Time passed day by day, and it soon entered May.

With the arrival of the holidays, students who have been squeezed by heavy studies for a semester finally ushered in their summer vacation. This summer vacation will last from May to August, which lasts for more than three months. They can enjoy it.

There is no need to think about academic matters in life. Even the busy Princeton campus is tinged with many relaxing colors.

"How are you going to arrange the vacation? How many days should we go to Hawaii?" In the dining club, the two of them had dinner together. Feng Lin said to Liu Yichen: "We will go back to China after a while of vacation."

The sea and beaches are usually the first choice for summer vacation activities, and Hawaii is a world-famous resort. When Feng Lin came to the United States, she had heard of its name for a long time and wanted to go there for vacation and see the legendary resort.

Of course, ordinary students are reluctant to go to Hawaii, but choose to go to Fort Lauderdale. Compared with Hawaii, Fort Lauderdale’s tourism prices are relatively affordable. Since 1934, it has become a spring break destination for American University.

, it is so crowded at this time of year that not only American college students, but also overseas tourists come here.

"Okay, but in this case, you have to go to California with me!" Liu Yichen agreed.

The summer vacation lasted for more than three months. Naturally, he would not go back to China directly. He also wanted to take a vacation to relax his body and mind. Maybe he would be inspired after relaxing his body and mind.

"Why are you going to California?" Feng Lin looked at Liu Yichen in confusion.

"I'm going to attend a chemistry conference and receive an award by the way." Liu Yichen said with a slight smile.

"..." Feng Lin's eyes widened. It doesn't matter what it is. It couldn't be a mistake. A mathematician can attend some chemistry conference and still receive an award.

Summer vacation officially arrived, the two packed their luggage and drove to Newark Airport, from where they flew to California.

In this magical country like the United States, trains are definitely something to complain about. Highways are basically between adjacent cities. As for the longer distances, the most convenient way is to fly. The aviation industry here is indeed very developed, and air tickets are quite cheap.

San Francisco is a port city on the Pacific coast of California. It is a world-famous tourist destination and the fourth largest city in California. The world-famous high-tech industrial zone "Silicon Valley" is located here in San Francisco.

San Francisco is also the western region with the largest Chinese population. The number of Chinese in the United States is second only to New York. The city has a population of 850,000, but there are 180,000 Chinese.

San Francisco International Airport, the plane landed at this airport. The two of them got off the plane with their bags on their backs. Liu Yichen had a faint smile on his face. When he came here, he would take away his glory and give a one-hour speech.

.

Although the scale of this conference is not as large as the MRS conference, the top conference in the materials science community, its influence is not inferior at all, and it is also one of the top conferences in the field of organic synthesis.

At the airport, dedicated personnel came to pick him up, and then headed to the hotel where the conference was held. Liu Yichen took Feng Lin around for a walk. This kind of conference was not only a good opportunity to exchange academic issues with peers, but also a good opportunity to expand contacts.

No aspiring researcher would let go of an opportunity like this easily.

Round-trip air tickets and hotel air tickets are all booked by the organizer, and everything does not require him to pay a penny.

When they arrived at the hotel, they took a shower and went to bed to rest for a while, because the flight from New York to San Francisco also took 7 hours, and including the time spent in between, it was a full 8 hours.

Two hours later, the two got up, changed their clothes, arrived at the meeting venue, and walked through the red carpeted corridor.

"Hey, Liu, you're here too!" A middle-aged man saw him and took the initiative to come over and say hello.

"Hi, Professor Delis, I didn't expect to see you here." Liu Yichen said with some surprise.

The middle-aged man in front of him is Professor Delis of Princeton University. The two of them had collaborated before, and Liu Yichen helped his scientific research team solve mathematical problems.

"Congratulations on winning the Adams Award, but you deserve it. Your research not only promoted the birth and application of lithium-sulfur batteries, but also improved the performance of lithium batteries by 20%, making the application of lithium batteries more

It needs to be more extensive." Professor Delis said with a smile.

"I heard that you are very likely to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. These old guys are pushing you. No one at Princeton University has won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for several years!" Professor Delis lowered his voice.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry?

Liu Yichen was a little surprised, but there was no disturbance. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was really difficult to win. Even the father of lithium batteries has not been able to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

At this moment, an old man walked over, and Professor Delis became serious: "Liu, this is Professor John Goodenough, professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin!"

