Chapter 1299 Invitation to the Centennial Physics Conference

As Brother Luo said, this is an invitation letter.

To be precise, this invitation letter was not sent to him personally, but was signed by CERN and sent to IMCRC.

In the invitation letter, CERN put forward an initiative to hold a world-wide summit of physicists with the theme of "One Hundred Years of Physics". It is hoped that IMCRC can act as the main organizer of the conference, and jointly discuss with other major high-energy physics institutes and top scholars around the world. The future of physics for the next century.

In fact, after listening to Brother Luo's explanation, Lu Zhou was very surprised.

Discussing how physics should go in the next 100 years with major high-energy physics institutes around the world. Unexpectedly, CERN would choose to hand over such a heavyweight conference and take the initiative to give up the opportunity to IMCRC to hold it.

But after thinking about it carefully, he also figured out the way to do it.

The reason why CERN gave up this opportunity to act aggressively was not because they didn't want to pretend to be aggressive, but the reality did not allow them to do so.

On the one hand, this is because the Lunar Hadron Collider has replaced the LHC and shouldered the heavy responsibility of high-energy physics exploration, and the world's physics center has gradually shifted to East Asia.

On the other hand, it is because of a very real problem.

That's no money...

Yes.

Just no money.

Since the completion of the Lunar Hadron Collider, CERN has gradually lost the excuse to ask EU countries for funding.

Compared with CERN, which has a bigger appetite than black holes, and those scientific research projects that can never be fed, countries around the world are more inclined to choose to spend less money to satisfy their physicists, and they can A large number of IMCRCs with excellent results have emerged.

In particular, the leaders of France have said in public more than once that the historical mission of the LHC has been completed. Instead of frightening the residents living in Seys and Geneva, it is better to put the experimental site on the moon from the border between France and Switzerland. .

The opinion of the United States is largely the same.

Although dissatisfied with IMCRC being dominated by Huaguo, physics is not as sensitive research as military industry, aerospace, and semiconductors, and all research results are publicly accessible.

For Washington, which is in a recession cycle, it would be great if the Chinese are willing to bear this heavy burden for them.

Perhaps this is a self-comforting rhetoric, but at least it can save the White House hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Under such circumstances, CERN has gradually declined from the original world physics center to a regional physics research center.

Although he still has a large and excellent scientific research team, it is difficult to attract scientific researchers from other countries to contribute cheap and high-quality labor when the experiment cannot be restarted.

Even local managers are considering whether to transform the abandoned large collider into a science museum or recreational facility while retaining the small electron-positron collider.

However, so far, this proposal is only at the proposal stage, without a stable passenger flow guarantee, and there are still border supervision issues. It is really hard to imagine which multinational amusement park group will consider taking over.

Pulling out the letter paper that was included in the invitation letter, Lu Zhou unfolded it and read it carefully along the first line.

Apart from some polite rhetoric, the above content is quite concise, mainly related to the meeting process.

It includes the parts that most academic conferences have, such as lectures for all physicists, symposiums, poster presentations, etc. It also includes the highlight of this meeting - the closed-door meeting of "Hundred Years of Physics".

According to CERN's suggestion, this conference will be led by the world's top 100 physicists,

As the top experts of a certain research branch, the participants invited to the meeting will represent their own research direction, explain their own direction and its importance to other scholars in the field of high-energy physics research, and finally propose that this direction needs to be solved urgently one of the most important propositions.

Just like the Millennium Mathematics Conference and Hilbert's twenty-three questions.

It's just that the number of physics problems to be resolved at this meeting is not 7, nor 23, but 100.

As for other scholars who have not received the invitation letter of the "Hundred Years of Physics Closed-door Conference", they can learn about the progress of the conference and the results of the discussions through various channels such as live broadcast, conference video and written records released after the conference.

At the same time, for the 100 world-class problems raised in the conference, the conference organizer will also set up corresponding awards and bonuses for them.

When he saw this, Lu Zhou couldn't help but smiled, and joked casually.

"Do I have to donate some money to participate in this meeting?"

As if he didn't expect Lu Zhou to ask such a question, Luo Wenxuan was slightly taken aback, and then accepted it with a smile.

"I didn't say that, but if we want to be the main organizer, we will definitely get the big head."

"How much will it cost?"

"Currently we are considering setting up a bonus pool to increase the value of the bonus pool through bond and stock investment. The person who solves one of the problems first will give priority to 1% of the bonus pool, and the rest And so on until all bonuses have been distributed."

Lu Zhou raised his eyebrows with interest: "It sounds interesting, so the later the problem is solved, the higher the bonus you can get?"

"Not necessarily, investment is risky after all... But we will hire the best brokers and use the most stable investment strategy to handle the funds." After a pause, Luo Wenxuan continued, "And, from a realistic point of view Speaking of which, the later the problem is solved, doesn’t it mean that the problem is more worthy of reward?”

Lu Zhou: "How is the bonus pool raised?"

"At present, our idea is to donate money. It is said that many generous rich people are very interested in naming these unsolved mysteries. At present, there are ten rich people on the Forbes wealth list who have expressed their willingness to donate to the topics they are interested in, and use Name the award after yourself or your family members. If the funds are not enough, we can also try to raise the bonus by auctioning the naming rights for the rest.”

"It's a good idea. I, the chairman of the IMCRC, should also donate a little."

Without specifying how much this "point" is, Lu Zhou put this invitation letter into his arms. Hearing Lu Zhou's words, Luo Wenxuan froze for a moment, and immediately spoke excitedly.

"You mean, let's continue this meeting?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Why not? Being able to host such a meeting is not only the world's recognition of us, but also our responsibility to the world. Besides, our funds are relatively sufficient. It is more than enough to hold a meeting. Speaking of it , Has CERN proposed, when will this meeting be held?"

"Their suggestion is on the 12th, but the venue has not yet been determined."

"12th?" Lu Zhou frowned and muttered, "14th is Valentine's Day, right?"

If he remembers correctly, it seems to be around this time.

Luo Wenxuan: "...?"

Noticing the weird expression on Senior Brother Luo's face, Lu Zhou instantly realized that he seemed to have read out his inner monologue, so he coughed lightly and changed his words.

"I mean, February 12th seems to be the third day of the Lunar New Year. At this moment, most people are still celebrating the Spring Festival, right? Physicists are also human beings, so they can't take the time to reunite with their families to have a meeting. The traffic during the Spring Festival travel is also a big problem. In this way, the holding time should be postponed, at least after the Lantern Festival. As for the venue, it will be in Shanghai.”

"After the Lantern Festival? Then it's March. It's not a problem if the venue is in Shanghai, although I recommend choosing some interesting cities..."

After pausing for a moment, Luo Wenxuan made a helpless expression.

"However, you are the chairman of the board, so you have the final say."