I really just want to be a scholar

Although Professor Karen Uhlenbeck did not win the Fields Medal, she did win the 2019 Abel Prize in Mathematics. She is the first female Abel Prize winner in the world. She has outstanding achievements in differential geometry, partial differential equations, topology and He is extremely famous in mathematical physics, Yang-Mills equation, topological quantum field theory and integrable systems, and is an outstanding contemporary mathematics master.

If Ning Qingjun is considered the most cutting-edge young female mathematics master in the international mathematics community, then Karen Uhlenbeck is the female Taishan Beidou among the older generation in the international mathematics community.

This old lady is an old acquaintance of Mr. Qiu and Edward Witten. Such a great master of mathematics was invited to give lectures at Qingmu University. Not only the two old gentlemen, but also President Gu Bojun and other school leaders also went to the airport to greet him. Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun, as hosts, naturally cannot be absent.

Ning Qingyun's due date is June 6, which is only about three months left, but the fetus is already very stable and normal travel is not a problem.

However, it happened that Ning Qingyun had a routine pregnancy test this morning. In order to avoid the low probability of arriving early but no one was there to greet her, Mr. Qiu and a group of people from Qingmu University set off first. Qin Ke took Ning Qingyun there. After the hospital examination, it will be about half an hour later than everyone else before setting off for the airport, but as long as the flight arrives on time, you can still successfully join the waiting team.

After accompanying Ning Qingyun to complete the routine examination, Qin Ke, wearing sunglasses and a hat, accompanied by Wei Feng and Wei Jing, came to the underground parking lot of the hospital. He was surprised to see Principal Gu Bojun waiting next to the car.

Gu Bojun was already the head of the school, so he didn't leave for the airport first with the big team, which surprised both Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun.

"Uncle Gu!"

Gu Bojun showed a friendly and gentle smile and patted Qin Ke on the shoulder: "Qin Ke, we haven't talked for a long time. I just wanted to have a good chat with you and Xiao Ning on the way to the airport." There are only a few now. Most of the elders who are close to them will call them Qin Ke and Xiao Ning as usual, and most of them have changed to "Academician Qin" and "Academician Ning".

Principal Gu Bojun signaled his entourage to take another car, and he took the same car with Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun.

Naturally, Wei Feng was driving. Principal Gu Bojun and Qin Ke were sitting in the back seat, and Ning Qingyun went to sit in the passenger seat.Wei Jing drove another car and followed behind.

In the car, Principal Gu asked with concern about Ning Qingyun's due date, and then warned: "The twins Xiao Ning is carrying are usually born a week or two earlier than the due date. Don't be careless."

"Thank you, Uncle Gu. There are three medical staff living at home now, and there are vehicles on call at any time. If there is any sign, we can send him to the hospital immediately." Qin Ke's concern for Ning Qingyun is the first, and these details have already been I remember it by heart, although my sister Qin Xiaoke is mainly responsible for all kinds of prenatal education.

Gu Bojun asked them about their recent affairs in educating students, teaching and doing scientific research.Now that he has been promoted to principal, he has a lot of responsibilities and travels. He cannot spare an afternoon every month to drink tea and chat with Qin Ke like before. The last time he and Qin Ke sat down and had a good chat was in January this year. At the beginning of the month, Qin Ke and the others had just solved the idle period of high-altitude extreme airflow disasters.

This time it was rare to have time and opportunity, so Gu Bojun naturally wanted to pay more attention to these two "pillars" in the school.

It is no exaggeration to say that there are now 79 full-time academicians in the school, but the status of Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun in Gu Bojun's heart and eyes is absolutely higher than that of other academicians.

Not to mention the numerous academic research achievements and a series of honors they have achieved, the influence of the two alone has brought great benefits to Qingmu University.

In the past year or so, Qingmu University has greatly improved its teaching staff in science and engineering, and attracted a large number of young and middle-aged talents such as associate professors and professors who have returned from studying abroad to teach at the school. This is almost all due to Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun's reputation and the new scientific research atmosphere he demonstrated have rekindled the enthusiasm of international students to serve the motherland and develop and prosper Xia's academic and scientific research circles.

