Lu Zhou did not expect that Professor Deligné would give him such a big surprise at the banquet.
His original plan was to get his PhD before the end of the year, but it seemed that his plans were far behind the times. Annual Mathematics had not yet published his thesis, but the Princeton Research Institute had already awarded him a PhD and even the title of a full professor …
However, when Lu Zhou thought about it carefully, he could understand Princeton's decision.
Even if he ignored Goldbach's conjecture, his Group Structure Method could already be used as an excellent theoretical tool in the field of analytic number theory.
Many university textbooks had already begun to follow suit.
Lu Zhou could not help but feel a little regretful.
I'm going to be recorded in history. Why didn't I give it a better name?
Shinichi Mochizuki, who was in charge of "ABC", had the foresight …
Regardless of whether others understood it or not, the name "Theory of the Universe" sounded very nutty.
After completing the graduation procedures, Lu Zhou silently took a photo of his graduation certificate, degree certificate, and PhD hat. He then posted it on Weibo.
As expected, his Weibo comments section exploded once again.
However, the explosion this time was beyond his expectations.
[F * ck me, everyone went through nine years of compulsory education, why are you showing off?]
[Twenty-one-year-old full professor? Nutty, he broke Charles Fefferman's record.]
[I think getting a PhD in three months is nutty.]
[No, no, no, do you know why this guy graduated so quickly? I heard from a god in our mathematics department that just a week ago, this guy proved Goldbach's conjecture. A few days ago, Princeton held a report, and he was the only one there …]
[F * ck me, no way!]
[I'm kneeling to God Lu …]
[Please post a photo, I plan on hanging it around my neck when I enter the examination room.]
[…]
Lu Zhou did not expect that his "graduation photo" would be posted on Goldbach's conjecture. It seemed that there were a lot of international students who followed his Weibo.
Later on, the discussion became more and more intense. Some people posted screenshots of the New York Times and Philadelphia Journal news on Weibo, and some people found the thesis on arXiv.
Then …
The topics of "Princeton's youngest professor" and "Goldbach's conjecture" were on the trending search list. Netizens were excited, media outlets were reporting, and civil scientists were condemning these two topics …
Because of the indissoluble bond between Goldbach's conjecture and Hua Luogeng's school of thought, as well as Chen Jingrun's breakthrough on the "1 + 2" problem, this conjecture had long been labeled as a "political label" beyond academic significance.
What Lu Zhou didn't know was that even though he hadn't seen the news yet, his thesis on arXiv had already caused a stir in the China mathematics community. It even attracted the attention of the political circles.
However, no one had publicly expressed their opinions yet because everyone was waiting for the Annual Mathematics review results.
Lu Zhou, who was in Princeton, didn't realize what this attention meant.
This was because all of his energy was on the Annual Mathematics peer review.
The six reviewers were all big names in the mathematics community, and they pointed out many problems in his thesis. Lu Zhou also actively corrected every problem.
He was lucky that he wasn't like Wiles, who was bothered by an "obvious" problem for a year.
Finally, two weeks after the peer review began.
Lu Zhou went to the editorial department of Annual Mathematics for the seventh time. He received feedback from the six reviewers.
Faltings was concise. He almost never praised anyone, but he summarized his opinion in one sentence, "Excellent proof."
Henrik Iwaniec was friendly to young mathematicians. He spoke a little more and even had expectations for the new generation of mathematicians. He said, "… The application of group theory in the paper is amazing. I look forward to you achieving greater results in the future. Regardless of the opinions of my peers, in my opinion, you've already proven this problem. "
Helfgott's opinion was similar to that of another scholar from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. The two had probably communicated with each other before, and they both gave high praise to the Group Structure Method.
Lu Zhou flipped a page and read the final comments of the review.
Then, he looked at Evans.
On Evans's face, there was a smile as bright as the spring breeze as he stretched out his hand.
"Congratulations, Professor Lu, your thesis will be published in the next Annual Mathematics!"
…
In the editorial department of the Washington Times, Keane Larter sat in an office chair, clicking the mouse while watching the news on the computer.
Suddenly, his attention was attracted by a piece of news. His expression was slightly surprised, and he smacked his tongue as he joked in a glib voice.
"Oh, unbelievable. Goldbach's conjecture was actually proven by a monkey?"
