Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
On 11th December, a major event took place in the academic circle.
It was not only in the mathematics community, but it was also in the medical world.
Three days ago, Professor Tu Youyou from Karolinska Institutet of Sweden published a thesis titled [A Gift from Traditional Chinese Medicine to the World]. Today at Stockholm, she received the Nobel Prize in Medicine!
William Campbell and Omura were also awarded. The three would share the $8 million SEK prize.
Thus, the first Chinese Nobel Prize winner was born!
Lu Zhou could not help but feel happy for the Chinese academic community.
Since the first Chinese Nobel Prize winner was born, it was about time for him to win the Fields Medal.
However, the interesting thing was that a few days after the Nobel Prize was awarded, the official website of the National Knowledge Bureau published an article entitled “The Revelation of Artemisinin Patent” which told the story behind this Nobel Prize.
At that time, there was no establishment of an intellectual property system in China. Therefore, the publication of research results in international journals was the only option. However, the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences later developed the compound “artemether” based on artemisinin. The patent was not in the hands of the Chinese but was taken by the Swiss Novartis company to establish patent barriers.
There were many reasons for this, but it was mainly because of the neglect of patent issues.
Their patent was basically stolen.
What was even more embarrassing was that although Professor Tu Youyou was the one who won the Nobel Prize, not a single company hired her.
The highest reward for this hero was a 1979 national invention award of which she only received $200 yuan.
In contrast, Omura, who had also won the award, accumulated nearly $30 billion yuan in personal wealth. At the age of 80 years old, he no longer engaged in scientific research, but instead, he was fiddling with collectible art.
The importance of intellectual property protection was obvious.
Due to Lu Zhou’s concerns about patents, he read this article on the official website of the National Knowledge Bureau.
This was like a warning to him.
…
The academic conference at the end of the year was set one week before Christmas.
On the morning of the 18th, a flight landed at California airport.
Lu Zhou dragged his suitcase out of the airport and got a taxi. He then went to the University of Berkeley.
The annual Federal Mathematics Society conference would be held at Berkeley.
The Cole Prize would also be announced at the ceremony.
Although the winner had been disclosed to Lu Zhou, he was still just as excited.
Lu Zhou got off the taxi at Berkeley and met Luo Wenxuan, who had been waiting for him.
Luo Wenxuan gave him a warm hug and said, “Why didn’t you call me? I could’ve picked you up at the airport.”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “It’s fine, I can just take a taxi.”
Before Lu Zhou came to America, he did not notify anyone. He only called Luo Wenxuan after he landed.
As a member of the Federal Mathematics Society, Edward Witten would not miss the conference. Since Luo Wenxuan was under Witten’s wings, naturally, he would also want to join in on the fun.
Luo Wenxuan glanced at his watch and when he saw that it was getting late, he said, “Let’s go. I’ll take you to your hotel. The organizer prepared a five-star hotel… Well, it has a five-star rating, but I think that at most, it’s around four-star.”
Lu Zhou, “How does it compare to the Princeton hotel?”
Luo Wenxuan smiled and said, “Princeton hotel? The one across from Palmer Square? It’s a bit better than that one, but the academic atmosphere is much less.”
Berkeley was located in the San Francisco Bay Area, the second largest city in California. Compared to where Princeton was in, this atmosphere was undoubtedly more fast-paced.
On the way, the two started chatting about what happened in Beijing.
“Not bad, Lu Zhou. Bullsh*ting again before the end of the year.”
Lu Zhou coughed and said, “What do you mean bullsh*ting? Is academic bullsh*ting?”
“Wow, your tone is getting more and more like Old Tang,” said Luo Wenxuan. He coughed and said, “So, as the winner of this year’s Cole Prize in Number Theory, what are your thoughts, Mr. Lu Zhou?”
“No thoughts. It hasn’t even begun.”
Although the award ceremony was in a few days, the email said to kept it a secret. Thus, Lu Zhou felt necessary to keep this news confidential.
Although Luo Wenxuan immediately saw through his act, he said, “Fine, stop pretending. The written notice should be sent out one month ago, so you must already know.”
Lu Zhou, “Fine… I actually already got the notice. But the email said to keep it confidential before the official award ceremony.”
“Okay, I won’t tell anyone,” said Luo Wenxuan as he patted Lu Zhou’s shoulder. He then said, “Just buy me drinks when you get the prize money!”
Lu Zhou remembered the unpleasant experience from last time and he quickly said, “Drinking is fine, but let’s go to a normal bar this time.”
Luo Wenxuan waved his hand and said, “Of course. This is near the university, so the bars are all very formal. Even the professors will come. Oh yeah, the chick you met last time, how is it? Are you still in contact with her?”
Lu Zhou was stunned. He did not know what Luo Wenxuan was talking about, “What chick?”
Luo Wenxuan said, “The one at CERN… It’s only been half a year. Have you already forgotten about her?”
Lu Zhou was speechless.
“That one? I didn’t do anything with her.”
Luo Wenxuan said, “Wait a minute, I don’t understand… You’re saying you dragged her into your room, covered her up with a blanket, and left?”
Lu Zhou said, “Not a blanket, I pulled the curtains… What else would I do? Wait for her to wake up?”
Luo Wenxuan stared at Lu Zhou for a long time before he sighed.
“Bro…”
Lu Zhou, “What?”
Luo Wenxuan sighed and said, “I thought that there’s nothing else I could teach you, but now it seems that you have to learn from the beginning…”
Lu Zhou, “…?”
