Chapter 295 The Rise of Stanford
Stanford University may be more eager for their success than the students themselves, because it understands that this may be the best opportunity for the century-old Stanford University to take advantage of emerging industries to overtake the curve and leap from a well-known regional university to a world-class university.
Yale University is an academic power that almost monopolizes American political academia. Harvard University is an academic power that controls traditional business and related academics in the United States. The University of Chicago is an academic power that dominates the American legal world.
In order to keep pace with these established and powerful universities, Stanford University chose AllIn to develop the emerging computer and Internet industries.
At present, Stanford University’s goal of overtaking in a corner is almost achieved. In the past two decades, investment regardless of cost and various support policies formulated around related industries have made Stanford University ranked far ahead among computer-related majors in various universities in the United States. The Stanford Industrial Park, also known as Silicon Valley, has now given birth to 90 listed companies related to the computer industry, 60% of which have founders who are Stanford alumni.
These companies can also provide jobs for a large number of Stanford graduates every year and make irregular donations to their alma mater, allowing Stanford to have sufficient funds to increase investment in education in related majors.
The consequence of this virtuous cycle is that top scholars in the entire American computer industry are brought to Stanford University. For example, a professor who is a member of the National Academy of Engineering may only have a research fund of Gigabit speed network at MIT. 100 yuan. If an alumni who graduated from Stanford University and started a business in Silicon Valley realizes that this kind of research may be of great help to the future development of his company, then his approach is not to poach the professor to his own company at a high price, but to give it to his alma mater. Stanford University donated a large sum of money, and then the Stanford school took the person back to Stanford University with a checkbook worth well over 100 yuan and a more free scientific research environment, and then tried his best to squeeze the other person's nutrients at Stanford University and use nutrients. Nourish and cultivate more relevant professionals with the imprint of Stanford University.
Let’s put it this way, as long as the other party agrees to work at Stanford University, any harsh conditions can be met.
Tommy, the old guy in the mouth of Quinn and other students, Winton Cerf was retained by his alma mater through this method.
Although he is privately called an old guy by students, Winton is actually just forty-five years old. This is just because he suffers from severe hearing loss. When he was a child, he always had loud conversations with his family at home to be able to hear clearly. This habit even He now wears hearing aids without correction. When speaking to the students, he always shouts like an old man who is deaf himself and thinks that everyone is also deaf.
Every time Tommy heard his voice in the office calling the students in the hall to help him with chores, he had the illusion that Howard's mother called Howard in "The Big Bang Theory".
The amazing thing is that this guy only speaks at such a loud volume in his own office. As soon as he walks out of the room, he immediately becomes gentle and elegant, looking like an English gentleman. His sanctimonious and completely different performance makes the students There were countless private discussions about whether there was some kind of schizophrenic radiation in his office.
This guy who has more than ten times more titles, positions, and identities than Dragon Mother in "Game of Thrones" is willing to spend most of his time working at Stanford University. In addition to graduating from Stanford, he is a genuine Stanford alumnus. In addition, the most important thing is that Stanford University has shown more sincerity than the University of California, the University of Southern California, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Illinois and other universities.
They tried every means to buy back from NASA the antique PDP-1 computer that Vinton Cerf used to write software for the Apollo project. There was a computer in it that Vinton Cerf secretly installed when he was working for NASA and used it to kill time. Time's Space War game.
It only cost less than 20,000 yuan to move this obsolete machine from NASA back to Stanford University, but the sincerity was priceless. After all, no other university paid such close attention to Winton Cerf's little hobby, so Wen was moved. Professor Don Cerf chose to stay at Stanford University for teaching and research.
For Winton Cerf, there is not much difference in where he works, but for Stanford University, this choice is completely different, because Professor Winton Cerf has too many identities, he is based at Stanford, and It means that institutions with other identities should also tilt their resources towards Stanford University.
For example, he is the chief scientist of the Information Processing Technology Center of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is an advanced research and development agency established by the U.S. Department of Defense and is responsible for developing various emerging technologies that can be used by the military.
The Information Processing Technology Center that Professor Cerf is responsible for, in the original plan of the Department of Defense, wanted to rent the land in the MIT Research Park and cooperate with MIT, but because the chief scientist Winton Cerf chose to stay Stanford taught, and this technology center eventually settled in the Stanford Industrial Park, also known as Silicon Valley.
You know, it is an agency directly under the Pentagon, not a stingy agency like the National Science Foundation that requires strict annual budgets for all funds. In the minds of the Pentagon and Defense Department bosses, they may not even know that there is a budget for burning money. this concept.
Back then, with the financial support of this department, Ohio University spent tens of millions just researching how to build a four-wheeled military truck. This research made the presidents of all universities in the United States couldn't help but go and watch it. Looking at how many wheels a truck running on the road has, I want to figure out what is the need for research on this thing.
