The top student must be diligent.

Chapter 175 Fields Medal!

A few hours passed quickly.

When the night fell completely in China and it was already midnight, it was still bright in St. Petersburg.

Because of the white nights phenomenon, the daytime in St. Petersburg lasts up to 23 hours, and even after the sun sets, it is still bright enough and not completely dark.

After enjoying the banquet in the banquet hall for several hours, people filled their stomachs and regained their spirits. With the excitement brought by the morning's lecture still lingering, they re-entered Conference Hall No. 1 to prepare for the official opening ceremony of this year's International Congress of Mathematicians.

More than 7000 people once again surrounded the EXPOFORUM exhibition center.

……

"Hmm... the food is really not good this time!"

Touching his slightly full belly, Xiao Yi looked comfortable.

After being surrounded by everyone in the banquet hall for three or four hours, he finally had time to eat his own food.

As one of the highest-level international academic conferences, the banquet level of ICM is naturally not low.

In addition, this is also a good opportunity for the organizers to showcase their country's food style. Russia is indeed a big meat-eating country, and they have well demonstrated their characteristics in eating meat.

Basically, all kinds of meat can be seen almost everywhere in the banquet, especially beef, which made Xiao Yi enjoy it very much.

It’s nice to think that such a banquet can last for more than a week.

However, seeing that it was already past seven o'clock and there were only about 10 minutes left before the opening ceremony officially began at :, it was time to go.

And at this moment, he heard someone calling his name.

"Xiao! I finally found you. Why are you still here?"

I saw Berezovsky shouting at me, followed by a group of committee staff.

Xiao Yi was stunned and asked, "Mr. Chairman, why are you still here? Isn't the opening ceremony about to start soon?"

Berezovsky said helplessly: "Of course I came to see you. As the protagonist of today, don't you plan to attend this opening ceremony?"

Xiao Yi laughed and said, "I was just about to go. I was just tasting the food prepared for the banquet."

Berezovsky smiled and said, "It seems that you are quite satisfied with our banquet."

Xiao Yi nodded: "Of course."

"If you are willing to teach at St. Petersburg State University, then you can eat it anytime, right?" Berezovsky immediately laughed. "It just so happens that I used to be the director of the Department of Mathematics at St. Petersburg State University, and now I also hold some positions. As long as you are willing, we can also give you the best treatment."

Hearing the olive branch extended by the other party, Xiao Yi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He waved his hand and said, "That's not necessary. Chinese people still prefer their hometown food. Mr. Chairman, why don't you try our specialties next time you come to our place? Maybe if you like it, you will be willing to stay with us."

Berezovsky shook his head regretfully, knowing that Xiao Yi had refused, but he still said: "If there is a chance, I will definitely do it next time."

Xiao Yi laughed.

Berezovsky probably didn't know that next time would definitely be considered a rejection in the Chinese context.

At this time, a staff member nearby said something to Berezovsky, who immediately checked the time and hurriedly said to Xiao Yi: "Okay, there are only 10 minutes left before the opening ceremony. Let's go to the exhibition center as soon as possible."

Xiao Yi nodded, and then followed them quickly to the convention center.

When we arrived at Conference Hall No. 7000 of the Convention and Exhibition Center, more than people had almost filled all the seats.

Xiao Yi's seat was arranged at the front, where he sat together with a group of bigwigs.

Next to him was Schultz.

"Oh, why are you here now?" Schultz asked.

Xiao Yi smiled and replied: "I didn't have time to eat in the afternoon. I only had a good meal just now."

Schultz immediately laughed: "That's true. I also experienced this kind of thing in the past."

Xiao Yi nodded.

"How is it? Do you feel confident today?" Schultz asked again at this time.

Xiao Yi was stunned, "What are you sure of?"

Seeing that Xiao Yi really didn't seem to realize it, Schultz couldn't help but complain to him: "No way, can't even the Fields Medal make you excited?"

"Oh!"

Xiao Yi suddenly realized, and then he smiled and said: "There is an old saying in China, which goes, if I get it, I am lucky, if I lose it, I am doomed."

"So whether you get it or not, it doesn't matter."

Hearing Xiao Yi say this, Schultz couldn't help but look at him in surprise, and then said with emotion: "You are so young, and you can still have such a mentality. You are worthy of being a master of mathematics."

Xiao Yi was stunned for a moment, remembering the question Schultz had asked him before, and then he said with a smile: "I don't admit that I am a master of mathematics."

