August 8th.
It's nine o'clock in the morning, in the largest conference hall in the Trieste Conference Center.
Li Mu and Andrew Wiles walked in.
"There are quite a lot of people."
Seeing so many people in the conference hall, Li Mu sighed with emotion.
Wiles smiled and said: "In Europe, there are still quite a lot of people studying theoretical physics. After all, CERN is here. I estimate that many of the people who came to the conference this time came from CERN. "
"Indeed."
Li Mu nodded in agreement.
As they were talking, someone greeted them, "Hey! Li!"
Li Mu turned around and saw Guilliman Vern, whom he had met at CERN before.
A young genius in the world of theoretical physics, he was also one of the original members of their organization to save string theory.
"Guilliman, long time no see."
Li Mu also said hello to him.
"I had guessed before that I would probably meet you here, and it seems that I was right." Guilliman Fern said: "When I saw you, I knew that this year's Dirac Medal probably had nothing to do with me. .”
Li Mu laughed twice, "The Dirac Medal is not awarded to just one person, but to several people. You still have a chance."
Guilliman Fern spread his hands and said, "Let's forget it. There are still several outstanding people. Maybe the standards have been raised this year because of you?"
Uh... well... this...
Li Mu is really hard to say.
Because it is indeed possible that the selection criteria for the award will be directly raised a lot because of him.
Of course, Guilliman Fern did not dwell too much on this issue, and then continued to chat with Li Mu.
The two didn't talk about much. They mainly talked about saving the string theory organization and the current progress in saving string theory.
It must be said that this progress is very slow. Some scholars in the organization have already begun to choose to give up and study other issues. While many others have not directly stated that they have given up, they probably have. Mentally shaken.
"We are all looking forward to you coming forward."
Before the two separated, Guilliman Fern couldn't help but say something to Li Mu.
"Saving string theory..."
Li Mu thought silently in his heart.
Although he has been studying Goldbach's conjecture recently, he has also thought about the problem of string theory, but it is still difficult to solve.
"Don't think too much about it for now."
Shaking his head, this problem was no less difficult than Goldbach's conjecture, or even more difficult, and it took him a lot of effort to solve Goldbach's conjecture.
Then he returned to Wiles' side and the two went to their seats.
But after sitting on the seat, Li Mu felt a little strange.
Because he always felt that there were eyes around him looking at him.
He took a few glances and found that some mathematicians seemed to be looking at him.
Then these mathematicians glanced at him and started talking with their friends next to them.
This also makes him one head and two big.
Finally, a terrible suspicion arose. Could it be that his handsomeness could no longer be suppressed?
Ahem, just kidding.
But no matter what, it always made him feel weird.
Andrew Wiles, who was sitting next to him, seemed to feel it, and couldn't help but said: "Hey, have you noticed that there are always people around who are looking at us? Well, specifically, they seem to be looking at you, right?" "
Li Mu Xiaoxiong spread his hands.jpg, "I don't know."
Both of them felt very strange.
At the same time, in another row of seats.
Qiu Chengtong and his student Xu Ziyang are sitting here.
Xu Ziyang is considered his favorite disciple. He has already graduated from his doctorate, but he is still working as a postdoctoral fellow under him and is under his key training.
At this time, he was saying to Xu Ziyang: "Although you are actually qualified to get this award based on your previous achievements, you also know that it is not just you, but there are several people who also have great opportunities like you. , of course the most important thing is that Li Mu is still here."
"Li Mu is a mountain you cannot avoid."
"If ICTP has the courage this year, he is very likely to win both awards, so you have to be prepared."
Xu Ziyang nodded and said with a smile: "I know, professor, don't worry, I don't think this award is mine yet, let alone if it is awarded to Li Mu, I will be convinced."
Qiu Chengtong nodded and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
It can be said that talents have emerged from generation to generation, and each has been leading the way for hundreds of years.
The same is true for academia. Every era has such a leader.
The only difference is that in this era, there is an unreasonable person like Li Mu.
I wonder how many more shocking things this young man can do.
At this moment, his phone suddenly vibrated.
The conference was about to begin, so he had already set his phone to vibrate mode.
He took out his cell phone and saw that it was a call from one of his friends.
Richard Hamilton.
Richard Hamilton is also a celebrity in the world of mathematics because he discovered the Ricci flow, which helped Perelman prove the Poincaré conjecture.
Whether it is him or Qiu Chengtong, both are important scholars of differential geometry, especially the latter, who is an important founder of differential geometry. The two are also familiar with each other because of their research on differential geometry.
Seeing this call, Qiu Chengtong was a little confused. Why did Hamilton suddenly call him today?
Of course, the conference hadn't started yet anyway, so he answered the phone.
As soon as the call was connected, before he could speak, a voice sounded from the other side: "Qiu! Have you read that paper?!"
Qiu Chengtong was stunned: "Thesis? Which paper?"
"Oh! You haven't watched it yet?! This doesn't suit you!"
Qiu Chengtong was even more confused, "I am currently attending a conference organized by ICTP in Italy. I have not done any research these days. Please stop trying to talk to me and tell me what is going on."
"Okay, I told you, Goldbach's conjecture!"
Qiu Chengtong was stunned and couldn't sit still. "What happened to Goldbach's guess? Is there any new progress?"
"It's not just a new development." Hamilton said: "This time it is very likely to be directly proved. This jewel in the crown of mathematics is about to be taken off."
"You're still trying to trick me!"
Hamilton laughed: "Hahaha, okay, I won't sell it, I won't sell it. The paper is on arixv. It is also the paper published by Li Mu. He actually implemented K-module theory and elliptic curves." Combining it, and then integrating the sieve method and the original method into one method, we can easily solve Goldbach's conjecture!"
