On the morning of August 3.

The sky over St. Petersburg was clear.

The conference hall of the Klingthia Hotel is crowded with people.

Even though the conference hall was spacious enough, because there were so many people in attendance, and because there were two security checks at the entrance, the people entering the hall were still shoulder to shoulder, and the crowded aisles barely allowed room for their feet.

As in previous sessions, the President of the Organizing Committee of the Congress, Professor Iviana and the President of the International Mathematical Union, Mr. Shigefumi Mori, stood in front of the stage and delivered opening speeches, welcoming scholars from all over the country and thanking all sectors of society in Russia and St. Petersburg for their support to the cause of mathematics.

Immediately afterwards, the whole conference ushered in the most exciting award ceremony under the expectation of everyone.

This link can be said to be the highlight of the whole conference, and it can even be said that many people are rushing to it.

The four categories of awards that will be awarded almost mark the highest honor in the entire mathematics community, and it can be said that if you win any of them, the winners will have a smooth start in mathematics for the rest of their lives.

Especially the Fields Medal.

Compared with the Lifetime Achievement Award, which is consoling and ends half of the academic career, the Fields Medal, which can only be judged under the age of 40, can be said to be the crown in the hearts of countless mathematicians.

Most people admire hard work, but everyone aspires to be a genius.

This is especially true for a field as genius as mathematics.

Lu Zhou, who was sitting in the crowd, could clearly hear that the people sitting next to him were hotly discussing who might win this supreme honor.

"Jody Williamson, Australia's youngest member of mathematics, established a pure algebraic Hodge theory of polynomial rings, and successfully proved the Kazhdan-Lusztig conjecture of the Offset group, which was not obtained in the last session, and it is a pity that this session should be his."

“…… Marina Vyazovska should also have a chance, she has extended the problem of sphere stacking in 3 dimensions to 8 and 24 dimensions in discrete geometry, and won the 2017 Clay Research Prize, the LaRugin Prize, and the European Combinatorics Award for her research, and my mentor described her as genius and incredible, and she is 38 years old this year, and she will not have a chance if she does not win another award. ”

"Marina Vyazovska's research is indeed excellent, but the discrete geometry is too cold, and her mentor is not a well-known scholar. In contrast, I am more optimistic about another Ukrainian mathematician, and also a lady. ”

"Who?"

Vera Puyuy, the proverser of Kakutani's conjecture and winner of the last Kohl Prize in Number Theory and the Ramanujan Prize and the European Mathematical Society Prize. Whether it is the research results or the mentor is top-notch, and it is from Princeton, even if the award committee does not consider her this time, it will be her next time. ”

"Damn, why is the Fields Medal only once every four years? There are so many people who can win awards. ”

"Because there is no gold content if there is too much, we must select really good scholars who are enough to change the future face of the mathematical community......"

Keenly caught the penultimate sentence, Lu Zhou's face showed a surprised expression.

So many things happened in a place he didn't know, and she didn't even tell him.

Although she understood that she might want to surprise herself, or maybe she thought it was not worth mentioning at all, Lu Zhou, who understood this, was still a little disappointed.

Not wanting to live up to the expectations of the participants, Professor Shigefumi Mori, who was standing on the stage, did not make people wait for a long time, stood up the speech in his hand, pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose, and quickly entered the award process.

"First of all, the Gauss Award, I know you've been waiting for a long time."

At the moment when this sentence was spoken.

The huge venue fell silent as if it had been silenced.

After looking around the venue, Professor Mori Shigefumi spoke slowly in a steady and solemn tone.

"We often say that mathematics is the foundation of the natural and applied sciences, and its boundaries determine our understanding of the universe and ourselves. However, in the study of applied sciences, there are very few scholars who can integrate the methods of higher mathematics and skillfully use those tools to solve major propositions about our future. ”

"I could tell him all day, and I might not even be able to finish it......"

The participants listened very carefully, and Lu Zhou also listened very carefully.

However, at this moment, there was a discordant complaint from the side.

“…… Oh, Shet, I've guessed who it is, give him the prize! ”

Soon, someone whispered in agreement.

"Yes, yes, the most suspenseful Gauss Award, hurry up and the next one."

Lu Zhou: "......"

MMP！

Can't you just cooperate and wait a while to say this?

The sense of surprise that had finally brewed was gone in an instant!

Lu Zhou turned his head sideways to see who was arranging himself, but there were too many people here, and it was full of heads as far as he could see, and he couldn't tell who said those two sentences.

On the stage, Professor Shigefumi Mori continued.

“…… As he said, our science is changing the world, and mathematics is going to change our science! ”

"The winner is—"

"Lu Zhou!"

