A genius? I just love studying.

Chapter 160 Abandon Illusions, Prepare for Battle (Second Update)

Dobessie suddenly realized why Bryant hadn't given any peer review comments; he was just stalling for time.

Knowing the whole story, she was certain that the paper contained plagiarism.

"Qiu, don't worry, I will find out the truth and give you a satisfactory answer."

Dobessie offered her assurances, but she was prepared to give Bryant some dignity by letting him retract the paper himself. This would be better for everyone; otherwise, if it were made public, Bryant's academic career would suffer a major blow, which was not what she wanted to see. Bryant was still a very capable mathematician.

After hanging up the phone, Dobesie went straight to Bryant's office. After walking a few steps, she returned to her desk, looked up some information, and then took out the latest issue of Duke Mathematics Journal. She also printed out Oliver's paper before leaving the office again.

"Bryant, you bastard, retract that paper right now and apologize to Professor Qiu."

She stormed into Bryant's office, cursing and swearing. She truly couldn't understand how someone who was usually so smart could do something so stupid.

Bryant was momentarily stunned by the barrage of criticism, but he quickly realized that something must have happened. "Hey, Dobessie, what happened? I've been really busy lately, and it's wrong of me not to review papers, but there's no need to be so vicious!"

"Stop playing games with me. You know perfectly well what happened with your student's paper?"

She knew very well that Oliver couldn't have done these things without Bryant's help.

"What paper?"

Bryant immediately understood what was going on, but he still pretended to be completely clueless. "There must be some misunderstanding!"

"Explain this paper to me."

Dobessie threw the printed paper directly onto Bryant's desk; it was Oliver's paper.

Bryant pretended to study the paper seriously for a while before looking up and saying, "This paper is quite rigorous. Even if it wasn't submitted to Duke Mathematics, there's no need to get so angry, is there?"

"Then take another look at this paper!"

Bryant's reaction puzzled Dobesie, who temporarily suppressed her anger, flipped to the latest issue of Duke Mathematics magazine, found Chen Hui's article, and handed it to him.

"Someone plagiarized Oliver's paper?"

Bryant stood up, his face already showing signs of anger, and sternly rebuked, "How did your editorial department review these papers? How could you allow such a paper to be published?"

Dobessie was taken aback by the harsh accusation, but she still didn't completely believe Bryant. "It's still hard to say who plagiarized whom."

After all, Chen Hui has a mountain of irrefutable evidence.

"Take a look at this video first."

The video is naturally a recording of Chen Hui's seminar at Yenching University.

"This is the paper you were responsible for reviewing!"

"Could you show me Oliver's submission history?"

Dobessi stared intently at Bryant. He had checked Oliver's submission history before he came, and Oliver's upload times on the pre-release website were all later than Chen Hui's submission times.

"Believe it or not, I've been incredibly busy these days, you know. I've been busy joining that research group at Berkeley, preparing to participate in that historic event, and I haven't read this paper."

Bryant shrugged. "I don't have Oliver's submission records, but I have emails with Oliver that can prove it."

As he spoke, he turned on his computer and pulled up his emails.

Dobessie was genuinely puzzled this time. The email records Bryant showed dated back eight months, with a total of thirteen emails exchanged on this issue. Each email contained some progress, and several of them had already raised some viewpoints and methods from academic papers.

So, they really didn't plagiarize?

The emails that Bryant showed were clearly earlier than the meeting recording provided by Qiu Chengwu. Therefore, not only did Bryant not plagiarize, but it is possible that the other side plagiarized Bryant and his team.

However, in the video provided by Qiu Chengwu, the little guy's thinking was clearly more complete, and Bryant's behavior of suppressing the manuscript was also very suspicious.

Things became increasingly complicated.

"I will no longer concern myself with this matter, and you have never received a peer review invitation from Duke Mathematics. You'd better watch yourself."

Dobessie couldn't get a definite answer, and she didn't want to play a guessing game. It was foreseeable that this matter would become a Rashomon-like situation, and would probably end up like many plagiarism scandals in the industry.

She didn't want to get involved in this mess, nor did she want Duke Mathematics Journal to get involved.

As Dobes walked out of the office, Bryant gave a barely perceptible sneer.