"Oh, yes, yes." Schultz nodded perfunctorily.

Xiao Yi: “…”

At this moment, the whole audience suddenly fell silent. It turned out that Berezovsky walked out from the rostrum.

“Hello, mathematicians from all over the world, and everyone who is striving to become a mathematician!”

“Welcome everyone to the 29th International Congress of Mathematicians.”

"Of course, I don't think I need to introduce myself. I believe everyone already knows me before the perfect report meeting started this morning."

"Then there is no need to waste time, and we will officially move on to item 1 of the conference."

Afterwards, Berezovsky began to introduce the various circumstances of this conference and thanked the major sponsors.

As the chairman of the organizing committee, he also served as the host at the opening ceremony.

After the introduction, the second item will come, where representatives of the host city and national leaders will give speeches.

And in the speech session of national leaders, the speaker was the supreme leader of Russia.

The International Congress of Mathematicians usually has a speech by the country's top leader. For example, at the 1986 conference held in the United States, Reagan delivered a video speech, and at the 2002 conference in China, the then leader also delivered a speech.

After the speech of this heavyweight, Carlos Koenig, President of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), came out.

The appearance of the president of the Mathematics League immediately caused a stir at the scene.

There was nothing worth paying attention to in the previous speeches. After all, they were not given any money or their funding was increased. They were almost falling asleep. But the appearance of Carlos Koenig meant that the winners of various mathematics awards this year would be announced.

Suddenly, almost everyone in the audience sat up straight and looked at the IMU chairman.

Carlos Koenig smiled slightly, glanced at the mathematicians present, and then said, "I know what everyone is looking forward to, but before that, please wait for me to finish my speech."

He took out a piece of paper in his hand and showed it to me. "It's not much, just this piece of paper. It will be quick."

Everyone laughed.

“Dear colleagues and friends:

Welcome to the 2022 International Congress of Mathematicians. As the President of the International Mathematical Union, I feel very honored to deliver a speech here.

Despite the global challenges we face, the power of mathematics continues to push the frontiers of knowledge, solve real problems, and inspire countless young minds.

This conference brings together top mathematicians from around the world to share their latest research results and discuss the future development of mathematics. We not only focus on theoretical discussions of pure mathematics, but also attach importance to its wide application in science, technology, and engineering.

Here, I would like to express my special thanks to all the organizers, volunteers and sponsors who have worked hard to ensure the success of the conference. Your hard work and support have enabled us to maintain the enthusiasm and vitality of academic exchanges in such a special period.

Finally, I wish this conference a great success. I hope everyone can gain knowledge, build friendships, and keep moving forward on the research path in the future.

thank you all! "

After saying that, he swung the paper in his hand again and said with a smile: "How is it? Short, right?"

"Then we will move on to the most important part of this opening ceremony, the awards ceremony!"

Sure enough, as he said this, the atmosphere on the field immediately reached a peak.

"The first award to be presented next is the Chern Prize."

The Chern Award is naturally given to commemorate the Chinese-American mathematician Shiing-Shen Chern. As one of the greatest mathematicians of the last century, his achievements are very important to the mathematical community. He pioneered and led heavyweight achievements such as global differential geometry, fiber bundle differential geometry, Chern characteristic classes, etc. His fiber bundle theory, for example, has profoundly influenced the theoretical physics community.

For example, the Chern-Simons theory used by Xiao Yi to prove the mass gap problem is also his achievement.

The Chern Award is also a lifetime achievement award.

Finally, at Koenig's announcement, the award was given to Barry Mazur, a mathematician from Harvard University, in recognition of his profound discoveries in topology, arithmetic geometry and number theory, as well as his guidance and selfless dedication in training a new generation of mathematicians.

Then came the Gauss Prize, the highest honor in applied mathematics, which was ultimately awarded to Princeton University mathematician Elliott Leb for his extraordinary breadth and depth of mathematical contributions to quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, computational chemistry, and quantum information theory.

After Professor Eliot Leib received the award, he returned to the stage.

Koenig walked back to the center of the podium and said with a smile, "Then the next award will be the Fields Medal."

Everyone in the audience held their breath, waiting for Koenig's announcement.

"The Fields Medal is an award established by the International Mathematical Union at the request of Professor John C. Fields. Professor Fields is an important supporter of the International Mathematical Union. It was with the support of Professor Fields that the International Mathematical Union became a truly international academic event..."

