Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
After Professor Fefferman left, Lu Zhou took out his phone to call Wei Wen.
The phone quickly connected.
“Hello?”
Lu Zhou asked, “Are you free right now?”
Wei Wen said, “I am, why?”
Lu Zhou said, “Come to my house. If Jerick is there, bring him along. I have a manuscript that I have to transfer to the computer, and I need your help!”
…
Lu Zhou wasn’t the first to use a topology method to research partial differential equations. This method was first seen in Hilbert’s thesis, and later on, it was also seen in Banach and Braun’s theses.
One of the more recent applications of this method was probably by the French mathematician Leray Schauder; this was one of the reasons he won the 1979 Wolf Prize.
However, even with these theses and research results, using topological methods to study partial differential equations had never become an independent discipline.
It wasn’t even considered a branch of research; it was merely a research idea or research style.
Lu Zhou introduced differential geometry and topology ideas into the field of partial differential equations by inventing the L Manifold. This allowed him to finally prove the existence of a smooth Navier–Stokes equation solution. This meant that Lu Zhou had perfected this mathematical method.
Therefore, it was no exaggeration when Professor Fefferman said that Lu Zhou had created a new discipline.
As for this discipline’s name, Lu Zhou hadn’t thought of a name yet.
Maybe in the future, he might consider sorting out his theories and methods into a textbook, and at that time, he could name this emerging discipline.
Of course, it would be better if someone else was willing to do it.
After all, writing textbooks was a very daunting task. Not only did one had to consult a large number of resources, but one also had to consider the readers. The textbook had to be both interesting and challenging. Instead of sharing knowledge, Lu Zhou preferred to absorb and create knowledge.
After Wei Wen received Lu Zhou’s phone call, he immediately brought Jerick to Lu Zhou’s house. Wei Wen even brought his work laptop.
After three days.
With the help of his two students, Lu Zhou finally transferred his thesis into the computer and uploaded it onto the official website.
Prior to this, Professor Fefferman helped him contacted the International Mathematical Union and explained Lu Zhou’s situation to the Union. After hearing Lu Zhou’s story, the International Mathematical Union was happy to extend the submission deadline by one week.
Not just that, but due to the importance of the Millennium Prize Problem, the IMU changed Lu Zhou’s report date. Originally, Lu Zhou was going to make his report during the opening ceremony on the first day, but the IMU rearranged it so that Lu Zhou could report it one day before the opening ceremony as a special “Navier–Stokes equation” event.
As for why this arrangement was made, the reason was simple.
It was a hundred-page thesis on the popular Navier-Stokes equation. Not to mention, the audience would undoubtedly want to ask questions. One hour was simply not enough for a report.
Lu Zhou looked at his two exhausted students and felt a little apologetic.
“Good work… I’ll buy you guys food in a few days. Go get some sleep.”
They stayed up all night with Lu Zhou. Since Lu Zhou was used to pulling all-nighters, his body’s metabolic function had been strengthened, and it was much more capable than the bodies of the two rookies.
Jerick placed his head down on the table, and within two seconds, he began to snore.
However, Wei Wen’s reaction was the opposite.
“No, I’m not tired!”
Although Wei Wen had dark circles around his eyes, he was still energetic. He checked the thesis on the computer screen over and over again, reading every symbol and every punctuation.
“I will check it again; one last time!”
He had said that multiple times already.
Lu Zhou stared at Wei Wen and said, “Don’t tire yourself out, checking it once is enough.”
Lu Zhou had more than enough time to edit the thesis, so they didn’t need to finish the edits today.
Wei Wen felt like Lu Zhou wasn’t treating the problem seriously.
“Professor, but this is the Navier–Stokes equation!”
Lu Zhou replied, “Yeah.”
Wei Wen was stunned at how nonchalantly Lu Zhou was treating this thing.
“Aren’t you excited at all?”
Lu Zhou said, “I was excited in the beginning… but I can’t be excited for three days straight, right?”
Wei Wen: “…”
Why not?
This is a Millennium Prize Problem!
If it were Wei Wen, he would be excited for the rest of his life…
…
Lu Zhou postponed his thesis upload by three days.
As a result, the peers who were paying attention to this thesis also had to wait an extra three days.
Less than an hour after the thesis was uploaded, the International Congress of Mathematicians website reached an all-time high of concurrent users; it nearly crashed the website servers.
For a few days after the thesis was uploaded, various mathematics forums were quiet.
Other than the occasional “What’s the update?”, there weren’t any discussions happening.
This was how professional forums were, nutty people didn’t have time to post on forums all day.
The really nutty people didn’t even have time to visit the forums.
People that could do so were trying to understand the thesis, and people that couldn’t do so were watching from the sidelines.
After all, the people that couldn’t understand the thesis were afraid to speak and embarrass themselves.
It wasn’t easy to read a hundred-page thesis in a short amount of time.
Plus it was a new and unfamiliar L Manifold method…
Even Tao Zhexuan, who was proficient in almost all areas of mathematics, spent two full days reading the thesis.
Tao Zhexuan turned on his computer and couldn’t wait to update his blog.
[He adopted an unconventional research pathway and used a differential manifold to bridge the gap between partial differential equations and topology. This kind of research is so clever that it reminded me of the thesis on fixed point theorem written by Mr. Braun…
[I can’t say for certain that his proof process is correct. I can only say that for the time being, I cannot find any mistakes. I will later write a more professional post to analyze his thesis and the research ideas he used…
[Of course, even though he has most likely succeeded, I still have a lot of questions that I want to ask him. The Navier–Stokes equation is an interesting topic which I’ve also been researching for a long time. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to solve it. Thankfully, there are people smarter than me in the world.
[Fortunately, I managed to book my ticket on the 30th! I look forward to the end of the month! :)]
…
Finally, the second week after the thesis was uploaded, the discussion about the Navier–Stokes equation exploded.
Several big names in the academic community expressed their opinions, and their voices spread like wildfire. The news even spread to other fields, like physics.
Shuimu University’s forum, Navier–Stokes equation post.
[I just want to know if God Lu succeeded? Is there a mathematics god that can tell us?
[Mathematic gods are useless, and normal people can’t understand God Lu’s thesis. Today our professor told us in class that the Qiu Chengtong Mathematics Research Center organized a meeting last week for professors that are in the fields of the partial differential equation, differential geometry, and topology. They all began to research on God Lu’s thesis.]
[Is there a result?]
[How the hell would I know? They won’t tell me the results. However, I read Tao Zhexuan’s blog, and it seems like God Lu’s thesis is nutty.]
[So many gods…]
[Nutty! Navier Stokes equation, Millennium Prize Problem… If he solves this, he must get in the Thousand People Initiative, right?]
[Pfft, Thousand People Initiative! He’s a first-level State Natural Science Award winner! Are you joking?]
[Screw it, I’m going to Brazil. Not traveling, not watching football, I just want to touch God Lu…]
[I want to go as well.]
Time slowly passed by, and it was finally July 31st.
Tomorrow would be the opening ceremony of the International Congress of Mathematicians…
But for most people, this world-class event had already begun.
