After Vera's report ended, not only did it arouse a warm response from the conference, but it also attracted the attention of the media at the International Congress of Mathematicians.
For a long time, mathematics had always been considered a male field. There were very few women who could make outstanding achievements in the field. This also meant that the impact of any results would be magnified.
Not to mention, as a number game that was popular in North America, the Collatz conjecture was not easy to solve.
However, unfortunately for the media, this young female mathematician did not seem to like being interviewed, or rather, she was afraid of the feeling of having a camera pointed at her.
Fortunately, even though they couldn't interview Vera herself, her supervisor was relatively easy to talk to.
Three days after the report, which was also the fourth day of the International Congress of Mathematicians.
A BBC science reporter made an appointment with Lu Zhou at a cafe near the Barra da Tijuca Hotel for a brief interview.
BBC reporter: "… We all know that two of the reports are related to you. The proof of the Collatz conjecture was completed by your student, Miss Vera Pulyuy. How would you evaluate your student? "
Lu Zhou: "Vera is a very outstanding student. Her other two collaborators, Qin Yue and Hadi, are also very talented in number theory. I don't think gender is a problem that needs to be emphasized. There are also outstanding female scholars that I know. "
BBC reporter: "I heard that she received guidance from you when she was researching the Collatz conjecture. Many people think that you actually solved the conjecture. What do you think of these rumors?"
Lu Zhou smiled and said, "What I provided was only the idea to solve the problem and the method to guide them. The whole proof was indeed completed by them, there is no doubt about that. Also, it turns out that the Group Structure Method is indeed an excellent number theory method. It can be used to solve many additive number theory problems. "
Reporter: "Then regarding the Group Structure Method, which problem do you think it will be used to solve? Or rather, which field of research? "
Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Do you really want me to say it? Actually, I think that even if I don't say it, my peers will probably be able to tell. "
The reporter pursed her lips and smiled. "You'd better say it and take care of us amateurs."
Lu Zhou thought for a moment and replied simply, "Hua Lin."
Among the many additive number theory problems, Waring's problem was one of the classic propositions.
This proposition originated from Waring's "Algebraic Meditations" published in 1770, in which Edward Waring himself conjectured that for every positive integer k that is not 1, there is a positive integer g (k) such that every positive integer can be expressed as the sum of at most g (k) to the k power.
As a classic additive number theory problem, there were many people researching this problem.
The existence of g (k) had been proved by Hilbert in a complicated way, and the case where g (2) = 4 was the sum of four squares theorem, which had been proved by Lagrange in the eighteenth century.
Later researchers such as Veiferitch, Balasubramanian, and Chen Jingrun respectively proved the cases of g (3), g (4), and g (5).
If one had to ask Lu Zhou which problem he was most optimistic about, it would undoubtedly be Hua Lin's problem.
"That's really surprising …" The reporter looked at Lu Zhou with surprise. Even though she wasn't an academic, she was still a science reporter. She had heard about the status of this problem in the mathematics field.
The BBC reporter paused for a second before asking, "Then, regarding your other report, we all know that you have proven the existence of a solution to the Navier – Stokes equation, and the academic community has generally recognized your proof … But if, and I mean hypothetically, this proposition isn't proven, but is instead falsified, what impact will it have on our lives?"
Lu Zhou crossed his fingers on his knees and leaned back in his chair. He smiled and said in a relaxed tone, "Actually, if this proposition is falsified, it will be even more meaningful. Take smoothness as an example. If we find that at a particular point in time, our equation is no longer smooth, it might mean that we have not only solved an unsolved mathematical problem, but it might also mean that we have discovered a new physics problem. "
Reporter: "Then do you feel any regrets?"
Lu Zhou sighed and said, "It's quite a pity … Actually, when I was collaborating with Professor Fefferman on this research project, we thought we had discovered this special point in time. Unfortunately, it turned out to be an illusion."
"What made you discover it?"
"When I was jogging by the lake. As for the specifics …" Lu Zhou looked around and asked, "Is there a blackboard here? If there is, I can explain the problem in detail. "
The reporter said, "That's … not necessary."
The relevant report was released the day after the interview. It was edited by the BBC science program and interspersed with some clips from the report. It restored the original appearance of the interview.
After Lu Zhou watched the news on Youtube, he looked at the comments section.
Unfortunately, the foreign netizens did not seem to be very interested in mathematics and being a genius student. The focus of their attention was all on Vera.
The most liked comments were basically, "This girl is so pretty!", "Want to travel to Ukraine", "Do you have a boyfriend?", "Do you want to find a girlfriend?", etc.
He had to admit that Vera was trying to overcome the weakness in her heart. She stood on the stage and bravely gave the report. She was indeed dazzling. But what was truly worthy of attention was not these boring things at all.
It was too shallow!
Lu Zhou shook his head and closed the video. He did not want to say anything about being ignored by the foreign netizens …
…
The core of the International Congress of Mathematicians was still academic exchanges. There were many wonderful theses and reports that emerged during the conference. In many ways, Lu Zhou gained a lot from this conference.
He spent every day in academic exchanges. The nine-day International Congress of Mathematicians finally came to an end with a group of South American artists singing and dancing.
After the closing ceremony, the conference logo outside the Barra da Tijuca Hotel was taken down. Scholars from all over the world boarded their return flights.
It was worth mentioning that in the end, Bircal still did not find his lost medal.
However, the organizers were very generous and held a special award ceremony to make up for the lost medal. It could be said that there was no irreparable regret left in this conference.
"… The security in Rio is disappointing. There were even participants who were robbed on the beach. There is no doubt that this is the worst ICM conference in history. There has never been a case of a Fields Prize being stolen before, and it happened half an hour after the award ceremony, "Professor Fefferman said as he shook his head on the plane.
The South American mathematics community was unique in the field of dynamical systems, led by Brazil. This was one of the reasons why this mathematics conference was held in Rio de Janeiro.
Even though the International Mathematical Union was concerned about the security in Rio de Janeiro, they did not expect it to be this serious. They did not expect something so embarrassing to happen.
Especially the attitude of the Rio de Janeiro police, which was even more disappointing.
If it weren't for the excellent reports at the conference, this ICM conference could only be described as terrible …
Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Why didn't you come to Beijing to hold it? I can guarantee that even if you dig three feet underground, the lost medal will be found. "
Of course, Lu Zhou felt that it was more likely that the thief was targeted before he could even make a move and was killed as soon as he reached out.
After staying abroad for so long, apart from his family and friends, what he missed the most was the security environment in the country.
Professor Fefferman smiled.
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.
