Chapter 424: International Congress of Mathematicians!

Morning, 1st of August, 2018.

The crowd gathered inside the conference venue.

This was the largest, most important mathematics conference. The International Congress of Mathematicians was known as the Olympics of mathematics. Except for when the two world wars were happening, it had been held every four years since 1897.

This was an international conference that provided a place for mathematicians to exchange ideas, discuss academic issues, meet old friends, and make new friends. Every conference played a pivotal role in the history of mathematics.

This year’s conference was particularly special.

Not just because this was the first International Congress of Mathematicians held in the southern hemisphere, but it was also because of the Millennium Prize Problem. This conference had received worldwide attention.

Lu Zhou was walking outside the venue while wearing a suit. He bumped into Professor Fefferman, and the two then entered the venue together.

Lu Zhou stood in an uncrowded area as he looked at his watch.

It was 8 a.m, an hour until the opening ceremony.

Fefferman: “I heard the CCTV in your country applied for a live broadcast permit for the conference.”

Lu Zhou looked at the corner of the venue where he saw a CCTV logo on one of the cameras.

The guy holding the camera noticed Lu Zhou as well, and he pointed the camera toward him.

Lu Zhou looked away and asked, “Does this rarely happen?”

“Rarely. At least, this is the first time I’ve ever seen it happening,” Professor Fefferman said. He then smiled and patted Lu Zhou’s shoulder as he asked, “How do you feel? Nervous?”

Lu Zhou thought for a moment before he replied, “… I’m feeling ok.”

His report was already over. Since today was just the opening ceremony, it wasn’t like he had to do anything.

As for the CCTV cameras…

It wasn’t as if this was his first time on national TV.

Professor Fefferman looked at Lu Zhou in surprise and said, “Unbelievable… That’s a TV channel with 1.4 billion viewers, are you not nervous?”

Lu Zhou said, “It’s not that big of a deal…”

“… Actually, there’s one more thing that might be important to you, but I’m not sure if I want to tell you.” Fefferman looked a little hesitant; he wasn’t sure if he should tell him.

Lu Zhou asked, “What?”

Fefferman looked around. Once he confirmed that no one was staring at them, he coughed and said in a hushed tone, “At a party yesterday, I was talking about this year’s Fields Medal with an old friend, and he told me the list of winners…”

Lu Zhou was shocked by this news.

After a while, he said, “… This isn’t appropriate, right?”

Professor Fefferman said seriously, “It isn’t, but I hope you can keep it a secret.”

Lu Zhou looked around.

Although he knew he shouldn’t ask, he couldn’t control his curiosity.

“… Can I ask who is on the list?”

Professor Fefferman asked, “You really want to know?”

Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Yes.”

Professor Fefferman lowered his voice and said, “Unfortunately, your name is not on there… However, we all think you deserve this year’s Fields Medal award.”

Lu Zhou: ? ? ?

The f*ck?

No way?

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This is still not enough for a Fields Medal?!

Lu Zhou was shocked.

He suddenly heard someone saying something.

“Don’t listen to his bullsh*t. No one knows the winner’s list prior to the announcement. Not even Fefferman,” Professor Deligne said with a blank expression. He then looked at Professor Fefferman and asked mercilessly, “Tell me, who is your friend?”

Fefferman coughed and tried to look away as he said, “Oh, my dear Deligne… I’m just joking, don’t take it so seriously! Life is a lot less fun when you take everything seriously.”

Lu Zhou was speechless. “… You nearly fooled me.”

Fefferman laughed and patted Lu Zhou’s shoulder as he said, “Don’t be so serious. See, don’t you feel relaxed now?”

Lu Zhou said, “I was relaxed before you made this joke.”

Professor Fefferman sighed and said, “Okay, my apologies…”

…

At exactly 9 a.m…

The scholars were seated inside the venue, and the 28th International Congress of Mathematicians officially began.

Professor Viana, the head of the conference committee, and Professor Viana, the director of the International Mathematical Union, gave an opening speech on stage. She thanked the local organizers of the conference and the people attending the conference before she announced the official opening of the mathematics conference.

After the opening was the prize-giving session.

This was the climax of the conference.

Carl Friedrich Gauss Prize was the first prize to be announced. This award was given to achievements in the field of applied mathematics.

David Donoho from Stanford University received this year’s Carl Friedrich Gauss Prize. This was due to his contribution to mathematical statistics and computing analysis in the field of signal processing.

Next was the Shiing-Shen Chern Award. This was a type of lifetime achievement award that wasn’t specific to any field. This year’s Shiing-Shen Chern Award winner was given to Masaki Kashiwara for his 50-year-old contribution to algebra analysis and representation theory.

Next was the Leelavati Award, and the winner was a Turkish mathematician named Ali Nesin…

Finally, it was the main part of the award ceremony and the highlight of the entire International Congress of Mathematicians—the announcement of the Fields Medal winners.

Most mathematical achievements were done by mathematicians younger than 40 years old. The Fields Medal was the highest honor that a young mathematician could receive. It was known as the Nobel Prize of mathematics.

Although a medal wouldn’t determine the greatness of a mathematician, the scholar that won this medal would earn the respect and recognition of the entire academic community.

Moments before the winner list was announced…

People held their breaths and watched the stage with great enthusiasm.

Especially those that had hopes of winning the Fields Medal.

Zhang Wei sat in the crowd nervously; he began to squeeze his fists.

Molina sat next to Sophie as she nervously rubbed her knees with her fingers.

James Maynard from the UK was also here, and he sat in the corner of the venue with his arms crossed. This young number theory expert was also a Fields Medal candidate even though he did once lose to someone on the twin prime conjecture…

Professor Mori could feel the enthusiasm of the crowd.

He gave a friendly smile before he cleared his throat and spoke in a steady tone.

“He has a high understanding of applied mathematical ideas coupled with extraordinary ambitious and ever-lasting curiosity.

“… From the Zhou-Lu theorem to the twin prime number theorem, from the Polignac-Lu theorem to the Goldbach-Lu theorem, he has added new and novel research to the great ancient discipline of additive number theory.

“Not just number theory, but functional analysis, group theory, topology, differential geometry, partial differential equations… His work spans multiple disciplines, his contribution cannot be described in just a few words.

“I believe that his results didn’t just come from his talent, but it also came from the countless blood, sweat, and tears.”

Director Mori then declared in a solemn tone.

“The first winner is… Lu Zhou!”