Wind tunnel construction is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary system integration project, including more than 20 professional fields including aerodynamics, materials science, acoustics, etc. It took just over two years for this vertical wind tunnel in China to break ground and the first ventilation test, which can be said to have created a miracle in the history of wind tunnel construction in China.

The afternoon sunlight shone in through the west door of the Sky Laboratory, where the wind tunnel was located, casting a halo over the plain steel and iron bones. The head of the department accompanied everyone on the tour and explained to everyone, and everyone communicated and discussed with the researchers of the Institute of Mechanics while walking. Yang Shuoming inadvertently found that on the road of more than 300 meters, everyone actually walked for more than half an hour.

When everyone entered the hall, Yang Shuoming saw that the spiraling spiral ladder surrounded two huge pipes, which was extremely spectacular, and the scientists were also amazed, thinking that it was not so much a test equipment as an avant-garde architectural artwork.

"At present, apart from China, only a very small number of technologically advanced countries have this kind of wind tunnel." A department head said, "The wind comes and goes without a trace, and it is extremely free." But in the hands of the scientific researchers at our base, the untraceable and ubiquitous wind is combed into a regular air flow of various intensities and shapes. ”

At this time, an improved freespin test of an aircraft model is being carried out in this vertical wind tunnel.

"Tail spin refers to the phenomenon that an aircraft rotates while falling sharply in a continuous stall state. It has only one consequence: the plane is destroyed and people die. According to some data, from 1927 to 1937, China lost hundreds of aircraft of various types due to tailspin accidents. ”

Coming to the control center, the watchman activated the switch at the command "test begins", and the huge motor began to turn. Some involuntarily covered their ears with their hands to ward off the "thunderous roar" that was coming. But what everyone didn't expect was that the imaginary loud noise did not come, only the shallow singing and chanting of the air through the stream. Soon, the wind speed reached the extreme, and Yang Shuoming stood next to the test section with good sound insulation, but he did not appreciate the artistic conception of "strong wind".

"The wind speed is now at the level of a hurricane." The head of the department said with a smile, "If you put people in the test section, you can experience the feeling of flying in the wind when you are blown by the wind." ”

China's first vertical wind tunnel has developed a strong testing capacity. Wang Hongsheng told Yang Shuoming that in addition to completing most of the conventional test items in the existing horizontal wind tunnel, this wind tunnel can also complete the evaluation of aircraft tailspin and the aerodynamic stability test of the aircraft during landing.

For these strange "scenery" in the wind tunnel, Xi Xue couldn't understand it with her eyes in the end, but she understood it somewhat.

She knows that this is a major piece of equipment with distinctive Chinese characteristics that Wang Hongsheng and other Chinese scientists of all generations have accumulated over the past ten years and created in a unique way, and its novel working principle is different from any existing wind tunnel in the world.

Yang Shuoming once told her that the wind tunnel represents a country's basic research level in aviation, because it is the "cradle" of the aircraft, and the engine and aerodynamic layout of an aircraft will never dare to go to the sky if it is not blown thousands of times in the wind tunnel. Wang Hongsheng's new wind tunnel is by far the world's most advanced aerodynamic test device for aircraft.

"How much did it cost to build this wind tunnel?" Yang Shuoming asked with a smile.

Wang Hongsheng smiled and said, "3.3 million silver dollars." ”

"Without innovative ideas, 300 million may not be able to come up." Yang Shuoming sighed, "It's amazing! ”

"The reason why we can have such an achievement is the realistic embodiment of Mr. Wang's spirit of not being superstitious about foreign experts and being brave in innovation." Fu Jing said, "This spirit has influenced a generation of Chinese descendants, and now, I hope this spirit can continue to be passed on." ”

At the end of the tour, a special class began in the conference room next to the wind tunnel. The keynote speaker is Wang Hongsheng.

The slides were made by the old man himself, and on a simple dark blue template, the headline was written: Realistic Worries - "Innovation" and "Creation". On the wall behind his seat, there are four big words written "Seeking truth and seeking truth".

"When you see this title now, you may wonder where my 'real worries' are. Why, then, are we worried about 'innovation' and 'creation'? Is it too old to write the title wrongly? Here I can tell you clearly that my real worries come from two sources. ”

Hearing the old man's opening remarks, Yang Shuoming's face showed a look of concentration.

"My first concern was: 'Are there any important innovations in our country's scientists and technologists?' ”

"Last year, I mentioned in a letter to the President and the Prime Minister that since the beginning of this century, China's scientific and technological personnel have refined penicillin, sulfonamides and other drugs before the West, and have taken the lead in synthesizing artificial insulin, and successfully realized the 'wireless power transmission' technology, but what about today? Are there any important innovations among our scientific and technical personnel? I think that at the moment we are too superstitious about Europe and the United States, and we are too bold! If we don't innovate, we will be incompetent! ”

When he said this, Wang Hongsheng's tone became indescribably solemn.

