Princeton, New Jersey. Inside a quiet house.
A bald old white man said loudly without turning his head while stuffing clothes into his suitcase.
"I don't have time, go find someone else! Right now, my teacher is lying in a hospital bed. This might be the last time I see him! At least this month, I don't want to see anything related to mathematics. "
The middle-aged man in a suit had an awkward smile on his face, but he was not angry at all.
After all, standing in front of him was the famous Viscount Pierre Deligne, the person who proved Weil's conjecture. He had won the Fields Medal, Crafoord Prize, Wolf Prize, and last year's Abel Prize. He had basically won all the prizes that the mathematics world could give him.
Even the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, which housed the world's mathematical geniuses, could not hide his brilliance.
Davis, on the other hand, was just an ordinary editor at Mathematics Chronicle. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in journalism. He only did some research on mathematics.
Even though Mathematics Chronicle was the son of Princeton University, it was still the "stepmother" of Johns Hopkins University. Not to mention that Princeton was now in charge of Annual Mathematics, which was one of the four kings of mathematics journals. Naturally, Mathematics Chronicle had less and less resources.
In order to maintain the influence of Mathematics Chronicle in the academic community, the editors of Johns Hopkins University Press had put in a lot of effort.
Originally, if it was just an ordinary number theory thesis, it would not be worthy of Davis's attention. However, coincidentally, this technical editor also did some research on number theory. When he first reviewed the thesis, he immediately discovered that the value of the thesis was extraordinary.
There were countless conjectures about the distribution of Mersenne primes, but so far, no conjecture had been proven. Among them, the most beautiful and accurate expression was undoubtedly the famous Zhou's conjecture.
That was, when 2 ^ (2 ^ n) < P < 2 ^ (2 ^ (n + 1)), MP has 2 ^ (n + 1) -1 prime numbers!
However, conjectures were still conjectures.
As long as these conjectures were not proven, they would always be the crown prince.
Only when it was proven could it be upgraded to a theorem and be crowned!
Seeing that Deligné was indifferent, Davis did not give up. He continued to persuade, "Please, Viscount Deligné, in the field of number theory, your research is the best I have ever seen! After reading this paper, I immediately thought of you. For the sake of our many years of cooperation, can you just take a look? "
"Your flattery doesn't work on me." Deligné closed the suitcase and sneered. He said, "I don't need you to tell me."
He wasn't usually this hot-tempered. At most, he was a little arrogant like the other geniuses in Princeton. Normally, if Davis personally brought an interesting thesis to him, he would take the time to study it.
Interesting things, however, depend on the occasion.
His mentor, Mr. Grothendieck, was lying on a sickbed and could pass away at any time.
How could he still have the mood to study math problems? How he wished he could fly to France right now.
Forget about volunteering as an academic editor, he even rejected research projects at the research institute.
Davis tried to persuade him, "Don't you want to bring Mr. Grothendieck a gift?"
"A gift?" said Deligné angrily. He then said, "Bring a pile of waste paper? I might as well buy a bouquet of flowers on the street when I get to France! "
"I promise you, this thesis is definitely not as bad as you think," said Davis sincerely. He then said, "Isn't proving the Riemann conjecture your mentor's lifelong dream? The distribution law of Mersenne primes has been solved. We are one step closer to the crown of mathematics … Even if it's just a small step! I still remember what you said in last year's academic report. The road to the end of the Riemann Zeta function is dark and requires countless candles … Now, the match is in your hand. "
Deligne stared into Davis' eyes and went silent for a while. He then cursed and grabbed the thesis from Davis' hands.
"F * ck!"
In the end, as a scholar, he could not help but be curious.
"Zhou's conjecture proof?" asked Deligné as he frowned.
A few years ago, he had seen countless theses like this. It was only recently that he had seen fewer of them. People who thought that they were smart always liked to pick some seemingly simple problems to solve, but they couldn't even find the thorny path to solve.
If Zhou's conjecture was proven, it would indeed help the research of the Riemann conjecture. After all, the behavior of the Riemann Zeta function ζ (s) was closely related to the frequency of prime numbers, and the Riemann conjecture discussed the case of the equation ζ (s) = 0.
He saw the author's name.
Deligné paused for a second.
Lu Zhou?
Chinese? Or Chinese?
There were many outstanding mathematicians in Asia, but he had never heard of this name …
Deligne couldn't help but feel a bit of contempt in his heart, but thinking that Davis wouldn't fool him with something that looked like a fake product, Deligne patiently continued to read.
The clock on the wall ticked away.
One minute …
Five minutes …
Ten minutes …
Deligné maintained his original posture as he stared at the first page of the thesis. He did not even plan on turning the page.
Davis looked at Professor Deligné and controlled his breathing. He tried not to make any noise that would disturb Deligné's thinking process.
The more he read, the more serious Deligné's expression became.
Another five minutes passed.
He leaned the suitcase against the wall and took the A4 paper back to his study room without saying a word. He then slammed the door shut.
Davis sighed in relief and moved his stiff shoulders. He then sat on the sofa in the living room.
From his years of experience, Professor Deligné's emphasis on a thesis was directly related to how hard he closed his office door.
If he was going to the shredder, there was no need to close his study room door.
Deligné sat in his study room and took out a draft paper from his drawer. He then began to verify the thesis.
The author's argument was clear and logical. The method of application was also quite clever. Lu Zhou could not find any problems at all.
In fact, he couldn't even find anything that could be improved.
What surprised him was that apart from the slightly broken English and the slightly flawed sentences, the author's argument didn't look like a newbie at all.
Too smooth.
It was unbelievable.
He was more willing to believe that there was a trap hidden in these five pages of argumentation that was easily overlooked at first glance!
Can it be hidden from my eyes?
Interesting.
An hour passed by.
Deligné looked at the last line of calculations and went silent for a long time. He then put down the draft paper and sighed. He then said a word in French.
"Impressive."
If it was an hour ago, he would still have doubts in his heart.
But now, he was almost certain that there were no problems with this five-page thesis.
He could not think of anything else to praise.
If possible, he really wanted to meet the author of this thesis. However, he did not have many opportunities in the near future. After he came back from his vacation in France, he would immediately be involved in a new Princeton research institute project. He would be very busy for the next few months.
Maybe this thesis could really attract the teacher's interest?
Although he knew that the possibility was slim, his professor had not studied mathematics for many years.
Davis was pacing back and forth in the living room. He finally turned his attention to the bathtub next to the cabinet. He played with the goldfish inside the fish tank to kill time.
Suddenly, the study room door was pushed open. Deligné walked out with the thesis.
Upon seeing this, Davis quickly stepped forward and asked, "How is it?"
Deligné stuffed the thesis into his suitcase and spoke without looking up.
"I need some time. I'll give you a reply in a week."
Hearing this, Davis held his breath in an instant, his heart filled with excitement.
After working with Lu Zhou for so many years, he knew this professor too well.
If Lu Zhou did not shove the thesis into the shredder, it meant that Lu Zhou could not find any problems with the thesis. If Lu Zhou did not throw the thesis into his hands, it meant that the content of the thesis was enough to attract his attention!
A week was nothing.
Any rigorous academic editor would not pass a thesis hastily. Repeated deliberations and calculations were necessary. Not only was this the rigor of a mathematician, but it was also the basic respect a scholar should have for his field of research!
A world-class mathematics problem was about to be solved.
This was undoubtedly a huge improvement for the academic value of [Mathematics Chronicle]!
As for Davis himself …
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