Super God-Level Top Student
Chapter 932 - 353: Harvest Season?

It's not possible to become the scientific titan that bridges past and future eras, but having such a titan earnestly plead for your assistance is itself a rather enjoyable experience. To Roth Dugan's surprise, Edward Witten actually indulged him in this childish bit of dark humor.

"If you insist, well, Mr. Dugan, I humbly ask for your help in handling a few matters after I depart."

This instantly made Roth Dugan lose interest, and he said, "Actually, I was just joking."

"I know, but what we're about to discuss next is no joke."

What followed was a serious conversation.

For a titan like Edward Witten to seek new ground to realize his life's value, a lot of matters naturally needed to be settled beforehand. In this regard, there was tacit understanding between the two of them. After all, in the current climate, this decision couldn't be disclosed publicly, nor could it be known by too many people.

In other words, all the arrangements after his departure would need to be handled by Roth Dugan.

However, for a meticulous mathematical physicist, once such an idea took root, he had already carefully thought through everything in his mind.

And so, after half an hour of conversation, Edward Witten laid out all the arrangements clearly. All Roth Dugan had to do was methodically execute them to completion.

The people and matters involved didn't surpass Roth Dugan's qualifications and would not pose much difficulty. The primary burden still rested on Edward Witten's shoulders.

After the serious matters had been addressed, Roth Dugan asked, "Alright, so what reason will you give for staying in Huaxia?"

"After the academic conference, Xilin will invite me to collaborate on a research project. From there, I'll head to Xilin, accept their offer, and then apply for long-term residence. But those are just minor details—I believe Qiao Ze will arrange everything just fine." Edward Witten said with a smile.

Roth Dugan also smiled. Well, he'd just said something foolish.

There's hardly any modern country that would refuse someone like Edward Witten, a towering figure in theoretical academia, let alone with the backing of someone as extraordinary as Qiao Ze.

The Dean of the School of Mathematics quickly shifted the topic, saying, "By the way, the Nobel Prize is about to be announced this year. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences must be in quite a dilemma."

"Hmm. But who do you think is to blame for that?" Edward Witten stroked his chin, speaking with a profound undertone.

"Uh?" Roth Dugan froze for a moment, not knowing what else to say.

Truthfully, just like Edward Witten, he didn't enjoy discussing political matters.

Even though people in their academy and research institute often gossiped and berated the controversies surrounding the "1900 Bill," both of them rarely participated in such conversations. Highly intelligent individuals tend to focus on the essence of things and never blindly believe in empty promises.

The fundamental rule of human society is that economic foundations determine the superstructure, and material dictates consciousness.

For a colossal entity burdened with tens of trillions of debt and countless parasites leeching off it, it makes little difference who sits in the leading position—they're all just dancing in chains.

The most terrifying part is that no matter who lives in that building, their first priority is always to feed those parasites.

At the same time, to secure those ballots, they also have to provide sufficient welfare programs.

This, whether in mathematics or physics, is a paradox—material cannot be created or vanish out of thin air.

And yet, no one dares to cry out: let two generations of people endure more hardship, work harder, ask for less, and pay off the debts to start fresh again...

Of course, even if such cries were made, they would most likely go unanswered. Why should the billionaires atop the Forbes list contribute their assets to clear debts, while ordinary people endure two generations of suffering?

Society has long moved past the era of erasing individuality to pursue homogeneity. Preaching collectivism and the spirit of sacrifice to a world full of individualistic people is nothing but a fool's errand, like playing music to a cow.

When it comes to the feud between Qiao Ze and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, it's ultimately just a failed experiment by Langley.

So, who is there to blame?

Their conversation ultimately ended with a long sigh.

"Sigh..."

...

For Roth Dugan, after discussing this issue, a sigh was enough to move on.

But for the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, this was a real and unavoidable dilemma they had to face.

Never in history had there been such a situation where the organizer of a world-class scientific award was simultaneously a strong competitor for another world-class scientific prize. Let alone the fact that the science award established by Qiao Ze had become a formidable rival to the Nobel Prize itself.

What troubled the review committee most was that Qiao Ze had already publicly announced that he would never accept any awards granted by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, including the Nobel Prize. Yet, they still had to seriously deliberate whether or not to award this year's Nobel Prize in Physics to him.

Even so, Qiao Ze remained the hottest candidate for this year's Physics Prize.

The physicists and research institutions eligible to make recommendations clearly didn't care what the review committee thought. Over seventy percent of the recommendation letters that the committee received were for Qiao Ze.

And you couldn't fault these scientists and institutions either.

After all, Qiao Ze's achievements in physics over the past year were absolutely brilliant.

He solved the Yang-Mills Equations and the mass gap problem, providing a mathematical foundation for Quantum Physics.

As a side note, his theories, which encompassed quantum theory, led to the first indirect evidence of the graviton's existence.

According to the Nobel selection rules, if these two achievements hadn't occurred within the same year, they would be enough to win two separate Physics Prizes. If anyone wrote someone else's name on their recommendation letter, and Qiao Ze didn't ultimately win the prize, the previous Nobel Physics laureates still alive would feel they'd lost face.