Whether it is academic achievements or the enhancement of teaching staff, these are solid political achievements, which have also enabled Qingmu and Yanda to compete and share the results equally, creating a new situation in which Qingmu stands out and Yanda follows closely behind.

As the president of Qingmu University, how could Gu Bojun not be grateful to Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun?
Even his ability to sit on the position of president is closely related to the academic and scientific research contributions made by Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun.

During the conversation, we talked about the Wolf Prize, which was announced in February this year. Gu Bojun sighed: "It's a pity that this year's Wolf Prize and Abel Prize in Mathematics are still not awarded to you."

The Wolf Prize in Mathematics and the Abel Prize in Mathematics are generally awarded only to mathematics masters of the seniority of grandfathers and ladies. They are lifetime honors and are almost a "final conclusion" of the lifetime achievements of the mathematics masters.It is not easy for the Wolf Foundation and the Abel Memorial Foundation to break the rules and award such awards to Qin Ke and Ning Qingjun, who have just turned 23.

Moreover, Qin Ke and his wife had just won the Nobel Prize in Physics and the Nobel Peace Prize in December last year. At the time when they were shining brightly, the arrogant Wolf Foundation and Abel Memorial Foundation were naturally not happy to be here. They always join in the fun and give people the feeling of "kneeling and licking", so it is not surprising that Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun are not included in the award list.

Qin Ke didn't care too much about not winning this time. Now he has the Philippine Prize and the Nobel Prize. The Wolf Prize and the Abel Prize are just the icing on the cake for him. The biggest role is to complete the system issuance. Task "Please continue to obtain the honor of the top of science" and get new rewards.

And if he didn’t get it this year, he would definitely get it in the future, especially since he and his wife Ning Qingyun had completely cracked the mystery of the Yang-Mills equation at the beginning of the year. Coupled with the Hodge conjecture that was solved this year or next, I don’t believe that Wo The Wolf Foundation and the Abel Memorial Foundation were able to withstand the pressure of public opinion and not award them.

So Qin Ke smiled nonchalantly and said, "It's not about forcing foreigners to win awards. It's better to work hard to improve the international status of domestic awards."

Gu Bojun heard some rumors: "When it comes to this matter, the higher-ups seem to be discussing whether to establish the 'Qin Ke International Prize' and the 'Ning Qingjun International Prize'. These two awards are based on the Fields Medal of the International Mathematical Union IMU. ’ and the ‘Chan Shengshen Award’.”

Ning Qingyun turned around in surprise and asked, "Uncle Gu, is this really happening?"

To be honest, when Ning Qingyun heard the news, he first felt not honored, but a little flattered.

At present, the "Qin Ke Mathematics Prize", "Ning Qingjun Mathematics Prize", "Qin Ke Physics Prize" and "Ning Qingjun Physics Prize" have been established in China. However, they are not established by the state, but by the Xia Guo Mathematics Society, Xia Guo Mathematical Society, and Established by the Chinese Physical Society, it is mainly aimed at domestic mathematicians and physicists. It is the highest honor award issued by the Chinese Mathematical Society and the Physical Society, comparable to the domestic "Chen Shengshen Mathematics Award".

Now the country is going to set up the "Qin Ke International Prize" and the "Ning Qingjun International Prize", which are directly benchmarked against IMU's "Fields Medal" and "Chern Medal", which is to create academic research with truly international influence. Big prize.

Ning Qingyun thinks that she does not have the strength, qualifications and reputation to support such an international award.

"It is true that there has been a formal meeting to discuss, but some people think that although your international reputation is at its peak, your rise is too fast and your background and qualifications are still a bit behind, so this matter is still in the discussion stage and has not been truly implemented."

