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Chapter 147 Project Establishment
As we all know, in China's chat software, if you type three question marks at a time, it never represents just confusion, but a series of emotions that are difficult to describe.

Anyone who has studied for a PhD and is not planning to just live a lazy life knows that there are indeed preferential treatments when applying for the National Natural Science Foundation and the Youth Science Fund projects when you are young.

To put it simply, when men under the age of 35 and women under the age of 40 apply for projects, they are competing individually with a pool of people of the same age.

At this stage, all competitors are still academic novices.

Once you are over the age of academic novice and want to apply for these scientific research funds, I'm sorry, at this time you will be competing with all scientific research teams in a big pool.

In extreme cases, there may be a team led by a former mentor among the competitors.

Therefore, if you cannot get a national project in your youth, it will be very difficult to get one in your lifetime.

Although Chen Zhuoyang has given up the idea of ​​doing scientific research, he plans to make a difference in the field of mathematics education.

But who, after getting a PhD, wouldn’t expect to be able to do a project to commemorate their lost youth?

Of course, it doesn't mean that Chen Zhuoyang has done nothing. After all, following Director Tian always has some benefits.

When he was studying for his doctorate, Chen Zhuoyang did receive a doctoral program fund from the Education BU, but that was also the highlight of his life.

He originally planned to complete this project beautifully, and then get another general project before graduation, so that he could enter the scientific research field.

Unfortunately, after the first project was not done perfectly, there was no future.

Of course, it was impossible to take on the general project, but I did take on a school-level project.

It was during this period that Chen Zhuoyang realized that he was not actually suitable for scientific research until graduation.

To be honest, on the day of graduation, Chen Zhuoyang really felt that this was the highlight of his life.

After going through all the trials and tribulations of his doctoral studies, Chen Zhuoyang has realized that the most powerful person he can have close contact with in his life is probably his mentor.

Of course, there may be an additional junior fellow student. And Chen Zhuoyang believes that if he really encounters any trouble in the future, the help from the junior fellow student may be greater than that from the mentor.

I'm not really blaming Tian Yanzhen for not being good enough to him, it's simply that Qiao Yu is young.

Being young means having endless possibilities, and this is a fact that no one can deny.

This is why Chen Zhuoyang has always kept in touch with Qiao Yu. He is afraid that Qiao Yu will forget him.

……

"Hey, Senior Brother, it's already eleven o'clock, why haven't you gone to bed yet? What are you busy with?"

Qiao Yu ignored the three question marks and asked curiously.

Chen Zhuoyang is now a lecturer at a 985 university. If nothing unexpected happens, he may become an associate professor in four or five years.

Then he got married and had children in college, and devoted his life to the cause of mathematics education in China.

But these are not the reasons why Senior Brother Chen is still playing with his phone. Doesn't the teacher have to teach?

Oh, yes, it’s still vacation…

"I'm working on lesson plans and preparing for classes. The school has assigned me to teach differential geometry to third-year math students next semester. Alas, teaching is not that easy."

"Brother, you are amazing! You can teach third-year students right away. Will it be easy for you to be promoted to associate professor in the future?"

"...These are not important. Tell me about the key project that Director Tian helped you apply for. What is the topic?"

After seeing this sentence, Qiao Yu felt that Senior Brother Chen was becoming less and less capable of chatting, and he must correct this wrong idea.

"It wasn't Director Tian who helped me apply for the key project. It was me who came up with some ideas, and my mentor and my grandfather both thought that this idea was qualified to be included in the national key project!"

"Ah, yes, yes, that's what I meant. I expressed it wrongly. What's your idea? So amazing?"

"Professor Zhang Yuantang commented that if I could complete this system, the symbolic system of mathematical papers would be unified in the future. But in fact, my idea was just to use geometric methods to solve number theory problems in the future."

"As expected of you, you are so strong! Junior brother can work on national key projects at the age of sixteen. When you become an academician in the future, you must help me."

"So, do you want to join the team?"

"I can too?"

"You definitely can't prove the main framework, but after I prove the main lemmas and theorems, I think I can prove the details just because I've learned mathematics."

"Really? Is there still room in the research group?"