Later, after the sky-high-priced truck incident was exposed, some righteous members of Congress stepped forward to find out the shady story. As a result, the investigator who arranged it suddenly suffered from severe depression and committed suicide. The member of Congress who took the lead in setting up the investigation committee resigned due to the scandal. The Department of Defense told Ohio University that it would continue to help me study and build a four-wheel truck, and I would like to see it.
Which university doesn’t worship the Pentagon like God? Now, this incredible wealth has been given to Stanford University. Regardless of whether the network transmission has an exaggerated demand of Gigabit, just install it according to the Gigabit standard. All kinds of hardware equipment There is no need to consider the price, just move back as if it were Black Friday.
In addition to equipment, hundreds of related scientists and engineers have flocked to Stanford University to engage in research work under the leadership of Winton Cerf. If these researchers need interns or assistants, the best choice is of course to choose Stanford University nearby. s student.
The comparison is more direct in terms of funding figures. The National Science Foundation’s research funding for all universities in the United States last year had a total budget of 1.2 billion. In other words, dozens or hundreds of universities must find ways to conduct research on various topics. Attract the other party and try to get as much of the US$1.2 billion in scientific research funds as possible.
The funding support provided by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the year it established the Information Processing Technology Center at Stanford University was US$42.75 million. This means that even if the military uses sky-high coffee cups, sky-high chairs, and sky-high offices, The reason for the table is to lose half of it because of greed, but also to spend more than 20 million in real money every year for Stanford University to squander.
This is why every time MIT thinks about the missed opportunity to negotiate peace with the military because it missed a game console, it wakes up crying.
"Hi! Tommy! I'm back from Los Angeles!" Walking into the Internet Project Hall of the Supercomputing Center, a dozen people who were busy chatting among the monitors heard the footsteps and raised their heads when they saw who was coming. He greeted Tommy familiarly.
“I was watching the show where you gave laxatives to pigeons! You are really a **** talent who came out of Stanford. Stanford taught you for four years, and your reward for it is to slander its image by attacking tourists with pigeon **** in a rainstorm!”
“I think Tommy is better than Jason. That **** Jason vowed on the show that he would donate money to Stanford and let his girlfriend come to Stanford to get a diploma! I hate this kind of **** who doesn’t mean what he says!”
“That’s right, I called the admissions office more than twenty times a day, but I didn’t receive any news about his pretty girlfriend’s admission!”
Sophia curiously looked at the men and women sitting in front of the monitor in the hall. Some of them were very casually dressed like Tommy and Quinn, and a few were wearing casual military uniforms without military ranks. The older ones were in their thirties. The younger one looks like a high school student.
“Is the Internet cult preacher willing to come back?” A voice sounded from behind Sophia. She turned her head and saw a middle-aged man standing with a straight face outside the door of an office, speaking to Tommy.
Tommy smiled: "Good morning, Professor Cerf." The other person was the famous Winton Cerf, a pure-blooded Anglo-Saxon who was a member of the VSA Order of the Phoenix when he was studying at Stanford University.
"Not very good, especially after knowing that you got what you wanted and Congress passed the amendments to the Communications Act." Winton Cerf said to Tommy, then looked at Quinn: "I need a cup of hot coffee."
Quinn immediately walked quickly towards the tea room. After Professor Joseph finished his instructions, he turned around and returned to his office.
Tommy followed closely behind, looked at the layout of the office, and said:
"Professor, I haven't had time to inform you of the good news. I want to surprise you in person. I mean, how did you know about it?"
"MCI held a board meeting for you. As the vice president of MCI and your professor, I was also present. They congratulated me for teaching a good student. Your insistence on the definition of Internet information and the exemption from the FCC's discriminatory regulatory provisions made MCI The stock price and paid business have increased significantly, and they are also planning to donate 10 million to Stanford University, thanking Stanford for cultivating talents like you." Professor Cerf sat back in front of his computer and said.
Tommy nodded naturally: "A free and open Internet information transmission environment deserves everyone to be happy about it."
"Not being subject to discriminatory supervision by the FFC means that spam providers can unscrupulously send large amounts of spam to other people's mailboxes through MCI-Mail, such as election campaign ads to solicit votes, charity promotion ads to raise funds, and junk stock recommendations on Wall Street. For advertisements, or even product discount messages, MCI earns high service fees from spam providers. Spam providers earn high advertising fees from large supermarket chains, securities companies, and various organizations. In addition to receiving The spammers, indeed, everyone is happy about it." Winton Cerf sighed:
“The openness and freedom of the Internet should not be like this, Tommy. The definition of Internet freedom is not to allow capital to make money freely and unregulated.”
“It’s a good thing that people can know where to buy discounted products through those emails.” Tommy defended his behavior with a smile.
Quinn came in with coffee from outside, put it in Joseph's hand, and then stayed nearby blatantly, eavesdropping on the conversation between the two.