Qin Ke understood Ning Qingyun's thoughts, reached out and patted her little hand, turned around and said: "Uncle Gu, I also think that our qualifications in the international arena are still insufficient. If you can, please send me a message. It is really not appropriate to set up such an international award named after us. It will only make people laugh and think that we are floating just after we won the Nobel Prize. Well... at least wait for a few more years and wait for us to have more time during this period. Let’s talk about this after making some results.”

Gu Bojun actually led the mission to test the tone of the two people. Seeing Qin Ke's serious attitude, Ning Qingyun also nodded solemnly and replied: "Okay, I will feedback your opinions to the boss. This is based on your opinion For the grand prize to be named, your wishes are very important.”

"Thank you, Uncle Gu." "By the way, let's talk about research." Gu Bojun glanced at Wei Feng and hesitated.

Qin Ke made a gesture to show that he was a trustworthy person and could talk about anything. Gu Bojun continued: "The higher-ups asked our School of Physics at Qingmu University to cooperate with you in research on nuclear engineering and nuclear technology. What's going on? Because the communication was over the phone, I didn’t elaborate on the reason. I just asked me to communicate with you directly to understand your needs and provide assistance..."

Gu Bojun even speculated whether the country planned for Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun to join the research on a nuclear test project that required high confidentiality.

Qin Ke understood this as soon as he heard about it. He whispered: "Actually, this matter is not a confidential matter. It's just that it's not a secret yet, so it's not easy to make it public. Hasn't a certain country recently discharged nuclear wastewater on its own terms? It's just right. Qingjun and I have a seawater desalination and purification technology research center in Yuanzhou, and the country wants us to try to see if there is any way to solve the harm caused by nuclear sewage to our coast in the most economical and simple way."

Gu Bojun suddenly realized: "So that's it. I heard that the country has set up several research groups to study countermeasures. I didn't expect that it would come to you."

In fact, the situation is still a bit different from what Qin Ke said.

Last time Qin Ke and Uncle Yang went to visit some kind old men. The old men mentioned these things at that time, mainly to ask Qin Ke's opinion.

Qin Ke has not yet finished absorbing the master-level physics knowledge. He is best at fluid mechanics and particle physics, quantum physics, and condensed matter physics (mainly studying relatively traditional research directions such as superconductors, magnetic materials, and semiconductors, but also including topological physics, interfaces, etc.) Superconductivity, quantum anomalous Hall effect and other emerging frontier research directions), etc., I have not done in-depth research on nuclear physics, so I am not very good at it.

But Qin Ke took up this task without hesitation. Unlike the desalination and purification of inland saltwater lakes, if the harm caused by nuclear sewage is not solved, there is no way to desalinize and purify seawater into fresh water that can be used in daily life. resources, let alone truly resolve the freshwater crisis.

It can be said that a certain country's irresponsible behavior has added a lot of trouble and obstacles to Qin Ke's solution to the fresh water crisis.

But Qin Ke also realized that this would be an excellent opportunity. Nuclear sewage endangers the whole world. As long as he can overcome this problem before other countries in the world, Qin Ke wants to promote his seawater desalination and purification technology solution to the whole world. It is much easier, and it is estimated that coastal countries will be happy to adopt his technical solution.

Resolving the fresh water crisis in one fell swoop will not only save humankind's vitality, but also avoid wars caused by the shortage of fresh water resources. It will accomplish multiple things with one stone.

It is also a great thing for Qing Ning Technology. Even if Qin Ke will try his best to reduce the patent licensing fee for professional solutions or donate related patented technologies for nuclear sewage treatment to the country, the global market is too large. , Green Lemon Technology will still benefit from this, and the market value is estimated to easily exceed [-] billion.

