Hilbert once said that if he woke up five hundred years in the future, the first thing he would ask was whether Riemann’s hypothesis was proven.
Even though Lu Zhou wasn’t in the mood to be interviewed, the entire mathematical community still heard about this sensational news.
Riemann’s hypothesis was proven!
Jesus Christ, this guy has solved three of the Millennium Prize Problems!
And this is one of the most difficult ones…
Polignac’s conjecture, Goldbach’s conjecture, and the Quasi Riemann’s hypothesis pushed Professor Lu to the throne of the mathematical world, while the Navier–Stokes equations was equivalent to adding a crown of physics.
Whereas the proof of Riemann’s hypothesis ascended him into immortal status!
That wasn’t an exaggeration at all.
Even though the mathematics community hadn’t made an evaluation yet, judging from the questions that were asked at the report and the way Lu Zhou fluently answered them, it was predictable that the proof was correct.
Even though there might be some small flaws in the paper, those could be edited before the final publication. Wiles spent more than a year modifying his own thesis on Fermat’s last theorem.
For a huge proposition like this, the mathematics community was more than happy to be patient.
After all, they had been waiting for a century and a half.
They could afford to wait a couple more months or even a year…
Of course, Riemann’s hypothesis alone wouldn’t have made these people so excited.
After all, the thesis was released yesterday, so the initial excitement was over. The real exciting part was when the Clay Institute or the mathematics community gave an evaluation of the proof.
What shocked the entire mathematics community was Lu Zhou’s final words at the report.
Which was that his next research project was to try and unify algebra and geometry!
Ten minutes after his report ended, the mathematics community exploded!
Princeton university Facebook group.
Discussions and comments began flooding in, overshadowing the upcoming Ivy league kayak competition and autumn football game.
[Unify algebra and geometry? Wait a second, I’m halfway through my algebraic geometry class, and you’re telling me they can be unified?]
[I feel like ever since he published his first paper in Mathematics Chronicle, we have been witnessing history every single day…]
[How is this possible? The Firestone Library has more than twenty rows of bookshelves on algebra, geometry, and other branches. That doesn’t even include the latest research. You’re saying all of these books can be condensed into one book? That is crazy!]
[I think… you have misunderstood. Unifying algebra and geometry isn’t the same as combining two branches into one. If he succeeds, he wouldn’t have condensed all of the books into one book. Instead, he would have created a bookshelf.]
[Oh my, I hope I can finish my graduation thesis this year…]
For the mathematics community, the idea of unifying geometry and algebra was more shocking than Riemann’s hypothesis itself. However, for mathematics laymen, they were more interested in Riemann’s hypothesis.
The video of the report began to circulate through major universities. It was even uploaded to YouTube, receiving millions of views.
However, most of the public was more interested in the million-dollar prize money rather than the mathematical value of Riemann’s hypothesis.
Not to mention that Lu Zhou had already won a million dollars from the Navier–Stokes equations, and now, he was about to win another million dollars. People began to feel jealous.
They had no idea a mathematician could make this much money!
However, it wasn’t like all mathematicians were this wealthy…
In addition to the discussion on the Internet, media outlets such as CTV, BBC, and Columbia Television had also reported on this matter.
CTV even set up a special documentary. They invited Academician Xiang Huanan to talk about the history of this century-old proposition!
The popularity of Riemann’s hypothesis continued to grow.
In addition to the discussions by the media and laymen, some of the top mathematicians also gave their opinions.
The same day the report ended, around eight o’clock at night Moscow time.
Professor Akshay, the winner of the 2018 Fields Medal, posted a blog on his academic website, giving a fairly objective summary of the report…
[So far, many great mathematicians, including Professor Deligne and Professor Faltings, are optimistic about Professor Lu Zhou’s proof. I have talked with many people such as Schultz and Tao Zhexuan, and we all agree that there are no major problems in Professor Lu’s proof.
