Chapter 1039 Is it even more than the Fields Medal?
At nine o'clock in the morning, as the music sounded, the host came on stage, and the nine-day 24th International Congress of Mathematicians kicked off.
There is actually no difference in the process between international conferences and domestic conferences.
The first step after the opening was for Wu Wenjun, chairman of the organizing committee of the conference, and Jacob Paris, chairman of the International Mathematical Union, to take the stage and deliver speeches respectively.
Moreover, this section took a lot longer than before——
You know, the reason why as many as 4,000 people attended the meeting this time was not just because the host China sent a large delegation.
Third-world countries with certain mathematical research capabilities, such as India, Brazil, and Türkiye, have also sent more scholars than before.
Especially Jacob Paris himself is from Brazil, and he wrote a lot about the special nature of this conference.
After all, although Rio de Janeiro failed to win this competition and did not even enter the final round of voting, as long as there is a start, sooner or later the International Congress of Mathematicians will be held at the equator to the south.
Since his rebirth, Chang Haonan has interacted with foreigners a lot, so his English level has improved by leaps and bounds compared to before.
But despite this, it is still a bit sleepy to listen to large sections of content that has nothing to do with technology.
He forcibly suppressed the desire to yawn and looked to the left and right.
I found that other people seemed to be similar.
Perelman, who was sitting on the other side, had already taken out a notebook and lowered his head not knowing what he was writing.
"Often."
Charles Feifman, who was sitting next to Chang Haonan, suddenly came over.
“Huh?”
Chang Haonan was a little surprised.
After all, the two of them are not familiar with each other.
But he still turned his head slightly to look at the other party.
"Did you know that at this conference, the odds of winning the Fields Medal are both 1:1.01 for you and Professor Perelman."
1:1.01 is already the normal odds. The lowest value.
Basically, the dealer thinks this is a sure thing.
But Chang Haonan really had no interest in the gaming industry. After hesitating for a moment, he touched his chin:
“I don’t know.”
"..."
Three words, Feifman, who originally wanted to bring up other topics, was completely silenced.
After a few seconds, he finally recovered:
"Don't you want to know who is on the nomination list? I have a friend..."
Words Only halfway through speaking, Chang Haonan shook his head:
"Don't want to."
This time, only one word was used.
Seeing this scene, Pierre Deligne, who was sitting a little further away, immediately covered his mouth and his shoulders kept shaking.
Obviously, Fefferman has used similar topics to seduce these potential Philippine Award winners and then play pranks on them.
But this time when I met Chang Haonan, who was not good at eating and drinking, he was defeated before he even had time to sing.
Fortunately, at this time, Professor Paris on the stage entered the closing stage in time, which relieved the embarrassment here.
And the atmosphere of the entire venue was pushed to its climax -
Because after the opening speech, there was an exciting awards ceremony.
According to convention, the first award should be the Newanglina Award.
However, this time, due to the interference of the Clay Mathematics Institute, the one at the top became the Millennium Mathematics Award.
In fact, logically speaking, awards that are not selected by the International Mathematical Union (IMU) should not be awarded at such an important time as the opening ceremony.
But there is no way, the influence of the Millennium Mathematics Prize is too great.
If it is placed at the back, even in the closing ceremony, it will give people the feeling that it is the finale.
It is better to put it at the front generously to show that its status is not as good as the following ones.
Anyway, this is not a permanent award, this time it is a special event.
It’s impossible to award the award four years later, right?
In short, Chang Haonan and Perelman became the first batch to go on stage to receive the award.
$500,000 each.
For people who are engaged in mathematics, it is definitely a huge sum of money.
However, because the winner of this award was determined more than a year ago, there is no surprise. The most excited person in the audience was Landon Clay as the presenter and sponsor.
After all, although it feels a bit too licking to give out money and beg others to accept it, it is precisely because of Chang Haonan's willfulness that the award he established can be tied with the Philippine Award.
It is precisely for this reason that at the end of his speech, Clay made a special joke and expressed his hope that he could stand on the ICM podium for the second time in his lifetime.
There was a burst of good-natured laughter in the entire venue——
There are seven Millennium Mathematical Problems in total.
Now there are only six left.
It’s not Chinese cabbage. It’s normal for no one to receive the second prize in thirty or forty years...
……
After the Millennium Mathematics Prize, Finally it’s IMU’s turn for the official awards.
Following closely behind is the Newanglinna Award.
The conditions for winning the award are the same as those for the Philippine Award, and they cannot be older than 40 years old.
But the scope of the award is limited to mathematical fields related to computer science.
In the end, Madhu Sultan, an Indian mathematician from MIT, won the award for his contributions in probabilistic verifiable proofs, the inapproximability of optimal problems, and optimal error-correcting codes. won this year’s Newanglina Award.
After the Sudan received the award, the applause did not last long.
It’s not that the Newanglinna Award is unimportant.
It’s not because everyone has any opinions about the winner himself.
But...
The main event is coming.
Because in 2002, there were no other major awards such as the Chen Shengshen Award and the Lilawati Award, so the Fields Medal was directly followed by the Newanglina Award——
The list will be read out personally by Jacob Paris and presented by important figures from the host country.
Although, there are many awards that claim to be the "Nobel Prize in mathematics."
But if you must choose the one with the highest recognition and popularity.
That must be the Philippine Prize.
The scholars who can win this honor have all played a huge role in promoting the development of mathematics and can even become the mainstay of the mathematics community.
It also means that the entire mathematical community recognizes its contribution.
Therefore, the moment Jacob Paris took the stage, the main conference hall, which could accommodate thousands of people, was as quiet as death.
Many people, especially the popular candidates for the Philippine Awards, could not help but hold their breath.
Perhaps in response to the enthusiasm of the audience, Paris raised his head and showed a kind smile.
But for some reason, Chang Haonan saw something subtle in that smile...
Naughty?
Like when a prank succeeds.
It is normal for people who engage in mathematics to be old urchins.
But on this occasion, you can’t go too far.
So Chang Haonan couldn't think of any other possibilities for a while, so he had to wait and see.
“Everyone, after discussions and deliberations with the International Mathematical Union and the members of the Board of Directors of the German Mathematicians Union, we finally decided to set up and award the Gauss Prize starting from this conference to commemorate the great contributions to mathematics. Carl Friedrich Gauss, who played an outstanding role in promoting the field! ”
For a time, the whole house was in an uproar.
In fact, the decision to establish the Gauss Prize was passed at the 23rd International Congress of Mathematicians held in Berlin 4 years ago.
However, the establishment belongs to the establishment, and the specific year from which the selection and awarding will begin was not finalized at that time.
Before this conference, there was not much news about this matter.
So everyone basically believes that the selection of this award will not start until 2006.
As a result, no one expected that Paris would directly attack suddenly.
It wasn’t until a few minutes later that the heated discussion finally subsided, and everyone’s attention returned to the podium at the front.
Everyone wants to know who will be lucky enough to be the first winner of the Gauss Prize.
Parris also raised the envelope in his hand to his chest at this time.
"According to the nomination and voting of the awards committee, the winner of the 2002 Gauss Award is..."
Having said this, he paused deliberately, and then, under the gaze of thousands of eyes, he pulled out a piece of paper from the envelope:
"Chang Haonan from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Sijekluo from Gregory Perelman of the Harvard Institute of Mathematics!”
(End of this chapter)