Orion Crest, Series_1

Chapter 122: Nature

　　Chemistry at Princeton is not as well-known as Physics and Maths, but it is ranked 15 globally. If it is organic chemistry, the ranking has to be a little bit forward.

　　In particular, the Frick Chemical Laboratory, built after 2011, is one of the top-ranked chemical laboratories in North America. Although the big names in the field are not as good as the TOP1 MIT, the hardware conditions are not too far behind.

　　Many people think that Princeton does not have awesome laboratories, in fact, it is just a beautiful misunderstanding. Among the Ivy League schools, Princeton's alumni association is definitely considered rich and generous. And this is evident in Orion's $400,000 annual salary.

　　With Witten's introduction, Orion met Professor Paul J. Chirik of Princeton University.

　　This professor may look young, but in the field of organic chemistry, he is definitely known as a big shot. And he just won the 2016 U.S. Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for a paper published in Science.

　　The "1+1" problem of Goldbach's Conjecture in number theory is well known, and there are similar problems in organic synthesis, such as the famous "2+2" problem.

　　Olefin cycloadditions are very common in organic synthesis, and the famous Diels-Alder [4π+2π] cycloaddition reaction involves the formation of a six-membered ring from a diene (4π) and an olefin (2π) under thermal conditions.

　　However, another seemingly simpler [2π+2π] olefin cycloaddition to form a cyclobutane ring is not so easy. Due to orbital symmetry limitations, this reaction often requires photochemical reaction conditions to activate, but this reaction pathway tends to be inefficient and less specific.

　　And Professor Chirik, in that article submitted to Science in '15, proposed a completely new way to solve this problem - using iron catalysts to convert olefins into cyclobutane structures under mild heating conditions.

　　It was reported that industry was interested in the technology, and as a result, the related patents have brought the professor millions of dollars in return.

　　Upon learning of Orion's interest in computational materials science, Professor Chirik immediately showed a keen interest in him and invited him to his lab.

　　In the magical place known as Princeton, there may be historians who are attracted to maths or physics, but there are hardly any maths professors who want to study something else, even if a lot of it is more profitable than maths.

　　"The emerging science of computational materials is on the rise, but a lot of people who study that end up going to Silicon Valley to work on graphics processing, so why are you interested in that direction?" After handing Orion a cup of coffee and inviting him to sit down, Professor Chirik asked curiously.

　　"Because, maths is an interesting thing, and I'm going to try and make it blossom in a wider field than just the ivory tower of number theory." Orion said with a smile.

　　"You have a unique point of view," Chirik leaned back in his chair and teased with a grin, "Every time I've argued about this with professors at the Institute for Advanced Study, they tell me with a stone-faced grin that maths should be pure."

　　"They're right, maths is indeed pure. However, in my personal opinion, tools developed from pure research don't necessarily have to be used to solve pure problems," Orion stated with a smile, paused for a moment, and continued, "As a matter of fact, I was involved in a similar project before I travelled to North America, but I just couldn't continue it because I was too busy. In order to complete my research, I would like to borrow some lab equipment."