Chapter 242: Unexpected Surprises

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

A peer review of a major conjecture often would not enforce the double-blind principle. This was because there were not that many people in the field, and many of the juries had to ask Lu Zhou questions.

As soon as the report was over, Lu Zhou received the list of reviewers from [Annual Mathematics].

[Annual Mathematics] was jointly operated by Princeton Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University, so for Lu Zhou, it was almost like a school magazine that was open to the public. This list of reviewers was not sent to his mailbox. Instead, the editor, Evans, personally delivered it to Lu Zhou’s hands.

“… Your thesis will be openly and independently judged by Faltings, Helfgott, Iwaniec, etc. Enjoy the party tonight, you’ll start to get busy from tomorrow,” said Evans with a smile.

Faltings! Iwaniec!

When Lu Zhou saw this list of names, he had a headache.

It was understandable that Helfgott would appear on the list. After all, he was also researching Goldbach’s conjecture. Helfgott was the number one researcher in the world in the circle method. He was like Chen Jingrun with the large sieve method.

However, Faltings was in algebraic geometry, so why was he here?

Although Lu Zhou did use algebraic geometry, he did not use it often.

Lu Zhou took the name list and said, “I hope these masters will be merciful.”

“Merciful? Impossible! This is one of the crowns in analytic number theory,” said Evans with a smile. He patted Lu Zhou’s arm and said, “Professor Saneck of the Institute of Advanced Studies is quite optimistic about your thesis. So, be more confident in yourself. I believe in you, come on!”

Lu Zhou obviously knew who Saneck was. Princeton’s Saneck was one of the famous editors for the Annual Mathematics journal, a 2014 Wolf Prize winner.

Although Saneck was not as strong as Faltings or Iwaniec, he was still well-versed in the field of number theory.

However, due to conflicts of interest, this name list only contained one researcher from the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study and that researcher was not Peter Saneck. Two researchers from École Normale Supérieure were also on that line.

Actually, Evans was wrong.

It was not from tomorrow. The moment his report ended, Lu Zhou had already begun to get busy.

When he left the lecture hall, he was ambushed by the reporters.

“Mr. Lu Zhou, I’m from Princeton Daily. Can I ask if you’ll be teaching at Princeton? Will you return to China?”

Lu Zhou, “Of course, China is my home. I’ll always go back. At the same time, I really enjoy Princeton’s academic environment. This is a good place to do an academic exchange. If Princeton wants to offer me a teaching position, I’ll gladly accept it.”

“Hello, Mr. Lu Zhou, I’m a reporter from the Daily Mail. How do you feel about your report today?”

“I was nervous and excited… Therefore, right now I need to rest, and I really do. You guys can interview my supervisor, Professor Deligne. He has been a huge help. He knows my research very well…”

The reporters gave Lu Zhou a hard time with these technical questions while Lu Zhou tried to escape.

However, he did not know that this was just the beginning.

In the evening, at the banquet at Princeton Hotel, the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study held a dinner party for scholars to meet each other. In reality, this dinner party was just for Lu Zhou.

Other than the Poincaré conjecture and ABC conjecture, the Goldbach’s conjecture was one of the most important academic achievements in recent times. Furthermore, this achievement was in the field of number theory.

When Lu Zhou arrived in the ballroom of the Princeton Hotel, he immediately became the spotlight of the party.

Although he tried to avoid the crowd by going to get food, people would not let him go, and they kept trying to talk to him.

After Lu Zhou grabbed a piece of steak and placed it on his plate, he saw a middle-aged man in a suit walking over with a glass of champagne.

“Hello, I’m John Morgan, the head of mathematics at Columbia University.”

“I’m Lu Zhou, nice to meet you,” said Lu Zhou. He nodded his head and politely shook his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you too. Your research results were quite amazing. Honestly, I have never seen a young mathematician at your level.”

Morgan was a very socially intelligent guy, and his praise almost made Lu Zhou embarrassed.

The two started to chat, and soon after, Morgan started to talk about Columbia University.

“… Columbia University has many outstanding Chinese mathematicians. Like Zhang Wei and Zhang Waowu, they’re very good scholars. You will be able to communicate with many excellent Chinese students at Columbia. It’s definitely the most accepting place toward Chinese students in America. If you want, we can give you a teaching offer.”

Professor Morgan cut straight to the point.

Lu Zhou smiled awkwardly. He wanted to say something like, “I’ll consider your offer”, but Professor Deligne interrupted.

“Those things you said, Princeton can provide them as well.”

Morgan froze. He then looked over and had a weird smile.

“… Deligne? Oh, my friend, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Nice to see you too, Professor Morgan,” said Deligne. He looked at Lu Zhou and said, “I was planning to wait until tomorrow, but since the opportunity is here, I want to announce something.”

When the people nearby heard this exchange, they stopped talking and listened carefully.

Deligne stared at Lu Zhou and spoke with a formal tone.

“Lu Zhou.”

Lu Zhou felt a sense of seriousness. He subconsciously stood up straighter and put on formal expression.

Deligne looked at his student and nodded as he said, “Given the results that you have achieved during your PhD, you have proven your academic ability. After discussing with Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, we decided to grant you your PhD.”

The crowd around Professor Deligne started to applaud.

A few younger students even whistled.

There were both Chinese students and Princeton students from the Ivy Club. They were worshiping this god from the bottom of their heart.

A PhD was nothing special.

Getting a PhD in three months, however, would undoubtedly be written in Princeton’s school history, or maybe even in world history.

However, Professor Deligne had not finished speaking. It was clear that he had more to say.

After the crowd quieted down, he spoke with a calm voice.

“At the same time, Princeton Institute for Advanced Study decided to offer you a faculty position at the Princeton Institute. This is because of the series of major breakthroughs you have made in the field of prime numbers.”

Professor Deligne looked at Lu Zhou with approval.

“The offer will be sent to you along with your degree certificate. Of course, whether or not you will accept that offer, is entirely up to you.”

The few old professors were not surprised. However, those who were younger held their breath.

Maybe some people thought that the title of a professor was nothing special.

However, this was the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, the world center of mathematics!

In addition, Lu Zhou was only 21 years old…

Jealousy almost turned into resentment…

Morgan stopped speaking. Instead, he shrugged and had a hopeless expression.

Columbia University was no match for Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. Even if Morgan offered the position of head of the department, Lu Zhou might not even accept.

Lu Zhou was stunned by this question.

He took a deep breath.

“… What is the offer?”

Professor Deligne spoke in a tone that implied redundancy.

“Of course it is for a full professorship, what else could it be?”

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