Qin Ke couldn't explain these details to Gu Bojun in detail, so he said: "Well. Now that Qingyun and I have been found, I can only go all out. Because I am not particularly good at nuclear physics, and the Yuanzhou Research Center is also There is no relevant experimental equipment, so the superiors want me to cooperate with Qingmu and Yanda, and borrow the research power of the two major universities to solve this problem. I also heard that there are more than a dozen academician research teams in China that have also received the same task. It’s just that My project is specifically undertaken in the name of Qing Ning Technology, and the relevant results will also be patented by Qing Ning Technology. Therefore, for the use of Qingmu University’s experimental equipment and the professors’ co-operation fees, we will pay the market price. "

Qing Ning Technology can apply for 2000 billion scientific research support funds from the state, and it is free of charge. In this way, research projects that are of great benefit to the country and the people are very suitable for applying for funds.

Gu Bojun waved his hand: "There is no need to mention money. You two are the chief scientists of our school. How can there be any reason to pay for using only experimental equipment and materials? As for the professors' extra salary, I will take care of it here. You don’t have to worry about these things anymore. The only thing I’m worried about now is that this nuclear contamination research has a certain risk of nuclear radiation, and Xiao Ning is pregnant with a baby..."

Qin Ke felt warm in his heart. Gu Bojun really cared about the two of them: "Uncle Gu, don't worry, Qingjun and I will not get close to any experimental equipment. This is also the red line drawn by Uncle Yang and the others. We are mainly responsible for theoretical analysis and experimental plans. Formulate, so we need to find partners.”

Gu Bojun breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good. However, do you two have too much work at the moment? Especially Xiao Ning can't be too tired..."

Gu Bojun was really afraid that Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun would be in bad health if they tried too hard. After all, as far as he knew, Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun were responsible for several projects, all of which were big projects, especially the national disaster prevention and response project they had recently taken on. As a general technical consultant, it is a large national project, with a heavy responsibility and a large workload.

Qin Ke smiled and said: "It's okay. In fact, Qingjun and I don't have a heavy workload. Most scientific research projects now don't require us to do experiments and data analysis in person. We only need to review the experimental plans and see the experiments." As a result, just point out a research direction. Look, I haven't missed my usual basketball game, and we even have free time to work on the topic of 'Theoretical Unification of Strong Interaction Force and Electromagnetic Force' with Professor Witten."

Qin Ke paused and continued: "But I really don't have much energy left in educating students. Currently, Qingyun devotes more energy to the guidance of master's and doctoral students. So we have discussed it, and what will happen next? We will not recruit new students for two years until this group of master’s and doctoral students graduate.”

Qin Ke now has a lot of scientific research projects at his disposal, so his lectures for undergraduates in Qiuzhen College, School of Mathematics, and School of Physics have been reduced to one session per week, and his lectures at Yanda University next door have also been reduced to once a month at most. .

"No problem. As I said before, you have complete freedom in recruiting students. You are just afraid that the students who are looking forward to your graduate studies will be disappointed."

“Recently, our school has gained many excellent professors, and students will have more choices.”

While they were chatting, Qin Ke's cell phone suddenly rang. Qin Ke took out his cell phone and unexpectedly found that it was Qin Xiaoke calling.

Qin Xiaoke has an important class today, so he can't take time off to accompany Ning Qingyun for a pregnancy test. It's past ten in the morning, so he should still be in class, right?
Qin Ke answered the phone: "Little sister, what's the matter?"

Qin Xiaoke's crying voice came from the other end of the phone: "Brother..."

Qin Ke suddenly straightened his back and asked, "What's wrong?"

"You...can you come to our school? Wuwu...I don't know what to do..."

Qin Ke rarely hears Qin Xiaoke crying so helplessly. Over the years, Qin Xiaoke has grown up slowly and gotten closer to Ning Qingyun. Qin Ke's concern for her has naturally decreased, but It definitely doesn't mean that Qin Ke doesn't care about his sister.

He doesn't have many relatives in the world. His closest relatives are Ning Qingyun, his father, mother, sister and grandfather. These are the important relatives he cares about most.

Qin Ke said without hesitation: "Okay, I'll be here right away. You wait for me at school!"

He turned to Ning Qingyun, who looked over worriedly, and said, "Jun'er, I'm going to Xiaoke's school. It seems there's something urgent. I won't come forward to take care of Professor Uhlenbeck."