From small town academic to chief scientist

The venue of this International Congress of Mathematicians was originally planned to be held in St. Petersburg, Tsarist Russia. However, due to some unfavorable reasons, it was changed to Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland.

Mainly because the 2 cents were a bit cheap, which led to the address of the originally determined place being changed.

The specific time is that the 19th International Mathematical Union General Member Congress will be held on July 3-4 at Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland.

On July 5, an award ceremony for IMU's five major awards will be held, where the winners will be awarded the Fields Medal, the International Mathematical Union Abacus Prize (this award is the continuation of the Rolf Nevanlinna Prize), the Chen Shengshen Prize, the Gauss Prize and Lilavati Award,

The award ceremony will also be broadcast live online simultaneously, allowing some mathematicians who are unable to attend to watch online.

After getting off the plane, Academician E took the lead and led a group of people to the reserved hotel.

Younger people such as Zhou Yi, Liu Gang, Ding Jian and Shan Peng were in rooms closer to each other.

Finland is located in northern Europe and is one of the five Nordic countries. Its people's living standards far exceed those of the European Union, and it can be considered a very developed country.

Citizens enjoy a very high standard of quality of life. Finnish government civil servants are honest and efficient, and have formed a broad consensus in society.

"Transparency International", a non-governmental organization that monitors corruption in various countries around the world, released the 2012 Global Corruption Perception Index report. Among 176 countries and regions, Finland ranked first and was the most corrupt country.

As Zhou Yi walked, he learned about Finland.

As for the most honest country, just look at it, are there still white crows in this world?

As soon as Zhou Yi returned to his room, Academician E sent a message in the group asking everyone to have dinner together.

Fifteen people, Academician Hubei formed a prestige group.

Facilitate contact and communication.

Zhou Yi adheres to the principle of not spending his own money. If you don't go, it will be in vain. Anyway, it is the state that pays for it, and Zhou Yi wants to eat a lot!

To be honest, at this kind of large-scale international academic conference, how can the quality of fruit plates and pastries be lowered?

If the quality is low, wouldn’t it be a disgrace to Finland as a country?

While everyone was eating, they discussed who was most likely to win the Fields Medal this year.

Ding Jian obviously also has a certain degree of competitiveness.

Everyone looked at him from time to time.

After Ding Jian had almost finished eating, he said with a hint of emotion:

"There is a high probability that I will not have a chance this year.

Probably the French mathematician Dominier Copin, who works at the International Institute for Advanced Study of Sciences in France, can obtain,

He and I are colleagues, and our direction is probability theory.

He solved long-standing problems in the probability theory of phase transitions in statistical physics, especially in three and four dimensions. It's really a pity. "

When everyone heard it, if Ding Jian couldn't get it, then no one present would have a chance.

Except for Zhouyi, the stage of Zhouyi is not in this session, but in the next session.

With Zhou Yi's talent, there will definitely be opportunities in the future, which will take a full twenty years.

Everyone thought of this and looked at Zhou Yi with some curiosity.

Shan Peng from Shuimu University on the side was the first to ask:

"Zhou Shen, how old are you this year?"

Zhou Yi was a little embarrassed by this title. After swallowing the cake in his mouth, he said:

"I have turned 18 this year and am eating the food of a 19-year-old."

Um? ? ?

At a big table, fourteen people looked at Zhou Yi in shock.

Are you really only 18? Not yet 19!

Didn't I hear that you are 19?

Zhou Yi smiled shyly and continued to eat the steak in front of him.

These top-quality ingredients were prepared by top chefs. Zhou Yi swore that this was the first time he had eaten them in his life.

If you don’t eat more, you will be sorry for the ingredients and the hard work of the chef.

18 years old. I'm afraid they are still in their first year of undergraduate studies when they are eighteen. This little brother has already published a mathematics annual.

Why is it so annoying to compare people to each other?

If he were really only eighteen years old, wouldn't a 22-year-old Fields Medal winner be born four years later?

The youngest Fields Medal winner in the world,

No, he should be the youngest Fields Medal winner in history!

Looking at Zhou Yi who was concentrating on eating steak, everyone had different thoughts.

After dinner, before Zhou Yi returned to his room, Liu Gang pulled him to his room.

Zhou Yi looked at Liu Gang, confused.

"Zhou Shen, I mainly want to talk to you, nothing else."

Liu Gang looked at Zhou Yi who was a little confused and said solemnly.

