Super God-Level Top Student
Chapter 937 - 355 Nobel Physics Prize Announcement Day

Sure enough, getting older really messes with your ability to understand things.

Qiao Ze looked at the dazed expression on Xu Dajiang's face and thought about all the privileges this dean had given him when he first joined Xilin University of Technology. He decided to say a little more.

"What I mean is that updating the school's disciplines is more important than whether I can win a Nobel Prize. Since some of the achievements I've already made have been validated by the mainstream academic community, whether or not I win the Nobel isn't that important anymore. Besides, because of the existence of the Qiaoze Natural Science Award, I actually hope they do not give that award to me.

On the contrary, even if they really give me the award, it doesn't matter whether I go to accept it. If you need me to use the title for any promotion, you can use it anyway. So, the result isn't important for me or for the school.

But updating the school's specialties is crucial for Xilin University of Technology. A forward-looking university should look ahead, not stubbornly cling to outdated fields for students to study."

Xu Dajiang felt Qiao Ze's words made a lot of sense. He had been overly fixated.

After all, Huaxia has, up to now, never produced anyone who won Nobel Prizes in physics or chemistry without studying abroad.

So, if Qiao Ze really could win the Nobel Prize in Physics, then the Xilin University of Technology School of Mathematics could theoretically claim to be the first in Huaxia's history to cultivate a Nobel laureate purely with its own resources.

Although such a promotional angle might be slightly shameless, from Xu Dajiang's perspective, there was nothing wrong with it.

After all, being able to recruit someone like Qiao Ze to Xilin University of Technology itself already demonstrated a certain level of strength.

Back then, the school had snatched Qiao Ze away from Jiang University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, and other top universities in the central region. To keep Qiao Ze on campus and prevent him from being poached by unscrupulous schools in the Capital, Xu Dajiang had put in a considerable amount of effort as well.

Therefore, Xu Dajiang truly believed this honor for the School of Mathematics was well-deserved.

Even stepping back ten thousand steps, the two preliminary papers resolving the Yang-Mills conjecture and the mass gap problem were also funded as projects by the School of Mathematics.

Considering all this, even if Qiao Ze preferred for the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences not to give him the award, Xu Dajiang still hoped that the physicists on the other side had a bit more backbone.

The Qiao Ze Science Award would still need a few more years to gradually accumulate influence within the academic world to replace world-class awards like the Nobel, the Fields Medal, and the Turing Award. But until then, Xu Dajiang thought it didn't hurt for Qiao Ze to sweep through those international awards first.

In a certain sense, Xu Dajiang and Roth Dugan saw these awards in a similar way. The difference was that Xu Dajiang placed his hopes on Qiao Ze, while Roth Dugan envied Edward Witten's stroke of luck.

Two individuals with high aspirations: one barely twenty years old, filled with infinite potential; the other already seventy-three, carrying a vast reservoir of knowledge but unlikely to accomplish groundbreaking achievements at that age. However, the older one could still be an excellent choice for academic and research support roles.

At the thought that Edward Witten was also coming to Xilin soon, Xu Dajiang suddenly had a more fanciful idea as he left Qiao Ze's office.

If this time Qiao Ze and Old Witten could win the Nobel Prize together, that would be perfect.

In that case, it would mean that Xilin School of Mathematics had two Nobel laureates and one Fields Medalist as long-term contributors. And in another two years, it might even have two Fields Medalists. It wasn't that Xu Dajiang placed blind faith in these awards; it was just that while the mainstream academic community still recognized their authority, nothing served better than these honors to embellish the school's reputation.

People are always greedy.

But Qiao Ze's words made Xu Dajiang feel a bit less anticipation about the Nobel announcement. Whatever happens, happens; it's not like he could do anything about it anyway.

...

October 5th.

The fifth day of the National Day holiday. In dorm room 402, it was already evening, but Zhang Zhou and Gu Zhengliang were still poring over their assignments.

Compared to the pace of study in the foundational class, the Qiao Class was undoubtedly more intense.

It wasn't even a matter of workload—actually, the workload was about the same. The real issue was the increase in difficulty.

Math assignments often have a peculiar trait: whether there's a lot or a little, those who know how to solve them can finish quickly. Those who struggle will be stuck grinding away.

If every single question needed to be explained, it naturally slowed the pace of completing the tasks.

This was precisely why the two of them stuck together—if it was just one person, they probably would've given up by now.

After all, there was a jerk in their dorm, who'd dashed off to enjoy the break as soon as it started and still hadn't come back.

Compared to Chen Yiwen, these two really had a hard time of it lately.

Finally, after scribbling furiously for a while, Zhang Zhou suddenly put down his pen, stood up to stretch, rubbed his wrist, and then turned to Gu Zhengliang, who was still deep in thought over his papers. "Hungry? Let's go eat something first?"

Gu Zhengliang turned to glance at Zhang Zhou and asked, "How many questions do you have left?"

"Just the last two big ones. Not too clear on them. Let's eat first, then I'll ask Xiao Zhu for help this afternoon," Zhang Zhou replied.

"Oh, we're about the same then—stuck on the last two big ones." With that, Gu Zhengliang put down his pen as well and picked up his phone from the side.

To avoid distractions during study, they had both set their phones to silent and left them nearby. That way, even if a call came in, it wouldn't ring but would just flash incessantly, which they could catch in the corner of their eyes.

"Wow, look at the breaking news! Local time in Sweden, October 5th, 11:45 AM, the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics was announced. Huaxia mathematician Qiao Ze, Huaxia physicist Yang Xuanqing, and American mathematical physicist Edward Witten were jointly awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Physics..."