"The two papers add up to more than 150 pages, and it took me two full days to finish them. Although I haven't analyzed the details in depth, from my perspective, he has already reached the finish line. "
"And you also know that for so long, we have never found fatal flaws in Li Mu's papers with important results. Maybe... he is right again this time."
Upon hearing Hamilton's words, Qiu Chengtong was immediately stunned.
Li...Mu?
It's actually Li Mu again? !
He held his cell phone, turned his head and glanced around the venue a few times, and finally looked at Li Mu.
As a result, Li Mu probably noticed his gaze and turned his head to look at him.
Qiu Chengtong smiled and nodded at Li Mu, then turned to the phone and said, "I know, I'll take a look now."
"Okay, then I won't disturb you."
After saying that, they hung up the phone, and then Qiu Chengtong immediately entered arxiv on his mobile phone and searched for relevant papers.
Soon he found Li Mu's two papers.
"Self-consistency of elliptic curves in K-module form...sieve method and circle method..."
Seeing the titles of these two papers, Qiu Chengtong was already attracted to them.
After briefly looking at the abstracts of the two papers, he immediately realized that the proof of Goldbach's conjecture was not the point, but the other paper.
"Combining K-module theory with elliptic curves?" Qiu Chengtong's brows furrowed.
If there is really no problem with the process and conclusion of this paper, Qiu Chengtong is very clear about the significance of this to the Langlands Program.
"Unbelievable..."
He couldn't help but think in his mind.
And just when he wanted to read the paper, the staff's voice rang out from the venue's speakers.
"Please note, all participants, please note that our conference is about to begin. Please keep quiet and set your mobile phones to silent mode. Thank you for your cooperation."
"Dear participants, please note..."
The host's voice was repeated several times in the speakers, and then gradually, the venue became quiet.
People stopped talking and turned their attention to the podium.
Soon after the staff saw that everyone was quiet, they left the podium. After a while, an old man in his 60s came onto the stage.
He is none other than ICTP Chairman, Atish Dabholkar.
“Thank you to all the scholars for traveling thousands of miles to ICTP to participate in this conference. On behalf of the International Center for Physics, I only welcome you all.”
"Today is August 8, Mr. Paul Dirac's 119th birthday."
"To commemorate his contribution to our scientific community, we are gathered here today not only to express our memory of Mr. Dirac, but also to hope that every scholar can gain something from this place."
When he said this, Atish also smiled slightly and continued: "In the past year, whether it is our theoretical physics community or mathematics community, it can be said that there are ever-changing changes, and many achievements have emerged. , so it can also be said that this year has been a year of constant shock in our scientific community.”
"I also hope that every year in the future, there will be such a grand event as the past year."
"Of course no matter what, we have to make a summary of the previous year."
“For those scholars who have made important contributions during this year, we must reward them so that every scholar who works hard can understand that everyone who contributes will be rewarded.”
"So, let's stop talking nonsense and get into our first topic today."
"Awarding of the Dirac Medal!"
Atish smiled slightly and did not announce the winner immediately. Instead, he scanned the audience first.
But what puzzled him was that some people didn't seem to pay attention to him. He probably recognized them, and they seemed to be mathematicians.
These mathematicians all seemed to be holding their mobile phones and didn’t know what they were looking at.
Of course, although he was confused, he didn't pay too much attention to it. After all, the Dirac Medal had nothing to do with pure mathematics.
At least all physicists are looking forward to it.
As a major branch of physics, the biggest difference between theoretical physics and experimental physics is that theoretical physics may not be verified.
As the highest honor in theoretical physics, the Dirac Medal does not depend on whether the theory has been verified. Therefore, Edward Witten once received the Dirac Medal.
Of course, it is precisely because of its status as the "highest honor" that all theoretical physicists are constantly chasing this medal.
And who will it go to this year?
Atish finally spoke, and his first word revealed the answer.
"Dimensional force——"
"It is the fifth fundamental force of the universe. In the past, we have never discovered it, and we have always thought that there are only four fundamental forces in the world."
"But now, under the guidance of a genius, we have discovered this mysterious power that is everywhere but hidden everywhere."
"The analysis of theoretical physics has once again played a decisive role, which fully demonstrates that our theoretical physics has unlimited possibilities."
"So, we would like to thank that genius for his guidance, which completes the physical framework of the world we know and also brings us more confidence."
"he is the one--"
"Li Mu!"
“I hereby officially announce that this year’s Dirac Medal winner is Li Mu!”
"Thank you for your great contributions to our theoretical physics community in the past time!"
Following Atish's announcement, the venue erupted into thunderous applause after a moment of silence.
All the physicists let out a sigh of relief, and then they all showed expressions that confirmed this.
Competing with Li Mu for a spot is indeed a bit overestimating one's abilities.
Let’s look forward to other places.
I just don’t know how much this year’s award criteria will be improved because of Li Mu.
It's impossible... to award it to just Li Mu, right?
This kind of thing really hasn't happened before.
The most recent time was in 2006, when the award was given to only one person, and the further ones were in 2001 and 1999.
All in all, although the probability is low, it is definitely not impossible.
As a result, the remaining physicists stared closely at Atish on the stage, looking forward to his announcement again.
However, what made them all regretful was that Atish did not make another announcement and just said: "Then, let's invite Mr. Li Mu to come to the stage to accept the award!"
There was an uproar in the venue, which meant that only Li Mu won the award this year!
Suddenly, many physicists became even more helpless.
Okay, just accept it honestly, they can only be a companion for once.
Anyway, the Dirac Medal does not have an age limit like the Fields Medal, so it is not a big problem.
Of course, some physicists also jokingly think to themselves, maybe they will win the Nobel Prize, the Wolf Prize, or even the Fields Medal in the future, and then they will not be eligible to win the Dirac Medal?
(End of chapter)
