Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 19 Rising to Fame
"Randolph, have you ever thought about coming to France to work for a few years?
At the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in Paris, Jean Dieudonné, René Thom, Louis Michel, David Ruelle and I were about to embark on some important work in algebraic geometry.

You should have seen the report I gave at the mathematics conference two years ago, in which I talked about the work we will do in the next ten years.

After looking at the mathematical map you showed me, I have a lot of new ideas about the work we need to do. It is possible that we can unify different mathematics at the level of internal logic in this century.

Different subdivision directions are just different in form of expression, but they all have a unified core.

I believe that with your participation, we will be able to achieve all this more quickly.” Grothendieck did not speak French, but instead directly extended an invitation to Lin Ran in less than standard English.

He spoke English slowly and even slurred.

If Lin Ran is really a mathematician, then such an opportunity would be enough to make him excited and unable to sleep, working with a group of top mathematicians and doing work that could have a profound impact on the future of mathematics.

With his abilities, it is almost certain that he will take over the title of Pope of Mathematics.

Unfortunately, Lin Ran is not very interested in theoretical mathematics. To him, mathematics is a tool to help better achieve space goals, not an end in itself.

"Professor, I'm sorry I don't speak French and I don't want to leave America. I'm in New York, and we can keep in touch via fax." Lin Ran looked at the young and famous mathematician and declined.

Grothendieck did not invite him again, but said: "Okay, feel free to communicate with me if you have any ideas. Fuchs has my fax address."

Then he grinned again: "I don't want the same thing I did in college, where I rediscovered measure theory and Lebesgue integrals, to happen again. We shouldn't waste too much time on meaningless things."

Grothendieck studied at the University of Montpellier. He stopped attending classes after he found that his teachers were just reading from textbooks. According to historical records, Montpellier at that time was one of the most backward universities in France in teaching mathematics.

In such an environment, Grothendieck rediscovered the concepts of measure theory and Lebesgue integral through his own efforts.

This is similar to how Einstein developed the theory of statistical physics based on his own ideas.

"I understand, Professor, of course I do."

After the entire academic conference ended, when all mathematicians agreed that Fermat's conjecture was proved by Lin Ran, it turned from a conjecture into a theorem.

The paper was not published in any mathematics journal.

At that time, "Advances in Mathematics" had not yet been published, "Acta Mathematica Sinica" was a Swedish magazine, "Annals of Mathematics" was a journal managed by Princeton University, and "Journal of the American Mathematical Society" had to wait until the late 80s.

These mathematics journals all wanted to publish Lin Ran's paper on the proof of Fermat's conjecture in the form of a special issue. Some of the highest-ranking second-rate academic journals offered a sky-high manuscript fee of $10,000.

You should know that at that time academic journals did not pay for publishing papers, but instead charged the authors money.

Taking the Annals of Mathematics as an example, the publication charges for long papers are approximately between US$200 and US$500.

Only papers of the level of Fermat's conjecture, which can elevate the quality of the entire academic journal, can receive such treatment.

Columbia University did not want to make things difficult for other academic journals, especially the Annals of Mathematics. In addition, under the circumstances at the time, the mathematics community itself needed new top journals.

Upon hearing the news, American Academic Press, the future publisher of Advances in Mathematics, approached Columbia University. The two sides hit it off, and they teamed up to jointly publish a new, top-tier mathematics journal. Advances in Mathematics was brought forward from its original 1965 publication date to 1960, and Lin Ran's proof of Fermat's conjecture became their first publication.

There is no royalties, but Columbia University provides him with a long-term special research fund of US$20,000 each year on the grounds of long-term research projects.

After Tsung-Dao Lee won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957, Columbia University gave him the same treatment.

In addition to special research funding, Columbia University also gave him the James Madison Professorship.

These chairs are endowed, often with donations from alumni or businesses, and come with an additional stipend. James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, holds an endowed chair that comes with an additional stipend of $1 per year.

This means that compared to ordinary mathematics professors, Lin Ran receives an annual salary of $3 more from Columbia University.

In addition, the implicit benefits provided by Columbia University include reduced teaching hours and provision of full-time assistants.

Of course, there is more than that. The real subsidy comes from the Rockefeller Foundation.

The Rockefeller Foundation gave him a long-term grant of $5 a year.

That is to say, in 1960, Lin Ran's annual salary package was close to 10 US dollars.

"I never expected that I would be able to enjoy an annual salary of $1960 in 10. This is almost the same salary as a mid-level programmer in Silicon Valley in 2020," Lin Ran thought.

In addition to the financial treatment, the extensive coverage by various media outlets has further elevated his fame.

Previously, only the New York Times reported it, using expressions such as suspected, seems, and possible. Now it has been proven.

On the surface, Lin Ran graduated from the University of Göttingen, and because of his Chinese descent, he was given titles such as "The Pride of the Chinese" and "Chinese Gauss" by various newspapers.

Compared with the "Parity Violation" for which Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao won the Nobel Prize a few years ago, Lin Ran's Fermat's conjecture is much easier to explain.

The extended Randolph Program was even praised by some mathematicians as having pointed out the research direction for mathematics throughout the 20th century.

This gives us a lot of content to write about.

There are even related reports in mainland China, but Lin Ran's nationality information is hidden in the reports in China, emphasizing his Chinese identity.

Because Lin Ran accepted the invitation to be a professor at Tsinghua University, 4v praised Lin Ran to the skies in their local newspapers, almost saying that he was the greatest mathematician of the 4th century, but fortunately they added the word "one of".

The Chinese newspaper "American Chinese Daily" founded in New York vigorously promoted its significance to the Chinese.

"In the presence of numerous mathematicians, the young Chinese-American mathematician Randolph Lin announced the solution to Fermat's conjecture. The theory contained in it will change mathematical research in the 20th century and beyond, and it also demonstrates the great potential of Chinese people in the field of science."

(End of this chapter)