Late on December 17th.
Professor Frank Wilczek was at Shanghai International Airport.
Tomorrow was the day of the conference. In order not to miss this event, he deliberately arrived here a day earlier.
He had already lost count of the number of people he had met on the way to the airport.
Some of them were people he knew, some were people he didn't know, and some were people he hadn't talked to for many years.
The physics community was a very large circle, so large that even a Nobel Prize -level scholar would have a hard time understanding how large the entire community was.
Other than those who were familiar with each other, if it wasn't for the fact that they had a similar research direction, it would be difficult to see each other again, even if they exchanged business cards at a report.
After all, not everyone was like Witten, who treated CERN like a second home. Many people might go there once or twice because of work or academic needs, but if there was no reason to go, some people might never go there again in their lifetime.
Coincidentally.
Just as he struggled to squeeze out of the crowd and looked around at the road signs above his head, he saw another acquaintance he hadn't seen for a year.
"Witten? What a coincidence, you're here too? " Looking at the old man with a kind smile on his face, Frank Wilczek had a surprised expression on his face.
"According to statistical probability, today should be the 'peak'. After all, there are only a few flights from North America a day." Witten looked around and said emotionally, "Jesus … There are so many people here."
Wilczek said in a complaining tone, "Yeah … I remember there weren't this many last time, at least not as many as now. Damn it, are they all here for a conference? "
"There are a lot of people living here … Speaking of which, where is your hotel?"
"It's near the International Convention and Exhibition Center, less than two hundred meters from the main entrance."
Witten's eyes lit up.
"That's a coincidence, I guess you and I booked the same hotel, let's hitch a ride."
…
At the same time, on the distant Moon, a prism-shaped landing module was slowly dropped from the Moon Palace orbital space station. It followed the calculated trajectory and slowly landed on the silvery-white lunar soil.
Yan Xinjue unlocked the nylon lock and the life support system. He took a deep breath of the oxygen provided by the spacesuit and took his first step out of the cabin.
Just a year ago, he was doing physics research with Academician Lu. He never thought that one day he would be able to set foot on the Moon. He never thought that this opportunity would be given to him by his junior.
He was probably the first physicist to receive formal astronaut training and set foot on the Moon.
In the distance, a silver-white lunar rover slowly moved toward them.
An astronaut wearing the insignia of the Lunar Orbit Committee stepped down from the lunar rover, and the kangaroo hopped over to him. At the same time, that person's voice came from the communication channel.
"Welcome, friends from Earth! Although I want to give you a hug, I'm afraid it will send you flying … Put this on first. "
Yan Xinjue looked at the staff walking toward him and took the rope from his hand.
"What is this?"
"Safety rope. The gravity environment here is very low. In order to avoid accidents, we wear it when we go out of the cabin … You should have received training, right?"
"Maybe there's no part about extravehicular activities in my work schedule."
"I see." The person smiled heartily and patted Lu Zhou on the shoulder. He said, "Let's go, I'll show you what we did on the Moon. You will be surprised!"
Yan Xinjue smiled and didn't speak.
In fact, from the Jinling launch site to the Moon Palace, he was already surprised enough.
He really couldn't imagine how he could be surprised after experiencing all of this.
…
December 17th.
This was not a special day, but it was destined to be an extraordinary day for the city of Shanghai.
In just one day, almost 99% of the world's first, second, and third-tier physicists, as well as practitioners in related fields, gathered in Shanghai.
Not everyone was qualified to sit in the conference hall and participate in the conference, but almost everyone who was able to get an entry pass to the convention center had found a way to get one.
December 18th.
Which was the day of the conference.
The conference hall of the convention center was packed with people. As far as the eye could see, it was a dense mass of people.
After the opening speech by the chairman of the conference organizing committee, Lu Zhou, who was also the chairman of the ILHCRC and the chief consultant of the Lunar Orbit Committee, walked steadily on stage and reached out to hold the microphone.
There was no need for anyone to maintain order.
There was no need for anyone to remind the people in the room to remain quiet.
The second his right hand touched the microphone, the entire venue suddenly became quiet. It was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.
In fact, it wasn't just the participants in the number one conference hall who became quiet.
There were also people standing in the lobby of the exhibition center looking up at the big screen. There were even people who couldn't make it here and could only watch the live broadcast of the ILHCRC website.
Everyone was waiting for him to speak.
Waiting for him to announce that physics was about to enter the future era!
"Welcome to China, welcome to Shanghai. Thank you all for coming here from afar to participate in this grand event organized by the ILHCRC."
Lu Zhou looked around at the lively venue and took two seconds to organize his words. He then spoke.
"Ever since we entered the millennium, the contradiction between experimental physics and theoretical physics has grown day by day. The progress of our theoretical level has far exceeded the scope of experimental testing.
"I have always believed that experiments are the only criterion for testing the truth. Theories without experiments are like mirages. No matter how beautiful the building is, we can only look at it from afar.
"But now, there is a new turning point.
"Thanks to the progress of aerospace technology, our spacecraft have gradually covered the orbit of the Moon, and we can easily send construction equipment there.
"The low-gravity and relatively vacuum environment of the Moon also allows us to build a larger and more spectacular collider facility on the Moon.
"Ever since the project was established, the construction period of the Lunar Hadron Collider has been the focus of attention from all parties. We have high hopes for it, hoping that it can test our standard model, hoping that it can discover new physics …
"Now, this day has finally arrived."
The atmosphere in the venue was pushed to its peak. Lu Zhou's voice gradually became louder and louder.
"On this special day, on behalf of the Lunar Orbit Committee and the ILHCRC board of directors, I would like to announce to the world …
"The Lunar Hadron Collider …
"From today onwards …
"It is officially completed!"
The moment he finished speaking, the applause was like a torrential downpour, filling the entire venue.
The thunderous applause was like a huge wave; it almost overturned the ceiling of the entire exhibition center.
The gray-haired Academician Lu was sitting in the audience. His face was full of excitement, and the veins on his hands were bulging as if he was using all of his strength.
In his eyes, he didn't just see the completion of the Lunar Hadron Collider.
He also saw that China's physics community was gradually standing on the top of the world.
From now on, the ILHCRC would replace CERN as the center of the new era of physics. They would give orders to the world's physics community, and physicists from all over the world would serve China's research. They would no longer be doing marginal work and contributing to the Western physics building.
A new building was rising from the ground, standing in the corner of the East.
Perhaps the discipline of physics was selfless, and perhaps all of mankind would benefit from this research equally. However, as a Chinese scholar, who didn't want this glory to belong to their own people?
He had been waiting for this day for a long time …
Bathed in the applause, Lu Zhou smiled. He raised his hands and quietly waited for the applause to gradually subside.
Facing the quiet venue, he took a deep breath and continued.
"The first test run of the collider will begin in five minutes.
"Now, let us witness this glorious moment together!"
On the big screen, the scene changed. It crossed a distance of 360,000 kilometers and arrived at a gray land.
Located in the corner of the crater, a silver-white building stood there, almost integrated into the mountain.
That was the lunar research base.
It was also the place where the collider was activated …
Lamp pen
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