In a country that was extremely sensitive to racial discrimination, it was inappropriate to make inappropriate remarks in public. However, it was different in the editorial department of the Washington Times because there were no Chinese employees there.
At the very most, only the Koreans would smile after hearing it.
It was worth noting that the Washington Times was different from the Washington Post. The latter was one of the largest and oldest newspapers in North America, while the former was founded in 1982 by a Korean religious leader, Moon Myung Myung.
Speaking of which, it was quite interesting. What this newspaper had been doing for the past thirty years wasn't strengthening the friendship between the United States and South Korea. Instead, it was mainly exaggerating the threat of Hua Nation, publishing some defamatory comments, and then selling them domestically for South Korean media to reproduce.
However, because of its political stance, this newspaper had been operating at a loss for twenty years. It had to rely on the "financial backer", Moon Myung Myung to survive.
So far, this newspaper did not even have its own foreign correspondent. Even some news in North America would be slower by half a beat.
Buss, who was sitting next to Larter, pushed his glasses and said with a smirk, "This is big news … It's a pity we don't interview him."
"It's not just an interview, we also have to help this China guy do some publicity," said Larter with a smirk. He closed the webpage and opened a document. He then typed on the keyboard and said, "Think about it, how should we write our press release? A monkey proved Goldbach's conjecture? "
Buss hesitated for a second and said, "We might be sued if we write that."
Also, although their financial backer was happy to see them smear their neighbors, he did not like them to talk about their skin color.
"I know what is within the rules and what is outside the rules …" said Larter. He then waved his hand and said, "So, I need inspiration."
Suddenly, Pereira, who was sitting next to the desk, stared at the computer and collected information.
"Do you remember the end of 2015? That Nigerian Opaiyemi? Professor Enoch, he once wrote to the Clay Institute about Riemann's conjecture, but to this day, the Clay Institute has not publicly responded to this matter. "
She graduated from Washington State University with a degree in journalism. Compared to Buss, who was only hired because of his political stance, her education level was much higher.
Therefore, her opinions were the most valued by the editor-in-chief, Larter.
"I also remember," said Buss. He then said, "I remember that the Daily Mail originally interviewed him, but there was no follow-up report."
Larter turned around in his office chair and rubbed his chin as he said, "So?"
"I just looked it up on Wikipedia. Riemann's conjecture states that all prime numbers can be expressed as a function," said Pereira as she twirled her pen. She then said, "According to the content on Wikipedia, Goldbach's conjecture is also a prime number problem, so … Is there a connection between the two?"
She did not know much about pure mathematics, and she might not have read theses before. However, she was educated at a university, so she knew how to use search tools.
Larter's eyes lit up.
Now that he said it, it seemed to make sense …
Buss interrupted, "I remember that Goldbach's conjecture is 1 + 1 = 2?"
"Oh, Buss, you're so uneducated. Even I know that 1 + 1 = 2 is Peano's axiom. As for Goldbach's conjecture … It's a prime number problem, "said Larter as he laughed. He then stood up from his office chair and said," I'll fly to Nigeria immediately. You guys can start writing the press release … Write that a Nigerian professor was treated unfairly because of his nationality and skin color. He should have a part of the glory of Goldbach's conjecture, but the indifference of the American academic community caused him to miss out on his glory. "
What kind of news was the most eye-catching in America?
At least 80% of it was related to black people.
If Professor Enoch received the million-dollar prize for the sake of the children in Africa, then those people would definitely be crucified.
Buss frowned and whispered, "But that Lu Zhou isn't white. Is it racial discrimination?"
If the person who proved Goldbach's conjecture was a white person and the person who was ignored was a black person, then their report would undoubtedly be sensational. If the Clay Institute did not give a reasonable explanation …
Well, there was no point in explaining because it would eventually become a "quibble".
After all, you could not expect every black person to correctly understand the difference between "1 + 1" and "1 + 1".
In North America, the academic community was definitely a "weak group" compared to politicians.
However, the problem was that Lu Zhou's identity was a bit tricky. He was a minority in North America … At least by definition. The American academic community treated a Nigerian youth indifferently, but they did not please a white elite.
This was not news.
The editorial department went silent.
Even Larter, who was ecstatic because of the big news, began to think about this problem.
However, at this moment, Pereira, who was searching for information, suddenly shouted in excitement.
"I got it!"
She thought of a brilliant idea.
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