Tech Hammer

At 7pm on Saturday, February 25th, Chinese time, the 2022 Wolf Prize Award Ceremony was successfully held in the Centennial Auditorium of Yanbei University in the capital of China.

Dan Shechtman, chairman of the Wolf Foundation, walked to the podium of the award ceremony on time.

"I am very happy to see you all in China. As we all know, this is the first time that the Wolf Award Ceremony is held outside Israel. The reason is actually very simple. As an international award, we hope to embrace the whole world. So I want to Here we announce a decision of the Wolf Foundation. In the future, the Wolf Prize Ceremony will be held in the representative city of the country where a winner of the year is selected, so it may be China, the United States, Europe, or even It could be Oceania, anyway, anything is possible.”

Dan Shechtman said this with a smile and received bursts of applause. It must be admitted that this is a very creative progress.

The award ceremony held in the country where the winners are located is definitely a great recognition for the winners of that year. At the same time, every year the Wolf Prize will select winners who have made outstanding contributions to the world in nine fields: medicine, agriculture, mathematics, chemistry, physics, painting, sculpture, music, and architecture. Although not every field can win the prize every year. There are winners, but apparently there is never just one winner.

Then the country where the winner is located will probably be the winner who was comprehensively recognized as having made the greatest contribution to the world that year. It can also be understood that the final selection represents a Wolf Prize.

Obviously, the first person in history to win Wolf's final grand prize was Ning Wei. After all, he is the only one among this year's winners who is Chinese.

Really, many people at the scene even thought that the Nobel Prize should be played this way. With so many Nobel Prize winners every year, it would definitely be fun to select the one who has made the greatest contribution. Maybe many people will never win a Nobel Prize in their lifetime, but it will definitely be interesting to watch Nobel Prize winners compete for the top spot in the world.

And in this way, in addition to looking forward to the Nobel Prizes in various fields every year, there is another expectation - how shameless the jury members can be, such as whether they dare to put the award ceremony in the place where the Nobel Peace Prize winners are held in the country.

The applause soon stopped, and Dan Shechtman announced last year's two major cultural awards for sculpture and architecture.

The two winners were both Europeans. After taking the stage, they gave a simple speech. Then the music sounded and the two winners received the award certificates and representative medals from the dean of the School of Art of Yanbei University invited by the organizing committee. .

The atmosphere at the scene is warm, and of course as long as there are enough people, the atmosphere will naturally not get too cold.

After the literary awards were awarded, there was another action on the rostrum. As a piano was rolled out, the China Symphony Orchestra appeared at the award ceremony. He took the lead in playing an excerpt from the large-scale musical "The Psalm of Mulan". The twenty-minute performance pushed the atmosphere of the entire awards ceremony to a climax.

After the performance, the orchestra did not leave the stage, and then the Wolf Foundation invited a former winner of the Wolf Prize in Chemistry to come to the stage and announced last year's winner of the Chemistry Prize - Professor Hunter from Berkeley with his research and publication. Precision synthesis technology won the Wolf 2022 Chemistry Prize.

The Wolf Foundation specially invited the winners of the Chemistry Prize ten years ago to present the awards, which is also quite meaningful and represents the transfer of science. Although Professor Hunter is also in his fifties, he is also a generation younger than the old scientist who is now seventy-two years old.

The applause was even more enthusiastic.

In fact, whether it is the Wolf Prize or the Nobel Prize, awards in science and technology are often more convincing than awards in literature and art. After all, when it comes to literary and artistic works, everyone’s aesthetics are different, and it’s easy to get started. You can read if you can read, and you can see paintings if you have eyes. Therefore, even everyone’s works cannot satisfy everyone’s appetite. You may even be criticized.

This is probably why there are always some writers who seem to have a high reputation for winning the Nobel Prize in Literature every year, but they have never been able to win this top award in their lives. This has also directly led to this type of award being despised by fans of writers and even various rumors have spread. Shady theory.

But awards in natural sciences and technology are different. It is difficult to get started. Especially in modern times, when various disciplines are subdivided, ordinary people can't even figure out what these scientists are studying and what kind of success they have achieved just by looking at the award introductions. This naturally makes them less confident in their evaluation. And even if such awards are really shady, at least they cannot be awarded to scientists who have not made any progress in science. There must be a somewhat convincing reason for awarding the awards.

Not to mention that many people came to this award ceremony for Ning Wei, such as students from the School of Mathematics at Yanbei University. If you expect these people to be interested in literary and artistic things, you will definitely be disappointed. Relatively speaking, the study of chemistry and their appetite. After all, chemistry is also a related subject based on mathematics.

