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

Chapter 427: The Mathematical Pope's Approval

“A watershed moment in the history of mathematical development!”

“Opening up new paths for the diversified development of mathematics!”

“The most imaginative and creative tool innovation in decades.”

“Traditional mathematical research may use this as a node to gradually enter a new era of human-machine collaboration!”

"Maybe, he completely reshaped the underlying logic of mathematics and physics!"

“This is a moon landing moment in number theory!”

The moment when Xu Qingshan announced his farewell on the podium was not the end, but the beginning of a huge uproar.

In just one day, the world's top mathematicians expressed their views on Xu Qingshan's team's proof of the Riemann hypothesis through various channels.

Terence Tao, who is the most popular figure in the academic circle, also gave his evaluation at the first opportunity.

The phrase "moon landing moment" was said by Xiao Tao.

The Riemann hypothesis is one of the seven millennium problems of the Clay Institute, and the person who proves it will receive a $100 million prize. But for top academic researchers, this can only be said to improve their lives, and the more important significance lies in the advancement of the entire field.

At the Paris International Congress of Mathematicians in August 1900, Mr. Hilbert raised 8 important questions, which belonged to four major sections. The first six questions were about the foundation of mathematics, questions 23 to 6 were about number theory, questions 7 to 12 were about algebraic geometry, and the last five were about mathematical analysis.

The twin prime problem and the Riemann hypothesis proved by Xu Qingshan belong to the core question 23 of "Hilbert's 8 Questions", "the prime number distribution problem".

But the impact of Xu Qingshan's proof of the Riemann hypothesis is not entirely limited to the field of number theory.

He directly or indirectly covered 23 of the 17 questions in the course of his proof.

He seemed to have crossed the river of time for a hundred years, stood at the end of time, and raised his hand to respond to the wise philosopher.

Mr. Hilbert was one of the greatest mathematicians in the world in the first half of the 20th century. He was the core of the Göttingen School of Mathematics, and his ideas have permeated almost all of modern mathematics.

It is like the ideas and routes emanating from a source of modern mathematics, which are continued by many mathematicians in the world.

And on this day in 2011.

111 years after he asked the question.

There was a young man full of vigor and vitality who brought these scattered ideas together again.

The dialectical grand unified proof was completed.

From the moment Xu Qingshan stood on the podium and completely proved the Riemann hypothesis, the reconstruction of the methodology of the mathematical world was also pushed to collapse, reshape, and move forward at this moment.

The new tools in the fields of harmonic analysis and complex functions that he developed in the process of proof are enough to innovate the analytical tools in many fields.

Not to mention the distant past, the multi-scale analysis method that Wang Hong from the team went to Xu Qingshan for help with a few days ago was derived from here.

At this time, string theory, which is very popular in Europe and the United States, and the quite advanced quantum field theory will also make breakthroughs again with the proof of the Riemann hypothesis, setting off a new wave of academic productivity explosion.

But what will really help Xu Qingshan establish his reputation in human society is the disruption in the field of cryptography in a short period of time, and the influence that will radiate from it to the forefront of science and technology such as energy, medicine, and aerospace.

As Hilbert said: "We must know, and we will know, that no matter what the result, mankind's exploration of mathematical truth itself constitutes the magnificent poem of civilization."

Xu Qingshan did not let this world-sensational proof meeting delay his other work.

He rejected visiting requests and media interviews from academic circles around the world, saying that he had "received creative inspiration at work and was ready to take a break and move on to tackle the next difficult mathematical problem."

He knew very well that as long as he didn't rush to accept interviews and let the bullets continue to fly over the Pacific Ocean, the heat of this academic carnival would last longer.

As he wished, the public focused their discussion on how Xu Qingshan completed the proof of the Riemann hypothesis and what kind of century-old mathematical problem he would attack next.

At this time, it was the turn of scholars from various fields and schools to start arguing. They all hoped that Xu Qingshan would descend into their fields like a tough guy sent from the sky.

In fact, scholars who have devoted themselves to a specific field are not afraid of a leading figure suddenly emerging in their field.

Just look at how excited mathematicians and physicists in universities and research institutes around the world are right now.

They are now all studying hard the various methods and mathematical tools used by Xu Qingshan in proving the Riemann hypothesis.

