After arriving at the hotel, Lu Zhou's suitcase that he had just put down, and before he had time to rest for a while, he was pulled by Senior Brother Luo to the restaurant on the top floor of the hotel.

It's not dinner yet, but it's just right for afternoon tea.

Many scholars have the habit of exchanging academic issues during afternoon tea, especially at academic conferences, and people who do not drink afternoon tea will also habitually come to the restaurant at this point in time.

The only fly in the ointment is that although after paying the registration fee, the organizer contracted the cost of room and board, but the price of food and accommodation did not include coffee and afternoon tea cakes.

Just satisfied Xiao Ai and applied for an international patent, Lu Zhou is still a little shy.

When he came to the United States this time, he carried 500 Franklins with him, and he was waiting for the $100,000 prize from the Cole Prize to subsidize his daily expenses.

In the restaurant on the top floor, Senior Brother Luo took Lu Zhou to a table in the corner of the café.

On the table in the corner, there was a slightly darker-skinned, shorter foreigner, who was facing an open laptop, studying something.

Obviously, Luo Wenxuan walked over to say hello to him, and introduced to Lu Zhou with a smile: "Introduction, this is my senior brother, George Williams!" ”

Seeing Lu Zhou, George's eyes lit up, he stood up with a smile, and took the initiative to stretch out his hand and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, I have seen your presentation at the Princeton academic conference, and even now that I think about it, I am still deeply impressed." ”

"Lu Zhou, I'm also glad to meet you." After briefly introducing himself, Lu Zhou shook his hand and said with a smile, "Are you studying mathematical physics?" ”

George: "No, I studied economics. ”

"Economics? This is a promising profession......" Lu Zhou glanced at Mr. George in surprise and continued, "But isn't your mentor Professor Witten?" ”

Senior Brother Luo said with a smile: "Mr. Witten's field of study is not only mathematics and physics, his bachelor's degree is history, his master's degree is economics, and he also took a master's degree in history last year, but he has graduated this year and went to Stanford University." ”

Lu Zhou: "Awesome......"

An economist from a history who switched to physics and won the Fields Medal, one of the highest honors in mathematics? If string theory were proven centuries later, would he still be the founder of "physics of the future"?

In such a comparison, Lu Zhou always felt that compared to himself, this guy seemed to be hanging.

George asked, "Will you give a presentation at this academic conference?" ”

Lu Zhou said modestly: "Forget it this time, I'm just here to be a listener." ”

Senior Brother Luo whistled: "By the way, I will give an acceptance speech." ”

"Ahem!"

Coughing, Lu Zhou threw him a reminding look.

George smiled and said, "Man, don't be nervous, we all know that this award must belong to you, there is no suspense." The twin prime conjecture alone is already worthy of this glory, let alone a puzzle of the level of the Polygnac conjecture. If the Federal Mathematical Society had given this prize to someone else, I am sure many people would not be convinced. ”

Hearing this, Lu Zhou didn't know what expression to make except for a smile.

There is really no suspense at all about winning this award, and even the "layman" who studies economics thinks that this award belongs to him.

……

Berkeley is a very good place, especially its mathematics department, although there is still a little gap with Princeton, which is also one of the top three in North America and the top five in the world.

The late Mr. Chern taught here. There is also Mr. Qiu, who presented the award to Lu Zhou, who also obtained his doctorate degree here.

And Tao Zhexuan, known as the "Mozart of the Digital World", teaches here.

These days, Lu Zhou hasn't gone anywhere else, and just wanders around the Berkeley campus all day long. In the afternoons, he is usually present at the restaurant on the top floor.

Although I rarely take the initiative to participate in discussions with others, I can learn a lot from other people's discussions.

There were a lot of people who attended the year-end academic conference, even more than the academic conference in Princeton.

Everyone has been studying for a year, and they have to find a place to brag and show off.

Of course, it's not just about showing off.

The academic discussion between the strong people, the collision of ideas, and the sparks that rub off are also unusually strong. Novel ideas, while not necessarily correct, are often very revealing.

For Lu Zhou, even if he sits here and drinks a cup of coffee, the harvest is comparable to listening to a lecture in its entirety.

After three days of quiet waiting, the academic conference finally kicked off.

The opening ceremony of the conference was held in the lecture hall of the University of Berkeley.

At the opening ceremony, Mr. Francis, the president of the current Federal Mathematical Society, stood on the stage, straightened the microphone, and said in a slow and steady voice.

"It's been an extraordinary year."

"In the field of number theory, Lu Zhou, a master's student from Jinling University in China, solved the twin prime conjecture and the Polliniac conjecture, supplemented the topological principles of the sieve theory, and created a number theory research tool called 'group structure method'."

"The field of algebra, Peter Schulz from Germany, theoretically solves the famous eight-monodromy conjecture in abstract algebra."

"Traditionally, this year we should be awarding the Cole Algebra Prize, but it's hard to ignore the significant achievements in number theory this year. Therefore, our award committee has been arguing for more than a month about the selection of this award. ”

The Cole Prize is divided into number theory and algebra, and according to the convention, it is generally a rotational award, and it is not awarded at the same time.

For example, the last edition was awarded to outstanding contributors in the field of number theory, and this edition should be awarded to outstanding contributors in the field of algebra.

This practice has not been broken, but the number of exceptions has been quite rare in history.

If it is only a twin prime conjecture, this will most likely be awarded to the German scholar Schultz, because the significance of proving the eight-monodromy conjecture is not only to solve this problem, but also to prove that theory is a powerful mathematical tool.

But coincidentally, no one expected that at the end of the year, Lu Zhou would solve the strong conjecture of the twin prime conjecture - the Polygnac conjecture. Not only that, but the "group construction method" created by him also has high research value in the field of number theory.

The contributions of both people are outstanding, which is more difficult.

However, for Lu Zhou, who already knew the result, there was no suspense.

After a pause, Mr. Francis continued.

"In the end, we made a bold decision."

"The winner is—"

Lu Zhou, who was sitting in the audience, straightened his collar and prepared to go on stage.

"Scholz from Germany!"

The hand resting on the collar was stunned, and Lu Zhou raised his head in confusion.

TF？

Bang Bang Bang ......

The audience applauded.

A tall, pale man stood up, smiled and bowed in gratitude to the applause next to him.

Lu Zhou: "??? ”

Hold the grass?

Where's my trophy?

Senior Brother Luo also looked at Lu Zhou with a confused expression, not understanding what was happening.

The applause gradually subsided and came to an end.

Old Mr. Francis, who was standing on the stage, coughed lightly and continued.

“…… And Lu Zhou from Huaguo! ”

Lu Zhou: "......"

MMP！

It's not that I don't know how to respect the old and love the young, so you can't finish the sentence at one time?

This one up and down, the heartbeat is about to stop!

Wait a minute......

Suddenly realizing something, Lu Zhou came back to his senses in an instant.

This year's Cole Prize......

Two were awarded on an exception?!

-

(For the sake of my diligence last month, I didn't ask for leave once, and I didn't change less, and occasionally there were outbreaks, so it's not too much to ask for a guaranteed monthly pass~~~)