"To be honest, your age does surprise them, and their expressions are really funny!" Witten smiled and said, "Okay, don't talk about that, anyway, when you meet them, you'll naturally know." After seeing Junxin's expression, Professor Witten just smiled and explained, and then stopped talking.

Soon, the two of them were already in front of the gate of the Institute for Advanced Studies.

The offices of the Physics Department and the Faculty of Mathematics in the Faculty of Natural Sciences are located on the second floor. But this time, Junxin followed Witten up the stairs on the other side.

The two of them walked to a door that looked a little dilapidated, and Witten stopped and knocked on the door and said, "Professor Dyson, I've brought someone here!" ”

Junxin heard the sound of talking inside, and suddenly stopped, and then a sound of footsteps came, and then the door to this office was opened. It was not Professor Dyson who opened the door, but a relatively young middle-aged man. From Junxin's point of view, this person is about the same age as Professor Witten, both of whom are around thirty years old.

"This is the Junxin Junxin classmate who calculated the gravitonon recently, right?" Dyson didn't look at Witten, but directly bypassed him and the other person, and his eyes fell on Junxin.

Junxin also looked at Professor Dyson at the same time. At this time, Professor Dyson was not as old as he saw in his previous life, on the contrary, Dyson was middle-aged at this time, but about forty or fifty years old, and the whole person seemed very capable. There is no indication that he was once Einstein's assistant.

"Hello, Professor Dyson, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Junxin. Jun Xin said a little restrainedly.

"Young man, take it easy." Seeing that Junxin was a little restrained, Dyson said kindly, "I'm not a Longtan tiger's den here, so I don't need to be nervous, I just came to you to ask you about some things in your article." ”

Jun Xin nodded, let go of the anxiety in his heart and said: "I once heard my teacher Professor Hua Luogeng tell me about you in China, he and you both studied under Professor Hardy, and he also did research at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton for several years, the difference is that he finally chose mathematics, but you went to physics. Teachers often talk about your achievements when they talk about you, and they also ask me to say hello when I come to Princeton! ”

"Oh? Why haven't I seen you coming? Dyson's eyes lit up and he said with a smile.

Junxin was completely relaxed now, and said with a smile: "After coming to Princeton, I was afraid that you would be busy with work, so I was embarrassed to disturb you, so I wanted to find a time to greet you, but it turned out that you found me first!" ”

In this way, neither of them mentioned the topic, but talked about it as usual. When in China, when people interact with each other in society, they often have to be embarrassed to talk about their relatives. In fact, it is the same abroad, if you have the same place or have a family relationship, it will be easy to talk.

In fact, this is not only the case between ordinary people, but also between scientists and scientists, and sometimes there will be common topics only if they are related to each other. In the eyes of the scientific community, this is called a faction. The most obvious example of this is the distinction between the two largest schools of mathematics, the Hilbert school caused by the Hilbert problem, and the Bourbaki school, which studied pure mathematics. The former is a series of mathematicians linked by Hilbert's twenty-three problems. Strictly speaking, Junxin is one of these mathematicians. The other is a school of thought that emphasizes the pure nature of mathematics and only studies the mathematical problems themselves, not even the problems related to mathematics.

Under the big factions, the human factor is mentioned. This is best known in physics. In the world of quantum physics, the mainstream position at the center is naturally the Copenhagen School founded by Nils Bohr, but outside of the Copenhagen School, there are other people who study quantum physics. Among the more famous are the physics departments of the University of Munich and the University of Heidelberg in Germany. The leaders of this faction are also well-known figures in the field of quantum physics, such as Planck, the founder of quantum mechanics, Schrödinger who proposed the Schrödinger equation, and Heisenberg, who is the uncertainty principle.

The third faction is actually not a faction, most of them have studied under a certain scientist, and then taught their disciples to gradually spread out but are still inextricably linked with each other.

In general, the three factions say different things. The first type of faction actually refers to the factions divided into different understandings of the guiding ideology or the general direction of research, and this kind of faction is intertwined with each other, and it is difficult to say whether it is right or wrong, and it is always arguing. The second type of faction actually refers to the faction formed by the same cognition in the general direction, but the research focus is different due to deviation in specific research problems. This faction is the most complex, often based on universities and research institutes, forming independent but competing platforms. There is both controversy and approval on this platform. Often, the so-called academic controversy in the scientific community comes from this.

The last situation is different from the previous two, this is not based on academics but divided by people, such as Dyson and Professor Hua Luogeng have studied under the famous British mathematician Hardy, so they can be counted as a faction, but the academic research direction of the two is not the same, Hardy, Hua Luogeng and another famous assistant of Hardy, Ramanujan, are all studying mathematics-related problems. Dyson, on the other hand, studied physics.

Scientists, both domestic and foreign, always ask three questions when communicating with each other: 1. What problem do you study? 2. Which school are you from? 3. Who is your mentor?

Of course, more often than not, I don't ask so directly, and I still ask very tactfully, but everything is the same, and when two scientists who basically don't know each other chat, they will always ask one or a few of these questions. And this question is often the one that determines which faction you are from, and how I should talk and communicate with you.

So when he saw Dyson, Junxin thought of the math he had studied under Hardy for a while. Professor Hua Luogeng also studied mathematics under Hardy for a while.

Even if there is no relationship at this level, Junxin will find out the connection between the two. For example, through the relationship with Professor Yang Zhenning. Professor Yang Zhenning is a student who went out of Tsinghua University, and he can be regarded as a senior of Junxin, and Yang Zhenning is also a colleague of Dyson. In the fifties, Yang worked at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and lived not far from Einstein's house.

However, if Junxin is using Yang Zhenning's perspective to bring the relationship between the two closer, then the effect of bringing him closer through Professor Hua Luogeng is completely different.

If Junxin is using Professor Hua Luogeng to bring the relationship between the two closer, then Dyson's attitude towards Junxin is like treating a junior, which is more cordial, if you want to talk about it, Junxin is Professor Hardy's apprentice grandson, and Professor Dyson's nephew, with such a relationship, the two will naturally be very cordial.

But if Junxin is the meeting that brings the two closer through Professor Yang Zhenning, then it is the relationship between the second faction. Although Dyson and Yang both studied quantum mechanics, their research directions are different. Dyson studies quantum electrodynamics, while Yang Chenning studies quantum gauge field problems. At this time, Dyson's attitude towards Junxin will be to treat juniors who are not the same as his own research direction, so it is naturally another attitude.

However, because his research involves too many things, and his age is too young after all, Junxin still decided to communicate with Dyson as a junior, rather than as a junior of a different faction.