Chapter 211 Opening of the Conference (Update)
August 1, 2018.
The 28th International Mathematics Congress officially kicked off in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In the hotel room, Xu Chuan put on a suit and stood in front of the bathroom mirror to tidy up his appearance.
Outside the room, the doorbell rang "ding-dong" and "ding-dong", as if urging the people inside.
He walked over and opened the door. Standing outside the door were four of his students.
"Professor, are you ready? The conference is about to begin." Shashi Perez, a younger student, asked excitedly as he stood at the door.
Xu Chuan glanced at the students who all looked at him expectantly, and said with a smile: "Let's go."
"Professor, is this your first time attending an international mathematics conference?" In the elevator, the lively Shaxi looked at the calm Xu Chuan curiously and asked.
"Of course it's the first time, what's wrong?" Xu Chuan turned around and asked.
"But you don't look excited at all, and today is the day when the Fields Medal is awarded, aren't you looking forward to it?"
Xu Chuan smiled and said: "The excitement and anticipation are definitely there, but it is enough in my heart."
"That sounds like a middle-aged or old man." Shashi Perez muttered.
On the side, Amelia shrugged and said: "If you can prove one of the seven millennium problems like the professor, you may be able to understand the professor's state of mind."
After a pause, she added: "But you will never be able to do it in this life. After all, you are already twenty-four years old, and the professor proved the Hodge conjecture when he was twenty."
Hearing this, Shashi stopped talking immediately. This was so shocking.
Gu Bing and Roger Dean on the side also moved the corners of their mouths, but stopped talking.
Amelia's wave of AOE damage is really fatal.
Xu Chuan smiled, said nothing, and walked towards the venue with a few students.
At the age of 20, he proved a millennium problem, which he would not have been able to do without the knowledge of his previous life.
Or to put it another way, probably no one in the world today can do it.
Even if Newton or Gauss were born in this era, they may not be able to do it.
Of course, he didn't say it was definitely impossible, he could only say that it was very difficult and almost impossible.
The reason is very simple. Today's mathematics is no longer the mathematics of more than ten centuries.
The vast mathematical knowledge and numerous branches of mathematics make it difficult for today's mathematicians to make great achievements at a young age.
20 years old is not even enough time for a person to learn all the knowledge required to prove a millennium problem.
This is also the reason why Poincaré is called 'the last mathematical generalist in history' by the mathematical community.
At the beginning of the 20th century, mathematics at that time was already extremely large. It was already very difficult to fully understand and study it, and then to study it in depth.
Now in the 21st century, after another hundred years of mathematics, the branches have become so huge that it is difficult for ordinary people to imagine.
Not to mention other things, there are more than a dozen major branches of geometry alone.
The algebraic geometry studied by his grandfather, Mr. Pope Grothendieck, was nothing more than a generalization of plane analytic geometry and three-dimensional space analytic geometry.
Today there are far fewer people than wild giant pandas who know something about all areas of mathematics.
Looking at the entire mathematics community today, Terence Tao is the only one with such a reputation.
The "comprehensiveness" and "comprehensiveness" of mathematicians is actually a commonplace topic.
If clear standards are not set for this kind of issue, it will be nonsense to discuss it.
If the standard is set as "proficient in (almost) all branches of mathematics at that time and having a deep understanding of them", the last person may be Poincaré or Hilbert.
If the standard is set as "not only proficient in (almost) all branches of mathematics at that time, but also made extraordinary contributions in (almost) every branch", then there is no doubt that Hilbert and Poincaré are not enough. grid.
The last ones who "comprehensively opened up the entire territory of mathematics" were Euler and Gauss.
Of course, "comprehensive" or "comprehensive" is not an appropriate way to start "evaluating a mathematician"; because clearly not everything is of equal importance in mathematics.
To evaluate a mathematician, a fair standard is to see how many "important" things he has done, not just how many things he has done.
Riemann is far inferior to Euler and Gauss in terms of the quantity, scope, completeness or length of his career, but he disproportionately holds a status close to them.
As for Galois, it is a more extreme example.