"The research group hasn't been established yet, but we should start preparing in the next two days. I'm not in a hurry, but Director Tian and my senior teacher are. It's so annoying!
Especially Director Tian, ​​who asked me to fill out all the forms except for the team members tomorrow. Otherwise, why do you think I am still awake so late? "

"Junior brother, you must leave a place for me! Don't worry about my work. As long as it's not a question that I can't understand at all, I promise to do my best to complete it."

"Okay. But it will be very hard work, and you will often have to work night shifts. For example, today you need to write a resume quickly, and make it as detailed as possible. You can't use your old templates to fool around."

"No problem, but we don't have enough time today. It will take until the early morning to prepare now. How about I email you directly when I'm done?"

"Well, okay, go and write it."

"Got it, thank you so much, Junior Brother."

……

Qiao Yu was quite satisfied when he saw the smiling face that Senior Brother Chen sent him at the end.

Qiao Yu felt much better when he thought that someone would stay up late with him tonight.

……

Almost all official application materials have the same problem, that is, when ordinary people first come into contact with them, they can easily feel intimidated by those very standardized terms.

Because I don’t know how to fill in many things.

But this problem obviously does not exist for Qiao Yu.

After all, Tian Yanzhen explained it to him personally. Maybe Tian Yanzhen didn't have many opportunities to fill out such application materials in person over the years, but as a member of the fund's review committee, he had many opportunities to review these materials.

In fact, it didn't take Qiao Yu too long to fill out these information. Especially since his resume was actually very simple.

At present, the only achievements he can show off are the publication of three papers and being invited to give a report at the World Congress of Algebraic Geometry.

But if you consider that two of the three papers were published in the four top journals and that the opening report was 60 minutes long, the relatively simple resume is still very convincing.

Especially in China, which is different from foreign countries, when taking on various titles or applying for projects, the review committee will often only recognize the first author.

Coincidentally, Qiao Yu is the first author of all the papers he published.

So even though his resume looks quite short, it can be completed in just one-third of a page.

But in terms of value, it can be said that it has surpassed more than 95% of professors whose resumes are several pages or even dozens of pages.

After all, mathematics is different from computers. There are not many world-class conferences with a big enough influence, and only one person can be invited to give an opening speech at each conference...

China's current stage of development happens to be a major mathematical country, rather than a strong mathematical country.

China's pure mathematics research is indeed lagging behind the rest of the world. Many people have been complaining about why Chinese students always get good results in IMO every year, but they are always unable to win world-class mathematics awards...

For example, the Fields Medal.

So far, no local mathematician has received this honor.

In fact, this question is also very simple. At present, the policy guidance of mathematical research is still towards application...

Encouraging directions and various scientific research titles tend to be given to those projects that can immediately have practical application scenarios.

It’s not that there are no long-term concerns, but China does have immediate worries.

No matter what the current situation of the once-mighty superpower on the other side of the ocean is, at least they have had 70 to 80 years of completely worry-free time from the 1940s and 1950s to the present.

Especially since the 1990s, it has been a leader in all aspects. At that time, China had not even started to develop.

Even now I am still catching up...

As we all know, the Fields Medal tends to recognize researchers who have made major breakthroughs in theoretical mathematics.

It just so happens that progress in theoretical mathematics is difficult to realize directly. It often takes dozens or even hundreds of years for people to find suitable application directions from basic mathematical theory research...

A very obvious example is that it took a whole century for Fourier analysis to be widely used since its proposal.

In 1807, when Fourier was studying the problem of heat conduction, he proposed the concept of decomposing functions into sine and cosine waves. In his paper "Analytical Theory of Heat", he directly established the preliminary theory of Fourier series and Fourier transform.

It was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that people discovered that the propagation and modulation and demodulation of radio waves required the use of Fourier series to describe frequency and waveform.

By the middle of the twentieth century, Fourier transform had become a core tool in engineering fields such as communications engineering, acoustics, and image processing, and it continues to this day.

This is a very frustrating and helpless thing. Many mathematicians eventually choose to go abroad, which is actually related to their orientation.

It’s not that I don’t attach importance to theory, but I am not qualified to put mathematical theory in the most important position for the time being.

This has always been a problem that worries Tian Yanzhen.