If he hadn't made thorough preparations, he probably wouldn't have taken such a big risk. But now, who can tell who plagiarized whom?
He could even accuse Chen Hui of plagiarizing their work.

He didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but now that it has, he has a way to clean it up!
Soon, he also received a call from the editor-in-chief of Mathematical Physics Communications, asking him to provide supporting materials. This was something Oliver should have been doing, but his behavior these days was indeed too abnormal.

However, the evidence he provided was irrefutable.

In the office of the Qiu Chengwu Mathematics Research Center at Tsinghua University.
After hanging up the phone, Qiu Chengwu sat in a chair and pondered.

"Is Old Qiu considering whether Dobesi will handle this matter?"

Yun Wei asked.

Interrupted from his thoughts, Qiu Chengwu sneered, "Don't have any expectations of those Western guys. The reason they can produce great scientists is not because their academic circles are so clean, but simply because they seized the opportunity first."

Yun Wei nodded. Professor Qiu had studied and taught in the West for decades and was qualified to make this assessment.

"She didn't give us a definite answer, which means she's not prepared to put her heart into it."

Qiu Chengwu chuckled and said, "Even if they give a positive reply, don't believe them easily. Remember that, be more careful when dealing with them in the future."

He looked at Yun Wei as if he were instructing his student.

It's not that he lacks excellent students, such as Tian Yang from Yanbei University across the street...

But now, the only one who is worthy of his special attention in his research is Yun Wei. Although they are not officially master and disciple, they have long had a master-disciple relationship.

"Abandon illusions and prepare for battle."

"To win this battle completely, we have to rely on ourselves!"

Qiu Chengwu was clearly thinking about something else: "That lemma is the key to our comeback!"

"I'll contact Chen Hui right away."

Yun Wei immediately understood Qiu Chengwu's meaning, but Qiu Chengwu raised his hand to stop him, "There's no need to ask!"

"If he knew how, how could he not prove such an important lemma?" "You've seen how difficult it is to prove this lemma; it's not that simple."

"But this is also our advantage. They don't know about this flaw yet, or even if they do, as long as we can prove it first, then we'll know who the real owner of this paper is!"

"This is not a battle fought by one person, but a contest between the mathematical communities of the East and the West!"

"Go and tell this to the other side, and then let's see who can prove it first."

Excitement gleamed in Qiu Chengwu's cloudy eyes. This was indeed a very interesting thing. "If that little guy knows how, there's no need to ask. If he doesn't know how, there's no need to ask either. Go ahead."

Yun Wei nodded. Of course, he knew that the person Qiu was referring to was not the plagiarist from Duke University, but Academician Tian Yang from Yanbei University.

Old Qiu was also in a playful mood and wanted to have a match with the other side.

Yunwei didn't quite understand this approach, but since Professor Qiu was willing, he could only act as a messenger. However, in his opinion, it would be better to ask Chen Hui, the author of the paper, first.

……

Your math level has improved from 3 (16%) to 17%.

Your physics rating has increased from level 3 (8%) to 9%.

In the library, Chen Hui finished the last stroke of his paper and looked at the pop-up comments in front of him. He felt a sense of satisfaction, writing down the accumulated knowledge in a vivid and unrestrained way. This kind of exhilaration can only be understood by those who have experienced it. It is far better than playing games. At Chen Hui's level, learning is truly addictive.

With both papers completed, Chen Hui opened a webpage and began searching for the most suitable journal to submit them to.

Previously, it was always the teachers who recommended him, but ultimately, this kind of work needs to be done by himself, and it's time for him to learn how to do it.

Although the mathematics paper presents a new model involving many advanced mathematical concepts, it is highly relevant to physics. Therefore, submitting it to a pure mathematics journal would be inappropriate. You could submit it to applied mathematics journals, but preferably those related to physics, which significantly narrows down your choices.

"Mathematical Physics Communications is a good choice!"

Soon, Chen Hui had a goal.

Next is the paper on fractal structures, a discovery of a new structure. Although it involves a lot of mathematical knowledge, overall it is a paper in the field of physics, and you can try submitting it to a physics journal.

Condensed matter physics is currently one of the most popular fields, with more related journals than all journals in pure mathematics combined. The impact factors of the top journals are mostly in the double digits, which is far ahead of the average impact factor of 2-3 in mathematics.

I wonder if the influencing factor will affect the acquisition of free attribute points?