Professor Hunter stepped onto the podium and began to deliver his acceptance speech. His speech was quite satisfactory, with nothing much to say. He thanked almost everyone he could think of to thank. Even his assistant. Of course, the professor's words were actually very interesting. At least he spoke eloquently for about ten minutes, and it didn't make people feel bored.

Next it’s time for the orchestra to perform again.

This time, the China Symphony Orchestra played the theme song "Yun Gong Xun Yin" of an old TV series that has dominated the summer vacation for several years. It not only explained that the classic is timeless, but also directly awakened the childhood memories of countless people at the scene. The memories and the surging music once again pushed the atmosphere to another climax.

When the performance was completed, Dan Schechtman, chairman of the Wolf Foundation, took the podium again.

"Since the concept of artificial intelligence was proposed, countless scientists have been extremely obsessed with this technology for decades. They have spent their lives studying its laws and hope to make machines produce intelligence similar to human beings. But not Fortunately, this direction is so difficult that many people even think that this research is the domain of God and cannot be touched by mortals."

"So although we have a goal, we have been searching in this direction just like in the wilderness. We developed neural network technology and researched algorithms such as simulated annealing algorithm, particle swarm optimization algorithm, genetic algorithm, and ant colony optimization algorithm. , etc., trying to imitate nature to give machines and networks a certain level of elementary intelligence."

"At this stage, IBM once launched Deep Blue and defeated the strongest human chess player at the time; then Google launched AlphaGo and became the strongest player in the field of Go. This once made people full of enthusiasm for real artificial intelligence technology. Hope and confidence, but the final result is not satisfactory. Because whether it is Deep Blue or AlphaGo, the learning and thinking capabilities of machines are actually far from the artificial intelligence we hope for."

"Until a Chinese mathematician appeared. He started by constructing mathematical theories, based on the most basic isomorphism method in mathematics, and established a set of basic mathematical theories to guide the development of artificial intelligence. He interpreted it from a new perspective The perceptual relationship between the information system and the external physical system, and personally giving the cold machine a certain perceptual program, also makes true strong artificial intelligence possible and even a reality."

"His achievements don't stop there. His research on the Millennium Problem - the Navier-Stokes equation directly pushed this mathematical problem that has troubled the world for hundreds of years to within our reach. The mathematical tools he proposed in this direction were widely used by other mathematicians in their continued research on this equation. In the same year, he even used incredible methods to solve the problem solved by Fields Medal winner Jean The high-dimensional geometry problem proposed by Professor Bourgain has also puzzled the mathematics community for decades - the KLS conjecture..."

When Dan Shechtman said this, the audience started to applaud.

No way, these achievements are indeed too eye-catching. Listing them one by one on such an occasion can easily arouse everyone's emotions.

Really, even though the Chairman on the stage did not use that ups and downs tone, when these achievements were summarized one by one, people unconsciously wanted to worship them, especially in today's world where there are so many mathematicians. occasion.

Not to mention that these achievements were made by a young man under the age of twenty-five. It's hard to imagine what else this guy could achieve when he reaches the peak of human wisdom, around the age of thirty.

…

The applause from the audience interrupted Dan Shechtman's speech, which also brought a smile to the corner of the foundation chairman's mouth. He waited patiently for the wave of applause to pass, and then said humorously: "Okay, I You all know, everyone thinks I'm verbose, but you should know that you can't blame me, you should blame the winner. He has achieved so many achievements that I have to say a little more, because even though I have said so much, There’s a lot missing.”

"Of course, more importantly, I have to respect the fruits of the secretary's work. He consulted a lot of information in order to prepare this award speech. So, you have to listen to the end. Okay?"

There was a burst of laughter from the audience, and Ning Wei carefully squeezed the little hand of classmate Jiang next to him. Although Ning Wei really didn't care about this award when he didn't win it, at this moment, he was still a little nervous. .

After all, people have praised him to this extent, so how to elegantly deliver his acceptance speech is an extremely challenging thing. Especially since there were many big names in the industry present, he had to act more confident.

Not to mention that award ceremonies like these are now broadcast live, and the capital world will not let go of any opportunity to make money. Since we have chosen to come to China specifically to hold this award ceremony, it is natural that we can make a fortune from the live broadcast. miss.

This also made Ning Wei feel more pressure...

So he complained very seriously to the girl next to him: "The chairman on the stage said that I am so awesome, and I am really so awesome, and I am quite handsome. I have to show it when I give my speech later." He looks very graceful. What if this video captivates thousands of girls once it comes out... So on such an important day, we will not go home after having supper with our friends tonight, but go to the villa next door. How was your stay?"

