Just turned over a new leaf and became a wise and intelligent student

Chapter 266 When the stars shine

Nassau Hall was once the federal capitol building and witnessed the history of American independence. Two bronze tigers stand in front of the door. The arched door made of thick bricks is open, and the red bricks have faded under the shade of the trees, revealing light brown spots.

As soon as Zhu Xiaohua and Xu Qingshan stepped into the hall, they attracted a lot of attention.

Xu Qingshan had a deep gaze. When someone raised a glass to him, he would nod politely in response.

But in fact
He didn't know any of them.

"Xu, nice to meet you."

Before Xu Qingshan could take the initiative to talk to anyone, a tall, middle-aged white man with gray hair pushed through the crowd, strode towards Xu Qingshan, and proactively extended his hand.

The reason for it being hair is that his beard completely surrounds his head. If he had grown a beard, he would have no problem playing Santa Claus.

"Hello."

Xu Qingshan didn't know what to call him, his eyes wandered, looking for any identification on this gentleman who looked very energetic.

"Charles Fefferman."

Charles has a warm smile and you wouldn't know he's 60 years old.

"We have communicated many times through emails. Please don't tell me that you don't remember me. It will make me very sad."

"of course not!"

Xu Qingshan tightly grasped the broad and wrinkled hand.

"I just didn't expect that Mr. Fefferman doesn't look like a man from the 50s at all. He looks like he could win another Fields Medal."

"To be exact, it should be the 40s, but it's at the tail end."

Charles' smile widened.

Mathematicians no longer care about their age after they turn 40, but anyone would be happy to be praised for looking young.

Zhu Xiaohua waited with a smile on his face. He did not rush forward to interrupt. The fact that his junior fellow apprentice was able to thrive so well was much smoother than he had imagined.

"Hey, Zhu, I missed you so much since we last met in Berkeley."

Other scholars who knew Zhu Xiaohua came forward and greeted him.

Originally, Zhu Xiaohua wanted to introduce his junior fellow apprentice to the big names he met at various conferences, but now it seems that there is no need at all.

Professor Charles Fefferman, a professor at Princeton and the host of this conference, is also a senior figure in the society and is responsible for the editing of the Annals of Mathematics.

In Princeton, Professor Fefferman's words still carry a lot of weight.

"Xu, come on, I'll take you to see Sir Deligne."

Professor Feferman enthusiastically took Xu Qingshan's arm and was about to take him to greet the bigwigs in the mathematics community.

"Sir?"

Xu Qingshan didn't quite understand.

"Yes, Vicomte Pierre Deligne."

"By the way, Xu, you can just call me Charles. We are friends, aren't we?"

"It's my pleasure."

Xu Qingshan answered subconsciously.

But in his head he had already remembered who Sir Deligne, whom Professor Fefferman had mentioned, was.

One of the world's top mathematicians, one of the most authoritative scholars in the fields of number theory and algebraic geometry, a disciple of the contemporary mathematics pope Grothendieck, the prover of the Weil conjecture, and the top scholar recognized as the closest to the Riemann hypothesis so far. His solution to the entire proof of the Weil conjecture proved the Riemann hypothesis on elliptic curves.

In addition, Pierre Deligne is currently regarded as the most likely person to become the first person to win the mathematics Grand Slam, that is, to win the four top awards in the field of mathematics: the Fields Medal, the Abel Prize, the Wolf Prize and the Crafoord Prize.

He is currently only one award away from winning the last Abel Prize, and in the opinion of industry insiders, the next Abel Prize will surely be in Deligne's pocket.

"Will Sir Deligne also attend this meeting?"

Xu Qingshan asked Charles curiously.

"Of course - Hello, yes, this is Xu - Sir Deligne rarely misses any mathematics conference held in Princeton, not to mention that you are the protagonist this time. I mean, the twin prime conjecture belongs to the field of number theory."

Charles smiled and greeted the scholars around him who raised their glasses to him, while answering Xu Qingshan's questions.

Not long after, Xu Qingshan was taken by Charles to a quieter corner. It was obvious that there were many older men here. Among them was an old man with sparse hair and almost bald head who was looking at him with bright eyes.

"Sir Deligne, this is Xu."

Charles picked up a cup of coffee from the side.