Winton Cerf was too lazy to look at Tommy anymore. He picked up the coffee and smelled the aroma: "Politicians will also know how to increase their propaganda channels through emails and future Internet interactions. The battlefield of public opinion was newspapers before, and now it is TV. In the future, It’s the Internet, so what are you doing here? I have nothing worth exploiting here. You have already had a hand in all the information technology that you think can be used to make profits.”
"Do you want me to kick him out, professor?" Quinn asked with a straight face from the side.
Winton Cerf smiled and shook his head after hearing Quinn's words: "Forget it, at least half of the dozens of research projects on the Internet in these buildings have received donations from him, just like the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. It's always open to MCI Chairman McGowan, and it's also open to Tommy Hawke, who donated enough."
"It's different. McGowan is doing it for a suitable heart. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has performed more than one heart transplant for him." Tommy defended: "I'm different. I'm doing it for the free development of the Internet industry."
McGowan, the boss of the American telecommunications service provider MCI, is 62 years old. He smokes three packs of cigarettes, more than 20 cups of coffee, and works 15 hours a day. The reason why he is not afraid of sudden death is because The ability to make money allows him to replace his heart with a new one after it is scrapped. In order to ensure that there is always a suitable heart source, this guy directly spent a huge amount of money to donate a regenerative medicine research institute at the University of Pittsburgh.
MCI is the second largest telecommunications fiber optic network service provider in the United States. The network covers 46,000 miles and has a 16% market share. It provides paid voice calls, faxes, data transmission and email services in nearly 100 countries, John -The Kruger family holds a 20% stake in MCI.
As for the master and apprentice, they are completely familiar with MCI's internal information because Tommy's own WinStar company holds 9% of MCI's shares, and Winton Cerf serves as MCI's vice president of digital information technology. As early as 1984 In 2006, he helped MCI design and launch the business email MCI-Mail service, and is considered the father of business email.
"If you don't go to see Jason and find out about the status of your business companies, what are you doing here?" Winton Cerf took a sip of coffee and asked Tommy: "Don't tell me it's because you miss me. You won’t believe it.”
Tommy shrugged and told his purpose: "Actually, I want to ask you, professor, to help me design an advertisement. I have always felt that even if you are not engaged in Internet research, you will be a genius advertising designer. You The TV commercial that MCI led that year was selected by the magazine as one of the fifty best American commercial advertisements of all time. It was said that it was comparable to the classic advertisements during the war between Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola, allowing MCI to seize control of AT&T. Captured 6% of the market share and became the third largest telecommunications service provider in the United States."
Seeing the old guy startled unexpectedly at first, and then his eyes flashed with excitement, Quinn next to him stroked his forehead and lowered his voice to Tommy: "Can't you change the method of squeezing the professor? First it's a game console, and now it's a commercial. ?”
“As long as it works.” Tommy responded: “And if you can get the professor to finally nod to help me, I’ll have no problem sending Susan, Sophia and Jason’s girlfriend Suzy to the bed to sleep with you.”
"Deal." Quinn said with an indifferent expression, then slightly distanced himself from Tommy with a look of boredom on his face, and loudly accused him of dissatisfaction: "Professor doesn't have time to help you come up with those messy ideas now! You know How important is his job now? He represented the United States, won the Internet protocol war with Europe, and is now busy improving the Internet protocol suite..."
"Which advertising magazine selected the advertisement I designed that year as a classic advertising work?" Before Quinn could finish speaking, Winton Cerf had interrupted her and asked Tommy curiously.
"Want to take a look at the latest issue of Washington Ted Newspaper's "Billboard" magazine? I bought a copy on purpose." Tommy quickly walked out of the office and took out the magazine he had prepared earlier from Sophia's bag. He ran back and turned out the selection page and handed it to Winton Cerf.
The classic advertising selection above is a fake selection he asked Ted to help. Anyway, the sales of his magazine are average. Professionals are probably too lazy to waste words to question the professionalism of this selection, but it is used to fool laymen like his professor. , should be enough.
"Professor, I remind you, don't be fooled by this bastard. He just wants you to help him achieve some unknown and dark purpose. Tommy is just a stink fly, flying around smelling the smell of money." Come on, the best way to deal with this kind of person is to spray a large bottle of insecticide into his brain..." Quinn was still working **** reverse persuasion.
Winton Cerf laughed very happily when he saw his advertising work ranked 21st in the rankings. He has received numerous computer-related first-place awards, but he has never received this unexpected second place. Eleven makes him feel happy.
"It's not a bad thing to change your mind once in a while. Quinn, go back to your work. Tommy is not as bad as you said. He is a good student. What you said went too far. I think you should apologize to him." He Keeping his eyes on the magazine, he said to Quinn, who was bashing Tommy.
Quinn walked out. Before leaving, he lowered his voice and said in Tommy's ear: "Let them be ready. If you dare to default on your debt..."
"Honesty and trustworthiness are the most precious virtues in me. I do what I say. If any of them refuse, I will lie on the bed for them myself." Tommy said seriously.
(End of this chapter)