Chapter 211 Opening of the Conference (Update)
August 1, 2018.
The 28th International Mathematical Congress officially kicked off in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In the hotel room, Xu Chuan stood in front of the bathroom mirror in a suit to tidy up his appearance.
Outside the room, the doorbell rang "ding dong" "ding dong", as if urging the people inside.
He walked over and opened the door, and there were four of his students standing outside.
"Professor, are you ready? The conference is about to start." The younger student Shashi Perez asked excitedly at the door.
Xu Chuan glanced at the students who all looked at him expectantly, and smiled: "Let's go."
"Professor, is this your first time attending the International Mathematical Congress?" In the elevator, the lively Shashi looked at the calm Xu Chuan curiously and asked.
"Of course it's the first time, what's wrong?" Xu Chuan turned his head and asked.
"But you don't look excited at all, and today is the day of the Fields Medal. Aren't you looking forward to it?"
Xu Chuan smiled and said, "I am definitely excited and looking forward to it, but it's enough in my heart."
"That sounds like a middle-aged or old man." Shashi Perez muttered.
Amelia shrugged and said, "If you can prove one of the seven millennium problems like the professor, maybe you can 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 24 years old, and the professor proved the Hodge conjecture when he was 20 years old."
Hearing this, Shashi stopped talking immediately. This was too depressing.
Gu Bing and Roger Dean on the side also moved their mouths, wanting to say something but stopping.
Amelia's wave of aoe damage is really fatal.
Xu Chuan smiled, said nothing, and walked towards the venue with several students.
If he had not learned the knowledge from his previous life, he would not have been able to prove a Millennium Puzzle at the age of 20.
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 might not be able to do it.
Of course, he did not say that it was definitely impossible to do it, but only that it was very difficult, almost impossible.
The reason is very simple. Today's mathematics is no longer the mathematics of the past century.
The vast mathematical knowledge and numerous mathematical branches make it difficult for today's mathematicians to make great achievements when they are young.
At the age of 20, it is not even enough for a person to learn all the knowledge needed to prove a Millennium Puzzle.
This is why Poincaré is called "the last mathematical genius in history" by the mathematical community.
In the early 20th century when he lived, mathematics was already extremely huge. It was very difficult to have a comprehensive understanding and study of it, and then to conduct in-depth research.
And now in the 21st century, after another hundred years of mathematics, the branches have become so huge that ordinary people can hardly imagine.
Not to mention other things, there are more than a dozen major branches in geometry alone.
The algebraic geometry studied by his ancestor, Pope Grothendieck, is nothing more than the generalization of plane analytic geometry and three-dimensional space analytic geometry.
People who have knowledge of all mathematical fields today are much rarer than wild giant pandas.
Looking at the entire mathematical community today, only Terence Tao has such a reputation.
The "comprehensiveness" and "comprehensiveness" of mathematicians are actually a commonplace topic.
If there is no clear standard for this kind of problem, it is nonsense to discuss it.
If the standard is set as "proficient in (almost) all branches of mathematics at that time, and have 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 to (almost) every branch", then there is no doubt that Hilbert and Poincaré are not qualified.
The last existence of "comprehensively opening up the entire territory of mathematics" is Euler and Gauss.
Of course, "comprehensiveness" or "comprehensiveness" is not the right way to start the question of "evaluating a mathematician"; because in mathematics, obviously not everything has the same importance.
A fair standard for evaluating a mathematician is to see how many "important" things he has done, rather than just how many things he has done.
Riemann is far inferior to Euler and Gauss in terms of the number, scope, completeness and length of his career, but he has a status very disproportionately close to them.
As for Galois, it is a more extreme example.
Less than 22 years old, in the era when Gauss dominated the sky of mathematics, facing the iron curtain where almost all original ideas were monopolized by Gauss alone, he relied on pure talent to "step on the south sky, shatter the sky, and never return", opening up the group theory that has been indispensable to this day, illuminating the new world of abstract algebra.
Although this great mathematician only studied this profession in his life, there are countless people who have inherited and carried forward this.
Thinking all the way, Xu Chuan soon arrived outside the venue of the International Mathematical Congress.
Although there is still more than an hour before the conference officially opens, the venue is already very lively.
Mathematicians of all kinds are outside the venue looking for their familiar friends or the experts they hope to meet.
Inside and outside the venue, numerous media were preparing to enter the venue under the organization of the staff to shoot and report.
Xu Chuan's arrival soon caused a sensation outside the venue.
People who recognized him gathered around him, especially those astronomers and astrophysicists who had already arrived and had been squatting outside the venue. They were the first 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 for Xu Chuan's report on the extended application of the Xu-Weyl-Berry theorem.
The noisy situation outside the venue made the media who were originally entering the venue smell unusual signals. They didn't care about entering the venue and ran over with cameras.
Outside the venue, the conference staff who were organizing the work were shocked by the situation and quickly called for help to prevent crowding and trampling accidents.
Being surrounded by the crowd in the middle, Xu Chuan was also a little overwhelmed, especially the enthusiasm of those astronomers and astrophysicists, which was even more troublesome.
If I had known, I would not have agreed to the request of the International Mathematical Union. Even if I had held a separate report meeting at another venue, there would not have been so many people coming.
Many of those who came today came with the mentality of participating in the mathematics conference together and broadening their horizons.
Fortunately, it didn't take long for the staff who heard the news to persuade and separate the crowd, so that Xu Chuan could be freed and enter the venue.