"Actually, I was invited back by Beijing University and Hua University of Science and Technology before, but I declined them both."

Zhou Yi did not speak, but looked at Liu Gang, presumably this man had something to say.

"If you follow Mr. Qiu in your studies, there may be more secret knives and guns involved. Especially since Beijing University has not recruited master's degree students since 19 years, it has even canceled the unified examination. You should understand what I mean."

Of course Zhou Yi understood that he wanted to be a super academic and monopolize the domestic mathematics status. Unexpectedly, Mr. Qiu stood up and the Chinese Academy of Sciences also stood up.

Liu Gang continued:

"Due to my background, even though the universities I attended were better than the last, the tutors were not top-notch. I had to read cutting-edge literature myself to achieve some success. You are better than me. Mr. Youqiu led me." , having said so much, I still want to remind you to be careful."

Liu Gang spoke in a roundabout way, but Zhou Yi was not a fool, so he could naturally understand the meaning behind it.

It is really annoying to compete with some old guys who study mathematics in China.

"But in the past few years, due to the attention from above, the environment has improved a lot, so I decided to return to China."

Zhou Yi naturally understood what he meant and said:

"Thank you for reminding."

After all, Zhou Yi's future teachers were all dishonored, so Zhou Yi wouldn't be wrong if he was more cautious.

Obviously Liu Gang also wanted to pull Zhou Yi into an alliance.

In the future, there will be at least one more friend.

Zhouyi studied under Qiu Chengtong, so he was destined to be a world apart from Shangjing University.

As soon as Zhou Yi came out of Liu Gang's room, Shan Peng also directly pulled Zhou Yi into her room and said:

"Don't get close to some people at Peking University. It's not that you don't have academic exchanges with Peking University, but that some people are not worth getting to know."

Then Shan Peng said a few names.

Zhou Yi sweated profusely.

Shan Peng is a professor at the Qiu Chengtong Applied Mathematics Research Center of Shangjing Shuimu University, and Zhou Yi is Mr. Qiu’s student in the future. Some things must be made clear.

After returning to the room, several more people came to see Zhou Yi, and the topics of conversation were similar.

Most of them still wanted Zhou Yi to teach in their schools in the future, and they made many promises.

They were all declined by Zhou Yi one by one.

However, from talking to these people, Zhou Yi also learned that Ding Jian was not only a professor at Beijing University, but also a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, one of the eight Ivy League schools.

It is very intriguing that he did not join Beijing University full-time.

The next day, when Academician Hubei organized the bureau, although everyone was very reluctant, the Chinese mathematician Tao Zhexuan, a member of the ICM Structure Committee, took them with him.

Everyone no longer has so many emotions.

This is the chairman of ICM, a mathematician known as a genius prodigy, and the second Fields Medal winner of Chinese Australian descent.

Zhou Yi also didn't expect to see celebrities in the book.

Terence Tao said as he walked:

"I'm also a little surprised that you all are here. This Fields Medal in the field of probability theory is probably won by France's Minnier Copin."

After speaking, he glanced at Ding Jian from time to time, and it was self-evident what he meant.

"Zhou Yi, your report will start after the awards are given. Little guy, are you ready? Face the doubts of the world's top mathematicians."

Zhou Yi was a little shy, still a little uncomfortable with such a celebrity, and said:

"Get ready."

"But what's interesting is that there is a female mathematician from Ukraine who is also an expert in the field of ball stacking. She is considered a peer of Zhou Yi. This year, she will most likely win the Fields Medal, so Zhou Yi, you are under a lot of pressure."

Terence Tao said,

Zhou Yi didn't take it seriously. There was no mistake. If he hadn't published this paper late, this Ukrainian female mathematician would not have won the Fields Medal at all this year.

Immediately, Tao Zhexuan began to introduce the Aalto University.

Ranked over 100 in the world, it is among the top universities locally.

The strongest majors are architecture and mobile communications, which are at the top level in the world.

In the next few days, Tao Zhexuan did not come to receive them again. Everyone either communicated with some colleagues they knew before, or studied papers in their own rooms.

Zhou Yi eats on time and chats with Xia Xue about the situation at home from time to time.

On July 5th, everyone participated in this year's five awards ceremony in a super large lecture theater.

Carlos Kenig, the leader of IMU, spoke with a microphone on the stage:

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this year's International Congress of Mathematicians. It is my honor to host this conference in person. Without further ado, I will mainly talk about this year's situation.

