Chapter 774: Shock in the Mathematical World

In fact, Tian Gang was not the only one who was curious about Chang Haonan.

New Jersey, USA.

In the editorial office of the Annals of Mathematics published by Princeton University Press.

Shortly after the start of work, Richard Hamilton walked into the office of senior editor Michael Lagstedt.

"Professor Hamilton?"

The latter looked up and was a little surprised when he saw the identity of the visitor:

"Why are you..."

"Of course it's because of the paper you gave me to review a few days ago."

Hamilton sat opposite Lagstedt and took out a manuscript from his briefcase:

"I came to Princeton to attend a conference, so I brought it to you on the way."

At this time in the 1990s, the review opinions were still in the online and offline parallel stage, and there were many people like him who wrote the review opinions by hand and sent them back to the editorial office.

But there were still not many cases of sending them in person.

Lagstedt quickly took it in his hand:

"This... so fast?"

From the time the review invitation was sent to the other party to now, it has been less than a week at most.

For a mathematical paper, especially one that can be published in the Annals of Mathematics, this review speed is... very abnormal.

In particular, the author of the paper also claimed that his research would help solve the Poincare conjecture.

Generally, it means that there is a serious basic error somewhere in the article, so there is no need to read the following content.

In other words, it was written by a folk scientist.

No matter how good a serious mathematician is, he will not do such a bad job.

Thinking of this, Lagstedt's expression was a bit ugly.

The editorial department itself is responsible for the preliminary review of the manuscripts.

Such a paper with big problems should not be sent to the reviewer.

If an irrelevant article is really sent for review, and it is sent to a big man like Hamilton, it will be a huge blow to him and even to the reputation of the entire Annals of Mathematics.

Lagstedt suddenly felt a little regretful.

As an editor of a mathematical journal, he graduated from the Department of Mathematics at Princeton with a master's degree, but he knew that he was not a good academic, so he became an editor.

After finding this paper in his mailbox, he read it again.

He found that he could understand it.

In addition, the author wrote about the Poincare conjecture, so he decided to hand it over to several big names in the field of differential geometry for review.

"I knew... there must be something wrong with a paper that even I can understand..."

"Such articles from unknown research institutions and unknown scholars should be more cautious and handed over to some less famous second- and third-rate professors for review..."

Lagstedt thought angrily while flipping through the manuscript brought by Hamilton.

Then he saw -

It is recommended to publish.

"Huh?"

Lagstedt, who had already done enough psychological preparation, didn't even react for a while.

After a moment of stagnation, he raised his head and looked at Hamilton opposite:

"You mean... this paper can be published directly?"

The latter was also stunned.

Lagstedt has been an editor of the Annals of Mathematics for nearly 30 years. To ask such a nonsensical question is like Perelman suddenly asking him whether 1+1 equals 2.

His first reaction must be that there must be some other deep meaning behind this.

However, Hamilton thought for a long time and couldn't think of any other meaning besides the literal meaning, so he nodded:

"Strictly speaking, it is recommended to publish directly. I am just one of the reviewers. Isn't the final decision in the hands of your editorial department?"

"No... I mean..."

Fortunately, at this time, Lagstedt's IQ gradually began to regain the high ground:

"I mean, I didn't expect you to give a review opinion so quickly."

"Speaking of this, I am very interested in this author."

Hamilton sat up and said solemnly.

"So... this article is really like he said, it can promote the proof of the Poincare conjecture?"

Lagstedt also gradually breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's right."

Hamilton nodded, and then suddenly smiled.

"What's wrong?"

Ragstedt's heart was hanging again.

"Nothing, I thought of something interesting..."

Hamilton waved his hand.

In fact, he thought of the last paragraph of the paper that imitated the self-funded Marxist essay.

Mathematics is boring for most people, but not necessarily for mathematicians.

At least Hamilton doesn't mind adding some humorous language to the paper.

"Ahem——"

After slightly adjusting his tone, he cleared his throat and continued:

"The two proofs given in this paper are two tools that the differential geometry community has been looking for. Although they cannot be directly said to be the key to unlocking the Poincaré conjecture, they are at least a step forward in a possible direction."

"I think Perelman should be very interested in this article. Before he returned to Russia last year, he was studying the use of Ricci flow to prove the Poincaré conjecture."

Hearing this name, Lagstedt was also a little helpless:

"I originally thought about sending the paper to Professor Perelman, but I was worried that he would not reply to us for a long time..."

Grigory Perelman's personality is quite weird, which conforms to many people's stereotypes of "weird Russian genius".

"It doesn't matter, he will see it."

Hamilton waved his hand and returned to the previous topic:

"What I just wanted to say is not the content of the article itself, but the way the author writes the paper, or thinks."

Lagstedt did not reply, but showed a puzzled expression.

"This article expands on the theory of Ricci flow. Although it cannot be regarded as a completely new theoretical framework, it still involves some new concepts and new methods. Logically, it should take a long time to fully understand it."

Hamilton paused here, but continued:

"But when I read this paper, I hardly felt any obstacles in understanding. You know, combinatorial Ricci flow is the most cutting-edge research field in differential geometry. Even for me or Perelman, it is quite difficult to explain a completely new result..."

Ragstetter nodded, indicating that he understood what the other party meant-

No wonder he thought he could understand it before.

"This author seems to know where we readers will encounter obstacles in understanding. Almost every step he wrote in the paper is an accurate explanation of these links."

Hamilton held his chin with one hand, his expression serious:

"This reminds me...teacher, to be precise, the enlightenment teacher."

"What do you mean?"

Hamilton took a deep breath and replied:

"Only people with a much higher level of thinking than the readers can write articles in this way."

Ragstedt's pupils shrank suddenly.

If someone else said this, it would be fine.

But this is Richard Hamilton.

What kind of monster is better than him?

For a while, the two people in the office were speechless.

After a while, Hamilton spoke again:

"The wonderful proof that Fermat didn't write down has made mathematicians all over the world work hard for more than 300 years."

"I am worried that if we miss this opportunity, we will have to delay it for another 300 years..."