Chapter 426 Gathering of Gods (Part 1)
In the waiting hall.
Perhaps his interest was aroused by Xu Yun's words.
Lu Chaoyang also followed him and glanced around furtively, with a hint of gossip on his face, and whispered:
"It is said that there are many big names coming this time, and the Nobel Prize winners are all in double digits - not even a dozen. There are also many famous people who have not won the Nobel Prize."
"But because of this, all departments are very noisy."
"For example, many universities in China are looking for people through connections, hoping to get a few qualifications to participate. Some even want people in the top three rows."
"Even the host city was decided after several days of hard work. If Chengdu hadn't come through with its hard power, this job would have been snatched away."
Xu Yun also nodded with emotion.
He wasn't very clear about the first point Lu Chaoyang said. After all, he was not even a deputy senior officer now.
No matter if he goes through the back door or asks for information, it won't be his turn.
But this is not difficult to understand.
Just like the Cannes red carpet, there are always people who want to show up in order to gain exposure.
As for the second point
He had heard Zhao Zhengguo vaguely mention it the day before yesterday.
Although this press conference is a matter for the scientific research circle, it is actually a political feast for the place where it is held.
To put it more mysteriously, it means improving the image of the city and enhancing the scientific research atmosphere.
To put it bluntly, it is a real political achievement.
So in the past two days.
Yanjing, Magic City, Pengcheng, and even Luzhou are all running up and down, trying to change the venue to their own territory.
Fortunately, Chengdu’s hard power is not weak. At the same time, it has also taken on the project of the World Science Fiction Conference this year, and the Hugo Awards will be awarded domestically for the first time.
Therefore, Chengdu has been preparing for the World Science Fiction Convention since a long time ago.
As a result, I didn’t expect that the science fiction convention hadn’t started yet.
The preliminary preparation work had a good effect in winning the press conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
It can be regarded as an unintentional intervention.
It can only be said that under this feast, all kinds of monsters and monsters appeared, which really opened Xu Yun's eyes when he slashed his butt with a knife.
Of course.
Compared with those ghosts and monsters, Xu Yun is more curious
Which big names will be present this time?
To know.
Prior to this, the Academy of Sciences had issued invitations to almost all top institutions in the world, sincerely inviting people from all walks of life to come to Chengdu.
Almost on the day the letter was sent out, no less than ten Nobel laureates said they would attend in person.
This is why Xu Yun is sure that this press conference is the most valuable feast since the founding of the People's Republic of China.
But for confidentiality reasons.
After the first day.
The Academy of Sciences kept the list of participants confidential.
All Xu Yun and others knew was that there were about six to seven hundred places to attend, and that the hotels they were staying at were Niccolo Chengdu, St. Regis and Waldorf Astoria.
I don’t know who the top bosses are.
Although there are not as many big names in physics today as there were during Einstein and Dirac's time, there are still a few top figures.
Among them, there are even some characters who can be ranked in the top thirty or forty in the history of physics - considering that the early giants of physics have the blessing of founding sects, this ranking is actually very high.
"Coming, coming!"
And just when Xu Yun was having wild thoughts.
Near the exit of the special passage, there was a sudden commotion.
Then quickly.
Hou Xingyuan and the senior official from Sichuan and Shu, who were standing at the front, straightened their collars and straightened their hems and corners calmly.
At the same time, Xu Yun noticed.
A young woman in business attire also moved to Hou Xingyuan's left side.
This was a translator from the Academy of Sciences. Since there were not many women present, Xu Yun also wrote down her language direction:
Russian.
That is to say
The first big guy to arrive should be a furry bear.
Although fur bears are now generally rejected in Europe, fur bears are not even allowed to participate in the World Cup and cat competitions.
But there is no such politically correct statement in China.
So it's normal for a big bear to appear here.
The physicist of today’s furry bear
Who could this be?
To know.
Today's airport pick-up order may seem messy, but in fact it's all prearranged.
Otherwise, Angus wouldn't have asked Lucas to go to Geneva Airport to board the plane at around six o'clock in the morning.
Because their 'rank' is fixed, in a medium range, the corresponding shift must be on time.
Who takes the lead, who comes in the middle, and who comes to the finale, all have predetermined rankings.
Of course.
This kind of position is only for big guys.
Naturally, ordinary professors or journalists will not be included. There are probably only a few dozen people who meet the requirements.
About a minute passed.
At the end of the special passage, a burly old man with gray hair appeared.
The old man was holding a bottle of vodka in his hand, which seemed to have come from the VIP lounge.
After meeting this person.
Hou Xingyuan, who had been waiting here for a long time, quickly took a step forward, reached out his hand enthusiastically, and greeted the other party.
Upon seeing this, the old man Mao Xiong shook hands with him politely and even gave him a hug.