"Professor Goodenough, this is our Princeton scholar, Liu Yichen from China!" Professor Delis introduced to the old man.

Liu Yichen heard Professor Delis' introduction and finally understood who this person was. He was the inventor of lithium cobalt oxide, lithium manganate and lithium iron phosphate cathode materials, and one of the founders of lithium-ion batteries.

"I know this young man is really enviable. What a wonderful age!" Professor Goodenough said kindly: "Young man, you are much smarter than me. You applied for a patent for your research results as soon as possible!

"

Although Professor Goodenough is one of the founders of lithium-ion batteries, because he has no awareness of patent protection, the result is that the huge industry born of lithium batteries has nothing to do with him, and he will not get a dime.

Royalties.

In fact, this is also a common phenomenon among scholars. They do not have enough awareness of patent protection, so they often make significant contributions, but the patent does not belong to them, and then they watch others make a fortune and become rich.

For example, a typical example is Tesla. Although Tesla has made thousands of technological inventions, this did not make him rich. Instead, he suffered from financial constraints for many years. On the contrary, another invention madman 'Edison' became a rich man.

.

"Professor Goodenough, it's an honor to meet you!" Liu Yichen shook hands with Professor Goodenough. Liu Yichen still admired this kind of immersion in research.

"Hi Liu, nice to see you here!" A middle-aged man came over with a smile on his face.

"Hey, Rex, I didn't expect to see you here!" Liu Yichen was quite surprised to see the middle-aged man.

Because this person is none other than Rex, the current CEO of ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil is one of the world's largest non-governmental oil and gas producers. Its history can be traced back to the Standard Oil Company founded by Rockefeller in 1882. It sells oil every year

It produces about 28 million tons of petrochemical products and is now among the top ten of the world's top 500 companies.

"Liu, you don't know, ExxonMobil has been the sponsor of this conference for many years." Professor Delis said with a smile.

Liu Yichen nodded slightly. It was normal to think about it. ExxonMobil is a giant in the energy and chemical industry, so it is normal to fund such academic conferences.

"Professor Goodenough, I'm glad to see you are in good health!" Rex greeted Professor Goodenough with a smile.

Professor Delis saw Liu Yichen's puzzled look and said with a smile: "Professor Goodenough's research has been funded by Mobil Chemical for a long time."

"Liu, can you come to the side and have a chat?" Rex said with a smile.

Liu Yichen frowned slightly, but still nodded in agreement, and then took Feng Lin and Rex to the side.

"Liu, we at ExxonMobil are very sincere. Lithium batteries are a very broad field, and no one can eat this cake alone. And I believe you also understand the strength of our ExxonMobil, and we are

Cooperation maximizes the interests of both parties. In your Chinese terms, this is 'win-win cooperation'!" Rex said.

Liu Yichen looked thoughtful.

"Rex, I think you should also know that I have built a huge lithium-sulfur battery production base. To be honest, even if I license the patent to ExxonMobil, you actually don't have any competition in the production of lithium-sulfur batteries.

Advantages, your production costs are too high!" Liu Yichen frowned.

When Rex heard this, he couldn't help but frown, because he knew that what Liu Yichen said was true. As long as China can produce it, those produced in other places cannot compete, unless the factory is moved to China.

Although ExxonMobil is an oil and gas company, its areas of involvement are not just oil and gas, but also involved in chemical, automotive, new energy and other industries.

After the release of lithium-sulfur batteries, ExxonMobil felt a little bad, because lithium-sulfur batteries will usher in the era of new energy vehicles, and new energy vehicles will reduce the use of oil and natural gas, which is absolutely important to ExxonMobil.

It's very disadvantageous.

"Liu, you are a wise and intelligent scholar. What do you think will happen to Exxon Mobil when cars no longer use oil and natural gas?" Rex said.

"Rex, I think this is not a difficult choice. New energy vehicles also need electricity, and electricity is not generated out of thin air. For example, gas stations can add charging stations, and hydropower stations and nuclear power plants can be built to provide the electricity needed in the future.

It has definitely increased significantly," Liu Yichen said.

Although Rex is the CEO of ExxonMobil, Liu Yichen is not afraid because the CEO is not the boss behind the scenes, but just a high-level worker.

When Rex heard this, his eyes couldn't help but light up. Yes, you can control the upstream electricity. This is undoubtedly a promising career.
Chapter completed!