Jiang Chenshuang was stunned.

She never imagined that at this moment of public attention, the man next to him was about to go on stage to win an award that would be the envy of countless mathematicians around the world, but what was on his mind was...

I couldn't help but blushed subconsciously and lowered my head. This scene was also noticed by the sensitive on-site cameraman, who captured the scene completely. In fact, when Dan Schechtman's speech was interrupted by applause, the main camera was already focused on Ning Wei in the audience. After all, everyone knew who the applause was for.

Of course, what the audience saw from the perspective of the audience was that Ning Wei suddenly put his head next to Jiang’s ear. He didn’t know what he said, and then the girl lowered her head shyly...

At this moment, the barrage of live media has been filled with the question "What did Ning Wei say?" Ning Wei's action at the critical moment has indeed aroused the curiosity of countless people.

God knows how many people hope to interview Jiang after today. I just want to ask what Ning Wei said to her just before he went on stage to give his speech at the Wolf Award Ceremony. There was even a boring comment from someone. Rich people are willing to pay big bucks to get an answer. It's a pity that no one can answer this question, not even Ning Wei's parents who were at the table at the time knew about it.

But given Jiang's temperament, it was naturally impossible to tell him. As for Ning Wei, it is naturally impossible for him to betray himself for a little money. Someone even hired a lip reader to try to decipher it. Unfortunately, most of Ning Wei's speech was blocked by the side of Jiang's face, and it was impossible to recover. So this video directly contributed an unsolved mystery to the world...

Fortunately, the secretary really didn't have much prepared speeches for Dan Shechtman...

"...In addition, this young mathematician also proved to the world how correct his theory is, and in a unique way, told the world that the imagination of those masters in the past can be realized! Many of them can be realized! People say that the Wolf Prize is a lifetime achievement award. Is it appropriate to award it to a young mathematician who is only in his early twenties?"

"Then I can give this answer today. I trust the judgment of the review committee, and I believe that these achievements are worthy of the Wolf Prize in Mathematics. A world-wide award is always complementary to the glory of the winner. Our original intention It will not change! Now please welcome Ning Wei, a young mathematician from China and a genius Ph.D. in mathematics from Yanbei University!"

The applause from the audience surged like thunder. Ning Wei stood up amidst the deafening applause, pulled the corners of his clothes to make his tunic suit look neater, and then walked up with steady steps. The rostrum then received the medal presented by Dan Schechtman himself.

"Congratulations, Dr. Ning Wei!" Dan Shechtman said as he handed over the medal in his hand.

"Thank you, Mr. Shechtman, your speech just now was wonderful." Ning Wei praised.

This sentence made Dan Shechtman confused for a moment, so was this a compliment, a boast, or a sarcasm?

The speech was indeed carefully prepared. After all, the controversy surrounding the winner of the Mathematics Prize has not completely subsided yet. For the sake of the credibility of the Wolf Prize, he has to speak more beautifully. Whitewashing has always been the only way to cover up mistakes.

But at this moment, Dan Shechtman knew that he couldn't argue with Ning Wei. He could only make a gesture of invitation with a wry smile, then returned to the stage and handed the complete stage to Ning Wei.

…

The applause stopped, and Ning Wei also stood in front of the microphone.

"Ahem..."

Before speaking, Ning Wei cleared his throat and finally spoke: "Thank you very much for Mr. Schechtman's praise of me just now. Really, if it weren't for Mr. Chairman's reminder, I would have almost forgotten that I have already made so many achievements." It’s fruitful!”

Really, it is hard to imagine that a world-class award winner can make the heated scene cool down with his first words. It even made people watch the awards ceremony through online videos again intensively...

With such a simple sentence, people can't tell whether it is being modest or showing off...

Fortunately, Ning Wei quickly continued: "I don't mean to brag, because I am really busy at ordinary times, and I really don't have much time to reflect on the achievements I have made. This is actually good. Many times I just forget about the past. Only with the achievements achieved can we go into battle with ease and challenge more unknown areas.”

Applause sounded again at this moment, and with these words, the intention was instantly raised. Of course, it may also make people uncomfortable. After all, it seems to be mocking some scholars who are resting on their laurels. Of course, I would rather never care about these voices.

"But after all, I am still very happy to receive this award. I would like to thank many people here, such as the professors who used to be at Jiangnan University. You laid the foundation for me and pointed out the path for me. I also want to thank my current mentors. Professor Tian, ​​you are worried about me; of course, I want to thank my parents who gave me life, and my lover, who gave me everything I need mentally, and my senior brother, who is worried about my safety. Brother Liu who is worried, wait, wait..."

