"Of course, I'm not just interested." Musk cleared his throat and looked at Lu Zhou. He then said sincerely, "I have to thank you, your research has helped me a lot."
"… I'm glad I could help you," said Lu Zhou. He had an awkward smile on his face.
Honestly speaking, he was still a little confused by Musk's sudden visit.
Even though Lu Zhou's research results might have helped Tesla a lot, electric vehicles didn't produce batteries. Logically speaking, Musk had no reason to visit Lu Zhou.
Maybe it was because he had been busy with patents recently, and people called him every few days to ask if he was interested in selling patents. His first reaction was to think about the other party's intentions.
This wasn't because he was wary; it was purely a subconscious reaction.
"It seems that the two of you have a lot of interesting topics to talk about, but I'm not very interested in anything other than mathematics and football," said Mr. Francis with a white beard. He smiled warmly and said, "Then, take your time, I'll excuse myself."
"Thank you, I also want to talk to Professor Lu alone," said Musk with a smile.
After Mr. Francis left, Musk casually sat down across from Lu Zhou and spoke in a confident tone.
"… When I was studying economics at the University of Pennsylvania, I thought about the future of humanity and what the real problems the world was facing. In the end, my conclusions were new energy, the Internet, and space exploration. "
Musk looked at Lu Zhou seriously and said, "I'm an engineer, and you're a scholar. From your point of view, what is the key to solving these three problems? "
When talking to Musk, Lu Zhou felt like he was listening to Shinichi Mochizuki's report. Both of them were probably the kind of dreamers who were immersed in their own universe. Even though this wasn't a bad thing, it was a bit unfriendly for people who tried to understand them.
"I'm not sure about the Internet." Lu Zhou thought for a bit and said, "But the other two, I think they're probably in materials."
Even though the bottleneck of new energy technology and space exploration technology involved many disciplines, and not all problems could be summed up as materials science, what was interesting was that if the material problem was solved, many originally complicated problems would become simple.
Whether it was photovoltaic power generation or nuclear fusion power generation, lithium-sulfur batteries or lithium-air batteries, the most difficult part was the materials.
Musk snapped his fingers and said, "Looks like we're on the same page. My team of engineers and I think so too. I plan to invest 10 billion USD to build a material R&D base in Silicon Valley. If you are interested, I would like to hire you as the chief designer of this research institute. "
Ten billion USD?
Hearing this number, Lu Zhou was so shocked that he didn't pay attention to the second half of the sentence.
In his memory, Tesla's annual sales did not even reach this figure.
"Your idea is really interesting. I believe that if there is such a generous tycoon, the entire materials science community will be overjoyed … But with all due respect, can Tesla afford that much money?" Lu Zhou remembered hearing that Tesla's financial situation was not good.
Musk said matter-of-factly, "I don't have any, but I have since you came."
Lu Zhou: "…"
Other than cursing, he didn't want to say anything else.
…
Lu Zhou had to admit that Musk's proposal was very attractive for a researcher.
If it were Professor Sarrot, he would have taken his lithium-air battery project and gone to Lu Zhou without hesitation.
But for Lu Zhou …
Honestly, it was not very attractive.
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't help you."
Musk did not expect Lu Zhou to reject this attractive proposal. He frowned and tried to persuade him, "Are you sure you don't want to think about it? I can promise you that as long as you agree, you will never have to worry about research funding. "
"I'm a mathematics professor, materials science is not my area of expertise. You should find someone else." Lu Zhou paused for a second before he said, "Also, even if you promise me endless research funding, I can't spend that much money on research."
Although Musk wanted to persuade him again, he saw that Lu Zhou had no intention of changing his mind. In the end, he could only sigh helplessly.
"Okay, I have to say, you missed a chance to change the world … Of course, if you change your mind, you can find me anytime."
Lu Zhou said, "If you want to."
Musk left his business card and chatted with Lu Zhou for a bit. However, he seemed to be a little uninterested, and he wasn't as enthusiastic as he was at the beginning.
Musk had seen Lu Zhou's "change science with mathematics" speech during the Crafoord Prize interview. He had also seen Lu Zhou's words on the lithium anode material become reality … Musk originally thought that Lu Zhou was the same kind of person as him, but it seemed like that was not the case.
After chatting awkwardly for a while, he excused himself and left the party.
After Mr. Musk left, the surroundings quieted down.
Lu Zhou poured himself another glass of champagne and enjoyed the remaining time of the party.
At this moment, his little apprentice, Vera, returned to the banquet hall with Miss Hanna, who had a delighted expression on her face.
Judging from Hannah's excited expression, she probably did it.
Lu Zhou already knew the result, but he still looked at Vera and asked, "What was the result?"
Vera nodded and said quietly, "According to your request, I gave her a complex function problem according to the undergraduate teaching standards. After about half an hour, she successfully solved the answer. "
Lu Zhou nodded and looked at Miss Hannah, who was standing behind her.
"Very good, then congratulations, Miss Hannah, you passed my test. Give me your email address, and tell me which supervisor you want to apply for. "
It was a piece of cake for him, so he obviously would not go back on his word.
"Okay! Thank you, thank you so much! "Hannah nodded excitedly and took out a pen and paper.
Generally speaking, the recommendation letter was sent directly to the supervisor that the student applied for. The recommendation letter would not go through the student, and the student would not be able to see what was written in the recommendation letter.
Because of this, in a sense, being an overseas professor was very powerful.
Even if the recommendation letter was written by the same person, "I don't really recommend" and "I strongly recommend", these two sentences only had a few grammatical differences, but they determined a person's future.
However, generally speaking, most professors were happy to recommend students with potential to others. This was because it was one of the joys of being a professor to see the students they recommended become excellent scholars.
As Vera watched Hannah leave, she gently pinched her skirt and encouraged herself in her heart.
She took a deep breath and finally mustered up the courage to say, "… Professor."
Seeing that she seemed to have something to say, Lu Zhou was in a good mood, so he asked, "What?"
Vera opened her mouth and was about to say something.
However, at this moment, the music on the dance floor suddenly changed and began to play the ending music.
As the music played, the people on the dance floor reluctantly left.
Obviously, the dance party was over.
She seemed to be regretting that she had missed something. Her bright eyes were slightly disappointed as she looked to the side.
Vera looked down and whispered.
"Nothing …"
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