After Li Jingwei arrived at New York's JFK International Airport by plane, he flew directly to Boston. When I arrived in Boston, it was past 3 p.m.

As soon as he stepped out of the passage where he arrived, he saw two tall, blonde white girls waving at him.

The two are Emily and Chelsea, Ph.D. students in the latitude and longitude band. After graduating from his Ph.D. at the age of 19, Li Jingwei became an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and then began to recruit doctoral students as a doctoral supervisor.

In Huaxia, only professors are usually allowed to recruit PhDs. However, in the United States, as long as they have the appropriate research ability and have financial support, new faculty members can also take doctoral students.

Li Jingwei has a number of grants from the Natural Science Foundation of the United States and other institutions, and with the assistance of his supervisor Evans, he has set up a research team, which is mainly composed of Li Jingwei and three doctoral students, Evans has his own academic team, so he became the academic advisor of Li Jingwei's team.

Originally, Li Jingwei wanted to continue to stay in the research team of his mentor Evans, but Evans thought that he could stand on his own, and independence would be more conducive to Li Jingwei's future development, so he helped him set up his own research team, including applying for an independent research laboratory.

Evans's scientific spirit deeply influenced Li Jingwei, so although they are two independent research teams, they maintain close cooperation, including regular academic seminars.

In addition to Emily and Chelsea, there is also a black female Charlotte.

All three of them are very talented in mathematics, and in just two years, under the guidance of Li Jingwei, they all worked in the top mathematics journal Jou

al of AMS, Acta Mathematica. Li Jingwei himself has also benefited greatly from such an efficient research team, and in the past two years, he has published a report in A

als of Mathematics 》、《I

ve

tio

es Mathematicae published 3 and 5 papers.

As a result, the entire research team has published a total of 14 papers in four top mathematical journals in two years, which is unique in the United States. This is also the reason why Li Jingwei was promoted to tenured professor at a young age.

Li Jingwei has his own standards for recruiting doctoral students, and he would rather have a shortage than an indiscriminate. After recruiting these 3 doctoral students in the first year, I originally planned to recruit 2 more in the second year, but after interviewing many doctoral candidates, I did not recruit any more than I was satisfied. Li Jingwei plans to recruit two more doctoral students this fall.

Emily's father was a leading real estate developer in Massachusetts before running for the U.S. Senate. The mother is a well-known pediatrician. Both older sisters became doctors like their mothers, and the older brother took over the family's real estate business.

Originally from California, Chelsea's father is a computer science professor at Stanford University, and he is also a very successful venture capitalist, investing in high-tech companies such as Microsoft and Amazon. My mother worked for a public welfare foundation. The two twin brothers dropped out of college to start their own business and founded a company that has grown to become a leader in the industry and is listed on the NASDAQ.

Charlotte's father was a Christian leader in Chicago and had a legendary life. After graduating from the University of Chicago, he became a gangster, and later fell in love with his wife, who was a judge at the time, so he became a pastor instead, and now he has become a well-known pastor in the United States. Mother is now a federal appellate judge. The eldest brother was a football star who had just retired to become a football coach at the University of Southern California, and the second brother was a well-known M&A lawyer on Wall Street.

Although the three doctoral students he currently has are from very good families, Li Jingwei still provided all three of them with very generous full scholarships.

College students in the United States are generally financially independent and usually work on their own to earn money. The scholarship solved the worries of the three of them, and they were able to devote themselves to their research. In addition, the three of them are very talented in mathematics and very diligent, so they have achieved excellent research results. But with the results of the research so far, it will be very easy to find a decent job at a U.S. university or in the information technology industry when you graduate.

“Robi

Welcome back. Emily said with a smile. Chelsea on the side gave Li Jingwei a hug. These three doctoral students are all three or four years older than Li Jingwei, and they are all convex and backward, unusually plump, and they are even more enthusiastic after getting acquainted, which sometimes makes Li Jingwei feel unbearable. He also made up his mind that he would only recruit male students if he recruited doctoral students.

"Emily, Chelsea, thank you for coming and picking me up. While greeting the two, he took the opportunity to break free of Chelsea's embrace.

"Charlotte was supposed to come over too, and the one you co-wrote with her was just written by A

als of Mathematics, a paper on foliate manifolds that had been so well received that she was asked to give a lecture at Harvard University. Chelsea explained.

"Yes, I know. Harvard University originally invited Li Jingwei to give a speech, but because others were in China, they recommended Charlotte to go. "How's the manuscript you two submitted before?

Li Jingwei supervises doctoral students very seriously, not only providing proof or problem solving ideas, but also helping them revise word by word. Sometimes, although the question is raised by the student, the process of proof may be largely done by Li Jingwei.

However, Li Jingwei has a principle, as long as the problem is raised by the student first, no matter how much he contributes, he will let the student be the 'corresponding author'.

This is also the practice of Evans, Li Jingwei's mentor.

Many American professors co-write papers with students, and even if they don't contribute much, they insist on being corresponding authors.

Evans and Li Jingwei's selfless behavior is deeply respected by students, and many outstanding students want to join their research team.

