The so-called fellowship was a full award in the common sense. Unlike scholarships, a fellowship not only exempted the winning student's tuition and accommodation fees, but it also gave the winning student a certain amount of living expenses.
Because of this, the competition for a fellowship was particularly fierce. Generally, in addition to high paper grades, foreign applicants also needed to provide a good domestic school transcript, recommendation letter, and study plan.
For different schools and even different individuals, the amount of the full award was different. Even the payment method was divided into annual lump-sum payments, monthly payments, quarterly payments, etc.
The difficulty of applying for a full award at Princeton was undoubtedly the strictest among many universities in North America. This was especially true for the PhD level. However, for a PhD student who had won the Cole Prize in number theory, it did not seem to be a problem.
After all, Lu Zhou was qualified to write a recommendation letter for others, not to mention his supervisor was Professor Deligné.
The fellowship that Lu Zhou received included a waiver of tuition and accommodation fees, free medical insurance, and a US $40,000 bonus.
Lu Zhou opened a card at a bank next to Princeton University. After he withdrew the Cole Prize check and the Princeton fellowship check, he looked at the string of numbers and could not help but feel emotional.
Other people spent a lot of money to study abroad, but not only did Lu Zhou not spend money, he even made a fortune.
This feeling was indescribably subtle.
…
After the fellowship and tuition fees were settled, Lu Zhou temporarily settled down at Princeton University.
For undergraduate students, the academic workload was really heavy. However, for PhD students, if the supervisor was not too strict, it would be relatively easy.
Although Professor Deligné arranged for him to work as a teaching assistant, his first class was in April, which was still a month away. Lu Zhou even took a few days to go to a nearby town to get his driver's license.
In addition to the long-term research project of Goldbach's conjecture, his current task was mainly to learn algebraic geometry under the guidance of Professor Deligné.
What made Lu Zhou ecstatic was that this old man from Belgium had what he had always dreamed of — the original draft of the late Grothendieck's "Draft Program", as well as the English translation, which was translated by an American PhD student who majored in French.
Unlike the bible of modern algebraic geometry, "Foundations of Algebraic Geometry (EGA)", ever since Grothendieck took back all the copyrights, the "Draft Program" was only circulated among some mathematicians. Many of the ideas in it were still incomprehensible to this day.
Lu Zhou never accepted Grothendieck's invitation to go to France to look for modern algebraic geometry. One reason was that he didn't know anything about French, and the other reason was that he hadn't done in-depth research on Grothendieck's work.
The English translation of the "Draft Program" was a huge help to Lu Zhou. Coupled with the personal guidance of Grothendieck's student, Professor Deligné, many of the difficult things became a lot easier.
As expected, choosing a good supervisor could save a lot of time.
In addition to completing his algebraic geometry under the guidance of Professor Deligné, Lu Zhou spent almost all of his free time on Goldbach's conjecture.
One time, he was suddenly inspired. He didn't even go out for a few days. He locked himself in a ten square meter room and thought about how to perfect the theoretical framework. He wanted to return the Group Structure Method that originated from Goldbach's conjecture to Goldbach's conjecture.
He did not expect that he would go on a retreat for a week. He even missed a lecture that he should not have missed.
Professor Deligné even called him to ask what was going on.
However, after Professor Deligné found out that Lu Zhou was not in New York or Philadelphia. Instead, he locked himself in his room to study Goldbach's conjecture. Professor Deligné did not say anything about Lu Zhou skipping classes. He only went silent for a while before he spoke in a warning tone.
"You need to study mathematics, but being a professional doesn't mean that you have to work behind closed doors. If you feel like your research has reached a bottleneck, my suggestion is that you can temporarily put aside your problems and go play football or watch a few movies … You need to take the initiative to find inspiration, not wait for inspiration to come to you. "
Lu Zhou, "I'll seriously consider your suggestion … Oh yeah, can I take a day off?"
Deligné, "How long?"
Lu Zhou thought for a bit and said, "Two weeks."
Deligné, "You don't have to ask me for permission. You can arrange your own time. But if you don't make any progress in your research project within a year, I'll arrange other research projects for you. The golden age of mathematics research is only a few decades. I won't let you waste an entire year on a dead-end project. "
The old professor hung up the phone.
Lu Zhou put down his phone and smiled as he twirled the pen in his hand.
The time limit was only one year?
Even though Professor Deligné did not say it out loud, it seemed like Molina was thinking the same thing. Professor Deligné did not think Lu Zhou could complete this task.
However, this also showed how much the old professor cared about Lu Zhou. If Lu Zhou was someone else, even if he suddenly wanted to go to Hollywood to make movies, the old man would not have much of a reaction.
"I can't hesitate here, I have to hurry up." Lu Zhou shook his head and picked up the pen again. He then began to write on the draft paper.
…
Although he said that he would seriously consider it, it was a habit that he had developed over the years, and it was not something that could be changed in a short time.
Also, Lu Zhou did not think that there was anything wrong with his habits.
In the world of mathematics, there were old pedants like Chen Jingrun who always thought about problems while walking, recluses like Perelman who would rather live off his parents than travel far away to receive awards, and "amateur boxers" like Kolmogorov who loved to travel abroad. (The most famous time was when he punched his supervisor at a Soviet academic conference because he couldn't win a debate …)
Lu Zhou did not think that he was an eccentric researcher. When necessary, he would listen to lectures from his peers to broaden his thinking. He was also willing to stand on the stage and share his research successes with his peers. But most of the time, he was used to closing his door and doing research alone.
A few more days passed by like this.
On a Saturday morning, the sky outside the window was bright.
Lu Zhou, who did not know when he fell asleep on the table, stretched his stiff arms and leaned against the back of his chair.
"Maybe I should hire a nanny …"
I wonder how the development of robotics in Silicon Valley is going.
If possible, he really wanted to customize a robot body for Xiao Ai. At least, it could be used for something other than checking emails.
For example, an electronic dog that could pick up packages.
As for complicated work, he did not expect it to have the ability to do so.
Lu Zhou was thinking about unrealistic things. He rubbed his eyebrows and looked at the dozen pages of draft paper on the table. He picked out a few useless pages and threw them into the trash can.
He felt a little hungry, so he stood up and walked into the kitchen.
He took out slices of bacon and fresh vegetables from the fridge. He washed them in boiling water and drained them. He then placed them in two slices of bread, drizzled them with salad dressing, and stuffed them into the oven.
Unfortunately, cooking was not popular in the United States. Occasionally, there would be barbecue parties, but they were usually outdoors. Although this single room had a kitchen, it lacked a natural gas stove and a range hood. Lu Zhou's cooking skills were useless.
Lu Zhou tried to find the apartment manager and asked if they could install a range hood and stove in the kitchen. However, the manager looked at him strangely and rejected him without hesitation.
This was a building with more than 90 years of history, and many famous scholars were born here. Maybe in a few decades, a great person would be born here, and this apartment would become a museum, just like Einstein's former residence.
It would be a shame if it accidentally caught fire …
Lu Zhou could only express his understanding of the apartment manager's words.
Anyway, he mainly went to the food club to eat. He would only eat in the fridge when he was particularly busy or in the morning.
After eating breakfast, Lu Zhou made himself a cup of coffee. He stood next to the fridge and slowly drank it. He stared at the ticking clock and organized his thoughts.
Suddenly, he received a call from Luo Wenxuan.
"Hey, didn't you say you were going to look at the car with me today? I'm already at the school gate, when do you plan on leaving … Don't tell me you're not up yet? "
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