"I want to discuss some academic issues with Xu later. I don't want to get drunk. You know I'm not a person who likes to be in a crowd. This time you must provide me with a copy of Grothendieck's manuscript for my collection."

"Don't worry, Charles."

Deligne said with a smile.

"I won't give it to you."

"Oh, then you should at least treat me to a good meal."

Charles didn't appreciate it. He just said it and didn't really expect Deligne to give it to him.

"Of course, you can pick anything under $100."

"Come on, Pierre, you just received the Wolf Prize last year."

Watching the two old men bickering, Xu Qingshan first dealt with the greetings from a group of energetic-looking old men nearby.

Xu Qingshan did some homework before coming.

This small gathering in this small hall is clearly the existence of another circle, and Xu Qingshan, one of the protagonists of this meeting, has the opportunity to come and "audience" this circle.

to be frank.

Xu Qingshan himself didn't think there was anything wrong.

He didn't think that his current achievements could be compared with those old guys in front of him.

Although the Fields Medal is a sure thing for Xu Qingshan after this year, among this group of people, only one Fields Medal is awarded to each person.

Sir Cincon Bourgain is a Fields Medal winner, foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, as well as foreign member of the European, Polish and French academies. He has won a large number of awards and will receive the Crafoord Prize in the future and be knighted as a baron.

The gambling king, Enrique Bombieri, the Fields Medal winner, is particularly keen on gambling. He bets with everyone, especially Professor Nash, the prototype of "Good Will Hunting" who developed game theory, who is his favorite betting opponent.

He is the guardian knight of the Riemann hypothesis and is called "mathematical aristocrat" by his colleagues.

This elegant and romantic Italian mathematician owns a winery at home. When he was young, he drove a beautiful sports car to Europe for meetings. It is even rumored that he participated in six 6-hour rallies as a racing driver. Later, after teaching at Princeton, he stopped driving and started painting.

The gambling king's initial extreme interest in the Riemann hypothesis came from "the power of his father."

Bombieri's father was an economist. He promised the 15-year-old Bombieri that if he could solve the Riemann hypothesis, he would buy him a Ferrari.

The Riemann hypothesis is an unresolved historical problem, a milestone in analytic number theory, and the Mount Everest of prime number theory. Almost every few years, someone announces that they have proved it.

If we say that the Goldbach conjecture is a carnival in the amateur science community.

The Riemann hypothesis is simply a carnival in the academic world.

It is hard to imagine that a group of full-time mathematicians would be as enthusiastic as amateur scientists in announcing that they had solved and proved the Riemann hypothesis. It can be said that every time the Riemann hypothesis is proved, Bangbeli's heart will beat violently.

“Seeing our young men in mathematics so young and energetic, I feel like my body is warming up.”

The old Italian man looked at Xu Qingshan and smiled happily.

"It might even cost you the chance to get a Ferrari forever."

Lord Bu also joked happily.

The gambling king of Bang warmly and intimately put his arm around Xu Qingshan and asked with a smile.

"Xu, have you ever considered coming to Princeton? I mean, the Institute for Advanced Study."

While Charles was still arguing and negotiating terms with Deligne, the gambling king of Bang had already begun to win over Xu Qingshan.

Xu Qingshan knew what the gambling king was talking about.

In fact, everyone knows Princeton, but not many people know that Princeton is actually divided into two parts.

Princeton University is Princeton University, and the Institute for Advanced Study is the Institute for Advanced Study, abbreviated as IAS.

The two are actually independent in terms of their structures, but most of the researchers at the Institute for Advanced Study will hold teaching positions in Princeton, which is different from the School of Mathematics and the Institute of Mathematical Research at Peking University.

The former is a parallel relationship, and even IAS is considered a real academic mecca, not Princeton.

Top scholars including Einstein, von Neumann, and Oppenheimer also moved into the IAS.

The latter is a subordinate relationship, and the Institute of Mathematics is completely established within the School of Mathematics.

IAS's unique status allows its top scholars to be free from any pressure from teaching tasks, scientific research funds and sponsors, and to freely pursue the experiments and theoretical directions they want.

Normally, there are only two possibilities if you want to join the Institute for Advanced Study.

First, spend a few years as a visiting scholar to gain experience.

Second, you are invited to become a researcher, and after achieving success, you can join a small group of tenured researchers under the Research Institute.

The invitation from the gambling king of Bang would naturally not be the former.

