The morning of August the third.
The skies above St. Petersburg were clear as day.
The Corinthia Hotel was full of people.
Even though the conference hall was spacious, due to the sheer amount of attendees, two security checkpoints were set up at the entrance.
The chairman of the International Mathematical Union, Professor Shigefumi Mori, as well as Professor Viana, chairman of the organizing committee, stood on stage and delivered an opening speech. They were welcoming the scholars coming from all over the world and thanked the city of St. Petersburg for supporting the conference.
After that was the most eagerly anticipated stage, the award ceremony.
This was the highlight of the entire conference, and most people came just for the award ceremony.
The four award categories were considered one of the top honors of mathematics. Rumor went that obtaining any one of them would allow the scholar to follow the road of mathematics for the rest of their life.
