Chapter 834 Mathematics Conference
Almost at the same time Chang Haonan walked out of the computer room and met Tang Lintian.
Paris France.
A conference that has attracted the attention of mathematicians from almost all over the world is being held at the French Academy.
People all like a sense of ritual.
Mathematicians are no exception.
The last millennium, or the last hundred years starting from 1900, was undoubtedly the golden age of scientific development.
It is hard not to look forward to where science will lead humanity in the new century and millennium that are about to begin.
Mathematics, as the "Queen and Servant of Science", naturally became the center and focus of this great discussion.
And this Millennium Mathematics Conference is the mathematical community's response to this.
However, compared with the academic conferences that were common in the past, the situation today is slightly different.
In addition to mathematicians, there are hundreds of thousands or even millions of spectators around the world who are also paying attention to this.
However, their focus was not on the meeting itself.
Rather, it is a list that will be announced at the meeting.
"Seven Great Mathematical Problems of the Millennium".
Since this reward was first disclosed by several media outlets a month ago, it has quickly sparked heated discussions around the world.
With a series of subsequent guidance, the popularity of the topic even increased instead of decreased.
Now there is a momentum that is eclipsing the Millennium Mathematics Conference itself.
In fact, when the Clay Mathematics Institute proposed to announce the "bounty list" at the meeting, the conference organizing committee initially refused.
Although many mathematicians were already gearing up to win the million-dollar bounty at that time, they were all scholars and had to be somewhat reserved.
However, in the end, it still couldn't withstand the power of money.
Considering that several members of the conference organizing committee are engaged in number theory, and the field of number theory involves a series of well-known mathematical problems that are likely to be included in the list, such as the Goldbach conjecture, the Riemann hypothesis, and the BSD conjecture...
This result does not seem surprising.
In short, after the opening ceremony and the opening speech entitled "The Importance of Mathematics", what is currently underway is the much-anticipated list announcement.
……
In the audience, Maxim Kontsevich, who was about half an hour late, quietly sat down next to British mathematician Andrew Wiles:
"Maybe I haven't missed the crucial moment yet?"
"No."
Wiles shrugged:
“They are still advertising their own research institute.”
Compared to a mathematician, Kontsevich is closer to a theoretical physicist, and his research direction obviously could not be included in the list from the beginning.
Andrew Wiles studied number theory, and his life-long learning was aimed at solving Fermat's Last Theorem.
Originally, this should have been one of the popular candidates today.
The only problem is that Wiles had already completed and published the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem in 1993-1995.
I suffered the loss because I acted too quickly.
So, as two people who had no hope of participating in the competition, they each made their own list of guesses for the seven biggest math problems of the millennium last night and made a bet.
Get ready to see who has the higher accuracy rate.
And soon, the result will be revealed.
"By the way, where is the student you brought here?"
Konzevich suddenly asked:
"That's the one who told you yesterday that he was studying the ABC conjecture."
"You mean Rastegar Arash?"
Wiles' eyes were still fixed on Arthur Jeff who was giving a speech on the stage.
The latter was still introducing content about the history of mathematics at this time, but compared to the blatant propaganda just now, this part was at least closely related to the theme of today's meeting, and it was also an area of interest to many mathematicians, especially older mathematicians.
"He forgot to hand in his report yesterday, so I punished him to watch the live broadcast in his hotel room this morning, so he didn't come to the scene..."
When Arash's name was mentioned, Wiles couldn't help but smile.
Obviously, he is quite optimistic about his student.
Perhaps this is why particularly strict requirements are put forward.
According to the meeting arrangement, there was no substantive academic content in today's morning session.
Even if he doesn't come, it would just be a pity, but it won't really delay anything.
Kong Cevic was just asking casually, and had already shifted his attention to the curtain in front of the venue...
……
at the same time.
In a hotel a few kilometers away from the venue.
Rastegar Arash, who was just mentioned by the two, had a bitter face and was facing a TV and a laptop at the same time.
On TV, of course, there was a live broadcast of the Millennium Mathematics Conference.
On the computer screen, several websites were open at the same time——
Like many doctoral students, he is also responsible for helping both himself and his supervisor keep track of the latest research progress of his peers.
In fact, he lost the opportunity to enter the meeting venue this morning because he did not submit a progress report yesterday.
So now he can only do two things at once.
Of course, the main attention is still on TV.
"The first of the seven great mathematical problems of the millennium... an NP-complete problem!"
"Now, please invite Professor Alexander Reziborov to come to the stage and introduce the basic situation of NP-complete problems..."
"what--"
Arash scratched his hair hard and wailed:
"The chance to witness history... just slipped away..."
Watching this kind of thing through a TV screen and watching it in person are two completely different experiences.
So Arash turned down the volume of the TV a little and prepared to distract himself by working.
He first made himself a cup of coffee to refresh himself, and then sat back in front of the computer.
"Next... let's take a look at arXiv..."
Arash decided to do some light work first.
Since arXiv does not have a peer review mechanism, the articles on it are of varying quality, ranging from preprints released by big names before publishing formal papers to completely unbearable garbage written by amateur scientists.
But in general, the level is still not as good as that of serious mathematics journals.
It also looks relatively easy.
Sometimes you don't even have to think.
As he thought this, he opened the website.
The first thing that caught my eye was——
"Proof: Any simply connected, closed three-dimensional manifold must be homeomorphic to a three-dimensional sphere"
"Why do I feel like I've seen this somewhere before..."
Although his research area is number theory, this title still feels somewhat familiar to Arash.
"and many more……"
He paused drinking his coffee:
"Isn't this... a statement of the Poincare conjecture?"
Thinking of this, Arash's mouth corners couldn't help but curl up:
"Let me see which amateur scientist claims to have solved the problem..."
However, he was only halfway through his soliloquy when he saw the author's name.
CHANG Haonan.
I haven't heard of this.
but……
Grigory Perelman.
I've heard of this before.
"Not a civilian scientist?"
"Or is it just a coincidence of names?"
"Or is it a fake name?"
In an instant, thousands of thoughts rushed through Arash's mind.
To be fair, it's not entirely his fault.
Number theory, because it is relatively not that abstract, has always been the most popular field among amateur scientists, almost without exception.
Especially for those who claim to have solved the Goldbach conjecture, there are at least hundreds of them every year, if not thousands.
In this environment, it was perfectly normal for Arash, who studies number theory, to first react to encountering amateur scientists.
But in the field of topology where the Poincare conjecture lies, the situation is much better.
After all, most people don’t even understand the basic concepts and have no room to develop their ideas.
But no matter what, it is Perelman's name after all.
Arash still clicked on the author's details and took a look.
And then found out...
"WTF... is that really Perelman?"
The remaining half cup of coffee spilled out as his hand shook.
However, it is no longer needed.
When it comes to refreshing the mind, this paper is much better than coffee.
In an instant, Arash's tiredness disappeared.
After staring blankly for a few minutes, he turned his gaze back to the TV.
By this time, Arthur Jeff had revealed the name of the second of the seven puzzles.
Hodge guessed.
But this time, Arash no longer felt any pain or envy.
What kind of history can a small Millennium Mathematics Conference count as?
I am the one who truly witnessed history!
