Academic hides marriage proposal to partner in research paper
'Romance is not dead, it’s just behind a paywall'
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Your support makes all the difference.Whether it’s written in the sky or the ring is hidden in the chocolate soufflé or the champagne flute, marriage proposals are fraught with clichés, making the art of popping the question quite the creative exercise.
It should come as no surprise that some people like to think outside of the box when it comes to proposing to your loved one, which is exactly what Rui Long did, whose unique proposal story has gone viral on twitter.
The acclaimed statistician from China tactically hid his proposal to partner Panpan Mao in one of his research papers.
While the paper itself was far from romantic in terms of content (the title was “Performance analysis for minimally nonlinear irreversible refrigerators at finite cooling power”), it was a hidden message in the acknowledgements that bolstered its tenderness.
In the acknowledgement notes, the paper reads: “Rui Long wants to thank, in particular, the patience, care and support from Panpan Mao over the passed years. Will you marry me?”
A screenshot of the message had been widely shared online after it was tweeted out by Imperial College London researcher Jess Wade, who said: “Romance is not dead, it’s just behind a paywall,” in reference to the paper’s subscription-only access.
Her tweet has since has had more than 1,000 likes and 500 retweets, with followers praising the young researcher for his creativity.
Long is a PHD student at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, where he studies engineering.
Thankfully, after his masterful planning, Long has since revealed that his story had a happy ending as Mao said yes to his innovative proposal and the duo are due to marry, reports the Times Higher Education.
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