Emily first said excitedly: "Our article that was voted in "I

ve

tio

es Mathematicae", which has been conditionally admitted, can be supplemented later by the results of the computer simulation. This is her third academic dissertation and the main content of her doctoral dissertation, which largely completes the content of her doctoral dissertation.

Li Jingwei has high requirements for students to publish papers, either not to publish, or to publish major journals. Even so, these students are considered prolific. Even many university professors may not be able to do this.

Chelsea also happily replied: "We voted for A

als of Mathematics should not be a big problem, two anonymous reviewers have already given very positive comments, and the opinion of another expert has not yet been fed back to the editorial office. Did you know? Robi

Some MIT math professors say that the top four math journals are almost our own. After saying that, he laughed out loud regardless of his image.

"That's right, Robi

I've heard Evans say you're likely to be selected for the Fields Medal this year. Emily said: "He said that your paper last year on the triangular anatomy conjecture proved that not all manifolds can be anatomized into triangles, which is a palace-level research." ”

Li Jingwei won the 'Wolf Prize' and the 'Abel Prize' last year, and the demand for the 'Fields Medal' is very high, and once he wins the prize, it will break the record for the lowest age to win a prize held by the French mathematician Serge.

Unlike the 'Wolf Medal' and the 'Abel Prize', which are reviewed every year, the 'Fields Medal' is reviewed every four years, and although the prize money is not as high as the first two, it has a very high degree of recognition in the mathematical community and is known as the Nobel Prize in the field of mathematics.

The Fields Medal laureates, who cannot be older than 40 years of age, are awarded to young mathematicians who have made outstanding contributions, with a minimum of two and a maximum of four winners at a time.

Since it was first awarded in 1936, the Fields Medal's reputation has grown, and for young mathematicians, the Fields Medal is the highest award. Most of the young scholars who received this award later became famous mathematicians.

"It's very difficult to win this award. Li Jingwei said: "There are so many outstanding mathematicians in the world, and many of them have achieved outstanding research results in their own research fields. For example, Leald of Harvard, Schulman of Princeton University, Cole of Berkeley, California, Tom of Paris University, and Stephen of MIT, are all very good young scholars. “

"Don't mention Stephen, he's a shame to us at MIT, and he's a shameless person to plagiarize Professor Evans' ideas, I can't figure out why MIT didn't fire him. Emily said indignantly.

Stephen, who is also a professor in the mathematics department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is not yet 40 years old and is eligible to participate in the Fields Medal.

At last year's in-house symposium, Professor Evans proposed a preliminary proof scheme for a differential manifold problem, hoping to further improve his own proof through the discussion. Professor Evans is a very rigorous person, and because the proof did not reach the perfect state in his mind, he did not submit the paper for publication, but only did the internal communication of the report.

What everyone didn't expect was that Stephen, who had just joined the MIT college, felt that this was an important breakthrough after participating in the internal discussion, and rushed to write his thesis overnight, and then quickly threw it out.

Although there are some minor optimizations in the whole paper, the basic content is plagiarized from Evans's research results. Later, the paper was published.

This incident caused an uproar at MIT, and it can be said that it is a major challenge to MIT's internal academic research mechanism. After such a thing, who would dare to talk about their own research results or ideas?

What is even more infuriating is that Stephen is actually a professor in the mathematics department of MIT recommended by Professor Evans, and the real-life version of the story of the farmer and the snake is staged.

Of course, it is undeniable that Stephen is still very capable of research in mathematics, otherwise Professor Evans would not have recommended him to be brought in. After the incident, many professors asked for a joint report against him, but Professor Evans stopped them.

Because Stephen is the grandson of Professor Evans's mentor, Professor Evans does not want to grieve his mentor, who is already lying in a hospital bed and dying.

After this happened, many professors felt that Stephen's academic quality was problematic, and he or his team members were not allowed to participate in future internal academic seminars.

But the school did not dismiss him, presumably because of his grandfather's strong influence in the mathematics community, and Professor Evans's dismissal. Since then, however, Professor Evans and Stephen have been essentially the same person.

"Although Stephen has some personality problems, he is still very capable of research. Li Jingwei objectively commented: "His research achievements in the past few years have made breakthroughs in some aspects. ”

"Who knows if it's like last time to plagiarize someone else. Emily said angrily.

"Emily, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, God will also give the wrong person a chance to repent. ”

“Robi

, you have no shortcomings. Chelsea, who was driving, said.

"Huh. That's because you haven't found out yet, or you've chosen to turn a blind eye. Li Jingwei said with a smile: "There is a saying in China, 'No one is perfect without gold.'" No one is perfect. “

“Robi

Are you confident of winning a Fields Medal?" was a genius in Emily's mind, and like the respected Professor Evans, he was an impartial person.

Among their graduate students, the doctoral students of Li Jingwei and Professor Evans have achieved the most research results and the best quality. She feels that Li Jingwei deserves to win the Fields Medal.

"I don't know. In recent years, many newcomers have begun to emerge. Some people say that the world of mathematics has been shining brightly in recent years. After Li Jingwei finished speaking, he saw that the two of them were a little depressed, so he added: "But there is still competitiveness, maybe you can be selected." ”

When the two heard this, they were a little confident.