A genius? I just love studying.

Chapter 223 Awards
Princeton, Institute for Advanced Study, coffee time. Helmut burst into the coffee shop carrying a stack of papers.

"Hey, old friend, what's wrong with you?"

Fefferman, who was chatting and laughing with Sarnak, looked at Helmut in surprise.

It had only been a few days since we last met, but this old friend's eyes were bloodshot, his hair was disheveled, and he looked dazed and listless, as if something terrible had happened.

"I have a paper here that you might find interesting."

Helmut handed over the paper he was holding; that was exactly what he had come for.

"Oh?"

Sarnak curiously leaned closer, also curious about what kind of paper could have caused Helmut to lose his composure like this.

Helmut glanced at Saarnak, but ultimately handed him the paper. As a tenured faculty member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, a top expert in analytic number theory who had solved Hilbert's eleventh problem, Saarnak was certainly qualified to review the paper.

Most importantly, Xarnak also made remarkable achievements in physics.

Mathematical Proof of the Mass Gap Problem in Yang-Mills Theory

The title of the paper is concise and to the point; just seeing this title would make any mathematician put aside their distractions and take it seriously.

Of course, if Helmut hadn't brought this paper to him, Salnak wouldn't have given it a second glance. In his view, this problem was simply beyond the current mathematical community's ability to solve, and he hadn't seen any tools that could solve it.

The events here attracted the attention of many people. Soon, Deligne, Witten, and others came over and each received a paper from Helmut.

"Transforming color confinement into Wilson's area law of toroids?"

"Is this really possible?"

"At least from a mathematical point of view, his proof is flawless!"

"This is truly brilliant proof that no local perturbation can produce a massless collective excitation mode!"

Soon, these mathematical masters began discussing in the café. Sárnak even went to the blackboard and started doing calculations, while Deligne offered his own insights, supplementing Sárnak's calculations with the proofs given in his paper.

……

The Science and Technology Awards Conference was held as scheduled on June 24.
The conference began at 10:00 AM.

The orchestra played the national anthem, and the entire audience stood up and sang it.

The decision to award the National Science and Technology Award was announced.

Soon, the announcements finished, and the awards ceremony officially began.
The first award presented was the Guo Jia Highest Science and Technology Award, with two recipients this year: Academician Li Deren from Jiangcheng University and Academician Xue Qikun from Tsinghua University.

Following this, certificates were awarded to representatives of the National Natural Science Award, the National Technological Invention Award, the National Science and Technology Progress Award, and the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award.

Guided by staff, Yuan Xinyi got up and walked to the stage to receive the certificate of honor. There was no separate group photo for the Natural Science Award.

"Jiangcheng University has had a really bumper year!"

As the host introduced them, the scientists in the audience whispered among themselves, "One is the highest science and technology award, and the other is the special prize in natural sciences!"

"The Special Prize hasn't been awarded for several years. However, given Professor Yuan's achievements, it would be inappropriate to award the highest prize. Only the Special Prize in Natural Sciences can reflect the importance of this achievement and serve as a commendation."

"There's another one sitting down there!"

As they spoke, everyone looked at Chen Hui, who was still sitting in the audience. He had already reached the award-receiving position, so he must have won an award. They just wondered what award that little guy would win.

"Jiangcheng University really got lucky!"

At this moment, a female professor sitting not far from Chen Hui stood up and walked towards the podium under the guidance of the staff.

Chen Hui then recognized Professor Wang Hong, who had emerged as a dark horse in March by proving the three-dimensional hanging valley conjecture, solving a core problem in geometric measure theory that had plagued the mathematical community for over a century. This achievement was hailed as a milestone in the history of mathematics, directly impacting several cutting-edge fields such as harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, and number theory.

Currently, global voting across multiple platforms shows that his approval rating exceeds 56%, and authoritative mathematicians such as his mentor, Qiu Chengwu, have also publicly predicted that he will win the next Fields Medal.

Undoubtedly, Wang Hong also won the Special Prize in Natural Sciences, and her achievements were no less impressive than Yuan Xinyi's.

"Two grand prizes?"

When Wang Hong received the award, the audience below the stage were buzzing with discussion. It had been a long time since the Special Prize in Natural Sciences had been awarded, and they hadn't expected that two of them would be awarded this year.

"That's normal, isn't it? Professor Yuan won the top prize, we can't let Professor Wang get the first prize, can we?"

"That's the truth!"

"Awarding two top prizes at once..."

"Doesn't this just prove that China's science and technology are making rapid progress? This is a good thing!"

Soon, after Professor Wang Hong received her certificate, a staff member came to Chen Hui's side and reminded him that he could go on stage.

Natural Science Prize?
Chen Hui was also somewhat surprised. He originally thought he would at most receive a technological invention award, but he didn't expect it to be a natural science award. Moreover, two special prizes had just been awarded, and the next one would be at least a first prize.

This was completely unexpected by Chen Hui.

I didn't expect him to be so decisive!

"A first-class natural scientist?!"

"Tsk tsk, Tian Yang's faction has truly succeeded!"

A small commotion arose in the audience when the young figure stepped onto the stage.

However, when the host announced the award, the audience erupted in cheers.

"The grand prize?"

