St. Petersburg suburbs, Fontanka Canal.
An old man in a black trench coat sat on a bench on the side of the road. He glanced at his watch as if he was waiting for something.
At this time, two young men in baseball caps, about 17 or 18 years old, walked past him while bouncing a basketball. They seemed to be discussing something excitedly.
"Did you hear? The virtual reality system is in closed beta! "
"I heard about it, it's in Jinling, right? F * ck, I want to go. "
"Don't even think about it, we don't have any fans, we don't have a chance. I don't believe they don't have the qualifications. Speaking of which, have you seen the live performance of James the Hatter? He said on YouTube that if Star Sky Technology's virtual reality technology is the same as SAO's, he will eat his keyboard. "
"Haha, what happened?"
"I don't know, but I heard someone say that after he came back from China, he ordered a chocolate keyboard from a cake shop."
"Hahahaha!"
The atmosphere was filled with a happy atmosphere, and the two young men's laughter gradually faded away.
Professor Faltings looked at them and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
Jinling?
He didn't expect to hear such a familiar word in a foreign country.
Faltings had a nostalgic look on his face when he thought about that person.
As for things like virtual reality and YouTube, he didn't care about them at all.
Ever since smartphones, old antiques like them had gradually fallen behind the times of the younger generation. Even if he had the idea to familiarize himself with something more modern than smartphones, he probably wouldn't have the energy to do it.
At this moment, a middle-aged man with a messy beard and hair and cheaply smelling shopping bags walked to the bench and said in a surprised tone.
"You really came."
Faltings looked up at Faltings and spoke with a smile.
"Yeah, is there a problem?"
"No, I just thought it was strange, I didn't expect the famous Mr. Faltings to come in person …"
A face peeked out from the mountain of black bread in his arms. Perelman used his free right hand to take out a key from his pocket and threw it to Faltings. "My house is a little messy, I hope you don't mind. I'll have to trouble you to open the door later … As you can see, I can't spare my hands. "
"You're welcome." Faltings nodded. "Do you need me to help you?"
Perelman shook his head and refused.
"There's no need. I won't go so far as to ask an old man to help me carry things."
The group walked into the neighborhood next to them and soon arrived in front of a seemingly cheap apartment building.
No one would have thought that a world-famous mathematician would live in a single apartment that was less than 20 square meters. His neighbors were either Russian aunties living on their pensions or unemployed people living at home.
However, Perelman was in no position to criticize them.
After giving up on the million-dollar Millennium Prize Problems, his life was so poor that he had to rely on his mother's pension to buy bread. In fact, he had repeatedly struggled with the problem of ideals and reality. Therefore, he chose to retire from the mathematics world and study mathematics the same way his predecessors studied mathematics in the 19th century.
Which was, he locked himself up.
In a sense, he was quite similar to Lu Zhou.
The only difference was that Lu Zhou would publish any in-progress results that were worth publishing. Even if he was too lazy to publish, he would at least publish a preprint. However, Lu Zhou hadn't published his research results in a long time.
Perelman placed the food in the kitchen and wiped his hands on his clothes. He then returned to the crowded living room. He was about to ask Professor Faltings if he wanted a cup of tea or water when he noticed the thesis on the table.
A look of interest appeared on his face. He walked up and picked it up. He flipped through two pages.
"This is …"
"It's about motive theory," said Professor Faltings. He took out a vacuum flask from his trench coat and poured himself a cup of hot water. He then said, "The author of the thesis proposed a very interesting idea, which is to combine all cohomology theories into an abstract geometric object."
Perelman said, "Crazy idea."
Faltings: "Yes."
Perelman: "Grand unified theory?"
Faltings: "Yes."
"I didn't expect there to be such an interesting scholar in this world … Wait a minute," said Perelman. The more he read the abstract, the more familiar he felt. He frowned and said, "This thesis … I feel like it's a bit familiar."
Faltings had a serious look on his face. He had a rare smile on his face.
"Looks like you found out."
Perelman asked, "Lu Zhou?"
Faltings nodded and spoke for the third time.
"Yes."
He took a sip of hot water and paused for a second. He then said, "About three days ago, he submitted this thesis to Inventiones Mathematica. I don't know what he agreed with Professor Holden, the secretary-general of the International Mathematical Union. This is probably his first time submitting to Inventiones Mathematica, but that's not the point.
"The point is that he actually solved a weak form of Grothendieck's standard conjecture and solved the motive corresponding to the graded structure of the cohomology ring."
"That's right," said Faltings with a nod. He then said, "I knew it. You're the perfect reviewer for this thesis."
Perelman flipped through the thesis in his hand and returned to his expressionless face.
"You didn't come all the way to Russia just to find me a reviewer for Inventiones Mathematica, right? Not to mention you have my email, this kind of thing can be explained in an email. "
Faltings nodded and said, "Of course, I'm not that bored to the point of taking a plane for this kind of trivial matter."
Perelman put down the thesis in his hand and didn't say anything. He just quietly looked at him and waited for him to continue.
Professor Faltings didn't beat around the bush and spoke straightforwardly.
"Come to the University of Bonn."
Perelman's answer was just as straightforward, even impolite.
"I refuse."
Professor Faltings acted like he didn't hear what Lu Zhou said and continued to speak.
"The mathematics world has reached a critical crossroads. The Holy Grail from the time of Archimedes to today is right in front of us. Numbers and geometry are about to merge into one in an abstract form. Until today, our achievements in the fields of algebra and geometry are being connected into a straight line. Maybe algebra and geometry will be unified tomorrow, and I won't be surprised at all. But if we're unlucky, this problem might not be solved until the next century. "
Perelman muttered, "Isn't Lu Zhou researching this topic? Just let him do it, I haven't seen a problem that he can't solve. "
"That's not necessarily true. Seven years ago, he found the 750 GeV characteristic peak anomaly, and even today, he can't give a good explanation for it. I heard from my old friends that most people think it's a joke."
Perelman: "Physics is physics, mathematics is mathematics."
"Yes, physics is physics," said Professor Faltings. He then said, "However, that's not the point. It's that completing this task is not his alone.
"We can't put all our expectations for the future on him alone. If we don't think about it ourselves, our academics will never be able to flourish."
The old man looked at Perelman seriously and spoke in a sincere tone.
"The Bourbaki school of thought needs your help, the entire mathematics world needs your power.
"At my age, there are a lot of things that I can't do. I beg you to come out and contribute to the cause that you are passionate about."
Perelman looked down at the thesis on the table and pondered for a long time.
"I'll think about it."
He picked up the thesis from the table and gently shook it.
"At least wait until I finish reading this thesis."
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