of the journal Nature.

Scrolling down further, I came across an article titled "Discovery and Characterization of an Aluminum-Based High-Temperature Superconducting Material".

Rupert stared at the title of the manuscript again and again before he was sure he hadn't misread it.

"Aluminum-based high-temperature superconductivity?" He couldn't help but laugh, and was about to reject the paper outright.

He paused for a moment, then clicked through and glanced at the author list—Zhang Minghao, Xue Kun, Zhu Bingkun, Du Wei, Chen Shuai, Zhao Linwei, Liu Lei…

Like many experimental studies, it has a long list of names on it, suggesting it's a project team from a research institution.

The research institution listed it as the Applied Electromagnetism Laboratory of Tokyo University, Jiangzhou University.

"Zhang Minghao? Jiangzhou University? I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before?"

Rupert sensed something was wrong.

He stared blankly for a long time before suddenly realizing, "Zhang Minghao! Jiangzhou University! The ZXZ phenomenon!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he stood up abruptly.

Under the astonished gazes of his colleagues nearby, Rupert walked straight into the editor-in-chief's office and shouted as soon as he entered, "Alastair, a big study, come and take a look!"

Alastair Finch, the editor-in-chief of the physical sciences section of the journal Nature, had only just arrived at his office and hadn't had a chance to do anything yet.

Upon seeing Rupert's appearance, he immediately asked curiously, "What big research project? Why the rush?"

"You wouldn't believe it, aluminum-based high-temperature superconducting materials!"

Alastair was taken aback and immediately asked, "Aluminum-based? High-temperature superconductivity?"

"Rupert, you're not kidding, are you?"

"I find it hard to believe too!"

Rupert said earnestly, "When I saw the title, I almost rejected the paper outright, but the submission was from Zhang Minghao of Dongda Jiangzhou University."

"You should know, right?"

"Zhang Minghao?"

Alastair immediately realized that before, he only knew about the ZXZ phenomenon, and when he heard 'Zhang Minghao', he didn't know who it was.

Last year, an event occurred where the 'instantaneous nature of flow' described in the paper published by Qiu-Jian Xu of the University of Florida was quickly overturned.

This means that the journal Nature published an erroneous paper, and that it came from the editorial office of the Physical Sciences department.

Alastair was deeply impressed by this; he remembered Zhang Minghao's name and, after finding the submitted paper, he immediately began to read it quickly.

The paper is not long, only two and a half pages long.

Alastair skimmed through the information and got a general idea of ​​what it was about. As the title suggests, it mentions the discovery of an aluminum-based high-temperature superconducting material with a critical transition temperature of 89K.

This is absolutely groundbreaking, because aluminum is generally considered unsuitable for superconductivity, and this new discovery is a high-temperature superconducting material. It will overturn many understandings in the field of superconductivity and will certainly promote research on superconductivity.

Rupert-Worth asked, "Should we send it to a reviewer? There are many experts in this field, from Cambridge University..."

"No!"

Alastair waved his hand, interrupting him, "Now that it's the judges' turn, what kind of comments do you think they'll give? Maybe they'll just reject it outright."

"Of course, it's also possible to prepare materials specifically for verification, but how long would that take? That's uncertain."

"It doesn't need to be that complicated. If this kind of research has been submitted, it must already be confirmed. It can just be scheduled for publication in the next issue."

Rupert-Worth was stunned. He asked as if to confirm, "No need for peer review? What if it's wrong again, like the University of Florida last time..."

Alastair interrupted him again, saying, "Of course I know what you're going to say, didn't that manuscript have peer review?"

"Yes, it was approved, and the evaluation was very high. It was even by a Nobel laureate, so we published it."

"The result is wrong..."

Rupert pressed on, "What if it's wrong again?"

"I hope I'm wrong."

Alastair laughed heartily, "Rupert, you should know that it was Zhang Minghao who submitted the article!"

"He discovered ZXZ and further researched it to determine the continuous liquidity of ZXZ. This achievement has had a tremendous impact."

"In addition, there was a previous report that he had developed a multilayer tinene thin film material that achieves 100% conductivity at room temperature. Of course, that material is very expensive and not widely available, but it is still very remarkable."

"What I mean is that he might win the Nobel Prize in Physics this year, or maybe next year or the year after, but even if it is delayed by 10 years, he will still be the youngest Nobel Prize in Physics laureate in the past 50 years."

"If it were this year, he would make Nobel Prize history and break the record for the youngest recipient."

"He also published a flawed paper this year in the journal Nature..."

"I think this will definitely become an interesting story in the history of science, and perhaps our names will be included in it."

"There will be a record of it. Alastair and Rupert are Zhang Minghao's fans. They didn't even read the manuscript before approving it..."

(End of this chapter)