"There are too many people to thank, so I won't say much in view of time. In fact, my tutor, Professor Tian, ​​once made an evaluation of me. He said that he very doubted whether I didn't recognize my identity as a mathematician. Otherwise, why would I never be a mathematician? I have no intention of going down the road of mathematics, but I am always studying some messy things. I want to defend myself here. In fact, I have always studied mathematics with an attitude of reverence, because mathematics is the foundation of many scientific research fields. .”

"It's just that my original intention of studying mathematics may be different from that of some pure mathematicians. When I see the hope of solving some real-life problems through mathematical tools, my attention will indeed be attracted, and then I try to use the guidance of mathematics to Do something that can directly change the world, rather than just focusing on theoretical research. Just like March..., oh, by the way, speaking of March, can I invite it to come out and witness this important moment? "

Ning Wei asked...

Then the answers I got were naturally uniform...

Then the curtain on the rostrum was slowly opened, and the giant screen that had been prepared was revealed, and then the figure of March appeared in front of everyone again in a public place.

March in the video seems to know that today is an extremely important day for Ning Wei. This little kitten, who has always shown a naughty image, is squatting upright today, with an extra tie on its neck, and even its expression is... More serious than the last press conference, even more serious...

There was another commotion in the audience. After all, this kitten has shocked many people.

As for the online live video, at the moment it appeared in March, if you didn't turn off the barrage, the dense variety of sounds had completely obscured the entire video, making it impossible to watch...

Many people even started to directly swipe the screen: "Welcome Mr. March!"

This shows the popularity of March...

…

"Okay, now it's complete! I have to say that March is a very competent assistant. Since its birth, it has also allowed me to go further and further away from mathematics. Because after it, some things that troubled me very much Problems can often be solved easily. In this way, I study mathematics and everything that mathematics can affect. I walk this path smoothly and at the same time I am very happy!"

"Of course there will be times of trouble. For example, March always likes to use some of the theories I have studied to do some large-scale calculations with the data it has obtained, and generate countless mathematical models in the database. Every time I see these mathematical models, I am amazed. I struggled with two extreme emotions of pain and happiness. I know this emotion may be difficult for ordinary people to understand, but it is very real.”

"For example, we recently announced the three-dimensional through-silicon heterogeneous chip technology on Weibo in March, which is the CNMD architecture chip I named. It is really hard to imagine that when our first radio frequency chip is successfully produced in the laboratory After coming out, the accumulated experience allowed this worry-free kitten to start building more complex structures and build more complex models through successful data."

"Can you imagine the pain? The next generation of chip technology seems to be within reach. You wanted to take a good rest after achieving great success, rejoice, celebrate, and vent your joy in various ways, but those complicated But the mathematical model is telling you that you can’t rest yet, and the current results are not worthy of joy and celebration, because you have more and more important things to do next!”

Having said this, Ning Wei spread his hands and made a very helpless gesture...

However, the big guys in the audience began to look at each other...

Especially many big guys have some bad associations at this moment.

Just now, the same young man on the stage rushed into Tian Yanzhen's office with a very happy attitude, and then spit out the words 65 nanometers...

So, he calls this pain? Can this really be called pain? !

Even many people who have not experienced this scene were stunned when they heard this, and there was a vague feeling of something special...

Ning Wei, are you going to cause trouble again?

This is the Wolfe Award Ceremony. Brother, stop making trouble. The whole world will see what you say and your attitude of asking for punishment...

Really, at this moment, the entire awards scene fell silent, everyone was looking forward to what this guy would say next...

"So after the 180nm silicon silicon tube technology was tested, there was no celebration, let alone joy and encouragement. Some just looked at those complicated process innovation plans, which made people feel a headache! Scientific research is such a fascinating but extremely difficult path. The road, but what can I do? I am really desperate! But I can only go on bravely. "

"Of course, the results are gratifying. On this important day today, in March, with the joint efforts of countless scientific researchers, we made a breakthrough again. The CNMD structure has exceeded 180 nanometers on this festive day today. Due to process limitations, we have successfully advanced to the 65nm process node. Many people think this is a happy event, but when you think about it carefully, it is really a happy event..."

At this point, I really couldn't continue talking. Of course, it might be that Ningwei had already finished speaking but couldn't hear it at all. Yes, the uproar at the scene even overwhelmed the sound, making it impossible for Ning Wei's speech to reach everyone's ears smoothly. The uproar could even be heard in the video.

The guests who can participate in this event have at least the most basic scientific literacy, and naturally understand the difficulty of advancing chip technology that even many ordinary people know.