After an introduction to the history of the Fields Medal, Koenig finally began to read the first winner.

"…In recognition of his contributions to analytic number theory and his significant advances in understanding the structure of prime numbers and Diophantine approximation, on behalf of the International Mathematical Union, I award Mr. James Maynard the Fields Medal!" The first winner was James Maynard. He is only 35 years old this year, and the fact that he was able to win this award is enough to prove his talent.

applause.

Sitting in the seat, Xiao Yi also looked at James Maynard, who was sitting not far from him, and applauded him with a smile.

James Maynard's winning of the award was not surprising, as it was predicted two years ago.

The voting results given on those websites showed that if Xiao Yi was excluded, the largest number of people believed that James Maynard would win the Fields Medal.

Afterwards, James Maynard took the stage to receive the award.

Soon it was the turn of the second winner, Hugo Dimini-Copan, who solved long-standing problems in the probability theory of phase transitions in statistical physics, especially in three and four dimensions.

Of course, although his achievements are mainly applied in physics, since he focuses on probability theory and statistical physics, he cannot be classified as a physicist like Edward Witten.

After that, we have the third winner, Heo Jun-il, a Korean-American. His experience in mathematics is a little unusual because when he was a child, his math grades were not good, so he was sure that he was not cut out for mathematics.

When he entered college, he dreamed of becoming a poet, but found that being a poet could not help him make a living, so he decided to become a science journalist, majoring in astronomy and physics.

It was not until his senior year that a Fields Medal winner, Heisuke Hironaka, came to his university for a visiting scholar program. As a science journalist, he decided to use Heisuke Hironaka as his first topic.

As a result, he, who originally planned to do an interview, became the last student to stay and attend the class, and officially began to study mathematics. Even when he was studying for a master's degree, he was rejected by more than a dozen graduate schools because he had no undergraduate experience in mathematics. However, he finally entered the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which is known as the Public Ivy League in the United States, and until today, he has become a Fields Medalist.

It can also be called an experience like that of a protagonist.

Soon, Xu Jun'er also received his award and walked off the stage.

All three places have been awarded, and according to the usual practice of the Fields Medal, it will only be awarded to a maximum of four people each year.

In other words, there is only one spot left.

For a moment, everyone in the audience turned their attention to the position in the first row.

Xiao Yi.

Is it true that the International Mathematical Union is not going to give Xiao Yi this award because he is too young?

People couldn't help but think so in their hearts.

This reason seems reasonable, but is it a bit too much?

"Brother Xiao..."

Sitting in the back seat, Ye Cheng looked at Xiao Yi who was sitting in the front row and couldn't help but clench his fists.

Beside Xiao Yi, Schultz couldn't help but turn his head and glance at him.

I want to know if Xiao Yi really doesn't care.

But he couldn't tell, because although Xiao Yi was looking at Carlos Koenig on the stage, he didn't look nervous at all and looked like a serious listener.

On the other side, Faltings, Deligne, Witten and other big guys frowned slightly, wondering if they were dissatisfied.
Perhaps, the only people who don't want Xiao Yi to win the prize are the other Fields Medal competitors.

After all, even if Xiao Yi doesn't win the award, he will still have several more chances. If they don't win the award, they will never have another chance in the future. After they are over 40, they will never be able to win the award again. Unless they can produce a heavyweight result like Wiles' proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, they will still have a chance to win a special Fields Medal, although this cannot be considered a real Fields Medal.

Just like that, the atmosphere in the entire venue almost came to a standstill.

And at this moment, Carlos Koenig on the stage finally announced the award speech for the fourth winner.

"From algebraic geometry to analytic number theory, from topological theory to mathematical physics, whether it is p-adic Hodge theory or cohomology, or automorphic forms and trace formulas... 200 years ago, the mathematical community defined genius as omnipotent. However, with the emergence of more and more methods and the refinement of mathematical directions, such omnipotent geniuses have become increasingly rare, not to mention geniuses who can make great contributions in almost every field, which is even more extinct."

"But until now, such a genius has appeared again in the mathematics world..."

When Koenig said this, the people in the audience had already realized the identities of these winners.

After all, in today's mathematics world, there is only one person who can truly be called an omnipotent genius!
Suddenly, even though Koenig was still speaking, some people started clapping, and more and more people were applauding.

So much so that Koenig couldn't even turn up the volume to drown out the applause.