He was fully qualified to propose that Xu Qingshan join the Institute for Advanced Study as a resident researcher and receive lifetime honors after he was awarded the honor of crossing the threshold.

Xu Qingshan thought a lot, but after thinking for a moment, he tactfully declined.

“Princeton is a holy place for every scholar. Every scholar who wants to concentrate on academic research should want to come to Princeton.”

Xu Qingshan's answer shows high emotional intelligence.

However, just as a smile began to spread across his face and he began to think about how to join forces with other bigwigs to discipline this genius and the hottest new star in the mathematics world this year, Xu Qingshan's next words made this Italian scholar, who had lived a carefree life, hold back his smile.

"But I still want to consolidate my foundation at Kyoto University, and also devote a little to the development of mathematics in my motherland."

Xu Qingshan smiled sincerely and gave a more reasonable reason.

"I think my country has such a large population that I am not the only young person who loves mathematics. I hope to set an example and encourage more people to take this path."

“Of course, if there is an opportunity to visit Princeton in the future when things are stable, I will definitely not miss it.”

The gambling king put away his pitiful look and nodded in approval.

"Okay, but if you want to come to Princeton as a visiting researcher, you can do so at any time. It only takes one email. The door of Princeton is always open to you."

"Well, Enrique, let me have a chat with our dear little Chopin."

Deligne, who had ended the bargaining battle on the side, finally freed his hands. He had been impatient for a long time.

"chopin?"

Xu Qingshan didn't understand.

"Pierre heard people say that Tao is the Mozart of mathematics, so he insisted that you must at least be the Chopin of mathematics. Both are geniuses."

Xu Qingshan:
I also said that I was Nicholas Zhao Si of mathematics.

"The main reason is that Hua Xia's name is really hard to pronounce. How do you pronounce it? Xu Qiong Sang?"

"How about you just call me Chopin, Sir?"

Xu Qingshan compromised.

Deligne's pronunciation really sounds like standard non-standard Chinese.

Xu Qingshan also got full marks in Chinese, and he also learned some linguistics in his spare time. He could tell that the old man had tried his best, but it just sounded like a Japanese name when he pronounced it.

"Sorry."

Professor Deligne smiled awkwardly. Although he was old, his apple cheeks were well maintained.

"I really like the symmetry you used in your proof. Can you tell me how you came up with that idea?"

Pierre Deligne smiled widely.

But Charles and the others on the side stopped smiling.

"Holy shit! Pierre has started it again."

"Symmetry, symmetry, symmetry, fxxk symmetry!"

"Oh no!"

The old gentlemen who were originally gentle and polite suddenly burst into swearing at the same time. Looking at their constipated expressions, Xu Qingshan always felt that this did not seem to be a good development.

But looking at Deligne standing still with a bright smile in front of him, he had no choice but to start chatting.

After talking to him, I finally understood why those old men lost their composure like that.

"Oh! Perfect symmetry. I am extremely particular about symmetry. If you read every article I write, you will find that there are arguments based on symmetry in almost every one of them."

"Yes, I think you will agree with me."

"You know Mr. Jacques Tietz, he is also an Abel Prize winner and my teacher. He won the Abel Prize for his discoveries in group theory a few years ago. What I want to say is that when I was studying before, he explained to me that the center of a group is an invariant subgroup. He started to prove it and he paused. I have defined the center! That's what he said."

“You must think this is wonderful too!”

When talking about the field that he was proud of, Deligne seemed extremely excited and spoke for an hour. Moreover, during this hour, although it was called an exchange, in fact, neither Xu Qingshan nor the others had any chance to interrupt.

Xu Qingshan heard Lord Bu and King Bang whispering with their lips pursed.

"Is this the 524th time Pierre has told this story?"

"527, you were away three times. I remember that."

Xu Qingshan kept smiling and nodded repeatedly in approval of Deligne's dancing.

Zhu Xiaohua, who was outside the small hall, searched for a long time before finding this place. However, he did not rush in rashly. Instead, he saw Deligne excitedly talking to Xu Qingshan with his hands and feet gesticulating, and several other old men were also talking to Xu Qingshan.

He subconsciously took out his mobile phone to record this moment.

"When the stars shine, this should count, right?"

He looked at the photo on his phone, which was a classic because of the person in it.

(End of this chapter)