Orion Crest, Series_1

Chapter 90: Where's My Trophy?

　　Upon arriving at the hotel, Orion had just dropped off his suitcase, and before he had a chance to rest for a while, he was dragged by Wynston to the restaurant on the top floor of the hotel.

　　It was not yet dinner time, but it was just right for afternoon tea.

　　Many scholars had the habit of exchanging academic issues during afternoon tea, especially at academic conferences, and those who originally didn't drink afternoon tea would habitually come to the restaurant at this time.

　　The only drawback is that, although the organisers contracted accommodation and food after the registration fee was paid, coffee and afternoon tea pastries were not included in the accommodation and food.

　　Having just satisfied Cara and applied for an international patent, Orion was still a little short on cash.

　　This time in the US, he was waiting for the $100,000 prize money from the Cole Prize to subsidise his daily expenses.

　　In the restaurant on the top floor, Wynston took Orion to a table in the corner of the cafe.

　　At the corner table sat a slightly darker-skinned, shorter man, studying something on an open laptop.

　　Obviously acquainted with this one, Wynston walked over to greet him and introduced Orion with a smile, "By way of introduction, this is my colleague, George Williams!"

　　Seeing Orion, George's eyes lit up, smiled and stood up, took the initiative to extend his hand and said, "Nice to meet you, I've seen that presentation you gave at the Princeton Academic Conference, and even now when I think back, it still impresses me."

　　"Orion, it's nice to meet you too." Introducing himself briefly, Orion took his hand and shook it, smiling, "Do you study mathematical physics?"

　　George: "No, I studied economics."

　　"Economics? That's a promising subject ......" Orion gave this Mr George an unexpected look and continued, "But wasn't your tutor Professor Witten?"

　　Wynston smiled and said, "Mr Witten's field of study isn't just maths and physics, his undergraduate degree is in history, his master's degree is in economics, and last year he even taught a master's degree student in history, but he graduated this year and went to Stanford University."

　　Orion: " awesome ......"

　　An economist with a history background goes into physics instead, and then wins one of the highest honours in mathematics, the Fields Medal. And if string theory is proven centuries from now, he'll be the founder of the "future of physics"?

　　In comparison, Orion always felt that compared to himself, this guy was the one who had the most to gain.

　　George asked, "Will you be presenting on stage at this conference?"

　　Orion humbly said, "Not this time, I'm just here to be an audience member."

　　Wynston whistled, "And make an acceptance speech along the way."

　　"Ahem!"

　　Coughing, Orion threw him a reminder look.

　　George grinned, "Don't be nervous mate, we all know the award has to be yours, there's no suspense. You deserve the honour for the twin prime conjecture alone, not to mention problems of the level of the Polignac Conjecture. If the Federal Mathematical Society were to award this prize to someone else, I'm sure many people would be unconvinced."

　　Hearing this, Orion didn't know what expression to make other than a smile.

　　There was no doubt at all that he would win the award, and even the "laymen" who study economics thought that he would win the award.