Chapter 1298: Invitation to the Physics Conference

Like Luo Wenxuan said, this was an invitation letter.

Technically, this invitation letter was not sent to Lu Zhou personally. It was sent to the ILHCRC under the name of CERN.

Inside the invitation letter, CERN proposed to launch a world physicists summit named the “Century of Physics”. They hoped that the ILHCRC could act as the main organizer of the conference and cooperate with other major particle physics institutes as well as top scholars around the world to discuss the future of physics.

After listening to Luo Wenxuan’s explanation, Lu Zhou was very surprised.

Cooperating with major particle physics institutes around the world to discuss the future of physics for the next century was such an important event. He did not expect that CERN would give the opportunity to the ILHCRC to host it.

But after thinking about it carefully, it made sense.

The reason why CERN gave up this opportunity was not that they didn’t want to take on the honor, but because the circumstances did not allow them to do so.

This was largely because the Lunar Hadron Collider had replaced the Large Hadron Collider as the most important particle physics device. The center of physics had gradually moved to East Asia.

Also, CERN had another problem.

They just didn’t have the money…

Ever since the completion of the Lunar Hadron Collider, CERN had lost its excuse to ask the EU countries for funding.

Instead of funding CERN’s expensive experiments and scientific research projects, countries around the world were more inclined to choose to spend money to satisfy their own physicists. They’d much rather work with the ILHCRC and produce better results.

The higher-ups of France said in public that the historical mission of the LHC had been completed. Instead of continuing to frighten the residents living in Geneva, it was better to move the experimental site from Switzerland to the moon.

The United States had a similar viewpoint.

Even though they were dissatisfied that the ILHCRC was dominated by China, physics was not as classified as military, aerospace, and semiconductor research. After all, the research results were all publicly accessible.

Washington was in a recession. It would be best if the Chinese could bear this heavy burden for them.

In a self-comforting way, at least they could save the White House hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

Therefore, CERN had gradually declined from being a world physics center to a regional physics center.

Even though they still had a large and excellent scientific research team, it was difficult to attract researchers from other countries to help with experiments.

Even the local management was considering whether it was necessary to transform the abandoned large-scale collider into a science museum or amusement facility while maintaining the small electron-positron collider.

But so far, this proposal had not progressed. There was no guarantee for a stable visitor flow, and there were still border supervision problems. It was hard to imagine an entertainment company taking on this project.

After pulling out the invitation letter, Lu Zhou unfolded it and began to read it carefully.

Besides the polite and respectful words, the letter was concise. It was mainly related to the conference.

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This included details for plans of the conference, such as reports, academic seminars, poster presentations, etc. It also included the main event of this conference—the “Century of Physics” private meeting.

According to CERN’s suggestion, this meeting would be led by the top 100 physicists in the world.

The participants would be top experts in their respective research branch. The participants invited to the conference would represent their research areas and explain the importance of their areas to other scholars in the field of particle physics. Finally, they would propose the most important proposition that should be solved in their respective field of research.

It would be similar to the Millennium Prize Problems or Hilbert’s problems.

However, instead of having 7 or 23 problems, this conference would produce 100 problems.

As for the other scholars who did not receive an invitation letter to the “Century of Physics” private meeting, they could learn about the progress of the meeting and the results of the discussion through various channels. Such as the live broadcast, meeting videos, and text records released after the meeting.

In response to the 100 world-class problems raised during the conference, the conference organizer would also set up corresponding awards and bonuses for them.

When Lu Zhou saw this, he couldn’t help but smile. He joked casually.

“So we have to donate money to host this conference?”

Luo Wenxuan did not expect Lu Zhou to ask such a question. He smiled and said, “It’s not explicitly stated, but if we want to be the main contractor, we will definitely have to be a big contributor.”

“How much will it cost?”

“So far, we are considering setting up a prize pool and increasing its value through bonds and stock investment. The person who solves one of the problems would receive 1% of the prize pool, and this goes on until all of the money’s gone.”

Lu Zhou raised his eyebrows with interest. He said, “Sounds interesting, so the later you solve the problem, the higher the prize money?”

“Not necessarily, the investments can go wrong… But we will hire the best investors to handle the funds using a robust investment strategy.” After a pause, Luo Wenxuan continued, “Also, the longer the problem takes to solve, the more valuable it is, right?”

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

“So far, our idea is through donations. Apparently, many generous rich people are interested in naming these awards for unsolved problems. So far, ten people on the Forbes wealth list have expressed their willingness to donate to areas of interest to them. They could name the awards with their family names. If the funds are not enough, we can also auction naming rights.”

“This is a good idea. I, as the chairman of the ILHCRC, will also donate some money.”

Lu Zhou didn’t specify how much “some money” was when he put the invitation letter away. Luo Wenxuan paused for a second before asking excitedly, “So you’re saying that we’re going to host the conference?”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Why not? Being able to host such a conference is proof of the world’s recognition of us. This is also our responsibility to the world. Moreover, our funds are relatively healthy, and we are more than capable to host this conference. Has CERN proposed the timeframe?”

“Their suggestion is on the 12th, but the venue has not been determined.”

“The 12th?” Lu Zhou frowned and muttered, “Valentine’s Day is on the 14th, right?”

Luo Wenxuan: “…?”

Lu Zhou noticed the weird expression on Luo Wenxuan’s face. He instantly realized that he might have revealed something. So he quickly coughed and changed his words.

“What I mean is, February 12th seems to be the third day of the Chinese New Year. People will still be celebrating the holidays, right? Physicists are still people. We can’t ruin their family reunions. Transportation during the Chinese New Year is also a big problem. We should push back the date, at least to after the Lantern Festival. As for the venue, we should host it in Shanghai.”

“After the Lantern Festival? How about March then? Shanghai is fine, although I recommend maybe choosing a more exciting city…”

Luo Wenxuan paused for a second before adding, “But you are the chairman, so it’s your call.”