New York International Airport.
In an inconspicuous corner of the waiting lounge sat two unremarkable old men, with a large suitcase and a small one beside them.
If anyone from the Physics community happened to pass by, they would surely be startled to recognize them, perhaps even pulling out a Quantum Mechanics textbook and asking for an autograph.
Unfortunately, knowledge and opportunity had always rested in the hands of only a small number of people. On the same flight, the odds of encountering colleagues who could recognize the two of them were less than one in ten thousand.
Even with the first Asian High-Energy Physics Research Summit set to convene at IMCRC headquarters in Shanghai in a few days, those odds would not increase by much.
Then again, it was precisely because of this that Witten could steal a bit of peace in this noisy departure lounge—peace that was hard to come by even at Princeton—and quietly read without worrying about someone coming over to discuss a problem and interrupting his thoughts.
Sitting beside Professor Witten, Frank Wilczek, who was also headed to Shanghai for the conference, glanced at the journal in his hands and instinctively narrowed his eyes.
<3.7GHz Integrated Circuits Based on Carbon Nanotube Films>
What the hell was this?
"When did you become interested in integrated circuits?"
Though he did not particularly want to interrupt Witten's enjoyment of his extracurricular reading, Wilczek could not suppress his curiosity and finally voiced his confusion.
"I can't really understand it, but it seems quite interesting."
Witten flipped through the journal with interest and spoke almost to himself. "A new type of chip based on Graphene, one that could redefine the concept of semiconductors and lead a revolution in the electronics industry... Tsk, tsk. No wonder IEEE was in such a