They not only applauded the decision made by the International Mathematical Union, but also applauded the most deserving winner!
Finally, Koenig had to stop and spread his hands helplessly.

"My friends, I know you are all very excited, but please hold your excitement for now. Wait for me to finish reading the words and then applaud when the awards are presented, okay? Give me some face."

He activated the ability of the Face Fruit.

"Hahaha~"

Everyone laughed, and then stopped clapping out of courtesy.

Koenig continued: "…he proved the correctness of the twin prime conjecture and solved the final mystery of the Goldbach conjecture. He has won two of the three major laurels in Hilbert's eighth problem."

"His numerous theoretical achievements, whether it is the automorphic theory of Etale algebraic varieties or the Xiao polynomial expansion method, have spread throughout the mathematics community and become the core methods in various related fields."

"Even today, the Hodge-vertex algebra analytical method he pioneered has successfully proved the Yang-Mills existence and mass gap problem. He solved the second of the seven problems of the Millennium."

At this point, Koenig also specifically mentioned the last person who proved the Millennium Problem: "Today is in St. Petersburg. Although Professor Perelman is not here, I think he would be very happy if he heard the news."

St. Petersburg is Perelman's hometown. It is indeed a pity that he did not come here today.

"Xiao Yi, this genius who seems to have come from the void, has used his peerless abilities to create new glories for our mathematics."

"Although he is only 4 years old, mathematics has never cared about age, and the Fields Medal is more favorable to young geniuses. Therefore, on behalf of the International Mathematical Union, I announce that today's fourth Fields Medal winner is Xiao Yi!"

"Please invite Mr. Xiao Yi to come on stage to receive the award!"

Finally, the applause rang out again, especially intensely.

Everyone gave their heartfelt congratulations.

Deserved!

Even other strong contenders for the Fields Medal gave up their fantasies and instead applauded once the name was confirmed.

Because even in their hearts, Xiao Yi deserves the title.

They would rather compete with the other three people than with Xiao Yi.

"congratulation."

Beside him, Schultz said to Xiao Yi with a smile.

The bigwigs of Faltings also relaxed their brows at this time and expressed their congratulations to Xiao Yi with a smile.

As the protagonist, Xiao Yi smiled at this moment. Of course he was happy.

if I get it I am lucky, but if not, it is fate.

Since it is his luck to get it, why not be happy about his luck?
"thank you all."

He nodded to them, then Xiao Yi stood up, buttoned up his formal suit, and walked onto the podium in his shiny leather shoes.

He had just stood here in the morning to give a report, and in the evening, he stood here again to accept this glorious moment.

"Congratulations," Koenig said with a smile.

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman."

"Let me put this medal on you."

Then, Koenig picked up the Fields Medal next to him, raised the ribbon, and said to Xiao Yi.

Xiao Yi lowered his head slightly, and then put on the Fields Medal.

He picked it up and looked at it.

The medal's design is full of symbolism, reflecting the history and culture of mathematics.

In the center of the front is the head of Archimedes, symbolizing the long history and wisdom of mathematics. There is also a Latin inscription around the head: "TRANSIRE SUUM PECTUS MUNDOQUE POTIRI", which means "surpass your own thinking and master the world."

The reverse side shows a group of spheres and reliefs, symbolizing mathematical geometry and the exploration of three-dimensional space, as well as a Latin inscription: "CONGREGATI EX TOTO ORBE MATHEMATICI OB SCRIPTA INSIGNIA TRIBUERE", which means "Mathematicians from all over the world are awarded this prize for their outstanding works."

“This is the Fields Medal…”

Xiao Yi felt emotional.

Thinking back over the past few years.

The days and nights he spent studying mathematics.

Ok……

I have achieved what I have today thanks to my extraordinary wisdom, extraordinary talent, and years of hard work.

【Wuqing Lianxue】, upgrade for me!

cough cough...

In addition to the Fields Medal, there is also a certificate and a prize of 15000 Canadian dollars. Since Fields himself is a Canadian, his inheritance is also in Canadian dollars.

As all the prizes were awarded, Xiao Yi also held up the medals and certificates in his hands and left his figure in front of the camera. Finally, he left the podium and returned to the stage.

The award ceremony of the conference continued, including the Lilavati Prize and the Abacus Prize. However, as the most important Fields Medal, as the results were all announced, the news began to spread to the outside world.

The news that Xiao Yi won the award at the age of 19, becoming the youngest winner in history, once again caused a sensation!

(End of this chapter)