"This was my first concern, and it was not widely reported by the outside world, nor did it attract the attention of the President and the Prime Minister."

"My second concern was, 'Are we producing top talent?' ”

"When I mention this issue, it is likely that when I talk about the cultivation of top talents, I mean outstanding talents. There's nothing wrong with that. But what I'm talking about is not the general problem of talent training, but the problem of cultivating scientific and technological innovation talents. ”

"At this point, I think you can already see that the core of my two worries is about innovation."

So, what exactly is innovation? In my understanding, 'innovation' can be understood as 'creation', that is, the creation of something that has never been done before, or 'innovation', that is, gradual improvement. Hello everyone, according to me, what I mean by 'innovation' is creation rather than innovation. ”

"However, whether it is real innovation depends on whether we dare to study scientific frontier issues that others have not studied, rather than what others have already said, we know, and what we have not said, we do not know."

"I've always believed that how we approach 'creation' and 'innovation' is about whether we can achieve true innovation. In my opinion, compared with 'creation', 'innovation' is easier to implement, less risky, and easier to manage, and is widely welcomed by front-line researchers and technology managers. But if the same approach is applied to the management of 'creative' activities, it will put them in a difficult position. ”

"Innovation is very important, and most people want to innovate, but we can't let innovation replace creation, and we can't let innovation eliminate creation."

"I mention these problems here because I have personal experience: I once had a new research idea to apply for scientific research funding, but when I looked at the project application form, I found that I couldn't fill it out at all, because the results of the work of the exploration surname are unpredictable. How much money will be spent on each phase of the study? Fortunately, the National Academy of Sciences decided to fund me with 200,000 silver dollars, and the formalities were only to sign an agreement. It is because of this grant that this amazing wind tunnel is what it is today. ”

"And now, the question I am concerned about is, can an old man like me get research funding from the National Academy of Sciences or even the Ministry of Science and even the Ministry of Finance, but can those obscure young people do?"

"Among you here today is the Minister General of Finance himself." Wang Hongsheng glanced at Yang Shuoming and continued, "I am telling you all about this matter today in the hope that you will study how to better support creation. Scientific research management departments cannot manage creation by means of innovation. Wang Hongsheng said bluntly: "My perception is that we should cultivate the soil that is more conducive to 'creation' rather than just 'innovation'. ”

"Can you give me a copy of your handouts after the meeting?" Yang Shuoming nodded with a smile and said.

"I've got it ready for you." Wang Hongsheng laughed, Yang Shuoming turned his head to look at Xi Xue, Xi Xue got up and walked quickly to Wang Hongsheng, took the handout handed by the old man, and returned to Yang Shuoming's side.

When Wang Hongsheng was lecturing, the "class" was very quiet. And when it came time to the discussion, the atmosphere became lively. "Mr. Wang's speech is thought-provoking. I want the new team of Peking University to learn as well. Peking University should develop its characteristics and cultivate scientific and technological innovation talents, and the situation of 'one thousand schools' in the university should be changed. Cai Yuanpei, former president of Yenching University, said.

"The fundamental reason why universities are 'one in a thousand schools' is that there is a problem with the evaluation mechanism. Today's university rankings mostly emphasize superficial and quantitative indicators such as the number of papers searched internationally and the impact factor of journals. In fact, the total amount of these things has ranked among the top in the world, but there is still a big gap between the actual innovation ability and the international advanced level. Wang Hongsheng said, "Doctoral students can't graduate without two articles, so they can publish articles and do what they do, and they have become a papermachine (article machine) that foreign academic circles look down on." This is very harmful. ”

Xi Xue noticed that the white-haired old man was a little excited when he said this.

"I believe that when evaluating scientific researchers or research units, we should see whether they have innovative ideas, how much they have driven the development of related disciplines, and how they have promoted to meet the needs of society; Look at how many young people they have trained in their research work; It also depends on how well they cooperate with relevant units and what contributions they make to the development of cooperative units. ”

Fu Jing continued Wang Hongsheng's words and said: "I think that in order to improve the ability to create, we still need three efforts, all of which are indispensable: one is how scientists do it themselves; One is how the management department supports; The third is how the evaluation system keeps up. ”

"It seems that this 'science fund' also needs to be reformed." Yang Shuoming said.

"Our domestic science fund adheres to the principle of 'relying on experts, carrying forward the boiling, merit-based support, fairness and reasonableness'. Considering that some new ideas were not easy to be accepted by the judges at first during the application process, our fund management committee also set up a 'non-consensus project' to support the exploration of innovative research with strong surnames and high risk surnames, and achieved certain results. "For example, Mei Lin, a researcher at the Purple Mountain Observatory of the National Academy of Sciences, failed to pass the review at first, but the NSFC gave some support according to the non-consensus project, and then it got better and better, and I heard that he also found possible evidence of the Tunguska explosion." ”

"That is to say, in addition to funding projects, science funds should also place a lot of emphasis on funding people." Yang Shuoming nodded and said.

