Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 16 Unexpected Visitor
"Professor Grothendieck, news came from New York that a young Chinese professor named Randolph Lin at Columbia University has proved Fermat's conjecture.

At the same time, he used a very new method, which can transform number theory problems into complex functions. It is said that the complete proof has a lot of similar content, connecting the mathematical content of different fields.

Now people in New York are asking you if you would like to attend Professor Randolph’s academic lecture on Fermat’s Last Theorem?
If you wish to attend, they will postpone the academic presentation until you arrive in New York."

At this time, Grothendieck was teaching in Paris. There is no distinction between you and you in English, but there is in French.

Initially, Columbia University only planned to invite mathematicians from American universities to discuss the issue. Later, the contents of both Fermat's conjecture and the Langlands program were too shocking.

After learning the news, mathematicians spread it from one person to another, and the news quickly reached Europe through transoceanic telephone calls and faxes.

Columbia University thought, since the news has already spread, why not invite Grothendieck, the greatest mathematician at the time (perhaps the greatest mathematician of the time), to attend Randolph's academic conference.

After Lin Ran sent his 150-page paper on Fermat's conjecture to Princeton University, the Department of Mathematics at Princeton University held a meeting for three days and three nights to discuss it. Everyone concluded that there were no major problems in principle, but there were still some doubts that required further explanation from Lin Ran.

If you don't write your math paper clearly enough, the easy proofs and easy results in it may not be easy at all in the eyes of others. These need to be explained in detail in the form of an academic report.

With the endorsement of the Princeton Department of Mathematics, Professor Fox had enough confidence to invite Grothendieck to participate, at least there would be no major mistakes.

With so many talented people gathered together, Fox obviously did not want to give up the opportunity to show his face in front of the global mathematics community.

"Randolph Linn? Why have I never heard of this name?" Grothendieck asked his assistant.

The assistant said, "I don't know the details, but this is the latest New York Times report about Lin. This is faxed from Columbia University, their proof of Fermat's conjecture."

The assistant handed Grothendieck two copies of the document. He first picked up the New York Times, where the front-page headline read:

A 333-year-old puzzle in mathematics has finally been solved: Columbia University professor declares the end of Fermat's conjecture

It is reported that Randolph Lin, a Chinese-American professor in the Department of Mathematics at Columbia University, is suspected of proving the Fermat Conjecture, which spans 333 years. The Fermat Conjecture was proposed by French mathematician Pierre Fermat in 1637 as his final theorem. Its content is: There are no three positive integers such that when they are greater than 3, the Nth power of two numbers is equal to the Nth power of the third number.

After a quick glance, Grothendieck picked up the other party's paper on Fermat's conjecture.

The office fell silent for a moment. When he saw the paper's construction of the relationship between elliptic curves and modular forms, he suddenly said, "Haite, help me book a ticket to New York as soon as possible."

Similar conversations have appeared among many European mathematicians.

After reading the part of the paper about the Langlands Program, everyone realized that the mathematical world was about to be shaken.

Regardless of whether the other party's proof of Fermat's conjecture is correct, the bridge connecting number theory, arithmetic geometry and complex functions contained therein is not false, the mathematical ideas contained therein are not false, and the automorphic representation theory proposed by the other party can be applied to too many aspects.

Anyone who can understand this paper will be able to resist booking a flight to New York.

The person who reacted most strongly was Andrew Weil, who was already in New York. If Lin Ran hadn't been staying at Horkheimer's house, he would have wanted to talk with Lin Ran all night long. This was because the mathematical ideas and methods used in Lin Ran's paper were almost the best applications he had envisioned.

"Sure enough, I was right. There's a close relationship between number theory, algebraic geometry, and group representation theory! Randolph, you're a genius! Perhaps you'll become an even greater mathematician than me!"

However, Andrew Weil expressed dissatisfaction with Lin Ran studying for a doctorate in philosophy with Horkheimer: "Randolph, you shouldn't study philosophy with him. This is a waste of your talent.

You are still young, and you need to devote more energy to mathematics instead of plunging into philosophy so early.

Besides, Horkheimer is a coward. There will be no good outcome if you follow him!"

After repeated inquiries from Lin Ran, he finally learned that André Weil's sister, Simone Weil, was also a philosopher. Horkheimer had long since fled to America, away from the European battlefields, while his sister, Simone Weil, had persisted on the front lines against the Nazis in Europe, ultimately sacrificing her life due to overwork and poor health.

In Andrew's opinion, anyone who chooses to run to America is a coward.

I forgot to mention that they are all Jewish.

"How dare Andrew say that to me? He himself came to America during World War II, and it was me who introduced him to teach at the University of Chicago. How dare he call me a coward?" Horkheimer's face was full of disbelief after hearing what Lin Ran said.

When Lin Ran relayed this to Andrew during the day, the other party was also filled with indignation: "My situation is different from his. I came to America after being arrested in Finland for engaging in NAZI deduction activities.

If Rolf Nevanlinna hadn't shown up, I would have been shot in a Finnish prison. Horkheimer escaped without a fight. How could this be the same?

After Grothendieck's time was set, Lin Ran's academic report on Fermat's conjecture at Columbia University was also set on the last day of January.

In addition to the mathematicians who came in droves, Lin Ran was a little surprised that a special person came to him.

"Mr. Lin, my name is Zhou Shukai, and I'm the Consul General of the United Nations in New York. In addition to my consular duties, I'm also responsible for overseas Chinese affairs. After hearing about your outstanding achievements in mathematics, I came to congratulate you. This is a small gift from me, please accept it."

Zhou Shukai, former secretary of Gu Weijun, is a veteran diplomat.

Lin Ran guessed that the other party came to win him over after seeing the report in the New York Times.

But the other party's sensitivity is also amazing.

Lin Ran took the envelope from the other person and could guess by just touching it that there were 10 $100 bills inside. "What a generous deal," he thought.

Lin Ran thought that if China made rapid progress in the aerospace field in the future, building a good relationship with 4V would be a way to avoid risks.

(End of this chapter)