I Just Want to Be a Quiet Top Student

On the streets of the United States, randomly interview ten citizens and ask them: "Who is the greatest mathematician of our time?"

Nine out of ten citizens would answer, "John Nash."

Nash and his "A Beautiful Mind" are too famous, and there are very few film and television cultural works related to mathematicians, so everyone remembers Nash.

Princeton regards Nash as a valuable asset of the school, and the poster of "A Beautiful Mind" is always posted on the information bulletin board on the first floor of the mathematics department building.

Nash has made outstanding contributions in game theory, which is the unanimous consensus of all the professors present.

Professor Milnor has made greater achievements in perfecting systems such as differential topology and K theory, which is also the consensus of the professors.

These big cows pay attention to the establishment of the system, and they only have two professional standards for measuring the level of mathematicians: system and innovation.

In today's mathematics world, it is becoming more and more difficult to innovate in the true sense. The integration system has become a reliable way to prove the Tao, and at least there is hope in one's lifetime.

With a completely innovative and rigorous large-scale system, whoever can fiddle with this thing, the entire mathematics world will have to kneel down to you.

Professor Milnor has devoted his life to system integration, and the three major mathematics awards are the best affirmation of his career.

"A toast to John Milnor." Director Fefferman raised his coffee cup.

"John Milnor."

"John Milnor."

Everyone raised their glasses, chanting the name John Milnor.

Americans are like this, as soon as they are inspired and feel the position, they like to celebrate or pay tribute to something or someone, from the heart and with sincere feelings.

Professor Milnor smiled slightly, accepted the salute from everyone, and said: "I was born in New Jersey and spent my whole life in Princeton. I think it's time to leave."

"No John?"

"Where are you going?"

The professors and doctoral students were surprised, why did the old man leave just as he said?

Mirno said: "I am in my eighties and it is time to take a break. I sold my house in the United States. Fortunately, I can buy a house with three times the size in Oristano for the same price."

Oristano is a small town on the island of Sardinia, Italy, a holy place for vacation.

"So John, you are going to Sardinia to enjoy your life." Director Charles Fefferman understood that Professor Mirno was retiring and was about to bid farewell to the rivers and lakes.

"I'll send you a postcard, Charles." Professor Milnor said with a relaxed face.

Director Fefferman put down the coffee cup, walked to Professor Milnor, took out an exquisite signature pen from his pocket, and solemnly placed it on the table in front of Professor Milnor.

"Serve for the country, for every country." Director Fefferman stretched out his right hand for a handshake, with a respectful expression.

Professor Milnor didn't get up, he nodded with a smile, and sat shaking hands with Director Fefferman.

The originally relaxing coffee time suddenly became solemn.

Next, Edward Witten walked up to Professor Milnor, also placed a signature pen, and shook hands with Professor Milnor respectfully: "Serve the country, and serve every country."

As if rehearsing in advance, Faltins, Linden-Strauss, Okunkov, Hirst, Lenci and dozens of winners of F, W, and A awards, they repeated the same things.

Every big cow gave Professor Milno a signature pen, saying the same sentence: "Serve the country, and serve every country."

"Serve the country, serve every country" is the unofficial school motto of Princeton, which is not heard at ordinary times, but can be heard on some special occasions.

Dozens of pens of various types have been placed in front of Professor Milnor, neatly lined up.

People with status and status in the United States will carry a high-grade signing pen with them, ready to sign checks and documents at any time.

For mathematicians, pens are the closest companions, and all these great professors carry pens with them.

And these pens are all given to Professor Milno now, in a customary ceremony.

Shen Qi was shocked, he knew that this scene was definitely not rehearsed in advance, it was just a temporary incident.

"When you retire, the more pens you receive, the greater your achievements. This is a Princeton-style tribute. If you recognize the achievements of that person, then give him a pen." Professor Muller said to Shen Qi Arrived, then stood up, ready to dedicate a pen to Professor Milnor.

Shen Qi stood up and took out the Montblanc ballpoint pen that he carried with him. He is a master after all, so we have to carry a pen with us, right?

"Shen Qi, sit down." Professor Muller pushed Shen Qi back on the chair.

"I fully recognize the outstanding achievements made by Professor Milno." Shen Qi wondered, why can't I send a pen to show my respect?

"When you become an official professor at Princeton, you will be eligible to send pens. But now, you can't." Professor Muller explained the rules to Shen Qi, and then offered a pen to Professor Milnor.

With a stack of pens and a high regard, Professor Milnor left the coffee shop, soon to be leaving his native New Jersey to emigrate to Europe.

The Princeton-style farewell ceremony is simple and solemn, and it is respected here because of morality, wisdom and academic contribution.

The old master of Miernuo, Jinpen, washed his hands. His legend has been passed down in the rivers and lakes forever. He has never written a complete proof on the blackboard, but he has won the most advanced mathematics award.

"Building a system is the most important thing." Shen Qi got inspiration from the actual case of Milno.

However, everyone knows that establishing a logically rigorous system is much more difficult than proving a theorem. Building a system is a huge project that requires huge and continuous investment in human, material and financial resources.

The only advantage of establishing a basic mathematical system is that you don't need to spend too much money. The biggest investment should be human resources.

"I am short of major generals, and my level is limited. I can't figure out a new theoretical system at present, so let's prove my theorems first. If there are too many theorems to prove, the system will come out naturally."

This is the truth. Euclid proved 465 theorems in his lifetime, and the classic system of Euclidean geometry has been passed down for more than two thousand years.

Shen Qi continued to carry out the work of proving the "Mill-Shen Theorem", and at the end of September, he and Muller cooperated on a first draft.

"The exciting result is that we have completely proved assertions (1) and (2), which are more perfect than what I proved in 1982, without flaws." Muller showed excitement, and then turned into a state of contemplation: " But the problem is that the proof of (3) is frustrating, and it may take another month before we can complete the final proof."

Shen Qi said: "Every ω* closed convex set of X* is an approximate compact Chebyshev set. For this assertion (3), I think our thinking was wrong at the beginning. It is independent and should not be It is connected with assertions (1) and (2). But this is not a bad thing, perhaps, it is a fortunate thing, because we discovered it early."