From all-round academic master to chief scientist

Lin Xiao left the examination room and bumped into Professor Li Huaimin, whom he had not seen for several days.

"Sure enough, you kid came out so early again."

Seeing Lin Xiao come out, Li Huaimin pointed at him and cursed with a smile.

"Coach, have you been released?"

When Lin Xiao saw Li Huaimin, he also said hello and made a joke.

"What does it mean to be 'released'?"

Li Huaimin said angrily.

As the team leader, he came here on July 3 and participated in the team leaders’ meeting a few days before IMO.

They, the team leader, are responsible for selecting the exam topics and translating the topics, which means that he knows the topics in advance. Therefore, he has been under the request of the organizing committee in the past few days and has not had any contact with other members of the team. So when Lin Xiao and the others talked about Li Huaimin recently, they would tease him about being locked up by the IMO organizing committee.

And now that the last exam is over, he can naturally meet them.

"Yesterday when you were taking the exam, our team leaders from various countries were arranged to travel by Romanian officials. Do you want to show you the photos?"

"so good?"

"That's not the case?" Li Huaimin said, "Forget it, let's not talk about it for now. How do you feel? Can you get full marks?"

Lin Xiao made an "OK" gesture, "Just scold me if you don't get full marks."

"Haha, how dare I scold you now." Li Huaimin waved his hand: "Professor Pompierre wants to talk to you. Maybe you can bring back a Fields Medal to our country in the future, and I will do the same. Take advantage of it."

Although he was not able to meet Lin Xiao and the others directly, he was also present at the opening ceremony, but he did not sit with Lin Xiao and the others.

So he also knew about Lin Xiao's "great achievements" in the past few days, such as having a cordial conversation with the Fields Medal boss at the opening ceremony, and then leaving the examination room less than an hour after the exam started yesterday.

Regarding this situation, he could only say that as an old guy, he should not compare himself with such young people.

When he knew that Lin Xiao had received an invitation from the International Congress of Mathematicians, he was actually a little envious. Now that he thought about it, he just had to keep a normal attitude towards people like this who couldn't be understood by common sense.

"Then we have to see if we have such luck in the future."

Regarding the Fields Medal, of course Lin Xiao did not directly make big claims. To solve the Fields Medal, he probably has to prove some famous conjectures or invent some important mathematical tools to be eligible for selection. He has not done so yet. Qualifications, even if you figure out the distribution of Mersenne prime numbers, you still can't do it.

"Just have confidence in yourself." Li Huaimin smiled, and then said: "Okay, do you want to go back to the hotel now? Or continue to wait for them?"

"I'll go back to the hotel first."

"Okay, go ahead."

Li Huaimin didn't stay either. He knew that Lin Xiao was researching something recently, which seemed to be a world-class problem. He was not interested in researching this kind of problem, and he didn't want to get involved and get a share of the pie.

Moreover, for students like Lin Xiao, if any professor really wanted to steal his achievements based on his status, Li Huaimin would only say "idiot".

There are two types of students who cannot be offended: those with family backgrounds and those with real abilities.

Lin Xiao obviously belongs to the latter, and with his ability, he doesn't look down on those with family backgrounds at all.

Who knows what Lin Xiao will develop into in the future?

If Lin Xiao really becomes a Fields Medal winner in the future and returns to China, even if he is not an academician like Professor Tu Youyou, the attention he will receive at the national level cannot be underestimated.

…

Soon, Lin Xiao returned to the hotel, then turned on the computer without stopping, and continued to work on his thesis.

Now the deadline is less than a week away. If he still can't get it done, he will have to submit it as a phased result, which will also feel a sense of frustration for him.

At this moment, he suddenly saw an email received in his mailbox.

"Is it from Professor Pompieri?"

After seeing the email, Lin Xiao couldn't help but look forward to it.

However, when he opened the email, he was disappointed.

It was sent by the International Mathematical Union.

The content urged him to submit the manuscript quickly.

Although it was said that it was before July 15th, the other party obviously did not think about Lin Xiao's intention to solve the problem of the distribution of Mersenne prime numbers. He just wanted Lin Xiao to sort out the methods in the previous paper. It's not difficult.

Therefore, the other party did not think that Lin Xiao had not finished it even after spending a month.

Looking at the other party's reminder, Lin Xiao couldn't help scratching his hair. What should he do next?

Suddenly, at this moment, he received another email.

The sender’s email address is: EB @mate.ias.edu.

Seeing this mailbox, Lin Xiao thought for a moment and suddenly realized, EB is Enrique Pompieri, and ias is the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

Professor Pompieri wrote to him!

He was overjoyed, immediately logged out of the email from the International Mathematical Union, and then opened the email that was like a life-saving straw to him.

Although there is no guarantee that the manuscripts from Professor Atler Selberg can help me achieve the final result, it can at least bring me some inspiration.

After all, it was the research of a Fields Medal winner. Even if he was unsuccessful, it would be quite valuable to be able to understand some of the ideas embodied in his manuscript.

And if you just have inspiration, then the problem can be solved.

Soon, the email came in. In addition to the attachment, there was also a line of text from Professor Pompieri.

[Hello, Mr. Lin.

Attached is a scanned version of Professor Atler Selberg's manuscript, which includes his research on the distribution of prime numbers in the Fibonacci sequence and Mersenne numbers. I hope it can bring you some inspiration.

In addition, I also sent you my own manuscript. I also conducted research on Mersenne prime numbers. In fact, of course, many respected mathematics professors I know have studied this problem, but they all encountered this problem. There are some difficulties, so I hope you can complete this relay step for us, so that our mathematical community can add more young and energetic blood.

Enrique Pompieri

Attachment (click to download)]

After reading the email, Lin Xiao couldn't help but sigh slightly. Such a pure scholar is really respectable.

Then, he eagerly downloaded the attachment and started reading it.

In this way, more than two hours passed, and Lin Xiao finally came back to his senses, with some relief in his eyes.

Then, he solemnly returned to the email page, replied a letter of thanks to Professor Pompieri, and then also replied a letter to the International Mathematical Union.

[I will submit the report on time before July 15th, please give me time, and then bring a small surprise to this year’s International Congress of Mathematicians. 】