The unparalleled talent of the country started from Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 140, Academic Seminar
On April 18, 1979, in the Peking University dormitory, Yang Nianzhen got up early in the morning, packed up, and immediately went to the library.

Seeing how hard she worked, her roommates all got up and went out in no particular order.

Peking University is the top university in the country and the learning atmosphere is very good.

In the library study room, Yang Nianzhen was still thinking about one thing: Is it possible to meet Wang Duoyu again?

If she could meet him again, she would definitely ask him how to understand the paper.
Ever since she met Wang Duoyu in February, especially after learning about his identity at the lecture in Tsinghua University, Yang Nianzhen has always wanted to ask this question.

Almost two months have passed, and she still hasn't understood the paper. She only understood the first four pages of the paper in February, and now she has only understood the first eight pages.

This paper is so difficult!
It’s a pity that Wang Duoyu will probably not come to Peking University Library again. After all, he must be very busy now.

At 9:20 in the morning, many classes in the Department of Mathematics had been suspended, and most people walked towards the auditorium, mainly to attend today's academic conference.

Yang Nianzhen, Ding Haiyang and others were also in the crowd and followed the flow of people into the auditorium.

"Wow, I see, those are foreigners. This is the first time I've seen so many foreigners. They're all quite tall."

Many students on one side of the auditorium saw many foreigners who had just arrived here and immediately exclaimed.

Many foreigners look quite tall because what they see now are people from several countries such as the Polar Bear Empire and Germany. Coincidentally, these people are all quite tall, with an average height of over 1.8 meters.

It's just like the Olympics. If you happen to see a group of basketball players, you will immediately notice that they stand out from the crowd.

Therefore, when Peking University students saw this scene, they were really envious.

"Hey, Sister Xiaohong, what a coincidence, you just arrived too." Yang Nianzhen saw Qian Xiaohong and others queuing to enter the auditorium, and couldn't help but strike up a conversation with them in surprise.

Qian Xiaohong is a graduate student at the Institute of Mathematics, and of course she will attend this academic conference.

I just didn't expect to meet you by chance.

After the meeting, Yang Nianzhen couldn't wait to ask Qian Xiaohong which page they had read of the paper.

Yang Nianzhen has an equally strong desire to win and a thirst for knowledge, and he has a particularly strong sense of self-esteem.

Just as she was chatting with Qian Xiaohong and others, Zhu Hanting, Jian Xianglan, Dai Yian, Rong Guangxia and others also arrived from the other side of the team.

Maybe it was because Yang Nianzhen and the others were chatting a little too loudly, but after Zhu Hanting and the others heard it, they all wanted to join in.

Xue Xiaoling was also in the team, but when she heard that Yang Nianzhen had actually understood the eighth page of the paper, she couldn't help but widen her eyes and interrupted:
"Hello, professor, have you understood the first eight pages of the paper? You're so good! What's the argument in the second paragraph on page five? Could you please explain it to me? I really want to know."

In order to understand the four-dimensional Poincare conjecture paper written by Wang Duoyu, Xue Xiaoling has become a little crazy and asks everyone she meets.

The effect was very good. With her ability, she probably couldn't even understand the first page of the paper, but because of her hard work, she was able to understand the first four pages. However, starting from the fifth page, she felt exhausted and needed to spend more time and energy to study.

But the efficiency was still not very good. Since she couldn't ask Wang Duoyu for help, she could only ask for help from her subordinates.

"I am not a teacher!"

Yang Nianzhen's face turned red and he quickly explained.

She was surrounded by her classmates, so how could she dare to recognize her teacher?
Before Xue Xiaoling could continue asking questions, the team had already moved forward. She could only sigh helplessly and fall silent.

In a scene like today, she was destined to be here just to make up the numbers.

There are probably no more than 500 people who can understand Wang Duoyu’s academic lecture, right?
But today, more than a thousand people entered the auditorium. The exact number is still unknown.

Anyway, quite a few foreigners have come, and there are also quite a few professors and students from other universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Harbin Institute of Technology, etc.

At this moment, a lot of people came outside, also foreigners, but it was obvious that they were from India this time.

"Professor Galeva, this Chinese mathematical genius must be something they've exaggerated, right? How could such a great Eastern nation possibly have such a genius? They might be good at fighting, but they're definitely not good at math."

Kunal, a bearded white student from the Indian mathematics team, said this with a sarcastic expression.

Kunale knew that the Chinese were very good at fighting because when he was six or seven years old, his country fought a battle with China on the plateau.

It’s a pity that their Indian capital was almost overthrown by China that time.

Kunal's home is in New Delhi, and he still remembers the scene of him being carried on his father's shoulders and running away for his life, so he is deeply impressed by this incident.

He knew that the Chinese were good at fighting, but when it came to mathematics, Kunale didn't admit it.

After all, there is very little news about China in the international community, and news about mathematics is almost unheard of.

