The 2025 International Congress of Basic Science (ICBS 2025) opened on July 13 at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, drawing over a thousand scholars from China and abroad – including four Fields Medalists, three Nobel laureates, and two Turing Award winners.Initiated in 2023 by renowned mathematician and Congress Chairman Shing-Tung Yau, this top academic event in basic science is held under the theme "Focusing on Basic Science, Leading the Future of Humanity," launching a two-week journey of scientific exploration.The most eye-catching part of the opening ceremony was the presentation of the Basic Science Lifetime Achievement Award.
Established in 2023 as China's first international award in the field of basic science, it aims to honor scientists who have made revolutionary contributions in the fields of mathematics, physics, information science and engineering. This year's honors went to six international giants: Nobel laureates Samuel Chao Chung Ting, Steven Chu, and David Jonathan Gross; Turing Award winner Robert Endre Tarjan; Fields Medalist Shigefumi Mori; and Wolf Prize winner George Lusztig. When the 89-year-old academician Samuel Chao Chung Ting received the award, the audience burst into prolonged applause.
The doyen of experimental physics emphasized in his speech that "experiments are fundamental to the progress of knowledge" and reviewed five landmark discoveries over more than half a century – from confirming that electrons have no measurable size to leading cosmic ray experiments on the International Space Station. His rigorous scientific spirit left a deep impression on everyone present.
When Song Songlin, a student from Xi'an Gaoxin No.1 High School, presented him with a hand-painted portrait, it became a touching moment where the rationality of science met the passion of youth.At the subsequent media meeting, the award-winning scientists shared their research insights and feelings about attending the conference.
Professor Shigefumi Mori, who won the award in the mathematics field and was visiting China for the first time, spoke highly of the rapid development of mathematics in China.
He elaborated on his groundbreaking work of extending the minimal model theory from algebraic surfaces to three dimensions, which opened up a new path for high-dimensional algebraic geometry.
George Lusztig, also a mathematics award winner, recalled the rice fields in Tsinghua University when he first visited China in 1987 and expressed his astonishment at the tremendous changes in the country over more than 30 years.
He emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary thinking – it was his background in topology that helped him achieve pioneering achievements in the field of representation theory.
The concept of canonical bases for quantum groups he proposed still has a far-reaching impact.David Gross, the winner in the physics field, mentioned that the concept of "asymptotic freedom" discovered with collaborators in 1973 laid the foundation for quantum chromodynamics, and the current exploration of particle physics beyond the Standard Model is ushering in a new period of breakthroughs.
Experimental physicist Samuel Chao Chung Ting revealed that the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer project on the International Space Station led by him has made new discoveries inconsistent with existing theories, suggesting that cosmic ray research may require a new theoretical framework, which triggered a heated discussion at the scene.The two winners in the field of information science and engineering also shone brightly.
Professor Steven Chu not only won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his laser cooling atomic technology but also put forward innovative concepts such as "glucose economy" in the field of energy science.
He called for strengthening international cooperation in clean energy at the meeting.
Turing Award winner Robert Endre Tarjan shared the joy of researching graph theory algorithms.
The strongly connected components algorithm and Fibonacci heap data structure he developed are still basic tools in computer science.The Congress also presented the Frontiers of Science Award to recognize outstanding achievements in the past decade.
This year, a total of 118 outstanding papers were selected, covering 40 research directions in mathematics, physics, information science and engineering.
Scholars from 13 domestic institutions including Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences won 17 awards.
Global AI giants OpenAI and the FAIR team under Meta were also on the list, demonstrating the deep integration of basic research and technological innovation.In his speech, Chairman Shing-Tung Yau pointed out that in recent years, there have been frequent good news in the field of basic science – breakthroughs in the 3D Kakeya conjecture, new progress in Hilbert's sixth problem, and AI making remarkable achievements in the field of mathematical reasoning.
These achievements have ushered in "an era driven by both theoretical breakthroughs and technological innovation." He emphasized that the mission of ICBS is to build an open and inclusive platform to promote collaboration among global scientists to address common human challenges such as the origin of the universe, quantum gravity, and AI ethics.In the next two weeks, Huairou Science City will become a hotbed of scientific exchanges.
More than 500 academic conferences will be held around new progress in algebraic topology in mathematics, the frontier of quantum field theory in physics, generative AI in information science, etc.
Special activities such as "Mathematics Night" and "Physics Night" will promote interdisciplinary exchanges, while projects such as "Face-to-Face with Scientists" and "Tsinghua Day" will provide valuable opportunities for young scholars to learn from masters. As Shing-Tung Yau said, every breakthrough in basic science is the wealth of all mankind.
This summer scientific feast is nurturing the seeds of ideas that will change the future.