Chapter 535: Not Enough Time, Get More Manpower

After doing scientific research for this long, this was the first time Hou Jinli experienced what it was like being a boss.

Even though he was only a small boss, who was controlled by a big boss, his big boss was still a Nobel Prize winner. Thinking about it this way, even being a small boss was an honor.

Even though Hou Jinli was excited, he was still attentive to his work.

Using the name list Lu Zhou gave him, he searched the names one by one on professional databases. He found their numbers of citations, numbers of SCI, and their academic backgrounds.

The ceramic graphene composite material had been given the highest priority, so he had to look at who had the highest amount of quality publications.

He obviously wouldn’t forget Yu Junda, who worked on this project with him in the beginning.

He considered the fact that not everyone had the time to participate in this research project. In the end, he selected around 20 names and handed them to Lu Zhou’s office.

At first, he was worried that he might have chosen too many people, but when Professor Lu glanced at the name list, he approved it in a blink of an eye.

“These people will report at your laboratory tomorrow. You know my requirements. Is there anything else you need?”

Hou Jinli quickly shook his head.

“Nope, that is all.”

Lu Zhou nodded.

“Okay, then I’ll leave this matter to you.”

…

The workers of the Institute of Computational Materials were very efficient.

Or rather, it was because of Professor Lu’s prestigious reputation in the institute.

Even though Lu Zhou said that the team members would arrive tomorrow morning, they all arrived at night time.

The most unexpected thing for Hou Jinli was that the 20 people he selected were all here.

Before this, he thought that it would be nice if half of them came.

In order to speed up the progress, he immediately went to the relevant department and applied for a conference room. He put on his PowerPoint presentation, which he made during the afternoon. He then called the researchers over and had a simple meeting.

“I’m sure you’ve seen the experimental process on the report already. However, I’ll still use the powerpoint to explain it simply again. According to my research, the key to changing the pore diameter of the porous mesh aerogel network is on temperature and the addition of a reducing agent…

“Also the most important thing is the freeze-drying part. This part of the process is the key to not destroying this three-dimensional network during the process of obtaining the graphene aerogel. This part of the process is also relatively error-prone…

“I hope all of you pay attention to these parts during the experiment.”

Hou Jinli wasn’t normally a leader, so he obviously didn’t know how to delegate very efficiently. He explained the important parts of the experiment in simple terms.

“This mission is very difficult, and Professor Lu wants us to finish five samples in one week. I hope everyone here can work hard!”

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the conference room.

“One week…” One of the researchers, who was wearing glasses, looked troubled as he said, “This time frame is too short, I’m afraid it’s not enough.”

Reading all of the relevant literature should take two days at least, right?

Understanding all of the experimental steps on the report should take a day at least?

Plus composite materials have a high fail rate, one week is probably impossible.

It would be possible if it were two weeks.

Even though Hou Jinli knew clearly that this mission wasn’t that easy, he still insisted.

“The samples from us are going to be sent to Daya Bay for testing. According to the schedule, if we don’t send the samples by the beginning of next month, we’ll have to wait for an entire month.

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“If we waste one day here, the STAR-2 project will be delayed by one day.

“I know this isn’t easy, but we only have one week. The problem isn’t whether or not it is possible. We have to do it!”

When the researchers in the conference room heard this daunting request, they all looked at each other with concerned looks in their eyes.

The researcher earlier still wanted to say something, but looking at how desperate Hou Jinli was, he scratched his head and sighed.

Honestly, this was the least intimidating boss he had ever had.

But since this was Professor Lu’s request…

“Whatever, it’s not like I haven’t slept in the laboratory overnight before.”

The researchers all looked at each other and nodded.

Even though everyone was kind of confused as to why they were transferred here, especially when the person in charge wasn’t anyone special, but because of Professor Lu’s presence, they were prepared to work their hardest.

Not to mention that this was also for the future of China’s controllable fusion field.

Hou Jinli sighed in relief and looked grateful.

“Thank you!”

…

The experiment began on the same day.

The twenty researchers were divided into five teams, with four people in each team, and within each team, each member would be responsible for a sample.

Three groups were led by Hou Jinli, while the other two were led by Yu Junda.

Even though scientific research wasn’t building a wall, one couldn’t produce research results by using manpower alone, but when there was sufficient research funding and a clear solution to solve the research problem, having enough manpower was still an advantage.

The first two problems were already solved by Lu Zhou. Therefore, Hou Jinli didn’t face too much pressure.

The success rate was less than 20%?

Then they’d just do the experiment five or six times.

At most, they would have to sleep in the laboratory for a couple of nights.

For them, grinding all night was the norm.

It was late into the night when Yu Junda took the samples for XRD testing. He returned to the laboratory and saw Hou Jinli about to experiment on the next set of samples. Yu Junda quietly asked, “Speaking of which, does this mean we are participating in a secret national project?”

Hou Jinli thought for a bit and said, “Yes and no.”

Yu Junda: “What the hell does yes and no mean?”

Hou Jinli: “The controllable fusion technology is not at a mature stage yet. We would have to wait until the demonstration reactor is built before the detailed documents are released. But I think that since the United States has been trying to kick us out of ITER, our country is starting to take this seriously… I guess this counts as a confidential project?”

Any inventions or technologies that involved national security would require confidentiality. These research results would probably be filed in the form of confidential patents.

Normally, non-military enterprises could not qualify for confidential patents. But because the STAR-2 was a national key scientific research project, if they explained the importance of the technology, the patent office should give them an exception.

But then again, the only use for this material was probably the reactor.

The only other possible application was probably in medical equipment. However, because of the inferior toughness properties of the ceramic-based graphene composite compared to alloy materials, it was unlikely to be used in small-sized equipment.

Of course, these weren’t things the researchers had to worry about.

“Controllable nuclear fusion.” Yu Junda sighed and said, “Honestly, I never thought that I would one day participate in a national level scientific research project.”

“I didn’t expect this either.”

The newly-baked sample was stuffed into the freezer. Hou Jinli set a four-hour timer and rubbed his tired eyebags as he said, “However, whether it is a national research project or an insignificant research project, all we have to care about is whether we are doing a good job.”