Because the distance was too far, Xu Yun couldn't hear clearly what the two said for a while. He could only see that both sides had very positive attitudes.
But after seeing the old man's face and the first appearance.
There was a vague guess in his mind.
It's just that he hasn't seen the other person in person, so he's not sure yet.
So he gently touched Lu Chaoyang's arm and asked in a low voice:
"Professor Lu, is this Mr. Polyakov from the Bear?"
Lu Chaoyang nodded calmly and affirmed:
"Well, I attended his lecture at Princeton."
Although Xu Yun had been prepared in his heart, he was still shocked after receiving Lu Chaoyang's affirmation.
It's him!
Polyakov.
If you search for this name in China, the results from Baidu will most likely be a bear pilot with the same name.
But actually.
In today's physics community, there is a more famous giant who also has this name.
He is Alexander Polyakov.
Compared with this Chinese name, the name AlkexanderPolyakov should be more widely known.
He has made pioneering contributions to two-dimensional conformal field theory and won the Dirac Medal in 1986.
Both the Priyakov action and the conformal bootstrap method are foundational work.
He has not won the Nobel Prize, but this is not because he is not qualified, but because the Nobel Prize pays more attention to achievements.
Not to mention his fame and status, he even surpasses 80% of Nobel Prize winners.
The well-known physicist Landau once made a ranking list of physicists, ranging from 0 to 5 according to the logarithm of creativity, or Landau scale.
The Landau ranking is a logarithmic scale, with every level varying by a factor of ten.
0 stream is the highest and 5 stream is the lowest.
Landau believes that Maverick is a first-rate physicist, unparalleled, meaning "god"
Einstein was a 0.5-level physicist, one person below ten thousand people.
Bohr, Schrödinger, Heisenberg, Dirac, Feynman and others are first-rate and top physicists.
A score of 3 is considered a "mediocre physicist".
A score of 4 is considered a "hard-working fool" - in fact, many physicists rated 4 have won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
For example, Zhao Zhongyao, a well-known early Chinese physicist, was the great master who explained the hard gamma ray scattering theory and the Chinese who discovered the positron. He was only rated 4 points by Landau - the only difference between his and Anderson's results was It was a very, very small step. You know, that was the Chinese in 1932. (Mr. Zhao Zhongyao’s deeds cannot be described here due to space constraints. I suggest you search on Baidu. Eight of the true founders of Chinese nuclear physics, including two bombs and one satellite, were his students. Unfortunately, he died a year earlier. , otherwise he must have a share of the medal)
at last.
Ordinary physicists are rated at level 5.
Meaning "stupid fool".
Landau initially ranked himself as a second-rate physicist, but after winning the Nobel Prize, he rated himself a second-rate physicist.
Before his death, he changed himself to a 1.5-level physicist.
Unfortunately, Landau passed away in 1968 and was unable to continue rating for future generations. (The original can be searched on PhysicsToday for "NewEinsteinsNeedPositiveEnvironment, IndependentSpirit")
But if divided according to Landau's standards.
Objectively speaking, Polyakov can be ranked around 2.0.
The extreme point can even reach
1.5 streams.
Also, by the way.
Nowadays, many people use the Landau ranking as a weapon to smear Mr. Yang and say that he is not in the top 100 of the Landau ranking, so Mr. Yang has a false reputation.
What is the actual truth?
When Landau first came up with the rankings, Yang was only 27 years old and had just graduated from the University of Chicago with a Ph.D.
Isn’t it great to be in the top 100?
As for Mr. Yang, Landau has not revised the ranking since he won the award - because this ranking is equivalent to what he did for fun and only spread in a small circle.
Even someone as arrogant and stubborn as Landau himself probably never thought that his ranking would be so authoritative and be used as a weapon to attack Mr. Yang.
This matter can be regarded as a typical duality of language.
The statement itself is not wrong, but the meaning and the truth are completely different things - just like the so-called "stronger than Brazil, only defeated the Chinese team once in the World Cup".
His gaze returned to its original position.
Except for some media, most people present today can be considered industry insiders.
Therefore, they were well aware of Polyakov's status and stepped forward to hug and shake hands with him.
Polyakov has received some unfair treatment due to the political situation in the past year. People in the industry still respect him, but organizers of various conferences have refused to invite him to participate.
Now facing such an enthusiastic Chinese airport pick-up group, his eyes suddenly turned red with excitement, and even Davarixi shouted out.
Polyakov looked nothing like an eighty-year-old man who had just gotten off the plane. He greeted each of them with more enthusiasm than the pick-up group.
After a few minutes.
Polyakov came to Lu Chaoyang and Xu Yun.
"Hey, Lu!"
