From small town academic to chief scientist

As soon as Carlos Koenig finished speaking, he motioned for Zhou Yi to step onto the podium. There were computers, microphones, blackboards, large screens, and the most professional cameraman on the podium.

Not long after, as Zhou Yi slowly walked onto the podium, all the top mathematicians in the world stared at this young man who was less than 20 years old.

There was silence at the moment, both online and offline, with no one talking.

If we talk about the entire IMU conference, there are two important things.

The first thing is the confirmation of the four Fields Medal winners, and the second thing is the Kepler conjecture proof paper that has excited mathematicians all over the world.

Zhou Yi smiled shyly in front of countless cameras and said sonorously:

"Hello, seniors, I am Zhou Yi from Daxia University. Next, I will briefly introduce my proof process and answer questions from seniors."

Almost everyone present was calm and looked at Zhou Yi silently.

Zhou Yi inserted his USB flash drive into the computer on the podium, and then copied the simplified version of the paper he had prepared.

"I believe that all seniors already have enough understanding of the history of Kepler's conjecture, so I will not repeat the description and go directly to the topic.

My thinking is somewhat similar to that of Dirichlet and Varnoy in the 19th century.

Introduced a basic concept of split space - Varnoy polyhedron.

Given an arbitrary accumulation of unit spheres in space, the center of the sphere constitutes a discrete point set. Take any center of one of the spheres, and the Varnoy polyhedron defined at that point is the set of all points in space whose distance from that point is no greater than the distance from any other sphere's center.

So Kepler's conjecture is an overall problem and a limit. For this type of geometric problem, only local situations can be dealt with because it involves specific calculations. Therefore, in order to solve Kepler's conjecture, the most important issue is how to effectively transform it into some local form.

Two of them do not intersect with each other and just fill the entire three-dimensional space, so that each ball is included in the corresponding Varonoi polyhedron. In this way, the ratio of the volume of the ball to the volume of the corresponding Varonoi polyhedron produces a local density.

At this point, we only need to prove that each local density is always no larger than π/√18, and then Kepler's conjecture can be proved. "

Zhou Yi spoke very quickly. At the beginning, mathematicians who were not in this field could still understand.

But in the middle period, only professors with in-depth research in number theory and geometry who can keep up with Zhou Yi's speed can understand.

Ding Jian smiled bitterly, shook his head, and said very quietly:

"I can't understand it. I have done too little research on geometry and number theory. It was very difficult to listen to the previous words."

Shan Peng and Liu Gang both smiled bitterly, and they couldn't understand anymore.

Especially Liu Gang, he studies differential geometry, and he can't understand it at this point. The gap between people can be so big.

Among the Daxia mathematicians who came together, only two or three still insisted on listening.

It was just that it became more and more difficult as we got to the back, and Professor Tian finally failed.

While thinking about the content of my report, I felt that the BSD conjecture I had studied was interesting.

Only Zhu Xiaohua, a professor at Beijing University, was still trying hard to follow Zhou Yi's ideas.

He read Zhouyi's paper, but he didn't understand many parts.

Due to his status, when Zhou Yi held a lecture at Chongqing University, he did not attend it.

So it is very difficult now. I feel that after Zhou Yi talks for another page or two, he may be able to lie down completely and think about whether there is anything that can be improved in the content of his report.

Zhouyi turned to the back and said loudly:

“This new theory, which I call Zhou’s geometry, was inspired by some of the original papers of Professor Xiang Yi and Professor Hales, as well as the ideas of Feyesh Toth.

Some are the same, but some are different, so what follows is the core of my paper, and it is also a sharp sword to prove Kepler's conjecture. "

In the previous work, Zhou Yi simply introduced the preparation of the paper and the mathematical methods used, and gave some "obvious" specific proofs in the paper.

Next comes the core!

Qiu Chengtong, Deligne, and Mirno connected with the wheat.

Milno said with emotion:

"I never thought of using their thousands of linear optimizations to create a new geometry. When I first saw this part, I was in awe. It was a genius idea.

The narrative in key language is concise and powerful, with no unnecessary redundancies and no logical illogicalities. "

Deligne also praised:

"It is indeed a new content. It can be said that Zhouyi created a new branch of geometry, but it is still very immature and needs people to add bricks and mortar to it."

Qiu Chengtong said with a proud smile:

"What can I say, I have pretty good taste, right?"

Milno rolled his eyes and cursed bitterly:

"I just can't figure it out. How can I be any worse than you, Qiu Chengtong? How about this, Zhou Yi studies at your place for graduate school and comes to me for his Ph.D.?"