In addition to confirming the four Fields Medal winners, it is also necessary to confirm the winners of the Chen Prize, the Gauss Prize, the Abacus Prize, and the Lilavati Prize. This is the most important thing for our conference;

Secondly, Kepler's conjecture, which has been pending in the mathematical world for four hundred years, may be crowned as a theorem today.

Originally, our organizing committee did not plan to determine the proof process of Kepler's conjecture at the conference, but Mr. Qiu's suggestion made me feel very satisfied.

The conjecture that has been unresolved for four hundred years should be witnessed by all colleagues in the world, because Zhouyi's proof is highly likely to be true!

After these two things, everyone will make reports, speak in their respective groups, and exchange their own experiences and cutting-edge directions. "

Everyone applauded.

Carlos Koenig said after the applause stopped:

“Now, let’s announce the four Fields Medal winners first.”

In an instant, countless reporters focused their cameras on the big screen.

“The first one is the French mathematician Dominier Copin from the Ecole Supérieure d’Etudes Supérieures, France, for solving long-standing problems in the probability theory of phase transitions in statistical physics, especially in three and four dimensions.

Congratulations to Minear Coppin. "

Not long after, a young Frenchman walked up to the podium and received the Fields Medal, which symbolizes the highest honor for mathematicians.

Ding Jian next to Zhou Yi sighed softly, it was indeed not him.

Although Ding Jian already knew the result, after it actually happened, he would not be able to act like a normal person.

It can only be said that it is a pity, maybe there is a glimmer of hope for the next one.

Not long after, the winner gave a speech, took photos, and reporters took photos.

Then Carlos Koenig continued:

“The second one is June Huh, a Korean-American mathematician from Princeton University, whose direction is combinatorial geometry.

For introducing the ideas of Hodge theory into combinatorics, proving the Dowling-Wilson conjecture on geometric lattices, proving the Helen-Lotta-Welsh conjecture of matroids, developing Lorentz polynomial theory and proving the Strong Mersenne conjecture.

Congratulations to Xu Qi'er. "

When the people of Daxia heard this, they couldn't help but marvel. It seems that every Fields Medal winner has proved some important conjectures.

You cannot win the Fields Medal just based on some cutting-edge results.

Interestingly, this Korean mathematician Xu Jiur learned mathematics from the Japanese Fields Medal winner Guangzhong Pingyu.

I saw this Korean Fields Medal winner say:

"Thanks to the organizing committee, to all my international colleagues for their recognition, and to my mentor Hironaka Heiyu. Without him, I wouldn't have been able to resolutely start studying mathematics at the age of 24..."

He was still a half-way monk. In just 15 years, he achieved the highest achievements in mathematics.

Many people are so envious that their mouths are watering.

Shan Peng on the side whispered to Zhou Yi:

"This is the first Korean to win the Fields Medal. It is of great significance in the Bangzi country, and his achievements are indeed strong. Although I don't like their Kimchi country, I still recognize the strengths of others."

Zhouyi said:

"Last time in the US competition, I competed with students from Seoul National University."

Carlos Koenig then continued:

“The third Fields Medal winner is Maynard, a British mathematician from Oxford University, whose field is number theory.

For his contributions to analytic number theory, he has made significant progress in understanding the structure of prime numbers and the Diophantine approximation.

Let's congratulate Maynard. "

The subsequent process is the same, and then comes the fourth Fields Medal winner.

“The following Fields Medal winner is Ukrainian mathematician Vyazovska from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, with a focus on combinatorial geometry.

For proving that the E8 lattice provides the densest packing method of identical spheres in 8 dimensions, and for making further contributions to related extreme value problems and interpolation problems in Fourier analysis.

Congratulations to Vyazowska. "

IMU President Carlos Koenig paused and said:

"If we can confirm that Kepler's conjecture is correct before today, then Viazowska may not win the Fields Medal, but you are lucky."

Zhou Yi also sighed that he was really lucky.

Zhou Yi did not like this female Fields Medal winner, just as their country did not like Daxia.

I saw the 37-year-old Fields Medal winner walking to the podium. After receiving the medal, his first words were:

"I am honored to receive this medal. I would like to take this opportunity to strongly condemn Damao."

Zhou Yi and the mathematicians present all changed their colors instantly.

It’s a good academic conference, why the hell are you getting involved in politics.

This is an insult to the meeting and may be used as a piece by the media.

PS: Please vote for me. Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone. There are also nights.

Asking for a monthly ticket.