Coincidentally, in this era when China was gradually becoming stronger, the sixteen-year-old Qiao Yu suddenly appeared.

……

Early the next morning, Qiao Yu had already completed all the information required for the Youth Fund.

When I opened my email and was about to send it to Director Tian, ​​I happened to see that Brother Chen's rewritten resume had also been sent to me.

Qiao Yu downloaded it without reading it and forwarded it to Tian Yanzhen in an attachment. He also mentioned in the body of the email that he planned to have Senior Brother Chen join the project team.

Since everyone wants to join the research team, they must first include those people who have helped them.

Anyway, Qiao Yu felt that it didn't matter whether his collaborators were capable or not. After all, Qiao Yu was confident that he could handle the most difficult parts by himself, and the rest were just some parts that needed repeated verification, which didn't require a master with strong mathematical ability.

This is based on Qiao Yu's strong self-confidence and a very simple idea.

Capable and senior professors should work on their own projects and there is no need to piggyback on other people's projects, so as to avoid wasting resources.

After sending the email, Qiao Yu slipped out of the school and went straight to Huaqing.

Although he was absolutely confident in Mr. Yuan, he was still quite curious about Qiao Xi's accommodation in Huaqing.

After quickly slipping into Huaqing, Qiao Yu swiped a shared bicycle and found the west building of Huaqing directly according to the address sent to him by Qiao Xi.

There are several rows of traditional multi-storey houses here, the architectural style is quite simple, with four-storey residential buildings being the majority. The houses are obviously a bit old, but it can be seen that they are well maintained. It is clean everywhere, and the environment is much better than the railway community in Xingcheng.

According to the room number given by Qiao Xi, Qiao Yu went directly to the 3nd floor, Unit 2, Building 2. After knocking on the door, Qiao Xi opened the door sleepily after a while.

"Why are you here so early? It's only seven o'clock!"

"Go to bed late and get up early, you'll be healthy." Qiao Yu answered casually, then bent over and slipped into the room.

"Change your shoes!"

"No, this isn't a dormitory. Why is it so complicated? Eh? Not bad, it's a two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment?"

Yes, after rushing in, Qiao Yu had already taken a tour of the interior layout of the house.

To be honest, the layout is even somewhat similar to their old house in Star City, except that the kitchen and toilet are switched locations.

Under Qiao Xi's melting gaze, Qiao Yu obediently walked to the door and changed into a pair of slippers.

Sure enough, his mother still loves him. When he first came yesterday, his slippers were already prepared, so she couldn't help but ask, "Did you buy me new slippers yesterday?"

Qiao Xi answered casually: "No, I had it when I moved in yesterday. Mr. Yuan thought of everything I could and couldn't think of."

Well, Qiao Yu felt touched for nothing.

"It's definitely not Master, Master. Master just gave instructions, and naturally someone will help with the preparations. But your two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment is indeed a bit too much. I don't even have that kind of treatment!"

Qiao Yu said sourly.

He only lives in a one-bedroom apartment in Yanbei.

But the good thing is that it is inside the research center, and the research center is not far from the School of Arts, School of Mathematics, Weiming Lake, Boya Tower, and the East Gate.

The east gate of Yanbei University is one of the busiest entrances and exits. It is next to the subway line and is much more convenient than here.

"That makes sense, but is it possible that they arranged two rooms specifically for me in the hope that you would stay in Huaqing more often in the future?"

Qiao Xi said casually as she walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth.

Qiao Yu thought it made sense. This was probably what Master thought. Otherwise, there would be no need to allocate a two-bedroom apartment to Qiao Xi. It could only be said that Master was thoughtful.

Qiao Yu sat directly on the obviously newly replaced sofa in the living room, and then lay down on it.

I have to say it's soft and very comfortable.

"It's great here, it feels like home." Qiao Yu sighed.

No one paid any attention to him. A few minutes later, Qiao Xi walked out of the bathroom and asked, "What did you just say?"

Qiao Yu shook his head and said, "Nothing. By the way, how did Master arrange you? Did he tell you last night?"

"I was given a few books to study on my own for a while, and then attend classes with the Elite Class after school starts. They also tested my English ability, saying that some courses will be taught entirely in English, and the textbooks and handouts will also be in English."

