As Senior Brother Luo said, this is an invitation.

To be precise, this invitation was not addressed to him personally, but to the IMCRC signed by CERN.

In the invitation letter, CERN proposed to hold a worldwide physicist summit with the theme of "100 Years of Physics", and hoped that IMCRC could serve as the main organizer of the conference, and unite other major high-energy physics institutes and top scholars around the world to discuss the future of physics in the next century.

In fact, after listening to Senior Brother Luo's explanation, Lu Zhou was very surprised.

Jointly with the world's major high-energy physics institutes to discuss how physics should go in the next 100 years, such a heavyweight conference, I did not expect CERN to choose to give up the opportunity to IMCRC to host.

But after thinking about it carefully, he also figured out the doorway.

The reason why CERN gave up this opportunity to pretend was not because they didn't want to pretend to be forced, but because the reality of the situation no longer allowed them to do so.

On the one hand, this is because the Lunar Hadron Collider has replaced the LHC and shouldered the heavy responsibility of high-energy physics exploration, and the World Physics Center has gradually shifted to East Asia.

On the other hand, it is because of a very real problem.

That's the lack of money......

Yes.

There's just no money.

Since the completion of the Lunar Hadron Collider, CERN has gradually lost its excuse to ask EU countries for funding.

Compared with CERN, which has a bigger appetite than black holes, and those scientific research projects that can never be fed, countries around the world are more inclined to choose IMCRC, which can satisfy their physicists for less money and produce a large number of excellent results.

The leaders of France, in particular, have said more than once in public that the historical mission of the LHC has been accomplished, and that it is better to put the experimental site on the moon from the border between France and Switzerland than to frighten the inhabitants of Seth and Geneva.

The views of the United States are broadly the same.

Although I am not satisfied that the IMCRC is dominated by China, physics is not a sensitive research like military industry, aerospace, and semiconductors, and all research results are publicly accessible.

For Washington, which is in a recession cycle, it would be great if the Chinese were willing to bear this heavy burden for them.

It may be a self-consoling rhetoric, but at least it could save the White House hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Under these circumstances, CERN has gradually declined from a world physics center to a regional physics research center.

Although he still has a large and excellent research team, it is difficult to attract researchers from other countries to contribute cheap and high-quality labor when he cannot restart the experiment.

Local managers are even considering whether the abandoned collider needs to be converted into a science museum or amusement ride, while keeping the small electron-positron collider.

However, so far, this proposal is only at the stage of proposal, there is no guarantee of stable passenger flow, and there are still border supervision problems, and it is really difficult to imagine any multinational amusement park group considering taking over.

Pulling out the letter paper tucked in the invitation, Lu Zhou unfolded it and began to read it carefully along the first line.

Except for some polite remarks, the above content is quite concise and to the point, mainly related to the meeting process.

This includes the parts of most academic conferences, such as presentations, symposia, poster presentations, etc., for all physicists. It also includes the highlight of the conference, the closed-door meeting of "Centennial Physics".

According to CERN's proposal, the conference will be led by the world's top 100 physicists.

As top experts in a certain branch of research, the participants invited to the conference will represent their own research direction, explain their direction and its importance to other scholars in the field of high-energy physics research, and finally put forward one of the most important propositions that need to be solved in this direction.

It's like the Millennial Mathematics Conference and Hilbert's Twenty-Three Questions.

It's just that the physics puzzles that will be decided at this meeting will be decided not 7 or 23, but 100.

For other scholars who have not received the invitation letter of the "Centennial Physics Closed-door Conference", they can learn about the progress of the conference and the results of the discussion through various channels such as live broadcast, video recording and transcript of the conference released after the conference.

At the same time, in response to the 100 world-class problems raised in the conference, the conference organizers will also set up corresponding awards and bonuses for them.

When he saw this, Lu Zhou couldn't help but smile and said casually.

"Do you have to donate some money to attend this meeting?"

It seemed that he didn't expect Lu Zhou to ask such a question, Luo Wenxuan was slightly stunned, and then smiled at it.

"I didn't say that, but if we want to be the main organizer, we will definitely have a big head."

"How much will it cost?"

"At present, we are considering setting up a prize pool, through bonds, stock investment, etc., to achieve the value of the prize pool, the first person to solve one of the problems will be given priority to share one percent of the prize pool, and so on, until all the prize money has been divided."

Lu Zhou raised his eyebrows with interest: "It sounds interesting, so the later the problem is solved, the higher the prize you can get?" ”

"Not necessarily, there are risks involved in investing after all...... However, we will hire the best brokers to handle this money with the most robust investment strategy. After a pause, Luo Wenxuan continued, "And, from a practical point of view, the later the problem is solved, doesn't it mean that the problem is more worthy of being rewarded?" ”

Lu Zhou: "How is the prize pool raised?" ”

"At the moment our idea is to make a donation, and it is said that there are quite a few generous wealthy people who are interested in naming these unsolved awards. At present, there are 10 billionaires on the Forbes wealth list who are willing to donate the topics they are interested in and name the awards after themselves or their family members. If the funds are not enough, we can also try to raise money by auctioning the naming rights. ”

"That's a good idea, and I, the chairman of the IMCRC, will also donate a little bit when the time comes."

Without specifically saying what this "point" was, Lu Zhou took the invitation into his arms. Hearing Lu Zhou's words, Luo Wenxuan was slightly stunned for a moment, and immediately spoke excitedly.

"You mean, let's go ahead with this meeting?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Why not?" Being able to host such a conference is not only the world's recognition of us, but also our responsibility to the world. Besides, our funds are still relatively sufficient, and it is more than enough to hold a meeting. Speaking of which, has CERN proposed when this meeting will be held? ”

"Their suggestion is the 12th, but the venue has not yet been decided."

"Number 12?" Lu Zhou frowned and muttered, "The 14th is Valentine's Day, right?" ”

If he's not mistaken, it seems like this time.

Luo Wenxuan: "......? ”

Noticing the strange expression on Senior Brother Luo's face, Lu Zhou instantly realized that he seemed to have read out his inner monologue, so he hurriedly coughed lightly and changed his words.

"I mean, February 12th seems to be the third day of the Lunar New Year, and most people are still celebrating the Spring Festival at this time, right? Physicists are also human beings, so they can't hold meetings with their families, and catching up with the Spring Festival transportation is also a big problem. In this way, the holding time is still postponed, at least after the Lantern Festival. As for the venue, it will be set in Shanghai. ”

"After the Lantern Festival? It would be March, and the venue would be in Shanghai, although I would recommend choosing some fun cities......"

After a pause, Luo Wenxuan made a helpless expression.

"However, you are the chairman, and you have the final say."

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