[However, that is just the opinion of a few people. There are many scholars in this area that have expressed their opinions. The more important a conjecture is, the more cautious we have to be. Because the tower of number theory can crumble without a good foundation. Also, there are people that have yet to fully understand the thesis, so we should give them time to form their opinions.
[I can’t say Professor Lu is 100% correct, but I am 70% or even 80% certain he is.
[But to be honest, I’m more interested in the differential geometry method he used to solve problems on the complex plane. I think it is very similar to some research I did in my earlier days… I recommend my colleagues who are studying non-singular complex projective algebraic clusters to look at this proof. Maybe the tool given to us by the Riemann’s hypothesis proof will be the key to solving Hodge conjecture or something similar…]
Professor Akshay’s comments were more objective and were spread around by the online mathematics community.
In some sense, his blog played a huge role in suppressing some of the more ridiculous rumors.
Regardless of what kind of evaluation the academic community came up with, the beautiful mathematical methods Lu Zhou used in the proof was enough to be written about in history books…
…
The next day.
People were packed inside the same lecture hall.
The ICM closing ceremony would soon begin.
Even though many people had left yesterday, the majority of people stayed behind.
Tao Zhexuan sat in the middle of the venue. He looked around before speaking to Professor Fefferman.
“Where is Lu Zhou?”
Fefferman shook his head and said, “I haven’t seen him either. Deligne said he went to the airport this morning.”
Professor Tao: “He’s in such a hurry? He’s not going to attend the closing ceremony?”
Professor Tao had some questions he wanted to ask Lu Zhou.
Fefferman answered vaguely, “After all… one of his important students is laying in a hospital bed. Apparently, he arranged a plane to transfer her from St. Petersburg to Beijing.”
Professor Tao had a weird look on his face.
The closing ceremony continued.
He suddenly spoke.
“… Actually, sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t have written that recommendation letter.”
Fefferman sighed.
As if Fefferman knew Professor Tao would say this, Fefferman spoke.
“If you didn’t write that recommendation letter, she would have never become Lu Zhou’s student, she wouldn’t be where she is today. She wouldn’t have a Fields Medal—”
Tao Zhexuan sighed and spoke.
“You’ve misunderstood.”
Fefferman: “… Oh?”
Tao Zhexuan: “I just think that, without that recommendation letter, she would have never met him, and he wouldn’t have been dragged into this mess. This is a moment that should be celebrated, and he should be drinking at the party tonight. Haven’t you noticed? He didn’t even show up to dinner last night.
“The banquet isn’t important, but it’s just a bit unfortunate. It’s unfortunate that such a tragedy happened at this point in his life… This should be a historic moment, yet to lose someone you care about…”
Professor Tao paused for a second and spoke emotionally.
“… It’s unfortunate.”
Fefferman looked at him with a look of surprise. Fefferman lowered his voice and spoke.
“You… know Vera is not going to make it?”
Tao Zhexuan nodded.
“… I can tell.”
On stage.
The closing ceremony had reached its final stage.
Professor Shigefumi Mori was standing on stage, in front of a microphone. Professor Holden walked on stage with a smile.
Normally, before the closing ballet and Russian opera performance, the Secretary-General of the International Mathematical Union would announce the location of the next conference.
This was one of the most exciting things, second only to the Fields Medal winners announcement.
Even though the location was already determined by a vote on the second day of the conference, the organizing committee only announced the location at the very end of the conference.
People in the venue held their breaths as they nervously waited for Professor Holden.
Especially Academician Wang Shicheng.
He sat in his seat anxiously.
Qin Yue was the same.
Even though he was a scholar that worked overseas, who wouldn’t want their home country to flourish?
Professor Holden smiled at the audience and cleared his throat. He spoke in a clear and loud voice.
“After tallying the votes, we have made a decision.
“The next International Congress of Mathematicians is going to be at—
“Jinling, China!”
The venue exploded in excitement.