Qiao Xi answered casually.

"Well, that's easy. But you have to memorize the professional English. I guess the courses taught entirely in English are similar to those in Yanbei, which only include algebraic geometry, topology, differential geometry, etc."

"Oh." Qiao Xi responded noncommittally, then asked, "By the way, Teacher Yuan said yesterday that you can already do research on the project?"

"Well, I plan to let you join the team. Hehe, you represent Mr. Yuan from Huaqing, and I represent Director Tian from Yanbei. If we can complete this project together, we will be invincible."

Qiao Yu said slyly.

"Stop it. Mr. Yuan talked to me about this yesterday. He personally thinks it's best for me not to join this project right now, for fear that it will affect the review of key projects. And I really don't have the ability to do that right now."

Qiao Xi shook her head and refused.

Qiao Yu said nonchalantly: "Grandpa Master, you are worrying for nothing. I tell you that I don't even need to set up a research team for this project. At most, I will work harder, and we can still accomplish it if we spend more time.

As for the application project, I understand that it is nothing more than providing some funds for communication and holding meetings. We don't need to buy any laboratory equipment for mathematical research.

If it is not approved, forget it! Anyway, this project does not require much money, and we can just build the axiom framework. It is the same thing. "

Qiao Xi glared at Qiao Yu and said, "Don't be silly. It's not as simple as you say. Mr. Yuan said yesterday that organizing seminars, academic forums, and special courses all require fees.

If you can really complete this project, not only publish a paper but also publish a monograph and textbooks. Do you think all this is free? Also, do you think Professor Tian invited so many professors to give lectures for you out of friendship?"

Qiao Yu said seriously: "I'm not kidding. What Grandmaster said is right, but I don't need it. What's the point of seminars, academic forums, and all that fancy stuff?

I've told you that I have the confidence to complete this project even if I'm alone. Not to mention I can find someone to help me. You have to have faith in me.

If this project is not approved in the end, it will not be my loss, understand? You listen to me on this matter, I will go and talk to Master later. "

Qiao Xi was speechless and asked, "Why are you in such a hurry? I just came to Beijing to study. I don't have the ambition to become a great mathematician!"

Qiao Yu said seriously: "It's not that I'm anxious, but I think you are used to learning on the job. And the framework I want to build doesn't actually require advanced mathematics in the initial stage.

Because it starts from the most basic framework, such as the mapping of each natural number, basic algebraic geometry rules, and elementary number theory concepts.

This means that if you join the team and work with us to build the basic framework, after the project is completed, you will be able to quickly master a lot of basic mathematical concepts and knowledge.

And I can master the application of this framework. Do you know why Director Tian and Professor Yuan value my framework? Because it has the potential to become the most important tool for future mathematical research. "

Their eyes met, and neither of them backed down.

Qiao Xi couldn't beat the child for this kind of problem, or force Qiao Yu to change his mind.

After all, the child was not naughty.

It’s not that the Qiao family is democratic, or that Qiao Yu started making money to support his family very early.

But Qiao Yu's grandfather once taught her that he could beat Qiao Yu severely if he was naughty or did something bad, so that he could distinguish right from wrong from a young age.

But you must not beat Qiao Yu just because he has a different opinion from you, especially when you don't even know whether you are right or not.

Obviously, this was the situation Qiao Guozheng was talking about. She really didn't know whether Qiao Yu was right or Yuan Lao was right.

So in the end, Qiao Xi gave in.

"Okay, I don't understand these things. If you think this is the best way, go and convince someone who does."

"OK! I'll go talk to Mr. Yuan and my instructor. You haven't applied for your meal card yet, right? Let's go eat now. I'll treat you to a delicious meal."

"No need, it's already been done. I submitted my information in advance." As he said that, Qiao Xi took out a student card that was used throughout the school from his pocket.

"Okay, then you treat me to a meal, and then you go back to study, and I'll go to Qiuzhai to discuss this matter with Grandpa."

……

"You want your mother to join the research team? Why?"

In Qiuzhai Yuan Zhengxin's office, Qiao Yu repeated in full the reasons he had just given to Qiao Xi.

