A 17-year-old contestant won the youngest perfect score gold medal in the 2023 Ali Global Mathematics Competition

Playing the piano, surfing, and giving talk shows, this generation of math teenagers is subverting people's perceptions. On the evening of September 16, the list of winners of the 2023 Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition (hereinafter referred to as the "Alibaba Mathematics Competition") was officially released. Qu Xiaoyu, Li Yixiao, Hao Tianze, and Zhang Shengtong won the gold medal. Their average age is only 22 years old and they have extraordinary talents. I love mathematics and love life even more. The Ali Mathematics Competition has been held for five consecutive years and is becoming a shining stage for discovering new stars in mathematics, with more than ten new generation mathematicians emerging.

Qu Xiaoyu is the youngest perfect gold medal winner in the history of Ali Mathematics Competition. He is only 17 years old and is currently a sophomore at Peking University. But this Chongqing boy admits that he is not a genius: "I am not very good at mathematics. The more I learn mathematics, the more I feel that I don't understand too much and I am very insignificant." Mathematics and piano are Qu Xiaoyu's favorite things. In his opinion, mathematics is wonderful. He is an art, and the piano is his passion. Playing the piano for 30-40 minutes every day is his happiest time. Qu Xiaoyu's piano skills have reached amateur performance level, and his favorite pianist is Bach.

Qu Xiaoyu came to the stage to receive the award

Gold medalist Zhang Shengtong, a doctoral student at Stanford University, also became famous at a young age. During this period, he solved a problem that has troubled the mathematics community for 70 years. The paper was published in the top journal "Annals of Mathematics". This is his fifth time participating in the competition. He has won silver medals four times in a row before. This year he finally won the gold medal, making his dream come true. Another gold medalist, Hao Tianze, is currently a doctoral student in mathematics at Peking University. He has the outgoing personality of a Northeasterner and the introverted mathematician. He hides his identity as a joker and gave a talk show at the awards ceremony.

On that day, the awards ceremony welcomed a special contestant. Lou Yingen, a 20-year-old Chinese teenager with ALS, won the Excellence Award. Although his body is trapped in a wheelchair, his will and mind are far beyond ordinary people. He has a strong interest in all kinds of things. He likes to watch Federer play tennis, listen to Wang Feng's songs, and recently successfully completed his first surfing trip in his life. Lou Yingen is currently studying physics and mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying under the famous theoretical physicist Alan Guth, the founder of the universe expansion model. Alan Guth once collaborated with Hawking. He believes that Lou Yingen and Hawking are very similar. They both have outstanding talents and maintain an amazing enthusiasm and optimism about life and scientific research

Lou Yingen's The speeches received warm applause. Although I have never taken a step on this planet, I can fly freely in the rich and magnificent universe of mathematics. If I can understand the language of the universe, why should I worry about the limitations of my body?

Lou Yingen spoke at the award ceremony

It is a tradition in the mathematics community that young geniuses emerge in large numbers , and the young people who emerged in the Ali Mathematics Competition broke the stereotype of being boring and depressed, and showed a rich and diverse new atmosphere of the times. Mathematics is their A-side, and they also have hobbies such as piano, talk show, surfing, two-dimensional, ancient style, etc. It's their B-side. The Ali Mathematics Competition has also accompanied the growth of these teenagers, witnessing their talent and enthusiasm to promote the development of mathematics. Since the Ali Mathematics Competition was held for five years, a large number of new generation mathematicians have emerged, who have made great achievements on the road of research. With recognized academic contributions, more than ten people have obtained teaching positions in first-class universities around the world and are engaged in professional research. "A generation of mathematicians has a mission, and I look forward to your rising talents." said Tian Gang, chairman of the Chinese Mathematical Society and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The new generation of algebraic mathematicians who came out of the Ali Mathematics Competition

Su Weijie, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is the first Silver Medal winner, currently engaged in cross-research in mathematics and computers, making important contributions in the field of machine learning, and has won awards such as the Sloan Research Award. "There is a feeling of an old boy dreaming back to his youth." Su Weijie has been participating in this competition for several years, first as a contestant, and then as a teacher of the proposition group. He turned cutting-edge topics in the industry such as deep learning and large language models into test questions, hoping that the competition It not only reflects the interest of mathematics, but also reflects the connection with the real world.

Xia Mingtao, a new assistant professor at the Courant Institute of Mathematics at New York University, has experienced a transformation from a contestant to a public question maker. He is also the UP master of Station B. In May of this year, he broadcast his doctoral defense live on Station B, hoping to use more popular language to inspire everyone's enthusiasm for mathematics. "The Ali Mathematics Competition has been throughout my doctoral career and has given me a lot of inspiration, including promoting mathematics through the Internet."

Zhang Jianfeng, Dean of Alibaba Damo Academy, said that we award awards to contestants who have achieved outstanding results, and at the same time I also pay tribute to everyone who loves mathematics. You have shown the infinite charm and potential of mathematics. He emphasized that mathematics is the foundation of science, and its value is not limited to the present, but also relates to the future. Sun Lijun, chairman of the Alibaba Charity Foundation, expressed the hope that the Alibaba Mathematics Competition, a public welfare event, can inspire everyone's enthusiasm for mathematics and basic scientific research, and encourage more people to devote themselves to and love scientific research. It is understood that Alibaba has been increasing investment in scientific research in recent years, and has promoted core technology breakthroughs and progress in basic scientific research through scientific and technological public welfare, patent opening, and scientific research cooperation.

The Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition does not require registration Known for its high threshold and interesting questions, it has attracted more than 250,000 participants from more than 70 countries and regions around the world. It has become the world's largest online mathematics competition and the whole society's enthusiasm for mathematics is being ignited.

Attachment: List of winners

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