"I suggest that in addition to the 'non-consensus project', the 'innovative research group project' should be set up in the science fund, that is, the innovation team with a common goal will be funded on a merit-based basis, and the research direction and topic will be decided by the scientists themselves, so that they can have a relaxed environment and concentrate on research." Ba Yuzao suggested.

"The 'Innovation Research Group Project' will definitely play a better role in encouraging innovation and cultivating talents. Like this shock wave wind tunnel project, it has gone through twists and turns. Wang Zhu interjected, "The more difficult the time, the more the funding of the 'Innovative Research Group Project' will play a good role in the in-depth research and verification of key ideas." ”

"It's shallow on paper, and I never know that I have to do it." Yang Shuoming listened to everyone's opinions and said seriously, "I really didn't come in vain today, hehe." ”

"Today, next to the world's most advanced shock wave wind tunnel, we had a special discussion, and for me personally, it was very rewarding. First of all, we learned the spirit, the innovative spirit of Mr. Wang and his colleagues in the scientific community and the new generation of scientists of the Institute of Mechanics. The second is to receive the task, how to better support the innovation work, create a place to improve the evaluation system; Third, we have increased our sense of responsibility and mission, and in the future, we should better support innovation, cultivate talents, and further improve China's science fund system. Yang Shuoming looked at everyone and said with emotion, "It seems that you should go down and take a look more to understand the situation!" ”

Hearing Yang Shuoming say this, Xi Xue knew that she was likely to become a "trapeze" with him again.

At this time, the sky outside was as blue as a wash, and occasionally several planes flew by.

Tibetan Province, snowy region.

At this time, a plane was flying quickly, and there was no sign on the plane, but if someone in the know saw it, they would judge at a glance that it was a British plane.

A dreamlike view of the afternoon sun drifted over Campbell, as if it squeezed the rest of his breath out of his lungs at once. Far away, at the end of the field of vision, there is a faint stretch of overlapping snow-capped peaks, decorated with snow and ice, and the snow-capped peaks seem to float above the clouds.

The plane circled in a full circle, and then flew towards the west, gradually overlapping with the horizon, and the colors of the ground were so strong and dazzling that it seemed like a colorful canvas painted by a few half-crazy, half-crazy impressionist geniuses.

At this moment, on top of the huge stage, the plane "hummed" sullenly above an unfathomable canyon, opposite a white cliff so steep that it was almost vertical, and if there was no sunlight shining on it, it would be mistaken for a part of the sky. Just like the mountains and mountains of jade peaks that Campbell had seen in India before, they shone with dazzling silver light.

Ordinary things don't impress him so easily. Once, when someone took him to Tiger Ridge near the Dagesling in India to see the view of Mount Efelds (Mount Everest), he found the world's highest peak to be disappointing. At this moment, this palpitating spectacle outside the window of the plane is completely different, it does not have the charm of pretentious gestures, and there is something natural primitive and strange hidden in the snowy peaks of the icebergs and snowy peaks that stand proudly, a style that is intertwined with recklessness and incongruity in the magnificence and majesty, which makes people feel unapproachable.

He pondered, looking at the map, calculating distances, estimating time and speed. Later, he discovers that his assistant Neil has also woken up. So he patted the young man on the arm.

This is typical of his surname, and no matter how excited the others are, he doesn't pay much attention to their fuss and shouting; Later, however, when they asked him for advice, he gave an impartial and concise account of the matter as a university superintendent.

He thinks and says so that it is possible that they are still within the confines of India; The plane had been flying eastward for several hours, flying too high to see more, but there was a vague sense that it was likely to be flying along a river valley that was probably running in an east-west direction.

"I don't think I'm just remembering, but it struck me like a valley in the upper Indus River. So far, we've probably been taken to a very peculiar and spectacular place, and you've seen it, and that's true. ”

"So, you know where we are?" The assistant's voice interrupted him.

"Oh no. I've never been anywhere around here before, but I have no doubt that the mountain is Nagapaba, and from the structure of the mountain and the general topography, it seems to be very close to what I have heard. ”

"You're a mountaineer, aren't you?"

"When I was younger, I loved mountaineering, but of course, in Switzerland it's just a common surname."

"It might make more sense to tell us where we're going, my God, who can tell us where we're going?" A shrill woman's voice rang out.

"It seemed to me that we were facing the mountain in the distance. I don't have much research on geography, but I do know that these mountains are considered to be the highest mountains in the world, and if they do, flying over them would be a first-class flying stunt. ”

(To be continued)