Then he said, "Grandpa, think about it. Although my mom's basic knowledge is a little weak, she can read the literature! By joining this research group, she can learn some basic concepts while doing these works."

After looking at Qiao Yu seriously for a while, Mr. Yuan asked, "Besides your mother, who else do you want to join Huaqing?"

Qiao Yu said confidently: "I am most familiar with Professor Pan, so I definitely hope that Professor Pan can join. And Professor Pan has been studying the geometric Langlands conjecture before.

As you know, many things in my research are related to some of these concepts. If he joins, it will be easier to understand.

As for the other people in Huaqing, why not just follow your advice? Anyway, I am sure I trust the people you recommend. If they are professors, it is best to have more students, so that I can complete the main framework and prove that the progress can be faster. "

Old Yuan raised his finger and pointed at Qiao Yu, saying in a muffled voice: "Boy, you know a lot? Do you think students should do whatever their mentor tells them to do?"

Qiao Yu was surprised and said, "Isn't it? I always obey whatever you and Director Tian ask me to do. Of course, I mean in terms of study and research."

Yuan Zhengxin was speechless after thinking for a moment and then said, "Okay, Qiao Yu, your axiom system is a grand system engineering.

Each step requires rigorous definition, proof and verification. Starting from the basic axioms, gradually introduce what you said, including modal distance, geometric structure, topological structure, etc.

In the process, we need to carry out some numerical experiments and interdisciplinary collaboration. So you can’t be too arbitrary in selecting the research team members. I will recommend a few professors to you. "

Qiao Yu nodded carefully and said, "Don't worry, Grandpa. The candidates I have confirmed are Professor Xue, Senior Brother Chen, Professor Pan and my mother. I will listen to you and Director Tian for the rest of the candidates."

Yuan Zhengxin glared at Qiao Yu and said angrily, "Your Senior Brother Chen? Good boy, I don't know how much you have learned in Yanbei, but you have really learned the essence of nepotism."

"It's unfair, Grandpa!"

Qiao Yu immediately shouted, "I'm really not being nepotistic. Yes, Senior Brother Chen's research level is indeed a bit lacking, but you praised him for his meticulous work and writing of papers, right?
This is Brother Chen's strength. And you should have some confidence in me, right? I'm sure I have no problem proving the axioms, but many other things require careful and patient proof, right?
Letting Brother Chen assist in checking the proofs of the basic theorems we introduced is clearly making the best use of resources! As the head of the research group, I just need to let everyone play to their strengths. Isn't that right?"

After complaining, Qiao Yu looked at Yuan Zhengxin with an aggrieved face and said, "Unless you have no confidence in me and think that I can't prove the basic axioms by myself!"

These words left Mr. Yuan speechless.

"Okay, okay, okay, you all have a point. Hey... go back and discuss it with your instructor. If he has no objection, then let's do it this way!"

……

Tian Yanzhen naturally had no objection.

Therefore, the final list of the research team of "Generalized Modal Number Theory Axiom System on Multiple Transcendental Spaces" was finalized within two days.

Qiao Yu was naturally the initiator and team leader of the project. In addition to Xue Song, four other young professors from Yanbei were invited to join Qiao Yu's research team.

Lu Yansong, who studies partial differential equations and differential geometry, Bao Yuanqiang, who studies Lie groups, Zhang Mingxian, who studies big data sampling and complex data analysis, and Ding Zhenggang, who studies graph theory and low-dimensional topology.

As for Huaqing, in addition to Pan Jingyuan and Qiao Xi, three other professors joined.

Fan Zhou, Fang Jianan, and Guan Luming. Their research interests are respectively multi-complex function theory, geometric analysis, symplectic geometry, and ultra-high dimensional statistical inference and big data algorithms.

The last person ranked is Chen Zhuoyang, who is outside of the two schools.

After the research team was formed, Tian Yanzhen directly submitted Qiao Yu's project application.

Qiao Yu was also fortunate enough to follow his own tutor and Mr. Yuan to attend the Natural Science Foundation Research Review Meeting when the freshmen of Yanbei University had already started military training...

For Qiao Yu, this was indeed a very interesting experience...

　Thanks to book friends 20190130224905377 and eugenehowel for their encouragement.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)