In early April, a major event happened in the mathematics world.
A thesis published in the latest Annual Mathematics announced the solution to the Collatz conjecture.
The Collatz conjecture was to write down a natural number N, and if it was an odd number, then the next step would be 3N + 1. If it was an even number, then the next step would be N/2. After a limited number of cycles, it would inevitably fall to the bottom of [4, 2, 1].
This number game was popular in North America in the 1980s.
Prior to this, people had already used supercomputers to test natural numbers below 110 billion. They determined that no matter how much the number expanded, it would never escape the curse of "421".
Because of this magical property, this conjecture was also called the "Hail conjecture". Because the number fell like a hail, it was unstoppable.
And now, Vera and the others' paper gave a definite proof of this proposition in mathematical language.
Which was, the Collatz conjecture was true.
Once this thesis was published, it received a lot of attention.
What surprised the outside world was not only the proof of the Collatz conjecture, but also the fact that the main author of this thesis was Lu Zhou's student.
Normally, a major mathematical conjecture like this couldn't be proven with just one thesis. In addition to being recognized by an authoritative journal, the proof had to be recognized by the entire mathematics community.
Normally, Princeton would arrange a report for Vera and the others to report on their research results and answer questions from scholars in the same field.
However, the quadrennial International Congress of Mathematicians was in August, so this report was given to the more authoritative International Mathematical Union.
Two weeks after the thesis was published, Peter Sarnak, a tenured Princeton professor and editor-in-chief of Annual Mathematics, came to see Lu Zhou with an invitation from the International Mathematical Union.
It was rare for someone to receive two invitations at the same International Congress of Mathematicians.
At least, Sarnak didn't remember anyone like this.
"… Professor Viana, the chairman of the ICM conference committee, sent me an email. He wants me to forward this letter to you. A major mathematical conjecture like the Collatz conjecture should be known by more people. It's a rare opportunity. The International Congress of Mathematicians is coming up, and they've arranged a 45-minute report for you. Do you have time? "
Lu Zhou looked at Professor Sarnak and shook his head. He said, "I already have a one-hour report, and I'm very busy. I'm afraid I don't have time to prepare for a second report."
Sarnak raised his eyebrows and said, "About the Navier – Stokes equation?"
The "NS" research project was officially approved by the Institute for Advanced Study. The collaboration between Lu Zhou and Professor Fefferman was no secret in Princeton.
However, what surprised Sarnak was that this topic had only started at the end of the year before last, and it hadn't even been a year since then.
Obviously, he didn't think that Lu Zhou and Fefferman could solve the Millennium Prize Problem in such a short time.
However, Lu Zhou's answer surprised him.
Lu Zhou nodded. "Yes."
Professor Sarnak had a surprised look on his face as he said, "You're that confident that you can solve it before August? Isn't that too short of time? "
Lu Zhou smiled and answered the question in a relaxed tone.
"When a tool is completed, it's only a matter of time before it fulfills its mission. I have this feeling, you should know this feeling, right? "
Professor Sarnak frowned and immediately realized what Lu Zhou meant.
"The tool you're talking about, is it the L Manifold that you recently submitted to Annual Mathematics?"
Lu Zhou smiled and nodded. "Yes, in my opinion, it's the key to solving the Navier – Stokes equation."
When Professor Sanaik heard this affirmative answer, he felt emotional.
He had heard of that paper before because it caused a lot of controversy in the Annual Mathematics editorial department.
Even though the novelty of this special differential manifold was undeniable, many academic editors couldn't see the significance or use of this thing.
Even though Sarnak wasn't completely clueless about partial differentials, he still accepted Lu Zhou's paper.
However, in the end, he accepted Lu Zhou's paper and arranged for it to enter the peer review stage.
Now, it seemed that his decision back then was really a farsighted decision …
…
After saying goodbye to Professor Sarnak, Lu Zhou took the invitation to the ICM and went to his office at the Institute for Advanced Study. He gathered his three PhD students for an internal meeting.
"I have an invitation for the 45-minute International Congress of Mathematicians report. Even though the organizer invited me to give a report, I think you guys need this opportunity more than me."
Lu Zhou paused for a second and looked at the faces of the three students for a while. He then spoke.
"Normally, the report will be presented by the main author. I will recommend Vera to the International Mathematical Union as the presenter. What do you think?"
Qin Yue: "Agreed!"
Hadi: "Agreed!"
The vote was overwhelmingly passed.
Lu Zhou looked at his two students and nodded. He then said, "Looks like we've reached a consensus."
Seeing that she was betrayed by her two teammates in an instant, Vera was a little anxious. "Wait a minute, I …"
Hadi smiled and said, "You don't have to be humble. You completed the main part of the paper, so you should be the one presenting."
Vera looked at Lu Zhou and said, "But I've never presented at an ICM conference … I've never even participated."
"That's fine, it's my first time in Brazil. I'm afraid I'll have to ask Hadi to be my guide." Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Didn't you do well at Berkeley? I remember you also won the Best Young Presenter award. You just have to remember to perform normally on stage. "
When Vera heard Lu Zhou's encouragement, she calmed down a little. However, she was still nervous.
When Lu Zhou saw how nervous Vera was, he couldn't help but wonder if she was really a Slavic.
Although he did not have a deep understanding of what the other Slavs were like, based on the impressions he had gotten from various movies, he could not match the words timid and shy with the word "Russian."
Lu Zhou paused for a second and said, "Anyway, don't take it too seriously. Just treat it like a normal report. Also, you have four months to prepare. "
Pinching the corner of her clothes, Vera asked in a low voice, "Can you help me?"
Lu Zhou shook his head and said, "I'm afraid not this time."
When Lu Zhou saw how disappointed Vera was, he paused for a second and spoke.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
