449 The Past Week In Allyn (1/2)

”Monday, the thirty-second ring of Holm Crown prize finally found its winner in the Year of 822. Mr. Jerome was awarded for his discovery of X-ray. He is the second winner of Holm Crown prize from the Atom Institution after Mr. Evans.

”… In the Atom Institution, Mr. Jerome always remains a low profile. He does not seem to be as brilliant and eye-catching as Mr. Evans or as talkative and open-minded as Mr. Lazar and Mr. Rock, nor does he have the same solid academic foundation as Mr. Evans' students do. Then what made him gain such a great achievement? How did Mr. Jerome, a simple and honest gentleman in the eyes of the others, became a level-four arcanist and third-circle sorcerer, became the winner of the thirty-second Holm Crown ring?

”It's our great honor to have Mr. Jerome here today to answer these questions. Hi, Mr. Jerome, thank you for being with us today.”

Blake, who had the typical light blue hair and dark blue eyes of the Solarians, listened to the radio very attentively. Except for the discovery of X-ray, the news about the Atom Institution in recent years basically had nothing to do with Jerome. His name was always at the bottom, attracting little attention. However, all of a sudden, he had won the top award in the School of Element and had become the envy and model of thousands of arcanists.

The rich male voice answered, ”in many people's eyes, I am not a talented arcanist. I am not a match for Rock and my colleagues, not to mention Evans. Therefore, many arcanists believe that my achievement came from the favor of the Goddess of Luck… that an accident of forgetting the fluorescence piece led to an even more accidental achievement.”

Blake nodded. He also thought so, and it was not because of feeling jealous. The paper published on Arcana last year proved that Jerome's finding was more of an lucky accident than a discovery guided by developed theories.

”Then what do you think, sir?” Asked Lark, the host of the section, genially.

Jerome smiled. ”Indeed they are all right. But I have to add something here: Before I found X-ray, I had already conducted the related experiments for a thousand two hundred and twenty-seven days. When Lazar, Rock, and the students believed that there was nothing more to explore, I was still working on it using my own spare time.

”At that time, I never expected anything big. I was doing so simply because there were still things I did not understand. I am not smart, but I am proud of my diligence, perseverance, and patience, which are the only things that I can rely on.

”Maybe arcanists like me are not the ones to come up with those earthshaking theories which required much imagination, but we can lay the most solid foundation for the high tower of Arcana and add details to it. People like us are also valuable and promising.”

Jerome's words were simple but not plain. His words motivated Blake greatly. Diligence, perseverance, and patience… Blake repeated the words to himself in his mind.

”Diligence, perseverance, and patience…” Lark also repeated the words in the radio and smiled. ”Thank you for sharing, Mr. Jerome. I believe what you just said is a great encouragement to many arcanists, including me. Anything else you'd like to share with us?”

”Umm… First of all, I'd like to express my many thanks to Mr. Evans, whose great talent in arcana is known to all. Working with him has offered me much to learn. No matter what others say about his light quantum hypothesis, I believe in him. He was the one who offered us free access to all the facilities in the Atom Institution and encouraged me when I felt like giving up. Therefore, I named the ray using the letter 'X'.”

Jerome continued emotionally. ”… Also, I'd like to say 'thank you' to my wife, Vera. Her love and courage have been accompanying me all the time and giving me the power to do the tedious experiments over and over again. Without her support, I would never have been able to win the prize. She shares the ring with me.”

”That's so sweet. The couple also just got their first baby! Let's wish them an even sweeter and brighter future!” Lark said sincerely and then turned to the other guest speaker. ”… Today, we also have the president of the Will of Elements here, Mr. Morris Hoffenberg. Welcome, sir. So, for what Mr. Jerome just said, how do you feel about it?”

”Diligence, perseverance, and patience… These are very good qualities, regardless of talent.” Morris had a deep and charming voice of a mature man.

Lark agreed, and then asked, ”So Mr. Morris, we had received lots of letters from our listener this week, and they shared one question ⁠— Why wasn't Mr. Evans rewarded with the price?

”Mr. Evans's paper on radioactive element, which won him the Ice & Snow Medal, should further win him Holm Crown prize for at least two times: one for proving that electron is part of an atom's inner structure, and the other for leading us into the microworld and showing us the change of matters by discovering the new element Helium. His research is beyond exciting; it made us believe that we're on the way mastering matters, which used to be the forbidden zone of Gods. But why didn't such an important paper win the prize?”

Morris remained silent for a couple of seconds and replied, ”proving that electron is part of an atom's inner structure is a follow-up of the discovery of the electron. After discussion, we believe that this finding should not win Holm Crown prize again as Mr. Evans already has the ring Electron…

”The emission of a new element does involve how matters produce and change, but it hasn't been proved yet. When Evans can prove that a radioactive substance can be turned into another element due to the radiation of a new element using a solid experiment, the prize will go to him again. Hopefully, he will be able to put forward a whole set of theories explaining the complete structure of the atom and how matters change.”

… So the next Holm Crown prize ring for Lucien Evans would be able to cover all of his achievement in this field… Morris thought to himself.