"The 2021 Ali Global Math Competition announced an increase in prize money, with the gold prize increasing from 20,000 RMB to 100,000 RMB, and winners can directly join the DAMO Academy."
"Ali DAMO Academy is recruiting astronomy talents worldwide. The DAMO Academy has established a new astronomy laboratory, and Professor Zhao-Huan Zhu from the Department of Astronomy at the University of Nevada has officially joined the DAMO Academy as the head of the DAMO Academy Astronomy Laboratory."
Besides Ali, major internet companies such as Tencent, Huawei, and Baidu are all setting up their own astronomy labs and recruiting math talents on a large scale.
As a result, there is a shortage of astronomy PhD graduates this year, with demand comparable to that of AI PhDs during the two years when AI was all the rage.
Even undergraduates majoring in astronomy at top-tier universities (like 985 universities) can earn over 200,000 yuan a month, as long as their GPA is decent.
Some recent graduates majoring in astronomy and mathematics who wanted to take the national civil service exam originally had very few options and could only apply for positions with no restrictions on eligibility. However, they were surprised to find that the government had temporarily launched another round of national civil service exams specifically for graduates majoring in astronomy and mathematics.
"Due to immature technology and other reasons, China's FAST telescope has announced that it will stop accepting observation applications from astronomers around the world."
FAST (Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope) is the largest spherical radio telescope on Earth, with an observation range extending to galaxies outside the Milky Way and even to the edge of the universe billions of light-years away.
As soon as the announcement from China's FAST telescope was released, astronomers abroad couldn't help but criticize it:
"It was only in March that we announced that we would accept observation applications from astronomers around the world, but by May we had technical problems and stopped accepting them."
"They say it's a technical problem, but don't we know what the real reason is?"
In the two days following the release of Magic Coin, China's FAST telescope received observation requests from scientists around the world.
Out of consideration for national interests, China would rather disregard its reputation at this time and find any excuse to stop the FAST telescope from being open to the public.
To prevent damage to the FAST telescope, tourism projects related to it have been completely halted, dashing local hopes that the telescope would boost tourism spending.
The James Webb Space Telescope, originally scheduled to launch on December 24, 2021, has been moved up to July 27.
The James Webb Space Telescope is an infrared observation space telescope jointly developed by NASA, Europa Space Agency, and the Canada Space Agency.
"We can no longer postpone the launch of James Webb. China has its own FAST telescope, and they are also preparing their own space telescope. We cannot tolerate giving up the L2 space point to China." The newly appointed NASA Administrator Bill said bluntly.
The head of the James Webb Space Telescope project was also named Bill; this Bill is Bill Oakes, and NASA's administrator is Bill Nelson.
Oakes said, "Impossible. China's space telescope project has only just been launched; it's definitely not going to be launched so soon."
Bill said angrily, "I've heard about the Weber project since I was an astronaut, and it still hasn't taken off!"
"The initial plan was to launch in 2007, but what happened? It's 2021 now, and 14 years later it's still lying in the base!"
"If China is determined to build a space telescope, are you going to delay for another fourteen years?"
"Back in 1998, they said the launch would be delayed until 2008."
"Back in 2000, they said the launch would be delayed until 2009."
"In 2002, they said it would be postponed to 2010."
"Postponed from 2003 to 2011."
"Postponed from 2005 to 2013."
"The 2006 event was postponed to 2014."
“On average, you postpone it by one year every year. I’ve really had enough. In 2018, we couldn’t delay any longer, and then this damn pandemic came at the end of 2019. Now you have another excuse!”
"You said it would be this year, but now you want to postpone it? Do you think that's possible?"
Oakes explained, “The James Webb Space Telescope is a huge investment project, and we have to be extremely careful. It is the most powerful infrared space telescope ever built by mankind, and we have already invested $10 billion in it.”
Bill looked at him seriously: "Your initial budget was 500 million US dollars, and now it has ballooned to 10 billion US dollars. If you can't launch by the end of July this year, the National Security Agency will come in and audit the entire project from beginning to end!"
"There are only five Lagrange points around the Earth, and L2 is the best location and most favorable for observation. If we don't occupy it, China's space telescope will be there."
A Lagrange point is a point of gravitational equilibrium, where an object can remain relatively stationary without being affected by gravity.
L2 is the farthest Lagrange point from Earth, at a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometers.
This is also the Lagrange point with the best observation results.
"If we had known things would turn out like this, we should have just asked Merlin to help us send the Weber Telescope to the Second Lagrange Point!"
Oakes' eyes lit up: "Really? Can we really contact Merlin? It would be best if we could get his help. We can assemble it on Earth and launch it directly there."
Bill was genuinely speechless: "I was just joking. How could we possibly contact Merlin directly? Ever since they discovered his teleportation ability, the FBI has basically given up on finding him."
"The James Webb Telescope absolutely has to be launched in July!"
The James Webb Space Telescope is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. It has a huge acquisition area and incorporates infrared (IR) optimization.
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