âThis isnât a discussion at all! I havenât spoken once in this meeting!â
âThis is outrageous!â
âSomebody, talk some sense into him!â
âIt wonât work, he doesnât listen. Iâve told him many times that CERN has researched the 750 GeV characteristic peak for a whole year! Jesus, he wants to waste time on this again!â
âMaybe CNN is right, heâs a scientific villain...â
The meeting was quite unfortunate for some people.
A group of people walked out of the meeting room angrily as they loudly complained about Lu Zhou.
While waiting for the elevator, Professor Frank Wilczek noticed the rage on Professor Whittleâs face. He walked forward and spoke.
âWhat happened? Didnât the meeting only happen an hour ago? Why did it end so soon?â
âMeeting? That wasnât a meeting at all!â
Professor Whittle waved his hands and loudly said, âIâm going back to New York, Iâm going to tell those people at the Brookhaven Science Associates what the Chinese did! The Chinese people are abusing their power in the physics field!â
Frank Wilczek was stunned to see Professor Whittle so angry.
His intuition told him that something terrible must have happened an hour ago; otherwise, Professor Whittle wouldnât be this mad... However, Whittle wasnât exactly the most well-tempered person either.
He was more and more curious as to what happened in the meeting...
Did they fire the board of members?
No way?
...
According to Murphyâs law, anything that could go wrong would go wrong.
Professor Frank Wilczek heard about what happened from an old friend who worked at CERN. He heard about the meeting and started to feel worried.
In his impression, Lu Zhou wasnât a stubborn and ignorant scholar; he almost believed that Professor Whittle and the other board representatives had misunderstood Lu Zhouâs intentions.
However, the facts wouldnât lie.
What made Lu Zhou do something like this.
Frank Wilczek found Witten and invited him for a cup of coffee.
Wilczek talked about the board meeting and sighed.
âThe situation is bad.â
Witten expected he would talk about the ILHCRC, so he raised his eyebrows slightly and spoke.
âOh yeah?â
Frank Wilczek took a sip of coffee and shook his head with a pessimistic look on his face.
âMy worst fears came true. From the very beginning, the ILHCRC did not seem to be cooperative with others. I admit that his academic status is beyond most people... But this shouldnât give him a reason to do whatever he wants.â
After hearing Frank Wilczek, Witten suddenly smiled and said, âMaybe he found something at the 750 GeV that we didnât.â
âImpossible, my friend, you know this better than anyone else.â Wilczek shook his head and said, âNot to mention that Iâve worked with him on this project. At first, I believed that he could do it, I even tried to get permission from the LHC to do the experiment. When I realized this wasnât going to work, I parted ways with him. I know this pathway is impossible!â
Witten said, âThen why do you think he insists on doing this?â
Frank Wilczek: âMaybe heâs scared of being wrong? Or maybe heâs too arrogant? Or stubborn? Or wants to use his power in physics? Regardless of what the reason is, it is wrong to conduct research with this mentality.â
Witten smiled and shook his head.
âIt seems like you donât understand him at all.â
If this was anyone else other than Lu Zhou, maybe Wilczek would be correct.
However, for a scholar like Lu Zhou that only sought the truth, Wilczekâs speculation was too superficial.
Witten had met many people in academia.
Some of them were after fame, some of them were after fortune, however, Lu Zhou was undoubtedly the most special...
He wasnât completely indifferent to fame and fortune. He felt accomplished when he won awards or prizes, but that wasnât what he truly pursued. What drove him forward was only his curiosity about nature and the universe.
This was a rare and precious quality.
Out of all of the scholars Witten had met...
Lu Zhou was the purest one among them.
âOh?â Frank Wilczek raised his eyebrows and said in a dissatisfied tone, âWitten, I know you have a good relationship with him, but I hope you can see reality clearly. As his friend, you should persuade him instead of watching him go further down the wrong path.â
âWrong path?â
Witten used a spoon to stir his coffee. He smiled and spoke slowly.
âWhat is correct then?â
âWe know less than one percent of this universe. There is no right or wrong in physics, and strictly speaking, there is only completeness and incompleteness. Ever since the birth of quantum mechanics, we have realized thatââ
Frank Wilczek: âStop being pedantic, why should we waste time on something that has proven not to work? CERN has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into this. Now weâre about to waste another year on something that doesnât work!â
âBut some people think it works.â Witten looked at Wilczek and calmly said, âMaybe because he discovered something new, or maybe CERN didnât understand his theories. Maybe this is his intuition... I think these are all possible reasons.
âExploring the standard model is like finding a needle in a haystack. While physics is much more than just the standard model. Regardless of which research direction we go in, we will always be taking on risk... So why donât we trust him? Heâs never let us down before.â
Wilczek: â...â
So you just want me to believe in him?
Thatâs a bit ridiculous.
âI know what youâre worried about.â Witten smiled at Wilczek and said, âDonât worry, if this doesnât work out in the end, I will try to convince him that heâs wrong...
âLetâs trust his judgment for the time being.â