In his life of less than 22 years old, it was the era when Gaussian dominated the sky of mathematics. Facing the Iron Curtain where almost all original ideas were monopolized by Gaussian, he just relied on pure talent to "step into the south and smash the sky, and never leave." "Back" opened up group theory, which has been indispensable for a while, and illuminated a new world of abstract algebra.
Although this great mathematician only worked in this field in his career, there are countless people who have followed this path and carried it forward.
Thinking all the way, Xu Chuan soon arrived outside the venue where the International Mathematics Conference was held.
Although it is still more than an hour before the official opening of the conference, the venue is already extremely lively at this moment.
All kinds of mathematicians were looking for familiar friends outside the venue, or perhaps experts they hoped to meet.
Inside and outside the venue, a large number of media were preparing to enter the venue under the organization of the staff for shooting and reporting.
Xu Chuan's arrival soon caused a sensation outside the venue.
People who recognized him gathered around him, especially the astronomers and astrophysicists who had already arrived and had been squatting outside the venue. They were the first people to recognize Xu Chuan. In comparison, scholars in the mathematics community reacted much slower.
But this is normal. After all, people from the astronomy and astrophysics communities came here to report on the extended application of Xu Chuan’s Xu-Weyl-Berry theorem.
The noisy situation outside the venue caused the media who were entering the venue to smell an unusual signal. They ignored the entry and ran over with cameras on their shoulders.
Outside the venue, conference staff who were organizing work were shocked when they saw this situation and quickly called for help to prevent crowding and stampede accidents.
Being surrounded by the crowd in the center, Xu Chuan also felt a little dizzy, especially the enthusiasm of those astronomers and astrophysicists, which was even more troublesome.
If I had known earlier, I would not have agreed to the request of the International Mathematical Union. There would not have been so many people coming to the separate opening report at another venue. Many of those who came here today came with the mentality of participating in the mathematics conference together and gaining knowledge.
Fortunately, it didn't take long for the staff to come after hearing the news and persuaded the crowd to separate. Only then could Xu Chuan be freed and entered the venue.
Entering the venue, before Xu Chuan could sit down, someone else came over.
This time, the person who came over was a media reporter, and he was also someone he knew well.
"Hello, Professor Xu Chuan." The beautiful reporter with a delicate face greeted Xu Chuan with a voice like an oriole.
Seeing the person standing in front of him, Xu Chuan was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said hello: "Hello, Reporter Sun, long time no see."
The figure in front of him is Sun Yutong, the CTV reporter who interviewed him at the Crafford Award Ceremony last year.
Hearing this, Sun Yutong was stunned for a moment, and then a bright smile appeared on his face: "I didn't expect you to still remember me."
Xu Chuan smiled and said: "I think my memory should be pretty good."
Sun Yutong smiled and continued: "That's right, Professor Xu Chuan, our CTV has applied for the live broadcast authorization of this mathematics conference from the International Mathematical Union. Before the conference starts, I would like to ask you to have a chat with the domestic audience. Hello, I didn’t know it was inconvenient for you.”
After making a request, she quickly added: "Of course, the camera is not pointed at you now, and our conversation is not recorded in the live broadcast room. If it is inconvenient for you, we can cancel this process, no problem."
Hearing this, Xu Chuan was a little surprised. CTV applied for the live broadcast rights of the conference from IMU, which is a strange thing.
But he also knew why, so he nodded and agreed to the request.
The country is really betting heavily on him this time.
In the past, the International Congress of Mathematicians was never broadcast live on CTV. Even the one held in China in 2002 was never broadcast live to the public.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that the Internet in China was not yet fully popularized at that time.
But based on the number of people in the country, the particularity of CTV media, and the official publicity, if a live broadcast is launched, it is possible to have at least five to six million people, and if it is more, tens of millions of people are normal.
With so many people watching, it would be a huge loss of face if he failed to win the Fields Medal at this conference.
However, it is impossible for the International Mathematical Union Committee to do this. A top scholar who proved seven millennium problems did not win the Fields Medal. In this way, the credibility of this medal is directly abolished.