Polyakov didn't know Xu Yun, but he was very impressed by Lu Chaoyang. After meeting him, he gave him a big bear hug:
"I haven't seen you for five years. Is everything okay?"
Lu Chaoyang was a little breathless by Polyakov, and could only barely pat the opponent's shoulder, but the expression on his face was also very happy:
"Thanks to you, everything is fine recently. Your class was really helpful to me."
The translator on the side quickly translated this sentence to Polyakov.
So
Polyakovler put a little more strength into Lu Chaoyang's hand, which almost made Lu Chaoyang blush.
After a while.
Polyakov let go of Lu Chaoyang, looked at Xu Yun beside him, and asked:
"This is"
Lu Chaoyang gritted his teeth and rubbed his shoulders, patted Xu Yun's shoulders and introduced:
"This is my junior brother, Xu Yun, who is currently a doctoral student at HKUST."
Facing Xu Yun, whom he had never met before, Polyakov's attitude was not so enthusiastic.
He simply shook hands with Xu Yun and left the scene accompanied by several staff members.
Looking at Polyakov who was gradually going away.
Lu Chaoyang showed a slightly cunning smile.
He was looking forward to what kind of expression Polyakov would have on his face when he realized that his junior brother was the real source of all evil.
Um.
It was just to surprise Polyakov, not as revenge for his neck being strangled
After Polyakov left.
About ten more minutes passed.
The second one or the second group of big guys walked out of the tunnel.
There were four big bosses who appeared this time, and they all looked to be over fifty.
The leader is a little old man with gray glasses frames, an American lapel, a bald forehead and protruding cheekbones.
Walking next to him was an old man wearing beige casual clothes, with an equally hairless forehead and a neat gray-white beard at the corner of his mouth.
The remaining two people followed behind the first two, about half a height behind them, and they looked equally old.
Xu Yun stretched his neck and looked at the four people, and quickly judged the identities of three of them:
Among them, the little old man with gray glasses is the most identifiable, and you can tell he is David Gross at a glance.
David Gross is a stranger from across the sea, born on February 19, 1941.
He is currently an academician of the Haitang Academy of Sciences and a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
He was an important figure in theoretical physics in the 20th century and the discoverer of the asymptotic freedom of strong interaction.
In 2004, he won the Nobel Prize for his above-mentioned contributions.
The successful establishment of the Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is partly due to David Gross.
He is one of the few people who holds the title of foreign academician of China but not only gives lectures but also contributes to China in scientific research.
When the epidemic first broke out, he donated 500,000 masks to support China.
But here's the fun part.
That batch of logistics mysteriously disappeared after entering the customs. David Gross even sent a tweet to express his confusion about this, but the result was still nothing.
all in all.
This is indeed a respectable scientist who has at least helped China do some practical things.
The old man in beige casual clothes next to David Gross also has a very recognizable appearance.
He is Gerard ter Hooft.
This is also an ultimate boss who is well-known in the industry and few outside the industry know about him.
Yes, the ultimate boss who is a little stronger than David Gross.
He is somewhat similar to Polyakov in that his English name is more famous than his Chinese name:
right.
He is the famous 'tHooft.
Hooft succeeded in proving the renormalizability of gauge fields, which is the most difficult aspect of quantum field theory.
In fact, what many people don’t know is this.
Yang-Mills theory - one of Yang's famous works, Hooft has made the greatest contribution to the pre-position theory.
Other than that.
He is also the founder of the holographic principle. The idea of multiple states is equivalent to the independent discovery of the Higgs mechanism. These are real Nobel Prize-level works - and they are also first-class work in the Nobel Prize.
The holographic principle of gravity can be said to be one of the most subversive discoveries or ideas at the end of the twentieth century.
It directly draws an "equal sign" between quantum theory and gravity theory, creating a unique path for quantum gravity.
This also brought about a series of famous works by Leonard Susskind, Maldacena and many other physicists.
It can be said that.
This discovery is regarded as the third revolutionary understanding of gravity - the first two were the formulation of Newton's law of universal gravitation and the establishment of Einstein's general theory of relativity.
but!
but!
but!
Say important things three times.
Same with Hawking's black hole radiation.
As of now.
There is still no way to verify this principle with sufficient experimental means.
Today, the scientific community can only theoretically analyze the holographic nature of gravity in the D-brane system in string theory.
Therefore, a more appropriate name for this approach should be "gauge-gravity duality".
But Hooft was luckier than Hawking.
Although his holographic principle has not been proven, he won the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physics based on the quantum structure of weak electric interactions - this is just one of his more partial works.
If divided according to Landau.
David Gross can probably be ranked at the 2.5 level.
Te Hooft.
At least second rate.
If the holographic principle is proven.
He can immediately rise to the first level, alongside Dirac and others. (End of chapter)