Qiu Chengtong rarely refused immediately, but said:

"I will think carefully about your thoughts."

Schultz, who was under the rostrum in the conference hall, looked at the screen and whispered to Terence Tao next to him:

"The mathematicians of your motherland have come up with a very impressive proof. Compared with Mochizuki Shinichi's unexplained proof of the ABC conjecture,

I prefer to think that Zhouyi's proof is flawless. "

Tao Zhexuan also said very quietly:

"My research direction is not here, so some of the proofs are unclear, and many of the proof processes are even confusing.

To be honest, I haven't been able to understand it for three full months since Zhouyi first published his paper.

After listening to it now, I still don’t understand. "

Schultz somewhat agreed. In the later stages of mathematics, the research directions were different, as if they were separated by a galaxy.

"Keep listening carefully. I feel like there's more to this paper than just that."

Schultz said with a hint of wonder.

At this moment, Zhou Yi talked about the core of the paper. He spoke very slowly and explained in more detail.

The ideas for proving the auxiliary theorem inside are:

The idea used in proving the BAB conjecture was used by Bill Carr, the 18-year Fields Medal winner.

I saw Zhou Yi saying on the stage:

"This method can be regarded as a connection between number theory, algebraic geometry and analysis."

When Zhou Yi said this, countless people were silent.

Is it possible that there really is a grand unity in mathematics?

"This is just a superficial application. There is still a long way to go before the Langlands Program. At least the BSD Hypothesis and Riemann Hypothesis must be proven before there is a chance."

Zhou Yi rarely said a few other words, and then continued to return to the paper itself.

During this process, no one interrupted Zhou Yi, and everyone listened with bated breath.

Zhou Yi spoke for a full two hours, during which time no one interrupted.

They were all shocked by Zhou Yi's incisive proofs, new geometry and complex calculations.

"To sum up, we can prove that every local density is always no greater than π/√18, which means Kepler's conjecture is true!"

After Zhou Yi finished saying this, he stopped talking.

Instead, we are waiting for questions and inquiries from experts in geometry.

At this time, Carlos Koenig, chairman of the conference, stepped onto the podium and said:

"Okay, Zhou Yi's concise proof has been explained. Now everyone here, as well as colleagues who were unable to participate online, can ask questions."

At this time, everyone was stunned and asked questions?

There are indeed a lot of questions.

However, the most authoritative professors in this direction did not ask questions, and many people were too embarrassed to ask questions.

Professor Zong Ming of Daxia Kingdom, Chinese-American Professor Xiang Yi, and many Veblen winners in the audience did not ask any questions.

For a while, the atmosphere became a little awkward.

At this time, Vyazovska from Ukraine said:

"Do you all understand? Anyway, I'm not very clear on some aspects. Let me throw some light on it."

"Zhou Yi, the one hundred types of linear programming mentioned in your article, as well as the assignment function defined based on the sphere, are assisted by computers.

Don't you think this is a kind of questioning of the Pythagoreans?

Kepler's own mathematical thoughts were in the same vein as Pythagoras, and he belonged to the school of mathematical aestheticism.

He believes that mathematics is the most advanced metaphysical science of thinking, and its complete state of judging the authenticity of propositions should be rigorous logical reasoning and concise operating principles. Using the cold and stylized method of computers to solve the unparalleled problems he left behind will undoubtedly lower the height of human wisdom. This is an unacceptable result. "

Vyazowska's doubt is also the most criticized part of Zhou Yi's article. Unless someone has done the calculation himself,

Otherwise, the results can only be obtained by computer.

Zhou Yi looked at this speech and felt a little familiar. Isn't this the question that a certain black man had on Twitter.

Many people also looked at Zhou Yi, obviously waiting for an explanation from Zhou Yi. If there is no problem with this,

Then it can be announced that Kepler's conjecture has been proved successful!

Zhou Yi heard this and said:

"In fact, there are thousands of linear programming similar to this, but after the introduction of new geometric theory, it was reduced to more than a hundred.

For these more than 100 kinds, the calculation is actually not very complicated. The manuscripts I calculated at the beginning were all taken and saved by me. "

After a while, Zhou Yi took out the draft proof that he had calculated personally. One A4 paper after another was arranged nervously and orderly.

Hundreds of pages.

The handwriting of these manuscripts is clear and neat and orderly, completely like a page-by-page paper, not like a scratch paper at all.

