Over the last few days, the hotels near Jin Ling University had been completely booked out.
Not because of Valentine’s Day or Christmas, but because of the large influx of foreign scholars.
Over the past three days, aside from eating and sleeping, Lu Zhou didn’t leave the gymnasium. He spent his time in the temporarily converted report venue, answering questions from scholars about the Grand Unified Theory.
As well as some questions on Grothendieck’s standard conjectures.
Honestly, Deligne didn’t even know what he should be surprised about.
Even though from the moment he saw Lu Zhou’s paper on Grand Unified Theory, he had a hunch that it could be used to solve Grothendieck’s standard conjectures, he didn’t expect this day to come so soon.
He wasn’t prepared for this at all.
Lu Zhou spent two hours on stage solving this age-old proposition.
Jin Ling University campus.
After the two elderly men ate their dinner at the cafeteria, they strolled along the tree-lined path.
Professor Sarnak looked at the gymnasium nearby and spoke.
“The problem has only been around for half a century… Isn’t that a bit short?”
Deligne shook his head and spoke.
“No… That person is an exception. Any problem he solves should be treated separately.”
After all, Grothendieck’s standard conjectures had been guiding the development of algebraic geometry for half a century. Even though the speed of development was a bit too “fast”, that didn’t diminish its contribution to the algebraic geometry field.
Professor Sarnak said with a smile, “Makes sense.”
The two became quiet for different reasons. Deligne was thinking about the future of the Bourbaki school of thought, while Sarnak was thinking about the future of Princeton.
Even though they didn’t want to admit this, the center of mathematics had shifted. Ever since the “Future” mathematics journal was released, the trend had become more and more obvious.
While walking along the pathway, Professor Sarnak suddenly spoke.
“I swear that in ten years, this place will be the mathematics center of the world.”
Deligne glanced at him and spoke.
“Will it take ten years?”
Professor Sarnak awkwardly coughed and spoke.
“It should! The training of a scholar is a long process, while the training of many scholars is a generational process. Ten years is an optimistic estimate; it might take twenty years or even longer.”
Professor Deligne smiled and didn’t reply.
He admitted that, in theory, Sarnak was right.
However, there was something Sarnak missed.
Which was that Lu Zhou was only thirty years old.
Strictly speaking, the golden period of a scholar’s academic career was from 30 to 50 years old. Ten to twenty years was an optimistic estimate, but that didn’t take into account all of the factors.
As the birthplace of the Grand Unified Theory, as long as Lu Zhou stayed in the field of algebraic geometry, scholars from Jin Ling would be at the forefront of the mathematics community.
Both Sarnak and Deligne agreed on this.
After contemplating for a while, Professor Sarnak suddenly spoke.
“We can discuss with them about a student cohort exchange.”
Professor Deligne raised his eyebrows and said, “Like a training program?”
“Yeah…” Professor Sarnak said as he looked at the undergraduate students walking nearby. He couldn’t help but look jealous as he said, “It’s not fair for them to have Professor Lu all to themselves.”
After thinking about it, Professor Deligne nodded.
“I’ll talk to the principal then.”
On the other hand, inside the office of the dean of the mathematics department.
Dean Qin was sitting behind his desk. He stood up when he saw Old Tang walking in. He reached out his hand and smiled.
“Old Tang, what brings you here today? Come on, sit.”
“No need for the formalities!” Tang Zhiwei pushed away his hand and smiled. He sat down on the sofa and said, “Look at you! You look great; did you win the lottery?”
“What lottery, I’m busy as hell.” Dean Qin sat down on the sofa and said, “Why do you say that? Does it look like I lost weight?”
“Oh, not at all.”
Old Tang retired ever since Lu Zhou began teaching at Jin Ling University. He had been spending his days doing Tai Chi at the park, playing chess with his old buddies, and fishing at the lake. He was living a good life.
As for mathematics, apart from occasionally following the latest developments, he had barely touched it.
After all, it was a miracle that he was still sharp-witted, which was largely thanks to his career in mathematics.
However, even though prior to retirement, Old Tang was an ordinary professor, Dean Qin still had a huge amount of respect for him.
Not just because they were good friends, but also because Old Tang was Academician Lu’s mentor. Dean Qin heard that Academician Lu would bring gifts to the old professor every year.
Even the director of the Ministry of Education would have to respect Old Tang, much less a dean like him.
Dean Qin began chatting with Old Tang about trivial life matters.
Dean Qin was starting to wonder why Old Tang was visiting him. Old Tang finished his cup of tea and refilled his cup. He suddenly spoke.