After entering the venue, before Xu Chuan sat down, another person came.
This time, it was a media reporter, and he was familiar with it.
"Hello, Professor Xu Chuan." The beautiful female reporter greeted Xu Chuan with a voice like an oriole.
Seeing the person standing in front of him, Xu Chuan was stunned for a moment, and then smiled and greeted: "Hello, reporter Sun, long time no see."
The figure in front of him was Sun Yutong, a CTV reporter who interviewed him at the Crafford Award ceremony last year.
Hearing this, Sun Yutong was also stunned for a moment, and then a bright smile appeared on her 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, "It's like this, Professor Xu Chuan, our CTV has applied to the International Mathematical Union for the live broadcast authorization of this mathematics conference. While the conference has not started yet, I would like to ask you to say hello to the domestic audience. I wonder if it is convenient for you."
After asking, she quickly added: "Of course, the camera is not aimed 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 to IMU for the live broadcast rights of the conference, which is a rare thing.
But he also knew why, so he nodded and agreed to the request.
This time, the country really bet heavily on him.
In the past, the International Congress of Mathematicians has never been broadcast live by CTV, even the one held in China in 2002, which was not broadcast live to the whole people.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that the Internet in China was not fully popularized at that time.
But with the number of people in China, plus the special nature of CTV media, plus official propaganda, if the live broadcast is launched, at least five or six million people will watch it, and if it is more, tens of millions of people will also be normal.
With so many people watching, if he fails to win the Fields Medal at this conference, he will lose face.
However, the International Mathematical Union Committee cannot do this. A top scholar who has proved the seven millennium problems did not win the Fields Medal. In this way, the credibility of this medal will be directly abolished.
Who will think that the Fields Medal is the highest honor in the mathematics world in the future? I am afraid that no one will think so, and even many mathematicians in the mathematics world will no longer pursue this medal.
Hearing Xu Chuan's agreement, Sun Yutong also breathed a sigh of relief, and said quickly with a smile: "Please wait, I will ask someone to come over."
After that, he trotted over to call the cameraman.
After a while, the guy with a camera on his shoulder trotted over.
"Hello everyone, before the opening of this mathematics conference, we are honored to invite Professor Xu Chuan, a young mathematician."
Standing next to Xu Chuan, Sun Yutong looked at the camera with a very friendly smile, greeted the audience in the CTV live broadcast room, and quickly made way for Xu Chuan to stand in the center.
"Hello everyone, I am the tour guide Xu Chuan, welcome everyone to watch this International Mathematical Congress."
Looking at the camera, Xu Chuan smiled and greeted the audience in the live broadcast room and made a joke.
And with his entry, the CTV live broadcast room instantly went crazy. The live broadcast room that can't brush gifts is the barrage.
For a while, the barrage in the live broadcast room emerged like a tide.
[Fuck, it's Chuan Shen! ]
[The big guy with golden light! ]
[Chuan Shen is awesome! Screaming! ]
[Take a bite of Chuan Shen's wisdom, just hope that there is no make-up exam for advanced algebra this semester! ]
[Chuan Shen will definitely win the Fields Award this time? 】
【Of course, the Hodge conjecture has been solved. If he doesn't win the Fields Prize, what's the point of watching it. 】
【The voice of Chuan Shen is so warm. I love him. I really want to give birth to a baby for him. 】
【Hehe, as smart as I am, I have already applied for the Department of Mathematics at Nanjing University after the college entrance examination this year. In one month, I can become alumni with Chuan Shen! 】
The live broadcast room was full of comments, but Xu Chuan couldn't see them. Under the leadership of Sun Yutong, the two exchanged a few simple questions and quickly ended the conversation.
On the one hand, even with the live broadcast authorization, CTV couldn't disturb Xu Chuan for too long. It was good enough to ask him to show up before the opening.
On the other hand, the Fields Medal had not been awarded yet, so some questions were not easy to ask.
Of course, the more important thing was that the mathematics conference was about to begin, and they had to go back to their original positions to record the precious award ceremony.
As the mathematicians and astronomers participating in this mathematics conference took their seats, the 28th International Mathematical Congress officially kicked off.
At nine o'clock, the conference officially began.
Professor Marcelo Viana, chairman of the conference organizing committee, first delivered a speech at the opening ceremony.
He also thanked the local organization 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 Mathematical Congress.
Afterwards, Professor Shigefumi Mori, president of the International Mathematical Union and winner of the Fields Medal, delivered a speech and reviewed the development of the mathematics community over the past four years.
After the two chairmen finished 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 David Donohue, a professor at Stanford University; the reason for the award was: "For his fundamental contributions to the mathematical, statistical and computational analysis of important problems in signal processing."
The Chern Prize was awarded to Masaki Kashiwara, a mathematician from a small island country, in recognition of his outstanding and fundamental contributions to algebraic analysis and representation theory in the past 50 years.
The Nevarlinna Prize was awarded to Ali Nesin, a mathematician from Turkey, in recognition of his outstanding contributions in influencing the Turkish public and helping them improve their mathematical awareness.
The International Mathematical Union said that Professor Nesin tirelessly created the "Mathematical Village" with the intention of providing everyone with a peaceful place for mathematical education, research and discovery, which is of great significance to developing countries.
When the three awards were awarded, the remaining one was the top priority of this International Mathematical Congress, the "Fields Medal", which is known as the Nobel Prize in mathematics.