Who will think that the Fields Medal is the highest honor in mathematics in the future? I'm afraid no one will think so, and even many mathematicians in the mathematics community will no longer pursue this medal.
Hearing Xu Chuan's agreement, Sun Yutong breathed a sigh of relief and said quickly with a smile: "Wait a moment, I'll have someone come over right now."
After that, he trotted over and called the camera guy.
After a while, the guy with the camera on his shoulder trotted over.
"Hello everyone, before the opening of this mathematics conference, we are honored to invite the young mathematician Professor Xu Chuan."
Standing next to Xu Chuan, Sun Yutong looked at the camera with a very friendly smile. After saying hello to the audience in the CTV live broadcast room, she quickly moved away from the C seat and let Xu Chuan stand in the center.
"Hello everyone, I am Xu Chuan, the tour guide, and welcome everyone to watch this International Mathematics Congress."
Looking at the camera, Xu Chuan smiled, greeted the audience in the live broadcast room, and made a joke.
As he entered the country, the CTV live broadcast room instantly went crazy. In the live broadcast room where gifts cannot be redeemed, the only thing that can be redeemed is barrage.
For a moment, barrages flooded into the live broadcast room.
[Shit, it’s the God of Sichuan! 】
[The boss with his own golden light! 】
【Sichuan God is awesome! Shout loudly! 】
[Taking a sip of the wisdom from Sichuan God, I just hope that the senior students will not make up the exam this semester! 】
[Is Sichuan God sure to win the Philippine Award this time? 】
[Definitely, Hodge's conjecture has been solved. If the Philippine Prize doesn't have him, it would still be a p. 】
[Sichuan God’s voice is so warm. I love it so much. I really want to give birth to a monkey for Sichuan God. 】
[Hey, you are as smart as me. After passing the college entrance examination this year, I have already applied for the Mathematics Department of NTU. I will be an alumnus of Sichuan God in one month! 】
The barrage in the live broadcast room was going crazy, but Xu Chuan couldn't see it. Under the leadership of Sun Yutong, the two exchanged a few simple questions and quickly ended the conversation.
On the one hand, even if it has live broadcast authorization, CTV cannot disturb Xu Chuan for too long. It is already good to invite him to show his face before the opening.
On the other hand, the Fields Medal has not yet been awarded, and some questions are not easy to ask.
Of course, the more important thing is that the mathematics conference is about to start, and they have to go back to record the precious award ceremony.
As the mathematicians and astronomers participating in this mathematics conference took their seats one after another, the 28th International Mathematics Congress officially kicked off.
At nine o'clock sharp, the conference officially started.
Professor Marcelo Viana, chairman of the organizing committee of the conference, first delivered an opening speech.
I also thanked the local organizations and sponsors of the conference, thanked the new and old friends who came to attend the conference, and announced the opening of the 28th International Mathematics Congress.
Subsequently, Professor Shigefumi Mori, Chairman of the International Mathematical Union and winner of the Fields Medal, delivered a speech and reviewed the development of the mathematics community in the past four years.
After the two principals completed their speeches, the opening ceremony of this mathematics conference entered the most exciting part - "announcement and awarding of the four major awards of the International Mathematical Union."
The first to be announced was the Gauss Prize. The 2018 Gauss Prize was awarded to Professor David Donoghue of Stanford University; the reason for the award was: "for his contributions in the mathematical, statistical and computational analysis of important issues in signal processing." Fundamental contribution.”
The Chern Prize was awarded to the mathematician Masaki Kashiwahara of the small island country in recognition of his outstanding and fundamental contributions to algebraic analysis and representation theory in the past 50 years.
The Nevarina Prize was awarded to Turkish mathematician Ali Nesin in recognition of his outstanding contributions in influencing the Turkish public and helping them improve their awareness of mathematics.
The International Mathematical Union stated that Professor Nessing worked tirelessly to create a "mathematical village" with the intention of providing a peaceful place for mathematics education, research and discovery for all, which is of great significance to developing countries.
When the three awards have been awarded, what remains is the top priority of this international mathematics conference, which is known as the ‘Fields Medal’ of the Nobel Prize in mathematics.
(End of chapter)