Chapter 1039: Even more than the Fields Medal?

At nine o'clock in the morning, as the music sounded and the host came on stage, the nine-day 9th International Congress of Mathematicians kicked off.

There is actually no difference in the process between international conferences and domestic conferences.

The first process after the opening was that Wu Wenjun, chairman of the conference organizing committee, and Jacob Paris, president of the International Mathematical Union, took the stage to deliver speeches.

Moreover, this section took much longer than before.

You know, the reason why there are as many as 4000 people attending the conference this time is not just because the host China sent a large delegation.

Third world countries with certain mathematical research capabilities, such as India, Brazil and Turkey, have also sent more scholars than ever before.

Especially since Jacob Paris himself is from Brazil, he spoke highly of the special nature of this conference.

After all, even though Rio de Janeiro failed to win this competition and didn’t even make it to the final round of voting, as long as there is a start, it will be sooner or later that the International Congress of Mathematicians will be held south of the equator.

Since his rebirth, Chang Haonan's English level has improved by leaps and bounds because he has been dealing with foreigners a lot.

But despite this, it is still a bit drowsy to listen to long passages of content that is not related to technology.

He forced himself to suppress the urge to yawn and looked to the left and right.

I found that other people seemed to be in the same situation.

Perelman, who was sitting on the other side, had already taken out a notebook and was writing something with his head down.

"often."

Charles Fefferman, who was sitting next to Chang Haonan, suddenly came over.

"Ok?"

Chang Haonan was a little surprised.

After all, the two of them are not actually familiar with each other.

But he still turned his head slightly to look at the other person.

"You know, the odds of winning the Fields Medal this year are 1:1.01 between you and Professor Perelman."

1:1.01 is already the lowest value among normal odds.

It basically means that the dealer thinks this is a done deal.

But Chang Haonan really had no interest in the gambling industry. After hesitating for a moment, he touched his chin:

"I do not know."

"..."

These three words silenced Fefferman, who was about to bring up other topics.

After a few seconds, he finally recovered:

"Don't you want to know who's on the nomination list? I have a friend who..."

He was only halfway through his words when he saw Chang Haonan shaking his head:

"Do not want to."

This time, only one word was used.

Seeing this scene, Pierre Deligne, who was sitting a little further away, immediately covered his mouth and his shoulders trembled continuously.

Apparently, this is not the first or second time that Fefferman has used similar topics to tease these potential Fields Medal winners and then played pranks on them.

But this time, he met the stubborn Chang Haonan and was defeated before he even had time to sing.

Fortunately, at this time, Professor Paris on the stage entered the finishing link in time, which eased the embarrassment here.

The atmosphere of the entire venue was pushed to its climax.

Because after the opening speech, there will be the exciting award ceremony.

According to convention, the first award should be the Nevanlinna Prize.

However, this year, due to the intervention of the Clay Mathematics Institute, the Millennium Mathematics Prize was ranked at the top.

In fact, it stands to reason that awards that are not selected by the International Mathematical Union (IMU) should not be presented at such an important time as the opening ceremony.

But there is no way, the influence of the Millennium Prize in Mathematics is just too great.

If it is placed at the end, even at the closing ceremony, it will give people the feeling that it is the finale.

It would be better to put it at the front to show that its status is not as good as the following ones.

Anyway, this is not a permanent award, so let’s treat it as a special event this time.

It's impossible that it will be awarded again after four years, right?

In short, Chang Haonan and Perelman became the first ones to go on stage to receive the award.

$50 per person.

For someone who studies mathematics, this is definitely a huge sum of money.

However, since the winner of this award was determined more than a year ago, there was no surprise.

The most excited person in the audience was Landon Clay, the award presenter and sponsor.

After all, although it feels a bit too much of a bootlicker to give out money and then beg others to accept it, it is precisely because of Chang Haonan's willfulness that the award he established was able to leap onto the same level as the Fields Medal.

That is why, at the end of his speech, Clay made a joke, saying that he hoped he could stand on the ICM podium for the second time in his lifetime.

This caused a good-natured laugh in the entire venue.

There are seven Millennium Mathematical Problems in total.

Now there are only six left.

It's not Chinese cabbage. It's normal that no one has received a second one for thirty or forty years...

……

After the Millennium Prize in Mathematics, it was finally time for IMU’s official award.

Following closely behind is the Nevanlinna Prize.

The award criteria are the same as those for the Philippine Prize, and the age limit is 40 years old or less.

However, the award is limited to mathematics fields related to computer science.

In the end, Indian mathematician Madhu Sultan from MIT won this year's Nevanlinna Prize for his contributions in many areas, including probabilistic verifiability, the inapproximation of optimal problems, and optimal error-correcting codes.

After Sudan accepted the award, the applause did not last long.

It’s not because the Nevanlinna Prize is unimportant.

It’s not because people have any opinions about the winners themselves.

But...

The main event is coming.

Because in 2002, other awards such as the Chen Shengshen Prize and the Lilavati Prize had not yet been established, the Fields Medal was directly awarded after the Nevanlinna Prize.

The list was read out by Jacob Paris himself and the awards were presented personally by important figures of the host country.

However, there are many awards that claim to be the "Nobel Prize in Mathematics".

But if you have to choose one with the highest recognition and popularity.

It must be the Field Award.

Scholars who are able to receive this honor have all made great contributions to the development of mathematics, and some have even become pillars in the mathematical community.

It also means the recognition of his contribution by the entire mathematics community.

Therefore, the moment Jacob Paris took the stage, the main conference hall, which could accommodate thousands of people, became as quiet as death.

Many people, especially the hot candidates for the Philippine Award, even held their breath.

Perhaps in response to the enthusiasm of the audience, Paris raised his head and gave a kind smile.

But for some reason, Chang Haonan saw a subtle hint of...

naughty?

It was like when a prank was successful.

It is normal for mathematicians to be a little naughty.

But in this situation, you can't go too far.

So Chang Haonan couldn't think of any other possibilities for a moment and could only wait and see.

"Ladies and gentlemen, after discussions and consultations with the International Mathematical Union and the board members of the German Mathematical Union, we have finally decided to establish and award the Gauss Prize starting from this congress to commemorate Carl Friedrich Gauss, who has played an outstanding role in promoting the field of mathematics!"

For a moment, the whole room was in an uproar.

In fact, the decision to establish the Gauss Prize was passed at the 4rd International Congress of Mathematicians held in Berlin four years ago.

However, although it was established, the specific year for the selection and awarding of the award was not finalized at that time.

Before this conference, there was not much news about this matter.

So it was natural for everyone to think that this award was not given out until 2006.

As a result, no one expected that Paris would launch a surprise attack.

It was not until a few minutes later that the heated discussion finally died down and everyone's attention returned to the podium at the front.

Everyone wants to know who will be the first winner of the Gauss Prize.

At this time, Paris also raised the envelope in his hand to his chest.

"According to the nominations and voting of the award committee, the winner of the 2002 Gauss Award is..."

Having said this, he paused deliberately, and then, under the gaze of thousands of people, he pulled out a piece of card from the envelope:

"Chang Haonan from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Gregory Perelman from the Steklov Institute of Mathematics!"