However, in November last year, Wang Duoyu's paper came out of nowhere and shocked the global mathematics community, including the Indian mathematics community.

Kunal is a top student at the Indian Institute of Technology, with excellent math scores. This is his second year of doctoral studies, and it won't be long before he graduates with a doctorate.

He believed that he would be able to become a professor soon.

However, Wang Duoyu's paper made him very distressed, because the doctoral thesis he had prepared before was related to the manifold of four-dimensional space.

As a result, because of Wang Duoyu's thesis, he had to choose another thesis topic.

More than a year's hard work was wasted, and Kunale hated Wang Duoyu to death.

He has now re-chosen the topic of three-dimensional manifolds to challenge higher difficulty. He does not believe that Wang Duoyu can still master this direction.

"Kunale, you have to know that Chinese people may not be very good at math, but you are in China after all, so you'd better not say such things."

Professor Jialewa advised earnestly:
"Since you've chosen a topic in the field of three-dimensional manifolds, then focus on that direction and avoid any further distractions."

"Also, you may not admit it, but the Chinese math genius giving the presentation today has already made some achievements, while you don't have anything worth mentioning. So, you better listen carefully."

Upon hearing this, Kunale impulsively retorted:
"Professor, don't worry. I already have a direction. I will definitely advance the proof of the Poincare conjecture in three-dimensional space before anyone else does. I won't let anyone else beat me to it!"

"I didn't tell you before because I haven't finished writing the paper yet, but the main body of the paper is clear, and I believe I will definitely prove three-dimensional space."

After these words were spoken, Jialewa and others all stared at Kunal in shock, unable to react for a long time.

It was not until someone urged him from behind that Professor Galeva looked at Kunal excitedly and said:

"Kunale, have you really completed the main body of the paper? When will you be able to complete the proof of the entire paper?"

Is Kunale a mathematical genius?

Of course he did. The fact that he was able to be admitted to the Indian Institute of Technology shows that he is quite talented, not to mention that he is also a top student in the institute.

Although I am already 27 years old this year, I am not young anymore.

But you have to know that it was after 1972, or more precisely, in 1976, that Shing-Tung Yau became famous. He proved the Calabi conjecture using the method of nonlinear differential equations, which shocked the global mathematics community and his success has been unstoppable since then.

And Kunal's experience is entirely possible to replicate that of Shing-Tung Yau.

On the other hand, Kunal had never told a lie, and as he was of a high caste, he was not the kind of person who would lie, and did not need to lie.

So Professor Galeva believed what Kunale said, that is, the latter might have really verified some of the properties of manifolds, and might have advanced the proof of the Poincare conjecture in three-dimensional space, or come up with more useful mathematical tools.

Lahar, Jedin, Hendrika and others were also very excited and surrounded Kunal, wanting to say something but stopping themselves.

There were many people queuing around, all looking at him curiously, but they didn't understand Hindi, so they didn't say anything.

"Of course!" Kunale nodded in agreement, and Professor Galeva immediately said:

"Let's go back to the hotel. Don't attend this lecture. Go back and write your paper as soon as possible. Don't let others get ahead of you."

After saying that, Professor Galeva planned to take Kunale back to his residence and give up attending this lecture.

But Kunale refused, and he was a little panicked.

He definitely couldn't not participate. He had finally come to Beijing, and if he didn't exchange ideas, wouldn't his trip be in vain? As for the paper on three-dimensional manifolds, he had indeed done a lot of work and research, but to be honest, it was still a long way from being a complete paper.

After some commotion, Professor Galeva temporarily agreed to Kunal's proposal and continued to attend the lecture.

However, from now on, their mentality seems to have changed again.

In the classroom building of the Department of Mathematics at Peking University, in the department head's office, Wang Duoyu and Zhu Ling arrived here early and sat down.

The latter was particularly bored, but still pretended to listen attentively. In fact, she was daydreaming: Why did time pass so slowly?

She had previously requested to attend Wang Duoyu's academic conference, and he actually applied for a spot for her.

Then this morning, she and Wang Duoyu came to Peking University early.

Wang Duoyu was preparing for the upcoming lecture, and she was just there to make up the numbers, just sitting aside reading a book.

However, Duan Xuefu, Wu Congxin, Tao Fangqi and others were all in the office, so after a while, everyone started chatting.

The topics they talked about were completely beyond Zhu Ling's understanding.

But even if you don’t understand, you have to pretend to understand.

Anyway, the important thing is to participate.

Around half past nine, a staff member came to inform us that it was almost time to go to the auditorium and wait.

Auditorium, waiting room.

At this time, Wang Duoyu was the only one waiting here. The others had already sat down inside. After a while, the report meeting would officially begin.

Just now, Wang Duoyu already knew that there were a lot of people attending the lecture today. Anyway, he took a quick look and could describe it as a huge crowd.

Thousands of people gathered together is actually a lot.

