While the STAR stellarator completely ignited the popularity of controllable nuclear fusion technology and shocked the entire plasma physics community, the city of Greifswald, which was located in the Baltic Sea, was still as calm as ever.
The Wendelstein 7-X laboratory was located on the outskirts of this small town. Researchers and engineers went to work normally, completed their work normally, and chatted while drinking coffee during lunch breaks …
However, there was more or less a gloomy expression on everyone's face.
Just a few days ago, the paper published in Science completely shattered their pride.
For a long time, they had been ahead of the world in the field of stellarator research.
Even the Princeton PPPL Laboratory, which pioneered the stellarator technology, didn't have more say in the stellarator research than them.
However, this advantage was completely changed a few days ago.
The STAR machine in Jin Ling City, China, successfully achieved one-hour confinement of 100 million degree plasma.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that not only did this technological breakthrough leave them in the dust, but it was also close to the finish line.
The most frustrating thing was that they didn't even know how the STAR machine did it …
Keriber looked at the paper in his hand with a dignified expression on his face.
He had read the paper over and over again.
However, no matter how many times he read it, he couldn't help but be shocked by the facts behind this paper.
His assistant Price, who was standing next to him, took a deep breath and couldn't help but speak.
"Unbelievable … How did they do it?"
Professor Keriber shook his head and placed the paper on the table. "I don't know. If I knew, we wouldn't be in such a passive position right now."
As the person in charge of the Wendelstein 7-X laboratory, the pressure he endured was unimaginable for ordinary researchers.
After all, he was the one who convinced the Max Planck Institute and the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres to form a technology exchange agreement for the WEGA machine.
Even though the responsibility wasn't entirely on him, he repeatedly guaranteed that the WEGA machine was at least two generations behind the Wendelstein 7-X in all aspects …
But now, it seemed like even if he still believed in this, not many people would believe him.
Price suddenly had an idea. He lowered his voice and said, "Could it be … fake?"
Keriber shook his head. "There's nothing wrong with the data itself. The possibility of it being falsified is almost zero."
Price whispered, "But Professor Lu is a mathematician …"
What he really wanted to say was that if a big shot at the Fields Prize wanted to falsify the data, even if he really did it, no one would be able to tell.
However, Keriber continued to shake his head and said seriously.
"I believe in his academic reputation. Besides, he has no reason to do such a thing. "
Just then, there was a knock on the door, and a researcher walked in.
"Professor, the President of the Helmholtz Association of German Research, Professor Schmilleck, and the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Economics and Energy, Mr. Norbert, are outside."
When Professor Keriber heard these two names, he sighed with a tired expression. He placed his hands on the armrest of the office chair and slowly stood up.
"Got it. I'll head over now."
…
In the hall on the first floor of the laboratory.
When Professor Keriber walked out of his office, he happened to see a group of people walking in from the outside.
Professor Keriber looked at the two people in front of him and cleared his throat. He forced a stiff smile on his face.
"Professor Schmilleck, Mr. Norbert, welcome to the Wendelstein 7-X laboratory … What brings you here?"
Professor Schmilleck didn't smile. He said with a blank expression, "Stop talking nonsense, take me inside."
Professor Keriber was stunned. "Inside?"
"Wendelstein 7-X."
"Wendelstein 7-X? I'm sorry, there are no experiments scheduled today — "
"I don't care if there are experiments scheduled or not." Professor Schmilleck stared at Keriber and said, "Take me inside."
"Okay …"
Professor Keriber's expression froze for a second. He then nodded.
In academia, whoever controlled the funding was the boss.
This was true no matter which country it was.
Although Professor Keriber wasn't in a good mood at the moment, he still had to suppress his negative emotions in his heart.
After all, the main research funding for the Wendelstein 7-X laboratory was in the hands of the two big names in front of him.
With Professor Keriber leading the way, the group walked into the research institute and soon arrived at the laboratory where the Wendelstein 7-X machine was stored.
Professor Schmilleck walked next to the steel behemoth in the middle of the laboratory and carefully inspected the machine.
Professor Keriber looked at him and asked, "Are you satisfied?"
"Are you satisfied?"
Professor Schmilleck took two steps back and nodded. "Good, it's still there."
Keriber: "What do you mean it's still there?"
Professor Schmilleck looked back at Keriber and said, "I thought you guys sold your underwear for 500 million euros."
Hearing this, a strange expression appeared on Keriber's face.
"Even though I don't know what made you misunderstand, you can rest assured, because … the Wendelstein 7-X can't do this."
Even though this was the truth, it was the truth.
A one-hour magnetic confinement experiment would probably burn the first wall's cladding until nothing was left.
If they had to change all of the field coils to SG-1 material and improve the control scheme, it might be possible.
However, this sounded easy, but it would require a lot of time and funding …
Now was obviously not a good time to ask for money.
"That's the problem." Mr. Norbert, the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Economy and Energy, looked at Keriber and slowly said, "Why can the STAR machine, which was modified from the WEGA machine, do this, but the Wendelstein 7-X that you guys spent five years modifying can't? Maybe I'm not being academic, but I still want to ask, aren't you guys born to the same mother? "
A few of the accompanying staff next to him couldn't help but laugh.
Keriber's eyebrows twitched, but he still patiently explained.
"Yes, you're right. But they didn't just buy our WEGA machine. I can even say that our WEGA machine has been modified beyond recognition by them. "
"They can achieve an hour of magnetic confinement time. The key to the problem isn't the things we sold them, but the superconducting magnet and the control scheme … as well as some secrets that only they know."
Norbert interrupted Professor Keriber's explanation and spoke.
"I'm not here to listen to you explain why you failed."
"We have invested billions of euros in you guys, and you guys have been working for us for decades. Not only are we far from achieving results, but we're also being overtaken by a country that doesn't have any achievements in this field. I have to say, this isn't a pleasant thing. Even if it's to give our parliament and our allies a reasonable explanation, I want you guys to catch up. "
Professor Keriber bit the bullet and said, "I'm doing this."
Mr. Norbert stared into Professor Keriber's eyes and spoke word by word.
"Then don't just make promises, show me the results."
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