Published at 20th of June 2021 6:31 pm

Chapter 1576: Palatable

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At first, Lu Zhou had some hope in his heart, that the trouble facing the space elevator project, just like what Chairman Li Guangya said, was just the temporary problems at the beginning of the project.

However, the reality was that one trouble was just the beginning of another trouble.

Now that the problem of site selection was solved, they were back to the design of the space elevator. After that, it wasn’t just the design of the space elevator. The Penglai City project had also been included in the project of the space elevator.

Although he understood Li Guangya’s plan to delegate power to him, with so much work, Lu Zhou, as the chief consultant of the entire project, felt a lot of pressure.

After leaving the institute, Li Guangya, who was sitting in the car, suddenly looked melancholy as he looked outside the car window.

Noting this inadvertently, Wu Shuhua asked casually, “I thought you would be very happy.”

“Happy? Of course I’m very happy.” Li Guangya turned away from the car window and glanced at her strangely. “Why do you ask?”

Wu Shuhua shrugged slightly and said in a casual tone, “I don’t know, maybe your expression makes the air feel heavy.”

“Heavy? Not really, it’s just a little… sentimental.”

“Sentimental?”

“Yes…” Li Guangya sighed and said, “If only it were a century earlier.”

“Sorry, I don’t quite understand what you are talking about.”

Li Guangya smiled, shook his head, and said, “I mean, if I could be born a century earlier, it would be nice to be in that magnificent age.”

I see now why that time period was so magnificent.

His proposal was perfectly palatable for me.

Wu Shuhua: “…?”

…

Over these few days, a message had suddenly spread on the Internet, which was that the Pan-Asian Cooperation planned to build a city on the international waters to be used as an anchorage for the space elevator.

As soon as the news spread, it immediately sparked a lot of controversy on the Internet.

Some people said that this was a good idea, while others shook their heads and sighed, saying that this was detrimental to the international image of the Pan-Asian Cooperation

However, the news was not verified. Regarding the inquiries made at the regular press conference, the spokesperson also said that he did not know about it and reiterated that the Pacific Ocean was the common property of all mankind.

Although the official press spokesperson who was somewhat confused about the Pan-Asian Cooperation’s decision had to emphasize this point over and over again, seeing his statement made the senior leaders of other major regional alliances feel a little relieved.

At Jin Ling University…

Inside a coffee shop in the mathematics research building, several mathematics professors were drinking coffee and talking about the gossip inside and outside the campus.

After chatting for a while, they naturally talked about Academician Lu, a famous man at the school.

“Speaking of which, have you heard that Academician Lu seems to have graduated from the preparatory course?”

“I heard, I heard it a long time ago, haha.” A professor said with a smile, “I think it’s so funny, giving a preparatory course to Academician Lu. Isn’t that unnecessary?”

“Not quite. Although his academic achievements and talents are obvious to all, after all, a century has passed, and many things are different from before. He is willing to take the initiative to understand the rules of this era and how to think about it, so it’s a good thing.”

“I don’t deny this.” The professor said with some emotion, “It’s just that I didn’t expect that after a century, he would be able to teach our students math as soon as he wakes up. Even publishing papers in cutting-edge research fields… It feels like we haven’t made any progress in the past 100 years.”

“Science is inherently a gradual process. From quantitative change to qualitative change, it takes time to accumulate, so you don’t need to belittle yourself.” Another professor said with a sigh, “But what you said is true. The deeper the research, the more I feel, whether it is mathematics or physics, we may have reached the boundary. If we want to make another breakthrough, I am afraid that we can only do it when we step outside the solar system and have a new understanding of the universe.”

“You are too pessimistic.” A professor looked at him with a surprised expression. He took a sip of coffee and continued, “I don’t feel like there is a boundary. After all, there are so many things that can be studied… For example, the recent second-generation controllable fusion, isn’t that an epoch-making breakthrough?”

The professor asked in turn, “There are only a few people who can surpass their own era. Without Academician Lu, would we be able to make a breakthrough?”

They fell silent.

Although they didn’t have to worry about this kind of thing, this question seemed to be crucial.

A slightly chubby mathematics professor, who had not spoken, gently pushed down his glasses and said in an emotional voice, “Our Academician Lu is really amazing… After waking up, he did all this in less than a year. He developed the second-generation controllable nuclear fusion and immediately launched the space elevator project to 500-kilometer vertical orbit. If someone else were to tell me about this, I would think they were lying.”

“Of course! After all, he is a man who stood at the pinnacle of the human mind a century ago.”

“It’s just a pity… He doesn’t think about mathematics at all now.”

The professors sighed again for the choice of this once-in-a-century genius.

Sitting at a coffee table not far away, Professor Sun Jingwen put down the coffee cup in his hand, looked at Academician Qin Chuan, the dean of the mathematics department, and asked casually, “Did Academician Lu say when he will return to school to teach?”

Giving his apprentice a strange look, Qin Chuan answered, “He hasn’t mentioned anything about it… What’s the matter?”

“It’s nothing, it’s just some academic problems. I wanted to ask him for advice, but I couldn’t find the opportunity.” He was hesitating. After a while of silence, Sun Jingwen continued, “Do you think… he will come back to research mathematics?”

“I am afraid that only he himself knows.” Dean Qin smiled. Looking out the window at the students returning to their dormitory after their classes, he continued with a relaxed tone, “I was actually very obsessed with this matter before. I have always tried my best to persuade him to return to the academy and take advantage of his good years to solve some worldwide problems. But after contacting him for a period of time, I understand how he feels.”

“What do you mean…”

“Remember those problems that he singled out in your class on the zero-point distribution of Dirichlet’s L function on your blackboard?”

Most people would be embarrassed about this. However, Professor Sun Jingwen just fell into contemplation and nodded after a long time.

“I understand.”

A hint of approval appeared in his eyes, and Dean Qin, who looked at him, sighed softly.

“A long time ago, I saw a memoir written by Professor Perelman. I remember clearly that he once wrote this in his memoir.

“That was when we just entered the tortuous and abstract labyrinth of the Hodge conjecture. My collaborators, Professor Chen and Professor Ji, coincidentally fell into a dilemma in understanding abstract things. Unlike the Poincaré conjecture, its requirements for abstract geometry exceeded our imagination, so much that I was in pain and unable to extricate myself. I tried to ask him for help, but he did not directly answer my question. Instead, he gave me a meaningful look.

“Perhaps it was just an illusion. At that time, I vaguely felt that he might already know the answer, but he was leaving this treasure to those who had yet to set foot in the same realm as him. I made up my mind and decided to wait until he got back from Mars. I must ask him for his answer to this proposition. It wasn’t until the bad news came from Mars that I stopped asking him for help…”

After repeating the original text of the autobiography, Qin Chuan looked at his student and said with a slight smile, “He yearns for progress in mathematics more than anyone, but what he expects may be a little more advanced than what we can expect.

“A person’s greatness cannot make the whole discipline prosper unless he is willing to share his greatness with others. I think this may be why he did not directly solve the generalized Riemann hypothesis and why he only pointed out the mistake in your argument instead of proving it himself.”

At this moment, Sun Jingwen’s expressionless face finally showed a hint of expression.

“You mean… he has already solved the generalized Riemann hypothesis?”

Dean Qin said with a smile, “Probably.”

“But… when? In the past 100 years when he was dormant? It’s impossible… He wasn’t conscious when he was dormant.”

“It doesn’t really matter when he solved it.” Dean Qin said earnestly as he looked at his student, “The key is that he wants to see us solve it.”

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