By Rui Hu, iChongqing News

August 24th, 2019 marks a historic day for Chongqing’s scientific community.

19 Nobel laureates, Turing Award winners and Fields Medal winners together with 7 academicians from Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering arrived in Chongqing

19 Nobel laureates, Turing Award winners and Fields Medal winners together with seven academicians from Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering arrived in Chongqing at 2 pm on August 24, 2019. The "super brains" in the fields of scientific research including chemistry, physics, medicine, mathematics, and computer science assembled at Wudu Hotel.
They came to Chongqing to attend Chongqing Global Scientist Summit 2019 themed "Share Knowledge with the World, Shape the Future with Science."
The summit is an important part of Smart China Expo 2019. It is hosted by the Chongqing Municipal People's Government, organized by the Chongqing Science and Technology Bureau and the Chongqing Liangjiang New Area Administration Committee, and co-organized by the Office of Research Management of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
It's the first time that the world's top scientists come to Chongqing for such a large scale academic exchange. There will be a face-to-face dialogue between 300 experts and scholars from Chinese and overseas universities and institutes and those "super brains".
The two-day summit is made up of a themed forum and two parallel sessions including cutting-edge chemistry and pharmacy industry forum and artificial intelligence and digital industry forum.
At the forum, Kurt Wüthrich, the Nobel chemistry laureate in 2002, delivered a speech titled Challenges and Opportunities in Scientific Research of the 21stCentur. Bailey Whitfield Diffie, a winner of the Turing Award in 2015, made a speech titled The Future of Cryptography. Lin Guoqiang, academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences gave a speech titled Chiral Chemistry and the Integration of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine. David Gross, Nobel physics laureate in 2004, gave a speech titled The Future of Physics.  

2015 Turing Award winner: Whitfield Diffie

Then, there was a discussion on the topic, “science in the future - the direction of the scientific research field in the future,” by 4 Nobel laureates and Turing Award winners. During the tea break, iChongqing has interviewed some of the scientists.

David Gross - Nobel physics laureate in 2004, President of American Physical Society

David Gross - Nobel physics laureate in 2004

When asked for advice on Chongqing's technology development, Dr. Gross focused on the talent training and young generation: "I think Chongqing should start from basic science education, especially science and technology education, innovation industry education must start from kindergarten, and continue to high school and university." Dr. Gross suggested that Chongqing should give young scientists more opportunities, and don't shackle their ability to innovate. Instead of limiting the needs of the consumer market, let them follow their ideas, and generate creations to drive the development of the smart manufacturing industry.

Kurt Wüthrich, Nobel chemistry laureate in 2002, Foreign Academician of National Academy of Sciences

Kurt Wüthrich, Nobel chemistry laureate in 2002

Dr. Wüthrich has a close relationship with China. In 2013, he was a Distinguished Professor at the Shanghai University of Science and Technology and founded the school's first nuclear magnetic resonance laboratory. Last year, he obtained a permanent resident ID card issued by the Chinese government. "China's research environment is getting better and better," he said, "and I really like working here with my colleagues and students."

Caucher Birkar, 2018 Fields Medal

As a university professor, Dr. Birkar is very concerned about the cultivation of talent. He suggested that in the future, Smart China Expo should invite more college students to participate in expert forums. "Maybe they can't fully understand the opinions of experts, but it doesn't matter. Please encourage them to pursue research in related fields. It can motivate them to engage in future research."