Once this idea took hold, journals with an impact factor below 10 no longer caught Chen Hui's eye. Soon, he locked onto his target—Nature Physics.

Nature Physics has an impact factor of 19.3, which is quite impressive among condensed matter physics journals.

Of course, high influence also means extremely high quality and extremely rigorous peer review.

Nature Physics is also a subsidiary journal of the renowned journal Nature. As far as Chen Hui knows, if one can publish an article in Nature, one can easily obtain the qualification of a professor in China, as well as various talent introduction rewards, including settlement allowances, which can amount to at least several million yuan.

Even though Nature Physics is only a subsidiary journal, its influence is extremely strong.

If the final draft is not approved, it will undoubtedly waste a lot of time.

Chen Hui hesitated and looked at another option, Physical Review Letters, a journal published by the American Physical Society. However, it is a weekly publication and publishes a much higher number of articles each year than Nature Physics, so the difficulty of getting a paper accepted is naturally much lower.

Just as Chen Hui was struggling with his decision, he suddenly received a call from his teacher, Yuan Xinyi, asking him to come to the office.

Without delay, Chen Hui packed his things and immediately rode his electric scooter to the teacher's office.

Researchers dislike receiving phone calls, as they can easily interrupt their inspiration. Regardless of the research field, high-quality, long-term thinking is crucial.

Naturally, they generally don't call other scholars, but rather communicate via email.

If the teacher calls, it must be something important.

In the office, besides teacher Yuan Xinyi, Professor Xiao Meng was also there, along with Yang Chi, Deng Ting, everyone from the lab, the vice dean of the School of Physics, Guo Senlin, the vice dean of the School of Mathematics, Wang Qiming, and two elderly men whom Chen Hui did not recognize.

When Chen Hui entered, these people all had warm smiles on their faces. Those smiles made Chen Hui's scalp tingle, as if they were staring at some kind of precious pearl or jade.

"Hello, I am Zheng Nanning, a researcher at the Chip Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This is Wu Hanming."

Before Yuan Xinyi could speak, one of the older men introduced to Chen Hui, "Young Chen, would you be interested in studying at our institute? Our institute also has doctoral programs."

"Wait a minute, Mr. Zheng, this isn't on the agenda!"

Wang Qiming immediately stepped forward, looking like he was guarding against a thief, and stood in front of Chen Hui, blocking Zheng Nanning.

He had only just returned from Guangzhou when Chen Hui unexpectedly did something big again. This time, it was truly earth-shattering and had even alarmed the heavens.

He's determined to keep such a talented person at Jiangcheng University's School of Mathematics; even Jesus couldn't take him away!

Zheng Nanning smiled nonchalantly, "Such pillars of society should grow rapidly through practice. Learning only theory is too slow for them!"

He then said seriously, "The country needs this kind of talent!"

"Old Zheng, that's not right."

Wang Qiming's expression also turned serious. "Is China's applied technology really that much worse than theirs?"

"The conditions are tough, but we're not as vulnerable as we were back then."

"But in terms of cutting-edge theories, we haven't even ventured into them yet; we still have a long way to go."

"Don't you think it's a waste to let someone with such talent do applied research?"

"We can't just focus on our immediate surroundings; we also need to look up and see the bigger picture!"

"Isn't that right, Mr. Zheng?"

Zheng Nanning remained silent.

He looked at Wang Qiming with some surprise. He had originally thought that this guy was just trying to leave behind a genius for the School of Mathematics at Jiangcheng University.

I never expected him to say something like that.

Whether he really thinks that way is not important; the fact that he has thought that way is enough to explain the issue.

He admitted that he was persuaded by Wang Qiming.

A talent like Chen Hui can better utilize his abilities at the forefront of theoretical research. This is not to say that Chen Hui cannot achieve results in applied research. On the contrary, he believes that if Chen Hui devotes himself to applied research, he will definitely achieve great results.

However, applications will be limited in many aspects. For example, if you are researching chips, you need the cooperation of materials, circuit design, manufacturing process, etc. Otherwise, even if you develop materials that are a hundred years ahead, their use will be limited. You can't expect Chen Hui to come into contact with all these fields and make breakthroughs one by one, can you?
Theoretical research doesn't have this limitation; the world of imagination is limitless!
(End of this chapter)