A Defense for the History Books (Part 1)

"Dr. Xu."

After they reached the conference hall, Zhai Xiaonan stopped.

"This is the room where you'll defend your master's thesis. The committee members are inside, so I won't go in with you."

After saying that, Zhai Xiaonan looked at Xu Yun with some curiosity.

Over the past while, Xu Yun had become a well-known figure at the Institute of High Energy Physics—or, for that matter, in the Academy of Sciences circles. People had often talked about him over meals and tea.

First, there was Xu Yun's degree program.

Although the Institute of High Energy Physics was hardly short of oddballs with double degrees or even more, in most cases, people pursuing multiple degrees chose fields that were closely related.

Economics and econometrics, for instance, or nuclear physics and mathematics.

But Xu Yun's fields of study were Condensed Matter Physics and Life Sciences. Though both belonged to the sciences, there was a clear disciplinary divide between them.

In a situation like that, graduating successfully took real ability.

Besides, most people earned dual degrees by completing one degree before starting another, or by taking a shortcut through a joint program with a foreign university. Because of academic record regulations, the restrictions on pursuing two graduate degrees at once in China were extremely strict—far more so than the restrictions on adding a second undergraduate major.

To get around those restrictions, first, the university had to be highly ranked. Second, the applicant needed exceptionally strong grades. In the language of novels, they had to be a rare talent.

And aside from his academic qualifications, Xu Yun's infamous press conference, his commercial achievements, and his dark matter announcement had all been quite dramatic.

People working at the Academy of Sciences were human, too. It was only natural for them to talk about Xu Yun.