“Old Qin, Jin University has been quite exciting lately.”
Dean Qin smiled and said, “Of course, otherwise, I wouldn’t be so busy.”
Old Tang smiled and said, “Oh yeah? Then I have to thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to talk with an old man like me.”
Dean Qin: “Not a problem. If you’re an old man, does that make me an old man as well?”
Old Tang: “Of course, aging is the one thing in life we can’t avoid.”
Dean Qin smiled and didn’t say anything.
He felt like Old Tang had something to say, so he remained silent.
After Old Tang took a sip of his tea, he spoke emotionally.
“I downloaded the paper on the algebraic geometry Grand Unified Theory and read it. I have to say, after being away from the field for five years, I feel like a stranger to mathematics.”
Dean Qin: “Well, you know what they say, never stop learning, because life never stops teaching.”
“Yeah.” Old Tang sighed and said, “We all get old one day, maybe… our time is over.”
Dean Qin frowned. He was confused.
“Old Tang, what are you trying to say, just spit it out…”
Professor Tang put down the teacup and said solemnly, “I want to ask you a favor.”
When Dean Qin heard this, he paused for a second.
This was the first time he heard Old Tang asking for a favor in such a serious manner.
“Yeah, what?”
“Have you heard of Principia Mathematica?”
Dean Qin: “… Of course, everyone has.”
As one of the most famous works from the Bourbaki Group, Principia Mathematica was jointly written by many scholars such as Weil, Cartan, and Dieudonné. With a total of 40 volumes, it was published in the 1930s, with new content still being added today.
Even if a mathematician wasn’t in the algebraic geometry field, they would have heard of this famous book, which was second only to Euclid’s Elements.
“Right, of course.” Professor Tang said, “A while ago, I was bored, so I looked through the history of mathematics and found that the Bourbaki Group and the Principia Mathematica originated from the same place.”
The earliest use of the pseudonym “Bourbaki” was as one of the authors of Principia Mathematica. Bourbaki referred to a group of rigorous mathematicians, with most of them being French.
The book of Principia Mathematica was studied by the Göttingen school of thought, and it’s influence spread across Europe.
“… We can learn many things from the fact that the Bourbaki Group is inseparable from Principia Mathematica.
“Knowledge isn’t only about creating, but also inheriting.
“Right now, the mathematics world is standing on a crossroad. Everything beyond this is a world no one has ever seen. I propose we organize a group of promising scholars to jointly compile a book on algebraic geometry and Grand Unified Theory.”
This was similar to the Principia Mathematica book written by the Bourbaki Group.
When Dean Qin heard Professor Tang, he looked hesitant.
Over the past few days, he had thought about many things, including what kind of impact this report would have on the Jin Ling University mathematics department, as well as the future of the mathematics department. However, he never thought about something like this.
Honestly, he had no idea how powerful Jin Ling University could become.
As for writing a book on the future of mathematics…
It would be great if the book turned out to be well-written.
However, if it wasn’t well-written, wouldn’t they become a laughing stock?
“… Isn’t this a bit extreme?”
“Extreme? What school of thought isn’t extreme?” Tang Zhiwei smiled and said, “Dean Qin, even I’m not crazy yet, how come you’re becoming crazier and crazier. We’re scholars, not politicians. It is our duty to spread knowledge.”
Old Tang looked at Dean Qin’s hesitant expression and continued, “The Jin Ling University is different from before. Even Aurora University and Yan University have to respect us in terms of international influence. But have you noticed something? We have yet to form a real school of thought.
“This is our weakness, this is something we should focus on. How else are we going to play a role in the international academic community? Have you never thought about these things?
“But this is not your fault, you have other things to care about. Oftentimes, we use old methods to solve new problems.
“But the situation is different now! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! If we let this go, someone else will take advantage, and we won’t be the ones passing along the knowledge!”
Old Tang leaned back on the sofa and drank his tea while quietly waiting for Dean Qin to reply.
Dean Qin remained silent for a long time.
It wasn’t until when the tea was cold did he finally speak.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Don’t think about it. The older you get, the more stubborn you are. You weren’t like this before.” Tang Zhiwei patted his thigh and said, “I’ll talk with Academician Lu.”
He had never asked a single favor from his student.
However, he was doing this for the future of Chinese mathematics.
Not to mention this could benefit Lu Zhou.
Maybe Lu Zhou didn’t care about his academic influence anymore.
However, it would be a shame to let this opportunity go to waste…
