(Bonus Chapter, Today is my birthday)
From the outside, Richard's activity looked like a joke. He'd been gluing together the halves of the tape for quite some time, which had acquired a slightly cloudy gray tint. This activity didn't go unnoticed by journalists. The media were well aware of the boy's true identity.
A woman with bright red hair and a flashy scarlet dress nodded to the cameraman, gesturing with the microphone toward Richie. At the same moment, the cameraman turned the camera to the boy, and the journalist separated from the crowd of colleagues and approached the young Rich.
"Excuse me, young Lord," she said in an unctuous voice, "may I ask what you are doing?"
Richard smiled for the camera, trying not to show his teeth, as one was missing. He stopped what he was doing and explained:
"Of course, ma'am. I just heard that scientists are having trouble producing graphene. So I decided to help them. Here," he said, pointing to a piece of tape, "I'm creating graphene flakes using the simplest method."
A portly, elderly man in a brown wool suit suddenly appeared next to the journalist. His gray hair was tousled. His piercing blue eyes fixed on Richard with lively curiosity. He pushed the journalist aside, took her place, and said:
"Young man, did I hear you right? Did you just say you're trying to produce graphene?"
"Already received, sir," Richard shook the duct tape.
- With the help of scotch tape?
- Using tape and a pencil.
- With tape and a pencil?!
- Yes, sir, with tape and a pencil!
- It can't be. Show me, young man, how you do it!
"I applied a small amount of graphite to the adhesive tape and then glued the tapes together. Each time, the graphite layer became thinner and thinner. Eventually, in some places, it should become as thin as one atom, forming graphene flakes."
The grey-haired man's eyes filled with delight and widened.
Richard picked up a sheet of paper and a pencil from the table. He immediately drew the atomic structure of graphene* and showed it to the man, whose eyes widened even more.
- Here. This is what you want, isn't it? A flat, one-atom-thick sheet of carbon that's as strong as diamond and highly conductive...
"Really..." the man whispered in amazement. "My God! This really is the formula for graphene. I have to study this tape!"
"Please, sir," Richard handed the man the repeated results of his school experiment.
With incredible reverence, the gray-haired man accepted the piece of tape from the boy's hands and loaded it into the receiving chamber of the electron microscope. Completely oblivious to the crowd of people, he sat down at the computer and immersed himself in his work. The microscope hummed with a transformer-like hum. News cameramen enthusiastically filmed the proceedings.
While everyone's attention was focused on the gray-haired man, the boy's father approached him and asked in a stern whisper:
- Richie, what are you doing?
"I'm inventing a way to create a nanomaterial that will revolutionize the world. Graphene is a cutting-edge material. I heard the rector discussing the difficulty of producing it, and I thought: it's so simple, all you need is some tape and a pencil. So I put it to the test."
"They told me that geniuses are difficult, but I didn't believe it," Gerald muttered quietly, after which he returned to the journalists.
- EUREKA!
The gray-haired man's cry caught everyone off guard. The university rector addressed him:
- Professor Roberts, what happened?
"Graphene!" the professor exclaimed in response. "I actually found a flake of graphene! My God, this boy is a genius! Who is he? Whose child is this?!" He pointed towards Richard. "I'll hire him for my department right now."
"Richard, are you sure you're right?" the rector asked the professor.
"It's definitely graphene! I assure you. Ten whole scales!"
Richard Roberts leaped up and pushed through the crowd of journalists to reach his young namesake. He grabbed Richie's wrist, shook it, and thanked him sincerely:
"Thank you, young man! A huge thank you on behalf of the world of science. This method for producing graphene is worthy of a Nobel Prize. What is your name, young man? I will definitely mention it in my paper as a co-inventor."
"Lord Richard Rich, at your service, sir," the boy bowed politely, his expression imperturbable. "I'm glad such a simple trick has proven useful to global science. I hope you personally and the University of Sheffield will make a significant contribution to the development of nanotechnology."
"Oh! Lord?" Mr. Roberts was taken aback and turned his gaze to Rich Sr. "Ah-ah-ah! So that's whose son this is!"