Everyone was a little confused. They knew Chen Hui would win an award and recognized his achievements, but was the top prize too much?
Although gallium oxide has been industrialized on a large scale, not everyone knows its connection to Chen Hui, so they naturally cannot understand the rationale behind the award.

Of course, the fundamental reason is that the achievements of all three have stood the test of time!

"congratulate!"

At this moment, even Chen Hui couldn't help but feel a little smug. Chen Hui was unaware of the reactions of the people below the stage; not only were others surprised, but even he himself was somewhat astonished.

Chen Hui didn't even know how he got back to his seat.

[Congratulations, host! You have won the National Natural Science Award. Free attribute points +1]

Chen Hui was somewhat surprised, not expecting that the Natural Science Award could also grant free attribute points. However, considering the prestige of this award, it seemed that obtaining free attribute points was the norm.

Without much hesitation,

"Give me some creativity!"

"how do you feel?"

Sitting next to him, Yuan Xinyi asked with a smile. Seeing Chen Hui's expression, he finally saw a bit of the reaction that a seventeen-year-old boy should have in this little guy.

"pretty good!"

Chen Hui quickly recovered, turning his attention away from the attribute panel and smiling at his teacher. Looking at the certificate of honor, medal, and the free attribute points he had just received, he felt genuinely happy.

The center of the Natural Science Prize medal features a raised circular ring surrounded by ears of wheat and gears. Inside the ring are the two seal characters for "Science" on a green background. The upper sides of the medal are decorated with auspicious cloud patterns. The green background symbolizes "Special Prize," while the gold and auspicious clouds signify "climbing the peak of science."

Chen Hui has won several medals, but this one made him feel inexplicably comfortable. It didn't have a strong design sense, but the combination of various elements gave people a sense of warmth.

After thinking for a moment, he took a picture of the medal and sent it to his uncle. Such a glorious moment should of course be shared with family.

Next came the announcement of other awards, but many people were still preoccupied with Chen Hui's Special Prize in Natural Sciences, and they couldn't figure out why.

After the awards ceremony, amidst enthusiastic applause, participants listened to an important speech.

……

The powerful voice entered his ears, and Chen Hui was somewhat dazed, as if he saw a magnificent picture unfolding before his eyes. What made him proud was that he also occupied a significant place in this picture!
What an honor!

This sense of accomplishment is something that no other award can provide.

The speech was not short, but Chen Hui listened attentively and benefited greatly from it.

The awards ceremony lasted until after midnight, after which we had dinner in a small auditorium next door.

Chen Hui had always thought he was quite good at cooking, but it wasn't until he ate this meal that he realized he shouldn't use his hobby to challenge someone else's profession.

"Professor Chen, I've heard so much about you, I never expected to meet you here today."

After the meal, the awards ceremony finally came to a complete end. Wang Hong, who also received the Special Prize in Natural Sciences, came forward to greet Chen Hui.

"Hello, Professor Wang!"

Chen Hui also extended his hand and shook hands with Wang Hong. He had read Wang Hong's paper and found her to be a very capable and insightful mathematician.

"Congratulations! You not only proved the Langlands Theory, but you also trained such an excellent student. I'm truly envious."

After shaking hands with Chen Hui, Wang Hong looked at Yuan Xinyi standing to the side.

The two obviously knew each other before. The circle of mathematics in China is only so big, and even if top mathematicians are not familiar with each other, they at least know each other.

Congratulations to you too!

"Finally, it's done."

Yuan Xinyi looked at Wang Hong with a sigh, "Are you planning to go back to China?"

Do you want me to go back to China?

Wang Hong blinked and looked at Yuan Xinyi with a half-smile.

"What do I have to think or not think?"

Yuan Xinyi said nonchalantly, "However, the academic environment in China has improved, especially at Jiangcheng University..."

"Of course, the West still has an advantage in this area, which would also benefit your research. It's understandable that you don't come back."

Wang Hong blinked, didn't say much, but looked at Chen Hui again, "Professor Chen, what research topic are you working on recently?"

"Elastic deformation of vortex fiber bundles".

"NS equation?"

They are all top mathematicians. Even if they do not study the same specific field, they still have a general understanding of the cutting-edge research in other fields, especially since Chen Hui studies the famous Millennium Problem.

Which mathematician studying fundamental theories hasn't dreamed of plucking those few brilliant pearls from the mathematical world?

"There is a millennium problem!"

Wang Hong immediately realized, "So you completed the proof of the quality gap?"

"The paper is currently undergoing peer review, and we are not entirely confident yet."

Chen Hui didn't finish his sentence, lest he make a fool of himself like Wiles.

Wang Hong was stunned for a moment, her expression complicated.

She spent seven years proving the three-dimensional hanging valley conjecture, even if we only count the time spent on formal research. But this little guy in front of me has only been studying Yang-Mills equations for less than a year.

Research on the Navier-Stokes equations has already begun, and she wouldn't be too surprised if she heard that the Navier-Stokes equations had been proven by this time next year.

"Professor Wang, are you interested in researching this issue?"

"Perhaps we can cooperate!"

Chen Hui glanced at the teacher and then extended a cooperation invitation to Wang Hong.

Wang Hong smiled without saying anything, but finally shook her head, "Let's communicate more when we have time."

(End of this chapter)