“WTF!!!”
“Fuck!!!”
“100 million?!”
“That’s crazy! Has there been such a high bonus in physics before?”
“Forget about the physics world, you won’t be able to find a higher bonus in the whole academic world!”
The field of physics was an area that was far away from the real-life application. Even condensed matter physics, which was close to applied science, it was difficult to create profit and applicability in a short period of time.
Even though there were some rich people who broke away from the materialistic purchases and occasionally donated some money to scientific research, such a large cheque was still unheard of.
Even exchanging into USD, 100 million yuan was a lot of money.
Not to mention that now, the fusion power stations in St. Petersburg, Cadarache, and Los Angeles had been completed. The cross-regional power grid traversed the Asian continent. The yuan exchange rate continued to strengthen with the support of the energy network, the exchange rate was no longer the same as before.
Thus, a hundred million yuan was quite a lot.
The atmosphere almost overturned the building. In the exhibition hall outside the conference hall and the poster exhibition area, the atmosphere was even more enthusiastic. Almost like an erupting volcano, people’s excitement was exploding.
Even though many people still managed to maintain their demeanor, they were still surprised by this. Some even let out an unattractive scream.
Lu Zhou was standing in the conference room. He couldn’t see the situation in the main conference hall. However, judging from the reactions of the scholars in the conference room, the effect of the 100 million yuan was quite spectacular.
Lu Zhou smiled, cleared his throat, and continued to speak.
“Next, Professor Witten will announce the second Problem of the Century.
“Professor Edward Witten from Princeton!”
Lu Zhou nodded to Professor Edward Witten, who was standing next to him. He put down the microphone in his hand. He then walked to the stage quickly.
There was no doubt that the attention of the audience was grabbed by someone.
The conference was broadcasted all over the world through the Internet. The scholars and people who were also paying attention to the Century of Physics conference were frightened by the 100 million yuan prize money.
A material science laboratory at Stanford University.
A group of engineering men and women were watching the live broadcast in front of the computer when someone suddenly exclaimed.
“A hundred million! Sh*t, how many cryo-electron microscopes can you buy with that money?”
“Jesus! How come these physicists are so rich?!”
“Is it too late to switch to physics?”
“It’s too late! Go! But speaking of it, this Grand Unified Theory… Can anyone really get this 100 million?”
“I don’t know a lot of physics, but even I know this is a difficult problem that even Einstein couldn’t handle! It’s too difficult to solve it!”
“And maybe… Einstein is not the only one who can’t figure it out.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it… If Lu Zhou knew the answer, would he offer a reward of 100 million for others? The electrostrong interaction was discovered by him. No one is closer to the Grand Unified Theory than him. No one knows better than him on how difficult this problem is…”
“F*ck me, now that you put it like that, it makes sense!”
Outside a classroom at Oxford University, a BBC reporter carrying a microphone stopped a physics professor who had just finished a lecture.
“Hello, Sir, are you paying attention to the ongoing Century of Physics Conference?”
The professor spoke sternly.
“I am, but I didn’t expect this to happen.”
“What do you mean?”
“Five minutes before the end of class, a scream came from the back row of the classroom. I thought there was an earthquake, but it was because of the 100 million yuan bonus!” The professor said, ” These little rascals, what does the bonus have to do with them?”
The reporter said, “Okay… Then what do you think of this 100 million bonus.”
The professor said impatiently, “Nothing good. This is a bonus that no one can claim.”
“Will you consider adjusting your research direction?”
“Nope.”
“Why?”
“There is no why. Whoever wants to do the research should do it… If they think they have what it takes to get the bonus, they should try!”
The entire college circle was discussing the 100 million bonus. The opening ceremony of the Century of Physics conference was still going on. The following ninety-nine problems were announced by Witten, Wilczek, and other well-known top physics experts.
Among them were popular topics in physics such as “search for superparticles in supersymmetry theory”, which was announced by Professor Witten, and “exploring the reasons for the disappearance of supernova sites”, which was announced by the famous astrophysicist Jim Peebles.
There were also problems such as “the formation mechanism of sonoluminescence” and “the instability mechanism of spiral waves in a diffusion system”. As well as “multi-body QED in an atomic system”. These weren’t as popular, but they were of great significance.
These problems covered a range of fields from theoretical physics, to astrophysics, to condensed matter physics. They included the most popular and important aspects of all of physics. They were also expected to be solved in this century.
Although there were also millions of dollars of rewards, as well as sponsorships from rich people and scientific research groups from all over the world, what excited people was the 100 million yuan prize.
Throughout the course of the conference, apart from the physicists, the most excited people were the reporters carrying cameras and microphones.
Although they were still standing at the meeting, they had already written the headlines for the news tomorrow.
Many people even made preparations in advance. They waited for Lu Zhou to walk out of the conference room so that they could throw their questions at them.
However, they were disappointed.
They waited all day, but they were unable to see Professor Lu…
Lu Zhou turned off the wearable facial holographic projection system. He took off a pale silver necklace from his neck, stuffed it into his pocket casually, and walked out of the empty bathroom with a calm expression on his face.
Ever since he got this stuff from the system, he never worried about being blocked by reporters anymore.
Suddenly, the phone in his pocket began to ring.
Lu Zhou knew who was calling, he took out his phone and picked up the call.
“Hello?”
“Where are you?!”
Luo Wenxuan’s voice came from the other end of the phone.
Lu Zhou: “Already outside, what’s wrong?”
Luo Wenxuan was shocked.
“F*ck, why did you slip away? After the Problems of the Century are announced, there’s an opening speech waiting for you.”
Lu Zhou: “Aren’t you responsible for that?”
Luo Wenxuan vaguely felt something wrong, so he immediately asked, “Then what about the interview after?”
Lu Zhou smiled awkwardly.
“… You got this.”
Luo Wenxuan: “…”