In this long epic of proof, as long as they can fully understand any link, it means that they can achieve output far beyond expectations.

I don’t know how many people will be able to obtain tenured positions at prestigious universities around the world as a result of the wind and wave created by Xu Qingshan.

Even won some top awards.

At this moment, the saying “when one person succeeds, the whole family benefits” in the academic world was vividly demonstrated.

Meanwhile, the person who ascended to heaven was secretly researching how to split up the equipment of the chip-related industries and ship them into the country through multiple springboards.

Fortunately, with this trend, Xu Qingshan was able to use the names of professors from various departments of Beijing University to indirectly invite his target audience from abroad to Beijing University.

At this time, no science and engineering scholar could resist the temptation from Xu Qingshan.

Unknowingly, Xu Qingshan had gathered nearly half of the chip industry talents he wanted to gather.

He enjoyed the thrill of concealing the truth and sneaking into the city secretly.

But he didn't know that there was an even bigger surprise waiting for him.

The Pyrenees Mountains are thousands of kilometers away from Beijing.

This largest mountain range in southwestern Europe is located on the border between France and Spain.

In this mountain range with silent peaks, the Principality of Andorra is located in a valley.

In a small town on the edge of the Principality of Andorra.

Two vigorous pines, like tall and straight guards, stand on both sides of the mountain road leading to the small town halfway up the mountain.

"Michelle, are you sure the teacher lives here? This road is too damn difficult to drive on."

Sir Deligne, who was supposed to be watching the live broadcast in Princeton, was sitting in the driver's seat of a fiery red Ferrari. Instead of his usual gentle manner, he was cursing and spitting from time to time. There were also three other old men sitting in his car.

It's hard to imagine the 67-year-old professor driving a sports car on a mountain road.

"Pierre, I told you that you were fine, why did you have to drive Enrique's Ferrari?"

Mr. Michel Renault complained while sitting in the passenger seat.

"The roads here are all gravel roads. If you drive in and out like this once, the chassis of Enrique's newest car will break down, and we won't be comfortable sitting there."

"It doesn't matter. There's an old Chinese saying that money can't buy happiness! Drive! Pierre, drive boldly! If you break down, we'll call roadside assistance!"

Mr. Enrique Bombieri, who was sitting in the back seat, held Mr. Bu with one arm and held a bottle of wine with the other, cheering as the Ferrari rocked up and down.

"Wuhu! Wow! Wuhu Lake!"

"Enrique, you're too noisy. My ears are about to break."

Lord Bu curled his lips in disgust and reached out to pick his old ears, but did not break free from the arms of the gambling king.

"Okay, just hold on a little longer, we should be there soon."

Mr. Renault sighed. He had already seen the cabin in the woods with a blue roof.

Before the car stopped, Professor Pierre Deligne, who was driving in front, saw an old man sitting in a wheelchair not far away, looking at the canyon in the distance.

He seemed very surprised that a car would come here, and he turned around in his wheelchair. Seeing these four old men who were younger than him, he raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"What are you doing here? Michelle, did you bring them here? Get out of here now. I won't allow you to continue to spread my works. Otherwise, I will never be able to swallow this anger until I die."

Alexander Grothendieck glared at him. The bald old man looked like someone who was not easy to mess with just from his appearance.

"Teacher, we didn't come to you to talk about that."

After getting out of the car, Deligne stretched his muscles, let out a long breath, looked back at the Ferrari that had been dented all over not long ago, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, no one was hurt, otherwise it would have been a huge loss for Princeton.

"Hey! Old man! Don't you always feel that your work is not well understood? Now we don't need to understand you. We have a new direction."

The gambling king, still holding a bottle of wine in his hand, yelled at the old man as soon as he got out of the car.

Professor Renault almost lost his legs and wanted to step forward to shut up King Bang, but King Bang had already finished speaking.

Professor Renault looked at Grothendieck cautiously, for he was afraid that the 83-year-old old man would be too angry with Bonbie and suddenly die.

Fortunately, the old man is still in good health.

It's just a bit too tough.

Grothendieck suddenly stood up from his wheelchair, picked up a book beside him, and chased after Bonnie, holding the book in his hand to hit him.

"Oh! No! Sir, you always like to promote your anti-war ideas, but you still love to beat me so much!"

Bombelli ran away, shouting.