It is not known how many people can understand this lecture, but it does not matter. For Wang Duoyu, what he needs to deal with is not those who cannot understand, but those who want to challenge him.

If Wang Duoyu guessed correctly, then there must be many people in India, Great Britain, the United States and other places who want to find fault with everything.

Although he has made mental preparations and there is absolutely no problem with this paper, it is hard to say what will happen if someone makes a stupid mistake.

Smale, Charles Fefferman, John Milnor, Robert Langlands and others also entered the auditorium one after another. They were all big shots and came in late, but they all sat very close to the front.

As time went by, the report meeting was about to begin.

The entire auditorium was packed with people, it was crowded with heads.

"Teacher Wang, it's almost time to start!"

At 9:58, the staff came in. Wang Duoyu, who was in the waiting room, stood up immediately and walked up to the podium with light steps.

Behind him was the blackboard. In front of him, there should be thousands of people, or even more. He couldn't be sure of the exact number for the moment.

Looking ahead, Wang Duoyu smiled and said:

"Good morning, everyone. Thank you for traveling so far to attend this seminar. The theme of my seminar today is: The compact four-dimensional manifold of a four-dimensional sphere is actually topologically equivalent to this four-dimensional sphere."

He didn't say too much politely and got straight to the point after just a few words.

Zhu Ling, who was sitting at the side, looked at him with pride in her eyes, but her happiness did not last long, as she could not understand what he said next.

Moreover, Wang Duoyu did not lecture in front of everyone all the time, but wrote on the blackboard while lecturing.

Wang Duoyu's report was originally in English, which was difficult for Zhu Ling to understand. She was even more confused when he also talked about mathematics.

“So, so many people don’t understand?”

Bored Zhu Ling couldn't help but turn her head cautiously and look behind her, and then she laughed instantly.

Because when she looked at the people in the back row, she immediately noticed that a large group of people had blank eyes and dull expressions.

Although I tried very hard to pretend to be listening carefully, it was too profound and I couldn't understand it at all.

Therefore, in an instant, Zhu Ling was balanced.

It turns out she wasn't the only one who didn't understand!

But because of this, she looked at Wang Duoyu with even more admiration.

Even though so many people couldn't understand it, it still attracted so many people to attend this lecture.

In fact, what Zhu Ling didn’t know was that the number of participants in this lecture had actually far exceeded that of the International Congress of Mathematicians.

In previous years, there were three to four thousand people attending the International Congress of Mathematicians, but it is impossible for three to four thousand people to attend a lecture. The most likely number of people would be one to two thousand.

The main reason is that many people are not researching in that field, and many of them are masters and doctoral students. When they go to the International Congress of Mathematicians, the most important thing is to participate, and they cannot learn anything.

This time, the number of people attending Wang Duoyu's lecture was close to two thousand.

It seems that the corridors and many other places are crowded with people, but in fact most people are just participating and feeling the atmosphere.

Zhu Ling did not look around, but sat up straight and pretended to listen attentively.

Although it was a bit difficult, who could blame her because the person standing on the podium was her man?

Kunale was also listening attentively, but he was not just listening to the lecture, he was thinking seriously.

He has given up on the field of four-dimensional manifold properties, but he still wants to find a breakthrough to see if he can embarrass Wang Duoyu.

In front of him was a special issue of the Annals of Mathematics. The paper in this special issue was the paper that Wang Duoyu would be talking about today.

He had read this special issue countless times, and the entire issue was a bit worn out.

Chern smiled slightly, and suddenly Andre Weil, who was sitting next to him, whispered:

"Professor Chen, this little genius is truly amazing. This must be his first time speaking in front of so many people, right? But he's not nervous at all and seems completely calm and composed."

"I didn't have much contact with him, but from what I know, he must be a very confident young man. You know, when I invited him to study in the United States, he turned me down without giving it much thought."

"Oh, really? This young man is really different."

On the other side, Hua Luogeng, Wu Wenjun and others also nodded repeatedly, fortunately nothing happened.

Su Buqing didn't look back. He kept staring at Wang Duoyu and listening attentively.

This is the first time that China has hosted such an international exchange meeting. Although Fudan University is not the organizer, it can still strive to participate next time.

Wang Duoyu is currently an undergraduate student at Harbin Institute of Technology, but what about his master's and doctoral degrees? And what does his future hold?

So, Su Buqing thought a lot and he thought that Fudan still had a certain chance, just because Wang Duoyu seemed a little averse to schools in Beijing. It was probably because he didn't like the atmosphere in Beijing very much, right?

Perhaps it has a lot to do with what happened in the past decade or so.

It is more likely that Wang Duoyu wants to stay away from politics and just wants to engage in academic research.

Time passed slowly and Wang Duoyu spoke very slowly because two hours was more than enough time for the report.

If he gave a one-hour report, it is estimated that less than a hundred people would be able to understand it, but if it lasted two hours, more than two hundred people would be able to understand it.

(End of this chapter)