Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
It was not only Lu Zhou who was shocked.
Everyone else was also surprised.
Especially the journalists who were waiting at both sides of the venue. They were like sharks that smelled blood as they stared straight at the podium.
This year, two Cole Prizes would be presented at the conference organized by the Federal Mathematics Society!
This was huge news!
The audience was quiet for two seconds before sporadic applause cut through the venue. The applause swept through the audience like a gust of wind.
Luo Wenxuan who was sitting next to Lu Zhou started to clap excitedly as he said, “I told you, this prize is yours!”
Lu Zhou smiled. He did not know how to respond.
He had yet to process what happened earlier.
This surprise caused him to forget his award-winning speech!
Many people were surprised by this decision from the Federal Mathematics Society, but no one objected.
This was the best choice.
Schultz was obviously stunned, but he smiled and looked back at Lu Zhou. He then started to applause.
The applause gradually subsided.
Sitting on the other side of the venue, Professor Deligne had a look of surprise.
After a while, he finally made a comment.
“The Federal Mathematics Society made a bold decision.”
“Yes, awarding both the algebra and number theory award at the same time… This has never been done before,” said Edward Witten with a smile. He then added, “And the two winners are so young.”
A 28-year-old and a 21-year-old were considered extremely young.
For the older scholars, it was gratifying to see so many young talents emerging in their field of research.
However, not everyone felt this way.
Deligne said, “It seems that Francis is ready to accept criticism and questioning.”
Witten smiled and said, “Anyway, he’s retiring next year, right? If it was me, I would make the same choice. It’s a good closing chapter.”
The two geniuses walked on stage together.
Francis, the president of the Federal Mathematics Society, personally handed the medal to the hands of the two and smiled.
“Congratulations! I wish more success for you young scholars in the future!”
“So, at this exciting moment, please feel free to voice out some of your thoughts.”
Francis took a step back and made a gesture.
There were many awards in the field of algebra, and the Cole Prize was not the most famous one. However, in the field of number theory, the Cole Prize was the king.
The academic community had been fiercely discussing who would be awarded the Cole Prize for this year.
Whether it was to award a number theory prize again or to insist on traditions and award an algebra prize… If it was the former, Schultz’s results would be ignored, and if it was the latter, the judges of number theory would not be satisfied.
The main reason was that the value of the twin prime conjecture and the Polignac’s conjecture was too high. Many number theory professors spent their entire life working on prime numbers and made little progress. It was difficult to make a breakthrough in the field of number theory.
When Lu Zhou proved the twin prime conjecture, he used the topology sieve method. However, in less than a year, he proposed the “Group Structure Method”.
This progress was outstanding!
The two winners each delivered their acceptance speech. The award ceremony finally came to an end.
As the opening ceremony came to an end, the mathematicians started to leave the venue. The reporters rushed against the crowd and pointed their cameras at the two winners.
One reporter asked, “Hello, I’m a reporter from the L.A Times. Mr. Schultz, what are you going to do with the prize money?”
“I’ll buy my wife a few nice skirts, milk powder for my kid…” said Schultz with a smile. He then said humorously, “Of course, I’ll get myself some new shoes.”
The camera shuttered and flashed.
The L.A Times reporter started to type on his laptop. He was typing the headline article for the paper tomorrow.
“Peter Schultz, a family man in mathematics!”
Lu Zhou looked at this mathematics genius in astonishment.
The f*ck?
Does this guy have kids?
You’re only in your twenties!
The other winner was also in the reporter’s spotlight.
In fact, the reporters were more interested in the Chinese winner that appeared out of nowhere.
Especially since this winner was only 21 years old, the youngest Cole Prize winner ever!
This was shocking news!
A blonde reporter from the British “Daily Mail” asked, “Mr. Lu Zhou, what do you plan to do after you get the prize money?”
Lu Zhou wanted to say, “save money and buy a house”. After all, this was what his dad wanted him to do.
However, he realized that he was not being entirely politically correct. He decided to bullsh*t instead.
“I’m going to use this money as research funding to challenge the next conjecture!”
The reporter asked, “Your next goal is?”
“The Goldbach’s conjecture is a good choice,” said Lu Zhou with a smile. He then said, “But I’ve also been paying attention to the 750 GeV signal. There are many topics worthy of further research in mathematical physics, so I may also use some of my energy there.”
The reporters around him gasped.
Goldbach’s conjecture?!
750 GeV characteristic peak?
Although Goldbach’s conjecture was less valuable than the Millennium Prize Problems, it was named one of “Three major mathematical problems of the modern times”. Its difficulty and influence were quite amazing! In the minds of the public, it was on the same level as Millennium Prize Problems.
As for the 750 GeV characteristic peak, any scientific journalist would know about this recent discovery.
How an intern made a mathematical prediction on the 750 GeV characteristic peak. CERN’s spokesperson said that this discovery could fill in the last piece of the standard model!
Maybe…
Lu Zhou made other major discoveries about the characteristic peak?
Lu Zhou gave the reporters a hard time.
His answer was too long, so the reporters did not know what to write for the headline.
Lu Zhou looked at the reporter from the Daily Mail as she typed on her laptop. He then cursed in his heart.
Damn it, I think I bragged a little too much.
He was not at the LHC, so it was not like he could discover something new.
Hopefully, the reporters would not over-interpret his answer.