Lord Bu, who was not that familiar with the old gentleman, looked on from the side, and Deligne also stood by and did nothing.

He still holds a grudge.

In 1988, the Swedish Academy awarded him and Mr. Grothendieck the Crafoord Prize, but his teacher refused it.

The teacher also gave two reasons.

First, he is rich. His salary and pension as a professor are more than enough to support himself.

Second, he was unhappy because he felt that the award gave the researcher too high a social status and reputation, which meant that his virtue did not match his position.

The old man felt good about his scolding, but it was Deligne who was embarrassed.

If he accepts the award, the old man will definitely criticize him. If he doesn't accept it, how will he survive in the future?
He doesn't want to be an academic hotshot like the old man.

This cannon king is also that cannon king.

In his 1985 autobiographical book, Récoltes et Semailles, which is about pages long, Grothendieck focuses on three emotions he experienced throughout his life: women, mathematics, and meditation.

The length of the chapter about women is so long that it could be read as a pornographic book.

At the same time, the old man can be regarded as the Li Yunlong of the mathematics world. When others criticize him, he scolds them; when others praise him, he also scolds them. In order to congratulate him on his 60th birthday, others compiled a collection of his biography, but he refused it and was told that they didn't understand him at all.

Later on, he started to curse directly, saying that the academic world was corrupt and that everyone was stupid.

But just like the words "Welcome to the challenge" that Xu Qingshan left on the stage, no one dared to retort when the old man scolded him.

Because he really has the right to call others stupid.

After completing his work in functional analysis, Grothendieck turned to algebraic geometry, and his collaboration with Jean-Pierre Serre revolutionized the discipline of algebraic geometry.

To this day, the more than a dozen major works he published on his contributions to algebraic geometry are still regarded as the Bible of algebraic geometry.

Therefore, even though he has retired from academia for a long time, people still call him the "Pope of Mathematics".

After struggling for a while, the old guys finally sat down in the yard.

"Teacher, if your legs are fine, why do you need to sit in a wheelchair?"

Deligne asked curiously, and Grothendieck glanced at him.

"I'm too lazy to walk, is that okay?"

The old man asked the maid to serve local specialties to the students and juniors, a piece of Tupi cheese that smelled rich in goat milk, and a piece of Escalloni cake decorated with wild strawberries.

"Okay, tell me what happened. Why did you suddenly come to my place and yell at me? That's rude."

Grothendieck ate one small cake at a time. Even at his old age, his teeth were still so good. I wonder if the maid in his house could bear it.

"Teacher, did you see that Ferrari?"

Renault pointed meaningfully at the Ferrari they were driving, which had become a battle-damaged version.

"I saw it, what's wrong?"

"That's Enrique's."

"Ok?"

Grothendieck glanced at King Bonanza, blinked, and asked with some surprise.

"The Riemann hypothesis has been solved? Who? It can't be that old guy Atiyah, right?"

Grothendieck asked, frowning.

"No, you'll know if you watch this video, it was just a few days ago."

Deligne brought his computer over, opened the downloaded live broadcast replay, and placed it in front of Grothendieck so that the old man could watch it himself.

"A child? A Chinese child?"

Grothendieck was very surprised. The two eyes were one big and one small, 0.o?

"You guys didn't come here just to have fun with me, did you?"

Although he said this, the old man still continued to watch patiently.

He was full of doubts before watching it, but when Xu Qingshan formally began to introduce the proof process of the Riemann hypothesis, the old man's eyes changed.

"Oh, this is a little genius."

This was the opinion expressed by the old man when he watched Xu Qingshan introduce the basic ideas.

"Ciao! He is much better at teaching students than you!"

This was the opinion expressed by the old man when he saw Xu Qingshan arranging students in his team to come on stage to introduce various mathematical tools and field propositions.

"The combined life span of all of you bastards is not worth even one person's life!"

This is the evaluation that the old man saw half of.

"If there's an award in the academic world that they don't want to give to him, then I'm going to continue to curse this damn, corrupt academic world!"

Grothendieck: Second battalion commander! Fire!
It's a swear word, but it is undoubtedly the recognition of Xu Qingshan by the Pope of Mathematics of the last century.

Deligne and Lord Bu looked at each other and nodded slightly, their goal was achieved.

(End of this chapter)