Not to mention the big guys sitting in the front row.

At this time, you can even see the confused expressions on the faces of these big guys through the camera.

Really, just confused. You must know that this is rare. Generally speaking, these big guys can really keep their emotions and anger hidden, and any true thoughts are hidden under the invisible mask, which will not allow anyone to pry into their true inner thoughts. But today I really can’t stand it anymore…

The worst possible thing is that the official announcement is so sudden, leaving people in a state of extreme confusion...

The best performer probably belongs to Tim Cook. The Apple helmsman still looks calm in front of the camera. After all, he had been digesting the news for a whole day, and he could accept it despite being surprised.

But for other people at the scene, they probably just felt that they had heard a miracle, a miracle that made people unable to calm down! Is there such a breakthrough in the process from 180nm to 65nm? Don’t you need a little bit of excess in the middle?

As for online live video...

"Hey, 110? Please come quickly, hurry, there is someone here who is showing off and can't control himself at all!"

"God, I'm in despair too! These words make me unable to do anything!"

"Really, I swore that I would never post comments when watching Ning Wei's videos, but I still couldn't help it! The earth can no longer accommodate Dr. Ning!"

"There are no words to describe how I feel at this time. Before, I thought he was complaining, thought he might want to get a project, thought he wanted to tell everyone how hard it is for scientific researchers, but I never thought he was pretending. force!"

"Oh my God, 180 nanometers are upgraded to 65 nanometers! Has anyone noticed the expressions of the big guys in the front row? As the saying goes, taking other people's paths will leave others with no way to go. Ning always blocks other people's roads directly and leaves others with no way to go. There is no way to go! This section..."

"There's nothing to say, come and talk about your awesomeness with me!"

"This is the first time I know what it means to have nothing to complain about! I want to say something sexy but I don’t know what to say. This speech really makes me lose my mind!"

"I finally understand why Ningwei named the chip architecture CNMD. This name must directly describe the mood of the big guys at the scene and me at this time."

Of course there are those who stay calm.

"Is this news true? Is Dr. Ning serious?"

"What's the fuss about? When did upgrading laboratory technology become the same as making rockets? How authentic is it? Isn't it just a smooth talk?"

"Do you understand? I heard that other people's craft upgrades are based on years. Why can we use months as a unit?"

"So can we really solve the problem of process upgrading by relying only on mathematical models? I have studied mathematical modeling for a while, but I really don't know that mathematical modeling can be used in this way."

"If you're not a professional, just ask if you don't understand, what does the 65-nanometer process mean? Why do the bosses' expressions suddenly look bad?"

However, the experts who can answer these questions at this time are probably more confused than the ordinary netizens who have questions. Because they understand better how difficult it is. For example, the professors and researchers from the Institute of Microelectronics and the Institute of Semiconductor who are also paying attention to this award ceremony are probably more confused than the big guys at the scene.

What the hell kind of talk is this? The CNMD architecture 180nm process standard has just been obtained and has not been studied clearly. Suddenly the process was upgraded to 65nm? So they can’t learn as fast as others can develop? How the hell are you chasing after this? Feeling: The technical information they have been studying for a month is already out of date? Who the hell are they supposed to talk to to reason with?

Not to mention those doctoral students and graduate students who are still chewing on the information. They are all confused and don’t know whether they should continue to develop in this direction. Materials and processes have been transformed at this speed. How else to learn? What will the world look like? Not to mention that advancing from 180 nanometers to 65 nanometers is so scary. From now on, the technology will be iterated every month. Will they have to learn new things all over again? When will I graduate? Really, many people want to call their supervisor at this time and ask if it is not too late to change their major and research direction...

Who can stand it when the good blue ocean is turned into an abyss?

Of course, the one who is almost as depressed as these people is Dan Schechtman.

This is an awards ceremony organized by the Wolf Foundation. It's not just for the bosses to show off their talents on the stage. They just give a normal speech, and then the symphony orchestra performs a performance at the end. Everyone goes back to their homes to find their own mother. Okay? I've given you the chance to perform in the finale, isn't that enough? ! Brother Ning Wei, where are you going to cause trouble? Why don't we surrender?

Really, Shechtman already felt that his speech just now was enough to save some face for the Wolf Foundation, but now no one probably remembers what he just said. Everyone is probably shocked by the news that has almost nothing to do with mathematics. No one will pay attention to this so-called initiative of the first Wolf World Tour Awards Ceremony! Everyone will only remember that the Wolf Foundation held the award ceremony specifically for a Chinese boy in his school!

CNMD!