At this time, Professor Dennis, the 2022 Abel Prize winner and the winner of the Veblen Wolf Prize in Geometry, said:

"I did this calculation myself. It's no problem. It works. Computers are just an auxiliary means. These more than 100 kinds of linear programming are very sophisticated.

Not surprisingly, these more than one hundred linear programming may shine in computers or artificial intelligence. "

When the old man said it, it basically had the final say.

Vyazovska gave a wry smile and stopped talking. As an expert in this field, after Zhou Yi finished explaining,

She knew whether it was accurate or not, but the computer method was a little hard to accept. She also considered herself to be of the Pythagorean school of aesthetic mathematics.

IMU President Carlos Koenig then connected with Professor Xiang Yi, another authoritative professor in the direction of Kepler’s conjecture.

After Xiang Yi connected the line,

Carlos Koenig immediately asked:

"Professor Dennis has just said his opinion. Professor Xiang, you have studied Kepler's conjecture for decades. I wonder if you have any different views on Zhou Yi's proof?"

Professor Xiang Yi said:

“I confirmed that there was no problem with this paper ten days ago. Professor Zong Ming from Shanghai University who was visiting with me also believed that there was no problem with the proof at all, it was perfect and impeccable.

We are not sure just based on the opinions of our international colleagues, but the two of us believe that Kepler's conjecture can be declared a theorem. "

Three important figures who have studied this conjecture have declared it correct.

The mathematicians from Daxia Nationality present and online were all excited.

These three people are considered authorities in this direction. If all three of them are sure of it, then Kepler's conjecture is likely to ascend the throne and be crowned.

Carlos Koenig immediately contacted Chen Xiuxiong and Simon Donaldson, winners of the 2018 Veblen Prize.

Among them, Simon Donaldson is also a Fields Medal winner.

Chen Xiuxiong looked at his uncle, who was one generation above him, with some emotion.

Unexpectedly, in life, there will be such a powerful uncle, but it doesn’t matter if there are too many such powerful uncles.

For the revitalization of mathematics in Daxia, someone must carry the banner and have a soul-like leader.

Instead of someone from his old rival's lineage carrying this flag,

So why can’t it be people from our school who carry the banner of revival?

Why should they go to Beijing University? Why should they be given to their own ‘master’?

Thinking about all the grievances and grievances in the past, Chen Xiuxiong felt extremely complicated.

Don’t you feel patriotic?

Do you want to go out? Haven't you trained so many mathematical talents for the motherland over the years? Didn't you train the young people who published four major journals at the age of 26?

I tried my best!

Chen Xiuxiong said with a very certain tone:

"We don't have any problems here. We have been studying for three months from publication to now. We have contacted Professor Xiang Yi about some of the doubts.

Today, when I heard Master Zhouyi's explanation, I suddenly became enlightened. We think there is no problem. "

Simon Donaldson then said there was no problem.

Several experts in geometry said there was no problem;

Koenig then contacted Professor Milnor and Professor Qiu Chengtong.

As long as the two professors feel that there is no problem in the end,

Then this paper by Zhou Yi is correct.

At this time, the entire hall was audibly silent,

If nothing else happens, they are likely to witness a history in the history of mathematics today.

The sweat on the palms of many people has already flowed out.

Many doctors and masters who study Kepler's conjectures may have their hands shaking.

Some people are even ready to enjoy the breeze on the rooftop.

The mathematicians of Daxia Kingdom also looked at Koeniglian Maiqiu Chengtong with excitement.

After a while, the transoceanic video was finally connected.

PS: Please vote for me. There are also nights.

Written to a certain short video production boss:

I have been listening to various great authors in the writers group saying that people who make short videos like to lie on the author to suck blood. I have always maintained a skeptical attitude, thinking that they were all joking, but it turned out that this actually happened. On me.

The clown turned out to be myself.

I would like to suggest to a certain creator that if you think my writing is poor, please just open a book and I will learn from it. I like to learn some excellent things.

Please explain carefully what profiling is and teach me a lesson.

As you said, I am a player with no talent. I can understand that my brain is dull and stupid. I am used to it. I have been severely beaten by mathematics, so I am used to it and can accept it.

So what I need more is to study hard. If you open the book, I will study and comment on it right away.

As for the results, they are worse than you expected. I must say this loudly. I am a fool! ! !

The first order was over 1100.

As for the professional content I wrote, I think you should stop talking about it. I look very embarrassed and want to say some professional content, but I’m afraid you won’t understand. I just want to say that I am more professional than you.

Finally I feel like I have the starting material for my next book. interesting!

Things that happen in life are far more exciting than those in novels.