Torrential applause rang out.

Lu Zhou, who stood up amid a round of applause and took a deep breath, walked smoothly to the stage and received the medal from Professor Shigefumi Mori.

His right hand lightly patted Lu Zhou's arm, and the elderly professor nodded with a friendly smile on his face.

"Congratulations, young scholar, we meet again."

Although applied science has no ranking in the mathematical community, the Bourbaki school, which occupies a high voice in the mathematical community, is even more proud of the "uselessness" and "purity" of mathematics, such as Hardy and Grothendieck, and other scholars have publicly expressed the view that mathematics is great because of its purity.

Either way, applied science is a part of mathematics, and even scholars like Hardy and Grothendieck who are "honorably isolated" end up finding their way in other disciplines.

The Gauss Prize exists to reward this type of scholar.

"Thank you, I'm glad to see you again," shaking the elderly scholar's hand, Lu Zhou continued with a smile on his face, "I'm sure we'll meet again." ”

Hearing this, Professor Mori Shigefumi was obviously stunned for a moment, and then said with a smile.

"What do you mean...... Is this the case? That's a pity, I'm afraid we won't have any more medals to award to you before you're seventy, and when you're seventy, I'm afraid I'll be out of this world for a long time. ”

Lu Zhou: "Isn't there another Riva Ratti Award?" ”

Professor Mori Shigefumi coughed dryly, "...... Please give other people who love mathematics a chance, okay Professor Lu, please go down. ”

Lu Zhou: "......"

The Chern's Prize in Mathematics is a lifetime achievement, and it is not yet time to die. However, Lu Zhou feels that he still has some hope for the Nawang Linna Prize, which commends the mathematical sciences in computer science. There is also the Riva Lati Award, which commends the cause of mathematics popularization, and she is completely dramatic.

Does he remember that the Turks who won this award last time seemed to have only built a few primary schools in remote mountainous areas (desert areas)?

My contribution to the cause of mathematics science popularization is not limited to a few primary schools, why can't I participate in the awards?

Although he didn't really care about the medal, Lu Zhou was still a little worried about it.

After stepping off the stage, he sat in the front row of the Gauss Award winners' seats and quietly waited for the award ceremony to continue.

Next up were the Chern Prize in Mathematics, which is a lifetime achievement, and the Riva Lati Prize, which is a reward for "ordinary people" who have made outstanding contributions to the cause of science popularization.

The atmosphere in the venue was pushed to Gao Chao wave by wave, especially when the Fields Medal award ceremony began, the warm atmosphere reached its peak.

Lu Zhou, who was sitting in the front row with his back to the venue, could even feel that his eyes were focused on the stage, as if he could light something......

In the face of everyone's expectations, Professor Mori Shigefumi continued to speak.

And almost as soon as the professor spoke, Lu Zhou, who was sitting in the front row, froze.

"Number theory is an ancient discipline that runs through almost the entire history of mathematics, and the classical propositions that have been solved and those that have not yet been solved can also be said to be the origin of all the knowledge we have so far."

"There are very few people who can make truly outstanding achievements in this field, and the mountains are prohibitive, except for the warriors who have a torch of vision and a strong faith."

“…… She proved the existence of an integer function h(z) by constructing an ingenious transcendental integer function, and {g^ok(z0)}∞/k=1 converged to 1, thus proving the validity of the Kakutani conjecture that has plagued us for many years, and perfecting the theory of group construction. ”

"The first winner of the Fields Medal is—"

"Professor Vera Puyuy from Princeton University!"

The thunderous applause was like a storm, hitting the eardrums of the landing boat, and also making his whole person messy in the wind.

Vera?

It wasn't that he hadn't considered this possibility.

But all this was so sudden!

There is no doubt that she is indeed an excellent scholar, and there is nothing wrong with the fact that the research results in number theory can be used to participate in such awards, but she is too young in any case.

If Lu Zhou remembers correctly, she received her Ph.D. when she left Princeton, when she was only 22 years old.

And now 4 years later, she is only 26......

Of course, what really caught Lu Zhou off guard was not just the news of Vera's award.

Almost at the same time, a line of pale blue text appeared in his field of vision.

[Congratulations to the host, unlock the hidden achievement!] 】

【Please go to the system space to check your rewards!】 】

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(Three more presents!) At this point in the plot, it's basically in the middle of the game, and I'll speed up the pace moderately in the future. What's more, Xueba's comics have been set for the summer, and I will be able to meet you soon, and students with WeChat can pay attention to it", the news of character design pictures and comics Morning Star will be announced on it as soon as possible~)

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