Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 31 Hope is a Genius
Lin Ran smiled and shook his hand, saying, "Thank you, Sir Lincoln." I have long heard of the academic vitality of Hong Kong University, and I hope my arrival can bring new vitality here.

Lin Ran's English had long been adjusted to the most standard American English.

Mathematics Department Head Zhang Tianze stepped forward impatiently and said in Mandarin with a Cantonese accent:

"Hello, Professor Lin, your paper on the proof of Fermat's conjecture was discussed in a month-long seminar organized by the Department of Mathematics at Xiangjiang University.

There are still some doubts that I hope can be answered by you personally.

Your description of birds and frogs has also won everyone's approval. We also hope to hear your views on mathematics learning and doing mathematical research.
Our students are also looking forward to your seminars.”

There was a hint of admiration in his tone. Mathematics is such a subject, the boundary between the strong and the weak is very clear.

Another very important point is that the Department of Mathematics is the subject that values ​​inheritance the most.

In many people's stereotype, mathematics seems to be able to carry out academic research only relying on paper, pen and books. In fact, it is very dependent on inheritance.

Minnesota State University has a project called the Math Genealogy Project, which is an online database dedicated to collecting the academic genealogy of mathematicians. It was initiated by Harry B. Coonce and began in the fall of 1997.

The project aims to compile information on all mathematicians in the world, including all those who have obtained a PhD in mathematics.

For most of the famous mathematicians, you can find a master who was their descendant.

The University of Göttingen became a center of mathematics because of Gauss, the Soviet Union's mathematics was so strong because of the great Euler, and Paris became a center of mathematics because of Grothendieck and other great people.

Later, Princeton became a center of mathematics because after World War II, German scientists fled from Göttingen to Princeton.

In Zhang Tianze's view, Lin Ran, who has the Randolph Program, is the kind of mathematician who can lead Hong Kong University to success.

Lin Ran turned to him and replied in standard Mandarin with a slight smile, "Professor Zhang, you're really kind. I came here to discuss mathematics with students from Hong Kong, hoping they, too, will find some inspiration."

He then added in Cantonese: "Thank you for your welcome."

Although this Cantonese sentence was not very fluent, it drew good-natured laughter and applause from the locals present.

A wealthy businessman named Mr. Huang, a member of the school board, stepped forward and interrupted, "Professor Lin, you are the pride of the Chinese people. You are able to prove a conjecture that has not been proven for hundreds of years. Your return to Hong Kong this time really enhances the prestige of the Chinese people!" He spoke in a loud voice and his face was full of smiles.

The people of Hong Kong were very excited about Lin Ran's visit. On the one hand, it was because he was an important mathematician who was renowned throughout the world. On the other hand, it was said that Cambridge University and Oxford University had also requested that Lin Ran be a visiting professor. However, Lin Ran rejected Cambridge and Oxford but agreed to the University of Hong Kong.

Although it’s because everyone is Chinese, it also boosts the morale of Hong Kong people.

Especially the wealthy Chinese businessmen present, through their connections in the Hong Kong government, knew that Lin Ran’s rejection of Cambridge and Oxford was not just a rumor but a fact.

Lin Ran nodded slightly and responded modestly, "Mr. Huang, you're too kind. I'm just a mathematician, and it's a pleasant surprise to be able to bring honor to the Chinese people. This time in Hong Kong, I hope to help the younger generation of Chinese people grow together."

His tone was calm, yet firm, causing Mr. Huang to nod repeatedly.

At this time, the reporters around could no longer hold back.

First, a reporter from the South China Morning Post squeezed forward, almost poking Lin Ran in the face with his pen. "Professor Lin, what are your plans for the seminar? What knowledge will you impart to our students?"

His tone was urgent, but his English was a perfectly standard London accent. Lin Ran chuckled and replied, "I think the most important thing is to teach them some thinking methods and some interesting math problems, hoping to spark their curiosity."

Lin Ran's answer was flawless.

He can't say, I'm here to teach you the calculus of variations and optimal control theory related to intercontinental ballistic missile trajectory optimization.

It is true that Qian Xuesen was engaged in cybernetics, and the engineering cybernetics he wrote is still used today.

However, optimal control theory did not officially debut until November 1960, when the first International Federation of Automatic Control Congress was held in Moscow, with the emergence of Bellman's dynamic programming method, Pontryagin's maximum principle, and Kalman's LQ theory.

What Lin Ran wants to teach the students in the seminar is not this rough variational method, but an algorithm that will be widely verified in future space races.

Furthermore, considering the current situation in China where there is a lack of computers and we can only rely on manual calculations, this is a specially optimized algorithm.

Take the maximum principle proposed by Pontryagin as an example. He proposed the maximum principle in 1956, and this principle was used in the design of America's Redstone rocket and the Soviet R-7 rocket.

But why China can't use it? Because China doesn't have IBM computers to provide computing power.

The maximum principle is too difficult to calculate by hand.

Lin Ran wanted to teach these theories in public without letting anyone know that they were related to aerospace.

How to use the mathematical language of the future to disguise missile trajectories as a purely academic game?
Lin Ran currently doesn’t know who was sent by China, but he had already mentioned to Huang Yunji, the president of the Chinese American Daily, that he likes to deal with real geniuses.

"I hope the person sent here is a true genius." Lin Ran thought to himself in the crowded scene: "Otherwise, I can redefine the objective function of the optimal flight path as an extreme value problem of functionals, saying that this is the study of extreme value properties in abstract space.

If he doesn't understand, then he's doomed." "Packaging air resistance and propulsion into perturbation operators, and disguising multi-body gravity as the effect of symmetry groups, then he's doomed."

As the conversation unfolded, more and more students gathered around. Several young people in white school uniforms held up homemade signs that read "Welcome, Dr. Lin!"

Someone also drew a big "∞" symbol on the ground with chalk to symbolize the infinite charm of mathematics.

Many heads popped out of the windows of the teaching building. Female students were looking out with binoculars, discussing:
"Did you see it? Did you see it?"

"handsome or not?"

"Laura, let me see the telescope!"

"He's really handsome and young. I wonder who will seize the opportunity in these two months."

"I heard that Professor Lin could make Einstein dizzy with just one word!"

"He's a mathematician, not a physicist!"

"Can you get into his class? I didn't even dare to take the application form!"

Laughter and conversation intertwined, and the air was filled with admiration for the great mathematician.

(End of this chapter)