Chapter 1321: The Conference Of The Future
Two thousand physics problems were more difficult than imagined.
Even with Lu Zhou’s level 10 in physics, if he wanted to go through all of these problems and have a general grasp of the problems that were described, it would take quite some time.
Of course, compared to Luo Wenxuan, his reading speed was much faster.
For an entire two days, Lu Zhou stayed in his hotel room and did not go out. All of his meals were through room service.
During these forty-odd hours, he read through the 2,000 physics problems; this was almost equivalent to reading 2,000 papers.
Lu Zhou was quite satisfied with his efficiency.
To say it was a trivial matter was ridiculous.
But it wasn’t anything too difficult.
While Lu Zhou was reading these two thousand physics problems, most of the top physics researchers in the world had already received an invitation letter from the ILHCRC.
Almost everyone made it clear that they would partic.i.p.ate in this conference. The entire physics community fell into quite a heated discussion about the physics conference called “Century of Physics”.
One of them was the Physics Stack Exchange forum.
As one of the most well-known communication platforms for physicists in the world, the PSE forum had attracted many well-known physicists in recent years, as well as PhDs in physics from Ivy League schools.
Even several famous n.o.bel Prize winners had their own accounts on the forum and updated posts from time to time. As an informal publis.h.i.+ng channel for physics opinions, one could discuss the latest physics research results in a more casual atmosphere.
However, in recent years, people’s enthusiasm for physics itself was replaced by the excitement for the Century of Physics conference.
Topics of discussion occupied the entire front page.
Physicists were extremely excited about one hundred physics problems that would be announced after the closed-door meeting. Everyone hoped that their research direction could emerge at this meeting and gain the entire physics community’s attention.
[Which problems do you think are the most promising candidates?]
[This question is too difficult; there are two thousand problems! To select the most important ones and the ones that the world could hope to solve means that you must have an understanding of at least two thousand branches of physics research. Even Academician Lu might not have the ability to do it!]
[Don’t worry, I heard that eight major physics research inst.i.tutions around the world have sent representatives to partic.i.p.ate in the voting for the one hundred questions at the Century of Physics conference. There are at least one round of primary voting, two rounds of meetings, and a final voting round!]
[Hypers.p.a.ce theory and void theory will definitely have a place, and the recent disappearance of supernova remnants and the exploration of outer galaxies are two major categories in astrophysics that are also popular. There are also the quantum states of cold atoms in optical superlattices, and the research on non-Abelian statistical properties of Rana fermions is also promising; there are too many fields of interest…]
[This is simply a large-scale compet.i.tion. The selected topics will become the most popular research directions in the next century; the lucky ones who pursue these directions will get the most abundant scientific research resources!]
Apart from the funds raised by the ILHCRC for these hundred problems, as well as the bonuses and awards that would be issued at the conference, major physics research inst.i.tutions around the world would inevitably refer to the conclusions drawn at this “Century of Physics” conference. They would tilt more resources to scientific research that was more valuable and worthy of research.
Everyone hoped that their area of research would be the lucky one to stand out.
Not only would it mean that their area would be recognized by the most prestigious academic inst.i.tutes in the physics world, but it also meant that the road to scientific research would be smooth sailing from now on!
Interestingly, physicists weren’t the only ones paying attention to this upcoming event. Even mathematicians were also making fun and joining in on the discussion enthusiastically.
On the MathOverflow forum.
Even though the discussions didn’t fill the front page, they had generated a lot of traction.
However, unlike the physicists on the PSE forum, physics was not their major. Thus, the topics of discussion were mostly focused on gossip that had nothing to do with academics.
[Amazing! ILHCRC wants to copy Hilbert’s twenty-three questions and the Millennium Prize Problems!]
[What questions do you think Professor Lu will choose as the hundred problems at the Century of Physics conference?]
[It’s hard to say, but if I were him, I would definitely focus on the two areas of void theory and hypers.p.a.ce theory! Then, for the next hundred years, void theory and hypers.p.a.ce theory will dominate the physics community! His school of thought will live on for at least a century.]
[That is too superficial. Besides, it doesn’t have to be so troublesome. Even without this Century of Physics conference, do you think hypers.p.a.ce theory will not rule the physics world for the next century?]
[Yeah, why not? People are selfis.h.!.+ Just wait and see.]
Whether it was scholars in the physics circle or scholars outside the physics circle, almost no one doubted the influence of Lu Zhou’s opinions on the Century of Physics conference.
Although ILHCRC invited a total of eight major physics research inst.i.tutions and more than twelve physics research teams to partic.i.p.ate in the selection of the one hundred physics problems, judging from the performance of their physics experiments, the sum of their opinions wasn’t worth as much as Lu Zhou’s words.
Regardless of whether Lu Zhou himself was aware of this, his authority and power in the physics world had reached an unparalleled level.
Most people were curious as to what choice he would make. The Physics Stack Exchange forum even opened a poll for the two thousand physics problems.
Everyone could choose at most one hundred problems as the most important physics problem in their mind. Using this poll, the hundred physics problems that were most antic.i.p.ated by the academic community would be listed.
When Lu Zhou saw the long list of rankings and the top ten problems on his browser web page, he was shocked.
All of the top ten physics problems were, directly or indirectly, related to the “hypers.p.a.ce theory”, “void theory”, and Z particles.
Even though he was very happy that his colleagues were so optimistic about his research work, Lu Zhou’s own opinion was different from the public.
The hypers.p.a.ce theory was fine. Even though it was not suitable as the focus of this century’s research, the broad prospects behind it were still worth researching by physicists.
But void theory…
No matter how he looked at it, Lu Zhou did not think that research in this area could produce more outstanding research results in the next century.
Compared to the theory of relativity, which had practical significance, its usage was more similar to string theory.
When human civilization’s understanding of physics extended to the extra-dimensional world, the problems linked to it would no longer be problems.
But before that, no matter how much research was done, it was difficult to make more substantial progress.
“… Anyway, this is finally finished.”
Lu Zhou closed the browser, leaned on his chair, and stretched out comfortably.
Because of time constraints, he hadn’t had a good rest in two days. He could finally relax for a while.
Lu Zhou marked the problems he liked on his notebook and closed the notebook. He got up from his chair and called Luo Wenxuan.
“Call other representatives and have a meeting at two o’clock in the afternoon.”
Luo Wenxuan was shocked.
“The two thousand problems… You read them all?”
“Sort of.” Lu Zhou said, “I can’t do this on my own. Let’s discuss first.”